Wingnut

He had a hard time getting through even a single sentence without trying to catch his breath. His voice has always been gravelly, but it was pretty hard to understand him at times today, even for him. And the end of his talk started to sound very McConkie-esque. I'll be really surprised if Elder Packer is still around to speak to us in October. He's 89 years old, and it shows. He hasn't been able to stand to speak at Conference in about two years, I think. He will be a great loss.

For about a week once, I thought it would be fun to be a wine connoisseur, and really cool to be one who could do it/be it without actually tasting any of them. Then I realized it was entirely unrealistic. Lol. On a basic level, you pair white wine with white meat, and red wine with red meat, from what I understand. But knowing specific vintages, vineyards, years, etc., I think would be extremely difficult without personal experience. Sure one could study, but if asked for a personal recommendation, wouldn't be able to give a specific or accurate one. I wouldn't have a problem cooking with alcohol or liquor on such a show. I wouldn't have a problem tasting my finished product that included alcohol in the cooking. But if I won a wine-tasting, I'd either accept it for the experience of traveling Napa Valley (or the Italian countryside), or decline the prize, suggesting the runner-up could have it instead.

The Sacrament is another I thought of that is most definitely an ordinance, but not a saving one. You didn't offend me. I just didn't agree with that part of your OP. :) Your question here, though, is a good one, worthy of discussion (though I think it would be better worded "...does a wife have..."). It is something I cannot currently answer, but something about which I am current seeking answers. I like this thought.

Maybe he was referring to "saving ordinances" only. All of those are recorded, and even some non-saving ordinances, such as naming and blessing, patriarchal blessings, and settings-apart.

I understand what you're saying, estradling, but I still think it's good that the Church is acknowledging the please of many women in the Church, daughters of God, who do feel marginalized for whatever reasons. The Church is showing that they do sympathize, or at least that they hear these women. I don't see a change anytime soon on the ordination issue (if ever), but I think that these recent steps the Church has taken will help to assuage many. And I think that's important. Even if it is announced this morning that women may now receive the Priesthood, the dialogue would likely then shift to a countdown or campaign to have a woman prophet/president of the Church, which would likely take another half-century or more. I know that the requests/desires/demands will change over time. But I don't think that means that the Church can't or shouldn't change trivial things (like seating arrangements) in the meantime, even if only to say "we see you, we hear you, we love you."

This is what I was looking for -- thanks! You, of course.

In the old format, you could click on a person's name in a post, and get a drop-down menu that included "View all posts by..." Without going through a full search, is there an easy way to "view all posts by..." anymore?

I didn't notice that myself, but I did see someone else comment on it. I'm curious why you think that it wasn't at all impacted by OW? And would it be so bad if it was? The first woman to offer a prayer in GC came immediately after the "Let Women Pray" activity, and though the Church says it wasn't influenced by that, it's awfully coincidental timing. In the last year(ish), there has been a great deal of Mormon Feminist activity and dialogue. There has also been a greater effort on the Church's part to bring visibility and autonomy to women of the Church: lowered mission eligibility, female mission trainers, semi-annual women's conference (instead of YW and RS), auxiliary presidencies portraits hung in the conference center, a female PR rep responding to the OW group, and more. I think that these are all good things. I think the Church recognizes the desires and the hurt that many women feel, and they are taking steps to show sympathy and ackowledgement, while still maintaining purity of doctrine. I do think the rearranged seating was influenced by OW, and I think it's a good thing. It's tantamount to "We see you, we hear you," while still maintaining a firm and unwavering doctrinal position.

This doesn't really jibe with me. Asking one of your children to offer the prayer at dinner or family prayer time doesn't really have much to do with the Priesthood at all. To say that it does implies that non-LDS families who pray together, particularly under direction of the father of the family, are doing so without authority and therefore unrighteously. Just doesn't work.

