The Perils of Dinner Dates

Now I'm not completely sure on what made me randomly think of this topic, but I did, so now my solid 2 followers of my blog get the pleasure of reading about my thought. We are all familiar with the famous, "Dinner Dates" and to be perfectly honest, I am not a huge fan of said dates. While don't get me wrong, I love going on dates, going to dinner just isn't my favorite and I will share my reasoning behind my decision. Number one, I have heard so many people talk to others about their date and the number one question asked is "did you actually eat something or did you just have a salad"? This question always struck me as odd because what is so wrong about eating a salad on your date? What if I genuinely wanted a salad for dinner? Would the remainder of my date proceed in a poor direction because of my salad choice? Would my date suddenly not like me anymore because I didn't "eat"? Would my date really like me more if I would have chosen a bigger meal? Then I start to wonder, what if I decided to do what everyone says and eat a ton? Wouldn't that turn him off more than just choosing what I would normally want? And forgive me if I am trying to impress this date and I choose a sensible meal that I will look at least somewhat attractive while eating. A meal that won't spill all over me and or give me bad breath in case the date went in a good direction. I basically feel like with a dinner date there is no winning. I can either choose a meal that would make me seem like I don't eat anything ever, even though I still don't see what is so wrong with choosing a salad to eat, or that I eat too much and that's just a turn off. I just want to know, when did did the questions go from, "how was the date?" "did you two get along well?", blah blah blah, to "oh did you actually eat something"? I really just don't see how that should be the deciding factor on wether there should be a second date or not. And are these questions only asked towards the girls, or do guys get asked the same thing? If the case is that only girls get asked this then I don't see how that is fair. If we have to worry about our food choice then so should the guy. Or better yet, who friggin cares about what I decide to eat that night? I basically will have two moods before eating dinner, one will be, wow I haven't eaten in a long time so I am really hungry, in which case I will order something that will sustain me. On the other hand I could come in thinking, I just ate not too long ago so I'm not that hungry, so I will choose something smaller but still satisfying. Also, I will most likely be a tad bit nervous on this date because I want it to go smoothly, so I probably won't have much of an appetite to begin with. Well any who I have ranted enough about dinner dates, but if you only get one thing out of this entire blog, know that I am not against dinner dates, but I still think they are awkward and weird. Staring at someone you barely know while eating just strikes me as a weird thing to do, unless you already know that person and have a lot to talk about, then it's not so awkward. But just so everyone out there knows, in my opinion, the forbidden salad is a perfectly fine choice for a dinner date. Just some food for thought (:

hum your favorite hymn.

So, for those of you who don't know I have recently started working at Wulfy's washing dishes for my summer job to help pay for a lovely semester in China, if  I get accepted that is. Anyways, I started work on Tuesday, and its an okay job. The best part of it is that I get to see my Grandpa Duck everyday! (well when he's here and not in Oregon) I enjoy my job because I am bust the WHOLE time I am there so that is nice because I enjoy being busy, but for the most part it is just a really messy job and as my family can sure attest to, I don't really like to clean up after people so I guess this job is teaching me a lesson in a way. However there was a day where I came to work in a bad mood, and I really was just not in the mood to wash a million dishes. So I went in with a sour attitude and knew it was going to be a long day of dishwashing. However, about 30 minutes into washing dishes, a familiar little song came into my head. It was none other than "Hum your favorite hymn". I started singing the song in my head, and for those of you who need a refresher on the lyrics or don't know what I'm even talking about, one line says, "hum your favorite hymn, sing out with vigor and vim, and you will find it clears your mind, hum your favorite hymn". I started going through this song in my head and decided that I would give it a shot and actually "hum my favorite hymn". It took me a minute to decide on a hymn to hum because I kind love them all but I decided on "I know that my Redeemer lives", because me and Brent Meads are singing it together at Erick Barons homecoming in about a week. So as I started humming, believe it or not, my mind was becoming bad-thought free. I was getting into a better mood, and instead of thinking about how much I really just didn't like washing dishes, and just wanted to go lay by the pool, I began to be filled with thoughts of happiness and appreciation.  I was thinking about how lucky and fortunate I am to even have this job and that I am able to make money for China. I began to appreciate what I was doing. Now, even though washing dishes is not the most fun job out there, it is still a job and I could be doing a job that is far worse. Will I wash dishes for the rest of my life? No, but will I do it for the summer with a happy face, yes I will. Now after a little while of humming it turned into singing and I kept on singing hymns for the rest of the day. I enjoyed the practice time I had and I ended up enjoying myself. With the help of a little primary song I changed my mood and had a very enjoyable and productive day. So for those of you out there who find yourself in a sour mood, just hum your favorite hymn, sing out with vigor and vim, and you will find it clears your mind. Hum your favorite hymn. It just goes to show that everything I need to know, I learned in Primary.