8 O'Clock Chaplet

It's been forever....

2010-01-08T15:59:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year Everybody, no matter where you are or what you are doing :):)

In Christ,
quia :)

Politically Correct Activism, or Should Madonna Adopt a Kid?

2009-04-03T06:02:00.002-04:00

Warning: This post contains at least one rant and a potentially thought provoking question.

I've spent a LOT of time on the internet lately, both researching for my thesis and finding funny things that distract me from my thesis. I stumbled upon StuffWhitePeopleLike.com. It's pretty funny. Some of it is very true and some of it, I don't know. It seems as though their definition of 'white people' is middle class to upper middle class, generally suburban or city folk, mostly left wing. This, of course, does not cover all white people, but sweeping generalizations never do. One of the things that the site says that white people are very concerned about is the environment and eating organic foods and the like. Also, they really like political prisoners, because they respect people who stand up for their beliefs. This, along with a couple of episodes of Salute Your Shorts got me thinking.

When I was in junior high/high school, I spent four years as a rabid animal rights activist. I was a vegetarian and even a vegan for one year. As most animal rights activists/environmental people, I was close to militant. (People called me a violent pacifist, because I wanted things like world peace, but was willing to smack people upside the head to get it.) This doesn't seem like the kind of person who would have many friends, right? Wrong. People thought I was to be admired, because I was standing up for my beliefs. It confused me then, and it confuses me now. What REALLY confuses me is that those same people made fun of me when I got religion. It was the middle of my sophomore year when I decided that Catholicism was something to pay attention to. Shortly after that I stopped my animal rights craze, realizing there were more important things. Why is it that vegetarians are noble, but pro-lifers are intolerant fanatics?! Why are certain causes fashionable and others unacceptable? And what makes a cause fashionable? Who decides what a worthwhile thing to believe is?

And now for something completely different. (Well, somewhat anyway.)

In my internet searchings, I've found out that Madonna is trying to adopt a kid form Malawi. The Save the Children people are in an uproar. They say that children shouldn't be adopted by people in other countries, because often times the kids in orphanages of poor countries have parents, they are just too poor to take care of their kids. Or if not parents, extended family that would be able to take care of the kids if they weren't so poor. They propose that instead of adopting kids and taking them away from their culture, aid should be given to the families (or organizations that help the families) so the kids can stay in their own country with their family. This is something I'd never thought of. Mostly because I didn't know organizations like this existed. Now the idea of helping families take care of their own kids instead of taking the kids away is something I can definitely get behind and I'm sure the rest of you can, too. On the other hand, I'm always nervous about sending money places, because you're never quite sure how it's being used. My thoughts are, if you adopt the kid, then you don't have to worry about your money going to teach them about all kinds of crap or HPV vaccine or condoms or anything. I suppose if there was a good Catholic organization doing this. . .

I can understand why this hasn't taken off. It's not nearly as exciting to send money as to adopt a little kid. People tend to gravitate towards the warm fuzzies. I'm really intersted in this, because Colin and I have been talking about adoption lately. Not talking about it, like we're thinking about doing it, but talking about it, like theoretically what if we did someday. We got stuck on the question about adopting from another country. Neither of us were really sure how we felt about it. Now hearing this, I don't know even more.
What do you guys think?

Them Be Fightin' Words!

2009-03-28T05:02:00.003-04:00

Pretty much my entire life has been centered around this one thing these past couple of weeks. I'm kind of going stir crazy. I realized I'm the last 8 o'c person to go through this, except Ryan. Ryan was smart, he got out while the going was still good. Anyway, I've been haunting the blog at all hours of the morning lately while trying to figure out the thought processes (or lack thereof) of the Zionists I'm reading about. I'm coming to realize just how hard it is to argue against really stupid arguments. My thesis has 5 body chapters to coincide with the 5 main points Zionists use to claim Israel and at least 3 of those could be answered with 'no.' Ahhhhh!! Why didn't I write my thesis about someone logical?

Speaking of logic, I just found an interesting quote on the internet "The pope may be the leader of the Roman Catholic Church but that doesn't make him a moral leader." Wow. Does this mean that religion should keeps its hands out of morals? I mean, good grief, all this time I thought there was a connection between the two. I'm so glad that I've be enlightened. Oh man, I'm already in a fighting mood, becuase I've been imersed in the Middle East for the last couple of months and now people are yelling at my pope! (Well that comment was mostly just stupid, but there were some other ones that made me almost punch my computer in the screen. Unfortuantely I couldn't comment back, because it was one of those you have to subscribe to it thing.)

So I've been a little punchy lately. Colin said something the other day and I gathered up all my thesis books and built a wall dividing the bedroom in half. I had the door, the closet, Moutain Dew, the computer, all the weapons and his half of the dresser. He had beef jerkey, most of the books, and my half of the dresser. Like a good Zionist, I made sure I had all the good stuff on my side. (I couldn't really do anything about the books and having the door on my side, I could get more beef jerkey.) As you can see, I've been in a very Middle East mindset. (Note: he apologized for whatever it was that he said and I took the wall down. Also, I was never actually mad at him, in case you were worried.)

I didn't see many of you when you were writing your thesises. I know Claire went nutty, but what else is new? :D Are there any funny thesis stories out there?

Mail

2009-02-25T22:35:00.000-05:00

Funny Story,

I was short on gasoline the other day as I headed out to work so I stopped at the gas station and discovered that my credit card was declined. Thinking it was a fluke, I tried again, but to no avail. Needing to get to work, I though nothing of it and drove off. On the way back, I tried again, at a different station, thinking that the problem might have just been the pump, but no, by card really was declined. Concerned, I called the bank and asked what was up, and was informed that card had been compromised and was replaced. They'd send me the replacement three weeks ago, but I never realized it's been sent.

I get a lot of mail from my bank. It's mostly just paper reports telling how much I'd spent that week. They also send a number of ads and occasionally something important appears amongst the letters. Of course, seeing how most of the mail I get from my bank is useless to me, I tend to ignore it and put it in my "will get to it later" basket. It got so convenient throwing my mail into an easy basket, that I soon got used to throwing all my mail into the basket, save for the odd handwritten note. Needless to say important things can be missed this way.

So I picked up a giant pile of mail, put it on the floor, and began to page through it looking for the credit card that I knew must be in there. I eventually found the credit card, but not before making an interesting discovery. You, my Internet connection recently went out a few weeks ago and I've been trying to figure out what happened. None of the correspondence I sent attempting to figure out what had happen made it through, and thinking the provider, a local company, had simply flaked out on us, I was about to simply switch providers.

Well, I discovered a letter, dated from at least a month ago, informing me that the local company which had been providing Internet service, was now owned by the city, and that my bill for January was due a few weeks ago. I just now sent the payment. Go figure. Teach me to ignore my mail.

Oh, I also discovered a debit card.

Good Ol' Days

2009-02-19T08:03:00.004-05:00

Well, I didn't go to sleep. Instead, I got looking at old pictures. Enjoy.

Is this better?

2009-02-19T07:51:00.003-05:00

Well Ryan wanted web-y, Andrew wanted less bright, and I wanted colorful. The rest of you didn't say. I can do less bright (although less bright AND colorful was interesting), but I'm still not sure what web 2.0 means. I didn't see any of the prefab templates that fit and I checked the html and got scared. I haven't spoken html in many years. Not since we started the 8 o'c. Facebook has made my computer skills flabby. So I guess it's time to get out the old O'Reilly book. This will be a great thing to do instead of my thesis, which, I do need to get started on. . . . Now where is that html book?

Just kidding, I'm probably not going to do either. I really SHOULD go to bed, since it's about 8 am and I haven't yet been to sleep. On that note, I know you guys probably know this because of my facebook note, but life has been really. . . hard lately. Colin and I could really use the prayers. And for those of you who have been keeping us in your prayers, THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE LIFE SAVERS!!!!

Should We TakeThe Spruce?

2009-01-21T13:13:00.002-05:00

This is mainly a post of questions. First of all, should we change anything about the blog? I'm thinking a new template might get us excited about the blog again, a little pick me up if you will. Also, the poem on the side is out of date, as many of us have changed out of our old nicknames. We could do something different in place of that if you're all (or some) interested. I'm not working until the weekend and would love to fiddle around with the blog. Colin got Gunter working again (he died right after the March for Life last year), so I can blog from the comfort of my bed, or chair, or really super cold kitchen floor. I'm no longer tied down the the desktop on a bookshelf. (We're getting a desk some day. . . Typing at a bookshelf is really weird, not going to lie. Also, do we want new pictures? I don't particularly have any ideas, mostly looking for permission to play.

AND, if you guys DO like the idea of change. . . change to what? Any ideas? Should the blog be sophisticated? Funky? Cute? Manly? Pretty? Earthy? Techno? Ninja? Italian? Seasonal? Like your mom's house? Also, do we want to start up the 8 o'clock chaplet again? We're spread all over the country now, so getting together at the CC chapel seems impractical for everyone but me. BUT we can still do it by ourselves together, if you know what I mean. And we can grab our families and roommates and make them do it with us. I'm very interested in starting that up again, and may even do it regardless, but it would be fun to have a group project again.

So what do you guys think?

The unanswerable argument. . .

2009-01-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

JMJ

This aired during the inauguration. Do you have 41 seconds to spare? 41 seconds to consider the potential of our generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIsxEf_3sek

Please post, link, or pass on!

New Years Reflection

2008-12-31T22:15:00.001-05:00

I provide for you a reflection. If you saw it on my blog, just ignore it.

“New Years 2008”

Another year is closing, another one dawning,
And somewhere, out there, someone is yawning.
Some major big changes happened this year,
So shut up your singing and lend me your ear
(I’m sorry to bother you, but I think you should hear).
I wrote a big thesis, it weighs a ton
But during the writing, boy I sure had fun.
I have a BA, (but its sort of BS),
Since I majored in English and History, I guess)
Worked through the summer, then got a real job
Teaching some youngsters, most of ‘em slobs!
(I don’t mean that jab. Please, no tears and sobs)
I visit my friend, and strain for a life,
Outside of teaching and grading and dodging the scythe
(And yes, I’m still single, and still have no wife)
And thus I look forward to the New Year ahead.
Will it be lively, or will it be dead.
(With Dems in charge, I’m voting for dead)
Lets hope it gets better, rather than worse,
And maybe a sports team will throw off its curse,
And maybe I’ll find out my vocation
And spend some time during summer vacation
Traveling round to places so cool,
And maybe the College will get a new pool.
(Non Sequitor, I know, but it rhymes with “cool”)
So here’s to the prayers for luck and success,
And blessings and blessings and all of the rest.
Happy New Year to you, and yes, you too.
I’ll see you on the flip side, East-side of this zoo.

Programming Languages and Faiths

2008-12-22T14:39:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine shared this with me. Someone came up with associations of different religions to different programming languages. Some of you guys may not quite get it, but it's quite funny and almost scary if you think about it:

C would be Judaism - it's old and restrictive, but most of the world is familiar with its laws and respects them. The catch is, you can't convert into it - you're either into it from the start, or you will think that it's insanity. Also, when things go wrong, many people are willing to blame the problems of the world on it.

Java would be Fundamentalist Christianity - it's theoretically based on C, but it voids so many of the old laws that it doesn't feel like the original at all. Instead, it adds its own set of rigid rules, which its followers believe to be far superior to the original. Not only are they certain that it's the best language in the world, but they're willing to burn those who disagree at the stake.

PHP would be Cafeteria Christianity - Fights with Java for the web market. It draws a few concepts from C and Java, but only those that it really likes. Maybe it's not as coherent as other languages, but at least it leaves you with much more freedom and ostensibly keeps the core idea of the whole thing. Also, the whole concept of "goto hell" was abandoned.

C++ would be Islam - It takes C and not only keeps all its laws, but adds a very complex new set of laws on top of it. It's so versatile that it can be used to be the foundation of anything, from great atrocities to beautiful works of art. Its followers are convinced that it is the ultimate universal language, and may be angered by those who disagree. Also, if you insult it or its founder, you'll probably be threatened with death by more radical followers.

C# would be Mormonism - At first glance, it's the same as Java, but at a closer look you realize that it's controlled by a single corporation (which many Java followers believe to be evil), and that many theological concepts are quite different. You suspect that it'd probably be nice, if only all the followers of Java wouldn't discriminate so much against you for following it.

Perl would be Voodoo - An incomprehensible series of arcane incantations that involve the blood of goats and permanently corrupt your soul. Often used when your boss requires you to do an urgent task at 21:00 on Friday night.

The Curt Jester takes it further, considering what the Catholic Church would be. Very entertaining and though provoking.

No problem.

2008-12-22T10:45:00.003-05:00

I have no problem with bringing this blog back. In fact, I would welcome the event. Though, I don't know if we can. It seems that Facebook has since become tool by which interested people keep in touch, at least over the Internet. This being one of the many reasons which I loath Facebook. It did to Internet forums, what television did to serious cinema: roping people into a crack-like addiction while at the same time failing to achieve the previous depth, ans even more importantly, taking what would have once been achieved through more direct means, like actual conversation, and reducing it to a mere sound-byte.

Not to rag so hard on Zukerberg, really; I simply don't think that this blog can compete with the social networks for our attention. I'll start putting stuff up again if I think people will read it, but I'm not optimistic.

Yes

2008-12-18T22:39:00.003-05:00

Right on. I did say that I was going to post something, but obviously just didn't. Largely because I haven't had/made time to do so. Life is absolutely crazy. I know that's the way it is for most of us, even more so know that we're out of college. But, that is exactly the reason why we ought to strive to communicate with each other. Keep in touch in one form or another. Or even just express what we're going through instead of bottling it up. I'll start.

I'm utterly overwhelmed at times. Yes, I have a great family, with a joy inspiring son and a very supportive wife, but that doesn't seem to help a lot of the time. I find that I doubt myself and my abilities. That is the primary source of the whelm. Aside from that, though, life has treated me very well. We have not found ourselves in much need, contrary to what the media would have you think that most people are experiencing during these times. I'm sure that most of you can relate to the less than urgent situation that most are in.

