Plaque in the Park

I noticed this plaque while walking through the park:

The text reads:

THEODORE T. FIELDS, JR.       DAVID L. MARTIN III

AUGUST 20, 1980

TWO FULL BLOSSOMS

FORCED TO DEPART,

TARRIED LONG ENOUGH

TO GATHER OUR HEART.

WRITTEN BY:

PASTOR FRANCE A. DAVIS

AUGUST 1982

SPONSORED BY:
SALT LAKE BRANCH, NAACP

ALBERTA HENRY, PRESIDENT

It's a rather interesting plaque. I thought it unfortunate that it was in such an awkward location, just stuck in the grass in the north-west corner of the park:

When I got home, I looked up the names on the plaque, and found this news story:

Utahns pay tribute to MLK and two killed in racial slayings

I hope other people notice this plaque too. Maybe someday they'll move it to a more visible location.

Freak

It's kind of interesting to me how many people in my life have called me a freak. Most of my friends and several of my co-workers have done so at one point. I don't really mind being called a freak, because by definition it's true:

freak

noun

1. any abnormal phenomenon or product or unusual object; anomaly; aberration. (from dictionary.com)

I can tell you, I am definitely abnormal. There are parts of me that are normal, sure--I am a woman, I like chocolate, I need 8 hours of sleep a night, I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, etc. But overall, I'm not normal. Anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes with me can tell you this.

Most of the time, I feel like this:

(Yes, probably the "everyone else" bubble should be bigger. :o)

I've asked other people if they've ever felt like this, like they are just completely apart from society, from every other human in existence, and no one that I've talked to ever has. Maybe it's just a hyper-awareness of my different-ness? I have things in common with some people, sure, but I am never part of any group. I never fit. I never belong. And 99.99% of the time, my brain connections/thoughts make little sense to those around me*.

I'm not saying this as a sob story, because I've been this way my whole life, and it's nothing new, and I'm not sad about it, I just find it interesting. And yes, I think we all feel alone in some ways. I'm not talking about feeling alone. I'm talking about feeling distinct. Abnormal. Anomical. Aberrational. Set apart. That's me.

So what is the point? I don't really know. Everyone's an individual. Everyone's unique. But not everybody feels that way every moment of every day.

It is ok to call me a freak. I consider it a compliment.

The end.



*If you are reading this and thinking, "But you've said stuff that makes sense to me!", that's probably because I've said the stuff that sort of makes sense, and said it in a way that others could understand it. The real thought was either never expressed, or failed in the attempt.

My New Alarm Clock

I usually wake up in the morning between 4-6am, depending upon when Anya decides she wants food. I don't mind so much that she wakes me up so early, but the manner in which she wakes me up is definitely problematic:

Next to my bed is a cabinet, and next to the cabinet is a bookshelf, and Anya likes to jump onto either one of them and knock stuff to the floor—stuff like a bag full of coins or a bottle of lotion. The resulting crash wakes me up, and Anya's purpose is fulfilled.

Recently, I've been placing a pillow atop the cabinet and bookshelf so that Anya can't jump onto them. So far, it's working. The only problem is that Anya started going to the other side of my bed, where there is my piano (electronic keyboard), and then a table upon which sit my metronome, piles of papers, an eraser, a pair of headphones, etc. In other words, it's another perfect place for Anya to knock things onto the floor.

Then I got an idea.

Before I went to bed one night, I turned on the piano. In the morning when Anya traipsed across it on her way to the table, her steps were amplified into some rather interesting chords, and I woke up right away. Success!

Now I turn on the piano every night before I go to bed. It makes me laugh to wake up to my cat walking across the keyboard, and it's much more pleasurable than having her knock my belongings to the floor or attack my face (another favorite wake-up method). I guess it's kind of an expensive alarm clock, as far as alarm clocks go, but so far it's working well for me. :o)

Shriveled Carrot

Once upon a time, there was a carrot. Maybe it was a carrot that someone brought as a snack to keep them awake during class. Maybe it was part of someone's dinner. Maybe it was a renegade that broke free from the confines of its plastic entrapment. I don't really know. What I do know is that one lonely Wednesday night at the beginning of September, this carrot showed up in the stairwell at work:

Obviously, this picture was not taken that same day.

