Happy Days in Random Chatter 10

[Genuine Article]

I picked 16 pounds of strawberries yesterday. I sliced them all up and froze them, then baked a bunch of mini bundt sour cream cakes to freeze as well, so now I can have a tiny cake any time I want. Best decision of my entire life.

[Whistler]

mini bundts? do those come in muffin tin-like trays?

[Genuine Article]

Yeah, I got some silicone mini bundt pans for my birthday: http://www.amazon.com/Freshware-6-Cavit ... mini+bundt

[Whistler]

whoa, that's kind of awesome

[Amity]

We named him Chompsky.

That's even better than my friend who studies China naming his cat Chairman Meow.

[Violet]

We named him Chompsky.

That's even better than my friend who studies China naming his cat Chairman Meow.

I have been impressed by my friends' pets' names as of late. Also, I've been noticing a lot more reference names. Is that just my friends or is it a generational thing?

[Emiliana]

We named him Chompsky.

That's even better than my friend who studies China naming his cat Chairman Meow.

Hehe. That's high praise.

[Amity]

Today I finished writing the last chapter of my dissertation and got a 4096 tile. Both of those are significant accomplishments. Now I will go reward myself with a burrito for dinner.

[Portia]

Where the $%^& is my "Find the Inner Cheat" shirt??? I remember absolutely nothing of this.

[Katya]

I picked 16 pounds of strawberries yesterday. I sliced them all up and froze them, then baked a bunch of mini bundt sour cream cakes to freeze as well, so now I can have a tiny cake any time I want. Best decision of my entire life.

I'll second that.

[Katya]

We named him Chompsky.

That's even better than my friend who studies China naming his cat Chairman Meow.

My friend who's a jazz musician has a dog named Charlie Barker.

[Katya]

And then my friend's messy breakup played out publicly on Facebook.

[Tally M.]

Kind of randomly got a job today. Seriously, it came up out of nowhere. Stopped by to ask for more information, and walked out four hours later with a position and having already started training.

[UffishThought]

Oof.

I just gave a lesson in RS about the Priesthood conference talk from last conference. I tried to stay away from saying "Ordain Women is right" or "Ordain women is wrong" and mostly just talked about all the questions that I still have after the talk, and how I really don't know and the church hasn't been that forthcoming on some issues, and how that's hard for me and I don't know if I should push for more answers or be content that some things we won't get to understand in this lifetime. My goal was less to answer questions and more to (as the talk says) "instill ... a greater desire to better understand the priesthood," and maybe also to show that with many people, these issues are at the forefront because people have real unresolved questions and pain and not just because people like to be rabblerousers and want to shake people's testimonies. I hope I succeeded. There was a bit where the (new) bishop said "and there's this quote from the talk, and I see that to mean that women won't ever hold the Priesthood on this earth," and I said something like "I see that interpretation, but I can also see it being interpreted this other way, and so I still can see how that could be a point of confusion," and he muttered "Well, I don't." I worry that now he thinks that I was trying to rabblerouse and shake testimonies, or that I'm totally on board with Ordain Women (I'm not, but some of the questions they raise I can't answer, and it's interesting to me), when what I was really trying to say was "I don't think that quote is as definitive to some people as it is to you." Arg.

Anyway, I'm just a tangled mass of emotional yarn right now. It was a weird lesson, and I don't know that I did any good with it, or that my goal for it was a good one. Usually I feel like my lessons generally are good, and that my willingness to be emotionally vulnerable is an effective teaching tool, and it brings us closer together, but today I don't know. Some liked it, I think others hated it, and I'm not positive that what I meant to say is what people heard and understood. I hope it was beneficial to some people and not detrimental to any. But I guess I'll never really know. Blarg.

[Whistler]

that's hard

[Katya]

Kind of randomly got a job today. Seriously, it came up out of nowhere. Stopped by to ask for more information, and walked out four hours later with a position and having already started training.

Congrats! I assume this is in addition to your current job?

[Tally M.]

Kind of randomly got a job today. Seriously, it came up out of nowhere. Stopped by to ask for more information, and walked out four hours later with a position and having already started training.

Congrats! I assume this is in addition to your current job?

Yep, but if it goes well, I'll be quitting my current job (since I wouldn't have time to do my new job in addition to my other fall job AND my current job).

[wryness]

It was a weird lesson, and I don't know that I did any good with it, or that my goal for it was a good one. Usually I feel like my lessons generally are good, and that my willingness to be emotionally vulnerable is an effective teaching tool, and it brings us closer together, but today I don't know. Some liked it, I think others hated it, and I'm not positive that what I meant to say is what people heard and understood. I hope it was beneficial to some people and not detrimental to any. But I guess I'll never really know. Blarg.

Inspirational scripture time!

Proverbs 15:16-17
16 Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

Doctrine and Covenants 117:13
13...when [s]he falls [s]he shall rise again, for [her] sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than [her] increase, saith the Lord.

If you did what you were supposed to and the lesson bombed, you can still more forward. If you did what you were supposed to and it was successful but you haven't received any indications of that yet, you can still move forward.

And to quote from a good Youtube video, "you can't go back, so you might as well move forward and do the best you can." If you're not 100% sure if your intentions were the best, you can still move forward.

It is so much easier to give advice to other people than to take it oneself! But hopefully something in there was helpful to you.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I would have appreciated that lesson if I could still go to church, and one of the reasons I don't go to church is lessons on topics like that being taught by people more like your bishop.

[mic0]

Stupid pet peeve: When people say "Russians only smile when they really mean it!" and "Americans smile all the time so it is meaningless!" Americans smile for a *different* reason than Russians do (general politeness), that doesn't make actual, friend-to-friend smiling meaningless. Maybe I should start saying "Americans only kiss when they mean it!" because we don't greet each other with kisses.