LittleWyvern

I'm currently majoring in computer science. You know, the if (patterns.containsKey(choices) && choice.equals("heads")) { ((HeadsTailsCounter)patterns.get(choices)).incrementHeads();}stuff.

I don't think so: our popularity is a double-edged sword. I fear the only thing we can do is suddenly become really obscure and fall of the face of google.

Heh, if I judged humanity by the comments on the SLT, I would have lost faith in it a long time ago.

...I go to study for 2 hours and I come back to this? I... was not expecting so much of a response. O_o Firstly I'd really like to thank everyone as deeply as I can convey with 26 letters and an "I'm majoring in Computer Science" vocabulary. I'd really like to respond to all of your posts personally, but that would take until Sunday night probably and I'd probably break the multiquote button... but simply clicking Thanks on everybody's posts seems inadequate (oh dang), so I'll respond to at least something. I know that I'm going to be perfect before my mission or even 100% prepared (that's what the MTC is for, right?), but I couldn't help seeing other people who were really awesome people that made me feel like I was only 30% or 40% prepared. I realize now that my best is not the same as the best of somebody else, and that hopefully at the judgment bar I won't be held to the exact same "best" standards as everybody else (if it were so, my journey would be hopeless). And yes, I do need to relax. As for the expectations of me, I'm not too worried about these people being mad at me for not meeting them (I doubt they would), but I'm more of the kind of person that would get mad at himself for not meeting them. I suppose I should just do my best and see what happens. Finally, thanks for all the tips, scripture references, quotes, and complements(!). Please believe me when I say that if I had more time I would type something here a lot more deserving of the incredible gift you all have given me here. Oh, and on a humorous but related note, I should tell you all what occupies half of my bookshelf. First there's "Dare to Prepare" book on CD, "The Stress Answer," "Learning by the Light of Faith," "Know Before You Go," "Preparation Precedes Power," "What I Wish I'd Known Before My Mission," "Jesus the Christ" (yes, that Jesus the Christ), "Prepare With Honor," and for reasons not entirely clear I have "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" on the end. EDIT: Wow, I just realized something! If only I could truthfully say I meant the first word in my topic to be a verb...

Yes, I realize that I don't need to be perfect, but I feel like I at least need to be... great. The bar has been raised, as they say, and if the bar is anywhere near the level of everybody else around me I'm going to slam my face into it. I suppose I'm pessimistically assuming the worst, though... it would be helpful to know where exactly the bar is, since I guess I'm assuming it to be way way up there. And I don't know about me being deemed worthy to go... I haven't gotten my call yet (my basis for predicting a date is from my probable date of availability), and I'm still trying to figure out all the paperwork! Yeah, I know, I'm more thinking about long-term success (which of course is relative to the area I'll be called to). The way I look at it, if I don't come into my mission with a high enough level of strength, I'm going to have a really hard time trying to make up for it on my mission. Yeah, I suppose that's true. If I do this right, hopefully I'll be a much better person because of my mission. Anyway, thanks for the perspective. :)

High 5! There was a Thai place that I used to go to all the time where I used to live before college, but it got shut down because of some credit fraud thing. It was very sad. But yes, Thai food is amazing. If you've just discovered Thai food, here's a general rule of thumb: the more spicy the better. Trust me.

I feel ashamed. I feel ashamed for even needing or wanting to type this post. As many of you may have already gleaned from my introductory post, I am going to serve a mission very soon, about 3 months from now. Every time I hear this amount of time, as it quickly shortens, it scares me tremendously. Why? In my quest to be better prepared for my mission, I have started to look for role models, examples of good missionary service. I have found plenty in the scriptures, all a model of absolute perfection in their work, service, and knowledge. I have long since accepted the fact that I will never be that good, but these people are good people to look up to regardless. I recently have also been looking toward those either very close to serving on their mission or already have in my ward. And it scares me how, without fail, all of these people are leagues beyond me in both spiritual strength and knowledge. 'Oh no,' I think, 'I must be horribly behind!' So, my knee-jerk reaction to this is to gather every source of information I can about serving a mission successfully and inhaling them. In what may rightfully be termed as a moment of panic, I bought 3 books on missionary prep at one time from the BYU bookstore (and thank goodness that I can find such books at a bookstore so close by!) I figure that if I am ever to catch up and be successful missionary, I need to cram as spiritual knowledge and strength building activities I can into these 3 short months. But these reading pursuits are thwarted, mostly, by my location. School work cannot be forgotten, and if I am to keep the scholarship I have received, I need to keep a very good GPA. And to make matters worse, expectations of me are extremely high. Everybody from my home ward kept on saying how I'll be a great missionary, and a wonderful teacher. The most challenging one comes from my dad, who says that I'll be a better missionary than he was. Before he said that, I never thought such thing was even possible, and I still don't think so now. So here I sit, feeling crushed under my mission, school, and expectations for complete success. And so I am afraid. What if I fail? What if I let one... thing... slip.... And the worse one: what if I don't succeed on my mission (and that has some eternal consequences, doesn't it?)? So far I've kept up with these expectations, but with the addition of a mission, I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with everything. I have no clue how I'll ever get up to the level of excellence I see everywhere before this 3 months is up. Above all, I feel ashamed for even having to worry about how prepared I am at such a late stage. I don't feel like good, prepared missionaries should have to worry about this at all. So, before I ask for advice here, let me first apologize to those of you who've I've made read through this post. I really didn't want this to be about me whining about my pathetic problems, and I've tried hard not to write it this way, but given the subject matter I'm sure some if not most of you will take it that way (and rightfully so), and I apologize for that. The reason I posted this in the advice board (apart from the fact that there's no whine board) is this: does anybody have any advice for this situation? Anything else on mission prep, feeling more confident (although at this point I don't feel like I have much to be confident in...), or feeling more excited about a mission (and not viewing it another big test) would be very helpful and much appreciated.

