On This Day…

This is what happened to me On This Day over the past 15 years. What happened to you on this day in your life?

Just after I was baptized, back in 1987, my mom handed me a journal and said, “write in it.” At age 12, I wasn’t quite sure what to write about, so I began with this or that, lists of my favorite movies, favorite songs. I would rank my favorite music with “weekly” top tens, but because I didn’t have the patience to update them only once a week, I usually would update them like every five minutes! I’d do the same for my favorite movies. Then for the top two, I would give them a rating for the number of times in the top spot and in the second spot. So a movie that would “debut” at the top spot would have a rating of (1,0). Some of my favorites that I had watched numerous times, such as Empire Strikes Back would have a rating of like (455, 247), being at the top of my Top Ten 455 times and in second place 247 times! That’s how I began my journaling. 🙂
I see the value of journaling now, even though that was what I wrote about when I was twelve and thirteen. I remember those days fondly when looking back at that first journal. I got better with my journaling, and more to its original intent, to catalog our days. I tried to write your typical type of journal, with a long entry about my day, even letting a stream of consciousness take over to other thoughts that might come to mind, but I could never do it consistently. So, in November 1990, I decided to start writing one line a day in my journal. Here are my first entries in my new One-Line-A-Day Journal:

22-Nov – THANKSGIVING DAY- THOUGHT UP MY GREATEST IDEA
23-Nov – WENT ON BIKE RIDE/ PRACTICED PLAY/ DID RYAN’S PAPER ROUTE/ DID LAUNDRY
24-Nov – PRACTICED PLAY
25-Nov – MY FIRST SUNDAY AS A PRIEST
26-Nov – TALKED MORE WITH KAREN RUSSELL/ LONG REHEARSAL
27-Nov – WENT TO PETERSON/ ANOTHER LONG REHEARSAL
28-Nov – TALKED MORE WITH KAREN RUSSELL/ FUN REHEARSAL
29-Nov – TALKED WITH NANCY SMITH/ FUN REHEARSAL
30-Nov – JAZZ CONCERT/ BEAUTIFUL PLAY/ OPENING NIGHT OF YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU/ GREAT DINNER
1-Dec – MISERY/ GREAT PLAY/ FUN PARTY

Since that day, November 22, 1990, I’ve written every single day in my journal, approaching now 16 straight years! So what I want to do now is go backwards on one day, this day, (August 13) in history, as August 13 has been an especially good day for me over the past 15 years. There have been some slow days, like normal, but for some odd reason, August 13 is a great day in my life.

Sunday, August 13, 2006 – went to church/ went with Joe to bless Joanne Myers who had a massive stroke

A typical Sunday for us right now, going to church and then taking it easy in the rest of the day. However on this day, Joe and I went to the hospital to visit and give a blessing to the mother of a member who had a massive stroke the day before. She looked like she was improving, her vitals were in pretty good shape and she was breathing well, though still in the ICU. At this point, it isn’t known if she will live or pass on.

Saturday, August 13, 2005 – The Honeymoon/ ate at Slammin’ Sammy’s for breakfast/ drove back up to New York/ rested in evening

This was the last day of our honeymoon in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. We had such an enjoyable time that we’ve been thinking of going to the Outer Banks again and again as a family vacation. We couldn’t this year as we just had Ava.

Friday, August 13, 2004 – Neuschanstein Castle—very pretty/ drove around Alps with Candace/ stopped at castle/ hiked up to excellent view/ ate at nice restaurant in village called Vils/ Drove down into Italy/ stayed at hostel in Trento, a pretty town/ ate pizza with three Albanians living in Italy

Ah, a wonderful trip through Europe that I finally got to do, though not quite the length I had attempted earlier. In the fall of 2001 I had planned with my friend Matt, from Alaska, to go on a three month trip throughout Europe, but circumstances held me back from accomplishing that dream. But in 2004, I managed to scrape up enough money for a two-week trip to Europe. I went from the top of Norway, in the Arctic Circle, down to Bologna, Italy. On this day, Friday the 13th, I had gone with my friend Candace, who was living in Munich at the time, to Neueschwanstein Castle in Germany, and then down into Italy, stopping by at a very pretty town called Trento. I will upload some pictures soon…..

