Potpourri

Friends

Lately, I've given some thought to who some of my friends are and what they bring out in me. In particular, I've noticed people trying to bring me into what can only be described as their immature drama. I could go on and on about how we graduated high school a while ago and should've left that sort of stuff behind, but I think some simple Gospel principles say it better.

I'm somehow expected to hate someone I've never met. I'm supposed to be unfriendly, rude, and even angry with a person who has never done anything wrong to me. Apparently, it's an issue of loyalty to my friends if I am even civil to this person, who, again, has never done anything wrong to me. And, even if she had done me wrong in some way, we are supposed to be merciful people. If we expect to be forgiven, we can be expected to be forgiving. I did a lot of reading about charity when preparing for my talk a few months back, and I never stumbled upon anything that said holding a grudge or instilling hatred in others is living with charity. I don't expect my friends to dislike someone who has caused me problems just because they're my friends. I think to expect that is to hinder your friends' abilities to have charity in their own lives. I have to wonder if friends that are angry with me for trying to have charity in my life are friends at all.

Hmm... okay, so Luke 23:33-34 says "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." These people had just hurt and betrayed Christ so badly, and what did he do? He begged that they would be forgiven. He didn't say "Heavenly Father, unless you strike some lightning on them or if you keep talking to those people, you're not my friend anymore". Okay, so maybe this is a stretch. I was trying to make some sort of a point here.

Music

I went to an amazing Matt Costa concert on Saturday. It was at the Warfield in SF (a great place by the way). He's very talented and has kind of a folky, catchy, and relaxing style. I just bought the album and have had it playing on my ipod all day. The other group there was G Love, which I didn't think I'd like once they started playing, but they grew on me a little bit. They were kind of like a mix between Jack Johnson and the Beastie Boys. I don't know if i'll buy the album, but I was entertained by them after all. They had the vocalist, a string bassist, keyboard player, and drummer. They all had times where they would play solos, and you could tell that each one was very talented in what they did. The worst part of the concert was that we had balcony seats, and we were surrounded by people smoking. Not cigarettes, the other stuff. Plus, all the smoke from anyone smoking on the floor rose straight up to where we were sitting. It was pretty irritating, and I was worried that the smell wouldn't wash out of my hair by the time I had to go to church the next day. Imagine walking into Ward Council, and having the bishop approach you and say, "Jessica, we need to discuss the Word of Wisdom" or something because you smell like pot. You'd probably also be confused about him using my name to address you, but you might attribute the confusion to the second-hand high from the night before. Overall, good music, so you should check it out.

Laptop

I'm going to get a MacBook. Soon-ish. Not soon enough though. Want to buy my Dell from me? That would be neat. Cash or check donations would also be greatly appreciated.

Procrastination

The only thing I'm very efficient at is wasting time. I'm kind of doing it right now. I could be getting work done. My biggest time-eaters are spider solitaire and crossword puzzles. Procrastination is something I'm trying to do less, but it's a struggle. I feel like I recently heard a talk about making good use of the time we are given, and it's something i'm trying to work on everyday. However, it's just one of the many things I'm trying to improve, and sometimes my other goals take up time, too. It's discouraging that even on days where I'm very productive, the to-do list never just goes away. There's always other work to do or something I should be doing. It's exhausting.

Hmm... this could've made 4 separate posts. Oops!