Niklas and his Man-Crushes

Yesterday was an awesome day; actually, every Sunday seems to be an awesome day. I used to hate Sundays as a kid because it meant no playing outside all day, wearing a dress, and then sitting in church for three hours where I was bored to death. By junior high this mentality turned around and I now love, love, love the Sabbath day.

Since it is General Conference on the first Sunday of April, yesterday was a fast Sunday. I admit, I never look forward to fast Sundays; and then I'm always pleasantly surprised despite my protesting stomach at the increased spirit I feel when I'm in the church meetings. So then I realize what a murmerer I am. {:B

To give some background information before I give my little story: Niklas was called to be the Ward Clerk in a single's ward on campus, and I was called to teach Temple Prep in th same ward. So each Sunday we attend with the singles and sit in the back of the chapel during Sacrament Meeting by ourselves. (Because being married means you have a plague, I guess. ;) ) I hadn't gone up to bear my testimony in a long time, simply because I hadn't felt the need to do it, and I also didn't want to take up the single folks' time. But inevitably, as it was the last Sunday that the ward would meet before the Spring semester, my heart started beating fast, I was getting nervous---and I knew it meant I had to get up. So I did. And eventually I was the last one on the stand waiting to speak. My turn came, I spoke as much as I could (emotions always get the best of me nowadays), and then as I stepped down there was a row of people coming up. And Niklas was one of them.

When it was Niklas' turn at the microphone, he began by saying that he had already exposed his "nerdom" to the ward, so he mentioned that he was learning a lot of things from this Themes in Literature class he's taking about....super heroes. He brings up that he got to dress up as Superman this last week for the class, etc. Next thing, he says that he has a Superman comic book from the class that he wants to read an excerpt from because it reveals how Superman was like a type of Jesus Christ. Everyone has been laughing quietly, and I see in front of me, slowly turning his head, one of the guys in the ward who had attended my Temple Prep class this semester. And he gives me this look while grinning from ear-to-ear as if to say, "Is he serious?" And I just nod my head, grinning back to communicate, "OH yes." I mean, Nikas is the guy who likens the Gospel to Star Wars and brings his interests (more like obsessions) into his lessons when he teaches at church (though he's not the first to come up with that). All in all, Niklas likes to entertain people, and he is really taken with super heroes because of what they stand for, so I wasn't that surprised. He eventually bore his testimony which did make me feel relieved because I started worrying whether he was going to just go off about the comic book. :P

Anyway, the rest of Sunday was nice. A gal told me that she missed my class (it's over as of last Sunday until next semester), and then we were invited to dinner by our friends the Beck's who we hadn't hung out with in so long. And then...we watched "New Moon." I don't normally watch movies on Sundays, but I did so since we were with friends and we all hadn't seen it. There was a peanut gallery going on while watching it, and then Niklas and I analyzed it and the books afterwards. I'm not a Twilight fan; I liked it for a bit and then it just died. I wanted to like it, but it was just too physical and dramatic for me. But what cracks me up is that Niklas always complains about it and the girls who swoon over it; and yet, he is so intrigued by the whole wolverine and vampire "culture" in the books. As much as he complains, I saw him engrossed in a "New Moon" interview clip on a TV at WalMart while I was picking up some sewing thread. ;)

And side note, the weather is warming up! We had a beautiful Saturday and I told Niklas we had to go outside otherwise it would be such a waste of a day. So we went to Porter Park and threw a frisbee back and forth for a while. It was a lot of fun just being outside, but my arm hurts now. How pathetic is that?! :P

Happy Easter to all!!

America, America...

I was just reading my sister's live journal comments regarding the healthcare bill that had been passed...and while I'm not crazy about politics (although I like hearing people's opinions--kind of paradoxal), it's always sad to me how mean people choose to be to each other when sharing differing political views. What's the point in getting nasty if someone doesn't agree with you?

I happen to be married to my, almost, complete opposite. As you can imagine, there are LOTS of things that we don't agree on. And I do get heated about certain things---just ask Niklas. ;) But I've been learning that that doesn't mean I have to likewise take on a nasty tone or attitude with him just because he sees things differently. (And vice versa--we are both still learning this. :P) Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that doesn't mean that others have to agree with you. So in short, all I'm saying is that show courtesy to others despite how they feel on a given subject. Hostility and poking fun at others has become acceptable behavior in the world and I don't see it doing anything good for anyone.

To add to that, I'm finding that I'm having a hard time in general feeling proud of our society, which has skewed priorities and morality as time has gone on. Sometimes it seems that the silliest things are fought and debated over, causing media-drama when in reality its not a life-or-death issue. I think we've lost the vision that the founding fathers had of what America was to be. Government itself is not the enemy, as many citizens have had a hand in shaping it to the way it is now. Among other things, I see America suffering from selfishness, levity, and greed. And all of us, me included, have these struggles to a degree. But I guess instead of me and others complaining about all the woes, we should instead focus on doing our part to make it a better place for everybody, and focus on the good. (Easier said than done, I realize, but it would make such a difference.) So despite my frustrations and its faults, I am glad that I live in America.