Blah

Maybe you'd be interested in a recap of the Sunday School lesson I taught today? I began it by discussing the origins of the book of Moses and the book of Abraham. I talked about Moses 1 and Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "paradox of man." I showed pictures of various political and religious figures and asked, "How does knowing we are children of God affect the way we treat ourselves and others?" I talked about the Creation and asked, "How can we care for creation?" And I talked about the seventh day of Creation and asked, "Why is it important to have a day of rest?" I ran out of content at the end, but the class contributed with their own comments and insights. I thought it went well, and I received several compliments.

I also bless the sacrament every week, because I don't like passing it, and that way they won't ask me to pass it. Today we had a high councilor speak with his family, and he said he pointed out to his priest son how carefully the sacrament prayer was enunciated. I never know how good a job I'm doing, so it's nice to get a validating shout-out. (Unless he was talking about the other person who prayed?)

(I put these two paragraphs at the end of the post, but then I moved them to the beginning because they seemed less frivolous than the rest of the post.)

Every January, I miss Christmastime. It's nice to have a refresher after all the chaos of the holidays, but I still miss it. And that is especially true this year, because I felt cheated out of the full Christmas experience, and I had a lot of missed opportunities. 

I couldn't find my new Christmas ornament from Holiday World, but I found it this week. I learned about a delightfully quirky Christmas album that came out in 2025, but not until Christmas was over. I felt like I didn't get as much time playing and sharing my Christmas playlist as I would have liked.

But of course, the biggest reason was that it was such a warm and snowless Christmas season. I didn't get the cozy, white vibes we think of.

But at least December was better than January. We had good air quality and clear trails last month. But this January, it's super smoggy. We had a skiff of snow over a week ago, but it still hasn't melted, even though it's been sunny and above freezing. That keeps me off the trails. I went swimming four times this week because of the icky January weather. I want it to get better . . . but there is no indication that it's going to.

And I get extremely frustrated with a segment of the population who think climate change is a hoax because they think they're somehow smarter than the people who actually study these things professionally. How can they not notice what is going on in front of their eyes? I am hopeful that emissions are slowing, and hopeful that other countries and private entities are doing something, even if the US isn't. I look at humans' successes in reversing the decline of the ozone layer and in generally making the air cleaner than it was in previous decades. I hope we can have normal winters and Christmases again. But that's all I can do, hope, because otherwise I just feel helpless.

There are some Christmas fanatics, and I honestly feel worse for them when Christmas is over. Because of my veneration of holidays, I treat every (major) holiday the way others treat Christmas: a designated season with special decorations, songs, clothing, and other things. So it's less sad for Christmas to be over when I just move on to the next holiday with all its trappings.

But . . . the replacement for Christmas and New Year's just isn't that great. I started the Valentine's Day season this week, and it's nice to have something in January, but of my nine formally canonized holidays, it's my least favorite. It's just boring and not that special.

It began as a boring, ordinary, religious saint day. Then Chaucer wrote a poem where he said it was the day when birds chose their mates, and then people associated it with romance—either doing fortune-telling rituals to determine their future lovers (as they also did on Halloween), or sending valentine messages. Then in the 1840s, companies in the US capitalized on valentine cards and other gifts. What a strange holiday.

I just don't love all the heteroromantic stuff about it. I appreciate efforts to make it about familial or platonic love, but I still don't think it can shake its romantic overtones, or at least it's not close to doing so. And platonic love is something we have all the time anyway. 

And of course Christmas has all its famous songs, and even the other holidays have a few standards. But the only semifamous Valentine's song is "My Funny Valentine," which literally has lyrics like "my dimwitted friend" and "your looks are laughable." I'm not making that up!

Anyway, the best part about this time of year is the candy and treats, and I love trying all the red velvet, cinnamon, chocolate strawberry, rose, etc., flavors. Such as festive coffee creamers in noncoffee cozy drinks (Pero and Postum). 

raspberry rose

chocolate covered strawberry

Hmm, I feel like this was kind of a dumb post. Probably because I didn't have a lot to talk about—you probably don't want to read a list of all my swimming times or see pictures of my swimsuit. Oh well, when you've written more than eight hundred blog posts, they can't all be winners.

