Red, white, and blue, especially red and white.

On Wednesday this week, I needed to do some research for work about Hong Kong in the nineteenth century. The Church History Library (where I work) is a good place for Mormon history, but not so much for Hong Kong history. The best, closest library was the U's Marriott Library, so that's where I needed to go. I'm a BYU grad, but I don't think that my school's better than the U, at least when it comes to academics. I detest rivalries, especially when they extend beyond sports into academia.

However, it sounded like figuring out parking there would be a headache, so I decided it might be easiest just to take the bus. It's been a long time since I've used public transportation, especially UTA. I wasn't entirely sure of what I was doing, but I got where I needed to go.

Once I got there, it was my first time ever visiting the U's main campus. Someone asked me for directions, but I was lost myself, so I couldn't help him. I made it in the library--I must say that I think BYU's Harold B. Lee Library is a bit more visitor friendly. It wasn't too different from BYU's library, except that the students showed more skin and hair and I smelled coffee.

It kind of puzzles me that people my age smoke there. I understand that once you start, it's hard to stop, but why would you start in this day and age? Ever since elementary school they've told us how bad smoking is. Smoking is a habit that is extremely unhealthy, expensive, inconvenient, and smelly. You'd have to be a complete idiot to start smoking nowadays, and complete idiots don't go to college, especially not the U.

Since I didn't have to go to work on Friday, July 3, I got up early to go running. When I got home, my ten-year-old nephew Preston told me he'd never seen someone so sweaty, but I've been sweatier. My seven-year-old nephew Franklin was amused to watch my throat when I drank, saying, "Up and down and up and down and up and down..." That made me laugh, and he was very tickled that he made me laugh. Then he wanted to run around where I went, so I drove him and five-year-old Nathaniel up to the trail and went to the little Banner Grove. At one point, the boys were talking about roly-polys, and Franklin said, "They're harmless. Who would want to hurt them? Only people who hate nature, and we don't hate nature." Nathaniel loved talking about how dangerous our hike was, that if we fell off, we would die, even though the trail was extremely tame. I hope my nephews grow up to be like me.

We went up to North Salt Lake's fireworks display, which was really good this year. Then we stayed up late talking about horrible parenting.

The Fourth of July was all right. In the evening we went to my sister's house to light fireworks, since they are forbidden in our neighborhood. It annoys me that there are people who feel entitled to light them even where they are forbidden. I mean, the rest of us would like to light them where we live, but we believe in celebrating our country by obeying its laws. (I know they're city laws, but still.)

Normally, July 5 is a sad day for me, as there are no real holidays to celebrate until Halloween. This year, however, I'm experimenting with formally celebrating Pioneer Day as I do the other holidays.

Three years ago, I said this:
"Sometimes I wonder why I don't celebrate Pioneer Day more, considering that I'm a Utah Mormon of pioneer descent. There are eight holidays I formally celebrate, and in the past I have added Chinese New Year, Mother's Day, and Father's Day, but those became too cumbersome to celebrate the way I celebrate the other holidays, and I worry that the same thing would happen to Pioneer Day. But there is nothing stopping me from watching fireworks and enjoying a day off.... Some people use Fourth of July themes (red, white, and blue and stars and stripes) for Pioneer Day; however, I reject this association. The pioneers fled the United States because they wouldn't do anything for them. It's like putting up British stuff on Independence Day."


Well, not quite. Although the pioneers were frustrated with the way they had been treated, they still loved America and wanted to become a state. In fact, the earliest Pioneer Day celebrations involved displaying American flags, shooting cannons, reading the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and talking about the Spirit of '76. Pioneer Day was more like the Fourth of July for the pioneers--the ones who invented the holiday and the reason we celebrate--than it is for us.


In the past, I've said that if I learned that the earliest Pioneer Day celebrations included American patriotic decorations, then I would accept patriotic things for the 24th of July. And that's exactly what I learned. Additionally, there are American flags on the Utah flag (along with a beehive and sego lilies, traditional Utah symbols).


I hope that we can have the 24th of July celebrated as a state holiday (which it is) rather than simply as a Mormon holiday. When I worked at Walmart, one coworker said she didn't care about Pioneer Day because she wasn't Mormon, but it is nevertheless a fact that Utah's first permanent settlers were Mormon pioneers. (The Native Americans were mainly hunter-gatherers, and the Spanish explorers and mountain men were only temporary.)

