Tis the season for Family

This is ?. The latest addition ot the Driver clan and my youngest niece/nephew. She's only ? as I haven't yet been able to think of a name for her. Any suggestions?
This is speed Demon, Hyper, Roo, and ?. Plus the dog I got Roo for Christmas. I didn't realise at the time I bought it, it's as big as she is!
and this is all of the mechanicus clan's children.

Well this would be the most strange testimony meeting ever

Yes sports fans, I'm bacckkk. Well as those of you who might read these ramblings of mine on a regular basis there is a certain church website which is a 'favourite' of mine right now. Mainly as it's a easy way of not having to think of topics.

Well surprise, surprise it's actually made me laugh (for once) in a sense that one of the threads was intending funny. It was about the strangest things that people had seen in Fast and testimony meeting. Here's a selection of the best stories. Enjoy!

"The Seattle Public Library is possessed by demons. So said one sister, who then raised her arms and proceeded to cast out said demons." Could make joke about Nemesis. But won't :-)

"There was one guy in a meeting who bore his testimony about how much he liked pornography and didn't know whether or not the church was true. The following week he was called as a stake missionary" I really hope this one isn't true

"Singles ward in SLC, this one was classic. Guy gets up and says he wrote a song and wanted to share it with us all. So he did. Not just the words, he actually sang it a'cappella. The song was called "The Hug" and it was about how he knows he will know who his future wife will be the first time he hugs her. Note to self: never touch that guy in any way shape or form :-)"wow this guy sounds like a real catch and you just know he'll probably end up married before me!

"this crazy guy got up and talked for like15-20 mins about how he had a vision that the world was coming to an end. he was going into all kinds of details, and people were starting to freak out! i wondered why it took the bishop so long to get him off of there...." maybe he was asleep?

"A woman was bearing her testimony and crying so much she almost couldn't say anything. Hers was the last testimony of the day. Before leaving the podium she apologized for being such a big boob. When the bishop got up to close the meeting he said, "That's alright, [sister so-and-so], we in the bishopric all like big boobs." Then he turned a bright shade of red as laughter erupted and he realized what he had said."

"A man got up and started saying how he felt he needed to confess something to the whole ward.He hung his head and proceeded to say, "I've been having an affair with the Relief Society President...........In my head." He started to talk about daydreaming and fantasizing.... didn't get too far. The bishop quickly got up and escorted him outside.My friend said, "You should have seen the look on the RS president."

Are the cynical genes finally kicking in?

I watch a fair bit of Tv probably too much to be honest and I've noticed myself becoming a bit cynical about adverts (no really) and I'm probably one of those people who would have market researchers tearing their hair out as adverts never seem to work in the correct way on me.

For example all of the adverts for things such as hair care or beauty products that announce 97% of users would recommend it to their friends. All well and good but I can't help but sit there and wonder why the remaining 3% wouldn't.

Then their the adverts for furniture stores who seem to have some sort of sale on at all times. To be honest it would probably have more affect on me if they did a advert that announced they were going to sell everything at it's normal price. Their are two main culprits at the moment for these kind of adverts at the moment. One where they have some guy who used to be in a band, then used to be in eastenders years ago and seems to have failed to find any work since then as is only in the adverts in the hope that someone might still know who he is. The second store is the one who seems to delight in "double discount sales", which makes no sense because if your offering it at the sametime it's really just the one discount. They announce with pride that they have sofas that are reduced from £1100 to £690. Which makes me wonder just how much profit they can still be making on the darn things to be able to reduce the price by £400. Grumpy did mention that we have just finished paying for our suite. Which has made me nervous around them as I'm sure my old friend irony is lurking just around the corner and you know how he likes to mess with me.

The advert for that well known english choclate company with the drumming Gorilla has finally disappeared from our screens. It apparently increased sales to some ridiculous extent somewhere between 100 - 200% apparently. I bet the marketing exectutive who came up with that idea is feeling pleased with himself. Can you imagine how crazy that pitch sounded " Well to advertise our choclate we'll have a gorilla drumming along to phil colins and not show the choclate at all. what do you think?" I think most peoples response to a pitch like that would have been to call security. It did make me wonder though if it can do that for choclate could it do that for my companys books?We just have a Gorilla there reading a book. Think it will work? Well probably not as it a well known toilet cleaning manufacturer have also started using a Gorilla in their adverts as well. Quite why the man in the advert is more worried about the smell from a toilet and not about the talking Gorilla with a newspaper under one arm which has just wished him good morning while walking out of the toilet, and the men in lab coats and gas masks that appear from behind a hidden wall in the bathroom when he presses a button is beyond me.

Talking about the smells in toilets has reminded me of another advert I am finding fantastically annoying right now. It's obivousily a advert orginally used in another country as it is extremely badly dubbed. It starts with a little boy in a bathroom sitting on a toilet (not as dodgy as that sounds) who gets worried that it's 'all gone', no not the toilet paper as most people would be concerned about but rather the air freshner is empty/doesn't have a cartridge in. His mother comes to the closed door of the bathroom to call out to him and ask whats wrong. Cue little bit of papaer shoved under the door with a picture of the air freshner and 'Empty' in big letters with a arrow pointing to the drawing. Mother comes into the toilet with boy still on seat, puts in new cartridge and all is right with with world. A few questions spring to mind.

1) why is the little boy concerned with a missing air freshner?

2) why is the mother so concerned with a missing air freshner?

3) where does the little boy get a pen and pad to make the drawing with while in the bathroom?

4) how is the little boy able to make the drawing, slide it under the door and get back onto the toilet ready for when his mum comes back with a fresh cartridge?

5) why is the mother not concerned that her son seems to be spending a incredible amount of time on the toilet?

6) where did the pad and pen go?

anyway,

later!

Danger, Danger Will robinson

Or to put it another way, when it's good it's very good but when it's bad it's very very bad.

Okay I'm sure one or two of you by this point might be worrying that I am loosing what shreds remain of my sanity as I am making even less sense then usual. Well let me explain.

After absent of several days I decided to visit my 'favourite website' of the moment to see exactly what they are talking about. Well what I found demonstrates one of the greatest strengths and weaknesses of the internet. That of the facelessness/anomity. Basically it allows some people who might not have the courage/self confidence to get involved in conversations to put their views across on message boards or blogs (:-) because their not having to face people direct. Myself a case in point. I do find it very hard to talk about stuff sometimes especally in Church classes as I do feel stupid compared with some peoples knowledge levels and I worry I'm making no sense. This is part is one of the reasons I started this thing and kept it going even though the number of people who leave comments is very llooowwwwwww..

Well the flip side to this anomity is that is can allow people to talk about all sorts of subjects they probably wouldn't do in the actual physical present of other people or church members because they are subjects that are best left alone.

Okay hopefully that will give you all some idea of where it is I'm coming from before I start disecting this thread. The name of the thread? Virtual Modesty. As always any comments on quotes in bold. Over to the starter of the thread. Girl from utah;
"With computers and the internet there are a lot of people who are participating in "virtual" reality "worlds" and role playing games.
I'm resisting the pull of trying anything like this. Facebook sucks enough time away already"
Things such as Second Life where in a 3D world people have a 3d character and chat and socialize, buy houses and clothing, and more.A Mormon recently told me that modest clothing is not important in such things like that because it's not real and that these virtual "characters" are more like Barbie's.
what kind of games did this member get up to with their barbies?
So, although the idea of things like Second Life may seem kind of odd to some,
or geek mecha to others
I was wondering what others thought. Do you think if you have an online character such as that that your Mormon standards should apply there as well or not? Or because it's not "real" that it does not matter?"

Okay well I think we can all agree based on this opening statement, this thread can not and will not end well.

