Clean House and Nutella…

…But where are all the people?

Um, so remember that one time I decided to be in charge of a book club? …Apparently, you and I are the only ones who remember.

I understand that it’s a busy time of year. I understand that it was confusing to postpone March’s discussion until April 10. I’m busy myself, and I just realized a few days ago that our meeting was coming up. But…I did remember, I did clean my house (well, really, the Romgi cleaned and I wandered around looking for some trash to throw away), I did prepare all the background information and author biography I was asked to provide, and…here it is an hour past starting time, and I’m sitting in my apartment, all alone. (Sigh…)

[Sidenote: do you guys know the song about the petunia in the onion patch? You do now, right?]

So this is my frustration. I had a really difficult time getting anyone to choose a book for April’s discussion – I sent out three emails before someone finally replied that “I just don’t think anyone wanted the pressure of picking the book!” I’m fairly certain that the reason I sent the email in the first place was because I didn’t want the pressure, especially two months in a row in addition to hosting. Two more emails, and one brave soul suggested a title. Hallelujah. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to see (very clearly) why our ward’s book club has not thrived.

What’s this? Someone just came by! Granted, it was an hour late, and she just came by briefly to see how things were going…it was kind of considerate though, wasn’t it? She advised me to put another announcement in the Relief Society bulletin and send out an email reminding people the day before.

Now that is what I wanted to write about. Here’s what I’ve been thinking for the last hour: These are grown women, and I am not their mother. I should not have to send note after note for 2 weeks reminding them of one meeting. If they want to sign up for something, it’s their job to make sure they actually go. I did send a reminder within the last 5 days — which, I now realize, is just not good enough. But…when I had to reschedule our March discussion at the last minute, I wrote a quick email explaining and asking people to reply so I knew they had gotten the message. Five of the six responses said, in different words, “Oh, alright, that’s great actually because I was busy tonight anyway and couldn’t come.” I also put a sign (and a pen) on my front door (for those who did not get the email) asking them to leave their name so I could contact them with rescheduling information. No one put their name. Did word get around on the ward grapevine quickly? Who knows. What I do know is that the majority of the club was not planning on coming that night. I probably would have met with something similar to tonight’s “discussion” had I not postponed. That’s pretty disappointing to me.

So there’s my rambling. To cheer myself up I had two big pieces of toast with Nutella. Mmm.

I feel much better now.

Ruining the World

I think email forwards, regardless of their content, have done more harm to the world than they have good.

How’s that for a thesis statement?

Today I got an email from a girl in one of my sociology classes. The subject read, “Fwd: Stay Home, Mr. President.” Apparently, if President Bush stays home from the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics, China will have no choice but to put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the genocide in Darfur. If Bush does attend, it will send the message that we don’t care — or that we support the genocide. Is it just me, or is that a little bit of a non sequitur?

I’m sure that we could find a reason to stay home from the Olympics almost every year. I thought the point of the Olympics, though, was to celebrate skilled athletes from around the globe and (although we don’t focus on this) to bring nations together? So…boycotting the opening ceremonies doesn’t really seem like it’s the best choice in the long run. And besides, what guarantee do we have that China is going to comply with what the American president wants? Honestly…

Anyway, then there are forwards that perpetuate horribly sappy church talks (the one about the ears, the one about the room full of crosses, the one about the filing cabinets of sin, Footprints, the one about the bird, the one about the bridge, this one about the heart that almost made me puke), forwards that give misinformation (the one about the Koran), and forwards that are so blatantly offensive that I don’t even know what to do about them (this one).

I’m going to end the post now because having to look up all those links for you guys was too much to handle. I have to go dry my eyes…

(Yeah, right. Don’t you guys know me at all? Blfrurioaiorrrruerhgh, I think I’m going to be sick from all that sappiness!)