1. The comedy discussion at the start of this was interesting. I love Jimmy Fallon and the fact that he can’t stop himself from laughing is one of the most endearing bits about him, I think. I mean, he just seems like such a nice guy. That being said, I think that laughing at your own humor can come across as being a bit smug. Not always, but there’s that danger of seeming super pleased with your own cleverness. I tend to prefer deadpan delivery actually (one of the reasons I absolutely adore Wes Anderson films is the sheer abundance of deadpan/matter-of-a-fact statements that are hilarious, also the 60s Batman film and series—Adam West is the King of Deadpan). I think my humor is probably more deadpan than not, but dunno… 2. I’m totally for low-budget weddings and shindigs (as I’m pretty sure I’ve commented before, I’d love to just elope and not bother with any of the showy stuff, since a reception is only good because you get gifts, otherwise, it’s just hell…I’d imagine, since I haven’t ever had my own reception). 3. Temples is a class actually, I’m taking it this fall, since it’s only 1.0 credit (all I need to finish off those pesky religion credits), so we’ll see what it is about… 4. Wow. The whole—Travis as early-returning missionary stuff. Umm…from the other bits of Travis’ character it seems likely that his motivation was totally selfish and that he could easily have stuck it out if he forgot himself and went to work, as that classic Gordon B Hinckley story says. However, I think there’s also a huge stigma about early-returning missionaries that could have further damaged his spiritual well-being, worsening any problems and issues that he may have had previously. Given all that, I think the missionary program could undergo a severe overhaul resulting in a more positive experience for a greater number of people (more details and thoughts on what I think that could look like here: https://conorhilton.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/mission-improve-missions-for-all/).
5. I’ve already expressed distaste for the tattle-tale culture created by the Honor Code, but think that there’s another issue here. First, I’m pretty sure you should only talk to your bishop about the sins of another person if you have first hand knowledge of said sin. Second, I don’t think I ever would. It just seems outside my place. Their sin is between them and God, so they can work that out. If the sin is harmful to another individual (like I know about an affair or something), I might approach the individual doing the harming, or the one being harmed (depending on who I knew better, what exactly I knew, etc.). There’s just so much room for misunderstanding that I feel like directly confronting the ‘sinner’ (in quotes since we’re all sinners and I hate labeling someone that way, but it makes the convo easier) has to be done to provide them an opportunity of explaining themselves before I needlessly worry somebody else. And if someone’s in physical danger then I’d call the cops or some other legal authority, rather than the bishop to report the sin. There’s bigger things to worry about. 6. I’m always a little irritated when characters (or people) refuse to explain things to their friends/roommates/whoever, like Sophie does with the pill. Not that I think she needs to justify herself and her decisions to others, but since she like half-owned up to it I feel like it simplifies things immensely if she (or others in similar situations) would just tell what happened. No need for details, but a simple explanation, like ‘It makes life easier for me.’ Or something, rather than just storming off. I get privacy and all that, and I’m not saying that people should share their medical or other personal body history/info with everyone, but that a little openness and honesty can go a long way. 7. The Church and contraceptives is an interesting topic that people seem to have fierce opinions about with little to no official guidance. Seems to be another of those up to you areas in reality (despite the cultural conversation that can surround it). And people definitely should mind their own business about couples having children. Interestingly, my grandpa used to say that if a couple wasn’t ready to have a kid then they had no business being married. I think there’s some validity there, although he usually said that in a your first kid should come about 9 months after your wedding sort of way, while I think being ready to have a kid and having one or feeling like you should have one are not necessarily the same thing. 8. Madie- as you chatted about The Handmaid’s Tale, I thought of Mad Max Fury Road, and Brave New World (talk about two entirely different spheres). Mad Max has a similar, women only exist for baby-making sub-plot, although it has some kick-a** women and feminist themes and stuff that it does with it.