First response
" believe that modesty is still important even in the virtual world.
Hear, hear.
I have neve been on Second Life, but from my understanding you getto choose how your avatar looks like. You must be as careful of what you choose online as you do in the real world.The big draw to the internet is the anonymous nature of it. On the internet you can be anyone you want to be.
Yes I am in fact my evil twin brother when online. Lets just keep that between me you and the internet ;-)
The question should be...who are you choosing to be?
Wow this is a all together more in depth philosopical question then I've come to expect from this site. "

Theres then a couple of good quotes that modesty is still important and some discussions on how your character still represents you as a person. Good valid points.

Then our old friend from Utah Clever Clogs appear.

"Modesty shouldn't matter online.
I don't like where this is going.
People play SecondLife or other avatar based games to espcape the REAL world and go into a video game to be something else.
But if your happy playing a character which doesn't share your values, what does that say about your values to begin with.
People need an escape valve...and people shouldn't be so hung up on themselves in a place that was designed to give you freedom to do things you normally get to do in real life.
yes but if your 'character' is normally doing things that are againist church teachings what does that say about you?
"
So then someone who could probably give Yoda a run for his money appears
"but what is real life? does it not exist in our minds and on our computer screens? if it exists, its real. if its real, its part of real life.no? :)"

I think what this guy is trying to say is that your character is doing things you are choosing for it to do. It doesn't matter if it is virtual, your still choosing to do it. When does the line between virtual/ reality end etc.

The first responder then reappears
"In D&C when talking about the Law of Chastity it clearly states that you should even avoid thinking about unchastness.
that's right.
To say things like it's okay to do it online because it isn't real where do you draw the line?
I'm sure you can have a deeply philsopical discussion on this.
Is it okay to have virtual sex with someone online when you are married? After all it isn't real. Is it okay to have virtual sex with a virtual character.........
He does go on and mentions doing very bad things virtually but I'm sure you get the idea, I don't have to spell it out"

So this does raise some interesting thoughts for discussion. If a person is using a character online, as it's virtual and via proxy I guess is the best word for it, is it okay to do stuff you wouldn't do as a church member in real life?

Of course clever clogs isn't going to let first responder get away with those comments with out getting his say in again
"I find it creepy that people want to blur the lines between virtual reality/computer games and the behavior we do in REAL life.
I think he's missing the point here. Online it's not what your actions it's more about your thoughts.
If we're so concerned about people's "online" lives...why don't we start sending out "online missionaries" in pairs and tell them to repent, get baptized and head to their nearest SecondLife LDS Chapel (or LDSLinkup) ward!?
Again, I think he's missing the point. There are no deeds without thoughts.
Give me a break. "

Okay so there seems to be two schools of thought developing in this arguement. The first is that as it's virtual and your aware it's virtual it doesn't matter what your character does, it's not real. The second seems to be that it doesn't matter if the actions are real it's still leading your thoughts down paths they shouldn't stray. Clever clogs continues in response to first responders comments about having your character do very bad things

" That's at one extreme end of the spectrum. However, the other extreme end of the spectrum is just as crazy where we now have people worried about our online behaviors in a fictional, computer generated world!!!

Great...nazi mormons are now concerned about our spiritual well being online. I guess we have to start being worried of our "digital sins" and repent for them.
wow could he be anymore touchy?

Are we gonna start confessing that we experimented with a little online coffee? Had a sip of online vodka? Shagged in the back of online car!?If so, I have a multitude of "digital sins" that I must repent for. Oh grow up

I am a big "Grand Theft Auto" fan. Should I confess to my bishop that I steal cars, beat up hookers, kill drug lords and make drug runs on Grand Theft Auto?
No but you might want to reconsider your choice in video games.
Will I lose my temple recommend...all based on my shenanigans I've committed on... a video game!?

I find it extremely bizarre that people take video games and online virtual reality worlds so seriously to the point that they worry about the law of chastity (or any other law/commandment)...online.
They mean in the sense of thoughts not deeds.
The irony is that if we're soo worried about keeping the commandments online...I could easily create a world where no body would break the commandments and thus I would live a 100% "sin free" online life...(doesn't that plan sound familiar to a REAL plan proposed in Heaven!?)
Are you really trying to justify yourself in the way I think you are?
"
At this point the girl who started the thread reappears.
"We are told by church leaders to not to watch movies that are questionable...but it's okay to play online in ways that are questionable?
I think this is he crux of the arguement and will keep this thread running on and on.
If church leaders tell us not to watch a rated R movie...then yes I'm pretty sure they'd warn against playing Grand Theft auto. And in fact they have spoken about video games.Perhaps it is something that should be pondered and pray about personally. Although I still would be curious to know what our bishop would say about it too.
I would also be fascinated to get Bro H's and Photoshops take on this as well"

So the argument now seems to be at the point between the difference between reality and Virtualality. Can a avatar or character of yours do stuff online that you wouldn't do in real life and it be okay because it's just virtual?

Then we have a good sensible answer from a girl from the UK ( we do have a lot of clever girls here don't we?
"We are accountable for every single thing we do, whether online or offline, virtual or otherwise. By masquerading as an immodest or immoral person in a 'virtual' life, we are advocating that lifestyle- and thus .furthering Satan's agenda. Not that I expect you to agree with it, but it is ridiculous to imply you I think she's talking to clever clogs here
are in some way not responsible for your actions because it's online and somehow, therefore,doesn't count."

Then theres another post, from another girl
"The Only real issue that I see the church or members could have with on-line gaming and such is how ADDICTIVE it can be....who cares what your characters do on-line or in games....Just because I have a Gay Sim, or one that cheats on its spouse in the game doesnt mean that It affects me, or is something that I would personally do. However....people do get SO into their stupid games that it affects their lives, Marriages and other relationships; But as long as you still keep in touch w/ reality and aren't hurting anyone WHO CARES? "

"I'm not hurting anyone." does this excuse ever work. Now again we're back to the whole virtual/real life debate. Hoever he mentions Sims which is very different to things like second life in how your character works.

Clever clogs returns
"I'm getting off track here. But most adults...are smart enough to distinguish the real world and their online world and it really doesn't affect what you're doing.
this is interesting, no one said it would affect your actions.
For example, I like to play Sim City. If the internet really affected me, I'd have a (delusional) belief that I am the Mayor of San Diego and that I can zone and rezone any part of the city with a click of a mouse.
Hmm again interesting, their moving away from second life and using other computer games. "

Well the said thread is ongoing but I'm going to leave it there. It was very interesting how it polarised opinion between church members. Is having a controlling a character who commits immodist acts in a virtual world okay but it's just virtual and it 'won't affect your real life', or that it leads you down a slippery slope.

My own view seems to be coming down on the side of it doesn't matter if it virtual or not, if you create a character that is in effext 'representing you' and you are controlling it and make it go round commiting immodist acts, it doesn't matter how much of a 'game' it is, it's going to affect you and you will be thinking thoughts you shouldn't be.

what do other people think? Lets get some thought guys.

It's time for another geek moment

well it doesn't translate Klingon but it's still fun :-)
http://www.r2d2translator.com/

hmmmm, is this right?

Well as I mentioned previousily I'm rather addicted to facebook right now and amongst all the various odds and ends of programmes that you can get I found one that is called 'compare people. It basically corelates all of the answers from everyone in my 'friends network' who also has this program and it rates people. So here are my results

3rd in "Who is more loyal"
8th in "Who is a better catch"
8th in "Who is more powerful"
12th in "Who is more trustworthy"
12th in "Who is kinder"
13th in "Who is more generous"
14th in "Who is better at science"
15th in "Who can drink more"

18th in "Who is more cuddly"
19th in "Who is more artistic"
20th in "Who is sexier"
21st in "Who would I rather be trapped on a desert island with"
22nd in "Who has better hair"
23rd in "Who would I rather kiss"
23rd in "Who has a better body"
23rd in "Who is more attractive"
23rd in "Who would I rather date"
24th in "Who is a better singer"
25th in "Who is more likely to win in a fight"
28th in "Who am I more jealous of"
28th in "Who is a better listener"
29th in "Who more likely to succeed"
29th in "Who is more confident"
29th in "Who has better taste in music"
37th in "Who is more likely to do a favor for me"
37th in "Who would I rather hang out with for a day"
38th in "rather hang out with for the day"

what do people think?

