New Blog, Same Ol' Girl

Hey all! Just wanted to give an update, without saying too much, but to sum it up, I went to lunch with a friend who has inspired me to expand my horizons and act more on my dream of being a published writer. So, in hopes of getting more traffic and views and learn more through others, I will no longer be posting on blogspot, but you can find improved edited versions of the posts here, and all my new ones as well. I'm going to be expanding my blogging to include reviews, travel, entertainment, sports, culture, etc, with a focus still on dating for now. I leave you with the quote that is upon the wall above my bed, directly above my head full of hopes and dreams while I am fast asleep.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and I hope to see you again soon at:
badrebel.wordpress.com

Dating and Disney: Real Life Applications

NOTE: I lost this, and then found it, so it's a re-post of an older one =D

 

For reasons that allude me, there's been an over saturation of Snow White on screen, including and not limited to "Once Upon a Time", "Snow White and the Huntsman", and "Mirror Mirror." Almost every girl has a favorite Disney Princess. Mine has always been Sleeping Beauty, which may seem an oxymoron considering how much I hate Barbies, but if one will look closely at the elements of the story, they far surpass Snow White in greatness, not only as far as storytelling goes, but in greatness of heart. There is an abundant amount of similarities in both stories, but it's the differences that prove that Sleeping Beauty is in fact the greater story and should be getting all of the hype. I think a lot of people mistakenly assume Sleeping Beauty is a boring story because all she does is sleep, but that's just ignorant. She doesn't sleep very long, and it's what happens before that makes the story so great - kinda like with Star Wars! Were I skilled enough, I would draw a Venn Diagram on here, alas a T-chart and lists will have to do. 

Similarities

1. Beautiful Princesses

2. Sleep induced by jealous woman

3. Saved by a Prince

4. Tricked by magic

5. Gifted with song

6. Animal whisperer

7. Awakened by true love's kiss

8. Both spend most of their childhood not living as princesses should.

9. Both approached by strangers

10. Both women villains either don't have hair, or don't like to show it? 

 

Differences

Mother and Father                                              Father only

Villain = Maleficent                                           Villain = Stepmother

Pricks finger on spinning wheel                          Eats poison apple

Maleficent turns into a dragon             Stepmother turns into old hag

Fairies help her                                                    Dwarfs help her

Why "Sleeping Beauty" is Better:

***Key: SB = Sleeping Beauty. SW = Snow White

1. Maleficent is the better villain. She: 

a. Goes and takes care of business herself, wasting no time. She shows up to a party, uninvited, puts a curse on SB, sends demons out to kill her, then makes SB prick her finger.

b. Has awesome magic powers and that staff? B.A.! What's coolest is that she turns into a badace dragon and fights the prince. 

c. Has her own villain lair of a castle and an entire army at her disposal without stealin' it from no man. 

The stepmother in SW lazily sends a huntsman, then gets all pissy when she has to go do it herself. And she runs from little people, c'mon!

2. Maleficent is smarter than the stepmother. She tricks the Prince into coming to the cottage, then kidnaps him and throws him in the dungeons. She also has to fight off the faeries and such. All the stepmother does is make an apple and fake bein' old. Tooough.

3. The Princes: First off, the Prince in SW plays such a small role in the story that he doesn't even have a name. Secondly, Prince Phillip is way more studly:

(Nice buns right?! I lol'd when I saw this. Apparently this is his dungeon outfit?)

4. Access to SW is easy. She's in a glass coffin. He walks through the forest, opens it, and gets the girl. The only way to get to SB is to cut through a forest maze of razor sharp brier thorns miles long to even get to the castle. Once he gets through that, he has to kill a dragon before he even gets to her.

5. SB is an actual love story. You watch them start betrothed, find each other years later without knowing who they are, and then are torn apart by the very same betrothal. You know what they don't and that's what makes it so rewarding when he finds her in the tower in the end and when they're announced together at the ball.

6. The time limit in Sleeping Beauty gives the story a "page turner" feeling. They have until her sixteenth birthday before she's supposed to die, only so long to get the Prince out of Maleficent's castle, etc etc.

7. The curse in Sleeping Beauty is death, while SW's curse, by a stretch, is her beauty. Death's a bit more final an ending than beauty.

8. Prince Phillip has magic and faeries to help him; much cooler than dwarfs who mine for diamonds.

 

9. The love in SW is love at first sight, while SB is about true love. Prince Phillip is willing to give up everything and go to hell and back and fight a dragon the death to save her. Hot.

10. SB has more characters and more humor.

11. SB's name is Aurora or Briar Rose, and then there's Snow. SB has a more beautiful name and while SW may be the fairest of them all in HER kingdom/relam, you can't argue when putting them side, who is the most beautiful. SB pwns SW, hence the title "Sleeping BEAUTY." 

 

12. SB's animation was the first of its kind and is still a marvel to look at with the intricate detail and gorgeous attention to medieval decor with the castle, clothing, and  amazing color! There's even a whole documentary out on the breaking phenomenon SB was.

13. SW ignoring the whole "don't talk to strangers" bit is worse than SB's because she takes candy from a stranger too, and not just any old stranger, a fugly hag. Apparently no one taught her the rules of trick or treat! With SB, it's more understandable that she talks to strangers because heellllooo, look at him! 

Which stranger would you talk to?! Hmm, tough decision...

 

14. Prince Phillip has an awesome steed that adds humor and makes him seem more princely/knightly when he goes to save her and fight.

15. Pretty easy "cutest couple" contest. Winners = SB

For these reasons and many more, I'm hoping to see more SB stuff. I'm pretty stoked about "Maleficent" in 2014 with Angelina Jolie!

It's always cool to see a story from another character's perspective - well, almost always, Edward's view in Twilight, not so much.

Maybe the real reason it's my favorite is because I can relate. I'm just a sleeping beauty (maybe the beauty part not so much), waiting for this:

True Love's Kiss

...Naaahhh. ;)

Monkey In the Middle

   

    Today (...ok, technically yesterday, since I just started writing this and it's 1:06 a.m., and surprise surprise, I get a writing idea and can't sleep until I get it written down) was National Kissing Day. Although I briefly contemplated going to the strip and kissing some random guy, my lips didn't touch more than a water bottle and some lipgloss. Kudos to me for not giving into to NCMO right? 

    Feeling a bit sorry for myself in that girly pathetic way, I chose the Ensign for my nightly scripture study to read the words of current prophets for some comfort. I noticed a talk from one of my favorite apostles, Elder Uchtdorf, and jumped on reading it. His talk "Forget Me Not" is my all time favorite and he's always so loving and encouraging. As I began reading through the talk, my heart sank further. The talk was only depressing me more! It spoke of this life and how we're in that phase where the short dash will be in our gravestone, how we should always consider ourselves not at a beginning or the end, as both of those can cause slow starts and finishes, but in the middle, with before we came to earth as the beginning, our earth life now as the middle, and eternity as the "end".


   Why didn't this make me feel better? It's truth, and it's good news. But as a single Latter-day Saint at an age where even most non LDS girls have a family and a few kids, it's hard for me to, every now and then (I'm honestly happy with my day to day blessed life) not to feel like I'm stuck in the middle, waiting for a beginning of a new middle, if that makes sense? Being single often feels like treading water instead of progressing in a race, waiting for that moment when I face the rest of that middle phase with my eternal companion. I want a new beginning for that "mid-life" phase I'm nearing. Yes, there are many benefits to single life, and I'm enjoying continuing to progress with my career in writing and teaching, spiritually through the gospel and the temple, developing new friendships, becoming closer to family members, traveling, etc etc etc., but my dating legs are getting tired.


    Why? As I walked up to a party tonight with my roommate, I sighed and asked her, "You ever feel like you're so over this single partying phase and ready to move on? Cuz I'm feelin' that right about now." This feeling was only reaffirmed when the three guys that talked to me at the party were roughly seven years younger than me, and worsened when my roommate yelled (letting me know if she was going down, I was going down with her - thanks, love you too Kel =D), "Emily's my grandma!" Returned missionaries know exactly what that means. It means I trained Kelly's mission companion who was her trainer, so it wouldn't take long for them to do the math and figure I'd been home from my mission for 6 years - Grandma indeed. Tonight's lemon juice on the cut was when I went home and watched a spoof on LDS dating, only re-emphasized the plight I was in as situations I'd experienced time and time again played out in front of my eyes. It was meant to be funny, and most of it was (minus the Aladdin twist - sorry, just my opinion), but also sadly true.


    I often feel like the monkey in the middle on a really long basketball court, running back and forth between younger and older guys, but playing the same game of disappointment. Hitting my pregame show hard by taking time to get all dolled up, working out, etc, then hitting the court without ever scoring. Going from dancing and singing along in my metaphorical banana microphone with Kelly Clarkson to "Miss Independent"  and Beyonce's "Who Run the World - Girls" then being ricocheted to belting "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perry and "Marry Me" by Train when I meet a great guy or get asked for the billionth time why I'm not married- back and forth, back and forth. I'm usually pretty good at getting the ball back and owning it with my swag ball handling skills, but this "grandma" is starting to feel it.

   Tonight's salt being poured on the cut was when I stumbled across an advertisement for Season something of "The Mormon Bachleor" while reading LDSLiving and laughed shortly in disgust when the bachleor was a youngin too and all those questions and qualifications the cookie cutter Mormons want came spilling out of the host's and his mouth. 


To sum it up, I'm ready for my knight in shining armor to come and fight for that ball for me...

 hand it to me, take my hand, and walk with me down the middle of our new middle.

 In the meantime, I'll bandage up my wounds and crank that Rocky music as I step out to battle once again. Am I gonna go all desperado and marry the first guy that hands me a ring or just marry someone so I can check it off the list? No, I'll turn them down just as I have the others if it's not right. Will I resort to internet dating? Meh, MAYBE if I'm single and 40. Will I go out and throw myself at guys every chance I can get and scrap with every girl who's my "competition?" Yeesh no, if you know me, you know how I loathe the cray-cray's. But I won't give up. I won't become a depressed cat lady hermit. I'll keep going to parties, meeting new people, flirting, dating, learning, hurting, loving, living, happily.

I'll get over my emo moment and life will go on as the Lord wills it. I hold onto faith in the Lord's timing and in the knowledge that He not only sees and knows all with all of His children, but that He loves me and wants me to have the "good gift(s)" (Matthew 5:10) 


What I have to look forward to even more than the middle of that middle is the eternal rest or "end" I will have one day with my Savior, the greatest beginning to another middle, and that's the perspective I want to keep and consider more important. Eternity isn't about me, it's about getting to truly know my Savior, and trying my best to model my life after His. It won't matter how much I was loved, but how much Christlike love I showed to others.


John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

My Testimony Strengthened by Anti-Mormon Antics

 I shared a shortened version of this at Church today, but wanted to put it here too. To quote Paul "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ"! =D  

As I was getting ready for Church this morning, a thought came into my mind: You need to bear your testimony today. My thought in response: Nope! Not gonna happen!" and I resumed putting on my make up. (What a brat, right?) As I was sitting in sacrament meeting, another thought came into my mind: Why don't you just write your testimony down then?" (SNEAKY guy that Holy Ghost is!) Well, I LOVE to write, so of course I went about doing it. When I finished, my heart was beating wildly out of my chest at a hundred miles an hour and I was shaking. Drat. I was going to have to go share what I'd written. Here is what I wrote:

    "As I was doing some research on Scottish folklore and history to add to my latest story, I googled the "Galeic words for "seer" and "stone", thinking it would be pretty harmless. Welp, true to my lack of luck, I stumbled upon a webpage slandering the Prophet Joseph Smith. (Sidenote: For anyone who doesn't know who he is, or what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints REALLY believe, I plead with you to actually go to a credible source - it's not any different than finding a credible source for a research paper, or going to a plumber, not a dentist, to get your sink fixed. Mormon.org is a great start). I only skimmed a few sentences before going to close the web page, but just before I did, the author and a picture of her caught my eye: Joy CHRISTIANsen. Huh. Ironic. She looked like a sweet old lady, so the few nasty things I read that she wrote were quite a shock. I quickly closed the window.

    My initial reaction was to want to fly through the screen and metaphorically go gangsta on her n get in her face like, "Why you gotta diss on my Broseph yo?', but then I realized I would be a hypocrite, because that wouldn't be Christian, and instead I started to feel sad  bad for her. Here was one of Heavenly Father's daughters, who I'm sure is intelligent and educated, putting time into what she believes to be true. I felt for her, even if I knew she'd been mistaken and deceived, because I didn't know her story or how she'd come to believe false things. What was a worse feeling that she would probably say the exact same thing about me.        

     As I pondered on it more, I wasn't ashamed for wanting to defend what I know to be true. The main difference between what I felt and what this woman had done was that she wrote in a negative slandering way, while I simply wanted to know why and tell her what I know to be true. Another main difference is how you feel when you read Anti Mormon things (dark, uneasy, etc) as opposed to how you feel when someone testifies of something true. If you haven't experienced the latter before, I hope you will ask a member friend you know to bear their testimony to you, or read/listen to some talks by our apostles/prophets via lds.org and our General Conference. I believe it natural and good to want to fight for something that is good and true, bears good fruits, and has only brought joy to others. To want to defend a man who died a martyr for our Savior is something I wouldn't hesitate to do time and time again. 


    And so this is my testimony today. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of the Lord, just as Moses and Abraham and Noah and all our fathers before him, and all those after him. I know he did in fact see the Father and the Son Jesus Christ and that they are separate glorified beings, people just like you and me, not simply just ideas or ghost like spirits that can be everywhere all at once or are all one being. and that it was the hand of God that guided his translation of the Book of Mormon and his teachings, despite all the other claims out there. He died a martyr out of love for the Savior and His Gospel, which I know to be true. I hope one day Joy Christiansen and anyone else who has a hatred for Joseph Smith or "the Mormon Church" will one day have a change of heart, read the Book of Mormon and ask if it and the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and have their lives changed and blessed beyond imagination by the words and testimony of Jesus Christ written upon its pages by prophets of old.


    I know that the Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Son of the one and true living God, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one true Church upon the face of the earth, the very same organization that the Savior himself set up during his time here on this Earth. I know our Savior loves us and wants us to come to him so that He may heal and help us; nothing we can do can make Him not want us to always come back. I love my Father in heaven, my Savior, the gospel, and my family more than anything, and yes, it is wonderful that he cared for me enough to die for me so that I can live with Him and my eternal family after this life. I end these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."