A very smart guy by the name of "Noggin" posted this on PostMormon.org yesterday. I asked and received permission to post this on my blog. I really identified with it, and I wanted to share it with everyone. Enjoy!
Dear God:
I was wondering if you read the newspapers lately... like last week's newspapers that reported how there have been four school shootings in four seperate schools in one week's span.It's a little disconcerting to witness such horrific travesty in the face of such boundless miracles that are supposedly simultaneously happening across the globe in your good name and all that.
Parking spaces and lost car keys are being found in the nick of time, fat people praise your name for helping them lose weight and skinny ones also praise you for gaining. Most of your followers attribute metting their spouses as one of your miracles. Little children are miraculously recovering in hospitals everywhere at the request of praying parents, and apparently you are in the business of saving marriages and other relationship fiascos. Cancer is being abated, fattened stock dividends are being paid out handsomely, fortuitous lottery tickets are being bought, businesses are prospering across the lands, you even heard the prayer of some little girl who prayed mightily to you that her father would not come in and rape her last night. (I say there, good job on that one God). You apparantly control the location of lightening strikes and hurricanes too. I read on the news last month that a hurricane utterly destroyed a residential neighborhood but spared a church right in the middle of that neighborhood. That's pretty good, God!
Well? What can I say. The list of miracles attributed to you, God, is quite endless so apparantly, you really are quite busy pulling rabbits out of hats.
So then, God, I was also wondering if you might be able to put some of that omniscience of yours to better use in divining when the next school shooting will happen... ::sigh:: we've had such a slew of them lately and it really is becoming a pandemic of sorts. I was hoping, you know, that you could, well, kind of guide the shooter to shoot himself first or to take his medications or seek professional counseling or maybe... just maybe since they say you are so involved with relationships and match making... you could get the shooter to fall in love with, let's say, not even the girl (for it always seems to be a male shooter) of his dreams but just someone who temporarily distracts him until maybe you could inspire him to become engrossed in a life fulfilling hobby? A fitness enthusiast perhaps? Something... something to set his path straight so that needless lives do not have to be lost.
just, you know... ANYTHING, God.
But, you know, I'm just a mortal thinking of mortal ways to solve this school murder mayhem thing... I am sure you are better equipped to solve this delimma, being God and all that like you are.
Anyhow, you sure seem to be doing a bunch of miraculous things over the eons of time. Do you think you could possibly add school murdering to your list of problems to solve?
Sincerely,
Noggin
Read more »
My Valentine's Day post mentioning scary movies got me in the mood to do a little scary story searching on the internet. I found a couple stories archived on Shadowlands from my own teeny-tiny town. I even had an experience at one of the locations...
"Dugway- Clinic- Located on U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, a remote Army post west of Salt Lake City in the desert. This is closed to the public. Trespassers will be prosecuted under federal law. Do not attempt to sneak on or you may find yourself staring at the business end of an M-16 rifle.I have heard stories about the clinic on base, many of them include a pregnant wife of an enlisted man who lost her life giving birth to her child. She wanders the halls looking for her baby. There is no evidence this really happened, but I do know many people who worked there and they swear they have seen her. These are doctors, nurses, and EMTs... people who wouldn't really want others thinking they are out of their minds. One doctor that used to work there is a very close family friend, and he claims there are many more stories but he won't talk about them. He did tell me that he would see someone in old clothes every once in a while... a soldier. That is all he would say about it.
Here is another haunt from my home town:
Dugway- Photo building at Ditto Area- Building constructed in the early 1960's on or near the site of German P.O.W. barracks of World War II. No indication of German ghosts, as the P.O.W.'s were very well treated. However, the Photo Building is haunted. Most activity occurs at night or after hours, when the building is quiet. There is a long history of this building being haunted, going back 30 years or more. The haunting is not harmful, just unsettling. Running feet, indistinct whispering, unintelligible talking at a distance and footsteps are heard. No reports of missing or moving objects. A few instances of very large crashes, like a wall full of items fell to the floor. Upon investigation, nothing is found. One photographer saw a fleeting figure run out of the old developing room, across the hallway and into a cinder block wall. Figure was tall, black pants, white shirt, and dark hair. Matches description of a photographer who died of natural causes at home years ago. Speculation that he's back, because he enjoyed working there so much. All activity occurs in the front half of the building, which is the oldest. An addition was built in the early 1980's, doubling the size of the building. No activity reported in this new addition. The older, front portion of the building is scheduled to be refurbished in the near future. This will mean tearing down some of the walls, redoing the rooms and a major makeover. How this will affect the current strange activity remains unknown.Right after high school, I got a job cleaning the buildings in Dugway to save money for college. I got to go to buildings that most civilians never got to see... I even had to learn how to put on a gas mask in under 10 seconds, and how to inject myself with medication in case chemical agent was released by accident.