Guess who said it

Guess who said the following quotes at Non splitters weddding today;

Which of the girls said which;

"Hmmm, Men!"

" Does anybody mind if I take my top off"

" She's only got a boyfriend she's not married, that means she's not off the market yet"

"don't take a photo while his head is bleeding"

" The calenders not for me, honest!"

Guess which of the boys said which quotes;

" I would never do anything like that"

" I said I'm getting better, not perfect"

" are you sure I can't wallow in self pity"

" You got up at 8.30 and didn't wake me up?"

any guesses?

later!

Non splitters wedding

As I mentioned on Friday, it was Non splitters wedding yesterday. So I thought I'd post a few of my best photos for now. I will be able to post some more once I have permission from certain other YSA who are insisting on seeing them first. I'll leave you to ponder just what kind of photos I managed to get then if the want to see them first......

I know it's bad but I just kept thinking of the swedish chef from the mupperts everytime these two appeared!
The wedding car

Just for Nemesis

Seeing as Nemesis likes to see pictures of food, I thought I'd take some pictures of the food at non splitters wedding for her.

Enjoy!

You'll need your thinking caps, it's time for a caption competition!

Yes sports fans the caption competition is back and I'm hoping for some good ideas for this one. This is a photo taken of Cordelia taken at non splitters wedding today. I think it speaks for itself.

So suggestions for captions people?

Man defies stereotype by cooking! news at 11

Well as promised here are some photos from the YSA christmas party this year. However, Sorry Nemesis I forgot to get pictures of the food. I know you like that :-)

Now the rest question to ask is does he have a cookbook on his laptop or does it need it with him for one of his 'master plans to take over the world"
With his glasses steamed up Engineseer was unaware that although he was trying to wash his hands, he was nowhere near the sink
Some of the suckers....erh I mean attendees of the Christmas meal.
Halos are so last century. A ring of fairy lights is now what's 'in'
any suggestions for a caption for this one?

Fair's fair

As some of you might remember I mentioned a few weeks ago that the fair was in Lborough. Well I finally got round to downloading some of the photos and as I have far too much time on my hand I thought why not post them :-)

outside Engineseer's generic high street resturant
slow shutter speed or funky art piece, you decide!
Engineseer, and two of the P's were on this thing at this point!
B and R about to go for a ride!
and off they go!

Slightly random selection of photos I know but that's the kind of mood I'm in right now :-)

Okay so I’m a glutton for punishment.

Well my favourite site at the moment has yet again furnished me with some things to talk about. However there are two threads that I wouldn’t discuss beyond the titles as quite frankly I thing the titles speak for themselves.

“Social networking sites are dead and nobody uses them” if this is true it’s going to be a very short thread indeed

And

“ How to use a telephone” if some of the comments in previous threads hadn’t given you a impression of the sort of church members who comment on those boards I think this one just might :-)

But then for this post I thought what the heck. Lets go through all the titles of threads currently on the front page of the board on this site and see what the (mainly) YSA and SA’s of the church are talking about and discussing in a attempt to improve their knowledge of the world today. Shall we??

Answering questions with questions: I can answer this thread with a question. Why??

Why would I kiss the person below: Umm because you want. See this thread should be short and simple yet it has 3157 replies. Seriously people what the hell? How can you talk on this topic for so long.

S-Corp or LLC- which and why?: no idea I don’t speak American.

Hilary Vs Rudy: either will probably be better then the last guy. Have you seen the Christmas video of his dog? Is he getting enough oxygen to the brain. Ohm maybe he has another pretzel stuck in his airway. That would explain a lot.

Daily movie quotes: A thread on kissing people has 3157 replies. This one has 70. Says a lot me thinks.

What celeb best resembles the person below you?: The deep and intelligent conversation continues I see.

First impressions ( when looking at the picture of the person below you in the thread: Nice to see church members not judging people on looks….. Wait a second!

Kids getting shot: At last a important and meaningful thread.

Suicide bombings or suicide for fuax newies is not terrorism: I think the person who started this is trying to speak English, I’m just not sure.

What did you do last night?: I was too scared to look at this one. Make your own jokes people.

If you had to choose ( would you rather have a girl with a beautiful face or a beautiful body): again church members prove their not shallow in anyway.

Dating a non member: This might well be a deep and meaningful discussion. I didn’t dare look however as knowing this site it probably degenerated into a argument between girls about how you shouldn’t date non members yet you have to as their no decent guys in the church. ( sorry slipped into rant mode there)

Do you know what I hate: no but I’m sure your about to tell me.

Pity the single person: yes this thread is still going, I didn't dare look.

No chicken wings under the cushions: Nothing inside the skull either by the looks of things.

I would date the person below but: There’s nothing like pointing out a persons flaws to pass the time is there?

Do girls like getting spanked: Argghhh, this one is still going too.

Marisa: no I’m none the wiser either.

The beauty of grey: Grumpy would love this thread.

Why I would marry the person below: do they get a say in this?

Gotta have the last word? On your site no… on my blog oh yes

Here’s what guys need to do: Interestingly enough not many threads giving advice to girls. Is this because there perfect all ready?

Disturbing: This website for one.

What song is stuck in your head right now: na, nana na na Space pirates, na, nana na na.

I hate Lawrence o’Donnell: and I’m sure he loves you.

So there you go. A small selection of what young church members are talking about today.
I think the only thing to say is, be afraid… be very afraid………

Mwah, ha, ha, ha.
Later!

Yet more proof why my job is cool

Well it's coz this materialized in the office this week. Literally materialized(honest). What's it's for.....Well as the Solaris blog states. all shall be revealed in the fullness of time...

anyone want to take a guess..

na, na nana na, Space Pirates, na, na nana na, Space Pirates, na, na nana na Space Pirates

Help me... Take a wild guess exactly what song I have got stuck in my head. It’s from a kids TV program and they were playing it on the radio this morning as they want people to download it and get it into the top 40. Just playing it again and again…. The horror….. the horror………..

Okay that mild rant aside I figured it was time to actually start doing proper blog posts again rather then be lazy and commenting on threads on that other site. They might actually be one or two people who wonder exactly what I’ve been getting up to! Maybe….

Well first let’s see, I’ve been nicknamed the “Anti-Santa” now by some people at work who think it’s extremely funny. I can’t go into detail as it’s work but suffice to say it’s to do with the joys of being in customer service at this time of year and regardless of what have caused a problem their all my personnel fault and I’ve ruined their Christmas etc, etc, etc.. All well goes with the job I guess.

I’ve finished my Christmas shopping. Yaaahh!! I hope I’ve got stuff that people will like. I have got something for one of my nieces/nephews which is quite cool but it’s a pain storing it as it’s quite big. So it’s currently sitting on one of the sofas downstairs. Grumpy doesn’t like it. Mainly because he keeps forgetting it’s there and it keeps making him jump :-)

Our back door is currently broken, basically if you open it, it’s almost impossible to shut again. Grumpy has actually decided to part with some money “Shock, Horror, How unexpected” to get the thing fixed, but they can’t do it for a few days so we’re reduced to walking right round the house to get stuff from the freezer. Suppose the exercise will do us good..

