attractive things about people

I was sitting in the shop waiting for the safety & emissions inspection on my car, and I made a list. As I watch people, I sort of collect things I like about people in general. This what I came up with, in no particular order:

• straight teeth
• clean fingernails
• clothing that fits and flatters
• attentive eyes
• the ability to listen without interrupting
• a contagious, disarming smile
• unprovoked kindness
• red hair
• clear skin
• generous lips
• uninhibited laughter

The guy who worked on my car, in fact, had very nice red hair and skin like a sun-ripened peach. If his ears had been substantially smaller I might have thought him very cute.

Latvia

According to the BBC, there are 8% more women than men in the country of Latvia. There are also 3,000 more women than men in the 30-39 age range. If you want to know why, you can read the article. I find this interesting:

"The smartest girls are alone. The really beautiful girls are alone - if they are smart," Dace says. "They want to find partners who are equal to them. But a man, having all this choice, doesn't need to be very perfect. He just sits in front of the TV and knows he can get a woman. And if she doesn't suit him, he will get another. Smart women simply don't want to have such men as their partners," she adds.

Sounds like Rachel would like to live in Latvia. She's always had a fondness for Russians.

in response to all of the hullabaloo

I've been silent for a while. Not struggling so much, which is nice, but it leaves very little to write about. I have known I need to say something about General Conference, and about President Boyd K Packer's talk. I've needed to and I want to, because I want people to know where I stand. But then I found this guy's post, and I thought that he probably feels exactly about that talk as I feel, and he explained himself so well and so eloquently and with so much faith, that I couldn't help but link to it. It's a good read, and so are all of the comments (the ones that I read...there are almost 200 at this point). So, if you're interested, here's his post.

When you read the talk again, with the topic of pornography in mind, it's obvious that that's what it's mainly about.

There is, of course, one other thing I'd like to add. I can change. You can change. The atonement of Jesus Christ makes change possible, if we invite its healing influence into our lives. My nature can be changed so that I can experience what the Nephites did in Mosiah chapter 5: "...the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."