There were usually 2 or 3 cleaning people per crew, one to do the bathrooms, one for the floors, and one to fill in where needed like changing the trash bags in the offices. We had free reign of the building, and there was rarely anyone inside while we were there. Those people we did see we knew well, and they were very kind and friendly.
Well, I was mopping the floors in the development room and I heard someone enter the room. I didn't look up, I just kept mopping and said, "Hello there." There was no reply. I figured the person was really busy or didn't hear me. As I was leaving the room I said, "Have a good one," and looked over to where I thought the person was... and there was no one there! I was alone in the room the entire time. Maybe it was my imagination... maybe not. Who knows?
Read more »
Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and I have no boyfriend. I am not complaining really, but after seeing the commercials for diamonds, flowers, chocolates and other fine lovely treasures I can't help but feel a little sorry for myself. If I hear the phrases, "He went to Jared!" or "Every Kiss begins with K!" one more time I might have to cause harm to my television.
I am fine being alone... well, alone as I can get with a roommate and three cats. I don't need to have a relationship with a guy to make me feel good about myself. I have never felt that way. It's another reason why the church didn't make sense to me. Why in the world should I have to be married off and have tons of babies to follow God's plan for me? It doesn't add up.
One day, I will have a Valentine. It will be great. Hopefully he will know about my love of Diet Coke and Popcorn... instead of a fancy dinner at some super-glitzy restaurant we could hunker down in the living room and watch scary movies all night. THAT is fun. I plan on doing that tomorrow night by myself :D
Happy Valentine's Day!
Sydney
Read more »
When I lived in Orlando I worked with this nice older lady by the name of Diane. She told me stories of how she ran away from home the minute she turned 18 to New York so she could pursue her modeling career. Her modeling career led her to smoking, drinking, and occasional drug use... then she was saved... Yep. A born again Christian.
Nothing wrong with born again Christians... as a matter of fact, I don't have issue with any religion, it's just when the religion is pushed on me constantly that I get the urge to have a melt down. Mormons are good at this as well, constantly sharing their testimony and begging you to join them for meetings or activities in hopes you will "feel the spirit." Diane was constantly bringing religion into the conversation, and it shouldn't be discussed at work... it only causes problems.
Diane and I had a love-hate relationship. We would work well together one day, crack jokes, play games, we gelled... then a few days later everything I did would suddenly start to get on her nerves. She would snap at me, roll her eyes, talk bad about me behind my back to our supervisors (who knew what she was like and didn't really pay much attention to her thank God!) and make comments like, "Sydney, I am praying for you."
It would go in cycles. I would have happy-go-lucky Diane for a few days, then I would have mean-nasty Diane for a few days. If we were overstaffed and I wanted to go home early, the mean Diane would throw a fit and mention that I should work more (none of her business, even if she was right.... which she wasn't) and the nice Diane would say things like, "Oh, go on home sweetie!" or "Goodness, do what you want... we are fine here!" I never knew from one day to another which Diane was going to show up for work that morning. I remember walking up to the building bracing myself for mean Diane... praying for nice Diane, and if I had the nice Diane I was hoping she wasn't going to ask me to join her for church over and over again. I was slowly losing my mind.
Well, one day I finally did lose my mind. I couldn't take it anymore. I was getting ready to open the restaurant and Diane kept telling me that I was doing things wrong. We had worked together for years at this point. We both had the same job title, and we both did these things daily... why in the world am I suddenly doing it wrong? What *IS* the wrong way to unlock the door? I don't get it to this day. So, instead of starting a huge fight I tossed the keys to Diane and said, "Okay, you do it."
That just pissed her off. She thought I was being very rude and marched off to my supervisors office. She went in there and bitched and complained about me for about 20 minutes and then finally came back to help me with the workload. Later in the day my supervisor called me in his office and told me he had "concerns" with the way I was doing things. I explained everything to him and my story made sense. He dropped everything and life went on like normal... well, as normal as it can get working with Diane.
A couple days after this incident Diane came up to me with tears in her eyes telling me she was sorry for what she did. I accepted her apology and tried to move on with the day... but she wasn't done talking to me. She then said, "It's just that Satan likes to mess with our relationship, Sydney. He likes it when we fight and dislike each other. We have to pray to get rid of Satan."
Are you kidding me? First of all, I told Diane that I wasn't going to pray with her. Her religion was her business, and I didn't want to do stuff like that at work. Secondly, and most important, it wasn't "Satan" doing these things, making these statements to my supervisor, picking on everything I did wrong... it was her! She blamed everything wrong she did on Satan...
Now, when my family started to reply to my long resignation letter from the Mormon Church, many of them told me that Satan was leading me away, and that the stuff I learned about Joseph Smith and the rest of the "Profits" were untrue. It isn't pure fact for them, it is Satan's fault.
Doesn't blaming Satan for these things pretty much save you from having to take responsibility for your own actions, beliefs, and feelings? If you write it off as Satan trying to hurt you, you don't have to worry about digesting and dealing with the facts that you might actually be wrong.
