New perspective

Yknow, recently I've been to told that Sister Bednar related how her son describes the difference between living outside the valley and now living in it, and his reply was that it was clear who his enemies were outside of Utah, but here, they could be sitting next to him in Priesthood. And I thought, powerful words to be sure, but that debunks the cop out that we utards have to say there's no one to testify to and share the gospel with. If our enemies are passing us the bread, teaching our lessons, standing at the pulpit to give a talk, and coming in our homes to drop off baked goods, then it should be obvious where we need to do missionary work. Why is no one open enough here to preach to the choir? Why can't we bear testimony to each other as saints, who understand each other no less, to strengthen each other in times of need? What is so difficult?

The regular crowd with the regular dreams

Sitting at Tucanos with the Den of Thieves, we came up with a plan, to have our own Viking longhouse restaurant, with oak tables, barmaids and mounted animals all on the walls. Red meat and roaring fires, with a lifesize statue of Gimli in one corner. It would be a family joint with long tables where we would bring our kids to. The waitre would come around, "Lords, will it be the usual? Master Ferrol, the 20 oz steak is doing well tonight, might I suggest that? Master Conor, will you be having the usual Chicken Pesto, or have you decided to man up and order a steak tonight?"
PRICELESS

GO LEARN

I’ve found a sudden interest in the world around me, probably sparked by my online courses. Anyone hear of the landslides in Brazil? The sinkholes in Guatemala? I was thumbing through this Discover magazine at Best Buy while waiting for the Geek Squad to look over my notebook (boy I hope they don’t wipe the OS, Apple will NOT be happy with me) and I found a whole bunch of interesting information! Vegetable folk, people who need to be cared for in every way, are shown to have minor brain activity, regardless of their state! There are forests and valleys and peaks of plasma in the deep recesses of the sun, did you know that?? Why are we not learning about these things? I’ve recently discovered I have a thirst for knowledge, for learning, but it’s very specific. And I’ve realized that, that’s the way it should be. Specific interests breed specialty, and specialty breeds the best of the best. A general education is becoming less and less meaningful to me because, frankly, I can’t do art, I don’t like chemistry or mathmatics, I like reading about them, but the application is ridiculous to me. Not because I find no relevance in everyday life, but I find no relevance to me. I have a general understanding because that’s my desire, but other folk, they fight back and eventually forget those things. I was forced to take math three years in highschool. I remember one year of it, the precalculous was just too hard.
“Get over it and stop being a pansy” NO!
The time I WASTED as a math student, and as a chemistry student, I could have spent furthering my knowledge and RETENTION of a subject I love, like literature and history. The application is meaningless to me. And we kids have been saying it for years, but it’s true. There is no worth for these things.

The Girl of My Dreams. Seriously, I think it's the same one from highschool

Had a dream last night that I married some Princess, and we loved each other. Her mother was the queen of some country and I respected the woman a great deal, and was mad about this girl I had a child with and kissed regularly. Boy I miss kissing. This odd dream (odder still because as I remember hazily, it was Anne Hathaway) actually had an interesting message to me. If we as LDS believe that we are all children, sons and daughters, of God, then we are all inherit in the kingdom. If that is true then we are Princes and Princesses, and eventually become Kings and Queens. Aside from the deep doctrine, and whether or not you believe this, I means something. I haven’t really had that perspective before and I know it’s valuable to have that point of view. I felt that kind of love once. I loved a woman like I did in my dream. And regardless of what happened, I’m convinced that I will find the right woman for me in the future, and when I do, she will be my princess. Whoever she is, she is royalty.

ROPI 3

Another ROPI installment!!
I don’t want EMPATHY, I don’t want SYMPATHY. I want CHANGE. I have NO NEED for your pity, your blank faces of MEANINGLESS FROWNS AND SHRUGS, I need PROGRESSION. I know what it means and how it feels to sit in STILL WATER and let the algae grow over me. I’ve seen it, I’ve been in it, I’ve WALKED on it, and it is DEATH. It is DAMNATION. The institutions that we sit in and type for and push pencils and compile data and smile for, are DAMNED. When an honest soul tries to act on the importance they’ve been ‘given’ by the NAMELESS FACELESS ‘general management,’ they are swatted down, like a fly on a hot summer Sunday.
“Our employees are IMPORTANT, you mean so much to us,” they lie through their teeth. “Your comments help make us great.”
But no one likes dirty laundry. Pass it on, or IGNORE it, buy new clothes. We have bigger issues, we’re in the SOW’S MIRE as it is. And you’re WILLING to pass by the possibility that this is the stick to pull you out?
“THAT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS. There’s politics in EVERY institution. You just have to play the game.” But if the game is a social norm, not a policy or mission of the institution, and it feels morally wrong, then why are we still doing it? Does a meaningless soul have a right to make a difference, or are we to sit and watch as we follow orders that screw people? I feel the difference between ‘institutions’ and Nazi Germany, is we can’t fit our employees in the outdated microwaves in our decrepit common areas. I WAS JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS.
I can’t BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY of telling people I can’t help them, it’s easy when they’re nothing but a file on a computer, but when you have to sit down with a downtrodden human soul, I cannot stand for the INJUSTICE. The injustice does not lie in the lack of our ability to help, we must look at people and say we would if we could. The issue is too many have, and they won’t give. Or they’ll give to one, and not the other, each situation being the same. I DON’T WANT CONTROL! I want the ‘general management’ to make good on what powers they said we peons have. And if we don’t have those powers, don’t lie to me and tell me they’re there.
This is INSANITY. I am LOSING my mind. They tell me, it’s not worth it, you’ll move on, this isn’t your career. It shouldn’t matter this much. Does that mean I’ve wasted the last year and a half? THE LAST FOR YEARS? THE LAST DECADE? Of course not, you’ve gained experience! A HOLLOW victory at the expense of so many people. I didn’t make a difference. Do you KNOW what that feels like? To feel UNIMPORTANT? To feel like you have done no good for the world, and a year has simply made you push on to the next plane of your life? I won’t stand for it. For indifference, for unimportance, for the status quo. Damn the institutions that foster such feelings. Damn your indifference, your unimportance, your status quo.
I fear for my future, because I refuse to take this. I’m afraid if I’ll ever succeed, because I question authority and validity. I worry about my career, and if I’ll ever make enough to support my family, or make a difference, because I don’t want to play the damn game.
So, how to change it.

