Mormon Women

So, I'm a Mormon Woman. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That's who I am and I heard something really interesting last night while having dinner with friends. He said that when people meet a real Mormon and get to know us their view of the church generally improves. There are just a few categories where that is not true, meaning that the person's opinion actually decreases after they get to know us. The main area where their opinion lessens is their view of how the church treats women.

I'm actually really bothered by this. I can understand how some people might think things are a bit backwards and what not, but it really does make so much sense to me. And never in the church, or by any church policy have I felt less important or less loved than a boy. If anything the church reveres women and treats them with the utmost respect and kindness. I am free to be the woman I want to be and do what I want to do. I'm not exactly sure which specific practice, experience or what not that people see that makes them not like the church's interaction with women so I will refrain from defending any of it. I am however a tiny bit curious what people think.

TSA Searching Children

Okay, this is not likely to go where you want it to go. That's okay with me. Anway, I read a tweet this morning that went something like this: The TSA just patted my child and then swabbed his hands for bomb residue. What is wrong with our country?" Well, I can tell you what is wrong with our country, sadly, there are bad people out there that want to attack us and other innocent people.

You can't even just say, well I'm white so clearly it's not me because they are recruiting everyone, even white people. I know many don't like the patting down of children, but at the end of the day I see no major problem with it. Here is why:

• Children are poked and prodded by us on a regular basis. We even pat and inspect diapers to check for poopies or to see if they've peed. We hand babies off to strangers (doctors, nurses, family members the baby has never met, etc.) all of the time, so a TSA employee isn't so weird to them. Nothing that is happening to them is that weird especially if you're right there with them watching everything.
• Having a child's hands swabbed for bomb residue might not be a bad idea because kids put their hands all over everything you have, so if you have a bomb it's very possible the kid touched it.
  
• If we stop checking children then suicide bombers may very likely use their own children to carry bombs, knives, and other weapons onto planes. If they believe in receiving eternal glory for their own martyrdom, why wouldn't it be good for their kids too?

A few moments of inconvenience for me is worth my overall safety. Anyone who doesn't want to get checked out for overall safety doesn't need to fly that bad then. It's a fact of life so let's deal with it. If you have ways to improve airport security then write a letter to TSA instead of just whining about how invasive the checks are. It could be a lot worse.

Now, please let me know what you think, but let's be nice about it.

Guy movies vs. Chick Movies

So, this is something I've thought a lot about before, but today it really came to the front of my mind. Why is it that us ladies always end up seeing the guy movie out when we really want to see a new "chick" film?

Somehow we give in and agree to see our boyfriend's/husband's/brother's/father's choice of movie instead. Even if we hate scary movies or excessive violence we still end up at those movies when all we really want to see is a cute couple fall in love.

Sure, because that's what our guy wants we give in and go. But why doesn't he ever give in to what we want to see? It seems to me that there is a disproportionate amount of girls giving into movies they don't want to see and rarely the other way around unless it's a birthday present.

I'm not complaining too much about my situation because my husband will see pretty much anything and I try to be reasonable about my requests, but still it can be hard. I see a lot of my friends have similar struggles. Guys need to suck it up and see a cute couple hold hands and kiss, it can't be any worse than girls sitting in a theater watching bodies get blown up. We all have to do things we don't want to do sometimes.

And, guys, if it's that mushy just cover your eyes and plug your ears like I do with excessive violence.

Organized Crime Bosses

So, maybe I'm out of line, but that's okay with me. First, I love mobster movies. I love the power and control these men have and the way they still remain so vulnerable to the other mob bosses powers. It's such an interesting play of characters that I totally get into. (Side note: I am not associated with an organized crime family in any way. I avoid being that vulnerable at all costs.)

Anyway, after hearing about the death of Osama bin Laden it kind of reminded me of organized crimes. President Obama actually ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden. This was a "kill operation". (MSNBC Article) This was carried out by a super elite team of trained military officers that only operates on very high ranking leaders commands, the president ordered this mission. He didn't want to just talk to Osama, he wanted him dead. I think most of the world is okay with that since Osama bin Laden is a well known villain.

