Today is my birthday, and I'm working at home--not because it's my birthday, but because I had an early call that went long and I decided to stay put rather than go to the office. My mom just called to wish me a happy birthday and, as often happens, babbled her way into sensitive conversational territory. This time it was Glenn Beck (who probably didn't really get fired but just quit because he's working on all this special stuff and is off doing that), and FoxNews.

So I'm using the tactic of being totally silent (because it's my !@#%ing birthday and I'm even less into going there than normal, and being totally silent works about as well as saying "uh-huh" or changing the subject but requires less effort), and she's telling me how FoxNews is all fair and balanced, but you don't know that unless you watch it.

"It's like how people say the LDS church is weird, and a cult," sez Munchymomom. "If they'd go to our meetings, they'd see it's not weird. If it was weird, I wouldn't belong to it."

Good grief, happy birthday to me. Just sharing the weirdness. :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2011 06:51PM by munchybotaz.

Your mother is weird. So sorry. :)

I felt panicky when she threw out the bit about the church. She'd apparently given this some thought. It's like she wants to talk about it, but I think it's more of a co-dependent thing she does to make me the bad guy and I know it won't end up anywhere worth going. Fortunately, I'm practicing being comfortable with silence, and that was some very good practice.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2011 07:42PM by munchybotaz.

I predict it might do wonderfully in decreasing the testifying if your response is no response at all -- neither positive, negative or even neutral. Most people get uncomfortable carrying on a conversation in a vacuum.

On the other hand, I wonder if the church is all she has to talk about? She just doesn't know how to talk about anything else? (What a sad commentary on her life if true.)

And Happy, Happy Birthday!!

She does do what I call church babbling--the Bishop this, the Primary kids that, she's my visiting teacher don'tcha know. I don't think she really believes it, but it's given her a social life since my dad died and "a reason to be here," which she says she needs. She certainly wants to believe it.

We had a lot of conflict in the years after my dad died--mostly about him and how things were and politics, but the church also came up. I've never even told her what a huge problem I have with having been dragged to church at 14, suddenly and on the heels of an interstate move. I only said I didn't believe it and it didn't make sense to me, and she threw that back at me about a year later, as disparaging my dad and running down her church.

She's just like my dad in that she can't stand to be disagreed with, and for about four years we argued almost every time we spoke. It was painful, and redundant, and I eventually realized it was never going to be resolved and started refusing to go there. But she's not done processing and always trying to restart the conversation.

OMG... i have one boss like that...at work one timei told him....i could prove that Fox "fakes" it.... when i did he went all boss on me..... just a minute before he said go ahead and prove it...when it came time to see the evidence he BAILED!! just like TBM's..... aint life grand???!!! have a fun birthday!!

they make sure that the bullshit is fairly distributed and that the special interest sponsors have adequate bank balances to pay for the bullshit.

(This is not intended to disparage bulls or their droppings.)

"And if it was weird, I wouldn't buy my spiritually protective underwear from it, I wouldn't spend my time learning the secret/sacred handshakes and passwords in its temples, I wouldn't sustain its non-prophesying Prophet, non-seeing Seer and non-revealing Revelator as the Prophet, Seer and Revelator and I wouldn't call 12-year-old boys "Deacons" and 19-year-old high-school graduates "Elders," now would I? Some people! Whatever gives people the idea that Mormons are weird?"

That's one of my favorite paraprosdokians. It would be a perfect comeback to a TBM.

Hey now that is a sweet little one that I haven't heard before.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY my three cats!



FOX news.

F eelings
O n
X enomenia

I watch Fox News the same way I watch Mormonism, jaw dropping and eyes crossed. When Bellow Reilly said that no one knows what causes the tides, I was transported back to Sunday School, where I was taught that dinosaurs are fictional. Stupid is as stupid teaches.

I assumed it was the dark hole of the bullshit in his head.

Happy birthday, mbt. it's in my Outlook.

you need to tell us what that moniker comes from.

Happy Birthday!!!

Wasn't there some survey done by the church a few years ago that said people were 39 percent LESS likely to join the church if they knew a Mormon? I think the closer people get to Mormons, the weirder they seem...not the more respectable.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday - and totally, TSCC should open the temple for all to see their totally not weird ceremony........

The average Sunday service isn't necessarily that off the grid, but those testimony meetings definitely hit the weird-o-meter for me.

Then there's the temple - totally not weird at all. :)

Happy Bday!

Here's a little song for your special day:

http://youtu.be/m_Nz9B1XFio

Sorta reminds me of a line from The Big Bang Theory - Sheldon said "I'm a very smart person. Don't you think if I were wrong, I'd know it?"

You know what else is totally not weird? Dressing up as the Pillsbury Dough Boy to be given a secret name at a temple that you need a card with a barcode to get into even though your church is supposed to have the blessing of revelation upon its bishops. I mean, if the priesthood was all it's cracked up to be then shouldn't the temples look like the line outside a hot club on a friday night? Line up all the TBMs along a velvet rope and let god's bouncer decide who's worth via revelation?

The call from your mom should have been about you and your special day, not about GB, Fox News and whatever. I hope you had a nice day.