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 – GREAT DAY/ LAST SOFTBALL GAME/ WON 21-2/ WENT 4-7 (HIT FOR CYCLE–5RBI, 4R) WATCHED GREAT EPISODES OF BABYLON 5 SEASON THREE/ TALKED WITH KAREN

This really was a great day. It did not have anything as spectacular as a honeymoon or one of the most famous castles in the world, but it was a great day around home. I played softball at Brown University (where I was employed at the time), and played for the library team in inter-departmental softball. The Library B.U.L.S. (Brown University Library Softball) were quite good. We started this season 5-0, winning pretty decisively. Then we lost like three in a row, pretty badly! We finished the season though 6-5, and won this last game in a blowout. This was also the day I first watched the great middle episodes of Babylon 5 Season Three, the episodes where Babylon 5 breaks away from earth. Great day!

Tuesday, August 13, 2002 – WORKED/ WATCHED BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER AND ROBIN HOOD

Here’s one of the more regular days. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and watched that show a lot.

Monday, August 13, 2001 – ZAANDAM–DELUXE/ TRANSFERS/ SLEPT IN/ BURNED ANOTHER TWO CDS/ GROUP PHOTO ON THE ZAANDAM

This is Alaska. I was a tour bus driver for Gray Line of Alaska, and enjoying life somewhat. It was during this time that I was preparing for the big trip to Europe with my friend Matt. We were both working in Alaska at the time. I prepared a huge pack of CDs (this was before the iPod came out – or at least before I got into it), for the drive down from Alaska that I would take at the end of September (or so was the plan—but life has a way of altering your plans, skewering them, and dumping them in the trash!) The Zaandam was a Holland America cruise line, and on this day, we took our group photo on the Zaandam. Good memories. This was a good group of people to work with.

Sunday, August 13, 2000 – SMG–VERY GOOD–OFF N. AMSTERDAM/ FLOAT TRANSFER/ TALKED WITH VALERIE–DINNER AT TWISTED FISH/ PLAYED UNO

This was the second of my three summers in Alaska. I probably would have had gone back in the summer of 2002, but alas, one of the things that kept me from going on that three month trip to Europe in the fall of 2001 was that I got fired from the job just a few weeks after that August 13 on the Zaandam. In any case, to 2000 we go. An SMG is a tour called the Super Mendenhall Glacier tour, which is a three hour tour through Juneau and to the Mendenhall Glacier, a gorgeous locale. Tours are not all that we do as drivers. We also transfered passengers to other tours, such as dogsledding and the Float, which is a boat that goes out to see the whales. I don’t remember Valerie off hand….I’m trying to picture her, but I can’t right now. Ah, dinner at the Twisted Fish. Guess what I had? Guess what I always have in Alaska. Halibut! That’s the best tasting fish in the world! Especially freshly caught in Alaska.

Friday, August 13, 1999 – FLEW TO VALDEZ/ RIVER RAFTING IN KEYSTONE CANYON

My first summer in Alaska. This was a great summer, all around. The first 6 weeks were spent relaxing in Romania among friends, my first time back to Romania since the mission. And then I flew up to Anchorage, Alaska to work for the summer. This was my way of getting away from Utah for a while, as much as I could. Unfortunately, I did not have good times in Utah. Anyways, back to Alaska. On this day I flew to Valdez for my last trip there. I went with a co-worker on a river rafting trip in the Keystone Canyon, a very beautiful area, with the mountains shooting straight up all around us. I’ll put up some pictures as soon as I scan them in.

Thursday, August 13, 1998 – TREABA AT SCHOOL/ RENTED WEDDING SINGER AND MAN IN IRON MASK/ MATRIXX

1998 was probably my worst year in 10 years. I was miserable in Utah and couldn’t find a way out of the misery. This is a typical day in 1998 for me. “Treaba” is a Romanian word that has multiple meanings, and works well to describe “stuff” or “things” to do. I had things to do at school. I don’t remember what they were. They were unimportant enough to simply name “treaba.” Matrixx is the telemarketing company I worked for in Orem. I quit it on September 10. Dude, at Matrixx you had to ask permission to go to the restroom! Your break had to be exactly 10 minutes! Terrible! So I got up one day and simply quit. I watched Wedding Singer and Man in Iron Mask.