Its non splitters wedding on Saturday, which should be fun and will hopefully be a end to Grumpy making the same comment over and over and over again. I hope it warms up a bit though; it’s been flipping freezing the past few days. It’s been so hard getting out of bed; anyone would think it was winter or something….

Oh wait…..

It was the last institute of the year last night. We had a substitute teacher as Bro H is off on Holiday. In Spain I think. I wish I could go overseas on Holiday, Bro H goes to Spain, and Nemesis is off to Hawaii, I think the furthest I can afford to go right now is Manchester L

We had our Institute Christmas dinner last week. The cooking of the meal was a rather fun experience as I had taken the day off so I could help do the cooking. I have some photos which I will post soon. Actual photos that prove Men were in a kitchen cooking. Honest! Nobody died of foot poisoning as well so I guess that means we can call it a success. As we had the dinner before class we even got a thank you in class from Bro H for dinner, sort of. It was rather a case “Engineseer and his team” got a thank you which Engineseer found very funny that I was part of his ‘team’ now. So I guess that means my full “title” should now run something like this;

Saxon,
An Optimistic pessimistic, strange anti-Santa outcast niche toy uber geek who is not classified as a man by some YSA Females and Left handed right hand minion member of Engineseers team
(BA)

(Mustn’t forget the BA now :-)
Imagine if I ever got Business cards. They would be huge J

Anyway, that’s all for now me thinks,

Time to try and get this song out of my head,

Everybody;
na, na nana na, Space Pirates, na, na nana na, Space Pirates na……….

later!

Their just full of disturbing talk tonight

Well I was just going to leave it there. But that website is overflowing with topics tonight. The next to catch my eagle eye

" Pity the Single person"

(I'm sure Nemsis will love this one)

A girl starts the thread who despite her name is obivousily feeling so merry

"Why do people feel the prerequisite to happiness is marriage?"

hmm, anyone going to answer that one. Wait it's this site.. of course they are.

A guys response

"in the mormon community, we are taught that from birth"

hmm there must be some strange lessons in Nursery.

After some various talk about why bishops and other members will give all single people that 'poor you look' whilst wondering why they ain't married and whats wrong with that person. The starter of the thread asks what fit for marriage actually means.

Cue our old friend Clever clogs from Utah

"Fit for marriage to me means that you have 1 or more of the following:

1.) Are steadily employed with an income sufficient for two.

yes sir, wouldn't want the little women leaving the house now would we.

2.) Are sound of mind.

have you met other church members?

3.) As a member of the church you are strong in your faith.

Well duh. This is a obivous one

4.) Have little or no debt

well that leaves anyone whose every been to uni out.

5.) Finished all prerequisite schooling for your chosen profession.

again, this is obivous it's not rocket science!

6.) Own a home or have the finances to do so.

have you seen house prices lately?

7.) Appear to have a strong understanding of financial practices.

keep credit cards away from wife ;-)

8.) Know how to perform CPR on not just an adult but to an infant/child as well.

is this a question in a interview the bishop gives you before you marry or something?

I think 1, 2, 5 and 7 are required (to recap)

1.) Are steadily employed with an income sufficient for two.

2.) Are sound of mind.

I'm not crazy the voices in my head told me so.

5.) Finished all prerequisite schooling for your chosen profession.

again this isn't rocket science. You need to know how to do the job before you can do it. Winging it is always a bad idea.

7.) Appear to have a strong understanding of financial practices.

before you're married, everything else is just extra bonus. "

Scarily the discussion about these points goes on for a freaking page and a half!

Including some comments that you should be happy being single as thats the only way you'll be happy when your married. In that case I might be in trouble :-(

So the thread seems to be following a be happy that your single kind of thread. Then this girl pops up;

"but what if you belong to a church where every Sunday members ask you when are you getting married? Making you feel like being single means you are doing nothing worthwhile with your life in building the kingdom?"

Guys response

"Take back your feelings from them and don't let them have power over you anymore ;) "

I've only taken the first sentence of his post as the rest of it is as full of new age cliches as the first sentence.

Cue traveller guy

" hate to say this but you need to go up to the podium in testimony or a talk and say, hey, I am out there looking, don't bug me about it!

pictures Nemesis doing this, he, he, he,

:)Sugarcoat it of course but you need to do it.

When it happens, it happens, til then, I am human

I didn't realise people say single as non human!

and you need to respect me for that......."

Cue a smattering of posts about how this happens in my ward, doesn't happen, can't believe that happens, of course it doesn't happen, r u sure your just not really sensitive, etc.

Traveller guy returns

"Same thing with being single. They are making our being single a part of their business which it isn't.

true

The marrieds are gossiping about the singles in the ward and why are they single.

tsk, tsk. Theres no such thing as gossiping in the church. It's simply people passing information that they might find interesting to each other.

What if we set them up with so and so.

that would probably make things much easier if couples were doing that.

Gee, I wonder what is wrong with them that they are still single at 32.

only six years before I reach that point, argghhhh.......

Get a life people!

oh theres so many jokes there. "

at which point even I began to zone out as they got into a heated dicussion about whose business it was that who was single.

am I tiring of this site.... or is the fact that ysa talk like this depressing even me?

later!

Seriousily were you expecting me to let this one go

Ta da, yes once again my favourite website of the moment has prompted yet another blog post. Despite trying to resist the easy way of doing another blog post based on one of the threads from this site there was no way I could let this one go without commenting. The title of the thread?

Girls are mean.. seriously... all the nice ones are lesbians or married.

Well it was a toss up between this and another thread going on at the moment ( do girls like spanking) and I figured I'd go with the one which is the lesser of two evils :-)

Right, unsurprisingly starter of thread is a guy.. go figure.

Girl chips in to ask if his last date went bad.

His reponse

" I'll let you know how my dates go when I get one."

Hmm, that saying sounds familiar, I wonder who else can be as self pitying as that. Saxon whistles while attempting to look non chalant.

Another guy then chips in, who happens to be a travelling salesman (does lots of flying;

"This sounds like a song. Let's compose some music and make a song from these words. groovy baby LOL

sounds like somebody might be spending too much time in a pressurised cabin."

but hey by the standards of this board a comment like that is almost downright helpful.

A couple of girls attempt a fightback by pointing out their nice, not married and not lesbians.

Then another guy decides he's going to chip in by reinforcing sterotypes

"The lesbians tend to be pretty mean too.

possibily

The only nice ones are hookers.

how do you know?"

A girl then chips into agree, don't ask me why with this guys opinion.

Then another guy chips into the thread. For a thread seemingly anti-female there seems to be a distinct lack of girls around defending their gender

"They can be or they can be real nice......

well same with guys. Both can be mean or nice in their own way

guess it has to do with attitudes and horomones to a degree.

I'll take male ysa who are feeling suicidal for two hundred"

Then yet another guy appears. Seriousily where have all the women gone on that site?

"So what if girls are mean, I like it rough.

don't spend a lot of time in the company of women do you mate?

"

A girl finally appears. Is she going to attempt to defend her gender? Not quite...

"Maybe that's where I went wrong...I should be a lesbian!

I'm sure your bishop will be thrilled

Maybe then I will find someone I can love....

hmm, leaving that comment alone."

Then yet another guy appears.

"girls = attention vampires"

He's obivousily confident that no girls from his ward read this site, otherwise it's unlikely they will ever find the body!

Finally a reasonable comment and by a guy no less

"Every person has the opportunity to be mean or nice.

true

In my opinion girls are not more mean on an average they just have greater extremes.

anyone who lived in halls of residence can atest to this.

They are meaner and they are also nicer.

again true

People who says that women are mean are glass is half empty kind of people.

yeah they should get on and drink the rest of their drink!

Now if the glass were half full you would say Women are nicer.

especially if your looking for a date.

