Melancholic Morning

we all have it, those mornings, or moments that we just don't want to do anything. sometimes there is a specific task with a time crunch (which happened to me yesterday morning) or a long day that you find yourself going through the motions but needing something...an explosion, a surprise, or just SOMETHING out of the ordinary to break the duldrums. 

i find that these days or moments happen in one of two situations. like i stated above, it happens when there is something that you are avoiding, whether it is a long paper that you could do if your were motivated, but you aren't OR when i wake up with no purpose in the morning. i don't have a pressing task to get to, a class, or even planned a run. if i don't have something planned, then there is no particular reason to get up, or to "get to" the tasks. 

in my desperation yesterday where did i turn? facebook of course...(i am ashamed to say). a status was created, more so to entertain myself than to actually get help. that is when a friend sent me some Advice from Elder Busche. 

after watching this, it made me take a step back from my "1st world problems" and look more on the bigger picture. below are a few quotes that hit me particularly hard. 

"Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks." - which should be helpful when it snows after having a week of 60+ degree weather...still trying to apply this one. 

"Steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them towards God."

"Challenges can either bring you closer to God and make you stronger or they can destroy you. You decide what road you take."

"Put all frustrations, hurt feelings and grumblings into the perspective of your Eternal Hope. Light will fill into your soul."

"Avoid any fear like your worst enemy, but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin."

"When you cannot love someone, look into that person's eyes long enough to find the rudiments of the child of God within him."

"Be not so much concerened about what you do, but what you do, do with all your heart, might, and strength. In thoroughness is satisfaction." - this gave me a good push in my paper...at least enough to where i was able to finish it. 

so, to get rid of all the melancholic mornings, I will now attempt to "Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks," despite the snow, the long day of classes or work, the fun day with family, or whatever comes. 

This also helps :)

The Book Thief

"I have hated the words

and I have loved them,

and I hope I have made them right."

I just finished the Book Thief and would highly recommend it to most people. Markus Zusak created a story that was very moving and gave a different perspective of WWII. So often we hear from the perspective of Jews that were killed, or in concentration camps, we hear from Americans or people on the Allies' side. This was from the viewpoint of a little girl who was German and was placed in a town among Germans who were real people and struggled like most people during the war. I feel we often forget that most Germans traveled through Hell as well as the countries that Hitler took over. 

Markus Zusak did a fantastic job putting Death as the narrator of the story and Zusak dives into how the power of words can change the life of an individual, a group, as well as nations. Words, or arguably any medium, can carry a message, pure and simple, to the hearts of people. Hate. Love. Authority. Despair. Leadership. Friendship. Sacrifice. Hope. 

Liesel becomes the Word Shaker and stands up to Hitler despite him not knowing that she even exists. She learns to do what it takes to learn the right lessons and in the process she steals books. 

Very rarely do I get so involved in a book that I feel the extreme emotions that are frequently portrayed. This book, on several occasions, had me cheering and reverently pondering the various settings and themes by the persuasive and inviting writing style provided by Zusak and Death.

I will remember the Word Shaker that Liesel became and a little boy named Rudy who had black soot all over him in order to mimic the fastest runner in the world and Rudy's idol, Jesse Owens. 

"I'm always finding humans at their Best & Worst. I see their Ugly and their Beauty and I wonder how the same can be both.

Superheroes took over my tv

what is every boy's dream? to see their favorite superhero on the big screen of course! i remember being a kid and just WISHING for x-men to be a movie instead of just a cartoon. how cool would it be to have real life people with mutant genes that gave them cool powers? or a more realistic superman without the blue screen, or batman who really was  the "dark knight!"

well, not only have all of these characters and more been made into movies, but argueably, over the next few years, all will have become movies and they will probably have remakes of each of them within the next 10 years. 

for a project of mine, i looked up the superheroe movies that have been made ever, live and animated. i found that since 2000, the united states has produced 66 live action and 41 animated superhero movies. from 1951 to 2000, 51 live action movies and 2 animated superhero movies were released. that's crazy! about 1 a year from 1951-2000 and then about 5 a year after that. why the huge push to create superhero movies? because they sell...because it is not only every boy's dream, but every man's dream as well, to see his heroes on the big screen. what a glorious time to be alive. 

check out the list here.