There are some problems with celebrating Pioneer Day: It's only a state holiday, so once you cross the border, it's no longer a holiday. As such, there's not much marketing for it, and let's face it, marketing is a big driving factor in holidays. It's perhaps observed mainly by Mormons. And I worry that it may remove some of the specialness from the Fourth of July.

On the other hand, there are good reasons to celebrate it: Since it's like a second Fourth of July, the timing is perfect to extend the patriotic celebrations. I celebrate St. Patrick's Day, even though I'm not Irish, and Pioneer Day is therefore more meaningful. It decreases the gap between holidays. And there are symbols and songs for the holiday, although it'll be a challenge to find Utah decorations. It's basically a ready-made holiday that I haven't formally celebrated before.

Just another day-by-day summary

My parents were out of town this week, so I had the house all to myself, but I did a lot of things that kept me out of the house.

On Monday, I stayed downtown after work because my ward was having a tour of the Conference Center. While I was waiting downtown, I just happened to be walking down State Street when I came across a little museum of the Social Hall that was built in 1852. I had researched the hall before, but I didn't realize part of it was still there. The foundation had been discovered a couple of decades ago, so they took it out but then put it back in the ground, and now there's glass around it so you can see it. I'm surprised at the random things that exist around here.

That night, I found an earwig perched on a light switch. I tried to scoop it off, but instead it went back inside the switch. Who knows what will happen to it now?

On Tuesday, I went to institute. We had a substitute teacher, and he asked who had read the Bible from beginning to end. I was surprised at how few had! That seems a little unacceptable to me--I mean, how can you believe in the Bible if you haven't read it? The substitute is a popular institute teacher around here, but his lesson made me uncomfortable. There was literally a conversation about why girls own more shoes than guys, which seemed not only irrelevant but a little sexist. And then, to close it off, he described the false doctrine about spirits being in awe to learn we lived in the time of Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Thomas S. Monson. He described it as his opinion, but still--he surely has heard that it's not true! I sat in the back strongly shaking my head.

On Wednesday, I did goathead-picking on Bountiful Boulevard. A woman asked me what I was doing and seemed impressed. She was walking her dog. Then a man who was reading while walking came by, and there was a dog preceding him who went up to the lady's dog. She said to the man, "Excuse me, but I think your dog needs to be on a leash. I was surprised, but impressed, by her boldness. But the man said it wasn't his dog, so there's some kind of irresponsible dog owner up there. If you can't be responsible with your dog, you shouldn't own one.

I pulled some more goatheads on Orchard Drive on Thursday. This is what I pulled in an hour.

See, these plants are evil not only because of their sharpness, but because of their aggressive reproductive habits. One plant can have more than a dozen branches, and each branch has a star every few inches, and the branches can grow for several feet, and each star consists of five goatheads, which stick to shoes, skin, and tires and spread to form new goathead patches. Forget kudzu--these are the most diabolical invasive species. Fortunately, these plants can be crowded out by others.

On Friday, I went to Bountiful's Got Talent. These people were more talented than I am, but it was just a local talent show. These folks won't get a record deal or anything. The quality wasn't as good as the Provo Rooftop Concerts. Those events were mainly dominated by hipsters; this event was mainly families and middle-age to old people.

On Saturday morning, I ran in North Salt Lake's pre-Fourth of July 5k. It was the first organized run I'd done since a Halloween "5k" (note the quotes) in 2011. I don't really do 5ks because (a) I'm not competitive and (b) I usually run longer than three miles, so I don't see the point. I won a ribbon for third place in my age division. But I think I was only fourth, because one of the overall winners was in my division, and I suspect there were only four of us anyway. I was disappointed, because I run slower than I thought. I also ran more than two minutes slower than I did at Provo's Freedom Run four years ago. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or if it's because I've switched to trail running, which is of necessity slower. I haven't been doing much running in recent weeks because I've been pulling goatheads, but June is almost over and I will no longer have an obligation. Then maybe I should work on speed. There's always something to do.

