Backroads

I know the Church doesn't like giving out cancellations, but my fiance and his ex are no longer sealed. Both are worthy, she is actually currently serving a mission... so if a cancellation was granted in their case I don't see you wouldn't be granted one. And if the sealing is still in place in the eternities and she is worthy, well, is that such a bad thing?

Is there anyone trustworthy you can bug about keeping you from accessing pornography?

So today I was able to direct her energy into bothering our executives about getting us their stupid charters. Very useful.

Would that not defeat the purpose of free agency and will? Punishments and rewards/blessings can be considered merely a form of discipline. I don't see what is so changing about that.

I remember studying someone who designed levels of morality. The highest level of morality was described as having very few specific rules; the morality at this level was broad and varying, sticking to a few basic but very encompassing morals. In that sense of morality, no, I do not think God lacks Objective Moral Truths. His ways of putting into action those moral truths vary from situation to situation. For example, any court in the land will tell you that there are times where it is perfectly acceptable to kill (as in self defense) so we can't say taking a life is an absolute moral horror. If life is something that extends beyond physical death, there really can't be anything truly terrible about death.

I think I"m going to go with both headphones and caffeine...I do like caffeine...

I share an office with a very nice lady, and we usually get along great. But this morning she was... off. And then she informed me that because of insurance issues she will not be able to refill her prescription that counters her Adult ADHD for another week or so. She wound up driving me absolutely nuts. She was all over the place, physically and mentally, talking to herself, freaking out over things, and it was more than I could bare. Now it's weird because I have ADD, I taught first grade for a number of years and dealt with ADD and ADHD kids, but for some reason I can't handle an adult in her forties who is acting like this. Any tips for helping me mentally deal with her until she gets back on her meds?

So I asked my mom for more information when she asked not to have the calling... It was right after my younger brother was born. He was born a year and a half after my twin and me and was, as it is called, an "accident". My mom loved church not only for the spirituality but for the opportunity of being around other adults during Relief Society and Gospel Doctrine. Then came the nursery calling... She actually prayed about it before approaching the bishop and his counselors. They were very understanding.

I wore my medallion to work the other day, and some young girl who came in had no idea what it was, it was so different! Personally, I think they're all equally gorgeous. I guess it's just a matter of taste. Right now, the popular value project I see with girls I know is at camp. We give this weekly Honor Trail to the Scouts, but when girls' camps sign up, all the girls on staff literally fight over who gets to be in charge of the Value Trail in order to pass it off as a project.

I remember seeing a billboard for this last time I was in Provo, and it looked cute. I will probably read the book first... I kind of fancy Kirby Heybourne so...

My mother was called to the nursery and plain up told the bishop it was not going to work for her and there was why. Try it.

Mm... ginger.

I'm sure you all want to hear this but... My salad and roll did not stay down.

I'm really excited, actually. It's a left-over salad from last night and it's super yummy. I adore salads.

Salad and a roll. I'm excited...

So you wait for an apology before you forgive? That's not how forgiveness works. And... I have to be a little suspicious to how you are treating people that makes them act in cold-blood toward you. It's not good spiritually walking around hating people.

Enjoying being angry was the only way I knew how to phrase it. Some people love holding grudges and think it's the only way. I guess I wanted to check to see if that's how you were or if you did consider it a problem. You answered my question. :) However, with your friends and family members, why do you have to hold grudges about such little things? Are you really to the point where you would rather forfeit relationships? Or would you rather work on them and help fix them? If you end a friendship or reject a family member every time they do something wrong, well, that's not healthy and soon you will have no one left.

I've never held to the simple statement that suicide=hell. God has to be a lot more understanding than that.

I think part of it is simply my personality. I'm very laid-back, very "whatever", and even when I lose my temper or become otherwise impassioned it burns hot and fast to get my emotions out of the way before calming down. I also don't like the way I feel when I'm mad at people. I tend to obsess, and that's all I can think about. It's better to push those feelings away and deal with the facts of the situation. I did have a college roommate with whom I fought constantly. For awhile, I did feel very hateful toward her. And then one day... it just stopped. I will never be bosom buddies with her, but I don't think of her as anyone but just a lousy roommate I once had. I also believe that people are human and prone to mistakes. I also know not everyone is going to like me. I also believe most people are not getting at me but merely using me to get out other frustrations. Chances are, they are going to feel bad about it. They might not come right out and apologize, but chances are they will feel bad. Now keep in mind I"m capable of chewing someone out. A few months back, my sister got into a huge fight with a mutual friend. All facts considered, I sided with my sister and told this guy so. We exchanged some Facebook messages, then he promptly unfriended me. It was rather awkward, because the next day was a dual missionary homecoming/farewell of two more mutual friends. Meeting was... awkward. But after a few minutes, we were able to chat it up like anything without a single mention of what had happened the day before. I did later apologize for some of my choice words, but I also don't feel I held a grudge, just was saying it like it was. The thing is... you just can't expect perfection from everyone. You have to get over it. God did not command us to hold grudges but to forgive. Why ruin perfectly good friendships over little things? Also... if my friend who was raped as a child can eventually come to decent terms with her rapist (after he was of course punished), why can't I let things go? I also heard an excellent quote a while back... "Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past."

I've learned that I'm incapable of harboring a grudge for very long at all. Now are you enjoying hating people, or do you realize it's not the best idea?

Oh, yes, it is definitely the source of my frustration. The thing is, there are many, many great LDS Scouters... who have adopted this philosophy that they can act and look just as lazy as the Scouts who were forced into it. People in the church say... "Oh, my kid does not care about Scouting and neither do I, so we will participate as little as we can." Therefore, no uniform, etc. People who are more interested see this and say "Oh, because this is an LDS troop, it's okay to get away with the bare minimum." Or even... "This is how we're supposed to look: a shirt and some swim trunks." The result is some truly interested LDS Scouters who don't know any better because the church culture teaches it's okay.

Only going off what my friend says... you should learn some. There are different kinds... different breathing exercises, even self-hypnosis.

My worry is what will happen during the zombie apocalypse when all technology is destroyed. How will we write if we can't write cursive? I actually use cursive when I"m trying to write fast. Journaling, story writing on paper... it's all in cursive. I was trained to teach young kids how to print, so that's just time consuming.

Weirdly enough... I love LDS culture. I like the perkiness (then again, I have the personality for a cheer leader if not the physical talent), I like the sharing and giving, I like the high expectations. But it all needs to be taken in perspective. I've known Mormons of all sorts. I found out an old school chum is still very much Goth and very much Mormon. I think it's about sticking true to what's important and letting personality shine. As for missionaries... I've chased quite a few admirable guys who never went for one reason or another. My view of missionaries is that I only have issues with those who didn't go because it would be "boring".

The goal for many educational facilities is to go "paperless". Even printing is considered less and less important.