Sometimes I do crazy things . . .

. . . like leave my pants in Idaho. This is okay for the week when I have to wear skirts to work every day anyway. But it gets annoying on the weekend when I have to shove a mattress in a jeep in the snow and I've run out of skirts and the semi-warm tights, so I have to wear running shorts. And then, because my car is full of mattress, I have to walk to the Japanese Festival, which is probably about two miles away, through the snow.

So how do I find the solution to this predicament? Well, in passing my old elementary school on my way downtown, I notice that they are having a rummage sale. So Amy (who met me on the corner) and I go into the gym, and on the stage where I used to perform and play the trombone and enjoy PE classes, I find a pair of pants for $2. I sneaked back into the school and put them on in the bathroom where I used to dress for Shakespeare plays. Except for the fact that I could see right over the stall, it was just like old times.

(No I didn't have socks either.)

While we were there we found this little gem. I decorated this tile in kindergarten, and it still graces the stairway by the library.
Notice the yellow sign on the library door:
"I love my lady . . . and bacon."

After that little stroll down memory lane, we went on to the Japanese Festival, stopping at the Lion House to get a loaf of poppy seed bread for breakfast. We ate it as we walked around downtown and finally got to the festival where we learned about Buddha and Anime.

We found this Pika

Who isn't quite as cute as our Pika.

It was a pretty adventurous day despite the snow and the initial lack of proper wardrobe.

Childhood Reminiscences

A lot of things about living in Salt Lake City again make me think of my childhood, but nothing throws me back quite like my recent re-discovery of COPPER SLUGS! For those of you less informed, a copper slug is what you get to do to your brother (or whomever you happen to be walking next to) when you see one of these little guys on the sidewalk:

That mini hot cross bun is also called a copper slug.

If my memory/sources are correct, copper slugs are little bits of copper placed strategically on the sidewalk marking the property boundary between two houses. I don't know if these are common in many places or unique to Salt Lake, but I know that there are plenty of them in the neighborhood where I grew up, and, as I discovered as I walked to general conference with my roommate Courtney, in the Avenues. I refrained from slugging Courtney, but I did teach her all about copper slugs.

So here are the rules:
Whoever discovers the copper slug first steps on it and then slugs the person next to him or her. If the person next to you is not right next to you, you can take 3 steps, or leaps as the case may be, of any size (but you must count them out loud) before hitting the person and shouting COPPER SLUG!

I assume that when the sidewalks were first poured each property boundary had an x-marks-the-spot, but as pieces of the sidewalk were replaced, sadly the copper slugs were not. This means that they are somewhat rare and therefore a treat for any child (or 21-year-old) to find. When I was a kid, my brothers and I had every copper slug on the Boulevard (and probably throughout the rest of our neighborhood) memorized so we could race to step on it first whenever we went anywhere.

Now as I walk to work and back I am constantly on the lookout for copper slugs. I think I'll memorize the location of every copper slug between my apartment and the COB and then get someone to walk to work with me. Amy already knows I won't refrain from hitting everyone. Just my roommates who know where I sleep.

A hankering for hopscotch

Something about the beautiful weather and walking past my elementary school on the way home from work made me want to play hopscotch. Walking past my elementary school and remembering looking through the fence at all the old people walking past also made me feel a little bit old.

Luckily not this old.