"Waiting for Woodruff"

People came out to the Wilford Woodruff Fireside in surprisingly large numbers on Monday night. Kristi, with her modest expectations was counting on ten people, but there were well over 100 there, so that’s good. It was actually quite entertaining.

I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew we were going to have a speaker talk about Wilford Woodruff (fourth president of the LDS church) and there were going to be some musical numbers. Oh, and we were told Wilford himself would be there. I didn’t know what that meant, really. I thought maybe someone in costume? I waited for that promise to be fulfilled, but I guess the speaker was a great grandson and his name was Wilford as well. I get it. It was a trick.

So anyway, Shanna and Steve from our ward were the musical numbers. I learned about a week ago that these numbers come from a larger work – a comprehensive musical written about the life of Wilford Woodruff. Oh, I love it.

I didn’t understand how this was going to work. Were they just going to sing the numbers back to back? Because if they were that would be totally weird seeing how Shanna’s song was very melodramatic and Steve’s was…well…silly. But I like the way the speaker introduced each song so we knew what was coming. The lyrics to Shanna’s song were taken from a letter Wilford’s wife wrote to him after the death of their baby daughter. It was a beautiful song. I liked the melody, and of course Shanna sang it well.

After Shanna's song the speaker told a story about Wilford and how he loved to fish and how he was the first fly fisherman west of the Continental Divide. That was the introduction to Steve’s song and I accompanied him on the piano. Steve showed up in costume and really hammed it up, because really, what else are you supposed to do with a song with lyrics like “everyone ought to have a fish fly, this one here is a beauty and knows well his duty…he’ll lay there waiting in the water, acting like a real live fly!” Still makes me laugh. Steve was a hit and rumor has it Wilford himself got his number. Maybe Steve will join them on tour.

Oh, and I should probably explain the pictures illustrating today's post. I didn’t have any photographs from Monday night, so I Googled Wilford Woodruff hoping I could find him fishing or something, but instead, these little gems caught my attention. They’re from a book a grown man illustrated for a primary class about Wilford Woodruff receiving revelation in the middle of the night warning him to move the carriage he was sleeping in. Good thing he did, because soon after, a whirlwind came tearing a large tree out of the ground and dropping it where his carriage once stood. If you want to read the whole story, click here.

The Moral of "Pierre" is Care!

Remember the boy named Pierre? Who only would say “I don’t care”?

Well, after years of caring too much, I finally said, “I don’t care” yesterday. Only it was to a reporter, which probably wasn’t the best person to vent my frustrations on. OK, I’m being a little dramatic, I recovered quite nicely, of course, but he could tell I was harboring resentment from somewhere.

Oh my job. It’s not even my job really. It’s my job(s). I have too many. I wear too many hats and sometimes get confused as to which hat I’m wearing or which hat people assume I’m wearing when they call me.

So a few weeks ago, I decided to resign as Vice President of the Salt Lake Gallery Association. That position was doing nothing but causing me stress and drama. What surprised me was how disinterested the members of the SLGA were when I announced my resignation at the meeting. Seriously. I have been VP of that organization for over three years. I had an agenda item and said, “I am officially resigning as VP of the Salt Lake Gallery Association” and someone immediately changed the subject back to a previous topic of discussion, as though what I said had no consequence whatsoever.

The next day I got several phone calls from members saying, “Hey Laura, what do you mean you’re not VP anymore? Does that mean you don’t deal with _____ and ______? Cause I need you to do ________.”

Yeah, they didn’t get it. They didn’t believe me. Yes, it means I don’t deal with you and you don’t call me with your drama anymore.

It may be harder to quit than I think. So this reporter from the Trib called yesterday saying he was writing an article on galleries and charity auctions and how charity auctions are hurting the art industry. He called me as VP of the Gallery Association. I’ve worked with him before, he’s a super nice guy, but I got a little impatient with his questions and may have said something to the effect that I don’t care what galleries think, artists don’t read their contracts and galleries don’t enforce them and blah blah blah. Not a tactful thing to say when I represent the Utah Arts Council – my actual paying job. But the reporter was cool about it. I think he understood. He was being hounded by the same gallery that was hounding me. This gallery expects an organization or the community to solve their retail wretchedness for them. I called him back today because I was being neurotic about it last night after our conversation. I hate it when I misrepresent myself.

My paying job has been boring me lately as well. I went to a department meeting yesterday. Halfway through the “Balanced Scorecard Initiative” presentation, I discovered my cell phone had a stopwatch on it. So I checked my pulse. Twice. I averaged 85 beats per minute.

And then about three weeks ago at staff meeting, my mind started to wander after an hour. I didn’t realize it was wandering until my boss looked at me and said something like, “What do you think, Laura?” I said, “That sounds good to me,” but what I was actually thinking was “What is nougat, really?” Granted it was Halloween and I had a few 3 Musketeers in my purse. When did I stop caring? Maybe when I realized I cared too much and for no reason.

I need to get with it. Back in the game. Or I need a vacation. And not one of those wimpy five day vacations. A real vacation. Like three weeks. I’m almost there. I have 12 days saved up.

