My thoughts

I was thinking about something as I was walking with the kids today. My tastes are very mainstream. It is not that I follow the crowd when I choose what I like. It is that I choose what I like and then I look around and see that most other people have chosen the same things. If I hear a new song on the radio and turn it up, thinking, "I really like this song!" it is a sure bet that millions of people all over the country are saying the same thing right about then. Sometimes this annoys me. For example, it doesn't sound very high-brow or original to say how much I love Jane Austen, because so many others do too (hence the many movies made of her books). I love the movies While You Were Sleeping, Return To Me, You've Got Mail, etc. and so do nearly all other women. When I went to choose a new blog background, my favorites were ones friends had already chosen. When I pick the shoes I like for my kids and start searching for sizes, they're all gone. Marketing people should tap into this. They could show me products, movies, etc. and have me pick my favorites and then they'd have sure winners.

Here's an interesting thing, though: John and I have very different tastes. If we sit down to relax in front of the TV, he would like to watch engineering-type shows on the Discovery, Science or History channels. I wouldn't mind watching a bit of something like a wedding show where you see how much some rich couple spends on each aspect of their wedding and reception. (It's outrageous!) When Pride and Prejudice came out in theaters a few years back, John went with me to see it, which was so sweet since it's not the kind of thing he enjoys. I haven't been as generous with him, now that I think about it. There have been a number of action films he would have liked that we have not seen. Hmmm. (Action films makes me tense.)

On a very different topic, I really enjoyed General Conference. I have started to get pretty nervous about the current financial crisis, and I found talks like Elder Perry's, Elder Wirthlin's and Pres. Uchtdorf's very comforting. The talk that touched me most was Elder Holland's. He used such a beautiful story, and I love the idea of angels helping us. And just hearing Pres. Monson makes me feel happy and at peace.

I need to get to work on a cookbook project.