It is frustrating, to the nth degree, what the MSM does when it perceives the world. They're stupid, emotional, myopic, and colorblind. They are simply making the situation we are in much worse than it ought to be. They, and the fed. Talk about people who are stupid, emotional, myopic and colorblind, as well as greedy and selfish. They don't listen to the people. They blatantly admit that too. They are fully aware that we know they are corrupt and lieing, but they don't care and choose to proceed. Pretending to care about the average Joe. Now it appears that some of them are genuinely trying to fix things because it's balls-to-the-walls (so they think). Unfortunately, they are misguided and short-sighted in their attempts. They don't sully research the situation and do the patchup they know how to: throw money and people at it with fluffy reassuring words, only to scratch their heads and curse, wondering why their inadequate and poorly thought-out attempts don't work. Blech. I am supremely grateful that I can understand the sludge of American politics now, where I didn't just 8 months ago (it appears that having a child has this sort of affect on people.) However, I find it bland, offensive, depressing, and hate-worthy. Fortunately, that energy is easily converted into the desire and action to change things which has helped me to more quickly overcome my inability to express my opinion when I knew that it was different enough from others' views to be offensive. It's not callousness, it's confidence that comes from the foundation of faith, cured to hardness by observation, contemplation and prayer.

Alas, I ramble. It feels damn good though. Hope you guys will see this and follow the lead.

????

2008-12-15T19:34:00.003-05:00

Ok, I'm really super confused. I thought the blog was dead, but then Ry was all 'lets get the old blog back together!' And then nothing. I don't know about you guys, but I'm all for getting the old blog back together. I don't see any of you anymore ever and am very curious to know what you're all up to. So what do you guys say?

Retirement

2008-01-29T16:49:00.001-05:00

This is an open letter to the administrator(s)...

Isn't it about time that we retired this thing?

More engagements

2007-10-04T20:23:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Carducci for getting engaged and stuff to that guy she's always hanging out with.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to School

2007-08-24T18:58:00.000-04:00

We are all back here at the College. Classes have begun, and now the fun, or boredom, of summer is a memory.

And people need to post.

Happy birthday Ibid!!!!

2007-08-11T03:00:00.000-04:00

That's really all I wanted to say. Appreciate this post, I went through a lot to write it, as did both Colins, Matt M, and Joe.

Let;s hit this off again.

2007-07-23T22:27:00.000-04:00

Since the laast time I've posted, what has happened? Admittedly, not much has happened.

All last week I drove to work, which was nice, there is a certain amount of freedom in driving. I like to listen to radio as I drive and cruise along just a little faster than the speed limit.
it's a shame though, because all of the old classic rock stations that I used to listen to have bee n replaced with more general stations that I enjoy somewhat less. While Green Day covers of John Lennon are fine, I still prefer some old Stones or Lynnyrd Skynnyrd. Maybe some Madness if you're venturing into the 80's. It's too bad.

Also, I set up a website today. Here's the link. Those in the know should realize for what this is, though it is more general purpose for now.

In other news, I have officially decided that Ron Paul should be the next president of the United States. The man is awesome. Check out his definition on the Urban Dictionary. (Contrast it to Giuliani :P) That is sweet. Seriously though, the man is literally the only candidate running on smaller government, not larger. He's also the only one even paying lip service to the constitution. I appreciate that, and his voting record shows that he actually supports what he preaches. (I checked.) I respect that.

I can't think of any other news, but I'll be sure to keep y'all posted as things come up.

Inspired

2007-07-16T09:49:00.000-04:00

PQ! You have inspired me like Henry V and his Crispian's day Speech! I too will say what has been happening.

We'll start with the mundane. I renewed my learners, which means I will i will have a valid ID when I get back from Ireland. Which means I will be able to do things like go have drink with my friends, see R rated movies, and other things of debauchery.

And Speaking of debauchery, I will be going to the Emerald Island in two weeks (in one week I'll be at Campus, starting the classes that will be held beforehand. I've been reading one of the books for the class, a novel called The Scorching Wind. Its pretty good, filled with Irish spirit. I'm really excited, both of traveling again as well as seeing old friends.

And speaking of old friends, RY and Maria got married this Summer!!! Hurray!! It makes me happy inside to see such happy people. One of the two was beaming like a lamp. Maria was smiling too. It really was beautiful. Ask anyone who was there. Beautiful.

And speaking of beautiful, I've been pretty creative this summer. I've completed what I hope will be the final rough draft of the movie I've been writing (I think I'm gonna call it De Profundis), and hopefully everyone will be able to read it. I've also written the Most Humble Man In the World poem I promised I would have written by the end of last semester (For SHAME!!) as well as a short story about a person freezing to death (not as good as Jack London, but still ok). In the field of movie editing, I've been editing together You Can't Take It With You for the College (Hopefully I will be able to finish burning it onto DVDs come Ireland time, so that I can give Julian his copy, maybe even get the school's copy to the library before the semester begins!! I just need to find DVDs big enough to hold the massive Acts. Anything for Christendom.

And speaking of Christendom, the Motu Proprio allowing wider use of the 1962 missal came out. I personally see a Trad Mass on Campus in the future, but there are other Church matters afoot. At my Parish, we've got a new pastor. He's 6' 8." That's an inch taller than Andy Bodoh. He's nice, but he's not as traditional as my mom and I would wish. Our parish used to be pretty traditional (you know, normal Parish structure, good strong pastor, semi-sane liturgical life), but now its kinda gotten a little rough. I'm worried, but we shall see. I wonder what will happen when I'm at school. . .

And speaking of School, I've been working here at the University of Maryland (College Park Campus) as a Help Desk technician, which means when people have computer problems, they come to us. Its fun, but a little hectic. Nothing that I'm not used to from working in the kitchen.

And speaking of the kitchen, I'm making (with some help from my family) dinner this coming Saturday night. It will be a remembrance of Rome, with that pasta sauce I made with whiskey and sausages, mozzarella green beans, and gelato, as well as other stuff. I'm kinda excited about this.

And speaking of being excited, I've been reading things for my thesis stuff, as well as the first half of The Idiot. I've been watching movies, and really think I should have Jalsevac hire me as movie reviewer for The Rambler.

I think that's everything. Anything else, ask me later.

NEED TO BREAK MALAISE..........done. (phew)

2007-07-13T12:27:00.000-04:00

Ok, we need a new post to break the malaise, so here goes. I'm going to tell everyone what's been going on so far this summer.

In the beginning, I got back from school and immediately started fantasizing about building a computer. I needed a desktop and I wanted to build it myself. Two weeks and $800 (yikes!) later I got one built. It's a nice modern system with room to grow and is just somewhat overclocked. It runs ArchLinux and I'm slowly turning it into a test LAMP server.

Around the same time I got my old job back, and I started again with the re-imaging systems, testing installs, researching development tools, debugging code, and writing scripts. Of course this time, I took the time to learn PERL and everything is much easier now. I'm more productive which gives me more time to surf the net instead of actually doing work ;). The other major difference with regard to work from last year is that I now have to keep a daily log of my labors for it to count for my internship. Everything else about it is pretty much the same though I still ride my bike and I still sit in front of a computer the entire time, drinking coffee.

Early in the summer I also met with some of my old friends and associates from HFA. I talked with Tim Rohr, Andrew Steves, and Dex Curi. This was mostly through the HFA play this year. Other than that though, I've been mostly couped up at home/work. I need to get out more but most of my friends are out of town, which is a shame. I promise to visit the folks wandering around Christendom soon though, just because I kind of have to. I did get out for Ryan and Maria's wedding, and that was nice, though I didn't do that much socializing. I'm now back at home again, waisting away from perceived isolation.

In other news, some HFA alumni including myself are planning a bit of a reunion within the next year or so. Something to look forward to, though it still seems a ways off.

Also, my younger brother who is in the Boy Scouts is feverishly attempting to finish is Eagle Project before is 18th birthday which is in August. My other brother was home for a month from West Point also, and it was nice to catch up with him as well (Though to be honest, I was glad when he finally left).

Ry

2007-06-25T09:02:00.000-04:00

Well, he went and did it. I was there. I saw it (which makes me a witness, I guess).

Ry went and got hitched, er, married, to Maria. For all those who were not there (I think only PBJ girl and Quia were missing from the chaplet), our little Ry was beaming. He looked sharp, his bride looked beautiful, everything went excellently.

Just so ya know...

2007-06-18T11:14:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted on here in ages, I know, and I probably should more often, but hey, what can I say--I'm getting married in 5 days!

Anyhow, I'm letting you all know that I have a new blog of my own. I think I've decided to discontinue my LJ now and have all of my blogs in one place. So, here it is: A Grain of Ry

So, check it out! :P

Report cards

2007-06-04T12:27:00.000-04:00

It came from beneath the stuff on Walter's desk. . .

My report card came on Friday. I was really excited about it before hand, eagerly waiting for it to come. Then I got it.
I didn't do as well as I had hoped. See, I did well enough, better than I did for other semesters for sure, but not as well as I had thought I was going to do. Does that make any sense?
Well, here's the result:

Shakespeare - B
20th Century American Lit - B
Historiography - B+
American Intellectual and Culture - A-
Modern Philosophy - C+
Apologetics - B

The one I'm saddened by is the Shakespeare, more because I had an A before the paper and the final. Which meant I did bad on either the final or the paper. I have a feeling it was the paper, in which case I would like it back.

But other than that, everything went well enough.

So how did everyone else do???

This is going to sound kind of weird. . .

2007-05-30T16:03:00.002-04:00

Does anyone know what brand of shoes the pope wears?

Summertime update

2007-05-23T10:10:00.000-04:00

Good evening, and welcome to Summertime update. I'm your host, Pope St. Ibidem the Defunked.

Today, I'm here to give you my summer update, otherwise known as How I'm gonna Spend My Summer Vacation

I will be working again at the University of Maryland's business school as a help desk technician. This summer, however, we are doing all sorts of other stuff, so it should be interesting.
I'm reading The Idiot right now, but sooner or later I need to start researching for my thesises. I only have so little time.
Ryan and Maria are getting married. I'm so going to that.
Hopefully I can get an external hard drive soon. Otherwise, it will be a while before You Can't Take It With You will be edited together, since the rough footage of it alone takes up ~100 GB!
And of course (the big rub in) I'm going to Ireland. That will be fun. Then i have four days before going back to school. Then summer's over.

Sigh.

Well, thats all from me folks.

Until next time

Summer

2007-05-16T00:55:00.000-04:00

I just realized that I don't even know what everyone's plans are for the summer. So come on, let's have it. What's everyone doing this summer?

Right now I'm back home helping Bob clean up after the flood. If y'all would pray for us, that'd be super great. Our house is technically condemned right now because of black mold. But if we can get it fixed soon, we can still live in it. But in order to do that, we potentially have to deal with lead paint and asbestos tiles. So yea, all the prayers we can get. Plus I still don't have a car (that I theoretically am going to drive back to VA in) yet, so more stress. BUT once this all gets cleared up, it's back to VA and living at Colin & Sarah's for the summer while working as a handicap attendee and a driver for the canoe company in town. That should be a lot of fun. Plus Laura-friend & Mike's wedding and Ry & Maria's. Those should be a blast.

The situation at hand

2007-05-02T22:39:00.000-04:00

Alright world, here is the situation at hand, so to speak:

The Spring Romers all made it back to the country in one piece (Hey PBJ Girl and Carducci, welcome back!)

Classes are over for everyone as of 9:30 tonight.

Finals start this Friday; tomorrow is a study day.

Summer vacation (if you can call it that) starts by the end of next week.

Ry and his Marian idol are getting married soon.

I'm sure there's other things too, but those are the only ones I could think of off the top of my head.

Some Bragging

2007-04-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

I just thought I'd brag. I wrote two 12+ page papers in four days and turned one in without footnotes. I got two A-. Yea.

Done with Marshner!

2007-03-30T13:57:00.000-04:00

Ibid and myself have finished with Marshner. We took his presentation first day and now have nothing more to be graded on. Yeah. I'm going to go slack off now!

Down Memory Lane In Siena

2007-03-08T09:51:00.000-05:00

+JMJ+

Hey everyone! I hope your breaks are going well. Mine is full of that lovely little cold stuff called snow, ergo, I can't wait to get back to VA. Anyway, I was printing Rome pictures and came upon these one's that I just couldn't pass up to put on the blog. They brought back so many memories and I hope they do the same for you. Love you guys!

But my Little Leprechaun, why are you trying to escape and run away from me....I am sad! And Ibid, shame on you, you look so happy that he's trying to free himself. ;-)
And it's the Quia and the Jericho! Someone likes to smile for the camera and someone is like, "another picture? Come on, man, let's get this over with" ;-)
Yeah, yeah, so I didn't want CO to take my picture. Although, it could be that CO just wanted to take a picture of the guy tying to eat me from behind.....thanks a lot CO.....now I feel much better ;-) Ummmm.......right........Ibid? Normally I would say this is funny, but it's a little weird considering the fact that I just recently found this on my camra. (this is major blackmale for Ibid.'s future children.....something I would NEVER show mine ;-)
Awe! (someone hand me a tissue before I cry a river ;-)

Does someone love the camera or what? Looks like the little lady is not that interested....oh, well, we all still love her! Although, that smile looks as if she is about to pounce on the cameraman for continuously snapping pictures their way. ;-)
PQ, why such the sour face? Sick from all that gelato? (sadness!) Either that, or you're looking at the 20th couple we've all seen doing something inappropriate......hummm.....
Ah, look! It's "brother" Ibid. and his "sister" Quia! Don't they look related (they're not DON'T WORRY!)?
That's right, my love! Show those teeth proudly! You know they're so white! ;-)

Yep! This is Joe.......just lovin' life! Look's like someone's on Cloud #9.;-)

Oh, my Ibid! I think someone's had WAY too much sun!

Stupid Blogger

2007-02-25T13:56:00.000-05:00

So I had a post going awhile ago, it wasn't anything exciting. It was mostly just about how much the SAC ruined Valentine's Day and how our wonderful guys valiantly tried to save it. Um, I think there was a bit about the Mardi Gras dance. (Which was a bust in my opinion.) And a plug for Pirates of Penzance, which is a severely money movie. But as I was doing that, the compy I was on crash, and of course, blogger ate my post. It made me very sad and I didn't have the will to go on. . . at least with the post, that is. But I'm better now, so yea, Valentine's Day sucked because of the SAC, but the boys tried really hard, no one went to the Mardi Gras dance, so I left and watched Pirates of Penzance, which everyone should see. (I'm totally in love with the lead singer of Queen right now!)

