Oh yeah,

Whatcha think of the new banner (as though anyone actually reads this blog)?

I don’t know why I stuck Abraham in there. Couldn’t help myself, I guess.

To go to the festival!

The LDS Film Festival gets started tonight! I won’t be there personally, but I will for Thurs.-Sat. I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. It feels like Christmas 20 years ago (when I still couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve).

Okay, I can’t remember if I’ve ever referred to a time 20 years ago as a hallmark of my own life. I feel old.

But not too old for the festival!

!!!

Mele Kalikimaka

I made this for my family this year (click anywhere on the text to see it), but I wanted to put it here, mostly to show off my beautiful girls.

Enjoy!

Rules of the Road

I drive the speed limit. Sue me. Actually, I think a lot of people would like to if they could.

Here’s the thing, I understand that you want to go faster than me. I also get it that you don’t see anything wrong with going above posted limits. And I acknowledge that there may be times when doing so is not only appropriate, but necessary.

But here’s what I don’t get: why do you feel like you have to harass me just because I try to respect the rules of the road? I remember  hearing a radio host refer to those who drive the speed limit in the left-hand lane as “the worst of the world.” If that’s the worst we’ve got, this world is in fine shape, brother. His problem was that he claimed such people were trying to force “their interpretation of the law” on all drivers. Personally, I don’t see that the words “speed limit” give much room for interpretation, but even if they did, why assume that others are obeying them maliciously? Don’t I have the same right to drive in the left lane that you do? If I can go faster there than in the other lanes while staying within legal limits, don’t I have every right to do so? Do you have a right to ride my tail and honk your horn and flash your lights until I go 85 or higher? I suppose you do, but you’re taking a terrible risk and really just frustrating yourself. It doesn’t bother me. I’m not the one who is going to be at fault if I have to brake suddenly and you ram into my back end. My van is built like a tank, so I probably won’t even suffer that much damage. Not that I wish the damage/injury on you and I certainly don’t want an accident, but am I obligated to discard my respect for the law just because you’re in a hurry?

Now here’s a different dilemma. Should I drive in the most legal way possible, or the safest way possible? They should be the same, but they’re not. A cop (who pulled me over for going 2 mph under the speed limit) once told me that I should speed because it was safer – everyone was doing it. How’s that for a contradiction? I got pulled over for being one of the few people on the road not breaking the law, and the officer told me to break it for my own good. Wow. I lost a lot of trust in traffic cops that day.

My philosophy is that the law is the law is the law. I obey it. I drive the speed limit. Sue me.

Now, lest you think I’m a belligerent jerk of a driver, let me say that I almost never drive in the far left lane and I always try to stay right at the speed limit. In the example above, I had just started going up a steep hill, and had lost some speed as a result. I have my moments of frustration with those who drive slower than me for no apparent reason as well. And I try to merge out of your way before you have to slow down for me as much as possible. I respect other drivers, too. I don’t drive in the right lane either though, where there are more than two, and I’m not obligated to. I don’t want to mess with the people who are merging and exiting any more than I have to. I try to stay to the center instead.

So there I am: in the center lane, trying to drive as fast as I legally can and trying to avoid slowing other people down. And still I get people so close to my back end I can’t see the headlights they’re flashing at me. I don’t feel safe in these situations. But I still obey the speed limit. You can’t intimidate me, not even you big semis, and they are some of the worst (and best, to be fair).

I don’t know exactly why I’m writing about all this. It just occurred to me this morning. No, I didn’t have a nasty incident or anything to prompt it. My drive was remarkably free of such things, actually. There are really only a few things that really bug me about drivers trying to speed. One is when they try to pressure me out of their way to the point that any change in traffic patterns would cause an immediate accident. That happens most frequently. Next is when a whole line of speeders is behind me, and I can’t get out of the way because I’m boxed in. The line starts merging out around me and speeding by giving me nasty looks and worse, and I’m left thinking, “look, the only reason I haven’t moved is because you are taking up all the openings I would have had to get out of your way!” Finally, I absolutely can’t stand it when the unreasonable pressure to go faster comes and I’m in the right hand lane! For crying out loud! That’s the lane for people who have to go slower than the speed limit and you still think I’m the one who should get out of your way? Unbelievable! Those two little black numbers on that white sign apply to all the lanes, you know. Even the left and the HOV lanes. Fast lane doesn’t mean illegally fast lane. And I’m in the slow lane! Oy! Actually, that same cop who stopped me told me that the left lane is for passing only, not riding at whatever speed you wish regardless of other traffic conditions.

