the internet is dangerous

Clearly I need to do more with my life. But hey, I have an adopted panda and you don't.

reminding myself

Today, I got my eyes checked, donated blood and voted. How's that for accomplishment?! Booyah. 

I just wanted to write a note (mostly for myself) about meeting new people. I forgot that I liked doing that. When I donated my blood today my phlebotomist and I had a nice chat while he stabbed my arm and siphoned away my blood. We just chatted about this and that but he was friendly and it was easy. Do you ever feel like talking to someone you've never met before is easier than talking to someone you've known for a long time? I don't know if it's because they don't know a thing about you or if because you are unknown that you are still new and interesting, but sometimes it's refreshing.

I love my friends. But maybe I've been around my current ones too long. We're very comfortable but things are also a little stagnant. There's little discovery anymore since we know each other pretty well. It's possible I've gotten to comfortable and don't have to exercise the "meet new people" muscles very often. Which is probably not a good thing. 

I need to remind myself that it's nice to meet new people and I like to do that for the most part. 

i got to get this off my chest

Last weekend the General Authorities announced there would be a change in the age requirement for Young Women to serve a mission for the LDS church. It used to be 21. Now they lowered the age to 19. The men can now go at age 18 if they have a high school diploma or equivalent. I've heard a few reactions and now this is my reaction to those reactions. First off, I think it's great. I think a lot more girls will serve missions that may not have. Partly because if they were to mature to the ripe old age of 21 some would be married and thus ineligible to serve a mission. It may make life planning easier-I don't know, like going on a mission after a year of college instead of after three. It's great, it really is. Personally, I am having a hard time with some people's reactions. From Facebook, friends, blogs, feedback from my sister who is currently at BYU, I've heard several things. How the marriage age at BYU is going to increase because all the girls will be on missions, how Liberty Square (a place known for marriages and housing straight out of the dorm girls {I know, I lived there}) is going to be vacant next year, how there will be less dating in the dorms at BYU, whether there will be any boys at all in the dorms, how they can't make that joke about ugly girls going on missions because they couldn't get married because all the girls will be going on missions, yadda yadda yadda. I think this will be a very interesting cultural change for things down there. I'm not sure if the marriage age will increase, maybe the number of marriages will decline because girls aren't getting married as young because they will be out on missions during an age when many girls become married. It will be quite interesting. There are many blessings that come from serving a mission and it's great that all these people are excited about these changes.

However, I am having a bad reaction to some of the things I am hearing. Women who are upset because they would have served a mission had the age been lower at the time they were contemplating service but by the time they were 21 they were married or on the way to marriage. They feel cheated somehow. This really hurts me. A lot. I am a 25 year old single female. A BYU graduate who did not earn her "MRS" degree. I have been in the "singles" system for 7 years now and have endured a lot. It just gets harder as you get older. But to hear these women complaining that something is "unfair" or "too late" is unfeeling. How can they say that? Especially to their husbands? But think about all the single women in the church who have longed and ached for the blessings of a temple marriage-and these women are complaining they didn't get to serve a mission. Well, me not being married, I don't know how it would feel to have to make that choice. But obviously all these women had a choice at one point in their life. And they made it. Missions are wonderful. Marriage is too. I'm sure it was gut wrenching for those who had to decide. But to say you feel cheated? You made a decision base on your options and knowledge available to you at the time. How do you know that if you had gone on a mission that you'd still have the same marriage opportunities? You cannot go back so please, please do not regret your decision to get married.  This change has come, now, in the year 2012. It cannot retroactively change the past, but it will have a huge impact on the future. 