Now that that's taken care of, the campus is once again covered in a blanket of whiteness. I am so happy about that. There's nothing like waking up to snow. *sigh* I really want to go to the river today, but everyone's studying for J-ski. Sad day. Carducci, you need to be here to walk through the woods with me!

This Is dangerous

2007-02-14T14:50:00.000-05:00

I'm doing my American government paper on Copyleftism and the free-culture movement. I've found much more material than I'd originially planned.

Picture of Ibid

2007-02-13T18:34:00.000-05:00

I found one. :)

And we have Little Mon, too.

Sadie Hawkins Dance In My Khaki Pants

2007-02-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

Well, another semester, more of the 8 o'c in Rome. This time there's only two. Anyway, this is for you, Carducci and PBJ Girl, and of course, dear Peachy. (And Hich, too.)
The biggest news to report is the Sadie Hawkins Dance. I still can't believe that Christendom pulled it off. And it was a hit! A HUGE hit!

The members of the 8 o'c hit quite a few different decades.

The. . . 70s? I'm pretty sure that's what they were going for. Or 80s? Either way, Jericho's makeup scared me and CO was carrying a copy of the Communist Manifesto.

The 20s. Quia does a pretty darn good flapper and PQ's mustache was out of control.

The 40s. I looked like an airline stewardess. (I told people where the exists were regularly.) And Andrew looked like he was going to class.

Somehow there managed not to be a picture of Ibid, but he did 70s college student. He even shaved.

Just to confuse everyone, Andrea went with Matt and Liz took Gabe. They also did 20s as the cast of Singing in the Rain. Liz's wig makes me happy.

This time it was Dan who got all "bad companion."

Hurray for the 80s. Matt's red mohawk was sweet.

I love the 70s. Tyler's 'fro scared me. I couldn't look at him with a straight face the whole night. But it worked, he and his posse won the prize.

I disowened her when I first saw it. But the wig grew on me very quickly. :D

There were SO MANY hippies. This is but a small handful.

My Grades

2007-01-06T22:08:00.000-05:00

They finally came. The Grades are in. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that my overall GPA went up, now up to a 2.628 (working towards that 3.3 for Cum Laude). The bad news is that Italian was the sole grade killer this semester, and it did a number. Well, here, you can see for yourself. Remeber, I will be taking classes mostly in History and English from now on, so focus on those credits, and those types of classes.

HIST/ENGL/THEO/CECS 300 - Roman Perspectives B
HIST 301 - Art and Architecture of Rome and Florence B+
ITAL 101 - Elementary Italian D+
PHIL 301 - History of Medieval Philosophy B+
THEO 301 - Moral Theology A-

See, I did fine in everything but Italian. I guess I really don't do languages.

Oh Well.

HERE'S TO NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year from Peach

2007-01-01T20:25:00.000-05:00

Well, dear friends, it's been an age and a day since I posted a blog for the Chaplet, but I wanted to take a rare opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As you know I am not coming back next semester so I can complete my recovery from Lyme disease. While I do love you guys and miss you very much, I have decided I must take this course of action.

You see, when we are together again, I think we shall find each other much different while much the same too. God has taught you many things through Rome, but I too have learned a great deal from Him being home, and I have received many blessings and lessons through this illness. He has rewarded me with so much I do not deserve, I have discovered He makes things go better than we can possibly expect.

So, here's Peachy's ponderings for you all, and I hope God blesses you greatly in the coming year, and I wanted to add this from my previous e-mail:

Where the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window, and here I believe many well-disguised blessings will reveal themselves from this disappointment; I can see a number of great ones from my vantage point already. As Henry V said, "We're in God's hands, brother, not theirs", but I'm in God's hands, and I firmly believe the Lord of History has both the present and the future well in hand, so I am confident that all will end very well for all of us. Besides, He loves us and He's on our side whether we know it or not.

However, I do have a favor to ask of you friends: just be the good Catholics Jesus Christ, our loving Lord and Savior, wants you to be each and every day. The campus really needs to see that we can love, forgive, support, defend each other like Christians ought to. So, when a brother's in need, you make sure that he's not alone, and you be right there for him no matter where you are or whose company you're in. I don't expect any of us to live this perfectly, we'll mess up. But I love you all, and no matter how stupid any of us can be, we're friends, and I'm gonna stick up for you. So, if someone's in trouble or getting a bad word, you can bet old Peach will back you up at least in Spirit if he can't be right there. I think it's important and I'm praying for you.

Keep fighting the good fight. Remember God loves us and He's on our side, even when we think things aren't going our way. If we just believe that He really loves us (He really loves me!) instead of picking daisies (he loves me, loves me not, yada yada yada), it'll carry us a long way and into things we couldn't have ever previously imagined.

Well, that's my hope, prayer, and message for all my dear friends for 2007. I'm terribly sorry not to be with you again this semester, but God has a plan and I know I'm in His hands, where I'd rather be than anywhere else! God bless, Happy New Year, and Merry Christmas!

Peachy

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-01-01T00:13:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR CHAPLET CREW!!!!

May God shine forth blessings and things upon us as we enter 2007.

And may our faith remain when our physical bodies and sanity have faded to dust in the insanity that will be the next three semesters.

I'll see you in the psycho ward.

:)

Christmas Presents

2006-12-30T22:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry for anyone who got confused. I don't think the text came through for some reason.
Anyway, here's what that lost post was supposed to say.
Concerning what we got for Christmas!!!!
My List is on my blog, Ibid's Freaking Awesome Blog (freakingawesomeblog.blogspot.com). Now You Must Post! You too can list what you have received for Christmas, either from relatives, parents, or some random guy who wears red all the time.

Its up to you, psychopaths!!!

The Reply of Replies

2006-12-27T22:27:00.000-05:00

PQ was close to it. My church that I was supposed to write my HIST 301 paper on (that’s the Art and Architecture class) was Santa Anastasia. So why Anastasia on Christmas? Well it is her feast day on December 25, although I think that Christmas was declared on that day before her feast. But anyway, Anastasia was a girl who was martyred in Sirmium, not Rome, where her Church is. In fact, her body isn't even in Rome, but rather is in Istanbul (formally Constantinople). So why the celebration on Christmas? As the Catholic Encyclopedia says, "This martyr enjoys the distinction, unique in the Roman liturgy, of having a special commemoration in the second Mass on Christmas day. This Mass was originally celebrated not in honor of the birth of Christ, but in commemoration of this martyr, and towards the end of the fifth century her name was also inserted in the Roman canon of the Mass." Traditionally, the second Mass on Christmas day is in her honor. Again, the Catholic Encyclopedia says: "The commemoration of St. Anastasia in the second Mass on Christmas day is the last remnant of the former prominence enjoyed by this saint and her church in the life of Christian Rome."
What is special about this saint and her church can not be summed up in one post, but I can give some info on it. Anastasia was killed and buried in Constantinople, and there she stays, but as with many saints a church was built in her honor, ironically or not, over the house belonging to a Christian woman apparently named (you guessed it) Anastasia, who had allowed her house to be used as a church in the early days. Weird. So they built the church there, and it like most of the other churches built over house churches was called a titular church. Those who were in charge of the titular church were the forerunners of our modern pastors, and titular churches were like modern parishes. Cardinals run these churches, and since it is said that he said Mass there, St. Jerome is called the first titular cardinal of Santa Anastasia (even though he was only a priest in real life). That is why he is pictured sometimes with a cardinal hat.
Anastasia is an important church in that it unites East and West, for it is where the Byzantine emperor used to attend Mass, and where a side chapel commemorates a New World saint. I wrote more on this in my paper, which I could gladly email you, if you really want. Its kinda 7 pages long.

So that’s the big deal on St. Anastasia, one of those martyrs that people just seem to pass over now a days.

Make Sense?

Its time. . .

2006-12-25T20:56:00.000-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

HAPPY FEAST OF ST. ANASTASIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.

Why do I post on such a saint you ask? Well, its quite simple. I was in Rome and ....

To view the rest of this explanation, please post a reply to the blog. Thank you.

An update!!!

2006-12-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

Something needs to happen on this blog so I decided to happen.

I sit here at work right now with no current assignements and just the opportunity to serf the net. That's good, in a way. It means that I'm making money for doing something that I do anyway! Booyah! That is fun. It also means I have to find some real work to do or my employers will decide I'm unproductive. T'well.

Well, I do have something I could do. The company set up a wiki for a company knowledge base. I just introduced a nice crappy article on how to use the vi. Wiki's are fun.

Speaking of which, all you liberal arts students should go get an account on Wikipedia and make sure your favorite are properly represented. It's no good being a liberal arts student if it doesn't make you a know-it-all and a renaissance man/woman.

In other knews, I hear that the trad mass is now becoming permissable everywhere. This is horrible news and I'll tell you why! I never got to take advantage of the indult! I was in Italy the entire time and now going to an trad mass won't be special anymore! It won't be as elite! T'well, It's not like it matters in the long run.

In yet other news, my younger brother has come home from West Point for the break. He has a number of stories to tell and he yaks my ears off untill three in the morning. This is entirely unlike his pre-West Point self where getting him to speak was like sticking a hot coal up his anus. Very difficult and laden with guilt. Interesting note, he has the shiniest shoes in the service acadamy. This earns respect. There crazy up there.

Well that's about it. All you need to know. Goodbye. Go to Hell. And, God Bless.

NY

2006-12-07T14:06:00.000-05:00

JMJ

Report:

The Quia, Jerico, and CO are here in NY with the Peach.

They have enjoyed their stay and would like to share this with tthe 8oc.

Ciao for now

quia

We are Back

2006-11-28T23:50:00.000-05:00

I think that title says it all, but needless to say we are back in the country I belong in, one with less pushing and pickpockets, and more family and English.

We're home, fellow Romers. We're back, missed Americans. God's Blessings be on you all.

Ibid

7 Brides for 7 Brothers

2006-11-20T21:30:00.000-05:00

The Christendom Players
present
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Director
Melanie D
Producer
Dr. Keats
Assistant Director
John J
Choreographers
Kieran D
Mary Grace A
Set Design and Creation
Mark M
David R
Pianist
Matthew L
Stage Manager
Emma B
Masters of Light
Tyler A
Andrea C
Jenne L
Costumers
Lissa S
Monica H
Stage Crew
Alex M
Catherine L
Richard S
Beth F
Gemma L
Make-up and Hair
MK C
Monica H
Lissa S
Annie S
Jessica R
Program Designer
Joseph P
Master of Sound
Brian G

