Internet Blackout

In the next week and a half, I need to:

Finish two research papers
Study for and take four finals

And I want to do really well on them. In the meantime, I still need to:

Work part-time
Be a super-mom to my three year-old
Get Christmas shopping done
Send out Christmas cards

So I am declaring an Internet blackout, because teh Intarweb is too distracting. I’m not going to comment on any of the blogs or forums I usually frequent until finals are done, Christmas cards are sent out and presents are all neatly wrapped under the tree—probably about two weeks from now. (I will put up the third and fourth Advent posts though and maybe comment on those threads). I won’t comment here either except for on this thread.

Try not to miss me too much, and if you catch me commenting somewhere, tell me to stop being a dumbass and finish my semester.

Comments

Internet Blackout — 18 Comments

Alex Valencic on December 9, 2009 at 10:28 PM said:

In an effort to help you be diligent in finishing your semester, and also because I just discovered a cool feature with Google’s Blog search, I have arranged a way to know every time “Ms. Jack Meyers” posts something on any blog within the Google database.

Bwahahaha.

I will delete this alert when you’ve completed the semester, because otherwise it seems just a tad creeptacular.
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 9, 2009 at 10:47 PM said:

I may have fallen off the wagon tonight.

But I’m back on it now. No, really!
kew on December 10, 2009 at 7:19 AM said:

Go do your homework!!!

And maybe I’ll stop being a hypocrite and go do mine. Three papers due between tomorrow and 1pm Monday.
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 10, 2009 at 11:32 AM said:

Doh!

Could… not… resist.
MJ Seeker on December 10, 2009 at 12:06 PM said:

Jack:

I’m a ‘lurker only’ at BCC, MM and Clobber. The other day I came across a comment you made (#15, MormonMatters) that even though I be a lurker only I had to respond to. I’m a person who is slowly making a transition from TBM (I know we all hate this acronymn) to agnosticism however your comment caused me to pause and reflect – for hours and hours – like I haven’t done in years. When you are done with your internet blackout I was hoping that maybe I could impose upon you to expand on a couple of the threads you mention in your comment.

Here’s the text of your comment:

Men can’t give priesthood blessings to themselves, right?

If you were a single man, and you needed a blessing, you would still have to call another man to come give it to you, would you not?

And if women were given the priesthood, you would still have to call another man or woman to give you a blessing, correct?

I say all this because I’m not sure how much of a gender dynamic is really at play here. Seems to me that Mormonism is set up so that people need each other for these things. I get that there’s a goal of having a priesthood holder in every home so that the wife and children can be serviced by him, but if he’s the one who needs a blessing, he still has to call someone else. And if the priesthood-holding husband isn’t so great at giving blessings, you’ll also have to call someone else.

My heart goes out to you hearing about your divorce. I’m a non-member married to an LDS man, and we went through a separation five years ago and nearly got divorced. It was one of the most painful eras of my life and I would never want to re-live it. We each go to our own churches two weeks out of the month, and I often feel like a single Christian when I do that. Interfaith marriages can be very lonely affairs sometimes
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 10, 2009 at 1:45 PM said:

MJ Seeker ~ Right, my comment on the “Single Mormon Girl and the Priesthood” thread at MormonMatters. And I just saw your follow-up comment over there.

I hate to leave you hanging, but this next week really is going to be horribly busy for me. If you’re okay with waiting until next Friday, I would love to continue this conversation with you. I have a lot of thoughts on blessings, prayers, spiritual community, and gender dynamics.

We can either pick up the conversation here (maybe I can start a new post) or I can revive the thread at MormonMatters next Friday. Got a preference?
kew on December 10, 2009 at 8:21 PM said:

Phew, I thought MJ Seeker was talking about you, Jack, getting a divorce, and I was worried. Then I saw that MJ was still quoting your comment on someone else’s divorce. While still tragic, I’m glad that you (Jack) aren’t getting divorced.

Anyway, the “God can’t have erections” comment is the best I have ever read. Thanks for making my day!
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 10, 2009 at 8:56 PM said:

Well, s/he was citing the other comment I made. A year after Paul and I got married, Paul approached me and announced that he wanted a divorce. It was very from out of nowhere, at least from my perspective. About a month later I moved out into my own apartment. It was the first time I’d ever lived by myself and I was so sad and lonely.

A few months later, he came to his senses and we got back together. Been together ever since and our marriage definitely improved when it was all over.

I blogged about this in full here:

My Mormon-Evangelical Interfaith Marriage: Divorce?

Glad you liked the comment, remember me for the 2009 Niblets.
MJ Seeker on December 11, 2009 at 12:12 AM said:

As a person who spent way too many years geting degrees I fully understand. Please, by all means concentrate first on your deadlines. In the meantime I will put up some more details and comments that we can revisit after this next week.

I really don’t have a preference. I came to this site because it seemed more personal and a little less public.

Thanks for the link you posted. I had seen snippets of this before but that was the most complete version. I look forward to your thoughts on the need for others in priesthood service, the challenge of marriage where religious perspectives are mixed and the lonelines of not coming to terms with the process of deciding that you no longer fit into what once was the center of your life.

Also I am a ‘he’. Thanks again.
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 11, 2009 at 10:23 AM said:

MJ ~ Thanks for understanding and thanks for the tip on your gender. We can probably just discuss things on this thread here next week then. It’s technically public but probably won’t attract tons of attention.

Finished my last day of classes yesterday, now on to writing papers and cramming for finals! And I’m very pleased to report that I only missed one day of classes this entire semester. I also missed formation group one extra time, but formation group is not a graded course, so missing it a total of twice doesn’t matter that much.

I was a chronic class-skipper in undergrad, so I’m really pleased with myself.
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 12, 2009 at 6:25 PM said:

FAIL.
that1girl on December 12, 2009 at 10:01 PM said:

Good luck. I wish I could borrow some of your motivation – I have one final left (forever, mwahahaha) and can’t seem to make myself care. Meh.
Rob Perkins on December 13, 2009 at 4:53 PM said:

I’m not clear, Jack. The link points directly to your comments. Is the comment the fail, or the posting itself? Or another comment?
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 13, 2009 at 5:38 PM said:

It’s a fail that I broke my goal of not commenting on blogs during finals.
Rob Perkins on December 14, 2009 at 12:04 AM said:

Ah, I see. Well, sometimes it just can’t be helped. Like right now, when I need to frame Mosiah 14-17 into something teachable, and I’m replying to your blog.

If it’s any consolation or help, I think you’re going to shine in your finals.
that1girl on December 14, 2009 at 9:58 AM said:

I like your fail. Your comments are always very thoughtful, yet brutal. My favorite combination.
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 19, 2009 at 7:24 AM said:

Okay, I actually got an extension on my patristics class (long story), so I’m not done until Monday at 5PM. But I am planning on returning to our conversation, MJ Seeker.
Ms. Jack Meyers on December 24, 2009 at 1:20 AM said:

MJ Seeker ~ I have expanded my thoughts on this issue in a post at LDS & Evangelical Conversations:

Faith & Community

I hope that’s okay with you. I e-mailed you to ask about it, but didn’t get a reply (yet). LDS & Evangelical Conversations seemed like a good forum for it, and the discussion community there is fairly small and tight-knit.

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