Then in the evening on Saturday, my three nephews (and my sister-in-law) arrived from California with my parents. It's good to see them again. Last summer, the youngest, Nathaniel, loved to talk about his hundreds and thousands of moms who lived in houses made of various substances. But now, at the age of five, he only has one mom.

Sego lilies and goatheads

Last Sunday, my ward had a little "stroll" on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail where I frequently go. I was late, so if I wanted to meet up with the rest of them, I would have to run. That was the first time I've been trail running in church clothes (although I changed my shoes and took off my tie).

A few of us went down to a rock overlook where I went on Halloween. As we were coming up, I was delighted to see Utah's state flower, a sego lily! Since I work with Mormon history, I've seen lots of images of them, so I recognized it. However, before that flower, I had not seen a sego lily since September 1999, when I was just turning 11, and on that occasion it was dried up.

But that was just the beginning. As we were going back down the trail, I saw many more sego lilies. I just hadn't noticed them on the way up.

Then on Wednesday, I went on trails around where I got lost back in April. I have always thought sego lilies were rare, but they were all over the place! I had no idea they were so common. It's not like there were seas of them, but their simple white flowers were peeking up in the grass quite abundantly. In order to get to the places where they were most abundant, I had to go up some steep hills, but even in smaller numbers they were in more accessible places. But I didn't have my phone on that occasion, so I didn't take pictures of the flowers, or of the two horned lizards I saw.

In contrast to the delightful sego lilies, I also spent a few evenings this week trying to eradicate diabolical goathead plants. On Wednesday, I filled an entire grocery bag in the space of about half an hour. On that occasion, they were bigger plants that were easier to pull and that were, obviously, more massive.

 The other nights weren't as productive, since they were generally smaller plants. On Friday, someone in my ward saw me and asked what I was doing; when I told her, she said I was "making the community better, one goat plant at a time!" On Saturday, I was pulling them from a vacant lot on Bountiful Boulevard, and some little boys who lived next door came and talked to me while I did so. Picking the pernicious plants can be a bit of a daunting task, so if anyone wants to help me, you're more than welcome. :)

On Thursday, I just happened to be driving through Sugar House. (The reason is because I had gone to Best Buy to get my old laptop repaired, and while I was out that far I wanted to go to Shopko because they have the best selection of Fourth of July candy. Yes, I really went out of my way to get seasonal candy, since Bountiful's (and Provo's) Shopko closed.) Earlier this year when I was doing research for work, I had cited a Sons of Utah Pioneers plaque, since it was the only place that had the information I needed. I had found a picture of it online, so I didn't visit it in person. But as I was driving, I realized that I was passing the very plaque, so I had to stop and see it in person. 

I also had to look at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers plaque commemorating the sugar factory for which Sugar House is named. I was a little amused at the positive way they commemorated it, since the sugar beet endeavor of the 1850s was essentially a failure.  

I also liked the drain covers with the sugar beets. Sugar beets are Utah's state historic vegetable. Spanish sweet onions are the state vegetable. I question the need of having a state vegetable, but apparently we have two.

Ojo rojo

On Tuesday this week, my eye was acting a little funny. You know how when you wake up, your vision is a little foggy? Well, it wouldn't go away from my right eye. It was very red.

I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but my mom insisted that I go to the doctor, so on Wednesday morning I went to the doctor, where I haven't been in five years. He diagnosed it as conjunctivitis and gave me some drops. I tend to have a really good immune system, and it was the first time in my life I've had pink eye.

Since it hurt to look at bright lights (like sunlight), I used my condition as an excuse to do nothing and watch TV (which didn't hurt my eye, especially when I closed it). Ordinarily, I only watch TV if I'm doing something else (usually exercising), but I let myself watch TV this week.

My ward was remodeling another house on Saturday, but I didn't know how my eye would be feeling, so I didn't go in the morning. But then as I was up and about, it was feeling fine, so I went. I feel bad that I was only there a short time.

I was even feeling well enough to go out running in the sunlight. Well, I wasn't running the entire time, because June is the month in which I search for goathead plants to pull them up. You see, in June they usually haven't grown new seeds, which makes them somewhat safer. I did find a vacant lot with lots of goatheads on it. And although the plants haven't grown new seeds, the old seeds are always a hazard, so my fingers always get sore. I wasn't able to pull up all the plants, so I'll have to go back another time. I cannot think of a plant more evil than goatheads, so I feel like it's an important duty, even if it's self imposed.

