What is an American?

Today Trent and I actually got off our lazy bums, and headed down to the newly renovated American History Museum in DC. I have been wanting to check it out for the past few years, but it's been under renovation for what felt like ages, so I was excited to finally see it in its full glory.

And what a full glory it is! I am, admittedly, a history buff. I think I get it from my dad- he told me that when he was 17, he did a summer at GWU, and spent 17 hrs over a period of 2 days in the American History museum!! I am so jealous, I wish I had that much time in there, as there's so much to see.

I love seeing artifacts from other times, and learning and re-learning about the history of the world. But I especially love American History. Although at times I might feel a little disappointed with current state of the average "American", visiting this museum today made really proud of this country and the people who accomplished it all. I realized that not everyone can be a true American; it takes a certain sassiness, a certain drive to really be American. For example, I laughed at a tea pot from the 18th Century that had "No Stamp Act" painted on it- this is so American! Take that, proprietous English tea pot! :)

I am also deeply moved by Abraham Lincoln, and the things he accomplished, even though his time as president was short. He seemed like such an awe-worthy individual, despite looking slightly creepy in a couple photographs. And I love that he was 6'4", which was massive at that time. I mean, I looked at half the men's clothing on display, and they'd barely have fit me! What is the deal, why are people so much taller these days? Evolution much?

We saw the "Star Spangled Banner", the original flag that flew when Francis Scott Key was held prisoner at Fort McHenry. It is a marvel that it still exists, what with its busy life. The family who had it for almost a century were so proud of it, that they'd display it outdoors at times, and often give "snippings" of it as souvenirs to people, hence the reason half of it is gone. Yikes I know! But I remember seeing this flag when I was a little girl- it would be revealed once every hour or so, and then they'd cover it back up. Then, in 1998, they decided the flag was so weak that it couldn't be hung anymore. So, they had to spend time restoring it, and putting it in some chamber where it lays down now. The conservation process looked massive, but totally amazing- I really want to be a conservator! Can you imagine being part of the preservation of such fantastic artifacts?

Another remarkable thing (as frankly there were so many, that I'd be here for days if I were to tell all the things I loved), was the exhibit on Edison, and his light bulb. Although Trent may beg to differ (he argues that Edison unfairly ruined Tesla, a claim I will have to research further), I am really grateful for Edison. Can you imagine where we'd be without the light bulb? Holy cow! I just don't understand how so many centuries went by with people relying on the light from a flame. If we never got the light bulb, imagine how little would've been currently accomplished- probably 1% of what we've done. And, I might have gone slightly mental from having to constantly light candles. :)

So, in conclusion, I think visiting this museum has only reinforced my hope of what heaven will be like: A disclosure of all things unknown. I want all those "guess I'll never really know" inquiries to be fully answered, and I want to meet all these amazing people from our history, and the WWWWH of it all. I really hope that's what it's like, as I could care less for the tropical island and juicy pears lol.

Oh and can I just say how inspiring the whole city of D.C. is?

Some People!

Sometimes, in life, I am compelled to check ksl.com or desnews.com, ya know, just to see how Utah is doing. Every time, I am repelled by either totally ridiculous articles, or totally ridiculous reader comments, and I realize why, as soon as the plane touches the landing strip, I'm always ready to leave.

Case in point: This article about the LDS Church's support for Utah anti-discrimination laws. As a side note, why is this even newsworthy? I would hope that the church does not support discrimination, but who am I?

Now, allow me to quote some reader comments for you.

From Hardtail, who, I gather, finds himself to be a model LDS:

We don't want a repeat of the kiss-in because two

skirt-wearing (at least in their minds)fairies were feeling
each other up in public.

We don't mind giving the Sexually Confused a few general
rights, but they ain't gonna get the right to marry like
normal people do.

