Growing up here in Utah County, life changes dramatically once high school is over. Like with most high schools, everyone goes to different colleges and hopes to keep the relationships. But when you live in an area that is mainly Mormons, there is an extra twist to this whole scenario: missions.
For me, I didn't think too much about it because I was just barely 18. But then after I moved out, I found myself coming back to my hometown repeatedly for multiple missionary farewells. By the end of fall semester, I was fed up. Fortunately, everyone I cared about was gone.
Living in Heritage Halls added another dimension to the issue. Most of the friends that I made were preparing for their missions. Even though I had substantially completed my farewells, I found myself attending another one an hour away from my home for a guy I met here at BYU. I felt like everything was futile and that I would just continue to attend farewells for the rest of my life.
Now I'm approaching my twentieth birthday in less than a month. Thankfully, I haven't been to any more farewells in the recent past. Now comes the annoying part: waiting.
I did not have any serious relationships with any of these guys but I still consider them some of my closest friends. I can't say that I know exactly what every girl who waits for a missionary feels, but I think every Mormon girl feels this to a point in her life. I was looking at Facebook today and came across a girl I know who waited for a missionary and now they are engaged. For them, waiting worked out great but in so many other situations, it doesn't work out as well. That is why I believe that the best approach is not to seriously wait for any missionary. Why put your life on hold for something that may not even happen? I believe that the best approach is to be supportive by writing regularly and not expecting complete reciprocation. Then if anything does happen, you can say that you lived those two years to their fullest, learning and growing, and helped your missionary be a better missionary.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Disney Drama
So I really have no idea what to write so I've reverted to my high school days where I had to write occasional papers on just something that sparked my mind. I'm kind of stealing this idea from one I heard but we have also been talking a lot about this in our apartment lately.
Growing up, I watched a lot of Disney movies. I was always enthralled with the magical ideas and the stories that Disney put out. However, there is one universal flaw in most Disney stories. There is the absence of one or both of the parents. In some of the stories, the absence of the parents is an important point in the story but in general there is no true point to both of the parents being absent.
Growing up, I watched a lot of Disney movies. I was always enthralled with the magical ideas and the stories that Disney put out. However, there is one universal flaw in most Disney stories. There is the absence of one or both of the parents. In some of the stories, the absence of the parents is an important point in the story but in general there is no true point to both of the parents being absent.
- Beauty and the Beast--No mother
- Pocahontas--No mother
- The Little Mermaid--No mother
- Aladdin--No mother for Jasmine
- Sleeping Beauty--No mother for Prince Philip
- Cinderella--No mother for Prince Charming
- Toy Story--No father
- Chicken Little--No mother
- A Goofy Movie--No mother
Anyway, I think that gets the point across. There is a large absence of parental influence. Now what message is that sending to young children? Oh well, I guess the magic is still there even with the dysfunctional families in these movies. I will continue to love these movies and will show them to my children in the future. I guess there is still something magical about Disney movies.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Metadata Defined
I love my job here on campus at the library. Unfortunately, not many people understand what I do as a metadata student up on the sixth floor. Yes, there is a sixth floor to the library but there is nothing there that really benefits students. Mostly what it is up there is a bunch of computers in cubicles that catalog the various items so that students can find them through the catalog and give them a call number so they can be found.
While there are many books up there, my job does not involve any cataloging of books. I get to do digital cataloging. The best definition I have found is from Wikipedia, "data about data."
Currently we are working on the project fondly called DE, which stands for Daily Enquirer. The Daily Enquirer was the old Daily Herald back in the late 1800s. We have worked on it for over a year and still there seems to be no end in sight. We give each document a title and author so that students can search the catalog and find what they need in the digital collections. Really, this is much more detailed but most people don't care enough to spend the time to learn about.
While there are many books up there, my job does not involve any cataloging of books. I get to do digital cataloging. The best definition I have found is from Wikipedia, "data about data."
Currently we are working on the project fondly called DE, which stands for Daily Enquirer. The Daily Enquirer was the old Daily Herald back in the late 1800s. We have worked on it for over a year and still there seems to be no end in sight. We give each document a title and author so that students can search the catalog and find what they need in the digital collections. Really, this is much more detailed but most people don't care enough to spend the time to learn about.
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