Wednesday, August 13, 1997 – WORKED/ ASTRONOMY FINAL/ GOT A DATE WITH KERRIE FLYGARE

Boy, I don’t even remember Kerrie. I think she was in the Orem singles branch that I went to, but I honestly do not remember her. Maybe she was in my astronomy class. I just cannot remember. I think that was it, actually, now that I think more on it. I think she was in my astronomy class. At this time I worked for Stewart’s Pest Control, driving those trucks around Utah County spraying people’s trees and yards. It was a good year. I had come home from the mission in February. In September we had a gathering of all the return missionaries from Romania at a RM’s home in Orem and had a blast reminiscing about the mission days. This August 13 was midweek, but it was a busy August. Just this upcoming weekend, the 15th and 16th, I climbed Mt. Timpanogos with some friends from Orem, including this girl Cindy, who I was interested in, and who I took on several dates to this point. Proving my lack of romanticism at this point in my life, I didn’t wait until the top of the mountain, when done hiking to make a move to kiss her, but half way up, all sweaty and panting. The thing was that she invited her friend, Mike—whom she later married and began having like six kids!–but she invited him to this thing which I had hoped would be a night out for us. So here she was consorting with him about his mission days in front of me. What was I supposed to do?

Anyways, this was a good time in Utah. It started going downhill in the fall and winter of 1997 and 1998.

Tuesday, August 13, 1996 – TAUGHT GREAT 1ST TO STANS/ VISITED CHIRILA, BANCU, RADULESCU/ FINDING

This is from the Mission in Romania. In August 1996, I was in Ploiesti with Elder Nielson, who was just finishing his mission in like 3 weeks. The Stans were our “golden” family. At the beginning of the month, on that first Sunday, we held a missionwide fast to find an investigator that month and baptize him by the end of the month. That fast Sunday, on August 4, was one of the hottest days in Ploiesti, and I was exhausted. I barely made the 24 hour fast, but we held on. The thing about a fast like this is that, in order to baptize a person by the end of the month, that required you find person right away.

So that first week Elder Nielson and I visited all our investigators and made numerous new contacts on the street and in tracting. We set up for numerous appointments. Most of the people were not home, and “bunged” us. Bung is the word we used when investigators were not home when they said they would be. In that first week, from Monday, August 5 through the next Monday, August 12, Elder Nielson and I were bunged 20 times! But we were so busy that we still taught 7 discussions that week. I think we hold a record for number of times in a week investigators failed to be at home when they said they would be. If anyone knows of a higher number, please let me know. (I’m a stats freak).

So anyways, on the following Sunday, after the fast, we met at church with one of the member families who said they knew someone who wanted to meet with the missionaries, and we met with Laurentiu, a young man, 18 years old, who was interested. So on this day, August 13, we went out to his house to teach his family. They lived in a small village outside of town, the only way we could get to it was either to take a bus or the train, and then walk for about an hour. His family was very receptive and we had a wonderful first discussion with them on this day.

So what happened? Laurentiu decided to be baptized on August 31, with his family following in the waters of baptism two weeks later. Elder Nielson and I were the only missionaries in Romania to find someone that month and baptize him by the end of the month. There were other baptisms in August, but not of people found in the month of August.

As a further update, in 2002 when I went back to Romania a third time, I went to Ploiesti and met with the Stans. Laurentiu is inactive and in some trouble. But his sister, Madalina, is preparing for a mission and the father, who I didn’t think would remain active, is active and you can see his face shining with happiness. The mother passed away from a disease she had (I forget what it was).

Sunday, August 13, 1995 – CHURCH/ D. MOLDOVAN CAME, DRAGUSINS CAME/ DID FINDING/ TALKED TO PRESIDENT MORREY

This is from the Mission in Romania. In August 1995, I was in Brasov, Romania, one of my favorite cities in Romania, so beautifully placed in the mountains. That was a wonderful summer in Brasov. We had the best weather, perfectly mild, never too hot, and we were among the first missionaries in Brasov. So when we say D. Moldovan and the Dragusins came to church, we mean that they are it, along with the missionaries. There were no active members of the church in Brasov at the time, except for D. Moldovan who was baptized in Germany when he worked there back in the 80s. He is a good man. I don’t know how active he has been of late. Two weeks after this day, the Falnagy family was baptized, one of our investigators, Elder Crandall and I.

