The Dullest Week

A squirrel in our tree!

Guys, we made it through January! This was the first January where I worked forty hours a week for the entire month in eight years:

• In 2018, I was unemployed.
• In 2019 and 2020, my job with the Sundance Film Festival wrapped up halfway through the month, before the festival started.
• In 2021, I was in grad school, and even then the semester started in the middle of the month.
• In 2022, I started my internship at the Church History Department in the middle of the month.
• In 2023, I was part-time at the CHD.
• In 2024, I started out part-time with the Utah Historical Society before I began my BYU contract job.

Unfortunately, I didn't get all my hours in this week.

On Monday evening, I went on a short run (2.5 miles) and then came home and did the chest workout on my Home Workout app. That is a challenging workout, but I do it regularly, so I was surprised that I was so tired at the end. I was also exceedingly thirsty. And that evening, I just felt so tired—not a "just finished intense exercise" tired, but a "didn't get enough sleep" tired, even though I had slept fine.

The rest of the week, I was congested and felt tired. I worked a full day Tuesday but had to take a nap. But Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I only worked limited hours. I didn't feel horrible. I felt fine if all I wanted to do was sit in bed and watch TV. But my jobs require mental concentration, and I just wasn't feeling up to that.

Reggie kept me company. I love running my fingers through his soft, luxuriant fur; rubbing my hands on his massive shoulders; looking into his enormous eyes; and putting my ear against his body to amplify his purring. (He's sitting on my lap as I type.)

Fortunately, I'm feeling better now—still congested, but less tired. I hope I can have a normal week this week.

Since it was a dull week for me, I'm going to talk about dull things.

Today is Groundhog Day, and despite my general enthusiasm for holidays, I am anti–Groundhog Day. There are two main reasons for this:

1. The outcome of Punxsutawney Phil is determined beforehand. I would respect it more if they looked to see if the groundhog did or could see its shadow (like if it was cloudy or sunny that morning). But by predetermining the outcome, it's faker than fake. I saw a headline that PETA wants them to do something like a gender reveal cake. I'm not a fan of PETA, but that idea seems more reasonable to me.
2. Groundhog Day is the tiniest of holidays, and there is literally nothing to do on the day, unless you attend Candlemas services or watch the Bill Murray movie. Yet for some reason, they bother putting Groundhog Day on the calendar, and this week's weather forecast listed Groundhog Day. I don't care that Groundhog Day exists. I do care that people pretend it's a bigger deal than it is. It would be better for them to use the ink on Candlemas, part of the Christian liturgical calendar (which is where Groundhog Day began anyway). In 1857, Brigham Young wrote in a letter, “The 2^nd of February, or Candlemas day. This morning the sun arose, so the bear could see his shadow, & some infer that we shall yet have 6 weeks of wintry weather, an unfavorable spring, but as the day proceeds, the sun is hid behind clouds which seem to forbode another storm.”

This morning I saw a news story on Facebook about Groundhog Day. I don't usually read the comments, but I'm glad I did this time, so I could find this gem of a comment, which I then posted on /r/oldpeoplefacebook.

My brother thinks I must sleep poorly if I remember my dreams so well. But this week, I remember my dreams better from the nights I slept better.

Ann drives a full van up a very steep hill in the snow

Brandi brings periwinkle-colored chocolate eggs to staff meeting, and there are jelly beans and mini chocolate bunnies attached to them

Mark plans on wearing his conversation heart socks after his shower

Alex moves a rattlesnake off the furniture

people cause mischief in a Japanese dollar store one day a year

Mario plays a Kirby/Metroid game, and he defeats the boss using the Snifit ability

an old woman in a wheelchair with a squawky voice is a former Olympian in the Olympic torch ceremony

a woman steals a purse full of coins from a McDonald's stand at BYU

Mark takes sausage patties and egg patties from a fast food stand, and then he waits in line for a long time to pay for them, even though he doesn't have much time (for some reason it wouldn't let me say McDonald's in this one, even though it let me on the other)

a man takes a motorcycle class so he can be a home hospice nurse via motorcycle

during the vanpool, Mark accidentally blows on a woman's butch haircut

there are several dead murder hornets and one live one in a warehouse