Bit of Ivory

for more interview questions! These ones are from Trisha:

1) What are your favorite and least favorite smells?

I love coming home after a day at church and smelling post roast cooking in the crock pot. Mmmm. Similarly, home-baked bread is delectable. And I adore the smells of pinion and ponderosa pines.

Least favorite? Vomit. Dirty diapers. Elementary-school cafeterias.

2) What is one fic plot that you would really love to see written but haven’t yet?

Hmm. I’m sure that Ginny/Michael Corner fics are on their way, and that’s a plot that would be fun to explore. What I’d really like to see is an Albus Dumbledore’s schooldays fic. It’d be fun to take into account the fact that he’s going to Hogwarts in the middle of the 19th century, when the quirkyness we see in the wizarding world was not quite as quirky, and when there would have been an extremely different political climate in the Muggle world. And we really have no idea what Dumbledore’s background is: is he Muggle-born (wouldn’t that be ironic?)? Halfblood? Pureblood? What is the meaning of all of his names? His parents must have been just as eccentric as he is. Was it is upbringing that gave him such a moral center? What about his brother?

And I really shouldn’t have thought of that. That’s epic-length fic, that is, and I DON’T HAVE TIME TO WRITE IT!!!

3) How has your childhood affected who you are today?

It made all the difference in the world. I had a tough childhood in many ways, an idyllic one in others. Certainly I was raised with a strong religious and moral background, which has been both a help and a detriment in different aspects of my life– usually a help. I know for a fact that if I had been born into any other family (even another LDS one), I would have been a very different person.

4) Have you ever considered converting religions? Why or why not?

I haven’t. It’s not that I haven’t had doubts about my own religion– I have, many times. I’ve considered going inactive. That’s different, though, than renouncing my own religion and going to a different chruch. I just haven’t ever seen or heard of a religion that can offer me what mine can– I’ve found ones that ask much less of me, but not ones that offer me more. There is something immensely satisfying in Mormonism, a happiness and peace that I haven’t found anywhere else. And I’ve had experiences that I can’t really talk about here, but that have given me a knowledge that would be impossible to deny.

5) You are given a 15 minute spot on the news to say whatever you want. The entire world is watching. What do you say?

I wish I could say that I would talk about Harry Potter or Jane Austen or the power of reading. But if I really had the entire world as an audience, I can’t think of anything more important than for me to give a message about the restored Gospel. I would probably offend some people, make some people angry, and cause no greater feeling than indifference to others. But if I managed to touch one person– influence one life for good, it would be worth it. It’s something that people just have to accept about me– I’m a religious person, and I feel a need to share my religion with others, if they are willing.

In other news, and kind of in line with Trisha’s questions, I attended a baptism today for one of my Primary kids. Did I ever mention that I teach Primary? I don’t know if I did. Primary is the children’s organization in my church. I teach 7-8 year olds, which is the age at which children are baptized. It made me remember my own baptism when I turned 8. I sometimes wonder if I was ready– if I knew what I was doing. It’s an extremely important step in Mormon theology– a neccessary ordinance in our eternal progression. I’m not sure that I fully realized at the time the impact of my decision to be baptized. On the other hand, I’m not sure if being baptized later on would have made any great difference either. I know the importance of what I did now, and that’s what’s important.

After the baptism, I went to the At&T store and bought a new cell phone. My Nokia 3360 was slowly going braindead. It would turn itself off, even with a full battery. It would drop calls. It wouldn’t turn back on again. Every time I turned it on, it asked me to set the time and date. The battery meter would lie, saying I had a full battery when I really had about 2 minutes of talk time left. It was practically useless to me in its present state. I did some research and found out that that particular model had bad software, which gradually corrupted itself until it started having the problems mine was. Of course, I didn’t start having problems until my warranty had run out. I also didn’t realize how bad it was until I had already re-uped my contract for a year, so changing my service to get a good deal on a phone wasn’t an option. My brother was in the same boat– his phone wasn’t as bad as mine was, but it was on its way. The phone that I wanted retails at $150, and is being offered to new customers for $49.95 right now, but AT&T wanted to charge Ben and me $220 for it. Even a call to Customer Care helped not at all.

The other night, though, I was working, and a salesman from AT&T brought by a flyer offering mall employees 40% off of the $49.95 they were already offering. I discussed my dilemma with him, and he told me point-blank that until today, he could give us the phone for $120. I told my brother, thought it over, and today we went and bought it. So I am now the proud owner of a Motorola v60i. Hurrah.

I don’t really have the money for this, of course, but I also don’t feel like paying a monthy fee for a phone I can’t reliably use. Oh, well. I *am* working a little more than I thought I would be, so it’s not the end of the world. I didn’t even put it on my credit card.