27 June 2008

Bear in Mind

"What makes a man a good priest - or a good husband - is being a real man. What distinguishes a real man is that he is able to give all of himself, without reservation, to the call. He doesn't just want to be able to give his whole self, but is actually able to, without holding anything back. You need to be able to give your whole self."

~ Father Raymond in "Black as Night" by Regina Doman

It isn't hard to apply this to oneself. In my case, obviously, the roles of nun or wife are the ones available to me, but the principle remains the same.

Just think about it.

25 June 2008

Victory SHALL be mine

First semester. Against this. I will manage to kill it.


Jerusalem cricket

An infamous TAC freshmen horror story concerns these creatures. Apparently, they are quite numerous around campus and so are a favorite "prize" to pin to one's bug collection board. However, one unfortunate team caught it, placed it in a jar with whatever substance they used to kill it. Since these bugs are infamously hard to kill, they placed the jar in the freezer for a couple of days. Certain of their success, they pinned it to the board and left for the night. By morning, it had resurrected from the dead, unpinned itself from the board, and eaten all of the other bugs in the collection.

ugh, ugh, ugh

But I SHALL conquer!

24 June 2008

Alleluia!!!

It is quarter to two in the afternoon and the window is open! A ridiculously pleasant breeze is blowing in through the window. It is amazing what influence on your mood the weather can have. I have been barely able to keep my eyelids propped open the past few days. I was not motivated to do anything beyond that. Today, however, I finished quilting my quilt and got halfway through binding it. And the day is only halfway over! And, unlike the past few days, I can think comfortably about what sort of dress I want to make myself for the TAC winter formal. It has been simply too hot to think of floor-length polyester dresses for the past few days. Now I can, with great delight.

But there is one dark cloud on the otherwise clear, bright, and deliciously cool horizon: my sister is gone :( Since she is gone ten months out of the year at school anyhow, you would not think that this would bother me. But she isn't at school, so it bothers me. Don't ask me to explain it...I couldn't...I can't. She's in OOOOOOOOklahoma for the week. And I'm here, waiting for the phone to ring. It isn't Prince Charming's call that I am waiting for, either. That would make waiting here bearable. But it is that job that I have been applying to for the past two months. They can't seem to put the pieces together and hire me. I've done my TB test, I got my background check, did a drug screening, signed 25 different documents promising that I wouldn't lie, cheat, or steal, and I even called my "future" supervisor to tell him I had done all of that. I was hoping he could prod HR in the right direction. I'd sort of like to start working before move-in day (which, btw, is in 58 days!!!). But, as it now stands, I am here and my sister is there. Which must be the way it should be...I really could not be considered to be in control of this situation.

But that isn't why I started posting today. The breeze just kicked up again, reminding me why I did start writing. I'm thankful for what I have. The bright, golden sun is looking down on an earth that is warmed by its radiance...but not too much today. Not too much.

23 June 2008

Finally

It's 9:30 in the morning and it's still under 100 degrees!!! Yessss! Now that this miraculous occurrence has taken place, I'll actually write a post. :)

Friday afternoon, (when it was 95 degrees outside) my maternal grandparents made it here from their home five hundred miles to the north of us. They hadn't been here in three years, which made this occasion especially exciting.

We were apprehensive about the interaction between the dogs and them, but they were fine. After the dogs got their initial rambunctious "hello" over with, they were really models of good behavior. Sam attached himself in a particular way to Grandma. He followed her everywhere, laid at her feet, and generally made himself agreeable. All little kids have an especial liking for my grandmother, so Sam's affection is, I suppose, further proof that he is just like a little kid.

And, in true Italian fashion, we all ate way too much this weekend. Because of the heat, Mom didn't really want to cook. As a result, Friday we had pizza, Saturday we went out to a really nice restaurant to celebrate Mom and Dad's anniversary, and Sunday we went to a more casual family restaurant. I don't think I have to eat any substantial meals for a couple of days. Just little bits of protein so I don't pass out. Other than that, I don't think I'll be needing much food.

But they left this morning :( I hope it won't be another three years before they come down again...

21 June 2008

How much is real estate in Alaska?

It's soooooo hot here...

And reallyyyy humid...

I think I might melt...

but that would be too much work...

ugghhhhh...

