Rainbows

So, I was walking to the parking lot from campus the other day and found something rather strange. 
It had been a rough day.  Lots of therapy, and I was rather emotionally drained.  On the other hand, the day was lovely, we just had about a week of sunshine and warmth, so that was rather cheery.  Mostly I was just trying to decide how I was feeling as far as my emotions went, when suddenly I spotted balloons.
To get to my usual parking lot from campus, you have to cross a rather busy road.  To avoid accidents, the university built a couple bridges over the road for the students to use.  As I walked toward the bridge, my eyes were caught by the bright yellows and pinks of balloons.  I assumed it had something to do with student body elections (yeah, those are this week :P), but when I got closer I noticed there was also a "rainbow" made of streamers running along the walls of the bridge.  All along it someone had taped up encouraging rainbow quotes.
Well, at that point, my mood had been decided.  That was a happy day. :)

Oh, and there's this awesome blog post you should all check out by Danielle Shipley!  I was so excited to read it: http://everonword.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/in-which-i-risk-uniting-a-divided-world-in-disdain-for-me/

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Alma the Younger

Told you I'd explain!  After years of living in Zarahemla, Alma and King Mosiah ended up being pretty solid friends.  Which of course meant their sons ended up being pretty solid friends.  Sort of.  It never mentions why (this is only an abridgement of a much larger record, after all), but eventually Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah left the church.  Something interesting my institute teacher has said, you can leave the church, but you can never leave it alone.  Basically she explained that those who leave the church in outright anger over something can't stop coming back to tear it down.  That's what Alma the Younger (I'll just call him Alma II for now) and his friends were up to.  They were constantly trying to pull people away, destroy the church.  For the son of a prophet to be trying to destroy the church... that hurts.  Alma I was praying constantly for his wayward son, and... well, his prayers were certainly answered. ;)
One day while Alma II and Mosiah's sons were out and about destroying the church, an angel appeared to them.  He spoke, and the ground shook.  Alma II fell to the ground in terror, and the angel told him to get his sorry butt out of the dirt (okay, so he didn't actually say that, but seriously), both literally and metaphorically.  He told him he was there because his poor father had been praying his aching heart out for him, and that if he didn't get his head on straight, he was going straight to hell (random insert: I just find it amusing that most of the time, when an angel appears to someone in the scriptures, he tells them not to be afraid, but in this instance he tells Alma II "you'd darn well better be afraid, punk!).
Alma II was so terrified by the experience that he fell to the earth, couldn't speak, and lost the use of his limbs.  The sons of Mosiah had to carry him to his father, who gathered the saints to pray and fast for his son.  I can imagine several of them had to wonder why he bothered, but hey, that's neither here nor there.  After three days (symbolic much?), Alma II finally woke up, praising God and saying he had been forgiven.  From that time forward, he and Mosiah's sons dedicated their lives to preaching the gospel... and this is where the real begins!

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira 

They All Look Stupid...

You know, you run across some interesting people when you work in the library...
Yesterday I was sorting books in the Jr. Mezzanine, when suddenly a little girl, probably about ten years old, comes up.
Her: "Hey, what are these?"
Me: "Uh, books that haven't been shelved yet.  Did you want to look at them?"
Her:  "Okay."  Three seconds later, "I don't think anyone will want these books."
Me: *eyebrows raising* "What?"
Her: "Nobody will want these?"
Me:  "...Why not?" as I glance over the books I've shelved over and over and over.  Trust me, people are reading these.
Her: "They just look stupid."  She points out one from a series I shelve nearly every time I volunteer.  "Like this?  This just looks stupid."
Me: "... Okay."  Go and find the kinds of books you actually want to read, then, and let me finish my perusal of my eventual competition in peace.

Fare thee well, friend!  And don't judge books by their cover!
Mira

Alma in Captivity

So so sooooo many apologies for forgetting to post yesterday!  What with no school over Presidents' Day over here, I thought it was a Monday.  In any case, here we are, only a day late!