Everyone needs a hippie friend

how many announcements have you gotten in the past month for friends getting married? past six months? how about the past year? in my mind there are three types of announcements.

first, the one-in-all. this is the choice for those that like to be simple, catchy, and fun. there is one piece of photo paper inside that is double sided, a picture collage, with writing displayed throughout with striking phrases, the place where they are getting married along with the date. it also tells you where they are registered, and in some unqiue spot, if you are lucky enough, you are invited to the ceremony on it.

second, the traditional. a single classy photo of the couple sitting in either a nature place or a modern street with something unique is given on a single 5 by 7 photopaper. behind the photo is the cardstock with the classic "bob and debra schnickers are proud to announce the marriage of their daughter brenda..." the writing is all snazzy and cursive (sometimes unreadable...handy when you don't fancy the couple getting married...oops).

finally, the unique. this can go one of two ways. either the parents agreed to spend way too much on it to where it is old school, Count-of-Monte-Cristo-invitation-to-a-ball type announcement with a ribbon and wax sealed envelope or a very distinct idea that sets it apart from everyone else.

in writing this, i mean no offense to any choice made by a couple. to each their own and you only get married once (hmmm some form of YOLO...YOGMO? does that work? and this is best case scenario). but this brings me to one of my friends from my mission. she has always been...unique. my friend...is a hippie...granola...tree hugger. one of the coolest people i know. a common friend said about her "she's one of the only people that has a passion, went to school for it, and is fulfilling her dream in making a differene."

one of the ways that she did this, tried to save the world, was through her announcement. it was quite ordinary on the outside, brown recycled paper withe the "classic" writing on it, but within the paper...that was something completely different entirely. on the back of the paper, it says "plant me, and i'll grow." this paper was not only recycled material, it had SEEDS in it! how cool is that? way to make a statement, that you love the earth, you want green to usurp the other colors, and for plants to thrive. i accept your challenge. i will plant your announcement and let it grow like your love for your new husband (how's that last part? cheesy enough?)

but really, its cool that she is as passionate as she is about it and made it a HUGE part of her wedding...not to mention pinecones for corsages and boutinires (spelling?), dream catchers hanging all over the reception hall, some form of special stone that's not a diamond, beared hipsters and hippies all over the place, a jazz band playing in the background, and to top it all off, "flowers in her hair...flowers everywhere." way to go kimmy!

The wheels on the bus...

if you watch tv, whether it is on hulu, the tube, flatscreen, or even a movie, this car commercial has been on, i'm sure. it begins with a man's voice explaining that babies of all kinds (humans, monkeys, dogs, etc) come from a baby planet, they fly in spaceships and are parachuted into the homes. it's a funny take, but proves a point. it gets even more rough when the dad finishes, and the 6 or 7 year-old-kid says something along the lines of, "but billy down the street said that babies come when a mommy and a daddy love each other very...." and the dad quickly tells the car to play wheels on the bus (to sell the cool features of the car...). the song plays, the parents look at each other with the expression of "fewf, that was a close one...dodged that bullet." and the care goes off into the sunset with no explanation of sex, love, or about the creation of families.

okay, i know what you're thinking...it's a freakin' car commercial. of course they aren't going to dive into a topic like that. but as i stated earlier, it proves a point. we, as a culture in the united states, do not talk about sex.

why is it that parents and families don't feel comfortable talking about sex? why has society made it such a hush hush subject? understandably, it is a sacred thing, but that does not mean that it is not talked about. would parents rather have their children learn about it from their friends who know what they do from older mislead kids? or worse, from kids looking at pornography or have a real disturbed idea of sex, procreation, and bodies? children are constantly curious about their bodies, and then questions like "where do babies come from?" come along, and then they are teenagers and they really should feel comfortable talking about personal matters with their parents (that is what parents want right? to have a close enough relationship with their children that the children can come to them with any concerns whether it be school, church, and especially something as sacred as their body and sex).

many would believe that this is just a problem in the LDS culture, but they are unfortunately wrong. I have talked several of my friends that are Christians and Jews and their parents rarely, if ever, talked to them. how do we fix this idea that sex is bad, that it shouldn't be talked about ever, and that it's too embarrassing to discuss with family? how do we educate but not too much that it does more damage than harm?