I just thought last night as so many people feel relief over this that the president ordered a hit on another human life. Sure, it was against a bad guy, but still. I'm sure the decision was easy and logical, but it's kind of creepy to have to live with that. I just think it's an interesting way to consider it as an organized crime situation. Take it for what it's worth.

What I Want to be When I Grow Up

So, I've come to some realizations lately. Things I always knew, but didn't know I knew maybe. Well anyway. So, lately if I've whined about my job or talked about looking elsewhere, people have asked me, "Well, what do you want to do?" "What kind of career do you want to have?" The only answer I can come to with that is that I don't really want a career. I want to be a stay at home mom. I know that will be a ton of work in and of itself, but it's still what I want, even if I have to work a little on the side to help pay the bills. I want to be a mom and do things on my terms, and just take care of my kids and my husband. Caring for others that I love is the only thing I've really enjoyed in life. I'm good at many things, but this is what I want to be the best at. It's hard when you've been trying to have a family for over five years, but I'm not giving up just yet. My time will come.

Alright, I just had to get this out. There is no real reason for me to share this other than because I wanted to express what so often confuses people about me. This is me and this is who I want to be.

Is she hot??? No really, is she?

So, I noticed this blog article some friends shared on Facebook this morning. It was completely fascinating about the role men people in the low self-worth women carry around with them. Read it! It might open your eyes to some things you didn't realize about yourself and how we can all do a bit more to make it better.

I'm so blessed to have a great and patient husband. He never makes me feel worthless or wants me to feel inadequate the way I am. I know I'm not perfect, but he's okay with that and loves me anyway. After over 5 years of marriage my perspective of myself has shifted to a better place. I'm still insecure and doubt my value constantly, but I'm doing much better now.

I do have one fatal flaw though. I pick out really obscenely attractive women and then ask my husband if he thinks she's hot. When he refuses to answer or says no I keep pushing him. I want him to say she is just to reinforce my own belief that I'm not good enough. Rarely will he ever even say another woman is attractive. I find this an incredibly supportive behavior of his. I on the other hand am horribly dangerous to my own worth.

I participate in these self-fulfilling prophecies because I don't think I'm worth being loved or cared for by someone so wonderful. I don't think I'm easy enough to live with or put up with. I feel as though if I'm not making him happy 100% of the time I'm not enough of a woman. This isn't true, it's impossible.

Just think about what you do in your own lives to destroy your own worth and stop doing it. Men who make you think that way about yourself aren't worth your time or attention.

Post Oscars Celebrity Encounter

So, last night we went to our local grocery store to pick up a few things. Near the end of our little trip we saw Josh Cooke. He plays Ben Coles on the TV show Better With You. This is just happens to be one of our new favorite shows. I was a little giddy and excited to be seeing a celebrity in real life. He was totally dressed down. He looked like he'd just come from a game of pick-up basketball or something. His fiance looked fantastic though. They were cute.

I was just surprised to be more starstruck by him than the huge celebrities I had just seen at the Oscars. It was just strange seeing some one out of the blue I guess rather than at the Oscars where I expected them to be.

Life in LA sure is interesting!

The Oscar's: The Year the UK Won

I'm only joking about the UK, well sort of. Being in the press room we see all of the winners come through and a large number of them were British. They have lots to be proud of across the pond. They are very talented and creative. They did some amazing things and deserve all of the acclaim they received last night.

Okay, for those of you who want to know what I do there. Well, the company I work for is in charge of all the audio/visual elements of the press room. This is where all the press sit to hopefully have the chance to ask the winners a question at the end of the night. Let me list for you some of the interesting things I saw and heard.