"

Cue a lot of rather non sense style comments including comments on spanking. They can be all summed up by this post

" What the "hell" is up with all the men and spanking talk?"

Quite.

Finally there is a comment that sums up everything I would have said but in a much better way.

"It sounds childish. ;-) I also don't agree. To my point of view, you will find good and mean people everywhere...it doesn't matter their gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, marital status, etc. It is a matter of the quality of the heart and how they face situations in life, thus deciding to be happy or bitter. ...that free agency again... ;-) "

and hopefully that will be the end of that!

Guess where I got the idea from this post from? Go on guess?

Well there’s nothing like a good wholesome discussion topic on a message board to prove that YSA as church members are not shallow and date people based on superficial attributes.

Unfortunately this latest post that caught my eye is nothing like a good wholesome discussion topic on a message board that proves that YSA as church members are not shallow and date people based on superficial attributes.

Who is the starter of this thread “Why bad kissers stay single” I hear you ask? Why clever clogs from Utah entering stage left once again. (as before my comments in bold)

“CNN has an article about kissing and its actually quite interesting:
Everything that’s going on in the world and he finds a article on kissing the most interesting. Speaks volumes doesn’t it?
Kissing really is a deal braker.
Anymore clichés you’d like to throw in while your at it.
I've kissed a few girls who were really bad kissers. The relationship ended pretty quickly after that.
Sigh. Once again the jerk gets the girls
But the relationships that I've enjoyed the most are where the girl really is a great kisser.
Well your not superficial at all, are ya?
The most interesting thing is the study confirms that men enjoy french kissing more than women do. ;)
I don’t think they really needed to do a study to confirm that! Maybe it was from the university of the blindingly obivous”

First Reply
“So the question is... is it once a bad kisser, always a bad kisser?
you would hope that with practice you improve.
I find it interesting that your most satisfying relationships were with good kissers. Was it purely skill?
I find it more worrying then interesting
Or was the kissing also better because other parts of the relationship were better?”

cue sensible reply from a girl

“The guys I have kissed that started out as bad kissers...got better with a little communication and practice.
No guy will complain if a girls wants to teach them to improve.
No, I never told them they were "bad" kissers. But telling a guy what you DO like and pulling away when he does something you don't like go a long way in curing bad habits.
See guys can learn new tricks. I am worried though cause I’m sure they use a similar training method with Dogs.
I think it is shallow to break up with an otherwise wonderful person over the fact that they are not a very good kisser.
Hear, hear
But if with communication things didn't improve, I can see that it would be a big deal.
maybe”

Finally someone asks the obvious question

“I don't understand all of this obsession with skill and french kissing kissing here on Linkup or with LDS men.
It’s like a little kid when you tell them not to do something. They want to know all about it as it must be cool if you’ve been told no.
Isn't this an LDS website?
Apparently so, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise sometimes.
The Strength of the Youth pamphlet specify that we should not kiss passionately.”
Absolutely.

However one girl then replies to the comment about the strength of youth booklet
“I'm 35. That no longer applies.”
Once again I appear to have missed a Sunday school lesson. The one where we were told that the strength of youth booklet only applies up until a certain age.

Then classy girl decides to put her two cents worth in two successive comments.
“it may say that more men prefer french kissing,
Yes but it probably is true.
but it also pretty much says men will kiss or have sex with anything.
So many jokes….must leave it alone…..
so be proud of your gender. be very proud”
well if you insist. I wll be”

then
“ seriously. if someone tries to guilt me for french kissing, it's not going to work.
Well lets take a wild stab in the dark as to what you do on dates, shall we??
I think if you're a virgin over 25 you should get a freaking medal and a pat on the back.
maybe this is a whole new way of convincing people to follow church teachings. They get medals! Hmm, maybe not.
also, boobs should be freebies after 26.
Wow, really classy lady isn’t she. "

So far this thread, raising lots more questions (disturbing most of them) then it has been answering.

Then from another girl.
“I have to agree- how one kisses says a whole lot about compatibility in many areas.I’ll have to take your word for this. All I want to know is why Mormon guys try and freaking eat your whole head
True, I see many headless girls walking around…… wait a second
and are into tonsil excavation. So unclassy.
And the girls have being giving a much more classy impression of themselves in this thread, haven’t they?
Whatever happened to sweet lip play.”
Who knows?”

Cue classy lady again:
“because they try to compensate for being virgins.. ?
Words honestly failed me at this comment. ”

Back to other girl
“Yes, that's why I think guys like French Kissing more than women
Yes I think we’re already gathered guys like French kissing more then girls.
because they are trying to infer other things..
what? What? WHAT?
Which is why some guy being all tonsil hockey makes me totally grossed out.
Okaayyy I suppose there’s always the possibility that some guys are trying to infer other things, that or you have a exceptionally high opinion of yourself.
.I'm not sure what that means for women who do that tongue to the tonsil thing...but it's gross
I think that’s a discussion if your right about French kissing inferring things that we should stay with from a ten foot barge pole
”

Back to classy lady
“yeah, i just don't get ppl who think being super agressive is a turn on, it's juvenile
Well to each their own”

Finally the last comment which I think sums up this thread
“they put out the fire with all that saliva..”

Any suggestion for a punch line? Anyone?

Later!

Well this site could keep me in blog posts for months!

Well after yesterdays mild rant I say another thread on the same site that was just as bad if not worse. ( mind you grumpy found yesterdays story especially the toy analogy hysterically funny. His comment was if I’m still on the toy shelve after ‘Christmas’ he’ll remember to dust me down once in a while.) and it just goes to show that even though male YSA do have the priesthood it doesn’t mean it automatically grants us wisdom to go along with it. That you have to learn.

Right, thread in question “ What the bishop doesn’t know should remain a secret” as soon as I saw this I started getting worried. There’s no way that a thread with this title is going to have a happy ending. As per yesterdays posts, my comments in bold.

“I have a gr8 friend who is now taking temple prep classes and want to do better in the church... Always good to hearProblem is, she was inactive a few weeks ago and did everything against the teachings (i.e sex, smoking, drinking ect..)
Danger, danger will robinson
She repented (on her own or in her heart), she hasn't told the Bishop about that. She is very convinced that as long as she has stopped doing that sort of stuff and feels repented and forgiven, there is no need to share those with the Bishop and therefore she will continue with the Temple prep classes and go to the Temple.
Hmm on shakey ground here me thinks. If she really feels forgiven why doesn’t she want to tell the bishop.
My worry is, if she hasn't gone thru the repentance process with her Bishop, then go thru the Temple and get endowed, then she hasn't got the basic understanding in the first place? Do we deal with these sort of things all on our own? Then aren't we making Bishops redundant?!!
At least they would have a quiet life
I feel guilty that she told me all these things
And maybe because you have shared this to anyone worldwide who has access to this site
and I'm sort of nudging her towards chatting to her Bishop about it before she makes those kinds of commitments with the Lord...
gentle encouragement is good
I know I have no right in dictating what she should or shouldn't regarding her spiritual life.
Darn right
But I feel she shouldn't take that big step without going thru the proper channels...
Probably true. But if there is still a problem I’m sure the spirit will prompt the bishop.What would you do?
Not tell the whole world for a start
Should I just leave it?”

So Initial post not too bad. A girl who obviously has some worries but has been rather silly posting this on a worldwide website. Anyone who looks at her profile will see what wards she’s from and will be able to figure out who this girl is. I think most people would agree that she should keep encouraging the girl to talk to the bishop, who will know if she needs to repent or not.

Then surprise, surprise a reasoned sensible post
“You are right to encourage her to go see the bishop. It is his stewardship to basically coach us through repentance. If she really honestly feels like she has repented, then she will be able to have a good chat with the bishop and resolve things easily, but there are some sins that require a bishop's okay to get the recommend, no matter how much you have already repented on your own
The girl who posted this is smart. couldn’t have put it better myself. .”


