Hmm…what happened this past week? After the excitement of the last two weeks (my cousin’s wedding and Kevin’s birthday) this week was fairly laid back and normal, which I was actually grateful for. Last Monday, I was in charge of Family Home Evening (my FHE “wife” was too busy with school to be there) and I think it went well. My roommate, David, really came through with the lesson—he truly did a great job. After that, I didn’t have an activity planned, so I just left it open for us all to discuss what we would like to do. We decided to play four square, which actually ended up being a lot of fun! I don’t think I’ve played four square since elementary school! The only sad part about the whole experience was that I had to leave early to meet with my partner to prepare a presentation we would be giving the next day.
The presentation was on Purdah and it was for my Psychology of Gender class. It ended up being a really interesting topic to study, and perhaps a little too broad because we had trouble compacting all the material we learned into a 15 minute presentation. I think we even went over a little during our presentation, giving the following group less time for their presentation. I am naturally shy, so it is not easy for me to stand in front of the class and give a presentation, but I think it went rather well. I was able to articulate everything that I had prepared and the teacher even commented afterwards that it was a good presentation. She also said, “I don’t mean to embarrass you, Nathan, but it’s nice to finally hear you talk!” I wasn’t sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult…
On Thursday in the same class we had a party of sorts where various class members brought treats for the class to share. I discovered something I really like—blueberry bagels! Somebody brought a huge box of bagels and they were fantastic, along with blueberry flavored cream cheese. We also discussed what we enjoyed most about the class and the teacher pointed me out again by saying “You always have such good ideas in your papers I wish you would speak up more in class.” Once again, I wasn’t sure how to take that comment, I guess I should just be glad that she thinks I have good ideas. I finally spoke up by mentioning what I learned from the class. I said that I learned that it is ok for people to not completely conform to the gender roles that are present in society. I have some qualities that could be considered feminine (shyness, sensitive, not a big sports fan), and there is nothing wrong with that as long as I’m comfortable with who I am.
The only other notable thing that comes to mind about this past week is that I went and saw the new Pixar movie, Up, twice—once with Kevin, and then again with both Kevin and Erin. It is one of my new favorite movies, and is now definitely my favorite Pixar movie. It has a perfect blend between comedy and emotion. It is a movie that makes you laugh out loud at one moment and then cry the next. I love a movie (or a show) that can bring such emotions out of me.
SPOILER ALERT!—I’m going to discuss important plot points for the movie, if you haven’t seen it, I advise you to skip to the next paragraph.
I was so touched by the message in “Up”, I feel this entry would be incomplete without at least a paragraph explaining why it touched me. So, please stop reading this paragraph if you haven’t seen “Up”! The main character of the movie is Carl Fredrickson, and his life from a small boy to an old man is shown in the first 15 minutes or so of the movie. He meets a girl, they get married, and they have a shared goal of someday traveling to a place called Paradise Falls in South America. She has an adventure book that shows pictures of this exotic location and a section that is left open for pictures and notes of the adventures they will have. Well, life gets in the way and they end up not being able to go on this trip to South America as planned, and she ends up dying. So, Carl decides to go on the trip anyways in her honor. He attaches thousands of balloons to his house and flies there in an attempt to try to place his house right on the top of Paradise Falls as is shown in the Adventure Book. Well, Carl ends up just short of this location and feels a failure, and ends up looking at the Adventure Book, feeling sad about not fulfilling his promise to his wife about going to Paradise Falls. Well, as he is looking through the book he discovers there are already pictures in the section that was for the adventures they would have. These pictures are of him and his wife and all the things they did in their time together. At the end is a note that says, “Thanks for the adventure, now go have one of your own.” This part touches me because it shows that it is not important what the adventure is, but who you have it with. It is the personal relationships that we form that really matter in life, not going to some exotic location. Life is already an adventure, and what truly matters it who you share it with, not what you do. This was a profound lesson to me and taught me that I can have an exciting and fulfilling life here and now without travelling to exotic locations.
On Saturday night I attended the final activity for my ward, which was food from a place called Costa Vida (I think) and a talent show. The talent show was great and it made me realize that I’ll miss this ward even though I’ve only been in it for about 2 months. The highlights to me were a guy singing a Russian folk song and a great piano piece—Reverie by Debussy. It was a fun night, but I wasn’t able to stay too long because I had to meet up with Kevin and Erin to go see Up. The next day on Sunday, I really enjoyed church and was happy to be able to get all my home teaching done after church. I ended up giving the lesson at these home teaching appointments at the last minute, and I think it went well. I taught about prayer and related a story from my mission that really was a testimony builder of prayer for me. At night we had our final ward prayer, which was a little sad, and then I went to bed.
And that is pretty much it for the week! This week is going to be a little tough because I have to complete my finals and get moved out of my apartment and moved into a new apartment. I’m going to be homeless for a night because I have to move out of one apartment Friday at 10AM and can’t move into the new one until Saturday at 10AM. Luckily I have a great friend, Kevin, who is willing to let me stay over at his house that night so I should be fine. All in all it was a great week, and I look forward to the next one!
P.S. I forgot to mention the incredible performance show on Wednesday night of So You Think You Can Dance! I usually am not a huge dance fan, but I was blown away with many of the dances that night. I’m excited for the season! I also wanted to mention that I’m addicted to a new CD—It is called Frequency by IQ and I highly recommend it! Expect to see it reviewed soon in my other blog, “The Leviathan”. Ok, that is all. Have fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment