Temple Weddings - Behind the Scenes

This last Saturday my family went through an endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple while I did baptisms, took pictures and waited for a long time in the waiting area (needless to say, a great place to wait). I happened to be sitting near where brides and grooms come and check their dresses and tuxes, and learned a lot about what happens behind the scenes. Observations:

• Brides. They all have such different moods. Some are flustered, but so happy to be there. Others are nervous, but try to act calm and collected. Some flit about from person to person asking questions and calling people to check if she left her slip in their apartment. Another was content to simply hold the groom's hand.


• Grooms. These were by far the funniest to watch. They have NO idea what to do with themselves. They usually come in carrying the bride's dress for her, set it on the table, and then just kinda stand there, sometimes wandering over to the drinking fountain, talking to mom and dad, or just looking on as the bride and her mother talk to the temple workers. There are a lot of people telling him what to do, and that may be part of the problem. There's the bride, the bride's mother, his own mother, and the temple workers. The moods of the grooms aren't quite as diverse. Most were just in a daze, but one was in a particularly foul mood because something had gone wrong. He refused to joke with the temple workers, and the bride was trying really hard to calm him down. That's a great start, kids. Nevertheless, everything works out in the end, and they are sent on their way to be sealed.

Life - Spring 2009

What a general and potentially ambiguous title: "Life". To justify such a horrific English major felony, I really just have a few thoughts about what's going on in my life right now and what I'm learning, but not enough about each to make separate posts about each while keeping the attention span of those reading. I think bullet points will suffice.

• As much as I like English more than Chemistry, all these final papers and projects are starting to get to me.
  
• It's too bad that the most valuable and helpful things are often learned at the very end of the semester rather than during the bulk of it.


• A few weeks of final activities really aren't that bad. Putting the best effort possible into studying for finals, writing final papers, creating final projects, and participating in final performances or gatherings really is worth putting some things on hold that don't require immediate attention.


• I really am obsessive about keeping a clean room.


• The ability to sing with the heart and having in-tune heart strings are very valuable skills.


• I want to learn to realize the value of things in my life as they are present, and not just after they're gone.


• The habit of writing in a journal may not come naturally, easily, or without the use of patience, but it is an incredibly beneficial and worthwhile activity and with practice can become natural.


• Service is simple, but may at times require a significant and inconvenient effort.


• The world is full of incredible people - not the least of which may read this blog.


• I wish there were words in the English language that carried a more deep and powerful connotation than the simple words "thank you" to express gratitude.


• I have a lot to learn about life, but I do know this: life is good.

Spots of Time

"There are in our existence spots of time,
Which with distinct pre-eminence retain
a renovating Virtue, whence, depressed
By false opinion and contentious thought,

...our minds
Are nourished and invisibly repaired."

-Wordsworth

You know those times when you're going along in life and something happens that makes you realize that life really is good? Well, one of those happened to me today. I'd like to steal a phrase from Wordsworth and call it a "spot of time". While I was driving, Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" started to play on the radio. The sun was shining, and it began to rain. Now, since those are two of my very favorite things - that song and that weather - I commenced one of my favorite activities - singing along with all the gusto my recently sick lungs could muster. As Wordsworth desribes, it was a nourishing and repairing moment. After Unwritten finished playing, another one of my favorite songs began - John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change". Sometimes I believe that the radio waves are Divinely controlled.

A St. Patrick's Day Birthday

I've decided this is one of the greatest things it the world. I remember all through Elementary School getting so excited when my class started to do St. Patrick's Day crafts (I got really good at drawing shamrocks) and reading books about Ireland and potatoes (everyone knows that Ireland and potatoes are infallibly connected) because the fact that St. Patrick's day was coming also meant another day was coming...my birthday!

I've decided that having this day as my birthday is great because of three things:

#1 - It's a holiday in Spring - a wonderful time for a holiday in the first place.

#2 - This holiday hasn't been commercially taken over, so it's not overrun by traditions and decorations.

#3 - It's a holiday, so the date sticks in people's minds, and they only have to add one more detail of association (that it's my birthday) in order to remember me on that day.

So, in one week and five days, I wish you all a Happy St. Patty's Day, and a Happy My Birthday.

Serratus Anterior Muscles

Didn't believe I had them. (They're located on your ribs along your sides, supposedly visible). After working out on Saturday for the first time in a while I learned something.

Newsflash:

I've got 'em!

No worries.

They're there.

Now, the question is: will I be able to abduct my scapulae or upwardly rotate the inferior part of them any time soon without discomfort?

Forecast: Unlikely

Close Writing

In English classes, close reading assignments are given frequently. A close reading is one in which a student picks a particular passage of a work of literature to analyze and assign meaning. Along with these assignments is given the caution "pay CLOSE attention to the language of the text and chain yourself to it's function." As I write more and more of these papers, I wonder more and more how an author chooses precisely the best words with the exact meaning and connotation needed to portray meaning. This ability never ceases to amaze me, and at times it is hard for me to write becuase I am overwhelmed by that very task of choosing the right words.

But what I realize is that I am always writing. Every day, every second of my life, the chapters of my life's story are being written in a book that will continue into eternity. And the individual words are what make up the sentences, paragraphs, then chapters of this book. There is no more important act I can do than to make each word something that I choose deliberately to contribute to the meaning of my work that will turn into the most personal thing I can ever be a part of - my life.

That's where the cool part comes in - I have to power to choose which words will be used. At times I won't be able to choose the plot or the characters surrounding me, but I can always choose the words which portray the tone, mood, and meaning. And this book will never fit into one genre. There will be elements of comedy, tragedy, romance, and drama sprinkled throughout, depending on my stage of life, my priorities, and the circumstances which surround me.

I title my thoughts "Close Writing". I believe this is the reverse of close reading, which is the process by which the reader unravels sentences and phrases to discover meaning. Close writing is instead the writer's process - when he/she must weave together specific words to create the meaning. Close writing must be picky, and can be a long and arduous process. But, my friends, it is completely worth it. After all, am I not here to prove I can pick the best words from my selection to make up my book?

NERD

(noun)

1. An insignificant, foolish, or socially inept person; a person who is boringly conventional or studious (Oxford English Dictionary).
2. A person who #1 - knows what the Oxford English Dictionary is and #2 - thinks to use it to define a word.
3. Someone who buys a Norton Anthology and instead of thinking "man, this is big and expensive!" thinks "yes! I can add this to my collection!"
4. Someone who likens linguistic theory to church doctrine.
5. Someone who notices particularly the power of the alliteration in the word choice of the guest speaker in Stake Conference.
6. (insert picture of me).