Best Picture - An Explanation

12 or so years ago, when I first came over to the United States, it was for two reasons.

1. I needed to further my education


2. I needed to find myself a wife

As a devout and practicing Mormon, and recently returned Mormon missionary, it was time for me to move on with my life. Part of that was obtaining a degree, and the other part was to find an eternal companion. And both needed to be accomplished with all due haste, lest Satan have his way with me.

For Mormons, particularly those raised outside of the country (possibly outside of Utah). BYU is the ultimate place to attain such goals. As the Lord's University, obviously the education would be perfect, and being surrounded by plenty of young ladies, desperately seeking their MRS degree, the marriage prospects are pretty high.

Of the 4 of my siblings who have attended there, 2 found their mates this way, while the other two found them shortly prior to attending.

I met my wife prior to attending as well. Truth be told, we were both Mormon missionaries... It's a fun story, which I'll elaborate on more in time, but the short version is that we shared a outwardly platonic relationship while missionaries (Although, there was plenty of hidden attraction inwardly - at least for me).

Our biggest fear was that when we finally kissed, the attraction would end, and it would be like kissing a sibling.

In our rather naive and idealistic minds, we figured we would wait until July 13th for our first kiss. There were reasons for it, and since I arrived and July 3rd, it was only 10 days...

Well, within a couple of hours of my plane touching down, we'd pretty much confirmed that the attraction was very physical, and instead we picked July 13th to get engaged.

So with the quest for a wife out of the way, I proceeded down to Provo to take care of my education.

I spent just a couple of hours on campus, and even as a very active and enthusiastic Mormon at the time, I just knew it wasn't the place for me. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I have considered returning on a couple of occasions since, but generally I think back to my initial impressions and look elsewhere instead.

With those experiences, I've taken to referring to Utah County, particularly the BYU campus as Mordor.

Initially it was just in jest, but as I've learned more about the organization which runs the school, and how things are managed down there, the comparison shares more than just a few similarities.

I made this comment to the person who created yesterdays image.

Their original title for it was "The Eye of the Honor Code".

I can elaborate more on the honor code if any readers would like to know more about it.