I read some comments on a blog that were sad. How one girl was sad she didn't go on a mission because she always felt she was not on the same level spiritually as her husband, and how she always deferred to him because he had served a mission and knew so much more than she did. I just felt sad for her. Going on a mission is not a prerequisite to gospel knowledge. Women and men who do not serve missions have just as much room to grow as people who do. Just because someone has served a mission does not guarantee a lifetime of righteousness or imply any kind of superiority. From a young age my mother taught me something that was very important to her that she learned from President Kimball-that women could be just as scholarly in the gospel as men. And she has striven to make this a part of her life. Yes, it is weird to be in Sunday School and hear all the "On my mission" comments. Especially when you are in a ward as a 19 year old girl with a bunch of 21 year old return missionaries. But then you get over it. 

I guess in the end I have to say a few concluding points. Missions are a priesthood calling for men. They are a wonderful option for women who want to serve. There will still be women who choose not to serve for their own personal reasons. I think what everyone (including me) needs to remember and have faith in is that Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He knows our righteous desires. He has a plan for us. That may be to serve a mission, it may be marriage and a family, it may be something else. But we need to recognize and have faith that what we do and have done is part of our Heavenly Father's plan for us. 

Sorry for the rant. But I needed to vent. I would like to read your comments if you'd like to make them.

*This is based off of my life and my experiences. I have never felt pressure from "The Church" or my parents to become married just to be married and be righteous. It is a goal and desire of mine. But whether the reason it hasn't happened yet for me was because of my options, choices, independence, focus on other goals, naivete, lack of skill, or whatever, I never have felt like I was only worth something if I were married. I have a strong sense of self worth, thanks to my parents and have tried to live up to my own capabilities.*

bacon number

So I recently discovered something that allowed me to figure out my "Bacon Number." No, not the delicious pork product but the number associated with Kevin Bacon. Also known as the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon." The legend goes that every star in Hollywood can connect themselves to Kevin in 6 moves or less. He's starred in many movies with many people so I guess it's easy to trace. You can even google it now just by writing in a name and adding "bacon number" afterward. So I now give you my Bacon Number and its moves.

#1 I am Meagan. I am related to my Grandma. Grandma Carr

#2 I found out the other night that Grandma and Grandpa Carr used to get some kind of insurance through a Homer Gere in Syracuse, New York.

#3 Homer Gere is the father of Richard Gere

#4 Richard Gere-googled his "bacon number" and found that he was in the movie "Pretty Woman" with Julia Roberts

#5 Julia Roberts was in a movie with Kevin Bacon called Flatliners.

#6 Kevin Bacon

mmmmm Kevin Bacon

That makes my Bacon Number-6 and if you know me then your Bacon Number is at the most, 7. Fun, huh.

olympic withdrawal

The Olympics ended last night. I'm so sad. It's something that's filled up my entire free time for the past 16 days and now I'm sort of crashing after an Olympic high. I was so sad that there would be nothing to tune in to tonight. These Olympics were amazing. I was a tad worried they wouldn't be as dramatic as Beijing, but these games were wonderful in their own way. I am a huge fan and love absolutely everything about the Olympics. I even cry at the intense and dramatic moments. There were a lot of stories I loved, I'll have to think of them.

Two of my favorites were Oscar Pistorious and the German discus thrower who had the best gold medal celebration ever. I laughed so hard.

Uuuffff 4 more years till the next summer Olympics. I hope it goes by fast.

london day 10

day 10
Didn't see much tonight...
-Mustafina got gold in the uneven bars and didn't have to cry over a silver. Gosh, there's a lot of crying in women's gymnastics. Not like baseball, "there's no crying in baseball!" Gabby did not medal, but she's got two other golds so I think she'll be ok. And she has the balance beam to try again.
-The men's 400 m finals. Kirani James from Grenada won his country's first medal ever taking gold at age 19. He's the one who asked Oscar for his bib last night. They did a feature on him and he's such a great represenative for his sport and country. All he wants to do is bring attention to his country and not himself. He is a great sportsman and I think he'll be in future Olympics to come.
-Jen Suhr won gold in the pole vault for USA after she got silver in Beijing.
-My boy Sam Mikulak did great in his vault in the individual event final. He was so pleased with his second vault that he kissed the table. But he did not medal. I enjoyed his enthusiasm though, he was so excited to see the other top vaulters go and had to give the South Korean guy a hug after he did his tremendous vault. It was cool.
-I read that USA won a close game over Canada in women's soccer to advance to the final. Go ladies!

