"Republican" vs "Democrat" a.k.a. "Romney" vs "Obama" aka "Us" vs "Them" aka "Good" vs "Evil" aka "Right" vs "Wrong" aka "The Nastiest Divorce I've Ever Seen"

I'm kind of/sort of a huge news junkie.  I'm constantly checking ksl and reading the free newspapers provided by my school.  As a news junkie, I feel like I'm constantly getting flooded with political "stuff". And with the upcoming election I'm getting flooded with even more political "stuff" from "friends" statuses.  I know "stuff" is such a vague term but I feel like vague is a good description of our current politics. It's not specific political arguments about how the city, county, state, or nation should be run.  It's vague finger pointing blame.

Election year 2012 is the nastiest divorce I've ever seen. (Except with most marriages the couple starts out liking each other, I don't think either political party ever liked the other political party.)  You know the ones where when the Mom and the Dad are just arguing because that's all that they do, it's not about whatever the argument was originally about.  They start arguing and they just throw every little grievance over the years and they throw the kitchen sink into the argument and they get so off topic from the original argument.  Those divorces where the couple is fighting years after the divorce is granted.  Those divorces where the parties involved believe that nothing is "their fault" it's all the other person's fault.  Yes the divorce is ugly but if the "other person" would just stop fighting, they would stop fighting, but heaven forbid they should be the one to stop the fighting first.  Those divorces where there is absolutely no possibility of the couple agreeing or compromising about anything.  Those divorces where everyone who knows someone involved in the divorce has to "pick a side".  Those divorces where both sides thinks "I'm right and they are wrong" or "I'm a good person but the other person I'm pretty sure is the devil in a thinly veiled disguise".  And everyone involved in the divorce, but especially children, which is in this case the country, gets hurt.

What makes me even sadder is when politics spills into everyday life and even relationships between friends.  For some reason people seem to think that if they post an angry Facebook post about how whatever political party/politician that they disagree with is the devil himself sent to destroy the country will convince their friends/family/acquaintances that support that devil  politician that the politician they support is actually evil.  Because of their angry and contentious Facebook post everyone is going to vote for the politician/party that they think will save the country.    But what really happens is that they just tick off their friends and start arguments.  And all the while the country becomes more and more polarized and incapable of compromising.  Compromise is exactly what this country needs.

I'm just going to say it.

Democrats aren't evil.
Republicans aren't evil.
Mitt Romney isn't evil.
Barack Obama isn't evil.

Honestly, we need Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.  We need people who think differently and who value different things.  But we also need people who able to work with people they don't agree with and who are able to compromise.  Even if they could just pretend to get along the country would be taking a step in the right direction.  Extremism causes problems.

Please research the candidates, national, state, and local, and vote for whoever you think will be the best for the country.  But don't hate people who vote differently then you.  Honestly, the world isn't going to end because of who is elected.  (The world is going to end because the Mayan calendar ends, duh.)

It's just like Miranda Lambert says in "Only Prettier"

"If you wanna pick a fight, I'm gonna have to say goodnight.

I don't have to be hateful I can just say "bless your heart"

We don't have to like each other but it's sure fun to pretend.

If you just smile and behave you can always get your way

It's a universal plan that'll get you where you can in all societies.

So let's shake hands and reach across those party lines

You got your friends just like I got mine

We might think a little differently but we got a lot in common you will see

We're just like you, only prettier.

I'm just like you, only prettier."

That's all I have to say about that.

Dear BYU,

Christ wore University of Utah colors.

 

That is all.

My Mantra Every Time I Get On Facebook

The. End.

Boys vs. Guys vs. Men (Part Two)

A year and a half ago, I wrote a post talking about the difference between boys, guys, and men based mainly off of Jane Austen novels, my own limited observations of the "male species", and a deep discussion with my beloved roommates.  I feel like I've learned more about men and the making of men in the past month at EFY than I had in my whole entire life.