Deceit, Capitol, Restaurant

On Monday, I received a perplexing email from a nonexistent "Church History Society," with a mailing address at 1 E South Temple in Salt Lake City (a nonexistent address). I learned that many other people received this same email. It uses language that frames the email as a faithful perspective, but then it dives into all the usual anti-Mormon tropes: polygamy, finances, Book of Mormon translation, book of Abraham, First Vision accounts, etc. 

The email implies that the Church lies about various things—so it is extremely baffling to me, then, that the email itself is founded on a series of lies: a fake organization, a claim that people "opted in" through the website, a false address, misleading content. 

This isn't even the first time I've seen something like this happen. Years ago, I was an executive secretary in my YSA ward, and I was in charge of sending mass texts with ward announcements. One day, someone responded asking to be removed from the list, since he had moved from the ward. When I responded with instructions on how to remove himself, he told me I should read the CES Letter, a piece of anti-Mormon propaganda. But here's the kicker: We kept good records, and there was zero indication that he had ever been in our ward. He also joined our ward Facebook page, and as I stalked him, it looked like he was too old to have been in a YSA ward. It appears that he lied about being in our ward just so he could spread his "message" about the Church lying. I have zero respect for such a thing. And I say that as a rather unorthodox member who has a lot of concerns. "Wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive" (D&C 10:28).

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Thursday evening, I attended an event at the Utah State Capitol hosted by the Utah Historical Society (my employer) and America250. It was a panel about Domínguez and Escalante, the Spanish explorers who visited Utah in 1776. As the rest of the country observes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Spanish explorers are where Utah fits in. The speakers included two historians who are women, a Chicano man, a Navajo man, and an archaeologist. Some of the presentations were more interesting than others, but I'm glad I attended. I'm so sad that the 250th anniversary is happening when there's a fascist in the White House. But I just saw this post on Bluesky.

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On Saturday, I completed my bucket list of going to every restaurant in North Salt Lake. I had completed it before (maybe back in 2019, then updating whenever a new restaurant opened). But a few years ago, unincorporated Davis County became part of North Salt Lake. So the last restaurant I had to go to was Thyme and Seasons.

This is a very quirky restaurant inside a former Blockbuster—I've rented movies from the building but never eaten there. Inside, it is very cluttered. And you don't look at a menu. The chef comes and asks what kind of meat you want, and then they prepare something for you.

My mom came with and got chicken curry. I went for a vegetarian option and got stir-fried root vegetables.

My mom really enjoyed her meal. Mine was boring. It was expensive, and I think ours were one of the cheaper options. It was a weird experience.

Anyway, it's nice to have gone to every restaurant! (Actually, I think there's a coffee truck I haven't been to, and the autism school runs a soda truck that I haven't been to. But I don't officially count trucks as restaurants, though I try to go to them too.) Here are ones that stick out to me as especially worthwhile: Z Brothers Pizza, Atlantis Burger, Apollo Burger, Nacho House, JJ Donuts, and Big Bite Breads.

The New Year's Spirit

New Year's is one of my canonized holidays, and I'm always looking for ways to make it special and distinct from Christmas. I have, however, become more comfortable with the overlap with Christmas as I've learned more about the holiday's history. Gifts were given for New Year's until that switched to Christmas in the nineteenth century. When Santa Claus traditions arrived in the US, he often arrived on New Year's, and stockings were likewise hung up for New Year's. And the first Christmas trees in the US were put up for New Year's.

There's a lot of talk about Christmas movies, but not so much about New Year movies. Last Sunday, I watched Ghostbusters II on Youtube TV. I only learned it was a New Year's movie last January. The movie is about my age, meaning I was a baby along with baby Oscar!

On Monday, I wanted to go to Taco Bell because they had a special Confetti Cookie Freeze. I would love to see more confetti-themed products for New Year's. Was this meant for the holiday? I don't know, but it did debut on December 18, and some of the promotional materials look like it. 

I dined in, and at first they forgot to give it to me with my food. NBD, but they gave me an extra one because of the mistake. So I took the second one home and froze it for the next day. I don't eat at Taco Bell that much, because they rarely have seasonal offerings.

