Soft Sunday Sounds: Stayed awake!

This my friends, is a historic day. Is an historic day? When do you use an? ...Excuse me while I go look at my diploma and remind myself that I graduated from college.

Back to the point. This day. It is big.

I stayed awake through the whole of conference. Every single talk was heard by my ears in a conscious state. And I took notes the whole time!

Now don't get me wrong, I have always loved conference, and always desired to stay awake. My desires, however, simply haven't always been deep enough to move me to action. Here are some reasons I stayed awake.

1. Candy. Yeah. My mom got candy. She and I are both chocoholics. It's very useful to live with her. 
2. Jewel Star. It's a game I have both on my phone and on my mp3 player. I pay attention much better when I am physically moving, I am a kinesthetic learner. So instead pacing during the whole conference, I gave this a try. In fact I have been doing this lately in Relief Society as well. While to everyone around me I look like a slacker who plays games on her phone instead of listens to the lesson, I am in fact paying much better attention than I would otherwise. PS, for those of you who know me, this is why I twirl my hair. All the time. 
3. I needed it. I was looking forward to conference for some time, then suddenly forgot about it in the last two weeks. Two days ago, in a soul searching scripture study session (woa, unintentional alliteration) I realized I wasn't applying myself to my gospel progression and it hit me that I hadn't been preparing myself for conference! I began to make mental notes of the questions I wanted answered. I began watching conference with a few questions written down in a nice blank notebook waiting for inspiration. 

And now, to celebrate my staying awake, I will share with you my impressions of my favorite talks. 

• President Monson's announcement of changing the missionary age for young women was especially exciting to me. This doesn't affect me twice over (I'm nearly 24 and have never had a desire to go on a mission as a single sister) but I'm a burgeoning Mormon feminist (gasp!) and I teared up at this step in a great direction. 
• Robert C. Gay of the 70. A loose quote 'With self justification of petty sins, Satan wins.' This was a direct hit for me. His whole talk to me was just really clear, concise, and useful. 
• Neil L. Andersen. First of all, is he never not smiling? I love this man. Second, he made me really realize that I been digressing in my spiritual progression and gave me a recipe for progress. Another loose quote 'Immerse yourself in those things that originally built your faith when having a trial of faith.' This gave me the desire to remember what it was that built my testimony during my time at BYU and make sure that I am still doing those things. After making a little list during his talk, I realized I am doing virtually none of them. No wonder!
• President Eyring. Again. Loose quote 'The pavilion that seems to cover doesn't cover God but covers us because of our own desires - we may be unwilling to submit to his time'. Smack in the face. And he is just such a tender man! 
• Elder Holland. For this I will simply quote what I tweeted during conference. (Yes I tweet, it's a little embarrassing.) "Elder Holland sure is a firecracker. #ldsconf" Yes. I hashtag. 
• Russel  Osguthorpe Sunday School President. He really made me think about teaching, not that I don't think about it basically all the time. But as I teach dance, and as I substitute teach and prepare a curriculum for the classroom I will hopefully have, one particular thing he said will stick with me. He spoke of a student learning because he "asked his own question". 
• Marcus B Nash of the 70. Because he gave a clear outline of faith and helped clarify for me some of the differences between faith and hope. I definitely will have to read and re-read that when the Ensign comes out. 

Happy conference weekend my dears. And Happy Fall! Welcome back to my life burnt orange.