Boys: Most 14-15 year old and some 16-18 year old boys fall under the category of "boy", immature, obnoxious, and scared but not about to let anyone see that side.

Guys: Most 16-18 year old, a few 14 year old boys, and a few counselors would be considered "guys", fun to hang out with, think they are so cool, and think that they know everything.

Men: Most EFY counselor are MEN in every sense of the word.  They are responsible, mature, fun, and spiritual giants. Men respect women and treat them like queens and men love the Lord and put Him first.  I have never met so many men in my life as I have as an EFY counselor.  I have never felt so respected.  I feel better about myself when I'm around these men.  And I can tell these men love the Lord and they love all those that they are around.  And these men have such a tremendous effect for good.  These men transform these boys and guys around them into men in less than a week.  I've seen it happen every week.  These boys and guys learn what a real man is like and how to become one.  These boys and guys learn how to treat women.  And these boys, guys, and men are lifting all the girls and women they are around and helping them to become better.

Basically this is a big thank you to all of my lovely co-counselor's and to all the other male counselor's I've encountered the past few weeks.  You men are so awesome!!

Just so you know these men aren't the only men I've ever encountered.  My dad is an awesome man and he has taught my brother to become an awesome man as well.  I especially got to witness last week on our family vacation.  I also have awesome grandfather's, uncle's, and cousins who are great men as well.  And this past year I have gotten to know the awesome men that are in my ward.

Thanks you men for lifting me up and making me want to become a better person.

Another Late Night

I'm up late again, chilling in the stairwell, making sure none of the EFY Friday night lock down "prisoners" don't escape.  The keys are collected, damage reports completed, I'm listening to my Walt Disney Pandora channel, reading some General Conference talks, finishing up my tenth journal and beginning my eleventh journal.  I love EFY. It's weird to think that I'm not going to be doing this for another three weeks.  EFY has consumed my life this past month and I've loved it.  I'm exhausted and I could use a break, but part of me really doesn't want a break.  It's so cool to actually be making a difference by what I'm doing.  Even if I just touch one or two lives for good, it's so worth it.  I love going to bed exhausted because I've been serving others and my Savior.  And bringing these girls and boys closer to Him has brought me closer to Him.  I've made some awesome friends.  I've learned what it means to be truly respected by men and I've learned what it looks like when a man loves the Lord with all his heart.  I've learned that I need to learn how to work in a partnership better.  I've learned that I hate disciplining people, even when it's necessary and in their best interests.  I've learned that people get scared when you threaten to go all "Lamanite mother" on them.  I've been able to glimpse Heavenly Father's love for these kids.  I've learned how much I've learned over the past seven years of my life.  I've learned a lot since I was fourteen.  And when I'm twenty eight I'll be like "I've learned a lot since I was twenty one."  I want my kids to know that life gets better than it is at fourteen.  It really truly does.

Death and Dying

So I bet you're wondering why I would title a blog post "Death and Dying".  I'm really not trying to be morbid.  I don't have a death wish.  This isn't a "final" blog post.  It's because this is my favorite class this semester.

Now you're probably wondering why I would even be taking a "Death and Dying" class.  It sounds like a morbid, depressing, maybe even scary, class to begin with.  I'm taking the class because it's suggested for future Child Life Specialists, because even though it's a sad thought, some kids in hospitals do die.  And part of the Child Life Specialists job is to help kids get through the dying process and to help siblings of children who have died.

This class has given me a chance to reflect on death.  It's given me a chance to notice how prevelant it is in our pop culture.  I've got a "death playlist" with 28 songs that were already on my iPod that have to do with death.  And there are songs that I really like that I don't even own that are about death as well like Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" and "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry.  Not to mention how much it's on TV.  And the news.  Oh goodness hearing about the tragic deaths of the Powell boys made me sick to my stomach.

But I've really enjoyed this class on death because it's taught me how to live.  It's reminded me that relationships are the most important thing in life.  Caring about people is the most important thing you can do.  That's what matters when you face death.