I think that's all I saw. Sad.

london days 8 and 9

day 8
-last day of Michael Phelps' swan song. He takes gold in the 4x100 medley relay with Nathan Adrian, Brendan Hansen, and Matt Greivers helping USA win the race. FINA gave him a special award for his achievements in swimming. Although Phelps is not my favorite person in the world, you have to admit that no one has even come close to what he has achieved and it's likely we'll not see another like him for a long, long time. He is truly the Greatest of All Time.
-Serena Williams wins gold in women's tennis singles.
-Oscar Pistorius, a double leg amputee from South Africa, competes with able-bodied runners in the 400 m race and make it into the semi finals coming in second in his heat. I know there's been a lot of controversy about this guy, and I don't know how they draw the line in who can and cannot compete in the Olympics vs the Paraolympics, but I think it's a courageous thing this guy is doing. And if he can beat other full-bodied runners then more power to him. Some say he's at an advantage with his "cheetah blades," because his legs won't fatigue like others, but I've read about the differences in how he has to run, and he can't feel his feet so I don't think he has an advantage. It's very inspirational and what the Olympics is all about.

-Men's USA volleyball loses to Russian. Darn.
-Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan take gold for USA in men's tennis doubles.
-Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price wins gold in the 100 m women's sprint

day 9
-McKayla Maroney takes silver on vault. She did not stick her second vault and actually sat on the ground. It says something for her score that she still got silver. She is amazing on the vault, too bad she couldn't do one like she did in team competition. It was near perfect. But she's got my respect.
-Oscar Pistorius competes in the semifinals and does not make it to the finals. Another runner asks to exchange bibs because he has respect for Oscar and commends him on what he did. I think it's great that the other runners are on board for what he is doing and not being all snarky about it. They interviewed Oscar after the race and he was so humble, his goal was to run against able-bodied men and make the semis and he made his goal. He was so proud to make his goal and thanked everyone for being supportive of what he was trying to achieve. The entire stadium was cheering him on and I think it was definitely something to remember. He could be on the South African team for the 4x400 relay.

-Misty and Kerri beat the Italians and are set to meet the good Chinese team in the semis.
-Usain Bolt takes gold in the 100 m. It was a final that had 3 Jamaicans, 3 USA and 2 others. My dad totally called that Bolt would take gold, get the Olympic Record but not the World Record, Yohan Blake would get silver and an American would get bronze. That's what happened. He ran it in 9.63, not the world record but still pretty darn fast. I'm glad they showed the race a few times because I almost missed what happened.

-why do they have to show the entire marathon on tv? No one wants to spend 2 1/2 hours watching that, you could show other stuff in between and check in on the race.
-Sonya Richards-Ross won gold in the women's 400 m race for Team USA.
-A Brit won silver on the pommel horse, tied for first but dropped to second on the tie breaker. That's too bad, mate.
-Andy Murray wins gold over Roger Federer in a repeat match of this years' Wimbledon with a different ending. The Brits are probably for sure going to go crazy.
-when does BMX start? that would be fun to watch.
-Venus and Serena take gold in women's tennis doubles
-I'm sorry but where the heck did NBC get Ryan Seacrest? He is not a newsman, not at all. He is a host. This is not the same thing. There is a huge difference between what he can do and what Bob Costas does. I'm glad they just relegate him to reading the twitter updates but seriously, he's not a sportscaster. And NBC, if you let Ryan take over from Bob in the future, I will cut you.

A quote from an article in my newspaper today on running: "The world's fastest men leave each foot on the track for about 0.08 seconds. That means they're on the ground  for less than four seconds of each race. The rest of the time they're flying." Awesome.

Neeeeed Sleeeeep.