Miss Sorenson's Class

This morning I visited Kristi's first grade class. They were super cute. I guess Kristi had them think of questions to ask me during their recess. So when I got there I took several questions. The first one being "What is your favorite food?" All of a sudden, my mind went blank. I thought "pizza" would get a good response, which it did. But all my answers got good responses. They agreed with all my favorite things. The best question was "What is your favorite dress?" I had no idea how to answer that one. I think the girl who asked it had a mother who was getting married. Dangit! Wedding dress, of course. Why didn't I think of that one? Probably because I don't have one.

I'm glad she had them call me Laura and not Miss Durham. That would have freaked me out a little bit.

Kristi is lucky enough to have a piano in her classroom so they sang a bunch of songs for me. First they sang a turkey song. They sang a few Halloween songs and then they sang "Walk the Line." It was awesome. Kristi wanted me to come so I could play the piano. I played "Go My Son". I remember learning that when I was in grade school with the sign language and everything. Anyway, turns out Kristi could play it better than I could, but it was my first try.

Here is a picture of Kristi commanding her students. This was her asking them to be quiet before the dance party.

Here are some pictures of random kids. I guess their parents all signed a media release form so I was allowed to take as many pictures as I wanted. And all the kids wanted their picture taken. "Take a picture of me! No me! Take another picture of me!"

So I have a lot of pictures.


This is Fredleca. Not sure how you spell that. But I chose her when Kristi asked me who I thought her wildest student was.

And then this next picture is of a few girls. I only remember the name of the one tilting her head. Her name is Amy. She told me that I looked like I was getting married. I asked her, "Why? because my hair is curly? And she said, "No, because of your size."

I made treats for all the kids, because I like to make treats. Check out these turkeys. How cute are these? I was pretty proud of the way they turned out. I was just going to bring cookies, but then I thought "Eh, kids prefer food with faces." They like to eat something that looks like it could come alive any second.

So it was a fun morning. I will definitely have to go back sometime soon. Thanks Kristi!

Hauntings

2006 was the second year in a row that I dressed up for Halloween after a long hiatus of not caring about the holiday. I think a big reason I dressed up last year was because I actually had costume parties to go to and I seriously thought it would hurt my friend Jon’s feelings if I didn't, because if it weren’t for Halloween (or the ‘80s) I'm not sure he'd be the same Jon I know.

So last year I attempted to dress up as Sydney Bristow. It was all right. But this year was more fun. Maria, Kaila and I decided to find some creepy dolls and dress ourselves up like the dolls. Thanks to moms who know how to sew and some serendipitous luck, we actually pulled it off. Here is a picture of us at our ward Halloween party on Monday. If you’re jealous of our dolls, you can find some of your own at www.livingdeaddolls.com. People collect these. So wrong.

Usually, I photoshop pictures to take the red eye out, but Kaila’s red eye looked so awesome with her dress, I didn’t want to touch it.

Halloween was last night, but I didn’t dress up last night. As I was telling my friends, this year felt like the Twelve Days of Halloween, so when the actual day arrived, I was over it. It was kind of anti-climactic and I was sick of putting goop on my face and wearing an itchy wig. But I was proud of our costumes.

Speaking of creepy things, there’s this scary guy that has recently made the Rio Grande Depot his home (it’s my second home as I spend most of my day here earning a living). He wanders around, asking me if I’m working hard or hardly working. He bugs this girl in the research center. I guess the other day he came up to her as she was talking to her coworker. She finally looked at him and said, “Can I help you with something?” and he said, “Oh, I’m just listening in on the building news.”

He sneaks in and out of dark rooms, checking out windows, doors, assessing our weaknesses. Meanwhile, the security guard sits careless at his desk, nose in a novel.

The other day, this lurker came into my office with a copy of "IN" Utah and told me I need to read the “Famous Utah Haunts” section. I thought I better. Here are some selected entries, republished completely without permission from "IN" Utah. But in all fairness, their writers stole these from City Weekly last year. I’m not impressed with the publication, I give it a year.

Shilo Inn
The room where a mother threw her children out of an 11th floor window (and later jumped herself) is allegedly haunted. The pinball machine in the game room is known to play on its own.

Fort Douglas
The fort and its accompanying cemetery has a reported ghost that goes by the name Clem.

West High
A basketball player who wears his old uniform haunts the gym after his alleged suicide. The weight room is known to have weights and equipment move by themselves.

Capitol Theater
Haunted by an old man who died in a building fire in the ‘40s.

Memory Grove
Some folks talk about seeing the ghost of a woman in a wedding gown.

Rio Grande Building
The ghost of a woman in a purple dress who accidentally walked in front of a train supposedly haunts this place.

Deveraux Mansion
Story goes that the ghost of an 8 year-old girl can be seen in the upstairs windows and heard softly singing to herself. She has been seen in pictures taken by visitors and she appears to be the same girl in the pictures hanging on the walls.

I don’t know about this last one (like I know about any of these), the Utah Arts Council has hung artwork on the walls of the Deveraux for years, and I don’t know of any pictures with a girl in them. Must have been a long time ago.

Anyway, hope everyone had a good Halloween. It is officially the “Holiday Season” now. Get ready for Christmas music wherever you go.