Ok, pretty offensive, but not surprising. Though I'm sure the leaders of the church are grateful that you're reinforcing stereotypes about Mormons. *sarcasm*

And again from Hardtail (after someone criticized his views):

Since it is you who blatantly disagrees with your
Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, I would venture to
proclaim that it is you who is entirely confused.

It happens to be a fact that your Lord and Master
is Jesus Christ.

It's a hard fact.

Not knowing this, is confusion.

I see you have an extremely large dose of this
malfunction and therefore, your faith is based on
ignorance and not the facts.

So righteous is he that this individual chooses to spend his time in contention with people on a ksl message board. Definitely sounds like his WWJD? bracelet is working well.

From Wompus, an apparent elitist:

I have a great friend who isn't LDS and she trying hard to be a good person, not to go partying all the time at clubs, drinking, hanging around the wrong crowds, etc...

She moved to sacarmento about a year ago and she called me basically just so upset, all the men she meets just want sex, they don't want to have a good relationship. It's basically what can you do for me and can I get in your pants! I feel so bad for her. If she only had what we in Utah have, a people, who as you mentioned are far from perfect, but at least are taught the difference between right from wrong and are asked to make a commitment to choose the right and forsake the crap!

Our society doesn't raise good kids anymore! Our society doesn't hold firm on good values, honesty, hard work, morality, fidelity. They say, you're going to screw up anyways, lets through some condoms at you, teach you the how to put one on a banana, and if you screw up, we'll allow you to murder the baby inside you because hey, we don't want a life to ruin your dreams! You should be allowed to escape the consequences because hey, you're not good enough to make the right choices, we know you're going to screw up so let's prepare you for failure now, because that's really what you are!

I don't think I can even express how it disgusts me that this sort of 'better than thou' attitude actually exists. It's the same reason I hate being in Utah- constant judging, people thinking the outside world is so evil and without morals. Mormons are not the only ones with a conscience!

I guess if people want to wallow in their misconstrued facts all day, I just must ignore them. It's like a sociopath- you stay away, unless all you want is to be constantly disappointed.

BUT, that said, I know a lot of great people in Utah, some that I'd love to keep in my life, so the reality is, that just like there are some kooks in Utah, there are a lot of wonderful people there. It's a shame that they are overshadowed by the crazies on these websites, whose inaccurate comments are visible to people all over the world.

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone is having (or had) a wonderful Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/Festivus! Mine was very enjoyable, and might I brag that my husband is a phenomenal gift-giver? I mean, as much as we hate to admit it, the gifts are pretty much the best part of Christmas. I scored a Tiffany's bracelet, complete with the cutest scottie dog charm, which will hopefully tide me over til the day when I can get a real scottie dog :). I feel so "bling bling" wearing it, it's pretty much the nicest piece of jewelry I've really ever had. At first my insides might have tied into a knot b/c I know Tiffany's is not cheap, and mi money es su money, right? But then I thought, we are most likely not going to have these nice of Christmases every year, so might as well enjoy it while we can, right? Who knows what next year will (or won't) bring?

I also scored:

-Reebok "Easy Tone" shoes, but the sad thing is that apparently they're sold out virtually everywhere, so they weren't the exact ones I wanted...so I've gotta decide if I should just return them and wait til the good ones become available, or if I should settle for these? Decisions, decisions.

-North Face puffy vest, which I'd wanted for like 3 years now...

-a white North Face jacket

Trent scored:

-A bunch of climbing gear, aka overpriced nuts bolts and wires

-LRG shirts

-Climbing Headlamp

-Arc'teryx 'Atom' Jacket

-The sickest mini sock monkey EVERRR- it was definitely my favorite gift for him, even though it was the cheapest at $6.99 :)

Oh and in my stocking, I got a lot of feathers. Now, you may think what does she need feathers for? Well, I've been making headbands lately...I couldn't find exactly what I wanted at the store, so I thought, well hell, I'll make my own, and so far so good! I have gotten a lot of compliments on them. I will have to add some photos on here, so you can see how amazing they are. ;)

Well, I hope everyone likewise had a good holiday, and if didn't get your fill of sweets, come on over, as we have lots of candy leftover :)

Healthcare

Ok so I kinda try to stay away from politics these days and so I'm deffo not looking for a big ol' debate that goes round and round and round, but doesn't really establish anything, but...

