Crossing Thought

Have you ever burned the bridge on a relationship, whether friendship or romantic, that you've ended up regretting down the road? I was on Facebook tonight and noticed the name of a girl that I tried pursuing things with a few years back.  Didn't turn out. She wasn't interested. I tried maintaining a friendship hoping things might spark later on. She gave me a pretty good indicator that she had developed some interest...false alarm. I let my pride/hurt feelings get the best of me and eventually we didn't communicate anymore. Can't blame her. I think I was pretty awkward for her to communicate with after that.

Anyway, when I saw this girls name on Facebook earlier tonight, I checked out her FB page to see what she's up to these days. I even reached out to say "Hi", but I won't be surprised if I don't get a response. In the end, it probably really doesn't matter significantly.  I just hate looking back at what could have been good friendships had I handled things differently, only to see a chasm of missed opportunities.

Here's to crossing future bridges with more caution and care. :)

Dear Never Going to Graduate,

There's always lots to do,
Plenty that you need to get done.
Relax, don't worry so much about it.
Go out. Have some fun!

Love,

Diablo

Did You Know?

Did you know...

1) That iTunesU is loaded with an overwhelming amount of free and incredibly interesting podcasts?

2) That I don't like cupcakes, but that I love muffins?

3) That George Washington wasn't that nice of a guy even though he was a very good and respectable man?

4) That when I'm sitting next to someone/people sometimes I get anxiety and tense up and get paranoid that I'm breathing too loud?

5) That when George Washington left the office of President of the United States of America, Thomas Paine wished Washington's "imminent death"?

6) That I don't like to devote an entire blog to something that not's somewhat related to me?

7) That George Washington was an awesome guy who deserves the praise he gets, but was a realist who did not trust most people, and who was afraid of failure...or maybe that's WHY he accomplished what he did, and thus deserves the respect?

8) That I learned these facts about  George Washington from lectures found under "American Presidents" in iTunesU, and the other facts from life?

Well now you do.

You're welcome. 

Preach on Elder Holland!

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (A modern day Apostle of Jesus Christ) begins his talk titled "Lift Up Your Eyes" with this thought:


"Jesus gave us a living list of virtues through the example of his daily experience. One of those virtues that is especially needed in our routine contact with others—with family, friends, members, and nonmembers—is the rare ability to accept people for what they are, while lifting them toward what they can become."


This is a weakness of mine that has bothered me for a few years now. It's not that I can't see the capacity for good that my friends and family have, but rather I get so frustrated with them when it seems that they're not trying to reach their potential or use their capacities. This is just one more way in which I seek to become more Christlike. Through learning to be able to accept who someone currently is, and learning how to help them see the same potential in themselves that I see in them, and then helping them to stretch for it. After all, I know that God and my friends and family do the same for me when I'm obviously not stretching myself.

Waiting for Superman

I appreciate most documentaries because they help to make me think beyond my realm of life and to focus on issues that are pertinent to many people.  I don't always agree with them, and I am always skeptical to allow myself to completely buy in to the arguments that are being made since the creators are rarely, if ever, objective in regards to the topic.  With that being said, a well done documentary is always enlightening, and I enjoy the opportunity to think more in depth about the subject matter.

I watched "Waiting for Superman" tonight after having heard a lot about it in the past couple of days. The documentary was incredibly well done, in my opinion, and I was made aware of tenure in the public school system.  I was aware of tenure on the university level, but I had no idea that this existed at lower levels of education.  What an absurd idea! In my opinion, and it would seem that the results of our education tests nationwide would back me up, with the obtainment of tenure, any and all accountability goes out of the window.  With tenure comes once again the ugly mindset of entitlement. Nothing needs to be earned because it cannot be taken away; and why put more effort into your job than you have to when there are no raises based on merit? From a business stance, it just makes absolutely no sense at all.  By allowing tenure to remain in the public school systems, we are allowing dead weight (Ineffective teachers) to drag down the youth who are mandated to be in these teachers' tutelage by discouraging the students' desire to learn, or at least hindering their progression of learning.

I do realize that an opposing argument may be raised that teachers obviously don't teach because of the pay level, but instead because they have a desire to educate the youth of America so why not provide them with security, but to this I'd say "Get real!".  Yes, there are many educators who teach because they love the youth and they are not driven by money, but these teachers would excel no matter what.  They would not need the joke known as "tenure" in order to keep their jobs. In fact, I firmly believe that they would be those who received raises based off of merit while those who are inneffective or who disklike the profession would be weeded out or would choose to leave since there would be no low hanging fruit for them to live off of.  Convince our teachers to reach higher and to become more invested, and I know that the majority of the students will mirror the same mentality.  Enthusiasm and passion are contagious. Unfortunately, so is stupidity and apathy.

Rythm of Love

I just saw the title of my last blog and this song came to my mind. It's a fun one by the Plain White T's

Rythm of Life

I was just standing by the copier making some copies of a document for my bishop.  As the printer worked, it made a rythmic sound and before I knew it, I was doing a little sway/dance to the beat and was pretending I could beat box. If only someone had walked by at that moment. If only...