There’s then a couple of posts about how good a friend the girl who started this thread is to worry so much about her friends spirituality. No mention however that her judgment might be slightly suspect in telling the whole site about her friends sins.

And then we start to go into freefall.

”She kept saying that she has felt the spirit and she knows that God has forgiven her.
There was a good thing Bro H said about this sort of situation which I can’t remember. Engineseer you remember?
I said to her, that is not the point at all. God will forgive everybody and those He chooses to,
This makes no sense if he forgives everybody, then he must have chosen to forgive everybody she seems to have got confused here.
but it is not up to us to make that decision about not seeing the Bishop about things we have done esp in a recent past....”
but apparently you feel the decision it is up to you and everyone on this site."

and start to speed up

“If she truly has repented it shouldn't be a problem for her to talk to the Bishop about it. Know what she said when I suggested that?*you do what the spirit tells you, but I do not think I need to do that*and thats when I felt a strong desire to help her out!!!"

Then someone else chimes in and the rate of descent speeds up again.

“she was inactive a "few weeks ago."
If this is true why is she in temple prep classes so soon.
If she has been an active member prior and recently, and thinks she can just sin and repent later,
She said she has repented not that she’ll do it later.
she has bigger problems than she knows.”
And I’m sure you can see them from up on your pedestal. "

Back to girl who started thread

“I just have this feeling that she will go thru the interviews with gr8 dishonesty and say she is all clear....
Well that’s her choice. You’ll have to trust in the spirit and that the bishop will be inspired and get the truth from her.
Guess if that happens, she has to live with it not me.
Yes!!
At the end of the day, one can only do so much right?”
And if that fails tell her problems to the rest of the world. "

Guy then chimes in to make some comments along the lines that she needs to trust that her bishop and stake pres will be inspired. Starter of thread comes back;
“I sincerely hope the Bishop will be inspired.If not him maybe the Stake Pres.It is only for her own good right?
And we all seem to know what for her own good though don’t we?”

Hurray we’re getting somewhere.

Guess again.

Cue clever clogs from Utah

“BYU would say you should go to the Bishop directly and tell him what the person has done.
If your sins don’t find you out rest assured your friends will
Another point to think about, should we (members of the Church) collectively ensure the sacredness Holy places by keeping not only our unclean selves but other unclean things out of Holy places as well.
I must have missed the lesson about how important it is to tattle on everyone.
I would say, go to the Bishop and ask his advice on the situation. Simple present the question to him as you have done here.”
Because I’m sure he won’t know who your referring to as I’m sure you have lots of recently reactivated girls, who are friends of yours taking temple prep classes because they want to go to the temple as it is a ‘interest"


Someone else jumps in advising the girl she should pray for her friend, but back off. Just being there for her friend when she needs her. No pressure. Good advice I think we’ll all agree.

Cue Clever cogs again, enter stage right.

“The inspiration to the Bishop or Stake President will be there but is the inspiration there for the friend?
Only one person can answer that question.
My wifes Stake President 'made up' his own questions for receiving a Temple Recommend for marriage that he asked all persons seeking to be Sealed.
I think theres a phrase for making up your own ‘standard questions’ care to guess what it is?
That is when it came to the Law of Chasity he questioned about specific things outside the standard questions.One reason for the Stake President making up his own questions is that the inspired question "Do you live/obey the Law of Chasity" means only "No sex before marriage" to some people,
It should mean that to all people. It's not rocket science.
with others who think sex while using condoms does mean sex.
Does that mean there are member who think sex with out condoms isn’t sex?
A friend once told me of his BYU ward and the Bishop giving a "Chasity talk" where the Bishop had to give a list of acts that violated the law of chasity.”
This is very, very scary if true. "

A few more people then add to the thread advising her just to be a friend and support her and encourage her. All sensible comments,

It doesn’t last.

They then starting talking about the bishop and questioning his motives and criticizing him for putting her in the temple prep classes. Your questioning your priesthood leaders so the only thing to say in response to that is
“ Danger, danger will robinson”

Starter of thread then goes on about how she talked to her friend and gave her the suggestions from the thread but her friend seemed to get upset for some reason. Hmmm maybe that’s because you’ve declared her sins to several thousand people. She then says she is not getting involved anymore as it is not her job.

Phew it’s over.

Or not.

Cue clever clogs mk 2

“I know if we know that someone is unworthy to take the sacrament, then we should intervene.
Really? I can’t remember hearing that before. What are we supposed to do rugby tackle them.
. should we in this case too?
Hmm I don’t know but I would say not. It’s not exactly going to help a ward spirit if everybody is telling the bishop everything little thing that other people have done wrong. remember none of us are perfect
would it be bad to tell the bishop that an individual has told you they've done some bad things,
and dont want to talk to the bishop about it?
If they told you as a friend yes! If you’re a friend you want to help them. Encourage them. If you run to tell on them they’ll in all likelihood never speak to you again and leave the church. It’s happened over a lot less
or am i way off.”
In my opinion yes, anyone feel free to disagree with me though

Then clever clogs the third
“I would confront the person privately and say...you shouldn't be taking the sacrament
and I encourage you to see the Bishop.”
Yeah gentle encouragement doesn't work but give her orders will. I'm sure this will work. honest"

The thread finally finishes (for the moment at least) with the starter of the thread
“Absolutely, we should intervene somehow.
Yes we obviously know what’s good for her.
.. Whether telling the Bishop is the right thing I still yet to find out....”
I really hope this doesn’t mean she’s already gone and done it…..

Well I know it’s been very easy for me to comment and I’ve probably been judgmental too. After all I am looking into this situation from the outside in. If I was in this situation I probably wouldn’t go to the bishop but I would go to a trusted priesthood holder or leader such as photoshop or Bro H to get their opinion on a ‘hypothetical situation’ which probably wouldn'tfool them for a second but they would probably play along for appearences. If their advice would be to go and see the bishop I would. But I like to think it would be a unnecessary trip as the spirit would have inspired him first.

later!

Why I'm probably giving up on that site unlike I feel like depressing myself somemore

Technik used to run a YSA website. Towards the end a lot of people who used the forum on it were, well to be honest gettng a bit self righteous. Theres now another site which I suppose the best way to describe it is like a basic LDS version of facebook. It suffers from the same problem but on a much greater scale. For Example there was a thread about if your single and over 25 your either strange or divorced. One guy said, and I'll leave my comments in bold( all through the post as a matter of fact as it has turned out a heck of a lot longer then I thought it would be)

"In the LDS culture waiting to marry until later
(so if your not married by 25 your purposefully waiting? is that where I'm going wrong I'm wating to get married. )
is like toy shopping a week or two after Christmas.
(January sales? so many jokes.....)

All the toys that meet the needs of the mass market have been purchased.
(molly mormons? and wait what is the male equivilant of molly?
With the exception of a few niche toys,
(i'm a niche, well maybe theres hope for me, to be a niche there has to be people who like that niche)
most the toys are leftovers not desired by the masses.
so i'm a leftover am I, well I suppose I have been called worse
To make matters worse we have to deal with the returns.

Typically there is a real reason why divorce happens
( get out of town, theres a reason for divorce)
and at least one of the two returns is the reason for the divorce
(the man is speaking gibberish here I swear)
and will be the reason for a second divorce. (The divorce rate on second marriages is higher than for first marriages.)
(lies, darned lies and statistics)

The more mentally healthy ex-spouse may marry
( mentally healthy is a term that I don't think applies to you)
and never enter the market again;
(I guess that would be the meat market)
therefore, the more broken toys will keep reentering the singles scene and increasing the number of severely damaged toys.
( and your so perfect)
You are shopping in a world of broken toys and it gets worse all the time. Enjoy!"
( well we can but hope you never get on the shelves and stay in the stock room you arogant so and so)

Can you tell he ticked me off!

