Going Smart

Today I was thinking about smart phones and how beneficial they are. I had to call my pharmacy and get a medication transferred over, but there was some difficulties about which number to fax it to. Luckily, I was able to get look it up on the internet while walking to class and get it all figured out. I think that's such a miracle. I am so grateful that it didn't add days worth of time to get things figured out because of having to call back and forth and wait for people to look things up and get connected. There is so much potential for good with smart phones. Sometimes I hate my phone because I get distracted by games or wasting time on Instagram or Facebook, but the truth is, smart phones are a miracle! I think the good it is in my life is much greater than the bad it brings.

I love this quote by Randall L. Ridd:

“The divine purpose of technology is to hasten the work of salvation. … The Lord expects you to use these great tools to take His work to the next level, to share the gospel in ways that are beyond my generation’s wildest imagination.

 “Where generations past influenced their neighbors and their town, you have the power through the Internet and social media to reach beyond borders and influence the whole world.”

It's a Party

During the video game lecture today, I was thinking about the few times I've played video games. Most of the time, it's been with my siblings. One of my favorite traditions growing up was playing video games until 2am on Christmas Eve with them. It was a fun way to bond and spend time together. I still enjoy playing video games every once and awhile with my family. I wouldn't normally play them by myself or for long periods of time, but as a way to connect with people, it's a fun time. I got really nostalgic watching people play Mario Party games in class. It made me want to call my brother! In that way, I think video games are a neat tool for good.

Nose Stuck In a Book

I loved our lecture on literature and books. I LOVE reading. My parents taught me to love books and enjoy reading. Many of our family vacations consisted of all of us sitting on the beach reading books for hours. From the outside, we probably looked boring, but it is just something we all love doing. It's not uncommon for us to end up in the living room reading our own books when we are all home. Books have such a power to transport and teach.

I was feeling lousy last weekend so I stayed in bed most of Saturday, but I stopped by the Provo library to get a book, luckily. I spent the whole day reading and it made me realize how much I've missed reading for fun! I just went back to get a new book and I had the hardest time picking one out. Dr. Coyne talked about having a rating system for parents to know the content of the books their children read, but I need one too! I kept getting excited about a book, only to start reading a little in the middle and find lots of swearing or just bad content. It's unfortunate, because I just got a book I've read a couple of times before instead of getting a new one. Anyways, I think I would appreciate a rating system or at least some content review because I love books and wish I felt better just picking one off the shelf without a suggestion from a friend!

I Can Smell the Love

With V-Day coming up, this is sometimes how I feel. But for the most part, I think Valentine's is a fun, cute holiday. It's not my favorite, but all us singles can still have some fun!

Here's a newspaper article that's full of fun movie ideas for all you single ladies out there. I thought it was a fun, thoughtful idea! Thanks DU:

http://universe.byu.edu/2015/02/13/all-the-single-ladies-7-best-galentines-day-movies/

Exodus

As mentioned in the last post, I went to see a movie recently at the dollar theater. It was Exodus, the movie with Christian Bale about Moses. Confession - I absolutely love Christian Bale, a lot. SO I might be biased when I say I really liked this movie. The people I saw the movie with didn't really like it. I can see where they are coming from because there were some things I really didn't like. But here's what I did like:

1. It gets people interested in the Bible story and one of the greatest prophets, Moses.

2. It showed Moses' development of faith and coming to God in a really interesting way. You'd expect the parting of the Red Sea to be the climax, but I liked how Moses' first true, humble act of faith, with complete reliance on God, led to the Sea being parted. It was just a neat take on how Moses might have become the faithful prophet we know him to be. Maybe it wasn't completely scriptural, but I liked the director's telling.

3. It had a LOT more scriptural accuracy than I thought it was going to have.

4. There was a real "humanness" to the story. I felt very connected to the characters and the portrayal seemed to show how any one of us might have reacted. And despite not liking all the violence, I think that's really how it would have been in that time. It wasn't a time of peace.

5. I LOVE that, even though there were things I didn't necessarily agree with about the interpretation, overall the movie was a good message and made the audience think about God, and maybe how they view Him. I know I did.

Make it Happy

Last night, I rushed my friends to the dollar theater because I was worried we wouldn't get in to see our movie because Friday nights sell out fast. Well, we bought our tickets and went to the correct theater and... there were like two people there. So my friends were annoyed to say the least. My bad. Anyways, while we were waiting for the movie to start this Coca-Cola ad came on and it made me smile. It's so nice to see positive, uplifting messages in commercials! It made me want to buy a Coke just because it was such a good commercial. Well done, Coke guys!