...can I just say, for those who are against universal healthcare, I envy you, b/c you must have affordable healthcare. I am one of those 30million + people that don't have it. It's not that I don't want it, but I don't want to pay $700+ a month on something I use maybe once a year for a checkup. I guess I could go for the $300-400/month insurance, but then my deductible is like $2000, and again, is pretty worthless to me. And frankly, I'm happy to pay for my insurance, but can it just be reasonably priced?

It's crazy how many people I know that are without healthcare, or will just get healthcare on their infant or kids, but can't afford it for themselves. In fact, I barely know of anyone who HAS insurance, lol.

I also like how many people in my religion are so anti-socialist, but what is the United Order? Law of Consecration? Tithing? Any of these things ring a bell? For people who are so wrapped up in socialist organization, it's kinda ironic.

I just hate worrying about this stuff. End rant.

Glee Finale (a.k.a. Cheating part II)

Yes, this is a bit late I know, but a couple of weeks ago I promised my sister that I'd write a blog about my thoughts on the Glee finale, so here goes. I'm sorry if you haven't seen the show, but hopefully it's not all in vain :)

But my thoughts are basically on the relationship between Emma and Mr. Shu. *Spoiler Ahead, so leave if you don't wanna be spoiled*

As we know, there has been an obvious connection between the two for the entire season, despite the fact that Mr. Shu is married (albeit, a bit unhappily). I've been wishing and hoping and praying for nothing to happen btwn Emma and Mr. Shu b/c I think Mr. Shu is better than cheating on his wife, and so is Emma.

But now that Mr. Shu has apparently left his wife, what now? Obviously, he seemed to think that it's ok to pursue Emma at this point...but is it ok? I was frankly quite pleased when Emma basically insisted that b/c he'd "just left his wife", it wasn't ok. I agree with that. But what I want to know is, how does someone (Emma, for example) fall in love with a married man in the first place?

I mean once a man is married, how do you let yourself fall for them? Yes, they may have great attributes, but they're taken, get over it, and find someone else with equally good attributes that is single.

Ex: When I first met Trent, I thought he was married (b/c I lived in women's and married housing, so by process of elimination, I thought he was married, didn't think that him and his buddies had circumvented the system and somehow got a guys only apt, lol). Anyways, when he first knocked on our door to ask us something about the complex, I was taken aback b/c this "married man" was kinda flirty. In fact I definitely was cold to him the first few times, until I realized he was single. I think I barely said 2 words to him when he came to the door, to get his creepy self to go away, lol. And though I thought he was attractive, and wished that I could find a guy like him, I didn't want the actual married man. The key word is a man like him.

I also get a little sad how some people completely disregard the fact that people are married. It's really disrespectful. Look, I have no problem w/ someone having a "crush" on my husband or thinking him attractive, but if they were trying to pursue him, I'd say go get yourself a single man, you'll have much less drama that way anyways :)

IDK, I guess it all goes along with my thought that fidelity/infidelity is a decision and completely premeditated the entire way. It's not like "oops I dunno what happened, one minute I was at work, the next I woke up in their bed". The thought arises that "XYZ would be cheating", and the person decides if they will or will not go through with it.

Anyways, that's kinda what I gathered from the show. And no, I don't think Mr. Shu is, by any means, ready to pursue Emma. Actually, I think his wife should be forgiven. She seems contrite, and her actions were obviously not meant to betray him, she was just afraid of losing him. She is not an inherently bad person, just a bit confused. Mr. Shu is honestly the one that needs to take a step back and figure it all out.

See ya :)

Have your cake and eat it too...

