Or maybe those are just who I bring up?

Way too early for Stephenie Meyer and Elizabeth Smart. This was in '94. Don't know anything about Idaho Falls.

I lived in Salt Lake City for a little bit, so I got lots of Mormons trying to convert me, but in my experience they were always much nicer about it than the Lutherans I dealt with in Minnesota/North Dakota. I had girls in North Dakota literally refuse to speak to me ever again solely on account of my not being Christian. Whereas the Mormons hung out with me all the time. Maybe they just thought they'd convert me on account of their being nice.

I am normally really tough on religion, but I defend Mormons and Mormonism to an absolutely illogical degree. I'm not really sure why this is, probably just because they were all so damned nice to me, but I am fully aware that it doesn't make any sense.

The only time I've been seriously cornered by Mormon missionaries was when I went to a friend's baptism, so I was prepared.

The surprising part was how much the missionary who glommed onto me and wouldn't let me leave until I took a Book of Mormon looked like Danny Elfman.

(I did eventually take one to make him go away, and then discreetly left it on a bench in the garden after the first three random pages I opened to ALL had incredibly disturbing passages about how Jews needed to be washed clean with blood because woah were we ever misguided and/or evil. And not metaphorical blood either.)

My sole personal experience with a guy who identified himself with Mormon was pleasant and positive. If I were just coming at it through Orson Scott Card and Stephenie Meyer, it would be less so. Damned shame, that.

OMGWIND.

I half think I got windburn walking from the garage into the office. Ow.

I slept through the night with no disturbing intruder/ghost/dreams, and the dog is still asleep next to me. I did have the dream where you`re chewing gum and the gum just keeps getting bigger until it fills your whole mouth and then you have to take it out but it sticks to your teeth. But to make up for that, it happened in an ethnic music instruments store where I saw a drum luke an oud I`d never seen before. I was surprised because I thought I knew about all percussion instruments, but it turns out I just mad this one up too. Way to go brain, very creative.
 
I would also like to say I have never tried to proselytize anyone on the plane. Although when I was a wee thing I did once say non-denominational to an unsuspecting nice businessman who`d asked where I was going (church trip) and then what church.
 
We are too rural to get Mormons anymore, but we used to because this is a big town for them. We made friends with our cute tie wearing pair that came to our house and spent a lot of time talking to them, although we established at the beginning (like timeshare) that we wouldn`t be converting. I think they were just happy to have a conversation instead of a closed door.

I've only ever had one Mormon come at me with conversion attempt, but I was alone in my mom's house, housecleaning and dancing to an LP of Belafonte's second Carnegie Hall concert, so he got distracted by the excellence of Belafonte and we had a short musical discussion, I politely explained that I was a Papist heretic and unlikely to give it up anytime soon, and then he left.

I see Mormon missionaries all the time on the buses in SF, though. They always, always look ridiculously sweet and handsome and mildly spooked by being assigned to the very heart of Sodom but startled at how shockingly normal most (well, many...well, some) of us look.

He proceeded to meltdown, screaming NO at the top of his lungs, growling and stomping his feet. Through the ENTIRE performance.

Oh, poor little boo! The reality of the big full formal room after all the fun rehearsing with his friends must have been terrifying. And poor you, having to witness his distress.

Yeah, I think I didn`t say, poor Noah. We were both haunted last night.

I need to cut down on the amount of paper mail I receive. It's way out of control. What avenues are open to me with the general junk stuff?

Put, "Return to sender - deceased" on them and stick them back in the mail? Otherwise, it's probably hunting down all the junk mailers separately.