Well, I’m starting to rant too much, so I’ll stop. You can tell that I have some pet peeves here, but for good reason, I think. I try to do what I think is right, and look at what happens! But I’m still not going to start speeding. I drive the speed limit. Sue me.

The Best Project Ever is Back!

This is to announce that production on Jamie: World Traveller v. 3.0 began yesterday. Since this is a family project (and therefore subject to backburner status when paying productions take priority) I don’t have an estimated date for completion. Nevertheless, I wanted to enlist the help of Jamie herself to formally make the announcement for me. Take it away Jame.

Note: for those of you not familiar with the Jamie: World Traveller series, it consists of silly little videos I’ve made for my sister, originally to help her with a school project, I think, but now it’s just a running gag. As she is due to return from a semester in Israel this Thursday, I felt that another version was in order. I’ve been planning it for months, and it’s going to be the best one ever!

Looking Up

I’ve been thinking about the world lately. It seems that things are going downhill fast. Entertainment is increasingly indecent, public discourse graceless, and government amoral. It’s popular to be angry. It’s cool to break the rules. It’s acceptable (sometimes considered normal) to be unfaithful. Dishonesty is studied and taught. Virtue, it seems, is largely a thing of the past.

So why do I feel so much hope?

I can think of at least one reason: because very little of what I started by saying is entirely true. Oh, it’s true to an extent, but I think that people are still aspiring to be better – still dreaming of a more enlightened, civilized future. Holiness may be out of style, but it’s still in demand. The people that make up this world still want to change it for good and still cultivate a sense of what “good” means.

And as long as that’s the case, there will be a cause.

The Obligatory Election Results Post

Despite the title of this post, I do have something sincere to say.

Oh well.

Let me tell you how I felt when I heard the news this morning.
I was disappointed, perhaps even stubbornly surprised, and surprised that I was surprised. I had felt a certain hope that somehow McCain would pull it off, although I knew it was a long shot. My immediate reaction was this: brace yourself. I feel a lot like I believe my friend Theric does about Obama. I think he’s opportunistic and, with a supportive congress, potentially dangerous. I was frightened by his statement about judges who adjudicate from personal convictions more than statute. I can’t say that I trust him to take care of our national interest abroad. I also worry about his social and economic policies. To be brutally honest, I’m not even sure he has America’s best interests at heart. Although not all his stated ideas are bad, who knows what he will actually do? In short, there’s not really anything about him as a President-elect that I’m very comfortable with.

Of course, I wasn’t in love with McCain either (economic naivety, constantly undermining his own positions, etc…), but I felt that he would better preserve our country and our families. I think he’s an honorable man, a loyal American, and at least he has a substantive record. That, however, is in the past, and there’s no use mourning it. I was moved by the grace with which the senator from Arizona concluded his tenacious campaign and I was grateful for the simultaneous reaction that mingled with the above described feelings: prayer. It wasn’t pathetic prayer for all of us poor folk who now have to suffer through four years of terrible leadership. It wasn’t assumptive prayer that the devastating decisions President-elect Obama and the Democratic congress are sure to make would be somehow prevented or minimized. It wasn’t faltering or bitter prayer in protest of the wickedness America demonstrated by electing such a man.

No, it was the prayer of acceptance, determination, and hope. Prayer, the first impulse of which is to importune the throne of Deity in behalf of the man we as a country have chosen to put at our head. I told the Lord that I had little or no confidence in Barack Obama, but I had every confidence in God and His ability to guide any man. I asked Him to give the new leader grace beyond his own and the wisdom to make correct choices. It came from a place I did not expect and it came without the suggestion of any other mortal. As I said, I was, and am, grateful for it. Such prayer will remain my hope as I tread with my family and the rest of the country lightly, but boldly through the years to come. I don’t know what to look forward to other than more difficulty than ever in supporting my family and rising above the transient cares of the world to accomplish something heavenly.

Even so, I have an anchor to my soul.

If God’s will was not a factor in this election, the will of the American people was, and I trust the American people. I feel that they may have been hoodwinked, to an extent, by a charismatic politician who has little to offer other than charisma and good public speaking. I think they may have gotten their priorities out of order in an election with so many implications. But when it comes to the issues, Americans still largely choose the right. The apparent impending victory of Proposition 8, in which I take comfort, is evidence of that.

I’m not going to join with the wailers and mourners who declare the end of times as a direct result of Mr. Obama’s presidency. I’m going to press forward with hope for a better future made for myself and my own as a result of our personal exercise of the principles of freedom and agency. And I’m going to pray that our soon-to-be new president – for he is all of ours, whether we like it or not – will be given the respect he deserves, the counsel he lacks, and the grace he, and anyone in his position, so desperately needs.