The Best Parts

Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite holiday of the year, because there isn't the stress of Christmas, but you still get the good food and family.  Here are some of the highlights of this year's Thanksgiving holiday.

Every year my Dad gets us a table at the live auction at the Christmas Tree Jubilee.  I love it, mainly because I get to dress up in a fancy dress, eat fabulous food, and watch a bunch of rich guys spend lots of money.

I make a killer apple pie.  It was gone in two days between three people.

I made this for my Mom awhile back, and she used it this holiday.  I always feel great satisfaction when I see something I made being used.

My Grandma Alice got sealed in the temple to my Grandpa Bill on Saturday.  It was a great thing to witness.  Not all the family is here, and I can't name everyone, but here's a family picture afterwards.

Ian and Megan, my cousins.

Megan and me.  She loves princesses.  I tell you, I don't know what I'd do if I had a kid as obsessed with princesses as she is.  I entertained her for an hour or so at Thanksgiving, and she was all about princesses.  I was much more comfortable when we got to card games and I Spy.

My uncle Jeff, Aunt Katherine, and their kids.

So, here's to a great kickoff to the holiday season!

It's All Part of My Life

Thanksgiving is great.  It gives me time to contemplate my life.  For instance, my brother brought home a season of The Big Bang Theory, and as I sat down and watched a bunch of episodes with him, I realized that I feel a lot like Penny.  This is partly because these types of guys are the only ones I ever get asked out by.  I laugh at the show, but then kind of get the oh, this is a bit like my life, and that's ridiculous thought.

So girls, if you're interested, these are the kinds of guys that you will find at BYU, especially in the sciences.

Want more of this funny stuff?  Check out the show.

Stand Up Against Hate

I grabbed a school newspaper yesterday to read about the new Natural History Museum, but as I turned the page to finish the article, I came across this.

It made me sick then, and it makes me sick now.  The last part is what really gets me.  If you're against LGBT hate like this, stand up against it.  I mean, do we really want to condone the words "Just as if we wouldn't want a child to grow up with a prostitute for a mother or a serial killer for a father, we shouldn't accept a lesbian, gay, or transgender parental model for young people"?  I sure won't just breeze past them.

Some of the kindest, best people I know are gay.  I would be happy to hear that they were parents.

Taylor Petty also states that "We must avoid, at all costs, letting children grow up in a home where horrible sins are modeled as acceptable."  By horrible sins Petty strictly means breaking the law of chastity.  If Petty is going to make that argument, Petty might as well start calling to take more than half the children of the world away from their parents.  Most people in the world today can say they've had sex out of wedlock, which is considered breaking the law of chastity.  

What Taylor petty has written is deplorable, but it is even more deplorable that a newspaper would choose to print this hate, especially my campus newspaper.  I am calling for a formal apology from the newspaper for this terrible choice that they've made.  I can accept that the Daily Universe is a very right wing, conservative newspaper, and chooses to print very conservative content.  However, there's a a large difference between conservatism and hate.  

The above letter is hate, and should not have been printed.  

Sure, there's some LGBT hate everywhere, but that doesn't mean newspapers should print it.  Printing such hate only encourages people to revile and bash people in the LGBT community.

If you're against what the Daily Universe did, as I am, then take a stand and let them know exactly what you think of their reprehensible choice to print this hate letter.

Hmph

Whenever I tell a couple that I'm happy for them when they get into a relationship, engaged, or married, I feel a twinge of guilt somewhere in the back of my mind because I know I'm not being completely honest with them.  A part of me is extremely jealous.

When I take the time to examine this part of my thought process, I feel extremely upset about it, because by being jealous, that means I'm rooting for the relationship to fail simply because I don't have one.  What right do I have to deny another person happiness, especially if I'm friends with that person?

I've asked myself that a lot lately.

Not to say that I don't really, truly mean it when I tell a couple I'm happy they're engaged.  I was truly happy to hear my friend Kim Welch was engaged to Victor Doroghian.  And I was really happy when my friend Jen Weston got married to Nick Taylor.

Still, the more likely response is a smile and a "I'm so happy for you!" But in reality I'm thinking, that makes me so depressed.  Go be blissfully happy somewhere not around me.  When someone has lost in love, I'm much better able to deal with that.  I can handle sad people.  Not that I want people to lose in love all the time, but I don't really like to see other people succeeding in love when I can't get a date to save my life.

Most of the time it really doesn't matter to me that no guys want to date me, but surges of new relationships, engagements, and marriages throw me into a broody mood.

And I thought I'd share that broody mood with everyone today, because I felt like it needed to be said, or I was going to go insane.

The Truth of it All

At least, it's my dream.

The Real Superman

I'll never look at a man in a Superman t-shirt the same way again.