Thursday, November 27, 2008

Engage With Grace

This is important. You'd be surprised the sorts of thoughts this discussion can introduce. Good ones, of course. I was invited to share this with you all by my good friend Paul Levy over at Running a hospital. And I recently printed and discussed this slide with my own family. I think you all should do the same.

(you still have to scroll down and read my thoughtful thanksgiving post if you haven't yet. I spent alot of time on it and want you all to read it. But this is more important I think than that.)

_____________________

We make choices throughout our lives - where we want to live, what types
of activities will fill our days, with whom we spend our time. These
choices are often a balance between our desires and our means, but at
the end of the day, they are decisions made with intent. But when it
comes to how we want to be treated at the end our lives, often we don't
express our intent or tell our loved ones about it.

This has real
consequences. 73% of Americans would prefer to die at home, but up to
50% die in hospital. More than 80% of Californians say their loved ones
“know exactly” or have a “good idea” of what
their wishes would be if they were in a persistent coma, but only 50%
say they've talked to them about their preferences.

But our end of
life experiences are about a lot more than statistics. They’re
about all of us. So the first thing we need to do is start talking.

target="_blank">Engage With Grace: The One Slide Project was
designed with one simple goal: to help get the conversation about end of
life experience started. The idea is simple: Create a tool to help get
people talking. One Slide, with just five questions on it. Five
questions designed to help get us talking with each other, with our
loved ones, about our preferences. And we’re asking people to
share this One Slide – wherever and whenever they can…at a
presentation, at dinner, at their book club. Just One Slide, just five
questions.

Lets start a global discussion that, until now, most of
us haven’t had.

Here is what we are asking you: href="http://engagewithgrace.org/content/theoneslide.ppt"
target="_blank">Download The One Slide and share it at any
opportunity – with colleagues, family, friends. Think of the slide
as currency and donate just two minutes whenever you can. Commit to
being able to answer these five questions about end of life experience
for yourself, and for your loved ones. Then commit to helping others do
the same. Get this conversation started.

Let's start a viral
movement driven by the change we as individuals can effect...and the
incredibly positive impact we could have collectively. Help ensure that
all of us - and the people we care for - can end our lives in the same
purposeful way we live them.

Just One Slide, just one goal. Think of
the enormous difference we can make together.

(To learn more please go to href="http://www.engagewithgrace.org"
target="_blank">www.engagewithgrace.org. This post was
written by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team)


___________________________

Thanks Paul for inviting me to be a part of this endeavor! I'm glad I had the opportunity!

Thanksgiving! To: You


Alright, so after spending all day on Twitter today, I feel like making a thanksgiving post. I saw so many friends wishing each other a Happy Thanksgiving and expressing their gratitude for friends and family (and twitter). And I thought that yaknow what? 140 characters is too little space for me to express myself and the gratitude I feel.


I'm listening to christmas music, smelling the thanksgiving dinner, waiting to eat the apple pies I made myself, helping mom clean and cook. I chopped up a ton of potatoes today for mashed potatoes later. I'm hear my nephew complain about being bored and my mom calling for a different tablecloth. . all the usual sounds of the holiday. And it makes me feel grateful. What am I grateful for you ask?


I'm thankful for the fact that my friend Vijay doesn't live in Mumbai. Oh my goodness how I'm thankful for that.


I'm thankful for the fact that even though this blog has only been around for a year or so, and isn't very good, that I still have so many amazing friends who read and comment on it that I've never even met in real life. I love you all. I really do. It might sound weird, but I have all of your collective backs if you ever need anything.


I'm thankful for the plenty of friends I have in my life who read and comment on this blog. Thanks guys. I appreciate the fact that you find this blog somewhat amusing at times. And I'm grateful that you are all there for me.


I'm thankful that Leif doesn't think I'm creepy. I honestly am soo grateful. Anyone else would've taken out a restraining order against someone like me commenting like I do at his blog. (I know I would've) And that he understands that I'm just playing around. Thanks for indulging me in that sense, man. I appreciate it. (Although I am usually not lying when I say that you are witty, charming and handsome. You know that's the truth ;) )


I'm thankful that my family gets along. My parents are still together after 25 years, and my brothers and sisters and I all speak to each other and love each other very much.


I'm thankful that I have a ward family that I get to spend so much time with. I love all of them and have soo much fun hanging out with all of them. Yay ward!


I'm glad I get to spend so much time with my family. We all live relatively close (haha relatively. . like relatives get it? hee hee) enough so that we can all spend time with one another.


I'm grateful for my big brother and the example he sets for me. I'm glad we spend so much time together playing video games, going camping, etc. It's awesome.