Becoming Peter Pan

I’ve heard it said that people my age are walking around like “a bunch of twenty something year old Peter Pans.”  I never was a huge fan of Peter Pan as a kid.  I wanted to grow up.  Grownups got to do so many cool things.  And my life was going to be perfect, of course.  Like a fairytale.  Why not grow up?  I could eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I wouldn’t have to go to bed.  I would have so much independence and freedom.  I couldn’t wait to grow.

But the older I get the more I feel like I’m becoming Peter Pan, stuck in Never Land.  In some ways it’s my decision.  As I’ve grown up I’ve found that all those adults who told me not to grow up to fast were onto something.  And I’d always just thought they were crazy.  Why wouldn’t I want to grow up?  There was no such thing as growing up too fast.  But now I’m wondering where the past twenty years of my life went.  Now I’m wishing I could go back to the innocence and the simplicity of childhood.  And I do sometimes.  I eat foods I loved growing up.  I watch The Lion King (I still know most of the words).  I sleep with a stuffed animal and my “security blanket”.  I occasionally listen to the Backstreet Boys and my Touched By An Angel CD.  Sometimes I feel much younger than my twenty years.  I wonder when I became old enough or responsible enough to drive, pay rent, go to college, and feed myself.  When did I become old enough to have friends my age who are married and even starting to pop out babies?  I don’t feel old enough, mature enough, or prepared at all for anything like that.  I’d say the older I get the less I feel like I’m ready for those responsibilities.  

I feel like Taylor Swift’s song “Never Grow Up” says everything I would tell myself when I was younger and how I feel right now.

                I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone

                So here I am in my new apartment

                In a big city they just dropped me off

                It’s so much colder than I thought it would be

                So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on

                Wish I’d never grown up

                Wish I’d never grown up

                Oh I don’t want to grow up

                Wish I’d never grown up

                It could still be little

                I don’t want to grow up

                Wish I’d never grown up

                It could still be simple

Miranda Lambert’s song “The House That Built Me” make me feel the same way.

                I know they say

                You can’t come home again.

                I just had to come back one last time.

                I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

                The brokenness inside me might start healing

                Out here it’s like I’m someone else

                Thought that maybe I could find myself

                If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave

                Won’t take nothing but a memory

                From the house that built me.

                You leave home,

     You move on

    And you do the best you can

                I got lost in this old world,

    Have forgotten who I am

                If I could walk around I swear I’ll leave

                Won’t take nothing but a memory

                From the house that built me

In some ways it is our society that is keeping me and my friends in Never Land.  I almost have a bachelor’s degree but that doesn’t mean a lot anymore.  I’ll have to go on for my Master’s degree.  Which means more school.  I have a job, but I can’t pay for everything on my own.  It’s a frustrating to still be financially dependent on my parents but I know I’m not alone in this.  I’m actually doing better than most kids my age because I’m not in debt at all.  We want to grow up, but there are so many hoops we have to jump through first.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this:

 It's hard to grow up.  

"I Don't Care For Your Fairy tales"

Honestly, 90% of the time, I love fairy tales.  I'm a sucker for any good Disney movie with a princess and prince and a good old fashioned happy ending (I mean, how cute is Tangled?! Seriously!)  And I love Taylor Swift fairy tale songs with happy endings as well (Is it possible to find a better song than "Love Story" or "Enchanted" or "Mine" or "Fearless" or any happy T. Swift song?)  I love Jane Austen novels which don't get much more fairy tale.  And I'm probably the biggest romantic day dreamer that I know.  But sometimes I get to the point where I'm like "Forget this!  It's overrated anyway. Boys are dumb. Guys are gay.  And real men don't exist anymore.( Go here for a refresher on the difference between boys, guys, and men.)  At times like that I listen to Carry Underwood's "The More Boys I Meet" and Sara Bareilles "Fairytale".  And occasionally I'll go for Broadway tunes like "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun" and the ever classic "I Hate Men".