9. You raised an issue that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently: can I love people without liking them? I’m not sure. I mean, I feel pretty confident that you can still have favorites of some kind while having pure, Christlike love for everybody. But, I don’t know how far that goes. There are some people, who I like to think I would help out and do things for, but just have no desire to hang out and eat pizza with (unless the pizza was free, in which case it might be worth it, although there’re probably some people that even free pizza wouldn’t make me want to spend time in their presence). At the heart of this question is really a lack of fully understanding what charity is. I’ve felt it for myself (as in God’s love for me) and for others on a few distinct occasions, but I still don’t really know what it’s like to have that sort of love for all people all the time. Are you never irritated by others? Do you never feel frustration? Never have the desire to live in a world where slow-walkers were forced to use ‘slow-lanes’ and stupid people could only speak during certain select periods? Never think that it’ll be so great when you leave this ward activity because you won’t have to listen to EQP ramble about his latest manly moment? I don’t have an answer, but I think that if I truly had charity, I’d probably be better friends with people in my ward than I am now. 10. I spoke in Church a few weeks ago about loving everyone, building Zion, and the body of Christ and in my talk chatted about how hard the communal aspect of the Gospel is for me, as an individualist and an introvert. As I described my ideal worship service (which was in total solitude), I realized that it probably sounded like I totally hate people, which isn’t really true (most days, anyway…). All that is to say that I definitely get the cool with sitting alone at Church deal. Related and humorous story: In Engl 195, years ago, I took a seat in my usual-ish location, which happened to be near where a girl was sitting. I left a buffer seat because I like my space, but this girl turned to me, saying “I don’t bite” and asked why I hadn’t sat right by her, to which I said something about being tall and lanky and needing room to spread out. Unfortunately, another girl at that point came up to the open seat on my other side and asked if she could take it, to which I had to say yes, because it wasn’t saved and I’m not an awful person. This resulted in the first girl giving me a judgmental ‘sure you need lots of room, you just think she’s hotter than me’ look. It was terrible. But funny. 11. Any sort of possessive lingo that refers to people usually makes me uncomfortable. Even if it’s two people in a committed relationship the possession that seems to underlie some ideas frightens me (maybe partially because I link it with really needy people, who drain me of all my energy and leave me craving solitude). So yeah. People are people, not possessions.
1. The comedy discussion at the start of this was interesting. I love Jimmy Fallon and the fact that he can’t stop himself from laughing is one of the most endearing bits about him, I think. I mean, he just seems like such a nice guy. That being said, I think that laughing at your own humor can come across as being a bit smug. Not always, but there’s that danger of seeming super pleased with your own cleverness.
ReplyDeleteI tend to prefer deadpan delivery actually (one of the reasons I absolutely adore Wes Anderson films is the sheer abundance of deadpan/matter-of-a-fact statements that are hilarious, also the 60s Batman film and series—Adam West is the King of Deadpan). I think my humor is probably more deadpan than not, but dunno…
2. I’m totally for low-budget weddings and shindigs (as I’m pretty sure I’ve commented before, I’d love to just elope and not bother with any of the showy stuff, since a reception is only good because you get gifts, otherwise, it’s just hell…I’d imagine, since I haven’t ever had my own reception).
3. Temples is a class actually, I’m taking it this fall, since it’s only 1.0 credit (all I need to finish off those pesky religion credits), so we’ll see what it is about…
4. Wow. The whole—Travis as early-returning missionary stuff. Umm…from the other bits of Travis’ character it seems likely that his motivation was totally selfish and that he could easily have stuck it out if he forgot himself and went to work, as that classic Gordon B Hinckley story says. However, I think there’s also a huge stigma about early-returning missionaries that could have further damaged his spiritual well-being, worsening any problems and issues that he may have had previously. Given all that, I think the missionary program could undergo a severe overhaul resulting in a more positive experience for a greater number of people (more details and thoughts on what I think that could look like here: https://conorhilton.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/mission-improve-missions-for-all/).
5. I’ve already expressed distaste for the tattle-tale culture created by the Honor Code, but think that there’s another issue here. First, I’m pretty sure you should only talk to your bishop about the sins of another person if you have first hand knowledge of said sin. Second, I don’t think I ever would. It just seems outside my place. Their sin is between them and God, so they can work that out. If the sin is harmful to another individual (like I know about an affair or something), I might approach the individual doing the harming, or the one being harmed (depending on who I knew better, what exactly I knew, etc.). There’s just so much room for misunderstanding that I feel like directly confronting the ‘sinner’ (in quotes since we’re all sinners and I hate labeling someone that way, but it makes the convo easier) has to be done to provide them an opportunity of explaining themselves before I needlessly worry somebody else.