Sydney
Read more »
Overheard at the office is a new favorite website of mine, and here are a few gems that made me giggle today. Be sure to check out the thousands of others I can't add...
11AM Certainly, Sir. Will There Be Anything Else?
Superior, after staring at his computer screen for 10 minutes: Well, butter my ass and call me a biscuit!
North Division Street
Peekskill, New York
10AM It's Just Trying to Tell You It Thinks You're Pretty
Salesperson: I'm having problems with my unit.
Accountant: What?
Salesperson: Yeah. When I put it in my ear, it whistles.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin2PM Epistemology at the Monsanto Broccoli Plant
Employee #1: So we don't sell insurance! What's hard to understand about that?
Employee #2: I don't know. It's like, 'Don't yell at the broccoli plant for not growing carrots.'
2145 Riverside Drive
Macon, Georgia
1PM At the TMI Olympics
Uber-friendly coworker: Do you ever find that your asshole hurts after you sneeze?
101st Street and Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
Canadia
9AM Whatever, Mister "I Believe in Santa"
Stylist: Do you like your haircut, buddy?
Little boy: [Silence.]
Stylist: Do you know who would like your haircut? SpongeBob.
Little boy: ... I'm not stupid.
Barbershop
Noblesville, Indiana
Read more »
I went to Wal-Mart (or Wally-World as most of my friends call it) today with roomie to pick up a few odds and ends. I always take my camera with me. Always. I usually take photos of the flowers in the garden center, or strange things I see in the foods section... I have never once had an issue with any employee of Wal-Mart on the many trips I have made. Never.
Today was different.
We walk in the store, pick up our shopping cart, and walk in. The greeter ignored us because she was chatting with another customer. I didn't think much of it because they rarely do anything but smile and wave. Nothing wrong with that.
The first thing I saw when I got past her was this huge Valentine's Day display. It was full of flowers, stuffed animals, chocolates. It was pretty, and I just wanted a couple close-up shots of the flowers. Again, never had an issue with anyone before... never. Well, the greeter who ignored me on the way in hurried over to me and said:
"Excuse me... are you here for Wal-Mart?"
I kid you not. Of course I am here for Wal-Mart... I have a basket, a wallet, yes... I am here for Wal-Mart. She then proceeded to tell me that taking pictures inside the store was against the rules and that she had been in trouble for it before. Well, I kind of find that hard to believe. Why is it that I was allowed to take photos inside the store countless other times? I think this chick just wanted to pretend to be important for a few minutes.
I almost challenged her and brought up the countless number of camera phones people bring into the store every day. I didn't though, I didn't want to be combative even though I was super-annoyed.
I can understand they don't want me to take photos of other customers... I would never do that. I would never take a photo of someone without their permission. It's creepy. I also understand they might not want me to take photos of the obvious safety issues I find in Wally-World every time I go there, like the ladders left alone in the aisles or the wet floors with no obvious signs. Again, I am not here to hurt anyone... I just want a picture of a pretty flower.
She then asked me to take the camera outside. I told her no. It is a very expensive camera, and there is no way in hell I am leaving it in my car. I told her I would respect her wishes and not take photos inside the store, and I meant it. I left the camera off for the entire time.
I moved on and did my shopping. I was a little angry about the encounter, and then everything started to get on my nerves. I never noticed how hard it is to get around that store. Ladders left in the aisles (2 of them), Wally-World workers restocking the shelves and taking up the whole walkway in order to do it, trash on the ground, the items on the shelves in disarray... I hate it there now. It took that encounter to totally make me see Wal-Mart in a bad way. It seems harsh, but it's the honest truth.
Super-friendly greeter-lady then eyed me as I was exiting as if she wanted to check my camera. I shot her a "go directly to hell" look.
When I got home I went directly to flickr to see if anyone else was able to take photos inside Wal-Mart. Photos of the store facade, photos of the aisles, photos of employee only areas... why was taking a shot of a little flower so bad?
" We found 18,792 results for photos matching Wal-Mart."
If this is a rule, it should be enforced all the time... not once in a while. WTF?
Sorry, needed to vent.
I will now be shopping at places that don't mind my photo-taking... even if they are slightly more expensive. Next time someone asks me if I am "here for Wal-Mart" I will say no.
I hate Wal-Mart.
Read more »
I forgot to remind you all last week, so don't forget this time! Sunday Secrets are posted, and they have a Valentines Day theme. Enjoy!
Read more »
I came across a blog that I fell madly in love with. As you can tell by the title, it's high-resolution photographs from up to 100 years ago. The photos are amazing, and they tell amazing stories. Here are a couple of my favorites... please check this blog out. It even gives you the option to buy any of the photos as fine art prints. Awesome work.
June 1942. "Queens, New York. Children get milk or tomato juice after their nap at the nursery school at Queensbridge housing project."
October 1941. "Grand Central Terminal, New York City." Medium format nitrate negative by John Collier for the Office of War Information.
Read more »