One girl then chips in
"<--sees business opportunity in trafficking LDS single males to UK as the male/female ratio here is so poor. "
and people find it hard to understand sometimes why I get so depressed. You try and do everything right and do everything girls say they look for in a guy and then you still get girls saying stuff like this. I think all blokes should oppose this idea on principle. There are enough of our girls go out to the states without importing US YSA guys into the country to lower the odds for us even further.

She then mentions another friend who went to the US and got married who said that she went to the US becuase there were no men over here. Sigh nothing like a good moment of being told that you don't count as 'men' is there.

Then someone else chips in

"if you are divorced you are not as much of an'outcast' as at least you gave it a try."

Okay it appears I am now a outcast, strange niche toy. Maybe I should use that in my email signature

Saxon,
Direct Sales Assistant,
Optomistic pessismist
Strange outcast niche toy
(BA)

Think that works?

Well I suppose it could be worst. I could be divorced then I might be in real trouble, well at least according to this post in the thread in reply to the comment there were no men in the UK. Again my comments in bold

"this is true...I was at a multi regional SA convention in England recently, 100 attendees..15 men.
I thought she just said there were no men. make up your mind dear
one of those was the father of his two special needs sons attending.
even if you were discounting those three that still leaves you 12
several of the remainder had been divorced twice.
so? is there some rule that means there now classed as untouchable
Priesthood holders visiting from abroad scarcely step off the plane without the grapevine knowing all :-)))))"
female grapevine. If the guys heard about it they would probably be thrown right back on the next plane out of the uk.

then this appeared;
"Is it true that alot of LDS singles who are older and never married have probably strayed away from the church at some point?
Xxxx. Wrong guess, would you like to go for double jeopady where the scores can really change.
I'm asking this because my mom has told be that I would have been married by 21 or 22 if I hadn't left the church. Now why should this matter?"
Here's a hint. it DOESN'T.

Why this girl even thought that is mind boggling. I know several girls who are over 25 who are not married. There not strange, their not weird and certainly out of my league as they are so great, smart and pretty, the only mind boggling thing is that the guys who are in their league haven't snapped them up. Whenever there Mr right comes along he will be a lucky man.

A US guy then says in reply to the comment about there being no guys in england
"My gosh that is awful. What about the other European countries?With the pound doing so well, why not come over to our side of the pond and grace us with yourpresence
There are enough english girls going to the US without you encouraging them!
Something to think about lass. :)cheers "
Oh he's so funny, if he were anymore funny I might actually smirk

So to recap as I am over 25 and not married it is down to me being a strange niche outcast toy who apparently is not classified as a man by some YSA females. Although to be fair this comment about there being no men is even more baffling when applied to someone like RP or Fraggle. Who I guess they can never have met otherwise they would have never made that comment.

So lets recap again and sum me up, according to that thread and my standard view of my anyway. I am a optomistic pessimistic strange outcast niche toy uber geek who is not classified as a man by some ysa Females. Oh but at least I can put BA after my name, I'm sure theres not many optomistic pessimistic strange outcast niche toy uber geeks who is not classified as a man by some ysa Females who can do that.

Not quite what you expect to hear from the Logistics co-ordinator first thing in the morning

" Someone sent me Porn" came the dismayed cry first thing thing the morning at work. This was closed followed by a loud thud as I immediately tried to sit upright to locate the source of the cry, unfortunately forgetting that I still had my head under the desk while I was stowing my bag. Head plus table equals one very sore back of the head and a good chance of a headache later in the day. One very brief round of expletives later " Gosh, Darn, blast, damn that hurt" ( please not actual words used might have varied from those shown here) I was able to sit upright and noticed that our Logistics co coordinator was sitting at her desk with a very disgusted look on her face waving a magazine around. We were quickly able to ascertain that it wasn't a 'porn magazine' well at least not in the traditional definition that most people would use. It's one of those magazine which used to be on the top shelf but has gradually moved it's way down the shelves as the years have gone by. I think the best way someone described it in terms I will actually use is it is " a magazine about alternative lifestyles which apparently seem to involve lots of scantily clad women with little in the way of clothing or the clothing they do have seems to be three sizes too small".

No I'm sure that one or two of you are wondering how such a magazine would end up on the logistics co coordinators desk. The only reason it ended up on her desk was that they keep sending it to us in the hope we will decide to advertise in their magazine, but its in the name of our last marketing guy so although it usually goes to our current marketing manager it can sometimes go astray as they try to figure out who should now receive it.

As it did this morning.

Of course it did set rather set the tone for the rest of the day, as it lots of rather strange and silly things seemed to happen. Not least that we have discovered a rather well know food retail store is selling a new book that we're releasing in Feb next year which they say it has a rrp for £9.99 for £6.99 instead. However someone at there company seems to have done a colossal screw up as the book actually has a RRP of £35! Being the helpful souls that we are we have pointed this out to them.

Even if we did find the whole thing hysterically funny.

It's been that kind of day.

Payday this weekend. So I guess it's time for Christmas shopping then. I've got a few presents for some of the family. I'm not sure what to get most of my nieces or nephews though. I have heard from mechanicus that his brood are into paper aeroplanes. So maybe I can get them a box of paper to share between. That would be cheap. Or maybe I could raid the paper recycling bins at work and give them that and tell them their special environmentally friendly paper aeroplanes. That would be very cheap!
..
..
..
Don't worry I wouldn't really be that evil and cheap
.....
Or would I? Mwah, ha, ha, ha, ha,


later!

I remember when 80 pence seemed like a lot

It was very depressing this morning filling the car up petrol. The last petrol station in these here parts as sucumbered and petrol has crossed that magic £1 mark. Argghhhhhhh. I remember when 80 pence seemed like a lot and I don't care how much the government scrabbles around and bleats that petrol in real terms is 11 percent cheaper then in 1990. A £1 is still a £1. I wouldn't mind that much if I didn't know that 70 pence in every pound is going to the government as tax!.


Hmmmmm. right rant over.

Facebook news. Not only is Nemesis on Facebook, Engineseer has appeared as well as Grumpy and Tap-dance. Mind you I think Tap-dance was only "encouraged" to join by the fact Grumpy joined before he meaning he was more 'with it' then she was. I don't think she was going to stand for that :-) So only Fraggle to go now.

Anyone know where he is yet?

I've found myself in a philosophical mood recently. Somebody from our company(in another division to mine) was found collapsed a couple of weeks ago and died a few days later in hospital. What made me and several other people feel worse about the situation was that none of us could 'put a face to the name' as it were and we're not that big a company. It makes you think. Could people put your face to you name if you died? What impact or legacy would you leave on the world etc? Sorta thinking that gives you the shivers and keeps you up at night. And honestly I have been doing alot more deep and philosophical thinking then my rather brief ramblings here would suggest.

I'm getting a new computer at work. yaahhhh!!! Although I have to admit it was amusing to see the look on the IT guys face whenever they to came and do something and found I was still running on windows 2000 and near enough the rest of the company is on XP. The look was roughly similar to look on the monkeys face when they discover the monolith in 2001.

anyway,

Later

When you can tell it's going to be one of those days

When you can tell it's going to be one of those days

First call of the day, first thing the customer says
" Have I got through to the place I was intending to get through to?"
ummm, I suppose I could have answered that question if my psychic powers weren't on the blink, right??

I also came to the conclusion this morning that traffic jams are a lot more funny if you are a passenger rather then the driver. As the passenger you can loose focus and start daydreaming as you retreat to you 'happy place'. As the driver you can't, well you could but if you did it's highly likely that bad things would follow. So all this is a roundabout way of saying I'm starting to get sick of the traffic jams that have started on my way into work. There always used to be a queue but the queues now are about three times as long as they used to be with no visible cause. Argghhhh. Well all part of the fun of being part of the workforce I guess.