ReplyDeleteAnd if someone’s in physical danger then I’d call the cops or some other legal authority, rather than the bishop to report the sin. There’s bigger things to worry about.
6. I’m always a little irritated when characters (or people) refuse to explain things to their friends/roommates/whoever, like Sophie does with the pill. Not that I think she needs to justify herself and her decisions to others, but since she like half-owned up to it I feel like it simplifies things immensely if she (or others in similar situations) would just tell what happened. No need for details, but a simple explanation, like ‘It makes life easier for me.’ Or something, rather than just storming off. I get privacy and all that, and I’m not saying that people should share their medical or other personal body history/info with everyone, but that a little openness and honesty can go a long way.
7. The Church and contraceptives is an interesting topic that people seem to have fierce opinions about with little to no official guidance. Seems to be another of those up to you areas in reality (despite the cultural conversation that can surround it). And people definitely should mind their own business about couples having children. Interestingly, my grandpa used to say that if a couple wasn’t ready to have a kid then they had no business being married. I think there’s some validity there, although he usually said that in a your first kid should come about 9 months after your wedding sort of way, while I think being ready to have a kid and having one or feeling like you should have one are not necessarily the same thing.
8. Madie- as you chatted about The Handmaid’s Tale, I thought of Mad Max Fury Road, and Brave New World (talk about two entirely different spheres). Mad Max has a similar, women only exist for baby-making sub-plot, although it has some kick-a** women and feminist themes and stuff that it does with it.
9. You raised an issue that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently: can I love people without liking them? I’m not sure. I mean, I feel pretty confident that you can still have favorites of some kind while having pure, Christlike love for everybody. But, I don’t know how far that goes. There are some people, who I like to think I would help out and do things for, but just have no desire to hang out and eat pizza with (unless the pizza was free, in which case it might be worth it, although there’re probably some people that even free pizza wouldn’t make me want to spend time in their presence).
ReplyDeleteAt the heart of this question is really a lack of fully understanding what charity is. I’ve felt it for myself (as in God’s love for me) and for others on a few distinct occasions, but I still don’t really know what it’s like to have that sort of love for all people all the time. Are you never irritated by others? Do you never feel frustration? Never have the desire to live in a world where slow-walkers were forced to use ‘slow-lanes’ and stupid people could only speak during certain select periods? Never think that it’ll be so great when you leave this ward activity because you won’t have to listen to EQP ramble about his latest manly moment?
I don’t have an answer, but I think that if I truly had charity, I’d probably be better friends with people in my ward than I am now.
10. I spoke in Church a few weeks ago about loving everyone, building Zion, and the body of Christ and in my talk chatted about how hard the communal aspect of the Gospel is for me, as an individualist and an introvert. As I described my ideal worship service (which was in total solitude), I realized that it probably sounded like I totally hate people, which isn’t really true (most days, anyway…). All that is to say that I definitely get the cool with sitting alone at Church deal.
Related and humorous story: In Engl 195, years ago, I took a seat in my usual-ish location, which happened to be near where a girl was sitting. I left a buffer seat because I like my space, but this girl turned to me, saying “I don’t bite” and asked why I hadn’t sat right by her, to which I said something about being tall and lanky and needing room to spread out. Unfortunately, another girl at that point came up to the open seat on my other side and asked if she could take it, to which I had to say yes, because it wasn’t saved and I’m not an awful person. This resulted in the first girl giving me a judgmental ‘sure you need lots of room, you just think she’s hotter than me’ look. It was terrible. But funny.
11. Any sort of possessive lingo that refers to people usually makes me uncomfortable. Even if it’s two people in a committed relationship the possession that seems to underlie some ideas frightens me (maybe partially because I link it with really needy people, who drain me of all my energy and leave me craving solitude). So yeah. People are people, not possessions.