Mormons, Tabernacles, and Choirs

The thing is that I'm in Basic Editing Skills, and the Chicago Manual of Style says to use the Oxford comma. So I am. So if any of you are thinking, "What?! I thought she was totally opposed to that! Faker," then you probably are a little too concerned about things like commas. In which case we should be friends, because so am I. The start of this post did not turn out how I expected. Anyway, Pace McCulloch, my dear cousin who now thinks I'm cool because I have a blog, suggested the subject that is introduced in my title. I am finally getting around to it. So here we go.

First and foremost, I am a Mormon. Thank you, Richard G. Scott for making it ok for me to use that term. It was Richard G. Scott, right? That would be embarrassing if I was getting that wrong. EDIT: It was M. Russell Ballard! Thanks, Tracy. You know that big ad campaign happening right now where everyone is all, "I rock climb and go skydiving. I wrestle cougars. I am more interesting than the Dos Equis guy. And I'm a Mormon."? Check it out. I want to do one of those, except all I can think of to say is, "I am a pretty awkward person. I have an opinion about whether Captain Kirk or Picard is better. I have probably seen Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie more times than you. And I'm a Mormon." I don't feel like that is motivating to people. Regardless of how nerdy I am, being Mormon is super awesome. Most of you have probably noticed that my church is all kinds of all over the place in the media lately. For those of you who read my blog that aren't Mormon, thanks for being my friend. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. There is a lot of nonsense being spread around lately. I know you all have beliefs of your own and I respect that. Thank you for respecting mine.

I am undead, I like brains ... and I'm a Mormon. Happy October!

There are two things that I want to say about Tabernacles.  When I first was brainstorming about this post there was only one, but now there are two. That's crazy. Am I not getting to the point fast enough? Sorry. Let me say the weird one first. My nephew, Kyle, likes to pretend he has brothers and sisters and daughters and sons and a whole imaginary family basically. One time we were asking him what his daughter's name was and he responded, "Tabernacle." Hilarious. More serious one: At the end of last year, the Provo Tabernacle caught fire and was pretty much destroyed except for the outer walls. I used to go there for Stake Conference. It is a beautiful building and a pleasure to drive past, and many were devastated by the loss of this building. Nine days ago, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the Tabernacle would be rebuilt. I was thrilled! ... as the second temple in Provo. WHAAAA??! I am doubly super crazy thrilled! That is the most exciting news, and I hope they get it done quickly, so I can go.

This past week, I was driving to work, and passed the remnants of the tabernacle like I always do. Someone had made a banner and stuck it on the wall surrounding the building. It says, "Happy day!" and gives me chills every time I see it. Happy day, indeed.



I don't really have anything to say about choirs. Should I just talk about these guys?

Well I'm not going to.

Ketchup and Bono. Delicious.

I have not written anything on here since that last time when I wrote something on here. It feels like a long time ago, so I guess I should write again. Mainly I haven't been writing because I didn't really have anything to say, unless you want to hear all about how much school and work I have? I don't think you do. But it's a lot, and that's boring. I guess I am writing these in order of how closely related a person is to me, so here was sister-in-law Kimberly's suggestion for a post:

"You could compare and contrast your two great loves: ketchup and barbecue sauce. Or perhaps you could compile your favorite U2 hits, enumerating their virtues. Maybe you could just list the qualities of Bono you like best. Or give us your best responses to Guesstures prompts. Is there too much gold in this comment?"

Coming at you all the way from Jordan. Except for that really she wrote it in Maryland, but she's in Jordan now. Sidenote: When I tell people in Utah that my bro and his wifey are in Jordan, they aren't even impressed. I say I miss them and they're all, "Well it's only forty minutes away. Go visit." Not that Jordan. The other, far away one. But anyway, they are over there and I miss them. And in honor of that, I will write what she wants.

Numba 1: Ketchup and barbecue sauce are both delicious. I like condiments and sauces a whole bunch, like probably more than whatever I'm eating. When I was little I used to finish eating the ketchup I had left over on my plate, and it would super gross out my siblings. I'm not saying I still do this, but I do. Barbecue sauce is definitely more exciting, but ketchup is my go-to guy (you know, if ketchup was a guy).  BBQ sauce is so very delicious, but ketchup just has a wider range. Is it possible I am a little too passionate about this subject?

Numbas 2 and 3: Kimberly, you're sooooo funny. Here's the thing about U2. I don't like them. Sometimes I hear a song of theirs that I like, and I think, "oh that is not bad." But then I hear it approximately two more times and I'm sick of hearing it. So there's that. Also, Bono? Maybe it's not necessary to wear those glasses all the time. It's kind of obnoxious. But way to be all helpful with humanitarian efforts and stuff. That's way cool of you.

Numba 4: Maybe I should have asked Kimbo what this last one meant. Because I am really not sure what it means. I am very confused by it.  Isn't Guesstures just charades? Am I supposed to tell you how I would guess according to a person's actions? I guess maybe if someone is doing like a general concept ... and they are trying to make the sun not go down on them ... I would guess "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."
Is that what you wanted?

Well I guess that's that. I would say that you can gauge how much gold there was in that comment by how much gold there is in this post. People should keep giving me ideas!

p.s. I have a new job! It is my third week and I'm working at Duke's Jewelers in Springville. It is really awesome and I love it and I get a super awesome discount, so let's hope I get engaged soon.

Manly Deeds, Womanly Words

At the beginning of the summer I wrote that I was determined to find happiness in the state of Maryland. My last memories with this place were less than pleasant, and I didn't want to have negative feelings toward it for the rest of my life.