How to convert an institution into a business of legitimacy:
1) Get rid of the groups. We’re not in the 1890s anymore, we’re not a factory. Additionally, cliques should not exist
2) Make good on the importance you promise your employees. Nothing says “you’re worthless” like an ignored request.
3) The five C’s and one D. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency, Damn it.
4) Allow issues to come out, so they can be resolved. An all is well in Zion attitude will get you killed.
5) If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But if it’s twenty years old, time to change the batteries.
6) Responsibility. If everyone feels they’re responsible, everyone involved will work to see something through. Too many cooks in a pot, that’s bullshit.
7) The patrol method. If your immediate superiors can’t resolve it, we shouldn’t have to trust that they’ll pass on the issue. They’re too busy. Peons should have the power to go directly to the next level up.

TOMS

Bought a pair of Toms shoes. They’re the canvas sort, and real comfortable, but not warm worth a hill. Granted they weren’t made for highland snow capped mountain awesomeness. But it’s a great idea for a Christmas gift. Yeah, they’re kinda pricy for what they are (seriously, tent canvas with a foam pad for a sole, it’s not that hard) but I like the message. Something simple as this is life changing. I won’t spoil it for you, if you’re reading this, go on the website and look it up yourself. Google Toms shoes, and read his story. It’s kinda cool. Save the world folks.

toms.com

Indie

It’s refreshing to find an individual who enjoys music as much as I do. It’s even better when they enjoy the same ECLECTIC GENRE as I do. Namely, the indie rock and alternative movement that has risen from the ashes of the last decade. I was more or less set up with this gal and when I was trying to line up a date, I thought going to the alternative X show at the planetarium would be cool, but wasn’t sure if she was a molly mormon or a country singer, and if she would like that or not. So when I asked, she said indie, AND LIGHTBULB. ARCADE FIRE? DECEMBERISTS? VAMPIRE WEEKEND??? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Needless to say this Friday is going to be sweet.

Shaved Head

I shaved my head. Weird. It feels like the fake shrubbery you get from a hobby lobby for a elementary school diorama project. Sent a picture to my dad. His reply: “Boy that looks familiar.”
So much Da.

Hairstyles

Had a hilarious conversation with a friend today about hairstyles. I done just shaved my head and have been planning to move to Northern Idaho amongst the natives, but until then, I painted a blue arrow down the center of my head and have been carrying around a bow staff. My friend at work was applauding my bravery at dressing like a bald shoaling monk to work and lamented that she wished she could shave her head to use any wig style she wanted in an instant. I suggested a pixie hair cut, to which her reply was “ew, people will think I’m a lesbo.” HILARIOUS, yet criminally stereotypical, YET HILARIOUS. SO I proceeded to procure a few pictures of random celebs that had pixie cuts and they are as follows.
Gena Davis
Halle Berry
Kathy Bates (I love this actress)
Keira Knightly (I had to. I just had to)
Judi Dench (BWAAAAAH)

For some reason I can't get Kathy Bates but you get the picture

And while this whole conversation may question my masculinity, I think my points stand. My friend went on to lament that Keira pulls it off nicely (hot dang does she ever) but she was afraid that she’d end up looking like Bates in the end. My reply:
And see, (ok yes, I have to agree. One of the chaps from Top Gear said that "driving the Audi A6 is like smothering honey on Keira Knightley". PRICELESS) Bates just didn't do anything with the hair, she didn't style it, so it looks blah. Keira looks like she has hairspray or staples holding her hair in place, so I think in the mornings before the hollywood magic she looks just like Bates. Of all of them though, I think Gena Davis pulls it off the best. That or JUDO DENCH (yeah, I know I spelled that wrong, but that makes it funnier eh?)

Take from this what you will, THIS WAS A FUNNY CONVERSATION TO ME.

Too long

It’s been AUGUST since my last post? Hell…

Well I’ve recently developed the drive to continue blogging, mostly coming from my increased involvement in the internet with my online courses. I also read a great article about how Mormon Mommy Bloggers are getting a huge fan base, because they are “reluctantly uplifting.”

K, so I’m not a Mommy, and I have 6, maybe 6 followers. I’m blogging here for the random individual that has nothing better to do than to surf through blogs. Which, admittedly I do sometimes, lets be honest. This will serve as a soap box. I doubt I’ll be uplifting, but I challenge you to think. And to break the tension I’ll throw in a random tidbit of hilariosity from my life. Do I want a fan base for this? HELL YES.