Biographies
Tim C (Benjamin) is a sophomore. In junior high, Tim appeared in Romeo and Juliet as Benvolio, one of that play’s few survivors. He loves singing, as well as playing basketball and tennis. He was one of the “Pimpernel League” in last year’s Scarlet Pimpernel. Finally, Tim would like to thank his mom, as well as his dad “for instilling the acting spirit.”
Chris D (Caleb) is a freshman at Christendom, hoping to be a Theology major. Chris had the leads in numerous high school plays, including The Front Page (Hildy Johnson), The Music Man (Harold Hill), and Julius Caesar (Cassius). During Spirit Week, Chris had the audacity to dress up, on “dress up day,” as Dr. Keats. “Revenge will be mine,” says Dr. Keats.
Kieran D (Frankincense), who is proudly part Huron, is a sophomore. At School, K.C. was involved in such shows as Much Ado About Nothing, My Fair Lady, and—yes—Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. As a freshman, he starred as Peter in The Cocktail Party and was on crew for “Pimpernel” and Midsummer Night’s Dream. K.C. also: has done much of the choreography for “Seven Brides”; has qualified for the world championships in Irish Dancing.
Thomas F (Lumberman), is a sophomore at Christendom and plans to major in Philosophy. After working on the stage crew for last year’s “Pimpernel” and a high school production of Arsenic and Old Lace, Tom is making his performing debut in Seven Brides as one of the town boys. Tom describes himself as “all sister’d out.”
Kak F (Dorcas), a self-described “star-gazer”, is a junior English major at Christendom. Past credits include Ismene in a high school production of Antigone and a lovely vocal performance during the Mirandum Pictures film, Chorus. Kak also plays the guitar and piano and loves hiking. She has future plans to hunt lions in Africa.
Brian G (Sound), a freshman, hopes to double major in Philosophy and English. Prior to Christendom, Brian has acted in Our Town (Mr. Webb) and the Gershwin musical, Crazy for You. He also stage managed a production of Oklahoma. Finally, Brian loves writing, particularly screenplays and other fiction.
Matthew H (Matt) is a sophomore, planning to major in English. “Seven Brides” is his first production for Christendom, but previously Matt acted in such plays as Macbeth, Pride and Prejudice (as Mr. Darcy), and Bells on Their Toes. Matt is active in Christendom activities: sports writer for The Rambler; basketball and rugby teams. He is also known for his love for quoting lines from movies.
Monica H (Costume Mistress) is a sophomore and leaning toward English as her major. Besides her work on costumes, Monica has also done some acting roles: in Belles on Their Toes (Mother) and Pride and Prejudice (Lady Lucas). Along with Lissa S, Monica did the amazing costumes for The Scarlet Pimpernel. She enjoys photography, sewing, baking, and cooking.
Lisa H (Townsgirl) A freshman, Lisa plans to major in History. While she has taken voice lessons in the past and given a voice recital, Lisa is actually making her stage debut in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We hope she will appear in many more productions.
Dr. Keats (Producer) has been moderator of the Christendom Players since 1992. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is the twenty-first major play he has produced at the college. He is also a co-founder of Mirandum Pictures and acted as executive producer for Chorus. Pat continues to work and pray for a Fine Arts Center—including a state-of-the-art theater—at Christendom.
Kyle K (Joel) is a freshman. He enjoys music, and plays both piano and the tin whistle. In Wisconsin, Kyle was involved in a group that performed numerous Shakespeare plays. With that group he acted in King Lear, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Comedy of Errors.
Anthony (aka Tony) K (Daniel), is a sophomore who hopes to double major in Political Science and Philosophy. Last year, Tony appeared in two major Christendom productions—Scarlet Pimpernel and Midsummer Night’s Dream (as Egeus). Tony’s high school productions included Henry V and Julius Caesar. Interests include downhill skiing, hockey, soccer, and acting
Trevor K (Ephraim) is a sophmore. Trevor is leaning toward Philosophy as a major. In “Pimpernel,” Trevor played Farleigh—often a fop, occasionally a fighter. His favorite activities include Madrigal Choir, rugby, soccer, and Ultimate Frisbee.
Julianna K (Alice), Older siblings Jennie and Joshua attended Christendom. Having made her stage appearance as an angel in a Nativity play, Julianna debuted at Christendom in Scarlet Pimpernel. She enjoys playing sports, rooting for the Cardinals and Angels (baseball teams), and goofing around with her pug dog, Stubby.
Gemma L (Stage Crew), a freshman. She is leaning toward majoring in Classics. While in high school Gemma appeared in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Princess and the Pauper. Interests include clarinet, tennis, and drawing illustrations.
Matthew L (Pianist, Assistant Musical Director) is a freshman, plans on majoring in Theology. Matt has served as assistant organist at church and has studied piano for twelve years. Other interests include martial arts and basketball—Matt is on the Christendom basketball team.
Jenne L (Lights) is a junior at Christendom, majoring in Philosophy. Jenne has a strong interest in both theater and film. Last year she was in the stage crew for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she is currently directing a film called The Freshman, to be shown at the Christendom film festival this spring. She has also: appeared as a reporter in the film Chorus; acted as the matchmaker in a production of Fiddler on the Roof; co-directed several short films at her high school.
Chris P (Carl) is a sophomore and emphatically plans to major in History. Although making his Christendom debut in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Chris has previously acted in such plays as Arsenic and Old Lace and Shall We Join the Ladies. Chris is also on the Christendom soccer team.
Tyler A (Lights) is a freshman, hoping to major in either Philosophy or English. Although “Seven Brides” is Tyler’s first theatrical production, he has a strong interest in the arts—particularly Film—and plans to get involved in Film Production. Tyler is also experienced in Photography.
Matthew A (Adam), a sophomore at Christendom, is leaning toward a Philosophy major. A veteran of many shows in high school (She Stoops to Conquer, Pajama Game Annie Get Your Gun, etc.), Matt played a lead role as the villain in last year’s Scarlet Pimpernel. He is actually a great guy! Matt wishes to thank “Our Lord, Our Lady, family, and friends.”
Mary Grace A (Liza) is a sophomore, headed for a career in Nursing. She loves to sing, studied dance for five years, and appeared in Scarlet Pimpernel last year. “I’d like to thank God and my parents, and also to John for being in the play and being so supportive.”
James B (Gideon) is a transfer and is leaning toward a Philosophy major. Keen on gardening, especially potatoes and carrots, James has appeared in only one other show: a family production of Proclaim the Miracle. “Seven Brides” marks his first appearance as a Christendom Player.
Shelagh B (Ruth) is a freshman at Christendom. She has appeared in many musicals, such as Wizard of Oz, Brigadoon, Godspell, Annie, and The Sound of Music. Shelagh has sung in choirs and taken voice lessons; makes her Christendom debut in “Seven Brides”; and wishes to especially thank Mel, John, and Dr. Keats.
Emma B (Stage Manager) is our ever cheerful and efficient stage manager. A sophomore who will major in History. “Seven Brides” marks her first time as a “techie,” but Emma has acted before in such plays as Oliver and The Music Man. She is also an editor and contributor to Christendom’s newspaper, The Rambler.
Bridget R (Milly), is a freshman at Christendom who previously studied Music at Shenandoah University. Bridget attributes much of her love of music and the arts, as well as her desire to come to Christendom, to watching the Christendom plays over the years. She has appeared in two other plays—Anne of Green Gables ( Mrs. Lynde) and The Wolf of Gabbio (as the snobby Belladonna).
Jessica R (Mrs. Perkins) Jessica is leaning toward a major in either History or Political Science, but also hopes to study Medicine in the future. “Seven Brides” is only her second play, her first being The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Other interests include Dance, Spanish, and football.
Greg R (Preacher) is a senior at Christendom. Greg will graduate as a Philosophy major and plans to attend seminary. Thus it is appropriate from him to play our preacher! He has acted before, appearing in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Macbeth.
Annie S (Martha) is a sophomore. Annie is leaning toward English, Political Science, and History as possible majors. Before making her Christendom debut in “Pimpernel,” Annie also participated in such Seton productions as Pride and Prejudice, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. An accomplished Irish dancer, Annie also enjoys teaching dance.
Lissa S (Costume Mistress) is once again collaborating with Monica on our costumes, after their remarkable work with Scarlet Pimpernel. A sophomore at Christendom, Lissa plans to major in History. She gives many thanks to her mom for teaching her to sew. (We would like to thank Mrs. Small for that also!)
John S (Lumberman) is a sophomore who plans to major in History. A soft-spoken, friendly guy with a great sense of humor, John enjoys playing the guitar and helped out with last year’s Scarlet Pimpernel. He says, “Thank you, Mary Grace!” for encouraging him to make his acting debut in “Seven Brides.”
Catherine T (Mrs. Bixby), known for her hearty laugh, is a Classics major with an impressive dramatic background. In her first year at Christendom, Catherine appeared memorably in Scarlet Pimpernel, the Mystery Dinner Theater (as evil Nazi woman), and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Productions elsewhere include Wizard of Oz, The Music Man, The Matchmaker, and Chesterton’s The Surprise. Catherine is an editor and contributor to The Rambler, as well as a member of the Legion of Mary and the American Chesterton Society.
Matt V (Jeb), a freshman, first learned about Christendom through the 2004 and 2005 summer programs. Matt leans toward Philosophy and English as possible majors. Making his Christendom debut in “Seven Brides,” he also appeared in Juliet and Her Romeo (as Romeo) and as Thorin in The Hobbit. Matt enjoys such diverse activities as soccer, drawing, and writing screenplays.
Megan V(Sarah) is a junior majoring in Theology at Christendom. Megan debuted as a Christendom Player in Les Miserables two years ago. But before that she appeared in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and studied Dance in various forms: ballet, tap, jazz, ballroom, hip-hop. Megan gives special thanks to her parents, her sister Angela, and Ed.
Andrea C (Lights) is a transfer. She will definitely major in History. In high school, Andrea worked on lighting for Anything Goes, another musical. She enjoys swimming and horseback riding.
Alex M (Stage Crew) is a sophomore and plans to major in Theology. Alex has acted before, in The Madwoman of Chaillot, and he also plays on the Christendom baseball team.
Julian A (Mr. Bixby), a senior at Christendom, is enjoying the role of the complex, angst-filled Mr. Bixby. Indeed, Julian thinks that Bixby, despite having only one or two lines, may be his most satisfying role yet. “More satisfying,” we ask, “than past leads such as Oberon in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Laertes in Hamlet, or Sir Robert in An Ideal Husband?”
“Absolutely,” says Julian. “Those guys were pikers compared to Bixby.”
John J (Assistant Director) His first-ever major play was Hamlet, in which he played . . . uh, Hamlet! Last spring he played Lysander, as a Clark Kent lookalike, in Midsummer Night’s Dream. When not studying Philosophy, John finds time to found and edit The Rambler, write essays and short plays, provide coffee for stressed-out colleagues, and spend quality time with a certain lovely, blonde-haired Christendom co-ed.
Elizabeth C (Moving Prop), a junior at Christendom, is majoring in Theology. Liz has helped out with past Players productions by selling tickets. Liz enjoys swing dancing, listening to all kinds of music, and powder puff football.
Rachel W (Townsgirl) is a transfer student, now in her first semester at Christendom. She has been involved in many high school productions, including: My Fair Lady, The Music Man, and Pride and Prejudice (in which she played Jane Bennet). Rachel enjoys volleyball and swing dancing.
Beth F (Stage Crew), a sophomore, made her Christendom debut last year in The Scarlet Pimpernel. For that show, Beth was a whirlwind of activity, both as a performer and on the stage crew. Beth has sung in her high school choir and loves to participate in musical events at the college. She also enjoys dancing, art, reading . . . and strawberry twizzlers.

This being the internet, I took out last names and places of origin. I hope you guys enjoy. I mean, it's not the play, but pretty much the best I can do right now. (Pictures pending.)

Joe's creative blurb:

EAT FOOD
Recent scientific studies have shown that eating food on a daily basis can prolong your life by at least all of it. That’s infinity percent. So go and eat some food today!
FOOD
Available... near you!
NOTE: As with any action that suggests that you feel yourself responsible to care for your own health, do not do so without first consulting your physician. Even if you think you’re really hungry. Some subjects who have taken food have experienced weight gain, heartburn, acid reflux, lactose intolerance, stomach cramps, insomnia, leprosy, and, in the majority of cases, death. So ask your doctor today if food is the right choice for you.

Where are you going? From where have you come?

2006-11-16T21:53:00.000-05:00

New Blog

2006-11-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

Wanted to let you all know that Maria and I now have a blog for keeping track of everything that is going on with our engagement and wedding plans. I'll put the link on the side bar probably later on today, but for the time being, here is the link: http://mariaandryan.blogspot.com

ROAD TRIP!?!

2006-11-02T17:27:00.000-05:00

JMJ

So yeah, if everything goes right...Tomorrow bright and early Anne Therese, Andrew, and I are off on a road trip. We are getting in a car and going. Not totally sure where;-) but that's part of the adventure.

Singing and signing out
the quia

Skyline and Spelunker's

2006-10-18T02:35:00.000-04:00

Some of us went up to Skyline after our midterms and papers to have a lets hang out at Skyline and not write papers or study for midterms party.

Here's Carducci reading the story that I wrote to Mary Beth out loud. I'm sending it to her (Mary Beth, that is) soonly, ask her if you can read it, it's weird.

Ah, the Powell look.

PQ and CO, you guys should recognize the guy next to PBJ Girl.

The guys decided to climb trees. They got up there without too much trouble.

Their lives flashed before my eyes when it was time to come down.

I don't remember what sent my crying to PBJ Girl. Maybe the thought of taking the boys to the hospital. I don't know.

Carducci and Joe left us to go eat with Colin and Sarah. So we showed them. We took pictures of our faces by ourselves.

AND our feet. So ha!

And of course Spelunker's. I got much of my custard on my shirt and hands. PBJ Girl thought that'd make a great picture.

And then we played on the little bridge thingy.

I don't remember what he was doing, but he deserved it.

Bowling

2006-10-18T02:10:00.000-04:00

And there was bowling. I've found that bowling is a lot of fun when one bowls with people who are worse than one's self. Alex won and I came in second. I don't know what happened to the score after that.

PBJ Girls loves her bowling ball.

Ed is sooooo gangsta.

And so am I. Oh look at me, I'm Alex! I'm so cool!

Except when I get two gutter balls right in a row.

Ange, on the other hand, is the form of coolness.

And PBJ Girl and Alex think they work for Jack Bauer. . .

I'll leave you to figure out this picture.

Spirit Week

2006-10-15T14:01:00.000-04:00

Ah, Spirit Week

The first day was, of course, class colors. I wore a combo of purple and orange. The next day was dress like a famous person day. I went as Dr. Strickland.

Ange dresed like Geoff, so we got a picture together of her as Geoff and me as her. It was kind of creepy, because she woke me up that morning. That was almost as freaky as the day Alex walked into my room while I was taking a nap.

Here we have Ed and his. . . mom? Megan dressed up as Mrs. Burns. I'm still trying to figure out if that's a compliment or

When I think of dressing up like an old person, I think about Adrienne. :)

And the red hat society. Lizzie kept trying to get everyone to sign up for bingo. It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Carducci had a freshman to dress up. This is what she made her wear, the entire outfit, including the hat and necklace came from my closet. Ang made AJ & TJ's younger sister, Jennie, wear my pink footie pjs. I find it funny that when people want to dress up someone strangely, they come to me. *shrugh* :)

Da Pope.

2006-10-11T17:56:00.000-04:00

We all just saw the Pope today at the wednesday audience. We touched him. Sam traded skull caps with him. I gave him an orange soda (appearantly it's his favorite drink.) Was pretty cool.

People get really crazy over this. People were throwing children over the barrier at the Pope. Basically, everyone crowds around the entrance before it opens. Then, they press their way through, violently. There is no mercy. I was knocked over and I'm pretty agile. Rand was elbowed in the stomach. The Akers were accused of hating retarded people. The Swiss guard were strict but wer generally friendly. They picked up the children I mentioned earlier and returned them to the crowd.

It was crazy, but we touched the Pope. (I'm totally cool with walking over a few nuns.) Benedetto was very friendly. Oh, and in case there was any question, it's not a camera trick, his hair really is that white.

Back in town

2006-10-10T11:48:00.000-04:00

I stopped by and decided that it is well past time for me to post on here. I'm been a loser for that, sorry guys.

So, brief summary of all that has been going on, even though you all pretty much know.

I have transferred out of Christendom, and am now attending ITT Tech in Chantilly for an A.A. in Computer Networking Systems which puts me in the direction of a B.S. in Information Systems Security. School is great--they're night classes and a very relaxed environment. What's cool is that pretty much everyone that is there wants to learn, so it isn't just like your standard public university or college where you have a load of good-for-nothing slackers.

I have also started working full-time, and am prepping to upgrade some of the software systems I work with. It's a great, fun job doing stuff I love to do and it is promising to be pretty secure for some time.

Because of job and school, I've moved out to Centreville and am now living with MikeE, Eric and Pat. Lots of fun with plenty of digital entertainment and equipment. All four of us have DS's. If you don't know what that is, check it out on Nintnendo's website ;)

As for me and Maria, we are doing fantastically. It is a little difficult not getting to see her everyday like I was used to, but it works wince we're both so busy anyhow.

Well, I probably should be getting off, seeing as I am at work. Later!

A New Blog in the bloggersphere

2006-10-06T08:26:00.000-04:00

Ahem

http://freakingawesomeblog.blogspot.com/

Just go there. You'll see.

PENGUINS!!!

2006-09-25T21:24:00.001-04:00

Alex, Ang, Meg & I went to the Baltimore Zoo to see the penguins. We saw many other things in the process.

Like Sydney! It was good to see my old roommate again. How I've missed you, Syd. :D

And this Artic Fox. It was sick with something, so it wasn't so up on getting it's picture taken. I don't blame it.