I'll come back when the temp decides to stay under 100 degrees...

for more than an hour...

goodbye...

19 June 2008

Hobbitly Partiness

Yesterday was Walnut's twentieth birthday. A hobbit at heart, he was given a birthday party of magnificent proportions.

Breakfast was served at 8:30 am. There were five people in the "core" group of the party. We had other visitors - some more long-term than others - but Raspberry, Banana, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Walnut were there to both start and end the day. Raspberry made the breadpudding which we feasted on for breakfast and we raided Banana's store of tea. After a very tasty breakfast, we hunkered down on the couch in the TV watching room to start our Middle Earth adventure. The Fellowship of the Ring was viewed with much commentary and laughter. The close quarters of a couch make for jovial times. :)

A picnic lunch was planned. We had a couple of false starts, but we did eventually get on our way.



We were certainly an interesting group. Walnut led the way across the field, bearing a backpack which contained the carrots, plates, forks, water bottles, and his birthday present. My sister and I were carrying the quiches, and Raspberry has Maxine in hand...her faithful but temperamental guitar. The Strawberry was laiden down with the potato chips. When we emerged from the brush on the far side of the field, we encountered a city worker. He must have thought that he had gotten stuck in a time warp back to the age of the hippies. I was wearing a long denim skirt and my long hair was blowing around. We were carrying a lot of food...and a guitar. I'm sure we made his afternoon. :)

The picnic was a success. We ate the wonderful food that was the handiwork of Banana and the cookies that I happened to be successful with. Afterwards, the guitar was handed off to the birthday boy and the girls laid down on their backs and sang. It was really quite pleasant. We were lying in a fashion that put one person's head on another person's stomach and so every time you laughed the person's head would bounce around. This would cause the other person to laugh...and once that vicious cycle got started, it took a while for it to stop.

Walking back with full stomaches and empty dishes, we were getting pretty warm. The day was toasty, but we found ourselves a remedy: running wildly through sprinklers. We had a very short, rather lame game of tag during which all but one of us got sopping wet. That made the walk home much more pleasant, but it didn't make the sidewalk any cooler. And the barefooted hobbits got some scorched feet. But we didn't care - we were having fun.



The viewing of The Two Towers commenced when we arrived back at the wonderfully air conditioned apartment. Sitting around in wet clothes is slightly uncomfortable... but LOTR is a fantastic distraction.

Because of the enormous amount of time it takes to watch the extended editions, we didn't take a break for dinner, but we managed to have a scrumptious one while viewing the movies. We did, however, take a break to eat cake and for Walnut to distribute presents (for anyone familiar with hobbit tradition, this makes sense). The sung happy birthday was in multiple keys, but it was very heartfelt and very appreciated by our resident hobbit.

We did finish watching the movies before midnight...by fifteen minutes. Our core group was still alive, talking, and deliciously content. We'd had way too much food, way too much television time, and just the right amount of comradely squashing on the couch. :D

15 June 2008

Implications?

The raspberry, nord, banana, and blueberry went on an adventure today. It was fairly uneventful, but something that happened at the bookstore has given me pause.

Since the three of us children were negligent, we didn't get Dad a Fathers' Day gift, so that was one of the three missions that we had to accomplish while out and about. We ended up at the bookstore and found ourselves in the "religious selections" section. I spotted a copy of St. Augustine's "City of God." However, it was a hardcover and I am a firm believer in the discount paperbacks give. The nord found a paperback copy. Without looking twice at it, we got in line, bought it, but never got out the door. Why not? Because I realized that above the title it said "Abridged Edition for Modern Readers." So, we scurried back to the aisle with the hardcover, exchanged them and left.

But it made me wonder. Why "abridged edition for the modern reader"? What does that mean. There are a few options, as I see it:

1) The unabridged edition has the kind of English that is practically gibberish to those of us who live in the 21st century.

2) People were smarter back then, so modern publishers have to dumb content down to accommodate us.

3) Modern people couldn't handle the hard truth about anything, so they smooth things over to appease us.

4) The average attention span has shortened over the years, leaving us incapable of getting through 400 pages, but we can handle 250.

If you can think of any other reasons, feel free to enlighten me :)

13 June 2008

Gotta love brothers

I did something the other day...something I got in "trouble" for. Technically, I was in trouble with my mother, who actually has the authority to do those things, but my brother decided to take matters into his own hands.

