I mean, the REAL gym. Not the sorry excuse for a gym that my apartment complex offers. It was so real, there was a man with thick, bushy hair running on the treadmill next to mine (I really hate seeing a man with better hair than mine. Or a baby. Because babies have really thin hair, so it's even more devastating when I see one with thicker hair than me. Moving on).
I made a great decision while treadmilling about last night, and here it is:
There are two things that make walking and/or running go by faster (I seem to have lots of lists of two's around here lately)
1. Listening to the Harry Potter books. Seriously, an hour is gone before you know it.
AND
2. Watching "Jurassic Park."
There I was, on my very own treadmill, with my very own TV, having my very own viewing of "Jurassic Park."
Let me tell you my feelings about the "Jurassic Park."
People, that movie is GOLD. Pure genius. It is easily in my top ten list of favorite movies. It is one of the few movies that I enjoy as much as the book, even though the movie and the book are... well they're not COMPLETELY different, but they're different ("The Da Vinci Code" is also a movie that lives up well to the book, in case you were wondering. Also "Memoirs of a Geisha," but that doesn't mean that either the book OR the movie were good...).
I also like dinosaurs? Not in the way a boy usually does, but I find them to be interesting. Ever since we had a unit on them in first grade and made "dinosaur food." My teacher couldn't fool me though. I knew what we were really eating was no-bake fudgies. You know, that chocolate, peanut butter, oatmeal concoction that you just melt together and plop on wax paper to set up and then eat? Those were no-bake fudgies in the Wright household. What did you call them?
ANYWAYS.
I'm a serious time watcher when I'm exercising. It's awful. I keep telling myself "You have definitely been here 20 minutes" when it's only been 5. I hardly looked at the clock at all last night. I thought nothing of the shin splints that were creeping up on me because I was too busy being grateful that I wasn't in a jeep having a large, carnivorous reptile smash a glass roof on me. Talk about a rainy day! And not just because it was raining on them too. Bazinga!
And every time, EVERY TIME, Jeff Goldblum lights the flare I think "No Jeff Goldblum, No! You have so much to live for! Like a great cameo on 'Will and Grace'!" But he does it anyways and then he survives. He always does.
I tell you what though, no matter how many times I watch "Jurassic Park" I cannot, CANNOT, stand watching the scene with the guy from "Seinfeld" getting attacked by the peacock dinosaur. I don't know what it's called but you know, it's got that thing on its neck that flares out like peacock feathers? Right? (see, if I was a 5 year old boy who really was in love with dinosaurs, I'd know that dinosaur's scientific name) I don't like that part, so I fast forward or change the channel. Depending on the situation.
And there you have it. I might not be able to tell you HOW to exercise, but I sure can tell you how to occupy your attention WHILE exercising (special thanks to my mom for introducing me to the concept of walking with Harry Potter).
On a completely unrelated note, I'm about to get all Mormon on y'all.
So we've been talking about Nephi in Sunday School, right? Cuz he's at the beginning of the Book of Mormon, right?
People, he is my favorite. I LOVE Nephi. He's more gold than "Jurassic Park" is. You know if you could eat lunch with any 4 or 5 or 10 people, dead or alive? He'd be there. So would Kate Middleton. And probably all 4 members of ABBA. And my dad. And my friend Aleece, because she makes it easy to talk about anything, whether we agree or not, so I really think she'll keep the conversation going with the group.
Man, that lunch is going to be AWESOME!
Anyways, when I was teenager, I was all about Captain Moroni because he is soooo dreamy (I imagine he is?). As I've gotten older, Nephi has become the person I click with most in the scriptures.
So, we were discussing 2nd Nephi, chapter 4 on Sunday. Ugh, it's so good. It is one of my favorite chapters in any book of scriptures, and I will tell you why.
Whether or not I'm reading the Bible or the Book of Mormon, it gets difficult for me to imagine the prophets as being actual human people, having every day activities, triumphs and trials, and imperfections.
In this particular chapter, Nephi is actually pretty bummed out. His dad just died, his rotten older brothers were probably making the situation even more stressful, everyone was looking to him as a leader (with the exception of his older brothers and those...), and I'm sure he was probably feeling inadequate and burdened.
Hence the reason he would write something like "I am encompassed about because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me."
Whenever I read that verse I think "What the heck is Nephi talking about! This guy is AWESOME! He's got this!"
Now, I understand that Nephi WAS human and he WASN'T perfect, but you know how it is when you put someone on a pedestal?
Our teacher had us discuss what Nephi could have been referring to here. Two fantastic women, that I go to church with, both shared thoughts that completely opened my eyes and made me love and appreciate Nephi even more.
One of them talked about how Nephi was probably feeling overwhelmed by his brothers' wicked choices and negative attitudes. He was probably battling with some negative feelings of his own towards them, knowing it is wrong to think ill of anyone, much less your own family, but at the same time knowing they don't make it easy to think roses and rainbows about them.
That really hit me. I've been dealing with the exact same thing for the past few months. I love my family, I LOVE them. I think you should always love your family (but you don't always have to like them?). And lately, I have had a family member in particular who has made it very difficult not to constantly think negative thoughts about them. It's really been eating at me. I love this person so much, and want such good things for them, as I'm sure Nephi did for his brothers, but my sibling has their free agency just as Laman and Lemuel did. Unfortunately that free agency means they choose to pull away from those who care about them rather than be nearer to them, and have things that bring them down rather than uplift them.
The other woman in class talked about how Nephi chose to act rather than be acted upon, and that REALLY gave me a big punch in the gut (at this juncture, I should point out that by the end of chapter 4, Nephi is back to his amazingly strong self again and continues to be on my pedestal. You really should read it. The chapter, not my pedestal...).
I have no control over what my sibling is choosing to do, but I have COMPLETE control over how I react to their choices and whether or not I let negative feelings eat away at me or let positive feelings lift me higher.
I have no control over what my sibling is choosing to do, but I have COMPLETE control over how I react to their choices and whether or not I let negative feelings eat away at me or let positive feelings lift me higher.
It was a great epiphany to have, but honestly, I'm really not quite sure what direction to go. I don't condone anything my sibling is doing, so it's hard for me to be excited for anything going on in their life, but at the same time I don't want to be all Debbie Downer whenever talking to, or about, this person. I also absolutely, DEFINITELY, want these negative feelings about the situation to get out of my heart. It feels awful.
Anyone who wants to impart wisdom on this subject is more than welcome. :-)
In closing, I always thought that when T-rex opened his mouth to roar, it looked like when one of the Berenstein Bears opened their mouth to talk. Right?
Look, you're thinking I'm crazy. Watch the T-rex scene, read a few of the books. You'll see it.