On Tuesday, I ran up to the Wild Rose Trail in the dark, using my headlamp and the new lights I got for Christmas. There are two houses on the way where their coniferous trees are growing over the sidewalk, which drives me crazy. (If it's a deciduous tree, I just break the branches, but that's harder when there are needles.) I shouldn't have to duck when I'm running! So I bought two boxes of clearance candy canes, and I put notes on them asking the homeowners to trim the trees from the sidewalk. I put the candy canes on the doorsteps as I ran past. As of yesterday, one of the homes no longer had the candy canes on the step, but they haven't trimmed the tree. The other home still had the candy canes on the step, because I think they don't use their front door. And there was a moving truck as well, so maybe they're moving! This home has the more egregious tree.

Wednesday was New Year's Eve, and Chip Cookies had a special NYE cookie. But it was just a boring category 3 sugar cookie with gold sprinkles. Even though it was boring, I want to support things made specially made for this overlooked holiday. But associating gold with New Year's is, in my observation, a relatively recent phenomenon. When I started paying attention to New Year's in the late '90s, it was more often purple and blue, multicolor, or black and white. Gold is currently a popular color for birthdays and graduations as well.

I ran to the Wild Rose Trail again, the first time I've ever been trail running on New Year's Eve. There was a dusting of snow on either side of the trail, but the trail itself was pretty clear. The Garmin app gives you a special "badge" if you exercise on the last day of the year.

I just spent New Year's Eve with my parents. I learned about the movie The Thin Man from 1934, which takes place at Christmas and the days following, so we watched it. Though there were Christmas scenes, it was less holiday than I had hoped. My nephew and his wife, Preston and Claire, went downtown briefly, but they came home and stayed in "their" room all evening, coming out just before midnight. We had Trader Joe's sparkling lemonade.

And then I did something unique. I have never been trail running on New Year's Day, and this dry year was my chance. But it was supposed to rain throughout New Year's Day. The solution? I went running after midnight! I put on my headlamp and ran over to Springhill Geologic Park, which is just a small nature park nearby that I go to when I have less time. Does it count as a trail? Well, it's unpaved, it has wildflowers and maples and oaks, rabbits live there, and there are lots of volcanic rocks. I was able to hear fireworks as I ran, though I didn't see that many of them (I was more focused on not tripping). It was a unique way to start 2026. I ran 2.5 miles. And I got my badge for exercising on the first day of the year. (They tell me I can only earn the badges 250 times. So after 248 more New Year's Days, I can't get the badge anymore!)

New Year's Day was foggy, which was what I hoped it would be—so that was refreshing, after the unseasonable November and December. We had our traditional dinner with my mom's extended family at Golden Corral, which my grandpa loved.

That day, I learned that the sequel to The Thin Man, called After the Thin Man from 1936, was actually set at New Year's. So we rented it and watched it. The first half of the movie took place on New Year's Eve, and the rest of the movie was the aftermath of NYE happenings, though it wasn't clear how long the time period was. These were pretty good murder-mystery movies, but they required a lot of concentration, since it was hard to tell the differences between the various characters and their 1930s styles.

Then January 2, Preston and Claire returned to California. This is the saddest time of year for me. I ran Wild Rose again in the evening, and it was extremely muddy after the rain.

Yesterday, January 3, I ran near Ensign Peak. Parts of the trail were very muddy, though parts were good. I didn't go on Ensign Peak itself, because that trail looked muddy. But I discovered the South Ensign Peak Trail, which was newer to me.

As I was running up the dirt road, there was a man running down with his dogs, and he said, "Have a great run! Enjoy your October!" It was funny but also sad. Will it ever be winter again?

There was a wildfire a year and a half ago, and this was my first time seeing parts of the aftermath

Yesterday, I went to the Toyota dealer for regular maintenance. I sat in the waiting area reading Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays, the chapter about the rise of Valentine's Day in the US. The technician broke one of the nuts when they were fixing my alignment, so they gave me a rental car while they wait for parts. It's the first time I've had a rental! It's a Corolla, which used to be one of the default cars when I was a missionary. But it's much newer and nicer than the 2000s Corollas.

We're still recovering from Christmastime. Today I made split-pea soup with the leftover ham bone, which is pretty good. 

I hope you enjoy your January! If it ever comes.