"I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just Sensitive"

So you remember when I told you all that I had found a new obsession in Alex Goot.  Yeah it's a true story.         As a matter of fact I'm going to share another one of his music videos with you all.  Because I'm just kind like that and want to introduce you to amazing music.  I've had his song "Sensitivity" on replay today.  I don't know what it is about a gorgeous, nerdy guy who has a beautiful voice and sings sensitive, melancholy songs, but he absolutely melts my heart.  And the lyrics to this song are how I would describe my life this past week or two and how I hope it will go in the future.

"I don't even know the real me anymore
I can't even show how I feel
I hit the floor
I'm talking rock bottom
My feelings I fought 'em
I can't believe it's come to this
Cause I need a grip on reality

Now I wanna feel some sensitivity

I've been doing fine in my misery
Not crazy
I told them not to worry about me"

The Days of Singer/Song Writer Melancholy

Lately I've been listening to a lot of melancholy music by singer/song writers like Dia Frampton (my pick to win The Voice), Alex Goot (swoon),  Sara Bareilles, and Ingrid Michaelson, just to name a few.  Dia recently came out with a new CD and her single "The Broken Ones" is one of my new favorites.  I'm not going to lie, the music video is a little weird and I'm not a huge fan of her extensions, but the song is great and her voice is amazing, like always.

"I can't help it,
I love the broken ones,
The ones who need the most patching up.
The one's who've,
 Never been loved

Maybe I see a part of me in them.

No your not alone
I love the broken ones."

New Favorite!

I recently found a new obsession and his name is Alex Goot.  He's a new musician and I love all of his stuff: covers, originals, everything.  This video isn't a very good video of him, he's actually much more good looking.  Seriously. Gorgeous.  But this is my favorite song of his.  It's been on repeat on my grooveshark for a week or so now.  Enjoy!  :)

Nobody Said It Was Easy . . . No One Ever Said It Would Be So Hard

I hate making decisions.  I hate the finality of it.  I love keep my options open.  I hate closing the door.  I hate the whole process.  The not knowing.  The wondering "Am I sure this is right? Am I sure I'm not making some huge mistake?"

Of course I'm not sure. Most of the time there is no surety. If I was sure this choice would be super easy.

And I hate it when the choice is between two good things.  Why can't it always be black and white, good and bad, right and wrong, yes and no?  Why does it always have to be between white and a slightly different shade of white?  OK and OK?  Right and right in a different way?  Maybe and Maybe? How are you supposed to choose?

And why is it always feast or famine?  I pray for a long time for something, doesn't show up, doesn't show up, doesn't show up . . . wait and wait and wait . . . then BOOM! I get two (or more) good choices as an answer to said prayer.  I only needed one answer!  Two answers just complicates my life even more! Life's never that simple is it?

I know, I know.  It's a learning, growing experience.  I'll be thankful for it later.  It's life.  It's adulthood. Sometimes everybody has to choose between two good choices.

I Hate When My Guitar Starts Weeping Gently

Warning: Random Rambling/Ranting Post

The theory of evolution is just that a theory.  Do you want to know what else is a theory? Gravity.

The word "believe" is not synonymous with the word "agree."  "I believe in Santa Claus" would be the correct way to use the word believe.  "I don't in the Occupy Wall Street movement" would be the wrong usage of believe.  You may not agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement, but you still believe that it exists.

Stop judging.  All it does it make you seem mean.  And yes, I know that since you talk crap about everyone and their dog behind their backs to me, that you're talking crap to everyone and their dog about me.  I'm just smart enough to figure that out.

I'm not mad at you, I don't hate you, I'm not mean, and I'm not depressed.  I'm just an introvert.

Creativity According To People Who Are A Lot Smarter Than Me

I don't know if any of you have started to notice, but I'm fascinated by creativity.  I'm fascinated by what people think creativity is, how people define creativity, what is recognized as "creative", how creativity affects our experience in life, how to develop creativity, pretty much anything about creativity.  I've found some fascinating videos on creativity.

