Tooth Extraction

At the weekend I started having toothache. By Sunday evening it was getting really bad, and so I tried to call an emergency dental centre. Our dentist out of hours number turned out to be NHS Direct, and the out of hours department was only open until 6 that evening, I called after 6.

The nurse advised painkillers, including a form of Ibuprofen that was not in tablet form. I find it hard to take tablets. Andrew went all across town to get me some, as everywhere near was closed.

On Monday the dentist said I could come along, and they'd slot me in when there was a gap. I waited for less than hour, and then was seen. I had an abscess. It would have been possible to have a root canal, but I decided to have the tooth pulled instead. It's right at the back anyway, and root canal does not always work - also the tooth pulled was one 20 minute appointment, and the root canal would be three 40 minute appointments.

So.. today my tooth was pulled. I have a big gap in the back of my mouth. I was quite nervous this morning, but it wasn't painful at all, I can feel it now, but the actual pulling was fine, and was sooo quick!

Note: I tried to search for a good tooth photo for the post, but couldn't find one. I did get to see mine, and it was much nicer looking than any I could see a photo of.

High School Musical 2 - Film review

OK, I admit, I watched High School Musical 2. It makes me happy. I love all the songs and dancing. I prefer High School Musical to it's sequel, but this one is still filled with lots of singing and dancing, and of course, has a happy ending.

Did you know there are Sing-Along and Dance-Along versions of this film?

Reign Over Me - Film review

This was a good movie, but not the best. There was a lot of swearing, so beware. Adam Sandler does a good job in this more serious of role. However, I thought that he would seem more different than his usual characters.

When people grieve differently, or even act differently to most, what should we do about that? Should we makae them conform to what we think is 'normal'? When should people be hospitalised for mental problems? Should the state get involved?

I think in this story Charlie did need help, from a friend, not from an institution. You'd think if people had a full-time job caring for people, then they would have more time than family/friends to devote to them, however they don't have the same capacity to love. I think we all just need to love each other more, and not judge each other. It's hard, but we need to try not to think as if we know what others are thinking - about us or about themselves.

Starter for 10 - Film review

It was great to see a film where I knew a lot of the scenery and places. It is set at Bristol University. I thought it was a good film, I wished it had more to do with University Challenge, but it was a good story.

At one point Rebecca points out to Brian that sometimes the people you care about the most, just don't care about you. I think sometimes this can be the case, and that is when we are probably most unhappy. Which is why it is so great when we have two-way relationships.

My favorite quote for a long time was from Moulin Rouge: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

Sliding Doors - Film review

This was released May 1998. I didn't remember a whole lot about the film, apart from the fact that I loved it. It is a thought provoking film. Small decisions, or even things that happen that we don't have control over can hugely affect our lives. In this case, where a little girl was stood on the stairs, or whether or not a mother stopped her child from getting in a strangers path.

So, small things can make big changes, and this is illustrated well, but will some things happen anyway? Will we always, no matter what meet a certain person, or end up doing a certain thing?

Mothers Who Know

I've read a lot of peoples comments on various blogs to do with Sister Becks talk. I enjoyed her talk at conference, but was quite distracted by Cara at the time, so when I first read the anti-blogs I really wanted to see the transcript of her talk, because I couldn't believe the things people were saying that she had said.

It turns out that I agree with everything that Sister Beck said in her talk, I can see how some may take what she said in the wrong way, but nothing she said went against church teachings in general. A lot of the main issues, I think, sprang from the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth and the fact that Sister Beck stated that housework, cleaning and cooking etc was a part of nurturing.

Our Stake RS just had an activity where we watched the RS Session of General Conference. This was the first time that I had seen the two new RS councilors. It was interesting to note that one of the councilors is a single woman, who has no children, as was Sister Dew a former RS president, whom I very much admired. Sister Beck is not saying that her counselor is bad for not having children, and not being married, she is just saying that we are commanded to do those things.

In YW today, we had a lesson on Celestial Marriage, in the lesson it spoke of the commandment to have children. (I wonder how those women who did not agree with Sister Becks attitude towards motherhood would teach this lesson?) One of the questions that was put to the YW was: Do you think you would be more selective in your dating if you had decided now that you would be married in the Temple? I said that I definitely had been more selective, which meant that the list actually wasn't that long. Someone else said something like, until you're desparate.. this lead me on to one of, I think, one the most important things we should be teaching our single members... Marriage and family is central to God's plan, but it is better to be single, than to marry the wrong person. I may have gone slightly off topic, seeing as most people don't have a problem with the idea of marriage.

I think this blog summed up Sister Becks real message best:

Whether you are a mother or not you should be desiring and preparing to be a mother, because you will keep forever those things you learn, and if you desire children and prepare to be a mother, you will be a mother, even if it’s not in this life.

Sister Beck was saying that we should value motherhood. Also, this blogger points out that:

She didn’t say that nurturing = housework. She is actually elevating the housework that you do to the level of “nurturing.” Like this: Nurturing = Homemaking. A part of homemaking is housework. Therefore, when you are doing housework, you are really nurturing your children.

I really want to be better at housework type things. I know that having the house tidy and cooking healthy yummy meals with make a great deal of difference to our family life, why not praise these great things. I want to enjoy doing them, but at the moment I'm still working on it, and also the world view, and mine to an extent, is that these things are trivial, they are not honored. I liked Sister Becks talk, but on a further look, I love it.

The article that got me thinking about this all again is here, it talks about this webpage, I agree with most (not all) of the statements they make, I just don't understand why it needs to be anti Sister Beck. For your reading perusal, should you want to read more, and there are LOADS of comments on most of these I with post more links to blogs on this topic. [1][2][3][4][5]

The Others - Film review

I had seen this film before, but couldn't really remember a lot about it. The twist is good, but probably was best for me the first time watching. It is really well filmed, but I have a lot of questions about the story. Also, I did find it quite slow, which isn't my favorite kind of film.

*** Don't read on if you haven't watched this film - SPOILER ***

Why does she kill them? Is her husband dead? Why did she see her daughter as an old lady? Why could only the girl see Victor? How come we could only sometimes hear the others, and see doors opening, surely they would have opened the curtains and doors more than we saw? Also, who took the curtains? Victors family? and why did they?

Time, and how we use it

I've recently became aware of RescueTime, an application that tracks the time we spend using different application, or viewing different webpages. I'm really impressed with it, and think it will be good to know exactly how my time is spent while using the computer. Maybe I'll post some times for you.. or maybe I'll keep it to myself, we'll see.

From their blog I found this article about self-discipline and time management. It made some very good points.

A new blog

Just thought I'd let you all know that I started a new blog today. There are only a couple of posts at the moment, but feel free to have a read, and comment.

YouTube and LDS Public Affairs

One of the latest YouTube videos posted by LDSPublicAffairs. I like it, it's simple and effective. What do you think about these videos being added to YouTube? I think it's great, however with the way that YouTube then offers other similar videos, they are not always similar. After watching this very video I quickly clicked through to a few questionable videos opposing the church. I lot of them don't make sense to me as a long time church member, but this could really be bad for an investigator or new member. Just some thoughts..