I'm sitting in Sacrament meeting today and someone gets up to announce the FHE activity. The ward is going ice skating. The girl that was announcing said it was the perfect opportunity we've all been waiting for to meet someone. She was going on about "accidentally knocking that someone down, helping them up and not letting go", that kind of thing you only hear advertised over the pulpit in a singles ward. You know she's going to be knocked down at least 10 times because she said that, and she'll probably enjoy it.
Then in Sunday School we got bombarded with fliers for institute. One of which had a quote from President Hinckley:
"I am grateful for the institute program of the church. I want to urge every ... student to take advantage of the institute program. It is the best place in the world to find your eternal mate, and you will be grateful all of your lives if you do"
Wow. Hard to argue with that.
So it seems the heat is on. But in all reality, nothing is going to happen. Why? Because I am simply not outgoing. I'm not really a shut in, I just don't talk to people I don't know. Were I to go to institute, which is likely, I would go to class. I would talk a few times in class. I might grab a cookie if they are available. I miss how in high school you would meet people by default. You get stuck in a room with them for an hour a day and by the end of the year you know them all. I haven't met new people like that in years. Instead I have to be outgoing. Bummer.
But on the other hand, I wouldn't know what I'm doing. I could be myself, but that would be really boring and I don't like it when people yawn at me. In that case I would need to be someone else. I could be the mean sarcastic type ("I love you like a dog loves a good fire hydrant"), the emo type ("I was really sad last night thinking about you... I burned you a dashboard CD"), the super-dramatic type ("How can I go on without you? I can hardly breath at the thought of you!"), the overly creative with too much time on your hands type ("I made you a jiggy treat. It's us made out of Jello!), or just plain old pot head ("Whatev").
Or I could admit that the real me isn't boring and just start being outgoing. So much effort...
