Farm Boy Heads off to Big City College

Parents purchase health insurance for their son while he's enrolled in the Agriculture Program at UCLA -- just in case. Trevor Young came from a nice maggot-farming Mormon family just north of Pocatello. Blonde, Trevor was quite the handsome country boy, when he headed off to UCLA to study Agriculture. In his pocket was his "trick" for impressing young women, a sample from his Idaho farm. "Maybe I'll meet somebody to marry up with," he told his mother, a stout matronly sort. "Are you bringing your little box?" she asked sweetly. "Of course," Trevor said, "It's the best lure I got." His mother nodded. "If she doesn't like your little box, then she's not good enough for my boy," Trevor's mother opined. She and her husband, Hyrum, had also gifted their son with health insurance coverage purchased from a California Health Insurance agent. "We won't worry so much," she told her ninth-born.

Once on campus, Trevor settled in. One of his roommates noticed the little box. Left unattended on a bureau top, it was oval, smelled of chocolate on the outside, and was purple. "What's in this Farm Boy?" the guy asked. Max Weinart was a junior majoring in International Finance from the Bronx and guessed precious jewelry, like a ring, was in it.

"It's for a special girl," Trevor explained, implying to Max that the contents were none of his business. Max nodded, assuming he'd guessed right.

A few weeks later at a formal soiree, Trevor met that "special" girl, Karen. Big-boned but pretty, she hailed from Jersey. She later regretted popping the question. "What kind of farming does your family do?"

"Wait, I'll show you." Out came the box, the one that had so intrigued the girls from north of Pocatello. Karen gasped at the contents in horror, screamed and reflexively punched, smacking Trevor in the jaw and knocking him cold.

While recovering in the UCLA Medical Center, with his jaw expertly wired, Trevor spoke through clenched teeth. "I got insurance," he told Max, who'd come to visit.

"I heard what happened," he said, "But why did you show that girl a box of dead maggots?"

"It was my fault," Trevor admitted, "the live ones are so pink and beautiful. I should have figured that when I'm home, they keep better."