• Christian Bale said something I found totally hilarious. He was talking about all the body transformations he goes through for the roles he takes. He said about his role in the fighter, "Have you ever seen a fat crack addict?" I thought it was a great line.
• Then later while I was waiting to hand my mic to a reporter I suddenly heard a guy next to me start talking loudly. Turns out he was going live on the radio right there from the press room. It was odd and cool at the same time.
  
• Natalie Portman was super cute and hardly looked pregnant in her dress. However, she kept holding her statue under her pregnant belly pulling her dress tightly under the belly. It was so cute. She is tiny, but adorable.
  
• At the end of the evening Tom Hooper came in after winning for best director of "The King's Speech" which is an amazing movie. I know it's rated-R, but really this is the least offensive rated-R movie I've ever seen. Less offensive and more hopeful than many PG movies I've ever seen. Anyway, there was a military reporter there and he talked about how the King overcame a physical problem in this movie. And he asked Mr. Hooper what troops in the field could take from this movie. He responded that the movie was about friendship (between the king and his speech therapist) and that it was through their friendship that the king was able to get better. He said that the troops should turn to their friends to find the strength to get better. It was of course much more eloquent, but it really touched me the way he said things.
• Finally, a special moment for me. The evening was over, I had gone to the rest room and as I was leaving I passed Baz Bamigboye, a UK reporter. He said to me, "Thanks for everything." This after I had provided him with a mic for his final question. He also happens to be the reporter Kate Winslet ran to and hugged while I was standing right next to him 2 years ago. Very special moments indeed.

Okay, so I think that about sums it up. Below are some pictures of Eric and I there together. They provided him with a tux for the evening. Very cool!









This is him in his tux. So cute huh? He looked even better in person.
Now this is us in the hallway outside the press room. It was the only safe place for us to take a picture. No photos are allowed in the press room. They actually kept throwing people out of the press room for taking pictures. It was crazy. Such a good time. If you want to know about anything else just leave a comment and I'll be sure to answer it. Thanks for being interested in my silly little excursions.

Watson the Brain

I'm not sure how many of you watch Jeopardy, but I do. I was obsessed during Ken Jennings run. He is remarkably intelligent. Well, this week he and another guy competed against an IBM computer creation. Of course, the computer new pretty much everything and kicked their trash. Ken did come in 2nd place though. It's amazing how smart they made this computer. It could understand Trebek's voice and questions. It responded properly and gave proper responses. It was just amazing. It was cute when it would mess up.

I enjoyed this article written by Ken Jennings since the taping. He's a very funny guy with a grounded sense of humor. He spoke highly of Watson and the computers programming. It also made me think about what is to come of artificial intelligence. I think it's awesome, however I do worry about what might happen. I don't think it will be terminators and the like, but what about an elimination of jobs. Factories are needing less people due to the ease and efficiency of programmable machines. Will that happen to us? What about the jobs we do everyday?

And seriously? Is there anything worse when calling tech support than to get a guy across the world to try and help you? I would say getting a robot to try to help me would be worse. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for us.

Any thoughts?

Forever

Yep, it's been forever since I've posted. I just got really busy going through some things. I didn't forget about my blog, I just didn't have anything positive to say. Life has been good, but challenging at times. We're just fine though.

We had very lovely holidays. We went to Mesquite to visit Eric's family for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful time, but Wal*Mart was insane at midnight. Good fun, good food, good times.

We spent Christmas here in LA. It was a surprisingly wonderful time. Okay, not surprising to us, but to all of our families that missed us. We were able to see several movies, some great, some kind of crappy. On Christmas day we also visited a little old lady in our ward that was in a rehab center. She was so sweet and charming. We just love our sweet Antine. We spent New Year's Eve watching movies and our friends, the Champions, came over for pizza making, games and ringing in NYC new year's eve. LA new year's eve was just happening to late for us all to stay up.

Now we're back to normal life. Eric is looking for a new job, but all the while focusing on his writing. He's a very talented writer and we have great hope for this new year and the possibilities that exist, but we just can't see yet.

I am patiently waiting out my time to see what is to come next for me. The possibilities are limitless.