Weird

It's really weird for me to get on facebook and look at pictures of my friends who don't go to BYU and see that their college experience is waaaaaaay different than my college experience.

And frankly, I prefer mine.

(P.S. Less than two days before NaNoWriMo. Brace yourselves.)

Not Quite the Same...

As you can see, I've made some aesthetic changes to my blog (though I will be the first to admit I'm not quite as handy with blog design as my favorite sister-in-law is). And I like the changes. It's very fall-y.

But there's a problem. There are some aspects of the design I'm just not too chuffed about. The spacing between the letters on the headers and titles, the size of the header at the top, etc. Just things like that. And this wouldn't be a problem at all only I've been exposed to InDesign.

InDesign is a magical adobe layout program in which I could change the spacing between the letters and the sizes of my boxes. I had five million fonts to chose from and I had actual font families with designed bold-face and italic text (not what everyone thinks is bold-face and italic). InDesign spoiled me when I'm designing things, and now it's just not the same...

I don't understand

I was catching up on the news on Yahoo! just now when I read the following in an article about Mitt Romney:

Romney was followed to the stage by Bryan Fischer, a director of the American Family Association, known for inflammatory remarks against homosexuality and "non-Christian religions," which he has said include Mormonism.

"The next president of the United States needs to be a man ... of sincere authentic genuine Christian faith," he said, in a jab at Romney.

Fischer said the next U.S. president must deny evolution, stop government assistance for the poor, veto any increase in the debt ceiling and "treat homosexual behavior not as a political cause at all, but as a threat to public health."

He called Islam the greatest long-term threat to U.S. liberty. "Every single mosque in America is a potential recruiting or training cell for Islamic terror," Fischer said.

So here are me things I don't understand. How can a man profess to be Christian and be so obviously NOT Christ-like? And for another matter, since when has the president needed to be Christian at all? Since when was that a requirement? Don't misunderstand me, of course, I very much appreciate having a leader in office who supports my ideas and beliefs, but there are plenty of good people in the world who aren't Christian.

And while I (in my admittedly limited knowledge of things) don't think we should be raising the debt ceiling either, I think everything else Fischer was quoted as saying is complete poo. The government should stop giving assistance to the poor? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure there's this bit in the New Testament in which Christ advocates the giving of assistance to the poor. When we're in the service of our fellow man, we're only in the service of our God. We need to have charity for the poor, not cut them off. And while I think perhaps we need to overhaul our welfare system and get some things straightened out, I don't think we should just leave people to starve on the streets either.

And can I just say that labeling the issue of same-sex marriage as a matter of "public health" seems a mite ridiculous? Personally, I don't think it's really a political issue either, but a moral one. While people may bash on political candidates for taking stances on purely moral issues, I think those politicians should own up to what they're really doing rather than hide behind the excuse that it's a matter of public health. If he's talking about the spread of AIDS or HIV, straight people can get it too. He may as well try to outlaw pre-marital sex because of "public health." And even if I think perhaps that would save a lot of people a lot of grief, the fact of the matter is the government doesn't really have the right to restrict our agency like that. If people want to make that choice, then fine. If you don't support it, also fine. But own up as to why you really don't support it rather than hiding behind a paltry excuse.

And as for his last point about Islamic mosques being potential terrorist breeding grounds? Give me a break. This country was founded on the idea that men could chose to worship how they would, and the minute the government starts deliberately targeting religious institutions within the country is the very same minute we need to take a long hard look at who we're putting into office.

Really, this article just really makes me hope that anyone who has two neurons to rub together can see that this Fischer man is very much lacking in qualities that would qualify him for any leadership position.

DEATH

So this is probably going to sound really stupid and pathetic, but I was just re-reading my old blog post about the baby ducks and I mentioned I was snapping pictures on my iPod.

The iPod that is now lost.

I HAVE LOST MY PICTURES OF THE ADORABLE BABY DUCKS!

This is what death feels like.

I'm devastated all over again.

This is why I like him...

There is a boy in my life. He is called Brian. He is currently sick with some sort of nasty cold bug and started bombarding me with text messages. I thought I would share them here, so maybe you can understand part of why I like him.

Log 1
I will be keeping logs to monitor my progression through the stages of this unidentified disease. Hopefully this record will be of some benefit to those stricken in the future.

Log 13
The meds [editorial note: Zicam] seem to be working--my vital signs are showing definite improvement and a full recovery now seems an actual possibility. Fingers crossed.

Log 17
Continued recovery--morale is up, and med supplies are good. Look forward to my last log entry soon.

Log 25
Unforeseen setbacks--nothing serious, but I won't be expecting a recovery any time soon. Meds still working, albeit with less success.

Log 39
Condition deteriorating fast--meds have become completely useless against the disease's onslaught of symptoms. I'm going to try to enter hypersleep to slow the spread to contagation

Log 45
Failed attempts to enter hypersleep--I can only conclude that the disease has unkown properties hat prevent its victim from entering any kind of stasis.

Log 55
Condition continues to deteriorate--new symptoms are discovered every hour. No signs of improvement.

Log 61
Darkness begins to envelope my mind as I spiral into the depths of agony created by this disease. My only solace is in the orange flavored meds--it reminds me of home.
Home.
It's so far away now...

Log 68
The hallucinations are getting worse. The line between fantasy and reality are becoming  so blurred...I don't know how much longer my sanity will hold up.

Log 74
I pity any man who finds himself in my predicament--the disease is unstoppable. My only wish is that these logs are preserved to help mankind's struggle against this unknown menace. Farewell. I go now o die, a man hopelessly lost in a sea of misery. Please, don't let me die in vain.

Thus the end of the logs. Keep in mind that he sent these to me all in the space of about two minutes, several of them were out of order, and I got Log 39 about four separate times. But I was laughing the whole time. This is why I like him.