Early to rise, early to bed, makes a man healthy, but socially dead

ok so I don't usually go to bed early, but I like the saying. it is one of my goals to get to bed earlier...still working on that one. BUT, what I really want to talk about is the fact that I may have just committed social suicide. how, you may ask? I deactivated my Facebook account.

for the past year and a half I have not been in school. for the last 9 months or so I have been moving/traveling to different places...long enough to meet people, but not long enough to have actual friendships. I have relied on Facebook for updates, event invitations, etc.

I am not completely against Facebook...it serves purposes of networking and swapping photos, both of which I enjoy. but I have also seen it as a cop out (like guys asking girls to be their Facebook friend instead of asking for her number...lame!) people don't know how to communicate anymore.

say, for example a time when a group was getting together to play Ultimate Frisbee and only 2 or 3 people showed up, including the person who organized the event. said person who planned event was perplexed as to why nobody had showed, since he/she had invited something like 50 people...using Facebook. ummm....Facebook isn't real. get real. call people. invite them face-to-face, or even via text message!

it reminds me of an IT Crowd episode where Moss starts a fire in the office with his sautering iron, and can't remember the number to the emergency services...so he sends an e-mail for help. probably not the most effective form of communication for that scenario.

am I limiting myself by eliminating Facebook from my life? maybe...but now I am more motivated to actually go out and meet people, talk to them, and develop communication skills! Having one true real friend is better than having three hundred some-odd virtual friends.

Its not every Sunday that the Prophet speaks in your ward's Sacrament meeting

so when I first moved to Salt Lake at the end of August I got online to check the time for a ward within the boundaries of my house. 11:00 was the supposed starting time. my roommate and I showed up and, at the end of the meeting found out that church was over for the day...the block had started at 9:00. no worries...I had wanted to check out a ward by the University and, after attending one Sunday there, became a member of the student ward. at the time I was a big fan of the late 1:00 block :) after long consideration and supposing this first ward I had visited was moving to the 1:00 schedule for the new year, I decided to switch wards to go with my roommates. I got online this time and the ward was listed to start at 9am. for some reason I wanted to go in the morning, not wanting to sleep in, and went to find a ward at 9:00. I am so glad I went.

I enjoyed the friendliness of the "regular" single adult ward as opposed to the larger student ward. the first person I met was a member of the bishopric, whom I sat by in Relief Society. I mentioned to him that I had come to the ward about a month ago in anticipation of joining. it was on a Sunday like today where all three wards that meet in the same building meet at the same time, and a month ago somebody told me I chose the wrong Sunday to come for the first time (jokingly, of course). the bishopric member told me I was in for a treat today. it was true. its not everyday you get to hear a Prophet of the Lord speak to you--not just on TV--but in person.

it was amazing. words seem insufficient for describing what I felt.