So, in order to get this last bit of the story, we'll have to back-track a little, to when King Noah sent his armies to kill the people of Alma.  They were warned by God (doesn't specify how, but I've heard some fascinating theories), and the new church fled into the wilderness.  They lived in peace, prosperity, and righteousness for years... until the Lamanites searching for Limhi found them instead.  The Lamanites had gotten all turned around and lost, and they promised Alma's people that if they showed them the way back to the city of Nephi, they would leave them alone.
But guess who sucks at keeping promises?
The Lamanites enslaved the people of Alma, but they treated them as well as might be expected.  That is, until the king of the Lamanites decided to send some new management.  You will never, in a million years, guess who he sent to rule over Alma's people. 
The priests of Noah.
Seriously, where the crap was the Lamanites' common sense?  "Oh, you Nephites who hate the fact that we have enslaved you are giving us extra wine?  As a gift?  Sounds legit, thanks!  Oh, you [insert insult because I can't think of one good enough for these men that doesn't include several swear words] that kidnapped our daughters and forced them to marry you want to be rulers over other Nephites?  Sure, go ahead!"
*fuming*
So, yes, the Lamanites did find the priests of Noah, but before they could kill them, the priests sent their new wives (the Lamanites' daughters) out to plead for their lives.  Somehow, they managed to get the Lamanite king to like them, which is why he appointed them rulers over Alma's people.  You know, Nephites ruling Nephites.  Except, he apparently didn't know about a grudge the priests might have against Alma.  See, Alma used to be one of Noah's priests, before he stood up for Abinadi and was thrown out of court.  Apparently, one particular priest, named Amulon, had a bit of a problem with that.  He wasn't allowed to actually kill any of Alma's people, but he certainly tried to work them to death, and he forbid them to pray.  Of course, you can't actually tell every time a person prays.  I mean, how many times have we sent a quick, "Hey, help me out here!" heavenward?  So OF COURSE Alma's people continued to pray.  For a while they were left in captivity, as a trial of faith, but they were strengthened until they couldn't feel the workloads Amulon was giving them.  And after a while, God told Alma to gather the people during the night, because he was going to make sure the Lamanite guards slept until they could escape.
Alma's people wandered in the wilderness (it never specified how long), until they "stumbled" upon Zarahemla (and I use quotation marks because really, do you think they weren't being guided there the whole time?).  Finally the Nephites were all together again, and good thing too, because Amulon and the other priests of Noah, as well as their children, spent their lives fueling the Lamanite hatred of the Nephites. 

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

More Music!

Hey, so remember that post I did back in December where I posted music and wanted to know what you guys came up with?  I thought I'd do it again, only this time I actually remembered to put in a link to the song. ;)  Tell me what you guys get in the comments!

1)Dragonheart Theme

2)To Die For (The Lion King)

3)Frozen Heart (Frozen)

4)Ballad of Serenity (Firefly)

5)Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)

6)Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling (Next To Normal)

7)No Way Out (Brother Bear)

8)Shadowland (The Lion King - Broadway)

9)Chow Down (The Lion King - Broadway)

10)Can You Feel the Love Tonight (The Lion King, and yes, this is John Barrowman. His voice!)

11)Endless Night (The Lion King - Broadway)

12)Pompeii (Bastille)

13)Titanium

14)King of Pride Rock (The Lion King)

Yes, I was on a Lion King kick.  No judging! *squinty eyes*

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

I Know Yo... No I Don't...

So, I was at my old high school to see my sister's choir concert on Thursday, and I could have sworn I saw one of my old high school friends.  One of the really cool guys that would hold the doors open for everyone before seminary.  I thought he was still on his mission, so I was really excited!  During intermission I ran over.
Me: "Hey, how are you?!"
Him:  *Awkward stare* "I'm good..."
Me: *Expectant grin*
Him: "Um... I would be lying if I said I remember your name..."
Me: *Thinking, he's been gone for a while, no big deal* "It's Mira!"
Him: "... You know my brother, don't you?"
Me: *Quickly turning red*
Yeah, turns out he really is still on a mission.  And looks incredibly similar to his brother.
I mean, he was totally cool about it, we both just laughed it off.  But still.
Awkward.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