Later in September of this year, while in Brasov, I got to go see Medias, the city where I was born, and to see my grandparents on my mom’s side, which was very nice. Earlier in the year, my dad had come to Romania and took me and Elder Anderson, my trainer, up to see my dad’s side of the family, including my grandparents. I’ve written before about my dad and why he left Romania, but he was not afraid to go back. He just avoided Medias, is all.

Saturday, August 13, 1994 – BOYFRIEND FINAL PERFORMANCE/ TOTALLY COOL/ TALKED TO EVERYBODY/ WORKED ON THREE MUSKETEERS AT AARON’S HOUSE

If not for the honeymoon in 2005, this would be the best August 13 I ever had. 1994 was a wonderful year. I had graduated high school in 1993 and began the wondering days of young adulthood, mixing life between working and schooling. I attented classes at Foothill College and was looking to possibly go to San Jose State University for a music degree. This is in California, before moving to Utah in December 1994. I was bored with the family ward. Most of my friends my age had gone off to BYU from my ward. I wasn’t looking forward to the Young Adult Ward as it had a stigma at the time of being a place for those who could not get married. I had gone to dances with my family (my mom and my sister) where my mom went to look for a new man in her life—which is how she met Wayne. More on Wayne another day. Furthermore, one of my friends in high school was at such a dance when a 40 year old man came to ask her to dance! So my perception of Young Adult Wards was not very high.

By January 1994, I had decided to go ahead and give it a try. The family ward bored me to death. I went and realized just how fun it actually was. By the summer, I had made good friends, had done some wonderful activities and had taken several girls on really fun dates. In the summer, this ward planned a musical. With a budget of $1000 (for stage work and costuming), we set out to perform a full fledged musical, with coreography, dancing and singing, lighting, costuming, and a real orchestra. To get the $1000, we had car washes and book sales. What fun this was! By the time August rolled around, we had bonded and had such chemistry that you could just feel it.

On this day, Saturday, August 13, we had our final performance of Boyfriend, the musical we chose to do. The Boyfriend is a cheesy musical that takes place in France of the 1920s, so much of the dancing was the charleston and such. Friday’s performance went well, but we wanted to end it with a bang, and we did. The musical came off so well….ah….yeah, it was a great day.

Earlier in the day, Aaron and I were working on a composition we made for three girls that visited our ward for the summer, Wendy, Tabitha and Delene. We called the piece “The Three Musketeers,” because they were always together. We finished it in time for them to hear it on the day after this final performance of The Boyfriend. We had to get it done because they were heading back to BYU on the 15th.

Friday, August 13, 1993 – MY FAIR LADY/ GOOD CONVERSATIONS WITH CREW/ PRESENTATION WITH AMY/ TOWED CAR BACK HOME

After graduating from high school, one of my friends who was very seriously into drama and theatre, Mark Schlegel, had invited me to work on the back stage of the My Fair Lady production at Foothill College for $150 a week (I think). This was very enjoyable. I had never done backstage work in high school, but just regular on stage work, so it was nice to see how things worked in the back. This was a great production. The cast was superb.

I had a presentation with Amy for my other work, selling Cutco knives. I didn’t make much money with them and ended that pretty quickly. In September I started working again for Men’s Wearhouse.

I don’t remember my car breaking down and having to tow it home. I know it broke down again on Christmas Eve in 1993 but I cannot remember this incident. It wasn’t too bad.

Thursday, August 13, 1992 – PLAYED SOFTBALL AND VOLLEYBALL

Exciting and funfilled day as you can tell. 🙂 This was the summer before starting my senior year. This was the last free week I had as the following week I started band camp. Earlier this week I finished my application for the University of Puget Sound up in Washington state. I was drawn to their brochure, very nicely packaged. Not much else to tell about this summer. It wasn’t my favorite. Pretty slow. I did work on my Eagle project earlier in the summer.

Finally! Last one!

Tuesday, August 13, 1991 – WENT TO DISAPPOINTMENT LAKE

That doesn’t tell you much without knowing a little more. This is the second day of my last 50 mile hike with the Scouts. There actually is a lake in the Sierra Nevada called Disappointment Lake. As you can see from this picture taken by a doctor who visited the lake, it ain’t too disappointing. 🙂 It really is a gorgeous part of the Sierra Nevada. This particular 50-miler actually inspired me to write a short story called Her Sentinel which I shall post on here shortly.

And that is it. This is what happened to me On This Day over the past 15 years. What happened to you on this day in your life?