I'm thankful for twitter. I know that sounds kinda retarded, but I am. Um, thankful that is, not retarded. Well. . . But I digress (lol the smiths). Twitter helps me to keep track of my friends and stories and helps me to build a stronger friendship with those I care about. And I'm glad that I have the opportunity to learn so much more about you all!


I'm thankful for the home I live in, and how hard my parents have worked to afford the lifestyle I'm used to. Cable t.v. AND my own room?! Sweeet. I'm grateful that my parents love me and my siblings enough to be here doing this for us.


I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to gain knowledge. To grow. To learn and to experience. This is a sweet life I get to lead, and I am grateful I get to live it every day.


I'm thankful for music and the role it plays in my life. I love that I love it, and I love that I know so much about it.


I'm thankful for the church I belong to, and the opportunities I have there to learn more about my savior's love for me and the gospel he has brought to the earth.


I'm thankful that I'm an honest person. I love the feeling that comes with complete honesty.


I'm grateful for my testimony and the spirit's influence in my life.


I'm thankful that I've been able to avoid harmful substances. I don't smoke, drink, do drugs, or anything like it, and I never have, and I'm glad.


I'm thankful for the people I am surrounded by on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. I'm glad that they're kind people who understand my standards and values and respect them.


I'm thankful for fuzzy slippers and hot chocolate in the chilly november.


I'm thankful for all that I know about the world, and all that I don't know. It will be an adventure learning about culture, people, religion, and societies.


I'm thankful for love.


I'm thankful that even though I don't have a guy in my life, I don't mind. I'm glad I don't feel like a relationship is something I need to have in order to feel good about myself.


I'm grateful that I have a healthy self esteem, and that I can encourage others to feel the same way about themselves. And I'm not trying to get all Richard Simmons on you, but- You are a beautiful person. Remember that.


And finally- thank you all for the people you are and for the examples you set for me. Thank you for indulging me when I want to play four different games of wordscraper and scrabble in the same day. Thank you for coming here and reading this. Even if it's only scanning through looking for your name or something you might find interesting. Thanks. Thank you all for teaching me whether it be by example or just by being there for me. Thank you all for being the wonderful caring people you are, and for actually wanting to spend time with me. Thank you for making me feel special whenever I need it.


I love you guys! Happy Thanksgiving!
(just so ya know. . . that turkey up there. . .I put my hand up to the computer and traced it on mspaint) ;) hee hee

Thursday, November 20, 2008

I politely decline your invitation. . .

Since starting this blog, I have made an e-mail account to go along with it. You can see it over in the sidebar under the "Contact Me" box. ---->

Now, usually, this is a neat little thing to have. I loved the fact that as soon as I set it up, Doc A sent me a quick e-mail saying hey. I love when I get updates telling me someone new is following me on twitter. I love sitemeter's e-mails telling me that people actually come to this site and check things out. And I welcome any e-mails from friends who want to say hi!

But sometimes, having an e-mail like this is bad news bears, because it means people you don't want contacting you can contact you anyway. But I guess that's why I wanted a seperate e-mail for the blog? An e-mail account that could take a bullet for my real one by accepting impersonal advertisements and offers etc. etc...

Alot of you know what I'm talking about. But let me clarify.

A certain website contacted me awhile back telling me that they loved my blog and that they wanted to feature my blog and have me blog for them blah blah blah. No, I will not tell you what website, but if you follow me on twitter, or you're a medblogger who has had "trouble" with them as well, you probably know. Now, I knew I'd seen this company before and that I wasn't too happy with it then. So when they e-mailed me, I was cautious. I don't want anything to do with them or their website. So I ignored their "invitation".

Just today, I logged into my g-mail to check my mail (of course!) and I had another e-mail from the same site, inviting me yet again to be a part of their "community".

I felt like ignoring them, yeah. But I also felt mad. I know the sorts of things they do, and I don't approve of their ways of doing things. So I e-mailed them back. Better to be proactive about these things, right? The best way to fix a problem is not to sit on your keister and wait for it to go away or pretend it's not there. The best way to fix a problem is to do something about it. (most of the time anyway, I can't guaruntee "doing something about it" will work with every problem)

My e-mail to them:

Dear _______,

I hereby decline the offer. This is not the sort of thing I would like to participate in at all. So no thank you. And if you even read my blog, you would know that the closest I have ever gotten to working in a hospital was during my acting gig, and that I don't really blog a whole lot about health related issues. I'm planning on going to medical school, yeah, but honestly? right now, my blog is one of a community college student who dreams of being a doctor and lives in her mother's basement, and the social interactions that ensue. So please do not contact me again about this. Your company is one with which I would not like to be affiliated. Do not link to my site, use any of my information, or "set up a profile" for me. The e-mail was very flattering, but (and I use this term figuratively) I'm not buying it.