The first one is by a man named Larry Lessig and his video is on Laws That Choke Creativity | Video on TED.com.  This guy is fascinated by the idea of copyright and how it works in this internet age where kids, teenagers, young adults, and other creative minds have access to so many videos, pictures, music and editing and producing devices where they can make their own videos out of stuff that other people have already used, just make it their own.  He discusses how laws need to change to allow this to happen in a legal manner that could also benefit the people who originally come up with the material.  Highly recommend watching this one.

The next video I found was by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity | Video on TED.com.  Elizabeth Gilbert is the woman who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" which is a good book - if you skip the "love" part.  But I really found her talk fascinating because she discussed how since early times creative people have given the credit of their creativity to "geniuses" or "gods" of some sort or another.  They always knew the creativity didn't come from them.  Only fairly recently (think around the time period of the renaissance) did people start to give the credit to themselves.  All through out her talk I just wanted to shout out to her and say "You've got so much truth about creativity and inspiration, but if I could just explain to you one or two more things that I have learned about creativity, you would understand that it really is God who you need to thank for creativity and how He feels about creativity."  More on that later.  Seriously though, an amazing video.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com And Ken Robinson makes a very good argument that schools kill creativity.  He's hilarious and I completely agree with him.  I can't remember if it was in this one or another video I watched with him, but he gave me one of my new favorite quotes.  "Some people say that college begins in Kindergarten.  No it doesn't! Kindergarten begins in Kindergarten!"

This video Amy Tan on creativity | Video on TED.com was an interesting one, but I didn't necessarily agree with her.  She uses creativity to handle tragedy in her life - which is great.  But she makes the argument that bad things happen to good people because life is random, which made me just want to go up to her and be like "Let me explain to you what I have learned about why bad things happen to good people."  Especially since the day after I watched this video my institute class was all about why bad things happen to good people.  Coincidence?  I think not.

This article "Happiness, Your Heritage" a message on creativity by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf is the one that I wish I could've shared with Elizabeth Gilbert.  It is still my all time favorite message on creativity.

Now that I've been inspired I'm going to go try and create!  What will I create?  I'm not sure yet, but I will try to go out and create something new.

Dear Zombies Occupying Wall Street:

I can't put my thoughts on the zombies occupying wall street (and salt lake as of today) any better than the Beatles did in their song "Revolution". So here's the lyrics (which I don't own.)

You say you want a revolution

Well you know

We all want to change the world

You tell me that its evolution

Well you know

We all want to change the world

*********

You say you got a real solution

We all want to see the plan

You ask me for a contribution

Well you know

We're all doing what we can

*********

(for the tea party, just for fun)

You say you'll change the constitution

Well you know

We'd all love to change your head

*********

Don't you know it's gonna be alright

Basically I don't think zombie occupation is going to help anything.  I don't even think it's addressing the real problem. In the words of Forest Gump:

That's all I have to say about that.

The Day Technology Died

Steve Jobs died today.  I bet you're wondering about why I'm blogging about this.  I'm not a huge Apple fan; I struggle to work the Macs at school; I don't own an iPad; I don't own an iPhone; I don't stand in line for the latest Apple gadget.  So why am I blogging about him?

Well I love my iPod.  :)

And yesterday, just yesterday I watched Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Address.  Do you want to know what stuck out to me from that talk.  "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.  Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." Poignant words to hear the day before someone dies. Oh the irony.

The moment I found out about Steve Jobs death the song "American Pie" by Don McLean.  "This'll be the day that I die" played over and over again.  I couldn't help but think that  Steve Jobs had such a huge affect (or effect? I struggle at writing haha) on technology and even though I may not use a Mac myself, I know Steve Jobs helped make the PC what it is today, through competition.  And he owned Pixar which produced "Toy Story", so I'll forever be indebted to him for part of my childhood.  He truly changed the world.