I'm not trying to advocate a strict limit on the number of kids one can have, I just don't see how one person can take care of all 14 children, especially when 8 of them need intensive medical care and 1 out of the original 6 has autism. I'm most afraid for the physical safety of these children. I don't think it's ethical to have more children than one can adequately take care of.

What's even more crazy is that this woman already had 6 kids prior to this event! There's gotta be something unethical about this...

Well, if I am ready now, the questions you posted in the OP kinda answer themselves.

To me, this is the key point. I don't think such an outburst of spiritual knowledge will occur unless we as a people are ready to receive it. For that matter I don't think I'd receive personal revelation unless I was ready to receive it either.

Uhh... perhaps the best thing to do would be to call someone you feel comfortable with right away, whether it's your bishop, friends, etc. Preferably somebody who you'd feel comfortable talking to about the things you're going through right now. What I think you need now is advice and comfort that's specific to your exact situation, something only somebody who knows you can provide. :)

"As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." So, we don't worship a man. :)

Sadly, the correct answer is nobody knows.

I think vBulliten does have an option to allow signatures, but limit their size. Maybe some friendly administrator can look into this.

Ah. I don't use Christ and God interchangeably, but I see your point. Thanks. :)

Well, if you already know that there is a God, you're halfway there! :) Three suggestions: first, just ask God what He wants you to do. Second, experiment on God's word. Third, just be direct about it. Ask if this church is true or not. Hope that helps. :)

Monotheist is belief in one God, correct? Well, we believe that the Holy Father is God, the Son is not God, and the Holy Spirit is not God. So, to us, there's only one God there.

If you think Obama is socialist/marxist, look at some European countries. They're not entirely socialist, but they're more socialist than Obama could ever be.

Hm, an administrator might have disabled images in signatures.

Do it in bbcode, not HTML. It will end up looking something like this... [url=http-~~-//www.lolcats.com][img=http-~~-//www.lolcats.com/images/u/07/46/lolcatsdotcom7z91g2szgf3ecdat.jpg][/url] (that's not actually html code, I had to use those tags to keep the forum from interpreting the bbcode and spitting out an image)

Wow, if this is the reaction when lds.org goes down for a few minutes, President Monson is going to have to speak in General Conference whenever there's a day-long server upgrade to prevent riots!

I think that if you believe in one, the other is difficult to understand simply because it is different and unfamiliar. It's like switching from Windows to a Mac (or the other way around if you're a Mac user)... there will be months of "wait... what?" moments before the new concept/paradigm is completely understood. However, in this case, there's no motive to switch between the two options, so the confusion is perpetuated.

Pah. Both sides of the global warming argument are so full of pseudoscientific political garbage that I've given up any efforts at understanding it (the farthest I've gotten is that there are natural climate cycles, but we're making them worse at both ends). I say if we really care about the environment, we should focus on the simple and effective things. What happened to turning off the lights, taking shorter showers, and turning the heat down a degree or two? These are simple things anybody can do that don't cost a dime. Now we're obsessed with carbon credits, energy star appliances (which, according to a contractor I know, amounts to charging more for an appliance with a cheaper/weaker motor), and unplugging our cellphone chargers. /rant Sorry.

Yes, pathos can be quite effective. However, the marriage equality movement is on the defensive now. In order to have success legally (that is their only angle of attack, at least until 2012), they'll have to run a campaign on ethos rather than pathos.