Inappropriate shoes, Relief Society halls, and Altonah, UT

I had a rather eventful week, going to numerous places where I've never been before.

On Monday night, my ward was meeting at Mueller Park Canyon in Bountiful. I didn't know what was going on, so I showed up late and found out that most of the people I knew were high on the trail to Elephant Rock. I figured if I wanted to meet up with them sooner, I would need to run. I most definitely was not dressed for running, but I did anyway, and I actually ended up running all the way up to Elephant Rock in non-exercise clothing. But I didn't get on the rock itself, so I didn't get to examine it, but I think it's conglomerate (perhaps the same Miocene conglomerate that I see in other trails?). I was actually impressed that I ran all the way to the rock in my Chuck Taylors! But I walked down.

This week was the conference of the Mormon History Association in Provo. I had no intention of going, because it's expensive. But my boss, Reid Neilson, had registered and paid for a women's history tour on Thursday, but he was unable to attend, so he asked me to take his place. So on Wednesday I drove down to Provo and spent the night chez my old roommate Jordan.

When I got on the tour bus on Thursday morning, it didn't take me long to realize I was overdressed. I thought that since I was representing one of the Assistant Church Historians, I should wear a tie. Well, the other Assistant Church Historian, Richard Turley, was there too, and he was dressed more casually. I was probably the least educated person on the bus, but I was dressed most formally. During the entire ride, I felt like I was drinking out of the proverbial firehose--I know so little about women's history, and so little about Utah history after the 1850s, that I didn't have the background context to fully understand and appreciate what we were learning about. But I did try to document a lot of what we learned.

A lot of what we tried to see were Relief Society halls. The Relief Society had kind of been on a hiatus during the pioneer period, but it was revived in the late 1860s, and many Relief Society halls were built where the sisters would hold meetings and do their relief stuff. Our first stop was this building in Lehi, which was originally built in 1868 as a Relief Society hall, but it has had a lot of stuff added on to it. Today, it's a car dealership (I couldn't get a shot from the front).

 We went to the John Moyle park in Alpine, where there are a lot of old buildings. This little tower was built in the 1850s (I think) for them to look out for Indians or other threats. I climbed up and looked out the upper windows. My Mormon readers (most of you) have probably heard the story of John Moyle, especially from the movie Only a Stonecutter. It is commonly believed that Moyle carved "Holiness to the Lord" in the temple rock, but the scholars on the bus said that he probably didn't. They also insinuated that other aspects of his story might not be true, but they didn't explain those. When we were walking back to the bus, I saw lots of horrible goathead plants. I take it as my duty during the month of June to pull up any that I see, but it didn't seem appropriate to do that in front of a bunch of scholars.

I believe this next picture is of the American Fork Relief Society hall, but I'm not sure.

This building is now a Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum, but if I understood correctly, it is the longest standing school in Utah. I want to say it was built in the 1850s.

 

 Then we went down to Provo, where we saw lots of buildings that were really old but have been converted to new purposes. There was one amusing duplex-style house that a polygamist built for his sister wives. Next door was the house of his third wife, but she didn't like the first two wives, so she had her house built at such an angle that she didn't have to look at them and that blocked their view. (I took a picture, but it's mostly just a reflection of me from the bus window.) Then we went up to BYU, where we had some lunch in the Wilk. I thought it would be weird being back, but it really wasn't, just because it was so recent. I knew my way around quite well. Then we went over to the JFSB, where I spent most of my time in college, and we went to the Education in Zion exhibit, which I haven't been to since 2010.

Then we went down to the Provo City Cemetery. I liked going to the Fillmore Cemetery a few weeks ago because it was my ancestors and I knew some of their history, but in Provo I didn't know much. But we saw Abraham Smoot's grave and his wives next to him. Regardless of what you think of polygamy, it's fascinating that nineteenth-century Americans practiced it here in Utah!

  

We also saw the grave of Susa Young Gates, but I really don't know much about her.