"This court finds you guilty on the charge and specification of ______. You are sentenced to four days of puberty."

It isn't what he meant. But it was certainly funny. :D

11 June 2008

F-R-I-E-N-D-S

I have been very lucky in my life in respect to my friends. My mother quoted my second grade teacher (my last public school teacher) during my high school graduation. Miss Hovey said this about me, "She is everybody's friend." I've always made friends easily and I thrive off of interaction with them. If one looked up "extrovert" in the dictionary, my picture would be smiling up at you.

Unfortunately, when I was younger, I didn't have the discretion I now possess when picking my friends. I befriended people without thinking...without making a judgment about whether they and I could really be friends. Fortunately, I've learned to take a second look before throwing myself in head first. But I still have to consciously make the decision to do so. In public school, I had two friends who both believed that they should be my only friend. This, of course, was a problem. If only I had had the insight of someone slightly older, I would have recognized this in the pattern of behavior of both of them. Well, having one friend was never an option for me, so I spent every lunch break sitting in between them, trying to reason with them. I don't believe I ever got anywhere.

Now that I'm older, I can usually pick out the "kindred spirits" in the room. Sometimes I'm off in my first assessment of the situation, but I can usually amend it if need be. I don't believe I've ever completely estranged someone...but I guess if I had completely estranged someone, I wouldn't know it. Moving on...

Like I mentioned earlier, I have a really great group of friends. They are all kind, caring, sympathetic, and fun. I honestly don't know where I'd be without them. Probably lost in the woods of the world . . . I really truly would be. Here are some great quotes about one of the greatest gifts God has given us:

"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with."
- Mark Twain

"The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The friendship that can cease has never been real."
- Saint Jerome

"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods."
- Artistotle

"Friendship? Yes Please."
-Charles Dickens

09 June 2008

Something to think about . . .

The Third Sorrowful Mystery, from the perspective of the rose
by Danielle Rose

My seed was born
One bright spring morn
In gardens grown by God.
Out of the earth
My stem gave birth
To petals red as blood.

The gentile rain
My growth sustained,
And like each seed God sows,
I dreamed one day
That I'd be named
A king's most precious rose.
--
One day a soldier
Bent me over,
Tore me from my bed.
All beaten, battered,
My stem tattered,
Wanted not but dead

In cruel hands ripped,
My beauty stripped,
'Twas not the dream I chose,
And filled with shame,
I wept in pain,
No more a precious rose.
--
Then did I see
The soldiers lead
A man through palace doors.
Was this my king?
Why did they bring him in,
This man so poor?

A purple garment
Hid the torment
None but I could see.
They mocked and laughed,
Gave him a staff,
And bowed on bended knee.
--
They bent me round
And wove a crown
And placed me on his head.
My petals found
Crushed on the ground,
Like tears of God turned red.

With each small sin
I was pressed in.
I pierced with self-disdain.
In thought and deed
I made him bleed,
My selfishness, his pain.
--
"Behold!" they'd sing,
"Behold your King!
Hail, King of the Jews!"
With each reed's blow,
Our pain did grow,
As one we are abused.

Despite the crown
He did not frown;
He smiled with love instead,
And carried me
For all to see
Upon his tender head.
--
Once placed with awe
In manger straw,
Anointed by John's hands,
Transfigured on
A mountain dawn,
Now wore a mangled branch.

Once gently kissed
By Mary's lips,
And blessed with magi's myrrh,
Baptized by
A parting sky,
Now streamed with blood so pure.
--
An innocent brow
Calls to us now
To follow this example:
To let our thorns
And all that scorns
Be healed within his temple.

Though dreams may fade,
Each one was made
In seed that Jesus sows.
And now I see
I'm called to be
The King's most precious rose.

07 June 2008

Graduation weekend

The past two days have been rather crazy. I'll give you a summary. Whether or not it will be brief, I don't know yet :)

Friday started out earlier than I anticipated. I was expecting to leave the house at approximately 11:15 to get to the Cunninghams' by 11:30. Instead, I had to leave the house at 10 (which I found out at 9) to get to the Cunninghams' and do a Holy Hour before we went to Mass. This wasn't a bad thing, but it deprived me of an hour or my morning. To any guys reading this, it may not seem important. But to girls, an hour is important. Not that I had anything special planned - I just didn't get all of my chores done when I had anticipated that I would.

