MTC Eve.

I've been packing like crazy. It's amazing what you can cram into a suitcase. 

I get dropped off at the curb of the MTC at 1:10 tomorrow afternoon. A few people have been asking about my blog. Here's what's going down: I am going to leave it to my sister, Julie. She will paste portions of emails that I send onto my blog every so often. I've been thinking that even if I find out that I am allowed to post (unlikely), I think that keeping up with my blog would be highly distracting for me. I love it too much. Here are my two addresses for the next 18 months: 

Address before April 10th:

Thailand Bangkok Mission 
Provo Missionary Training Center 
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

After April 10th:
Thailand Bangkok Mission
50/829-832 Muang Thong Thani
Chaengwatana Road, T. Ban Mai
A. Pakkret

Nonthaburi 11120  

I love writing letters. Write to me. I would love it very much. 

I'm trying to think of something inspirational/sentimental/cheesy that I could write here as my last post. But nothing is coming to mind. Usually it just flows. But I've got nothing. I think it's because I've been set apart as a missionary and that is my focus now. So farewell. 

Porn?

No, not this blog post. No porn here. I know you were worried. I was referencing this petition that I noticed circulating facebook. Former model Nicole Weider is pushing to make it illegal to sell the magazine Cosmopolitan to anyone under the age of 18. She also wants the magazine to be put in a nontransparent plastic bag so that the cover will not be visible to children. Do I think think she is doing a good thing? Absolutely. The magazine is way too graphic to be casually placed at the check-out line. Do I think she will succeed? Probably not. Cosmo is too lucrative and chances are this petition is just bringing the magazine more publicity. But I'm glad to see that someone is trying.

I guess the question comes down to whether or not Cosmo can really be characterized as pornographic. If the argument to ban Cosmo to minors can be founded on the idea that the magazine is selling porn to children, then maybe a legitimate case could be made...which brings up the question of what qualifies as porn. Everyone has a different opinion. It's funny how one man's porn is another man's feature film for family night. *This isn't meant to be directed towards men. If I'm going to be equally sexist, I would say that one woman's porn is another's love for a Nic Sparks novel rendered to film. *I know I rip on him all the time but I think his work is cheap.And some way of ridiculing his popularity always seems to fit into my rants.  It's sad that the standard of morality that has won out up to this point is that of the people who are making billions by headlining "tips that will make him hot" right next to their featured photo of a 17-year-old-girl.

At this point, this post could possibly turn into a what-is-society-coming-to type of thing, but that isn't where I want to go with it. I think what I want to stress here is that whether people realize it or not, everyone has their own sense of morality. It is impossible to live an amoral life. Religion often seems to serve as the scapegoat for accusations of "forced morality" and offensively scripted campaign ads don't help the cause. But these Cosmo people are pushing their own morality just as much as any religion. They are using their widely-circulated magazine to tell me that sex is something that can be loosely discussed. They are not only telling me how to have sex, they are telling me why to have sex and with whom to have sex. And no, I didn't purchase the magazine. I didn't even pick up the magazine. All I did was stop by Walmart to grab marshmallows for the latest bonfire shindig. I'm not okay with that ("that" being in reference to the magazine, not the marshmallows). And even if I were okay with it, I'm definitely not okay with my 10-year-old sister seeing it. I'm no fanatic *this is probably something only fanatics say but the idea that this stuff is so easily visible to her does make me emotionally reactive to the situation. What is sad is that the reason this magazine is able to have their morality so prominently plastered is because we demand it. We keep them in business. 

So, where do you stand? Because whether you like it or not, you stand somewhere. 

Cozy.

Sleepy. The wind is blowing outside and I am curled up in my bed. I love being cozy. 

"Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives. I know that my redeemer lives."

Your daily dose of awesome.

Now's the Time to Be Alive.

"Something's wrong when you regret things that haven't happened yet. So rise and shine. Now's the time to be alive. To stay awake with me a while. And smile."

The Shins.

Listening to The Shins tonight. They are really incredible poets.

Held to the past, too aware of the pending

Chill as the dawn breaks and finds us up for sale. 

Enter the fog, another low road descending

Away from the cold lust, your house and summertime. 

Your name on my cast and my notes on your stay

Offer me little but doting on a crime. 

We've turned every stone and for all our inventions, 

In matters of love loss, we've no recourse at all.  

 I watched Garden State for the first time last year.  I liked this scene. 

Kentucy Roots.

My father and I were having a politically charged discussion the other day which subsequently lead to him calling me a dirty liberal...all in good fun. He said something about being a psychology major elitist as well? Now I'm not entirely sure what that means, but people, I know it isn't true. You know how I know? Because I love this song:

Evenings with Ms. Elouise

Short film of the week:

Did You Know?

The advice on the Dove wrappers is totally right. A long bubble bath in a jacuzzi tub does fix everything, especially while listening to some Amos Lee. Can't. Get. Enough.

No, I didn't use a tub like this, but I am rather impressed with this design.

Oh, and for future reference, don't search for "bathtub" on pinterest. It brings up naked photos of Jake Gyllenhaal, which I guess could be a good or bad thing depending on how you felt about Love & Other Drugs. 

Bye Bye Bugzie

Yesterday we found that my sister's Christmas gift, Bugzie the Fish, was no more. I personally think this might be karma getting Andrea for trying to "pet" my fish five years ago which inadvertently led to the fish being dropped on the floor. Not bitter though.

My family has an abnormally high number of horrible pet death stories. My parents kept buying them for us for some reason. My dad must have had a "buy 20 get one free" punch card or something. One would think that a family with five girls would have nothing but sweet pet stories about hamsters, fish, and kittens, but no. We have death by swimming pool, death by roller blade, self-inflicted death, death by marshmallow, death by rat poison, death by small children that were staying at our house, the list goes on.

A classic family home video with our first ever "pet."  

Many thanks to my mother for translating Michelle's speech impediments. 

I don't think Lucy realizes how lucky she is. We have had her for a successful seven years. The other day, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and let her off her leash. She ended up running into a fortunately not-so-busy street. This caused me to make a ridiculous dash after her while formulating in my head what my family would do if I left the house with a dog that was just excited for a car ride and returned with a less-than-lively lucy lump. Luckily, she was fine. I was fine. It was fine. 

We Stolworthys love our pets and I think that might be part of the problem. We love them too hard and it kills them.