The Book Society

What is spirituality? The definition for "Spirit" is; the part of the human being associated with the mind, will and feelings. Think about this word for a minute. We often use the word as encouragement toward another for example, "lifting ones spirit". We want to relate this word to a peace within. The word spirituality does not mean to be religious or self-righteous. Spirituality is used as a tool for those who accept its belief. Spirituality defines us as who we are in the mind, what our will (choice) is and how we feel because of our choices. From the time I was thirteen until I reached twenty-one; I was living a life of unmanageability. I was partying with my friends and doing everything there was to do that was not beneficial to me such as drinking, hanging out with the wrong crowd and using drugs occasionally to take my mind off the hurt I was feeling inside. I was damaged. Damaged so much that I could not see any other way but the way I was living in order to cope with my inner self. Through this spiritually sick period, I knew there was a God but didn't care to understand him. I was very resentful, bitter and angry. Deeply wounded, I turned away from the very thought of a spiritual anything. My wounds were so deep that it consumed me and my life became dark and meaningless. I had struggled with being sexually abused as a child, verbally abused and neglected by my parents, my parents hating each other, having a child of my own, being a single parent, getting out of an abusive unhealthy and unstable relationship , losing loved ones to tragedy, etc. Every day I escaped my pain by blaming, escaping and not resolving. The reason for me doing the things I did was always someone else's fault (so I thought at the time). When I felt my lowest, I called God's name. As soon as I felt better, I started my patterns all over again. This cycle repeated for years and all the while my spirit was infected and I didn't recognize it. I did not understand what spirituality was. It was difficult for me to think of anything else but what I was going through and all the while God was watching me. But, I needed to be defeated before I was willing to accept it. The more I tried to cope the more defeated I became and the more lost I ended up feeling. Spirituality is powerful, preserving the capability to lean and rely on something greater than ourselves to help us in times of trouble or affliction. Each one of us has a spirit inside. Our minds induce our will to make choices. If our minds are corrupted with self- destruction, confusion, sadness, rejection, fear, isolation, abandonment, insecurities, low self worth etc. our mind then influences us to have the desire to make wrong choices. When we choose to do wrong things then our feelings begin to thrust like a motor, where we are then left feeling worse then we started off. Leaving us feeling depressed, angry, bitter, resentful, oppressed, tired, unmotivated with no ambition or drive to want better for ourselves. In order to weigh our emotional level, the question we must ask ourselves is, "how is our mind, will and feelings?" In order to begin an emotional recovery we must be willing to admit that our spirit has been broken. Since we now recognize that we have a spirit, we must now realize that our spirit has been afflicted some way or somehow. In times of distress or turmoil our spirit begins to grieve, leaving us feeling sad, low, depressed even angry, bitter or resentful. Our mind begins to flourish with negative thoughts, telling us how bad our situation or circumstances are. Our mind is a vessel for corrupted thinking. The mind plays tricks on us to the point where we begin to believe that our situation is going to get worse and not better. Before we know it, we begin a pattern of behavior that becomes destructive to our spirit or our "inner peace". If this thinking continues, eventually our emotions will affect the body physically with illness, discomfort or heaviness. Destructive behavior will then lead to affecting other's that are around us leaving them to feel confused, angry, bitter or upset. This type of thinking is a lie and this lie begins to weigh deep on our spiritual peace, damaging our spirit to the point where we begin to lose hope and want to give up. After years of going through the motions of trying to escape from my own problems, I became so out of control where I didn't even know how to think anymore. The only thing I knew was that I was tired of being tired and wanted so badly for my "mess" to go away. In order for it to go away, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was the one who created it. No one would speak to me because they were afraid of my responses. I became very isolated because I was unwilling to process my pain. When I became isolated, I started to realize that everyone around me is affected badly by my behavior and my actions. If this was so, then I realized that something must be wrong with me. If everyone responded to me the same then there must have been something really wrong with me. The more I meditated on this thought the more depressed I had become. I began to lose hope and wanted to give up. I wanted to go to sleep and not wake up. Not only was I causing myself pain on top of the pain I was feeling but the people around me were feeling it too. Nothing to me was worse than feeling alone.

Online Dating For People Aged 40 Plus

Online dating was predominantly considered for the young, although this is now not the case and men and women over 40 account for the largest growth in this genre.

With limited options away from the internet to form new friendships / relationships for this age bracket, online dating became a necessity for some who craved companionship, friendship or more, and they could do so within their comfort zone. Such is the increase of this age bracket that online dating sites are popping up all over the web designed for over 40s only.

It's unfortunate that divorce rates are on the rise all over the world, adding to the incredible popularity of the relatively new phenomenon of online dating, now seeing over 40 million US residents accessing every month and growing expeditiously. With such popularity, those that would otherwise go without, only to live out their lives alone too fearful to step out of their comfort zone, can now reach out from the comfort of their home and better the chance of finding that special someone.

Being over 40 has its advantages with online dating when you take into account the experience of "reading people" is something that comes with age, as is the ability to judge someone's character, saving you from making the mistakes a lot of young men and women make chasing incompatible profiles. You are more likely to know what you want in a partner and know what to stay away from, and more importantly, tend to go for intelligence over looks.

Other factors that steer your decisions away from being too idealistic and require more thought are, fear of making the wrong decision, as age is not on your side and there may be other factors such as being previously divorced, not wanting to make the same mistake twice, and kids that require careful consideration in your choices.

Online dating for the over 40s can be a great way to get back into the game and meet lots of interesting people. If you coming out from divorce and are trying to gain back your confidence, your sexuality and appearance, online dating can be a great way to achieve this and be able to stay within your comfort zone. Many at this age have stated that using the online dating method gave them better dating statistics than when they were in their 20s.

When searching for an online dating web site just watch out for hidden costs, though there are online dating sites that are totally free. Those with hidden cost will usually state that they are free to "join", though if you want to message someone that you're interested in, you will need to pay for that ability. So if you're over 40, looking for a friendship, a fling, a long term relationship with the possibility of marriage or just to socialize, online dating can be a great opportunity to increase your chances of finding what you're looking for, and is growing more and more popular everyday increasing your success potential.