Aren't they cute?

The rhinos weren't too interested in us either.

According to Meg, this animal had a lot of zoop zoop. (The antlers. Their curlly.)

The snowy owl was pretty awesome. It made me think of Hedwig. :)

And now I've finally seen those spoonbilled whatsits that go scoop scoop. These were from Africa.

And finally there were penguins! We took way more pictures, but I figure y'all just aren't that interested and I don't want to take the time to upload all of them. (There are a LOT!)

And what trip would be complete without silly pictures? Meg took a picture of Ang and Alex and I felt sad that we didn't get a picture.

And here's another one! (He wasn't actually sleeping, I'm not sure what happened.)

I took this on the way there to make sure the batteries were in the camera properly. (Confusing story about CD player batteries dying. So I gave them the batteries from my camera, well Laura's camera. And the batteries were actually Little Mon's. And then they, that is Meg, gave me their, that is Meg's family, digital camera batteries. Uffda.) Alex doesn't normally look that weird.

I thought this was hilarious and just had to get a picture. Doesn't this look like the best photo?

Us going through the "jungle."

Gotta love the "Hey, Meg! Alex! Look here!" pictures. Hehe!

Alex shouldn't be a hairstylist. Nope. Just doesn't work out so well.

The Dancing Part of "Baseball and Dancing"

2006-09-25T20:42:00.000-04:00

Italian Night dinner. Here are the lucky ducks (haha) that got to sit at the head table. I'm sure you guys are just absolutely laughing at our feeble attempts to be Italian.

And then. . . THE DANCE!

Roommates! (Wow, eight of them.)

Carducci and I were thinking about editing Peach, CO, and PQ into the picture for our traditional Italian Night picture, but decided it'd be too much work.

Not entirely sure what Alex is doing, it was supposed to be a nice picture of PBJ Girl and Ed. :P

Just kidding Alex, here, have a picture with me. :)

You bums that went right to Rome haven't met Cynthia, but she's awesome. You'll love her.

A very cute Colin and Sarah.

Ang and Geoff are cute, too, but don't tell them I said that. He he!

And it doesn't get much cuter than these four!

Assisi tomarrow

2006-09-19T03:55:00.000-04:00

We're leaving for Assisi tomarrow so we won't be able write for a week, sorry. But, well, the Romans are noisy. And they just randomly bite you. So Assisi will be nice. And I'm not sorry. Well I may be lying. Wouldn't you like to know. Se ya'll later.

We are getting really bad at this

2006-09-18T00:04:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, Ry!!!! (Two days ago.)

Baseball and Dancing

2006-09-17T23:50:00.000-04:00

This post has been coming for over a week, but the internet hates me. Hopefully this works.

Oreols v. Yankees

A bunch of us went to Camden Yards to see the Oreols beat the snot out of the Yankees. Unfortunately I was with Yankees fans. *shrug* Oh well.

Some people were very much happy to be off campus.

And some not so much.

The Yankees DID hit one homerun. We laughed at the poor Red Sox fan.

In closing, baseball games are fun.

Let It Be Known

2006-09-10T21:24:00.000-04:00

that I came to the computer lab with the intention of writing up a nice long post about Italian Night complete with picutres. Unfortunately PBJ Girl caught me in my procrastination (Piers Plowman paper due tomorrow) and I have to go back to the room and write it. :( Hope everyone's still having fun in Rome. What's the blog with the picutres?

When in Rome ...

2006-09-03T09:48:00.000-04:00

Wander around screaming like an italian, of course! Ciao all of you Christendomites out there who are reading this blog. In answer to your yet unvoiced questions, yes we are all still alive -- at least of this writing -- and yes, Rome is the most amazing city in the world. Roccoco churches, statues of the saints dozens of feet tall, a warm summer sun, tanning everyone here. Water pours from every street corner, revitalizing the parched. Gelato, limoncello, pasta, pizza, vino, chocolate, birra, and on and on you go. (Meat is a little hard to come by though.) Your worst problems can be solved with baste! Yes, the summer is still here in Rome, and life could not be better.

Last night Sydney, Claire, Andrew, Matt, Paul E., and myself all tossed together a rooftop dinner under the stars. Pasta, bread, potatoes and onions, green beans, and chocolate all were contributed to create a masterpiece of culinary artistry that could have stood with the creations of some of the most seasoned chefs in Italy. (Well, it was close anyway.) Tonight we are going to wander around the center of Rome, and maybe hit a Guiness pub we saw near S. Mary Major, a pub with Getafix rocking it out with an electric guitar. Maybe we will encounter adventure, maybe we will just get lost -- either way it is going to be a whole lot of fun!

We are praying for all of you everywhere we go.

In Rome;
Sean

The rest of the Cape

2006-08-20T22:35:00.000-04:00

I forgot another part of Sunday’s Cape Cod experience. Apparently, one of the members of the congregation at Mass was none other than Harry Connick Jr., singer/actor. I did not see him, but my aunt and cousin apparently did.

Moving on to Monday. Monday was exciting in many ways. To start with, my aunt and uncle took everyone whale watching. Since I had desired to go whale watching since I was half the size of Jenne (long ago, I assure you), I was excited. To simply go out on one of the watching tours was excitement enough. The possibility of seeing any whales in real life was heart racing, in that my heart flew just to think of it. So we got on the boat and went out to sea.
The town we started the tour in, a popular town on the Cape that offers such whale watching tours, is called Providencetown. Now Providencetown is notorious for its residents (human ones, that is). For the past 30 years or so it has been a haven for the homosexual community. Because they have had such a long time of “freedom” to live the way they desire, the homosexual behavior and lifestyle normal subdued in both gays and straights in the rest of the world. Not only did we see people holding hands (man to man, woman to woman) but we saw them do things like friendly pats on the butt, etc. Lets just say I said more than one prayer while riding in the car.
But back to the whales. Many people go whale watching every year. Some have great success in witnessing these whales swim about. Sometimes individuals witness behavior such as bubble feeding, when the whales form a net of bubbles under the water to trap the fish, then swim up into the net to eat a mouthful, to fin and tail slapping, when the fins and tails of the whales are slapped against the surface of the water. Also very popular are breaches, when the whales hurl themselves out of the water. Many people have gone dozens of times trying to see all of these things.
We saw all of it and more on this one trip. It was incredible. There was also a mother and a calf playing around, which was also a rare sight. All of this together was well worth the money spent for the tour.
We went out to eat that night, still in awe of what we saw. It was truly spectacular.

Tuesday, August 15. Feast of the Assumption. That day we went to Mass at the same church we went to on Sunday (see previous post). This time, since we were late, my brother and I sat up in the front, led there by an usher. Good old users, doing their duty. Anyway, once again Ibid’s habit of receiving on the tongue made him walk away with a smile. This time he received in the front of the church from the permanent deacon. The deacon, in true modern communion distribution fashion, did not look up at the recipients until I came along. The only reason he looked up was because the throne-shaped hands he was expecting were still folded. Looking up to see me with my mouth open, a second instinct kicked in, and he gave me my Lord. Then he returned to distributing without raising his head. The priest next to him, who had celebrated the Mass, was doing the more traditional style of raising the host before the communicant before placing it gently into the waiting hands of the person standing there. Ah.
It made me really miss the old CC.

The rest of the day held my brother and I looking for hermit crabs in the tide pools of a certain beach, finding them just as the rain began to pour. We sat around inside the house until the storm, I mean light drizzle, gave up, and the sun began to appear. My brother and I decided to walk down to the beach and see what we could see. It was beautiful. I wish I had had my camera, but it would not have done it justice. Even as I type I tremble of the thought of that beautiful sight. The sea is most gorgeous. I will post the poem I composed after seeing the beauty at a later date. The rest of the night was unexciting, save for the attempts to find out how to keep the hermit crabs alive. They were dead by the morning.

Wednesday was upon us. Only 24 hours before we hopped aboard another plane back home. What could one do at a time like this?
Go claming. My uncle took my brother and me out with his claming gear. It consisted of two buckets and two claming hoes. Claming is a great experience and I highly recommend it to those who can do it, legally of course. Which brings me to how we got in trouble. We had two buckets full of clams, many pretty good sized. They were, of course, rather sandy, and we had to wash them out in the ocean water at that beach. So while we were doing so the fishing warden rode up in his boat. He stopped us, asked for my uncle’s license (we were to be his sons for the day, so it was a father sons claming thing), then began to measure our clams (you can’t take any that are too small) and began to count them out (you can only have 12 quarts worth). All this while the tide was coming in. Eventually we got away with, hopefully, a warning and bout 20 less clams than we had to start with. Clam chowder for dinner that night.
Also, while the clams cooked, my brother and I went back to the beach with the hermit crabs for one more look. My aunt came with us. As we got into the excitement of getting so many little hermit crabs, our aunt, watching us so intently, did not notice the tide creep up the beach to where our bag of stuff was sitting. The bottom of the back got wet as the sea water went in. Most unfortunately for me, my cell phone was on the bottom. It does not work like it should. The little flashlight will not turn off (at least the phone turns on. It wasn’t doing that until yesterday) and the phone will not vibrate. I need a new phone, and hopefully will get one before I board that plane in DC in a week or so.
The chowder was delicious, just in case you were wondering.

Thursday arrived and we were on the road to the airport at 6:30 or so. In the car, my aunt, trying to get conversations going, asked if my brother or I had seen any of our school friends this summer. Patrick said he saw some at band and at baseball. I talked about the Glen Echo trip (only PBJ Girl and Coastie showed up, besides me) and the Summer Institute. I mentioned the talks and said one was on B XVI and Women in the Church. That perked her ears, and asked what the speaker said. I explained what she said (which is on the tape I bought from the Institute). My aunt did not agree. She said some comment, if I heard her correctly, that the Church would have to change the policy on women and priest if it wanted to keep up with the modern world or some jazz like that. Another prayer was said. I arrived home with my brother and grandmother (along with the hermit crabs. Ask me when you see me about that story, getting the crabs from Boston airport to BWI). Here I am, safe and sound.

Any questions? I’ll answer them when I get a chance. What a fun trip. Now I must prepare for that other trip, the one to that other city far away. . .

A trip to the Cape

2006-08-18T23:01:00.000-04:00

I guess you have been wondering where I have been, and why I have not done anything online since Friday. Well, the simple answer is that I was at Cap Cod, visiting my aunt and uncle who live up there (linked in there is that I didn't get around to going online).But anyway, I did a lot of things and had lots of fun, and you all missed out big time. HA ha.

Just kidding. It might take a while to say everything I did, and I will try to fit as much as I can on this post, but there will always be more to talk about, as are with all trips. Those of you flying with me, and who will be living with me for the next three months have an advantage that everyone else lacks, so I will try.

I arrived on Saturday, late in the evening. I flew in from BWI (thats the Baltimore airport) with my grandmother and my brother into the Boston airport. My cousin picked us up and we drove to the Cape. We unloaded at the house and turned in, after some sitting, chatting, and eating of sandwhiches.

We woke up the next morning for Sunday Mass at the local parish, Holy Redeemer, the only Catholic church in the area that is open all year round. I walked in, hoping it was a decent church. It looked like, from the outside, a normal church. I walked in and was surprised. The first thought that came into my head was, where's the tabernacle (I then thought of the joke that Cardinal Arinze made at the Summer Institute about that exact subject). It was over to the side, under a veil of sorts. There were not any big stained glass windows, and the chair for the priest was in the center of the front of the church (the name slips me right now). The Mass wasn't so bad, no worse than any back home, but I had some fun when i went up for communion. I recieve on the tongue, and the Eucharistic minister I recieved from wasn't really looking up, since he was in put in hand mode, and almost put the host on my folded hands, then looked up and changed the place. It was funny, kinda. But remember that event, for I will be referencing it later.
For the rest of that day we relaxed, going to the beach, relaxing in the sun, flopping around in the surf. Wonderful. For dinner we each had a whole lobster (very filling for those who have not had one before) and went to bed content.

Monday through Thursday will be posted later. Sorry to build suspense like that, but its 11:30 at night and I'm tired.

Happy 21st Birthday to my Quia!

2006-08-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

+JMJ+

Well, my Quia.....I am no grand singer......or the wonderful voices of our group of guys who do birthday singing at your window, so forgive me, but:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MY QUIA, (who is on her way to be a lovely skinny cow like myself and 21)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Nothing is more sacred than someone's life, and no words more precious than words that celebrate someone's life. And so, we all say to you in a blessing:

Everytime we think of you, we thank God,
and pray for you with prayers of joy.
For God began a good work in you,
and will complete that work in years to come.

Our prayer for you now is this:
that your love grow richer
in knowledge and insight of every kind,
that you learn by experience
what really matters,
that on the day you appear before God,
God welcome you as a flawless gift,
a rich harvest of praise,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord shed his light upon you, May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace. May God's dear love which fills your life and touches all you do be a blessing and a special joy on this happy day for you!

Well, well, well my Quia! So, how does it feel to be 21?! Awesome, right? Well, let me just say: you deserve it girl! I so wish I was there to be with you, but . . . financial issues prevent me, but I'm there in spirit, and I do believe I can say for the whole Chaplet that we are all with you in spirit on this wonderful day of days! God bless you, my Quia! God bless you, for you have been the sunshine on rainy days, and have caused people to really sing about something. Whether it be with the big smile on your face, your contagious laugh, your bouncy and beautiful (yes, I'm jealous ;-) blonde hair, your spunky dance moves, your just willing to hang loose and have fun, or your giving heart that never stops giving for those in need.....yes, indeed, you are well on your way with your path to sainthood. And even though you know we all have a long way to go and are constantly struggling, your unceasing love for Christ and family is still portrayed through your actions. And that, my Quia, is called character. Not many of us are blessed with that, so thank you ever so much for sharing it with the world! It is an honor and a privileage to know you and to truely call you: friend. I wish that there was more I could say, but somehow I am totally speechless to describe how much your friendship means to me and to all of us, for that matter. I only hope and pray that we can call return the favor one day. Thank you, my Quia! And happy, HAPPY, blessed birthday to you! And may you ALWAYS keep the Blessed Mother and her Son in your sight.......for they love you so much. God bless!