I just scarffed down a red velvet cupcake. It was amazing, the best I've ever eaten. And although lately I've been pretty conscientious of what I eat (I have to be, seeing as though I eat out every day!), I didn't feel guilty while eating this cupcake. And that was a good feeling.

I am glad that I do feel bad sometimes, because if I didn't, I would always over-eat. So I'm glad, but also grateful that I can eat a cupcake once and a while and enjoy every morsel without wondering how much weight I'll gain. :)

An Experience in Gratitude

Ok so today we were in Harlingen, TX, and my manager and I were standing outside our coach when, from the street, we heard a loud crashing sound, akin to when a garbage truck dumps a bag of trash in an empty bin, except much louder. We went running to the street and saw an SUV completely upside down- it had flipped over!

My first instinct was to call 9-1-1. Well ok, my first thought was that someone else would call, but I caught myself and said "what if everyone thinks the same thing?", so I called. It was a long, drawn out call, with lots of (at least I felt at the time) unnecessary questions such as "what color is the car?" (uh, does it matter, it's the only one that's flipped over, you can't miss it), "how many people are in the car?" (i am not really in the car, and it is smashed on it's top, so I would know this how) and yes, I had to repeat the address 20 times. I'm thankfully not used to calling 9-1-1, so I guess it could've been normal procedure but frankly, with all the time that passed with these questions, I would just not want to waste any time. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, they dispatch immediately, so the details are AFTER the ambulance is on it's way, but I was freaking out because every second could be precious in this man's life.

ANYWAYS, in the mean time, Trent had run over to try to help the guy (there were many people running over too), and at one point I even saw him running around with a crow bar to get the guy out. It turns out, the guy was (miraculously!) just fine, but his foot was stuck somehow so Trent actually climbed in to loosen his foot. I couldn't believe it when he told me, that he'd go to that length. Luckily I was not watching but if I had known that I'd probably have freaked- the car could've exploded or something! I was just so amazed by his selflessness.

Now, this experience, though it shook me up, was in many ways life changing. Please bare with me, as it gets a little random, but here it all is.

The first thing that struck me: Usually I am the one in the background who watches, who as I mentioned, figures that someone else will help or take care of the scary situation. But at that moment, I was reminded of a recent situation at a high school where a girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted by many different people, in front of many people who did nothing to stop it. The article cited a certain effect, where people assume someone else is gonna help, so they don't do anything. I am sure that I have been guilty of that in the past. And frankly, that sounds a little messed up, so I decided I didn't want to be that person anymore. I did what I hope others will do if I'm ever in a bad situation, and truth be told, it makes me feel good about what I did.

Now, on the topic of calling 9-1-1, this has strangely been a phobia of mine since I was young. I have googled it, and I don't see a name for this sort of fear. But it mostly stems from many many nightmares I had as a young girl, where our house was being robbed, or something scary was happening, and I would try to call 9-1-1 but nothing would come out when I'd talk. So, I've always been really freaked out to call 9-1-1 because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to follow through. I'm glad I proved myself wrong.

What I was most impressed with, however, was my husband and his actions, and the realization that I'm married to an amazing person (not that I didn't already know this but it's nice to get reminded!). He put this man's life before his own, to get him out. It was risky, but all about the other person. The best part about this is that it's not the first time he's been selfless. This is the same man that stops to help elderly women when I don't even notice that they're struggling at doing something; he is the same guy who works tirelessly to love every one of his siblings and fears offending them. He is just so thoughtful and loving and kind, and I know that this is pure bragging, but I think the occasion is appropriate and so for once, I am allowing it :)

I just realized that there are a couple individuals in his life that don't appreciate him because he isn't a) 100% active or b) a college graduate or other petty things, and they are missing out so so so much from really having joy in their life by doing so. He risks his life for a stranger, imagine what he'd do for his own family.

So, while I feel horrid for the fact that this happened, I am grateful for the lessons it taught me, and the new appreciation I have for my dear husband, Trent.