I also was initially thinking of the "typical blues." But the last two years or so have been really rough ones for me. I've been battling depression and living in a fog. In the last three weeks or so, I've experienced such a change that I suddenly realize how deep I had fallen, and how bad I actually was. I've been so happy in the last few weeks, to the point that I am happy about being happy. It's like I've been underwater, and I'm gulping the air in, because I need it so much. And then I keep gulping because it feels good to gulp. I had forgotten what it felt like to truly be happy. I had good days here and there, maybe even a week or two, but I kept being dragged back down. So within the context of having recently emerged from the fog, I realized that just blasting my music isn't something that helps when I'm truly "struggling." Anyway...more response than anyone was probably looking for. :)

Oh, I was just giving you a hard time, that's all. I know you've said in the past that you like to keep your personal like separate, private, and personal. And that's fine. I was just teasing you a little. I love A Mighty Girl! I was particularly inspired by the story they shared this week about the young girl who gave away a million books before she was 13.

I wouldn't know...we're not friends on Facebook. :/

Lol. I actually thought about that while we were soothing her. He told her that when she was 12 years old, she could go with him and see just how boring it actually is. Lol. Who's bad now? I was silent-shake-laughing at this when Mr. Wing walked in the door from Priesthood session.

While I actually very much agree with what you're saying here...he seemed to keep it pretty doctrinally pointed...I'm sure it still felt like a smack-down, and quite humiliating to the women who participated in or sympathized with the Ordain Women group today.

President Packer has looked ready to keel over for a few years now. I would chalk his absence up to physical inability to attend. I've never noticed before that not all of the Brethren are there. I suppose it makes sense, sort-of. I mean, the Lord restored keys once -- couldn't He do it again? I guess I just assumed that they're all there, because they all speak in Conference, but over the course of five sessions, I suppose. There's an episode in the first season of The West Wing where POTUS is about to go give his first (I think) State of the Union address, and someone on his staff has to make sure they "pick a guy." Someone in the line of succession has to stay home from the address, in the event of an attack that wipes everyone out.

What I read on Twitter was mostly just reporting in...factual observations: this is what's happening, etc. Not much "unfairness," which was surprising because one of the LDS Feminist Twitter accounts I follow is often really whiny/prideful. After the session was over, I saw quite a bit more "unfairness" complex. The group started at City Creek Park, sang a hymn and said a prayer, then walked to the Tabernacle. The one tweeter I mentioned above went over to spend some time at the Christus before heading back to Plaza Hotel, after waiting in the line.

Actually, can I ask a clarifying question? To me, "struggling" is when I'm truly battling depression. When that's the stage I'm in in life, I can't just "do" something to "cheer up." It just doesn't work that way. Medication+support+love+Priesthood blessings+some personal effort+a whole lot of time are what work. If I'm just having one or three bad days, that's a different story. So are you talking about a bad day that can be fixed with some "cheering up," or are you talking about an extended "struggle" to make it through life?

I normally fall asleep during Elder Scott's talks. Like, almost every time...it's awful. But I actually really enjoyed this talk. It was a good one.

I thought it seemed weird to hear a sister give this talk. Not wrong necessarily, but just off routine. We're used to hearing feel-good talks from sisters, not heavy-hitting ones.

I'm so bummed that I missed this talk! Mini-Wing was having a meltdown that she couldn't get sandwiches and go to Priesthood with her daddy.

I loved how realistic this talk was. It wasn't all sunshine, rainbows, and ponies. A husband and wife had a fight, yelled at each other, blamed and accused each other, and one gave the other the "silent treatment." And yet, here he is, a General Authority, giving a talk in Conference. Obviously the story gave a good jumping-off point of what not to do, but I thought the honesty and realism of the story was refreshing. I also loved how he crafted the story. He crescendoed and sped up, pausing and waiting at just the right moments. He built anticipation and engaged the audience very well. He seemed like he had professional public speaking experience (almost like broadcast experience or something).

Bummer. I like the cheeriness of the new layout. I've always had a hard time with traditional Internet forum layouts that span the full width of the monitor and are completely sterile. LDS.net never was quite like that, so I was fine with it. I hope that some of those functionalities can be brought over to the "full version" theme.

I like to plug in my headphones and turn the music up loud. Sometimes I dance, sometimes not. But music is my therapy. Very true!

When I read this earlier, it made me think of this thread.