Very sincerely,


Mary
Student / Unemployed Freeloader
Living in my mom's basement, Inc.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Everyone else is doing it.

I know sometimes, I'll read a blog post that happens to be an open letter addressed to some famous person, usually politically based. And I think: How interesting! This person is writing to this famous person about something and maybe that famous person will happen across this open letter to them and consider the contents therein.

So now it's my turn. I've been wanting to do this for a long time.

An Open Letter to Owen Wilson.

Dear Owen Wilson-

Really not trying to be mean here. And I'm probably sure I could find an answer by searching on Google. But I've been wondering this since I was 13. . .

What's up with that nose?

Very sincerely

Me.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My Playlist. 2nd edition.

For me, I've been hooked on a few songs lately. My Last Playlist was awesome, and I still love those songs, but I have a few more that I've been going bonkers about! And I wanna share with all of you!

1. Stay With Me - Akcent




2. Stay - Jay Sean



3. Life With You - The Proclaimers



4. Take on Me - A-ha



5. What is Love - Haddaway



6. Heaven - Dj Sammy



7. Lovers Cry - Akcent



8. I Met You - The Proclaimers




I hope you enjoy this selection of songs as much as I do. That last one has to be my favorite of the bunch lately. I even take the time to rewind the tape in my car to hear it again and again! The next time I post a playlist, it will be Christmas songs (Which I love! They're so magical!)

Friday, November 7, 2008

Fun times! Fuuuuun times.

As you all may or may not know- I have a life.

I do. Really. I promise.

And as proof of this, I've decided to share with you all the gratuitous amounts of fun I've had this past week.

This past halloween weekend was our annual Young Single Adult Conference. Two dances, three seminars, a hundred or so Young (18-30) Single (not married) Adults (kinda grownups), and TONS of fun!

It started Halloween night with a costume dance. I went as a doctor because I already had the costume from last year, and I really couldn't find anything else. But one of the ideas floating around was that people had to dress up as half of a famous couple so that you could then find your "other half" to dance with them! And while it was a cute idea, it didn't work as well as some had hoped.

The next morning, we got there in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we split into three groups and started rotating through the seminars. All of them were wonderful, and I had a truely wonderful time learning more about life, and hanging out with my friends!

After the seminars, we had lunch (pizza, yum!) and got started on the service project. We made christmas cards to send out to soldiers who would be away from home during the holidays, and that was fun!

After we were done making cards, we changed into more comfortable attire and went on with our activity!! Our wicked awesome fun times activity was making videos! Each team was given a bag of props and assigned a channel to film for. Ours was the weather channel. My favorite videos were the ESPN video, and the CNN video. The rest weren't as hilarious, but still quite creative! (if you can't see the videos in the links, let me know. You might need to sign into facebook to see them.) And yeah, that's my big brother refereeing in the ESPN vid, and my friend Lisa as "svetlanka" the anchor. Hahahaha, fun times!!

We had a few hours free between the activity and dinner that night, so I sat down with my friend (also in the ESPN vid, he was the one in the blue shirt. Cute, no?) And we played all ten phases of Phase 10. Read up on phase ten, because I'll mention it again.

During dinner, we watched the videos and had a fun time chatting about the fun times we had so far.

After dinner was a dance, and I met a lot of new people! One of my favorite new friends was "fred fredburger" (my name for him, I forgot his real name), but maybe that's just because he looks like this guy.

The next morning, we had our church meeting and everyone shared their wonderful experiences. It was a lovely end to a lovely conference. After the church meeting was over, we had lunch and headed home.

Tuesday night, I went over to a friend's apartment and we stayed up late to watch the election! Several people were there including my brother, my friend Lisa, my friend Crystal, the guy I had played all ten phases of phase ten with on saturday, and a few others. We had pizza, microwaved M&Ms (they're gooood!) and soda as we watched, and we also played through phase ten while we were watching the election results.

Tursday night, the same group got together for dinner downtown to celebrate a birthday. It was great fun trying to fit a group of 8 into the small entrance area of Sticky Fingers while people were trying to get in behind us. They sat us, and funnily enough, we ended up with a boy table and a girl table. We didn't even try to sit like that, but that's how it ended up. The four guys at one table and the four girls at the other one. Although the tables were pushed together, so I guess it didn't really matter. After dinner, we went over to the birthday girl's apartment for ice cream and a game of. . you guessed it- phase ten! I did really well, and if we had gone by points, I would've won, but by the fifth hand, we decided it was late and that whoever went out first in that round would win, so Lisa walked away with another victory under her belt.

So that was my exciting week, and with a whole weekend of Dr. A shows going on, I'm exstatic! Will the fun ever end?!? I hope not! Stop by blogtalkradio all weekend for non-stop fun!