The Freshman

2006-08-13T03:26:00.000-04:00

It's done. I can't believe it. I've made Bob watch it five or six times already, changing things each time. Of course she never noticed the changes, but to me they were huge. :) Anyway it's finished. I think it's as good as it's going to get on Windows Media Movie Maker. I'm hoping Colin is still interested in helping me with a Vegas version, 'cause that would be wicked!!! But if not, I'm satisfied with this. I never planned for anything better than Movie Maker, so Vegas would be frosting. (Yummy rich chocolate frosting, but frosting none the less.)

I'm not quite sure if I want to have my own little "mini premier" or if I just want to show it to people at their leisure. Frankly, I don't think I could wait to get a group together. I'll probably walk through the door of our room and, with out even saying hi, tell PBJ Girl to watch the movie. :) Maybe not. What do ya'll think? I mean, everyone on the blog helped with the movie. Except Peach. How'd that happen? Anyway, the eight of you that did help are in the credits. For everything from starring in the movie (Carducci & Quia), to minor roles (PBJ Girl), to extras (Jericho, CO, & PQ), to pirating extension cords (Ry), to sharing a camera & giving experienced advice (Ibid). There is also a blooper reel, that I think is pretty funny. I was told not to make a blooper reel for a 5 min sad movie, but I did it. Oh well. Don't watch it if you want. It makes me giggle. I also have movie "stills" if y'all are interested in seeing. Heck, you're going to have to look at them even if you don't. :D

Here's Aeneas telling his tradgic tale.

Gail and Mark falling in love. Awww. (This angle was Quia's idea and I protested. It turned out to be a good idea. Thanks Quia.)

The cave scene. *gasp* The scandal.

Anna consoling Dido.

Gail and her friend talking about, what else, a boy.

Did you know there's already a movie called The Freshman. It's a mob movie staring Marlin Brando. I did not know that until yesterday. Oh well. Ce' la vi.

Speaking of school. (Who was speaking of school?) When is everyone getting back. Granted I know at least two of you are going straight to Rome without a second glance back to us Americans. *sniff, sniff* But what about everyone else? I'm getting in on the evening/night of the 17th. Welcoming committee here I come. I've been trying to think of good ways to scare the freshman. hehehe

birthdays

2006-08-12T11:21:00.001-04:00

hi all. happy b-day Ibid! well, ibid's not the only b-day person this week. i turned 19 on the 10th, i guess none of you knew that. well, i took a 10-hour motorcycle class that day and the next and i qualified for my license, yay! so anyway, happy birthday again to ibid, and to claire, whose b-day is coming up. i just wanted to say it now in case i forgot later, because its awful forgetting a persons b-day.

Happy Birthday dearest Ibid!

2006-08-11T10:36:00.000-04:00

+JMJ+

A-HEM!!!!
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Ibid! Happy birthday to you!

-or-

Here's the more accurate version:
Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you act like a monkey and you smell like one too! hehehehehe

Just kidding Ibid, you don't act like a monkey or smell like one. You are 100% created in the image of God and we are all VERY blessed to know you and very honored on this blessed day of your birth to wish you a Happy birthday! (you don't live in a zoo either ;-)

Ibid, Ibid, Ibid ... what shall I say about the Great Ibid? Ibid, you are an amazing person! You have always been there for everyone, even if you couldn't know the whole situation--never once did you flinch an eye when offerring your service of help, whether it be through laughs, gentle words, or kind actions. You are so kind, thoughtful and very funny! Out of all of us, you have the heart of child more down-pat--the kind of heart that we all should strive for, the kind of heart the St. Therese advocates. You have such big, ginormous heart that wants to make everybody happy. Bless you Ibid for that! You are talented, epecially very poetic--taking millions of ladies' breath away with your words ;-) But more importantly Ibid, you are CATHOLIC, a faithful Catholic, who is struggling trying to be a saint like the rest of us! What an honor to share this journey with you---especially in Rome!--for you try to make it as light as possible through your generous personality. May the Lord and all the Hosts of Angels never stop rejoicing at your birth and may they rejoice even louder on this blessed day of days! And may you continue to be a well-lighted path for us while we travel throughout this dark world, so that together, in the end, we will all become saints for the greater glory of God.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IBID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday part

2006-08-10T23:12:00.000-04:00

I had my birthday party today (a day early, I know, but tomorrow is the crab feast at my parish and that is not something to miss). There were many great presents but one of the highlights, if not the highlight, was the, drumroll please. . .

Canon ZR300 camcorder!
That's right folks. Ibid's got a camcorder. That means more pictures, more movies, more "famous British director" nonsense. Of course, my joy had to be short lived. I was examining what I have in my camera, and how to put things on a computer. I found out how to take photos off of the camera's memory stick using the provided USB cord. However, I was not able to get film of the tape I have. Why? Because I need another cable that is sold seperatly, a DV cable. But to se that I need a DV port, which I'm pretty sure I don't have. Firewire, if I'm not mistaken, is an example of a DV cable. I guess I need to do more shopping. Alas, that means the super cut of Promise may still be prolonged until I can get that footage onto my computer.

Other than that I'm a very happy Ibid. On Saturday I'm flying with my brother and grandmother up to Cap Cod to visit my aunt and uncle up there. It will be my first plane ride, a kind of preporation for Rome. Hopefully all goes well and I don't get arrested at the gate.

Firefox!

2006-08-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

Hollywood Took It!

2006-08-03T23:14:00.000-04:00

So I was watching Gilmore Girls yesterday and I noticed something very peculiar. There was a painting proped up on some of the stuff they'd just gotten in Europe. (Because they were celebrating Rory graduating from high school and going to Yale.) I didn't get a great look, but the painting looked familiar, really familiar. Then it hit me. Sitting next to 200 lbs of biscotti was The WALLFLOWER! I kid you not. Granted this was season three, so it's a couple of years old. I just want to know who decided to hide the Wallflower on the set of the Gilmore Girls. I want to shake their hand.

I heard something on the radio this morning that I thought you all would be equally interested. I have no idea what it was. Sorry.

"Highest Love"

2006-08-02T10:06:00.000-04:00

I wrote this this morning before work. Enjoy.

"Highest Love"
How does my love look when she sleeps?
She sleeps quietly, not snoring,
Soon sighing as she is dreaming.
When the nightmare and terror disturb
That quiet surrender to peace,
She stirs, moans, and cries out for me.
Her face distorts, her mouth hangs wide.
Her body shakes, her arms reach out
For my hands, my side, anything
To let her know I am with her.
She starts awake, calling my name,
Shouting and shaking, then waking
To find herself alone again.
“Lover answer,” she calls to me.
Yet from my lips I answer not.
“My love, where are you. It is dark
and I need your light to guide me,
your eyes to see the barren path.
I desire your close embrace,
If the danger draws too closely.
Oh sweetest soul, answer me.”
No answer, for I do not hear.
“Will you ignore your lover’s plea?”
I remain silent to her ear.
“I need you now, what do you say?”
I say nothing, for only that
Is enough to explain my love.
“forget you then,” my love screams.
“what love could you have with no yes
Or no, or go, or stay with me?
How does one stay with the one who
Chooses his own life over her?”
With that I reply to my love,
Who has screamed in the darkest night,
Called me in the darkest night.
“Sweet,” I call her, for that she is.
“I am here, be afraid no more.
I would never abandon you,
Not if someone better comes by,
Nor if you betray me, left me,
For others have done it before,
Yet I still remained close to them.
As to answer your pondering
Of the selfishness of my heart,
Consider what I did for you.
Long ago, before the Earth
Existed, I loved you to death;
To death I went because of love,
For you and for all, to save you.
I will never abandon you
In the darkest pits of the night,
To the dangers of a hunter.
For you are mine; I do love you.
But you also must love me back.
Call for me during the good times,
Not just when darkness beckons you.
Tell me of good things, not just bad.
That way we will share that deep love.
We will be united as one,
To live together forever,
To gaze upon each other’s face.”
She soon settles back into sleep.
I sigh and long for her sweet eyes.
There I watch her, my love doest lie.
How she looks when she is asleep.

:)

2006-07-26T19:01:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! How we all doing? Long time no talk. So yea. I'm good. Anyway, what's everyone up to?

SUMMER INSTITUTE

2006-07-18T09:42:00.000-04:00

For those who are interested, summer has been going great. I'm sure that all of of you have had great summers, and have been enjoying my random deep thoughts. I'll have you know that work is going fine, that I'm making money (almost $500 so far) and am very excited about Rome. I've been working on more movies. First on the list is a short into to a non existent movie. I don't know who will be in it, but it could be interesting. More on that at it develops. Also I have completed the script for the remake of Chase, one of the movies I made in high school. I'm going to rename it, of course. I also want to see if I can make it completely with un copywritten music, which hopefully will be the hardest part. I'm open to suggestions for the movie's new name. I will be sending the script out to possible cast members before the summer is over. I also re edited Promise and put it on a DVD using the DVD burning software that came with the Vegas Home Studio. It looks a lot better now. I want to bring it to Rome so that others can see it as it is, a movie, and not something thrown together on Windows Movie Maker.

Now for the heading of the post. As some of you may know (I think I've told one of you at least) I was very interested in going to the summer institute at Christendom, mainly to see cardinal Arinze but also to be on campus again and do things like that before I leave for Rome. So I wanted to go for the weekend. However, I was not sure that it would be easy for my family to come and drive a 3 hour drive Friday night and Saturday morning. My family would be exhausted. Also there is some family get together stuff, so if I were to go the family would be really pressed for time. Basically put, I needed some place to stay near (or possibly on) campus. So I called, couldn't get through, called again with the same results, and finally on Friday I called, asked to be transferred to admissions (who apparently is running the thing. Who would've thought?) and asked if there was any way for me to stay on campus for the talk. They said maybe, probably, that I could stay on campus if I volunteered to help for the weekend. I said I wanted to help. They said that's great, thank you, and that I didn't have to pay. They would send me an email detailing the weekend. Well they do have room for me to sleep, and I'm going to be doing helpful things that weekend, while seeing all the talks and people. I will be working with low brow people like Angela Von Ehr, The Rices, The Bergida Family, and Mickey Krebbs. You too can join our gang. Just call the school and say you are interested in volunteering for the Summer Institute. The weekend is July 28-29. You get to hear and meet people for free and get to see me. What better excuse do you need than that. Of course, I know that only about 5 of the Chaplet is in the area, and of that 5 only about 2 are going to read this post, but if you can reach those people please spread the word. Maybe we can hang out on Friday or Saturday night or something like that. That could be fun.

I am also pleased to announce that I am finished Volume I of my history of Western Civilization notes. Not just finished the rough draft. Finished completly, like it is ready for others to read over it. I'm excited. I think I'll bring a copy of it to Dr. O'Donnell. I'm sure he would like it.

I'm still working on getting a camcorder, which I will bring to Rome. It may end up working out that I buy half of it with someone for my birthday.

For all those who are amazed at the fact that I bought more books over the past year at school than most people buy in a lifetime will be even more amazed when I tell you what happened. I went to a used book sale at one of the public libraries in Maryland. I went crazy, and ended up buying $11.55 worth of books. That's a lot when soft backs were like 6 for a dollar and hardbacks were I believe $.50 each. I have a whole bunch of new books. Plus my mom had gone the day before and bought some more books for me (ever heard of a little book called How the Irish Saved Civilization?). Of course, some of the books I bought were for school, such as an Italian-English dictionary and Willa Cather's My Antonia, but then again some were just for fun.

And to make matters even greater, my birthday is the same day as my parish's Crab Feast (August 11 for those who forgot. I expect money).

Life Rules.

Mmmmmm ....

2006-07-17T19:57:00.000-04:00

*Deep Breath*

"Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dearest Sydney.
Happy birthday to you!"

Many happy returns of the day! Happy birthday wonderfull, and may God shower His blessing upon you especially on this glorious day!

So ... do you have any requests?
;-)

Story Time

2006-07-14T04:24:00.000-04:00

Some of yous have asked about the picture I posted awhile back. I will now tell you. Quick time warp.

It's early spring 2006. I am in a car with Peachy, Quia, and the non-Carducci Liz. Liz is driving, Quia has shotgun and Peachy and I are in the back. It's a beautiful day and we're all in a good mood as we drive through the beautiful countryside on our way to play practice. Opening night is fast approaching and tensions are high, but in the safety of Liz's white car, we amuse ourselves with a game of yellow car. I am always a bit aprehensive about playing with Peachy, because he hits hard. But we had driven through FR and I had easily gotten the upper hand. We were now in the country and there were very few (like none) yellow cars. I had relaxed some, but still had my eyes peeled for yellow cars, as did Peachy and Quia.

I think we all saw the farm equiptment at the same time. Quia's mouth opened and Peach's arm poised to strike as I yelled, "No! Farm equipment doesn't count!" Quia looked at me curiously as Peachy slumped slightly, defeated. He thought for a second as sat up straighter again and looked as though he was going to punch me anyways. "No!" I said, "That is one of the very first rules of yellow car." Quia and Peachy looked at me curiously, so I continued. "Yellow car is limited to cars, trucks, jeeps, motorcylces, SUVs and the like. Oh, and Hummers get two hits, in case you didn't know. School buses and farm equipment don't count." Peachy opened his mouth to protest. "Let me explain," I said. "Farm equipment isn't allowed, because one of my friends back home lives near a cat dealership and we would be black and blue if we ever tried. And in an attempt to keep the rules universal, it applies to all farm equipment." I stopped. Everyone in the car was staring at me. Even Liz was looking in the rear view mirror. I looked from Peach to Quia and back again. "Really, there are a lot of cats there and I think we'd probably kill each other." I thought they doubted the amount of cats and thought Meche and I to be wusses or something.

Silence continued. Liz had finally put her eyes back on the road, but Peach and Quia still looked at me with great confusion. Finally, after what seemed to be minutes (probably half a minute max), Peachy looked at me and said, "Your friend lives by a cat dealership." It was my turn to look at him funny. "Well, yes. I guess not right by it. I mean, you pass it on the way to her house. She lives out of town." He continued to look at me. "A cat dealership?" Then it hit me. He may be an Eagle Scout, but that doesn't mean he knows farm equipment. Rand and I once tried to explain what a combine was to someone at Christendom, so I guess this wasn't too strange. "Yes, Peachy, a cat dealership. You know, Butler?" He shook his head. "Bobcat?" At that he looked startled. "Oh come on Peachy, you know what a cat is." He gave me a very strange look and gave a tentative, "Meow." I have laughed very hard in my life before. I've laughed till my face hurt, stomach hurt, till I wasn't breathing in anymore, till I cried, and yes, even to the point of wetting my pants. Granted the last two did not happen in that car. Despite that, I think that may have been one of the hardest laughs I'd had in a very long time. After I started laughing, Quia and Liz joined in. Peachy even began to laugh, although he didn't seem to know what about.

Once I'd regained my breath, I looked at a now thoroughly confused Peachy and said, "No, Peach. A cat is short for caterpillar. It's a piece of farm or road construction equipment. Like a back hoe or skid steer or front loader." It took a few more minutes of straightening out, but eventually Peachy was consouled with the fact that we do not sell kittens in dealerships. And we do not paint them yellow and put them on display on the roadside. Maybe when cow tipping losses it's fun, but not for now.

Rich Irish people.

2006-07-13T00:07:00.000-04:00

I thought certain Irephile members would be interested.

I heard on the news recently that the 2005 Human Development Report has ranked Ireland as second with regard to standards of living in the world today. The Irish are richest bar Norway. Ireland traditionally has been Europes poor brother. However this happened must be something.

God Bless.

Stop the Presses!

2006-07-11T09:44:00.000-04:00

It happened! They finally did it! It took them six years but they finally did it.

The Christendom website's course Bulletin has been updated. No longer are we taking only three history classes and five English. No longer are the History classes named different things. They are all updated. Also updated on the site are the books needed for English classes. All the major requirements are also updated. In other words, if one needs to know what the classes left to take are like, the new Bulletin is online. Go check it out. The only thing not yet updated is the seperate page about the different core classes and their books. They are still waiting for Volume IV for history 201. But don't worry. Its due out any time now. It should be out in 1999.

Captain Oblivious

2006-07-07T13:09:00.000-04:00

Hello to all. This post is merely to ask Cpt. Oblivious if or when his family will be moving out to FR. I thought the move was going to take place during the summer, and it occurred to me that if they were already out here than I wanted to see him!

I thought of one more thing to tell y'all. My Wicked Cool Uncle Jenislawski has offered me a job with the company he's trying to start up. They are restoring old Catholic books that are out of print, in other languages, etc. I will be talking to him and his partner about it tomorrow (Sat), so please pray for me to make a good decision about taking the job or not.

The Cat Dealership

2006-07-03T23:32:00.000-04:00

ANS

2006-06-30T22:19:00.000-04:00

As anticlimactic as this may be, it's possible I have a name for what's wrong with me. (And not just something I came up with, a real scientific name.) I went to the doctor today. We discussed my recent heart tests. I'm always at a loss about what to tell doctors when they ask what's been happening to me. I want to ask if they really want to know everything, 'cause the list is usually pretty long. But at the same time, I don't want to leave anything important out. Ya know? Anyway, I finished my Medical Woes of the White Phantom in the Last Six Months with a story about how I almost gave poor Mary Grace a heart attack by looking unusually white one day at Mass. (Seriously, she looked really scared. I mean, I was the one tittering on consciousness and I asked her if she was okay. I felt really bad.) Anyway, she probably doesn't even remember it now, so I'll shut up about that. After I finished, Dr. Nandi's eyes lit up. I was confused about why she looked happy that I'd nearly scared one of my friends to death. She said, "Yes, yes I knew it! I was correct!" I barely got a chance to figure out what she said (she's from India and has a thick accent) before she said, "Remember last time I said you might have an autonomic nervous system imbalance? Yes, yes I did. That's what I thought first." She had to repeat herself before I got all of it. Then I did remember her saying something about that, but she hadn't been actually diagosing me, just throwing out another suggestion into the pot.

Anyway, so basically this is how it goes. There's a part of your central nervous system called the autonomic nervous system. It controls everything from salivating to blood vessel dilation to digestion to bronchial dilation. Pretty much all organ functions. the ANS is divided into two parts (sympathetic and parasympathetic for those of you who care). These two parts counteract each other and stay in a fine balance. The sympathetic takes care of things like "fight or flight" and basically the gettin' goin'. The parasympathetic is the relaxing part. If the balance is off and the parasympathetic takes over, things like fainting, turning white, nausea, dizziness, and weakness occur. Sound familiar? There's just a couple of problems. There's no test, no treatment, no nothing. No one knows what causing it or how it can be prevented. So this is the point where I go "Okay.", shrug, and not climb on tall things when I get dizzy. I'm not terribly excited about the idea of having something with no cure. But I'm really excited about maybe having an answer. Actually, I take that back. It hasn't really set in. And because there's no test, we can't know for sure. But this is good enough for me. I am going to have a sleep lab done in December to see if I have sleep apnea, but Dr. Nadi promised that's the last test. I've been doing some research on ANS instability (the American Heart Association calls it "autonomic failure") but I don't know. I'm kind of sick of the medical scene. And I have a bio test on Monday. I'll think more about this later.

More deep thoughts, with Jack Handy

2006-06-29T09:34:00.000-04:00

I know that this is a long post, but Smitha read it and said it was good. I hope that it does not bore or otherwise cause distraction. It doesn't have a title, but I guess it doesn't need one. Its because I've been reading all about C. S. Lewis. i guess I just want to write about our times.

I have noticed something about modern society. It actually is something I’ve probably seen before, but never thought about. In fact, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that I not only knew about it already, but I’ve been told it a million times before. But enough with background introductions and let us move on to the main body.

The modern world has become unnatural. All of today’s world problems reflect this unnatural feeling towards creation. This becomes clear in examining the interests and pastimes of certain groups of people, namely the “MTV crowd,” as they have been called. The interests include drinking, free sex, contraception, and disdain for order and authority, whether it be parental or social. It can be seen in many places, least of which is on MTV herself, whether on TV, in the movies, or, unfortunately, in the lives of “role models” found on today’s magazine racks. The horrors mentioned above, of which I am sure you are familiar with, are rampant, frequently attained, and open to anyone. How did all of this come about? It all comes from a revolution against the natural order. These interests are rooted in the inter-workings of nature. They take natural processes and turn them upside-down, abusing them for a selfish, almost satanic purpose.

Look at drinking. This is not drinking as in what I just did, of taking a bottle of water, putting it to one’s lips, pouring the water into the mouth, and swallowing. That is not what I am referring to, although it will be brought up in a moment. What I am referring to is process of getting drunk, of taking in as much alcohol as humanly possible until one is not able to function. Therein lies the abuse. It is not only an abuse of the alcohol, which in the technical sense is no different than the water I just drank, save for the fact that it can alter the physical person depending on the amount taken in. Alcohol is a naturally forming drink. If a grape burst open and somehow is left to ferment, it will naturally turn alcoholic (or into vinegar, depending on certain factors). The abuse is when the person who drinks the said alcohol, lets say wine for example, does it to an excess.

Now the matter of abuse does not solely rely on the fact that the person drank too much alcohol. It depends on the person’s will in drinking. If a person, say a young man who had never had a glass of wine before, drinks two glasses where his body can only function normally after one, he may become intoxicated. He was not aware that that much alcohol would affect him in that way. He had no experience in that field, and probably did not even notice the alcoholic effects of the first glass until he had already begun the second one. His intoxication is, in sense, natural. For in a similar vein, animals in the wild can eat certain fruit or grass that has a similar effect to our drunkenness. These animals, as with the young man, like the taste of the intoxicator and continue to take it in until they are not able to function properly. There is a case, a recent one, of a goose that ate a certain type of grass that led to its intoxication. It hit a car while flying. Accidental intoxication, therefore, is a type of warning in nature, not to harm the body. Like a bad smelling plant or porcupine’s thorns, accidental intoxication is the natural way to protect the body from harming itself.

But let us return to the problem at hand, that of unnatural alcohol abuse. What happens is this: A man or woman goes out of his or her way to become intoxicated. It does not happen by accident but by design. The person uses the natural act of drinking, the same one I used to drink water, and the natural creation of a fermented drink for the wrong purposes. Rather than drinking the alcohol for refreshment or for the taste the person drinks it to harm himself. There the natural aspect has been lost, and a sub-natural one has taken over. The person is less natural than animal. Unfortunately, this is not a new thing. For thousands of years the abuse of alcohol has destroyed men and nations. It has been condemned by many, including God Himself. Yet it persists today and is glorified by those who despise what is natural.

What suffers similar abuse, but to a much more secretive degree, is the marital act. It goes by many names, and will be referred to here as its shortened reference, sex. Sex is one of the most blessed acts every bestowed upon man by God. It was created with a twofold purpose: to create life and to bring a married couple together, for “a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh” (Gen 2:24). For one can not exist without the other. New life needs a family, and marriage is the perfect place for the new life to grow.
Both aspects of sex are under attack in this modern world. For new advances in sciences are aimed not at preserving the union of sex but rather at breaking it apart. Everyday scientists work hard to find simpler, more efficient contraceptives that remove all chance of life beginning. It is all in support of the “free love” aspect of modern society. What was once God’s most blessed gift has become another article of fun, another tool to pleasure. What was once used for the miracle of life and the holy bond of marriage has become something you must do as many times in your life as you can with just as many people. It is with shock and scorn that the modern world greets a man who is abstaining from sex until marriage. Why, this puzzled broken generation asks, would one not want to enjoy sex? Of course, one could argue that it would be better to keep sex within marriage, where it belongs, because it is more binding than many realize, that it is best with the person you are willing to spend the rest of your life with. However the modern world to shouts back, “why would we want to stay with one person our entire life?” And the angry shouts continue into the night, when the people are amused by the lifestyle of one who does not live in the light.

Sex is a natural thing. It is how human beings reproduce, as well as bind wedded couples together. It is natural, therefore, that a married couple use sex as a way to bring offspring, that is, children, into the world. The unnatural vice of modern society to not only encourage premarital sex but to encourage blocking the very crucial life aspect of the act is appalling. Sex has been taken from its pedestal, thrown to the ground, and stomped on. It has been taken, like drinking alcohol, not only to a subhuman level, but a sub-natural one. All the original reasons for sex have been removed and thrown away as the youth of the world have thrown themselves into the modern orgy that is our world.

Following in the wake of these atrocities is disdain for authority. Anyone with authority, whether it be parents, governmental, or spiritual have been dismissed, by this modern society as not only unnecessary but as evil. This is not a new problem either, for it goes back to the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, where all authority was said to be dead. The thinkers of the Enlightenment felt that each individual is responsible for his or her own actions, and no one can tell the people what they can or cannot do. The role of the state for these people, as Hobbes suggested, is merely to ensure one can do what ever he or she wishes, not to dictate morality upon the masses. Church authorities have been told to butt out, parents have been rebelled against, and the government in many places has been attacked. Order, a natural process, has been abandoned. Even God has been attacked and declared defeated. Nothing seems natural, and nothing seems real. A popular song from the Vietnam War era (“For What It's Worth” performed by Buffalo Springfield) says it well: “Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.”

Those words surmise this society. The relativism of the world has shown that when nothing is true, nothing makes sense. One can not remove what is natural and still survive. It is through the natural that we has living beings have any chance of living in any society. To abandon so blatant a necessity is literally suicide. We can only hope that eventually common sense and logic, which have also been abandoned as of late, will rise from the ashes that were once civilization.

home

2006-06-28T13:16:00.000-04:00

well, i'm thinking i'll just have to throw a party. summer is officially here as of June 21st, and i officially miss all of you. i'm quite a silly person. while Teddy was gone i complained to all of you about how much i missed him. now he's back and i complain to him about how much i miss all of you. silly as i may be however, i did appreciate and enjoy my time with you all this semester. and now i'm doing the same with Teddy.
anyway, i'm thinking a party on a Saturday would be good. start early, end late. hopefully it would accomodate most peoples schedules. it will be at my place of residence, which is 25 minutes east of Christendom. has anyone been in touch with Carducci? i keep meaning to be, but i've been having internet setbacks.
my dear roomie of the past 2 years came to visit me last weekend. we went into DC for the day on Saturday and then went to see a live performance of Riverdance. it was sweet. there's one scene where the Irishmen have a dance-off with Broadway tap dancers: it was absolutely amazzzzzzzzing to see. it was raining that night and we had lawn seating, so we got damp and i watched through rain-stained glasses because i had forgotten to wear contacts, but it was all part of the adventure.
this coming weekend's adventure lends the subject title for this post: I'M GOING HOME! for a 5 day visit. Teddy and Mary B. are coming with and my grandparents, who i haven't seen for over a year, will be there too. the 3 of us are actually leaving tomorrow morning. i'm so excited! not that i miss home very much i must admit, but i miss my family and i'm looking forward to seeing g-pa and g-ma and having Teddy be with the fam for a few days. plus, i'll get to ride my motorcycle more, w00t!
well, i'll end this long post and be in touch about having the party. au revoir mes amis!

New Look

2006-06-27T18:02:00.000-04:00

Once again, the 8 oc has had some major changes. The pictures were taken off, because some people no longer felt safe with their pictures on the blog. It had been decided way back when I put the pictures up, that if, for any reason, someone had a problem with it, they would all be taken down. It would just look weird with some pictures up and some down and some of fairies. I also mixed around the order of some things on the side bar. I'm still hoping to get a picture of Mary up on the sidebar. I don't know why I never did. Anyway, so any preferences on the picture? Our Lady of Guadalupe? Lourdes? Miraculous Medal? Help of Christians? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Anyway, I hope these changes are to everyone's liking, and if not. Well, let me or Ry know. I hope summer's going well. I've got one week left of bio 101 and then a week off and then environmental biology. The class is really interesting. I'm thinking I really like genetics. I've been doing some more research into the bioethics thing, and I've found most bioethicists have some kind of specialty. I'm leaning towards either embryology or genetics. *shrug* But we will see. I'll know more once I get past the 101 stage!

Because I know everyone cares. . .

2006-06-20T15:25:00.000-04:00

Because I know everyone cares, I got a box in the mail yesterday from TAN books. The last two of the books that I bought at the Homeschooling convention arrived yesterday. The books, for those who forgot, and/or are still reading this post, are Isabella of Spain: The Last Crusader and Characters of the Inquisition, both by William Thomas Walsh.