I did notice the carrot that first day it appeared, and I thought about picking it up. But then I thought, "I wonder if anyone else will notice or pick it up, or if the carrot will just sit there and shrivel away week after week." And so I left it.

The picture above was taken a week-and-a-half ago. Since then, the carrot has remained alone, shriveled, in its little corner of the stairs. It is puny and faded and difficult to see unless you know it is there. I don't think any animals are going to come and finish it off, either, so maybe it's time I threw it away.

It was fun while it lasted.

Does anyone else watch things decompose?

My New Old Bike

My parents recently sent me... a bike. Hooray!

To make a long story short, it used to be my sister's bike, but now I am claiming it. Maybe I should ask her if that's ok. Hm. Anyway, it came in a big old box which just fit in my car:

I brought the box into my house with the intention of either taking it somewhere to have someone put it together, or asking my bishop to help me put it together (as he had invited me to come to him for bike help).

After nearly a week of doing nothing, Olive told me I should at least open the box to make sure it wasn't damaged. I thought that was a good idea.

I don't know what I was expecting to find inside the box, maybe the entire gear system disassembled or something, but it really didn't look that bad:

"Hey," I thought. "I bet I could put this together!"

After all, I am somewhat mechanically inclined, and I like fixing things and putting things back together (I fixed a drinking fountain and a vending machine while in college, just because I could), and I play with Lego sets all the time. Of course I could put this bike back together.

Fifteen minutes later:

Why didn't I try that sooner?

Utah's Emergency Contact List

You can now register emergency contacts with the DMV:
https://secure.utah.gov/emergencycontacts/index.html

This is a great idea. Most people do not put ICE numbers in their phone, so it's not immediately clear which phone contact to call in an emergency. If the authorities are able to look up your ID and find emergency numbers already on file, however, it's much easier to know whom to contact.

The UT system lets each license holder input information for two emergency contacts. I put in my sister and my friend. The whole process took less than a minute.

Try it out!

[MissingSomething]

I made online reservations a few weeks ago for lunch at Gladstones Restaurant in Malibu. The day before I was to go, I received a reminder email, reproduced here word for word:

From: [restaurantname] Reservations

Subject: Your Upcoming Reservation at [restaurantname]

Dear [dinerfirstname],

Just a reminder, you've got a reservation coming up!

[restaurantname] will be ready for your party of [partysize] at [time] on [day], [date]. Confirmation Number: [confirmationnumber]

[offertext]

Dining Points = Free Meals, didn’t you know? Make sure you get your Points for all your future reservations! Create your free account now >

Change or cancel this reservation here.

From the restaurant:
[confirmationmsg] [restdatespecificmsg] [promomsg] [reststaticmsg] [villagevinesfineprint]

[ccsponsorurl]

[parkingurl]

[booklimourl]

[advertisement]

To get there:
[restaurantname]
[restaurantaddress]
Cross Street: [restaurantcrossstreet]
[restaurantphonenumber]


See menus, map & more >


Invite your party >

Thank you for using OpenTable.

Happy Dining!

The OpenTable Team
www.[sitedisplayname]

PS. Making reservations on the go is a snap with OpenTable Mobile.

** Questions about your reservation? You can always contact [restaurantname] at [restaurantphonenumber] with any questions.

Got a question for OpenTable? Visit Support.OpenTable.com to get answers!

[privatedining]

How To Get Stuff Done

Problem: I need to be able to practice the organ during the week so that our hymns will sound good on Sunday.

Solution: I asked for a key to the church building. It is "in the works."

Problem solved, right? Not quite. The plot thickens:

Problem: I need to get into the music library in our church building (which music library is really just a little closet with bins of music stacked on the shelves) in order to see what's in there and figure out what might work well for our choir. Unfortunately, the closet is kept locked all the time, and no one knows which specific key (besides the master key) is needed to open it.

Solution: I offered to catalog and index the music in the music library if I was allowed access to said library. The bishopric member I spoke with agreed, and said if my key which he ordered wasn't able to open the library, they'd order me a new one and make sure it's a master.

I'm not really sure how I'm going to go about indexing the music library--I guess I'll first have to see what's already been done--but I'm pretty excited about it. I hope I get my key soon, because it would be much easier to start on all that music before school resumes in September.