For the Mass, "my" choir was supposed to sing the Latin Mass parts. However, my choir usurped me and decided to to the Our Father in English. Then Father usurped the whole choir and started saying both the Holy and the Lamb of God. So, things didn't go exactly as planned, but we got through it. As long as I don't dwell on the unmitigated disaster that the Our Father became, I will remember it as a very pleasant last Mass with Father.

After Mass and the party, we went to the Cunninghams' swim lesson. They aren't the traditional lessons that most people receive. They are "water safety" lesson. Basically, this way the kids can be reasonably safe in the water. They learn how to swim basically and float when they get tired and/or need air. The little ones are so cute!

Saturday was the big day. Ten o'clock Mass was supposed to be offered by our religion teacher mentioned above, but he wasn't able to make it. Thankfully, the abbey sent down a substitute priest who was very nice. For his homily he told stories of young people (young women, actually) who had changed the world because they had said "yes" to God. Very inspirational. After Mass was the presentation of diplomas, during which the parents got up and gave speeches about how wonderful their children are. I was really, really red when it was my turn. It was pretty embarrassing, but it only happens once . . . so I suppose I'll survive. :D

This afternoon we went to the Commissioning Ceremony for an Air Force staff sergeant who became a second lieutenant. There was lots of patriotism in the air and lots of men in uniform . . . big plus. haha, jk

On the way back, we kidnapped Andrea with her knowledge and consent, and went out to dinner at Outback. The food was excellent, the conversation was not stimulating, but it was entertaining, and the atmosphere was pleasant. It was nice that my sister was able to come for dinner at least. Her finals are next week, so she's been cramming, but she escaped the textbooks for a couple of hours and came with us.

Now I'm sitting in the computer. Writing this. And in about 10 seconds I'll be done. The End.

05 June 2008

Why me?

Yesterday I got some good, but frankly startling, news. I have been selected to receive a Knights of Columbus scholarship from my parish's council. I'm very grateful, thankful, and happy . . . but I must admit that the most overwhelming emotion right now is shock mixed with disbelief. I mean, someone wants to give me money? Not that I'm complaining. I'm just very surprised.

04 June 2008

Growing Up

There is a certain terror in growing up. I suppose that it lies in the change that comes wrapped in the same parcel. There are a lot things that I don't know about being an adult. Or, rather, things that I know about in theory, but have never experienced. The thought of doing something new and different has always scared me. Once I do that thing, I lose my fear of it. But making myself do it that first time is always challenging. Asking for job applications scared me...until I had done it a half dozen times. Same with turning in those applications. Now that I've done it 15 times, the knot in my stomach doesn't have such a formidable presence.

Then there are all the people around me who are growing up. Because I was homeschooled, my friends aren't all exactly my age. In fact, most of them are several years older than I am. Or younger. I have a friend who's in the Marine Corps and several friends who find "Duck, Duck, Goose" the height of entertainment (and I'm not referring to you college students). I girl I grew up with has three children and one on the way. People are graduating college, getting married, having children . . . and all of those things are so hopelessly grown up. Granted, I'm not to that stage yet. My high school graduation is on Saturday, freshman move-in day is August 20th . . . so I'm not that old. But the fact that a good percentage of my closest friends are is terrifying.

When did we grow up?

02 June 2008

A Novena Prayer

A group of us have been doing a novena for a friend's healing, and this is the prayer I decided to use. I really love it... hope you do too!


Novena of Confidence
to the Sacred Heart


O Lord Jesus Christ,
To your most Sacred Heart,
I confide this/these intention:

(mention your intention )

Only look upon me, And then do
What your Sacred Heart inspires.

Let your Sacred Heart decide
I count on it, I trust in it
I throw myself on Your mercy,
Lord Jesus!
You will not fail me.

Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I trust in You.
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I believe in Your love for me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Your Kingdom come.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I have asked you for many favors,
But I earnestly implore this one.
Take it.

Place it in Your open, broken Heart;
And, when the Eternal Father looks upon It,
Covered with Your Precious Blood,
He will not refuse it.

It will be no longer my prayer,
But Yours, O Jesus.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I place all my trust in You.

Let me not be disappointed.

Amen.