Nemesis is now on face book. Yaaah! It means I get another friend to add to my list. It's starting to look like people actually like me :-) Just got to persuade Engineseer and Fraggle to sign up to it now. But I guess we're going to have to try and find them first!

I've been assigned a new project at world. So I guess I'm going to have to put the old thinking cap on and try and think up some ideas. Yep, you heard that right I've got to think.

yeah I'm doomed :-)

I forgot to mention that I got dragged into a missionary meeting after church yesterday. The ward mission leader is 'concerned' about the number of converts we're loosing. so he wants to 'assign' one YSA to each YSA age convert, so we sit with them, call them to inform them about activities arrange lifts etc, etc. One of the Elders suggested that it would be a good idea if we could get a ward YSA FHE started on a regular basis, like once a month. The ward mission leader agreed and queried if we could do it. I then pointed out that we did do it! there's a communication problem somewhere in the ward me thinks!

We're having intermittent problems with our broadband connection at home. I'm stumped, their technical support is stumped and even photoshop is stumped! Which just goes to show you how difficult a technical problem is when one of the L's is stumped!

anyway later!

Does Christmas now start in november and nobody told me?

Now even with being the cynical somewhat jaded soul I can be at times ( no really I can be) I've come to accept that Christmas seems to start in the shops now earlier and ealier each year. However when we start singing Christmas carols in church in November even I can start to find it a little bit strange. Although on the plus side most people do know the words to the christmas carols opposed to the hymn we had to sing for sacrement that nobody seemed to know. It seemed like there was the grand total of five people singing in the whole chapel most people were that unsure of the hymn!

Engineseer was MIA so Caroline asked me to fill in for him as class president. Hmmmm, I'm starting to see a pattern here. Engineseers not around I have to fill in by default. Does this mean I'm now his sidekick/minon now? Especially has everbody seemed to assume I would know where he is. Well there were five possibilities. One, he had overslept, two he was in bradford with black widow, three he was in his death fortress plotting to take over the world, four has gone to hunt down Fraggle he 'may be some time', five someone has constructed a static warp shell and Fraggle and Engineseer are the first ones to disappear, everyone else will follow soon ( any guesses to where that idea came from :-)... Any more guesses anyone? The only thing I can say for certain is that idea number five does prove that I am a total geek as I'm sure most of you will agree.

Well my 'feedback' session went okay. He didn't use the words " You're fired" so anything after that must have been good :-) Just got to do one more feedback session this week, so I can then do my homework for the next training session, which I would be feedback on the feedback. I'll be okay as long as I don't have to do anymore homework on it, then it will be feedback on the feedback of the feedback....... Wait I'm confused.

Well the weekend is over. All too fast as usual so it's back to work tomorrow. The christmas rush is starting to kick in so I've got about 1500 things to get doen this week. So not much difference from usual then :-).

anyway I'm having a slight mental block so I guess I'll call it there for today,

later!

It's time for the one game we are good at

Well after 'that' performance last night by the England football team the inevitable happened this morning and Steve McClaren was sacked as head coach of the team. It's good to see that always our national teams are not that good at sports no one can beat us when it comes to the 'blame game'. We're the fastest people to point fingers in the world. Although apparently Mclaren will walk away with hefty compensations 2 Million pounds plus and apparently the players are each getting a bonus of 150, 000. First and most important question, why? They should get a bonus from getting through the qualifying not failing!! I won't mind 150 grand for not being successful. I'm sure I could find lots of things to do with that much money. What would you do with it?

Leona Lewis is still at number 1 in the music charts with " Bleeding love". Admitally it's now reached that point where all number one's reach. It's changed from being good to incredibly annoying! I just keep thinking every time the darn song comes on the radio " Still bleeding love eh? Any chance you'll exsanguinate soon and go away!

Talking off people I want to see go away. Latest song from Sean kingston who was responsible for the awful " Beautiful girl", the chorus goes along the lines of " Oh, oh why'd you have to go away" my response to him, " why did you have to come back and not be a one hit wonder? why? Why?!"

Tis the season to be commercial! Yes Christmas is coming so work is starting to get a lot busier. On the plus side I'm only going to have to work one day over Christmas, which is a heck of a lot better then last year when I had to work all over Christmas as they messed my holidays up. We actually sang a Christmas carol in sacrament last Sunday. which was a mite surprising as we don't usually start singing them till December. The problem with the carol was I saw a legal note at the bottom about using the hymn with permission and that made me think of one of the Simpson's Christmas episodes' which in turn lead to me humming Homers Christmas song' " Everybody hates Ned Flanders" for the rest of the day.

Institiute was interesting last night, which I always prefer as opposed to one of the depressing lessons. We were speaking afterwards and the topics turned to blogs. Yes I know that may sound strange that we ended up talking about blogs but considering the conversation had started between some of the YSA about autopsies. And no I don't know how the conversation moved from autopsies to blogs either. ( We're YSA little we do makes sense :-) I was trying to see if I could persude aspiring angel to restart her blog, Engineseer admitting he really needs to do something with his, we talked about Nemesis's ( See Nemesis we still keep track of you) and then we got onto Fraggle. We did wonder how well he knows non splitter as we wondered if we could try persuding him to come up for the wedding. But after talking we realised he seems to be somewhat missing in action since September, as we knew his blogs gone quiet but no one seems to have heard from him either. One suggestion was maybe he's stop blogging because he's met someone, which is usually a big reason for a blogger slowing down their output. Angel also mentioned it seemed like Fraggle had dropped off the face of the earth as she had texted him several times and he hadn't replied. She agreed however if him vanisihing is down to a girl she would let him off but for that only! So has anyone seen our fraggle?

I did start to wonder if Engineseers plans for taking over the world are advancing. He mentioned that he was paired with JF for home teaching so I guess that would make him senior companion. So that means he's a senior home teaching companion, Generic high street restuarant manager, Ward YSA rep, Sunday school class president and institute class president! He had said previousily that he already had his flying aircraft carrier on order and had contacted the toclafane. Although he was joking. I think... Hey maybe thats where Fraggle is, he's decided to try to take over the world in competition with Nemesis and Engineseer.

Oh I could just be having another one of those days and my brains about ready to explode.

Who Knows.

Anyway, as nothing helps a song stuck in your head like sharing it around, everybody after me

"Everybody in the U.S.A,
Hates their stupid neighbour,
He’s Flanders and he's really, really, lame,
Flanders tried to wreck my song,
His views on birth control are wrong
,I hate his guts and Flanders is his name,
F-L-A-N-R-D-S,
He’s the man that I hate best,
I’d like to see his house go up in flame.

-F-L-A,-
His name is Ned,
-E-R-S,-
That’s a stupid name,
He’s worse than Frankenstein or Dr. No,
You can’t upset him even slightly,
He just smiles and nods politely,
Then goes home and worships nightly,
He is leftorium is an emporium of woe.

F-L-A,
Don’t yell at Ned,
D-E-R,
His wife is dead,
Everybody hates that stupid jerk,
Springfield rocks with Homer’s joyous loathing,
Filling clubs… with angry Valentinos,
You don’t have to move your feet,
Just hate Flanders to the disco beat,
It’s your perky, peppy nightmare neighbor-ino,

If you despise polite left-handers,
Then I doubt you’ll like Ned Flanders
,Or his creepy little offspring,
Rod and Todd.

Thats us
,Hurayy

F-L-A,-
His name is Ned,
-E-R-S,-
He is so white bread,
The smiling, moustache geek,
Who walks with God."..


later!