Then we went down to Mapleton, where there was an old Relief Society Hall just sitting in someone's backyard. The owner was very nice and let us all traipse in her yard to look at it. It was probably built between the late 1880s and early 1890s.

Then we went to the Springville Art Museum, where a very talented quilter showed us all the quilts she has made for various projects. The quilt pictured here is one she made for the Priesthood Restoration Site in Pennsylvania, because it's the kind of style Joseph and Emma Smith might have used. There was also a quilt made in honor of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and it had squares with messages from descendants of both Arkansas victims and Mormon perpetrators.

 Then I was done with the tour. Before I headed back to Salt Lake, I stopped at my old default grocery store in Provo. I saw my old roommate Eric Scott West in the parking lot, but I didn't talk to him because he decided he was too good for us, even though he started out as a nice roommate.

On Friday, I went to the funeral for Elder Perry, but I only watched it in the Assembly Hall.

Then that afternoon, I drove a group of us out to Duchesne County, specifically near the towns of Altamont and Altonah, because my ward had a large event at a spacious ranch out there. I had been asked to drive, but I was a little nervous. For one thing, that's the furthest I have ever personally driven. For another, I'm very self conscious about my driving. (Let's face it, I'm self conscious about everything.) Also, I didn't trust my 1995 Subaru to make it that far, so I borrowed my mom's Rav4.

We got there at the end of a talent show on Friday, but we got there in time for the movie night. Big Hero 6 is a good movie, but I feel like it will be largely forgotten in ten years (like Meet the Robinsons and Ratatouille).

The men were supposed to sleep outside, but they allowed us to sleep in a "barn" that housed a volleyball/basketball court. That was a good thing, since I didn't bring warm things, just the tiny sleeping bag that I used for a freezing groundwater field trip a year and a half ago. Then Saturday I spent some time on a low-seated bike, on a rowboat in a tiny pond, and in a pool.

Shane is the only one on the boat, I'm pretty sure, who will see this!

Then I drove home successfully, although my GPS mysteriously wanted me to get off the freeway only to get back on it again.

Now it's back to ordinary, boring weeks. At least for a few weeks.

The end of spring

This week was Memorial Day, which is the first paid holiday I've ever had in my life. I can't take vacations as freely as I could as an intern, but I do get paid holidays now.

And since my holiday was paid, I couldn't just sit home watching Hulu all day. No, I had to actually do something fun. Back on Valentine's Eve, I went to the first radio tower on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and saw Ensign Peak, so since that time, I've wanted to make it there. I almost made it in April, but I didn't know where I was going, so I didn't. I thought Memorial Day would be a perfect day to go there.

I didn't run all the way there, and I think there are two reasons--I don't usually run in direct sunlight (it was sunny at that time, but it wasn't too hot), and mentally I knew I still had a long way to go, so I talked myself out of it. My walking times were basically only when I went uphill. I went something like thirteen minutes running, six minutes walking, twelve minutes running, approximately twenty minutes walking, and thirty-four minutes running.

There are two ways to get there from Tunnel Springs Park in North Salt Lake. To get there, I went down a large dirt road for a while until it met up with an unofficial, very steep trail. I'm not sure I recommend that way. But I made it to Ensign Peak, which I've only been to one other time, when I was a fat thirteen-year-old huffing my way up the hill from Salt Lake. There were tons of people there on Memorial Day, but I think the vast majority of them went the shorter way from Salt Lake. I went around and read the historical signs and was able to look over the valley. However, there are lots of other places near there with similar views of the valley, so I didn't find the view that extraordinary.

I went back a different way, and after getting to the top of a little hill just above Ensign Peak, I was able to run all the way back to the park. That trail was a littler longer than the way I came, but it was much less steep. At one point I saw something hovering in the air, and I thought it was a drone--but then I looked, and it was a bird, flapping its wings and staying in the same place in the air, like a hummingbird, but it definitely was not a hummingbird. I was a little astonished, because it wasn't even really windy (at least I don't think it was). Then a little later on the trail, I heard some rustling on the ground and knew there was some kind of animal there. I figured it would be a mouse or a bird, but it was a snake! It was probably two or three feet long. I don't think it was a rattlesnake, but I don't know what kind it was. It was grayish-tan, the same color as the ground.

