have a nice day

in addition to adventure, fighting evil monsters, and saving the world from darkness, most fantasy video games also have an element involving visiting boring little towns where boring little people live. towns are more or less a necessity, as you need them to stay at the inn (which miraculously heals any and all wounds), buy new weapons or other items, or just get information useful for your quest. these towns always have quaint little people who you can talk to by going up to them and pressing A. usually they only have one like to say unless they give you a side-quest. otherwise, it's the same boring sentence every time you walk up to someone to talk to them.

as hilarious as these interactions can be, they are often much less pathetic than some of the everyday interactions i have with people whom i know. how often do you find yourself walking on campus, at the store, or elsewhere and see someone you know walking towards you? you avoid making eye contact till you're about a good appropriate 10 feet from him/her. as you walk by, one person starts the riveting conversation by saying, "oh hey, how are you?" to which the other responds, "good, how are you?" you then walk by each other before the second person can actually answer. wait, what? seriously, at least in the video game you stop moving to talk to a person (despite main characters never actually saying anything).

now, how honest are we being when we say "good," when walking by? how often is the real answer to "how are you," something more like, "oh, i'm stressed, anxious, and kind of hate everything right now.." but do we really want to say that? and do would we really care if someone opened up to us like that?

take another example from a more obscure super nintendo game- Faceball 2000. the premise of the game is pretty simple, you choose a giant floating shape with a weird face on it, and run around in a maze shooting other weird giant floating shapes. basically like paintball, but with faces. and the shapes kind of pop when you hit them. 

anyways, when you get destroyed by another face-guy, their face pops up on your screen, and you hear them tell you in a snarky, sarcastic voice to "have a nice day."

have. a nice. day.

i think often our interactions with people are sometimes kind of lame. like these weirdos from my nintendo games. do we walk on by or do we actually stop to talk to people and see how they're doing? are we the kind of friend that people can open up to, or do we just halfheartedly listen, give our judgments and yet tell them to "have a nice day" after not really listening or helping at all?

James teaches it better--

"If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, by ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them no those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" (James 2:15-17).

let's try to be nicer to each other, let's try to be better friends, better brothers and sisters, better followers of Christ. we won't have all the answers for every problem or be able to fix every burden, but life becomes that much easier for all of us when we love and care for each other and actually mean it. 

and then it's not so weird to see a smiling face tell you to have a nice day.

red potion

i pretty much just laughed when i realized that valentine's day is actually this coming friday. i laugh cause it's probably the most emotionally weird and just plain funny day to go through and see others' reactions (and my own for that matter). i'm sure that facebook is going to be drooling with the typical "OMIGOSH I JUST LUUUUUHHHVE MY GFBFHUBBYETERNALWIFEYLOVER<3<3" on the one end and the "yet another single's awareness day in front of netflix and ice cream #singleprobs #ishouldjustgetmarried feeling lonely :(" on the other end, and everything in between. if nothing else, my students will make the day interesting.. to say the least.

another great thing about this friday is that it will mark the last valentine's day before i hit the "official" menace to society age in just a few months. i'm actually looking forward to becoming a menace, because i'm actually more or less at a point where i'm contributing more to society than i ever have in my life...

..and that's what you call ironic!!!

to be blunt, the dating pressure in the Church and especially in provo/BYU is pretty intense. the religious reasons for it are actually pretty sound- we believe that marriage is a covenant with God, and that's nothing to take lightly. but we've added a TON of social pressure to it (and sadly our other covenants as well) that make it so much more frustrating that it needs to be. we've all been in a church meeting where we've gotten yelled at for not dating enough. we've probably judged each other when we see relationships fall apart or things not go well for ourselves/others. it's hard enough on it's own- let's not make it any harder.


i'm not gonna pretend that i have any answers to the "menace" issue. everyone is far too different to give solid dating advice to. no one really knows what they're talking about- which is OK, cause most people end up together somehow anyways!

so if i could say anything to my frustrated friends this valentines day- be you menace, pre-menace, or a lonely lady (cause you know, it's solely the men's faults we all suck at dating), its that you are awesome. very much more than you give yourself credit for. why? cause despite the frustration, the pain, the yelling, judging, the being told you aren't good enough, the feeling like crap, and everything in between, you keep going. you stay faithful. we don't value that enough.

i remember once i was driving to general conference with a friend, while listening to it on the radio. in part of Elder Anderson's talk he said something like-- "I am amazed to see so many single people going into their late 20's and 30's..." we both groaned as we waited for his apostolic rebuke, then he said-- "... who still keep the law of chastity!" we then collectively cheered. we really don't give enough credit to those who keep trying, keep moving forward, and don't let the past (no matter how crazy) get them down.

try to be happy this valentines day. whether you've got someone or not, with or without plans. try not to dwell in the past if it hurts. try not to demonize people who may have let you down. if you can, try to be brave. do something nice for someone you care about. say something nice to someone you might like. but most importantly, just don't beat yourself up. you're too awesome for that.














worst case scenario, i'll just become a full-on hermit and give bad advice to people in caves and dungeons. come visit and maybe i'll give you a sword or a note or something XD

pay me for the door repair charge.