Random Ramblings

Hello, my avid readers! I know all of you just can't bear the thought of waiting any longer for a new post, so I've decided to satiate your innate need to hear my words of wisdom and/or random ramblings.

What's on my mind at the moment? Bridges. Random, granted. I just read an article in the Daily Universe (BYU's newspaper) about how most of the highway bridges across the US are sub-standard. Not that they're all structurally unsound, just that they fail to meet safety guidelines. That thought kinda scares me, to be quite honest. Nothing could be more fun than driving across a bridge and having it fall down on you! Anyways, it turns out that about 3% of bridges in Utah are classified as "structurally deficient." However, the state is doing a really good job of keeping up with maintenance and replacement. And here's something for your gee-whiz file: Most of the bridges/overpasses they're putting up on I-80 are constructed off-site, then rolled in on African ironwood logs greased with dish soap. COOL!

Enough about that. I'm pretty excited at the prospect of road-trippin' it home sometime in August. I've secured the time off work, made the appropriate living accommodations, etc. Now I just need to generate some funds. In any case, that week is going to be absolutely wild! On Thursday I'll be moving out of the current apartment and into the new one, then probably driving up to Ogden to grab Tiffany. Friday morning, we'll drive down to Bakersfield. Saturday is my roomie Jonathan's wedding reception in Santa Barbara, so I'll be driving to Valencia, meeting up with my friend Nicole (yay!) and we'll carpool to the SB. Monday is my 20th birthday...Huzzah! I'll be heading back up to Utah on Thursday the 21st.

So yeah, those are my random ramblings.

Mamma Mia!

Yesterday I was having a pretty down day, so one of my friends decided to take me to see Mamma Mia. It was a SUPER fun movie! Or, as one of my friends would say, it was mayjah! :D

Normally when you write a musical, you develop a story line, then write the music to fit. However, for this particular musical, they decided to take a bunch of ABBA songs and write a storyline around it. It made for a reasonably abstract plot, but the music was amazing! (Come on, this is ABBA!) Check out the movie website and trailer here. Anyways, the inclusion of Meryl Streep into the mix made it an overall success. I recommend it to anyone that needs a good laugh, and/or a road-trip to the 70's with ABBA.

Editorial

Hey everyone! I opened up the Daily Universe (the BYU newspaper) and was surprised to find that my letter to the editor had been printed in today's edition. Several people have asked to read it, so I figured I'd just post it on here for everyone.

JUDGE NOT (The original title I put was "Christ Loves Them, You Should Too" but they changed it)

This is in response to the June 26^th letter, “Those who believe, follow.”

Just a quick thought. You might recall the story in John 8 about the woman that was taken in adultery and brought before the Savior. The scribes and the Pharisees were looking for the Savior to condemn this woman, yet he gave this simple reply: “Let he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). It is neither your place nor mine to judge those who deal with same-gender attraction. Would you like to have your peers judge you for your problems? I would think not.

You might also recall the Savior’s response to this woman: “Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more” (John 8:11). There are countless members of the Church that struggle with same-gender attraction, yet choose to press forward in the Gospel, take the sacrament, and are temple worthy. In the Church, there are no “gay” members or “straight” members, only those who are trying to live the Gospel, and those who aren’t.

As a final thought, think of the words of Alma at the waters of Mormon. This “gay-bashing” letter is probably not conducive to “[bearing] one another’s burdens that they may be light” (Mosiah 18:10). We should help and support our brothers and sisters in their efforts to live the Gospel, whatever their struggles may be.

Brian Munn
Bakersfield, CA