I spent way too much money on going to Memphis for theatre and sushi today, but after weeks of working nights and weekends I really needed a day to just unwind. Hand to God certainly filled that prescription, it was hilarious and outrageous (there's a puppet sex scene). And the sushi place had excellent duck tataki, which ended up being a meal-sized portion rather than the appetizer I was expecting.

Tonight I managed to ruin both onion rings and grilled cheese.

Some parts of adulting and living on land are awesome. Facing the fact that I'm 30 and I don't know how cook - like, AT ALL? Is not one of them.

Oh, and you're assigned to a particular ward/worship cohort depending on where you live. If you move, you're then assigned to a different ward, possibly a different building.

But then when you move, you lose all your church friends? That seems like the opposite of what church is for.

Yay for the gray muzzle dogs. One of the rescues I vol with is specifically for the olds. I think in the future those will be my adoptees.

But then when you move, you lose all your church friends

Pretty much. My LDS in-laws would talk about "Lovely Sister Whozit at the ward" and everything they do together, then they'd move, and Lovely Sister Whozit would never be mentioned again, it would be Dear Sister Thatzit. Theoretically, the entire church is your friend, so you can be friends with whomever you run into at church. They never seem to mind that much, it's just the way the world works. The idea is that your social life will revolve around church activities, so you won't have the need to hang out with someone who's not involved in the same activities you are.

As in any authoritarian organization, people get around this and dare to do things outside of the church circle. The Internet has been catastrophic for keeping people within the group.

I didn't realize the LDS Church was so overwhelming.

In all fairness, Mormonism in Utah is a different beast. And things became more centralized in the 80s. There was a lot more local focus before that. There are local people who miss the old ways.

One of the rescues I vol with is specifically for the olds. I think in the future those will be my adoptees.

Be careful, though. My mother's currently mad at me for adopting such an old cat, since I just described her as circling the drain (poor thing!). In my defense, she's two years older than was advertised.

I live in upstate NY (near the birth place of Mormonism) and it is sort of the same, but not so many Mormons.

And, I got my cat 10 or more years ago, and they said she was elderly and would die soon. I spend years thinking she would die any second, and now she is either 27 or much younger than advertised!