respectowiggles and drinks.

"good morning, guests. though when i say good i don't mean it won't turn to rain or it might be snow, or fog, or thunder. you didn't get any sleep, i dare say."

there's something innately good and wholesome about reading in public spaces. i think the stereotypical yuppie reading in a coffee shop is onto something.

today i finished the silver chair from the chronicles of narnia. it's my third time reading through the series, and it's been quite enjoyable rereading and finding the stuff i'd missed in the readings prior. i've been reading through the series at work on break and when the cleanings done at the end of shift. today at work's end i had just short seventy pages left, and on the way home stopped at a local burger place and finished the book over a 'stubby double with cheese' and an order of fries. i'm not sure why it is, but for some reason reading a book in my room is completely different from reading somewhere outside the door of my apartment. i think it's the fact that you're going out of the way for leisure. you're not bored at home so you read. you're not going out to take care of business. you're going somewhere with a book for the purpose of doing something you don't need to do, you just want to do it. and there's something very freeing about that.

tonight, keeping with typical habit, i picked up a soda with the meal and enjoyed about a can's worth of dr. pepper and coke (a lovely little pop cocktail, or poptail, called 'black gold' according to the burger king soda charts). it's interesting. i used to get medium drinks. i don't anymore as i made the realization that my satisfaction with my drink has nothing to do with the size and everything to do with simply having that annoying, but nonetheless satisfying sort of growling noise you get when there isn't enough soda left to fill the straw. this started as i realized that a medium drink is often double or double plus the size of a can of soda, yet i'm as satisfied finishing one as the other, and the can typically doesn't end in the same digestive unease. so i started getting sodas that are closer in size to cans than kegs. i'm now actually enjoying the meals more. just an interesting little observation. if you're big on big sodas, i might recommend giving this a try.

and that's about it for now. thrilling business, no?

my religion.

i'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. i was raised in the church, had the opportunity to take part in various responsibilities within it growing up, and spent two years as a missionary in the united kingdom. since returning from that service, i've been able to have various more responsibilities.

the reason i bring this up on this fine Easter day is that as i thought about it, i'm not sure i've ever really brought up the church in my blog. that's a shame, really.i love the church. so today, i just thought i'd share a few things.

for those who aren't members of the church, you should know that twice a year the lds church holds a conference. rather than a traditional sunday meeting during these instances, leaders of the church share messages from the church conference center in salt lake city, utah. members attend these meetings in the center, in meeting houses throughout the world where it is showed via satellite, and listen on the radio and television where it is available. it's quite enjoyable. we have the chance to hear the leaders of the church and feel the Spirit of God teach us and let us know what we're hearing is true. if you'd like to hear such, the broadcasts and individual talks are available here. take a peek. it's good stuff. altogether, there are four two-hour general sessions of conference each time. morning and afternoon on saturday and sunday. and if you're feeling particularly greedy, the archives of conference talks goes back a fair way, so you'll have plenty to enjoy.

anyway, conference this time around happened to fall on the same weekend as easter, i thought it was a good time to buck the precedent i've set in the past and simply have a religion based post.

i'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. i know that we've a Heavenly Father who is God. i know that the true church of God was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, and is witnessed by the Bible, The Book of Mormon, and other scripture that has been given us. and i know that it's through Jesus Christ that we can find happiness here, happiness in the next life, and understanding of the plan that God has for each of us.

happy easter, everybody. i hope you all enjoy yourselves. if you've any questions about the lds church or anything else i've mentioned in this post, feel free to drop a line, and i'll do what i can to answer. and again, the church website is an excellent resource for questions you may have.

you'll probably see a bit more of this sort of thing in my blog in the future. probably not quite as deliberate, but probably a few things like the clip i'll be stapling to the bottom of the post. it's one of a series of clips the Church has produced over the last year or so, and features testimony of the Savior by leaders of his church on the world today. again, if you're feeling greedy, you can find more of them here.

until next time,
trace.