An Escape

So, quick recap.  The Nephites in Zarahemla sent Ammon and a group of explorers to find the settlers who went back to the Land of Nephi.  Long story short, they found them in bondage, paying tribute to the Lamanites.  They needed to find a way out, ASAP. 
The idea came from Gideon.  He went to King Limhi and said, "Hey, you know how we pay a tribute of wine to the Lamanites every month?  Why don't we try getting them drunk?"  So Limhi, Ammon, and the others gathered everything together, and that night they gave the Lamanite guards an extra ration of wine.  They slipped out of the Land of Nephi, and Ammon and his brethren led them back to Zarahemla.
Unfortunately, their flight meant the Lamanites went looking for them.  They didn't find the people of Limhi, however.
They found Alma.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Many Kinds of Swans

So, I had to see a dance performance for my humanities class, and one of the options listed was the school's performance of Swan Lake.  Having never seen a ballet before, I thought I'd give it a go.
Ho. ly.  Wow.  I came out kind of addicted to ballet.  Odile was amazing, as was Von Rothbart.  Both were just great!  And I have to say, the guy playing Prince Sigfried?  So cute!
So you'll never guess who I ran into during a play the next week.
There was this guy sitting in front of me, and I noticed he had a jacket emblazoned with my school's ballet logo.  And his name was the same as the danseur's from Swan Lake (danseur is the technical name for a male ballerina).  I looked at Kay and Ash like, "I think it's him!" and they were like "talk to him!"  Which I did, right after the play ended.  Can I just say, bad idea?  I was crying and I had a runny nose, and he was cute...
Anyway.
Yes, it was "Sigfried", and he was actually super nice!  It was great to meet him, if only because he's one of the few guys I've run into that was genuinely interested in meeting someone new.  Totally made my night.

In other news, the next of the Wilderhark Tales is out!  So excited!  Sadly, I haven't gotten my copy delivered yet, and can therefore not describe it nearly as well as its author.  You can check out her words on it here!  Can't wait to read it!

And finally, on a completely unrelated note, for those of you have been following my Tuesday posts, I found this online today and thought it was absolutely hilarious: http://www.ldssmile.com/2014/02/08/first-book-nephi-summed-gifs/  Enjoy!

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

The Daughters of the Lamanites

Of course, the Nephites weren't out of the woods.  Far from it.  Noah's priests had escaped into the wilderness, and they were ready to start making more trouble.  You see, there was a certain place in the wilderness that the Lamanites' daughters liked to go to for a bit of fun and dancing.  The priests of Noah, led by a man named Amulon, were world-class creepers, and they spent a lot of time watching these girls dancing.  One day, they decided they weren't content just watching, and they kidnapped twenty-four.  Twenty.  Four.
(Trying desperately to keep a wild angry rant about just how sick these men were from taking over the post djkal;sdkfjalsdgjalskdhf;laskdjfl;sldkfj!!!!!!!!!!!)
The Lamanites, not knowing about Noah's priests, blamed Limhi's people, and tried to attack them.  The Lamanites were defeated, but while the Nephites were searching among the dead, they found that the Lamanite king was still alive (serious fail, Lamanites, just ditch your king halfway through a battle?).  A lot of the Nephites wanted to kill him, but Limhi instead had him nursed back to health, and asked him why the Lamanites had attacked them.  When he found out about the missing daughters, Limhi and Gideon realized that Noah's priests were likely to blame.
The Lamanites came to attack again, but their king, having discovered they had wrongly attacked the Nephites before, went to them and explained what had happened.  They left the Nephites in peace, but still in bondage.  They tried several times to escape, but they were stuck, true to the prophecy of Abinadi.
This was the situation they found themselves in when Ammon and the other Nephites from Zarahemla found them.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Therapists

So, I had a startling realization last night. See, I've started seeing a therapist for my depression recently, and as I was writing last night, I realized that writers are a bit like therapists for their characters.
I know a lot of writers will say that their characters are great therapists.  As far as my characters go, I disagree.  They tend to fight with each other and whine and complain even more than I do (which is saying a lot).  When I write, it's like they're coming to me with all of their problems, and even if I can't fix them, I sit and listen to them and let them talk through all their issues.  Having never been to therapy before and therefore having nothing to compare this experience to, I thought it was just the way I wrote. 
Now, I'm beginning to wonder just who is working for who in this author/character relationship. ;)

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira