Author: admin

Heaven Is Here

A few months ago, I committed to read a book every month for the rest of my life, because I feel like being as literate and well-read as possible is very important for me. I’m going to try to blog about each book, if they’re good, to further promote literacy, or something. (Still vague there.)

July’s book was Heaven Is Here, by Stephanie Nielson. I’d like to give a short summary, but I have to go to bed. So, trust me that it’s good, and check it out! I really like her writing, and the whole story is very inspiring.

Next time I blog about a book, the review will be interesting, and you will most certainly want to jump up and immediately get your hands on the book. Just wait.

News

You know those times when you hear something so incredibly surprising that it pretty much dampens the rest of your day? I’ve decided to compile a list of those hard facts that have gradually come to me in my life, for no particular reason other than I like to make lists, and I just found out about one of these (#3), so it’s fresh on my mind.

1. John Denver and Annie didn’t stay together
2. The Three Cups of Tea guy was lying
3. The Born to Run guy ended up with stress fractures
4. The “Good Parts Version” of The Princess Bride (book) doesn’t actually exist
5. Pluto lost planet-ship. Still upset about that.
6. A couple of things about Emma Smith. She’s still an amazing woman.
7.

Oh, you’re here too

*This post in highly uncharacteristic of me. If you don’t wish to hear me complain just a bit, feel free to overlook this post.

Do you know what I’m not? I’m not a soloist. I hate performing, because it makes me nervous, and I really can’t stand being in the spot light. I’m happiest working with others, and backing up and

Most Beautiful Songs Ever

1. Into the West
2. In Dreams (Lord of the Rings)
3. Gabriel’s Oboe
4. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 18th variation
5. All of the Rigoletto soundtrack
6. Theme from Rachmaninov’s 2nd concerto
7. Nessun Dorma

Lessons learned from Harry Potter: Eternal Families

I spoke in church today, and do you know what I spoke on?

You guessed it. Harry Potter.

Of course! And why? Well, today is Neville Longbottom‘s birthday, and Harry’s is on Tuesday. So it would only make sense that I’d have to speak about them in church.

You’re probably wondering how a girl such as I could talk about such a devilish, horrible, sacrilegious, wicked topic in Sacrament Meeting, so I will gladly explain how Harry Potter is a perfect illustration of the importance of family, (which was featured in roughly 87.88% of the talks in this past General Conference) as well as a plethora of other essential gospel topics and principles, and why every human should read the tales of the Boy Who Lived. ….

THE WEASLEYS: correct me if I’m wrong, The Most Fantastic Fictional Family Ever Created.

Why are the Weasleys such an amazing family? Well, they gather together for meals and all other occasions, they communicate with each other, they work out their problems together, if they had the gospel in their lives, they would most certainly attend church together, pray together, and read their scriptures together.

Maybe I’ll get called to the Hogsmeade Mission.

So, the Weasleys are an example of a strong family that sticks together, takes care of each other, shows LOVE for each other, forgives one another, protects each other, and stands for truth and righteousness. (Obviously that’s what Dumbledore’s Army is all about.)

 Let’s agree that they are just the greatest fictional family ever. Don’t correct me, because I’m not wrong.

THE MALFOYS:

Oh them. We thought they were evil, and they were nasty to Harry and the Weasleys and Dumbledore and Buckbeak and Hagrid and Sirius and Lupin and pretty much everyone, and led the Death Eaters in that stupid rampage at the Quidditch World Cup, and allowed Voldemort to dwell in their manor, and participated in the dark works of the Death Eaters. But they were different.

Do you know why? Because they had love. (Obviously not Bellatrix. I won’t even go there.)

That single characteristic is what sets them apart from the other Death Eaters, and what ultimately saves them (to a certain degree) in the end.

Are we seeing a pattern? The most powerful weapon is love, and the most powerful love is the love in a family.

THE DURSLEYS:

Yes, I am including these folks. They are cows. We all know that. But I still want to point out that they loved each other and tried to protect each other.
As Dumbledore said, Do not not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living. Above all, those who live without love. Dumbledore is so great. What a blessing it is to have an eternal family.
In conclusion, Harry Potter teaches the importance of family relationships. From the example of the Weasleys, we can add our own knowledge of the Plan of Happiness (“happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ”) and prepare for our eternal families. (Yes, I had to add that. I’m a college student. That’s the law.)
Isn’t Harry Potter awesome? There are SO MANY lessons to be learned from this fantastic series. Siriusly. 

Thoughts on Death, the Devil, and Music Cathartis

Did you hear about the shooting in the Aurora theater in Colorado? Oh my goodness. It’s times like this  that I am incredibly thankful for the gospel and for the Plan of Happiness. It also increases my desire to serve a mission like 10 times.


We have all this knowledge– we know that there is life after death, we know that families can be together forever, and we know that our Heavenly Father, who is waiting for us to come home to him, loves us. But so many people don’t know that! So many people grieve over tragedies like these (as they should) because they don’t know that they can be together again. But they can be! 


And I could be the one to bring them that happy message. (2 months until I submit my papers!)

My first class on Monday, shortly after the news broke, was World Music Cultures. My amazing professor Dr. Kammerer brought up a discussion about Satan, and how we know that he is real, and an actual literal son of God, who can get hold upon the hearts of men, as he has with this particular man. (Those aren’t his words. He didn’t even use them. I just like to quote scripture whenever I talk about Satan. See Helaman 6:30 for a better description.) We know that, and we know how we can fight against him, and we just need to spread the world. Also, Alma 30:60. True statement.

He also talked about the cathartic powers of music. We listened to “Gone Too Soon”, as excellent song by Michael Jackson. The emotion conveyed through the music, even without the lyrics, but certainly supplemented by them, encompasses the emotions that inevitably come with death. Isn’t music amazing? It is so powerful.

Also, if we had a checklist of the Signs of the Last Days, which we actually do, pretty much the whole list would be checked off by now. Seriously. I’m starting to wait for an announcement about the temple in Jerusalem.

My prayers go out to those affected by this horrible event. And I guess The Dark Knight Rises will forever be associated with it, which is unfortunate.

Where are your manners?

Have you listened to Chess in Concert? It is breath-taking. Have you listened to Schlinder’s List? It is sublime. Have you listened to Come Thou Fount by the BYU combined choirs? It is very moving. Have you watched If Guys Were Like Girls? It is hilarious. Have you heard Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in B-flat? It is exhilerating. Have you watched Happy Together, by the Piano Guys? They are so cool. Or Silent monks singing Hallelujah? It is extremely clever. And I could go on and on.

Do you know what all of these have in common, aside from awesomeness? They all have multiple “dislikes”, and several absurdly rude and un-called for comments! 

I honestly can’t comprehend how any of those fantastic youtube videos can even bring an individual to have any negative feelings whatsoever, but to go so far as to physically (with a single click of a mouse) proclaim to the virtual world that you don’t like it is completely beyond me. Why do we have a need to give our opinion on virtually (ha) everything? Especially if it’s not nice. I mean, come on. Didn’t everyone watch Bambi? And seriously, NO ONE CARES.

Also text lingo. I promised myself I would never type these letters consecutively, but I guess I will, for the sake of this thought. LOL. Oh boy. Does anyone even laugh out loud when they write that? I would guess maybe 2% of the time. It seems to me that it can be an excuse to say something insensitive, rude, or just plain stupid. For example “You look so dumb lol.” “This is really ugly lol.” “I hate you lol.” (Of course punctuation would be ridiculous. Who even punctuates anymore? 

idk if u r still reading this lol jk haha but this is smthng ive thought alot about lol and it just hurts me 2 c mean thngs online lol their r sm thngs i cn handle lol but their is no reason 2 insult ne1 esp. if u dont no them lol 🙂 🙂 🙂 <3 <3 =] 

These are just my thoughts on our virtual society, which actually sometimes makes me ashamed to be part of the human race.

Finally

Aloha. I have an exciting announcement: I FINALLY GOT MY DRIVER’S LICENSE!!!! I don’t have a car here in Hawaii, so it’s not like I’ll really be able to drive, but it’s just the fact that I’ve finally accomplished what all my friends did 6 years ago. What a relief.

Can we just take a second to review why this is such a huge deal for me?

I had epilepsy.
I had a major brain surgery two years ago.
I don’t have a right hippocampus.

I can drive a car!

Also, I’m working on my mission papers. Have I announced that? Now that info can go on it!

It begins

Can you tell what this is? Probably not. So I’ll tell you:

This is a screen shot of the beginnings of my MISSION PAPERS!!! The process has begun.

More to come later.