Well I think I succeeded. On Sunday I was getting the farewell song (If you're sad and you know it, wave goodbye ... yeah) and my face surely showed it because I started crying right there in front of the entire Junior Primary. No matter how rowdy they can get at times, I love my CTR 6's more than I could ever have imagined. They are such bright, wonderful children who have the most wonderful testimonies. I will miss all of them so much and I hope that they will remember me for at least a few weeks and miss me as well.

Besides those beautiful kids, the rest of the people in my ward are just really super. That seems like such a lame adjective, but I'm talking super like Superman super. And that's super. The women in the ward are welcoming and loving and so fun. They are some of the most service-oriented ladies I have ever met. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to know them.

Also, I got to spend one last summer with my family before I have to be a grown-up and move on. My brother and sister-in-law are pretty much mega fantastic and so fun to be around. I am so glad they were around to make me laugh all the time.  Pretty much anyone who has met my parents likes to tell me that they are the best people they know. I happen to agree. I couldn't have asked for better role models in my life to teach me how to be a successful human being.  They have motivated me a lot to work on being a better person and focus on the important things in life. I could gush about them a lot more, but I don't really have a desire to cry anymore.

So, Maryland. You win. I like you now. I hope you're happy.

My brother is a weirdo

I've been researching sea cucumbers. Here's what I have learned:

• There are over 1500 species of sea cucumber.
• Some have an endoskeleton that is kind of like armor and some don't have any skeleton at all.
• North American and European sea cucumbers are generally around ten inches long.
• They sometimes eject stringy, webby stuff in self-defense. 
• They can be red, brown, green or a few other colors. Regardless they pretty much all look like poop.
• They eat mud. 
• They are gross.
• Some people like to eat them, and I think those people are probably sick in the head.
• I don't like sea cucumbers.

I found this one that I thought looked kind of cool: 

It is often called a sea apple, but it is really just another species of sea cucumber. I shall call her Sally. She can grow to about 8 inches and often feeds at night. When put in aquariums (or aquaria ... I guess. I don't believe it), they tend to starve to death. That's rude.

This is Blorb:

He is a Red Sea Cucumber and I gave him the name Blorb because I couldn't be bothered to think of a better one. Blorb is gross. He looks like I would never want to meet him in real life. If I did, I would probably have nightmares for the rest of forever.

If you hated this post, blame it on my brother. I sure am.

Fire and Rain

I was writing in my journal and enjoyed my own writing so thoroughly that I thought I would share it with the world ... or something like that.

Here's a thing: I love James Taylor. I think if a person doesn't love James Taylor, they are wrong. Or perhaps they don't know him. In which case, what the heck? Listen to James Taylor, hypothetical jerk! (I don't really think you're a jerk, I'm sorry) What's your problem? (Again, you're probably a wonderful person)

My point is that James Taylor is great and I think his greatness should be spread around. He makes me want to go to an unspecified Carolina. North or South, sounds great to me. He usually helps me sleep. Sometimes he distracts me from sleep by making me want to write about how much I love him, which is what is happening right now. I feel basically the same way about Cat Stevens except for that when I listen to "Here Comes My Baby" I want to walk around with a little jaunty step.

This very night I was having a brilliant conversation with my sister-in-law, Kimba. (We are completely switching gears here, by the way. I hope you're all following) All our conversations are brilliant because she is brilliant (and has a college degree to prove it). We were both lamenting about the fact that we love to write, but sometimes work more effectively when assigned a topic rather than having to think of one on our own. Like recently I have been wanting to write a new post, but I couldn't think of anything to write about. Thank goodness for James Taylor. He can do it all. So then I had an idea! Just five minutes ago actually.

Here is where you come in. I think that you, my dear readers, should give me some topics that you would perhaps want me to write about. If I like them (and by that I mean, can think of anything funny and awesome to say), I will write about them. And then I will feel accomplished for writing things, and you will feel important for contributing to this blog. Everybody wins! Unless nobody wants to participate. That's called a lose-lose situation and Michael Scott would be very disappointed in all of us. So please, comment! Message! Smoke signal! Morse code it! Although if you do those last two, I won't understand it, so maybe just tell me or something. I look forward to your super great suggestions!

Achievements

If you were to ask me today, "Hey, Erica. What's going down?"
I would say, "My weight." ba-dum ch!

I am super excited to tell you that this summer I have lost a grand total of twenty pounds! I just looked up "things that are twenty pounds" on Google and noticed that there were many other fine people in the blogging community who have already gone down that road, and I, like Robert Frost, choose not to. You may think I'm going to do something else new and creative instead, but I'm not. Because I'm not creative.

But I am so very proud of myself! Twenty pounds. That is more than a few. Agreed? Yes. You want to know how I did it? I will tell you. I was a little ashamed at first, for reasons that I don't really know, but I joined Weight Watchers.  So essentially I just don't stuff my face every waking minute anymore. And that's all I really want to say about it. Go me.

In other news ... remember that time I told you that I will name all of my computers Alfred? Oh. That was two days ago? Ok. So that means you remember. Perfect! Well congratulations double to me because there is an Alfred II in my life. Here is how I feel about him:

Also I pretty much only referred to him as Alfred II to show that he is not the first, but that's not what I will ever call him. I don't play favorites due to chronology. Yep. We're doing pretty good. I mean, look at the quality of that webcam photo! It's brilliant. I am so very happy. And I'm wearing those glasses not because it's cool, but because I am nearsighted. But also because it is cool.