Since January, I have spent my Thursday evenings helping with tutoring Tongan high-schoolers (and some middle-schoolers) in Glendale. They like to call me Peter Parker. Thursday was our last time with them this school year, although it was a barbecue and no tutoring. As we were driving off, one of them called out, "Bye white people!" Since I was born into privileged circumstances, I feel that helping with their schoolwork is the most important thing I do with my ward.

Saturday was a rather busy day. I helped clean my church building, then I had to spend a few hours at the Bountiful Family History Center for my new calling, then I had to get my car inspected, then there was a gathering at my house of some of my cousins on my dad's side, then I took my niece and dad on a very short hike. I took them to a little place called Banner Grove, which isn't that great, but I think I may be the first person to put this sign on the internet.

Here it is the last day of May, and I never saw it snow this month. Sigh. But I did see large quantities of hail that looked like snow.

Last night I dreamed that it was June 1, and it was snowing, and I was super happy. Some cars were sliding around. But it was June 1, 2009, so I was still on my mission, and it was snowing in Davenport, Washington (even though in real life I left Davenport in February 2009).

There are two ways to determine the seasons, astronomically and meteorologically. The astronomical way goes by the solstices and equinoxes, and that's what people generally mean when they say "the first day of summer" or "the first day of fall." But the meteorological method goes by the months, and I think it makes much more sense, because June 19 is much more summery than September 19, even though June 19 is in astronomical spring and September 19 is in astronomical summer. Therefore, tomorrow is the first day of summer, meteorologically speaking. And therefore, popsicles and such will once again be in season.

Six obstacles to dating

I am constantly being reminded about my singlehood. There are some relatives and some Church leaders (e.g. the stake president who insisted that you weren't doing your duty if you didn't go on two dates a week) who make it seem like my life is meaningless because I'm not married. Sometimes it's the first thing they ask about me. I feel like I might as well throw my diploma away because my life is worthless because I'm single.

It's especially annoying when people insinuate that it's because I don't want to be married. I wish I were married. It irks me when I see abusive, negligent, or stupid parents reproducing like crazy, when an intelligent, responsible person like me has no kids. I get baby hungry. Well, more like toddler hungry.

I have a hard time dating, and I know I'm not the only one. I've thought about why it's hard, and I've come up with six obstacles to dating. These are ones that I have personally experienced or that I think other people experience. I provide these not as an excuse but as an explanation.

#1: Time. I know that you can make time for anything. But when there are lots of things going on, how do you fit time in for dating? There's work, school, homework, and various other activities. It can be hard to fit in dating.

#2: Money. College students are poor. This isn't really an obstacle for me now, but it is for a lot of people of dating age. A lot of dates require spending money, and when you're worried about paying rent or even buying food, how can you spend lots of money on dates? I know that not all dates need money. But that leads to the next obstacle.

#3: Lack of creativity. You have to think of other activities when you don't have a lot of money. For some people, that comes easily. For others, it's hard to come up with an activity for a date. Even if you have money, this can be a challenge, because dinner and a movie seems like a cop-out.

#4. Not wanting to spoil otherwise good friendships. Sometimes this is more psychological than real, but I have seen it happen. You may have a decent friendship, but dating can ruin it. Sometimes it's not necessarily because there's animosity, but simply because being friendly may signal that you are interested, even if you are not.

#5. Thinking the girl wouldn't want to be on a date with you. Sometimes we might think that the girl wouldn't want to go on a date with us. Even if she says yes, she doesn't want to--she only agrees because she doesn't want to create a feeling of rejection or because she knows she should, just like she knows she should eat vegetables. We don't want to bother girls if they won't like it.

This one is especially true for me. I hear stories about girls watering their pillows at night because they aren't asked on dates. I think, "That may be true when it comes to other guys, but not with me. If a girl had to choose between spending a Friday night at home alone, or spending it with me, she would pick spending it alone."

#6. A lack of girls you're interested in. Sometimes the obstacle is the simplest: there's just not a large pool of girls you're interested in, and those that do appeal to you may be already taken or may not be at all interested in you.

I've heard lots of married people wonder why so many of us find dating hard. Well, here are my reasons. These obstacles are surmountable, of course, but they are nevertheless obstacles.