Oh, and in exciting Rome news, the latest issue of National Geographic discusses some underground places to visit in Rome, including a crypt church made of human bones.

Oh Sydney. Would you like to go on a field trip to see the crypt made of human skulls?

It's amazing. . .

2006-06-19T15:36:00.000-04:00

I posted this on my blog, but I figured more people would read it if I put it up here.

It is truly amazing what I think of sometimes. Other times, its not that surprising. And sometimes, I don't actually think, but rather absorb the thoughts of other like a human thought sponge. I use these thoughts violently as my own, expanding upon them until they explode like a hot dog that has been cooking too long. Classic example is my previous post. I was inspired by that post by a short commentary found in the Washington Times about illegal immigrants. The person made a quick comment that the illegals are not interested in becoming citizens. I took this idea and drew it a step further, running with it, invoking my historical powers. Now I do it again, thinking about the most holy union of two people in the world, marriage. From this same newspaper, although from a different day, there was another person who lamented the death of marriage to those who simply don't care. Why, the person pondered, do women in particular even bother with traditional things like white dresses and veils, since a lot of the brides are not virgins, as such garments symbolize. This made me think because this weekend, on Saturday, I attended a wedding. It was of a family friend (the groom), but what made matters more pressing to me was that I actually knew this family friend. I grew up with his sister and his brother was a close friend of my sister and cousin, as well as myself. I also knew him well enough, for he was a close friend of another of my cousins. So this was a family that I knew. It turns out I didn't know them as well as I thought. I probably was told, but I forgot, what I 'found out' Saturday. The sister, whom I had grown up with through high school at my parish, brought her little baby she recently had given birth to. She is not married. I also found out that the groom's parents were not together. Also, I found out that the lady that had gotten out of the car with the father was his new girlfriend, his new significant other, you could say. I don't know if the mother has found anyone else. Yet the wedding was performed in a Church, my parish, and the ceremony was performed (is that the right word? I know the people in the couple are the ministers of the sacrament, but what is the priest?) by the former pastor of my parish, one of the priests I am closest to. He is a legit priest, as will be shown. He's the one that came to my sister's baccalaureate and concelebrated the Mass. Anyway, so they had a marriage ceremony, with the priest and witnesses present. And Fr. McCann (that's the priest) gave a splendid homily on the importance of the ideal of life long marriage. I am almost certain the homily was directed at the parents, who were not living this ideal. Yet I fear that it fell on deaf ears. I then looked at the bride as she stood at the altar. She had a long, flowing white dress, with a light veil over her face. She had smiled as she walked down the altar, and I'm sure she still smiled as she said the words that wedded the two as one flesh. I stood there, and realized that it was one of the most beautiful things in existence. Yet I could not help but think back to the commentary about marriage. I wondered about the bride, then pushed it out of my head. I shouldn't worry about that. Everything falls into place.
"Let all mortal flesh keep silent. . ."
Also this weekend, Sunday, we had a Corpus Christi procession around the neighborhood. The neighborhood, by the way, is not a pretty place. Yet we marched with our lord under the umbra and with incense and candles. The weather was warm yet I did not notice. I was marching with my Lord. Rocky 6 is coming out soon. They are working on another Indiana Jones movie. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are working on a movie together again. Everyone is coming out of retirement. So did I. I was the emcee of that Corpus Christi procession. I lead the congregation through the neighborhood, almost taking a wrong turn only once. The incense held up, and nobody fainted. I lead my Lord in his holy parade, leading him out to the world, the back to his abode.
"Tantum Ergo Sacramentum . . ."
Beauty comes in many faces. It could be the sight of two people saying "I do" to each other as they unite in that sweetest of unions, the union of a man and a woman before God and man. It could be in the procession of a congregation of people, many of which don't understand the beauty of what is carried enthroned before them. I know for a fact not everyone understood. Yet some did. I did. It was truly beautiful.

2006-06-17T23:15:00.000-04:00

Time to go back to the olden days. Well, the days right after Vatican II. Well, read for yourself. I hope this cuts down on the number of people raising their hands towards the priest when saying "And also with you."

US Bishops approve changes to the Mass
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=6969)
LOS ANGELES, June 16 (CNA) - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted yesterday to accept proposed changes to the English translation of the Mass. Although a survey released last November by the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy indicated that the bishops might be split on the changes, an overwhelming majority voted to accept the proposal, with some minor amendments. After much prayer and discussion during the months leading up to the meeting, the Bishops debated for only 20 minutes on Thursday on a variety of wording changes, then voted to accept the new translation.The changes, widely reported by the Catholic and secular press, will alter the wording of 12 of the 19 texts spoken by Catholics during worship, including the Nicene Creed, the Gloria, the Penitential Rite, the Sanctus and Communion. While some fear that the changes will cause confusion in the parish, many bishops believe that the adjustments will be a smooth transition compared to the turmoil experienced by many parishes in the 1970’s, following the changes of Vatican II. Fr. Christopher Layden, a scholar of Catholic liturgy who spent five years in Rome studying at the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo, said that Catholics should not be worried about the changes. “Thirty-some years ago we made the transition from Latin, a language which no one speaks, to English,” Fr. Layden said, “to think that the current changes will result in some kind of catastrophe at the parish level is to seriously underestimate the people of God.” “I’ve heard the concern raised that the new translations are too distant from the way we speak ‘on the street’,” Layden continued, “in some ways, that is precisely the idea. While the saying of the Mass in English is meant to draw people in from their everyday lives, the whole purpose of the Mass is then to uplift us, to lift our eyes and ears to heaven. If anything, these changes will remind Catholics of what is really happening in the Mass.”The long process of making changes to the English translation has taken the work of numerous linguistic, biblical, and liturgical scholars. Following the announcement of the document Liturgiam Authenticam in 2001 the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) was asked by the Vatican to propose a version of the English Mass which was more faithful to the original Latin. Liturgiam Authenticam - subtitled, On the use of Vernacular Languages in the Publication of the Books of the Roman Liturgy - aims at ensuring that the Roman Catholic Mass is celebrated using translations which are more uniform despite the diversity of nationalities and primary languages which exist among the faithful of Catholic Church. The English translation proposed by ICEL, which is led by 11 bishops from 11 English-speaking countries around the world, required the approval of the US Bishops before it can be finally approved by the Vatican.A USCCB source has told CNA that although the bishops made slight adjustments to the proposed translation, the changes do not substantially affect the sprit of what the Vatican had encouraged through ICEL, and has no doubt that the amended final document will be approved.Bishop Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds (England) and Chairman of ICEL, spoke to the American Bishops prior to the vote telling them that their vote was “a very important moment.” “If the bishops of the English-speaking countries can agree on a single version of the Mass,” Bishop Roche said, “what a sign of catholicity that will be.”Bishop Roche told the bishops that following Vatican II there was, “an urgent feeling that the liturgy should be made available to the people as soon as possible, and the work was rushed.” Many theologians, he said, think that through the hurried translation currently in use, much of the richness of the Church’s Eucharistic theology has been “severely diminished.” This, he said can change with the new translation Paraphrasing Pope Benedict, Roche closed by telling the bishops, “Of course, if you try to carry a cup of coffee across a room too quickly, much of the contents may spill. This time, we have tried to keep the coffee in the cup.”

Life is Good

2006-06-16T22:56:00.000-04:00

Hello All!

PBJgirl is still alive and kicking. Although I don't have much energy for the kicking part right now. It was a non-w00t night at work. Buuuuuuttttt. . . Teddy is home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and has been for over a week. What more can I say? Life is good!
In between all my time with him, I've started babysitting for the J'ski's little girl. She is sooooooo cute! And it's so weird to see J'ski in grubbys! The first day I went to their house he addressed me as his "favorite niece." He's so wicked cool! I'm glad we adopted him!
Well, I haven't discovered any new shark species, honestly I haven't been looking. But, I have been reading. Currently I'm engrossed in "Conceived Without Sin" by Bud McFarlane. I am really enjoying it.
I miss all of you. I got to see Bowman the other day when I stopped by at Christendom. I think Ibid, Carducci and I need to plan a get-together. PQ, where do you live? I can't remember. Maybe you should be part of that get-together too. Oh, and Ry also, if he has any spare time (*doubtful frown*).
Well, I'm off to read my book and catch some z's.
Happy Father's Day to all your dads. I'll keep them in my prayers this sunday.

Update.

2006-06-16T21:27:00.000-04:00

I've decided now was the time to give ya'll the update. I've been working for two weeks now. Desk job, my own cubicle and office issued laptop. My first assignment was to reaserch build tools and CI servers and decide which was best for the company. This coming week I should be able to install them on the developement boxes. That'll be sweet. That's especially so because for the first few weeks I'll be the only person who knows how to work them. He He He.

In other news I'll be going to the Manassas Republican convention tomarrow. I'll get vote in the primary for who I think has a better chance at senator and representative. I have to be there by 8:30, though. Oh, well, should be fun. Failing that it will be educational.

I've been reading this facinating book on the war crime trials at Chichi Jima after World War II. Eating prisoners of war is pretty disgusting.

My brother will be joining the CFPA (Christian Phalangist Part of America) soon. I'm sure of it. He'll also be going West Point in a few weeks. I'll be able to take his room when he leaves. That'll be nice because as it is I'm sharing two rooms with two brothers on opposite ends of the house. I keep my stuff in the basement and sleep on the top floor.

So that's the update. Until next time,

God Bless.

Discoveries of the fishy kind

2006-06-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

While I have not been going back to school (even though I'm working at one) I have been keeping up on random news. Here is an article that popped up on my AIM this morning. It is a real interest for me, as you shall see why. I like reading articles like this one. WP, you can even bring it up in class, if you'd like.

New Shark Species Found Off U.S. Coast
AP
COLUMBIA, S.C. (June 12) - A new genetically distinct species of hammerhead shark, the ninth recognized species of hammerhead, has been discovered off the South Carolina coast, scientists say.

The new species appears to be rare and lives off the South Carolina coast. Classified under the genus sphyrna, will be called the "cryptic species" for the time being.

Joe Quattro, a biology professor at the University of South Carolina, worked with Jim Grady of the University of New Orleans and Trey Driggers of the National Marine Fisheries Service in making the find.

Quattro discovered the new species while studying along the coast with biologists from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

Quattro and his colleagues found that genes in the mitochondrial DNA - the DNA passed from mother sharks to their offspring - differed significantly among sharks that were classified as scalloped hammerhead sharks.

The studies also revealed that another independent genetic marker differed substantially between the two groups of scalloped hammerheads.

"This cryptic shark was genetically distinct," said Quattro, whose research was published recently in the journal, Marine Biology.

Scalloped hammerheads are common along the coast and sharks of the cryptic species were found from Florida to North Carolina. The newborn cryptic sharks, however, were found mainly along the South Carolina coast.

"The apparent abundance of the cryptic species in coastal South Carolina could be a result of sampling, but it might also highlight the fact that the South Carolina bays are the more important nursery grounds for the cryptic species," Quattro said.

Something as simple as the salinity of the water might explain why the sharks prefer the South Carolina coast, said Quattro, who plans a field trip this summer to tag the cryptic sharks so scientists can learn more about them.

Because they seem to have a narrow geographic distribution, the sharks may be at greater risk for extinction.

"If South Carolina's waters are the primary nursery grounds for the cryptic species and females gather here to reproduce, these areas should be conservation priorities," Quattro said.

Sharkboy is getting so excited. Getting so excited.

Chemical Bonds, Ionic Bonds, Covalent Bonds, Hydrogen Bonds, and James Bond

2006-06-13T22:18:00.000-04:00

Don't worry, I didn't switch from biology to chemistry. I would never do such a thing. It'd be like taking astronomy. Ew. Oh, I'm going to get pelted with star shaped sugar cookies now, aren't I? I will say this once and then Peach can kill me. Looking at the stars isn't a science, it's silly. Okay, now that I've got that off my chest. :P My bio teacher felt we needed to learn the "chemistry of biology." Today was my second day of summer class. As I was driving to campus yesterday morning two opposing thoughts were running through my head. The first went something like, "Yes! I'm getting out of the house. I am doing something with my summer. No more laying on the couch. I have a purpose!" The other was, "Are you crazy? It's summer. You don't want to study during the year, much less in June!" The first one won out easily. I don't necessarily like studying, but I do love learning, and I really think biology is interesting.

I did have a harder time with my wardrobe, though. I know this college and I knew a vast majority of the student would probably walk in with their pjs on. Or at least jeans. But I couldn't do it. After two years of dress code, I just couldn't do it. I actually had to force myself to go casual dress code (khaki skirt, blue Snow White shirt -- don't worry, I took the big blue puffy sleeves off first! What, do you think I'm nuts?). I mean really, it was the first day of class. Anyway, as I walked in, the first person I saw was wearing a button down shirt, tie, and dress shoes. I almost squeaked. Everyone else had pjs and jeans. But at least I wasn't so out of place. Another nice surprise, was two middle school/early junior high (pre-move) friends were in the class along with another sophomore year (2nd high school, the big one) friend were taking the class. W00t. Plus I've befriended dressed up guy (turns out he had to work) and another guy.

The lecture so far has been interesting. It's a lot of cell stuff and human workings and not so much bugs and such. Though we do seem to talk about zebras and giraffes a fair amount. It is SO WEIRD to be back in a classroom where the existence of God is not automatically assumed. Granted, I went to public school up to junior year. But it's been four years. Today when Dr. L-A announced class was beginning, I almost stood for prayer! Lab is a bit of a different story. As PQ could tell all of you, I'm not so great in lab. I have a tendency to stare into space looking confused. (I usually am.) The very first day I fell into the role I do best: writing down what other people tell me. (Remember PQ? I just hope that if there is anything to pour or temperatures to take, they'll let me do that. :P) For those of you who didn't spend 2 hours once a week for a semester in the basement of Pius "physics lab." PQ and I found out that I am just splendid at carrying and pouring hot liquid, writing things down, and taking temperatures. PQ mentioned that it correlated nicely with the 3 "traditional jobs for women." Or something like that. But lab is fun. We built fat and sugar today out of brightly colored balls representing carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and something else.

Long story short: I like school. The other kids play nice. My teacher is nice. My mommy makes me yummy lunch. (I'm serious, Carducci can tell you about my love affair with peanut butter and honey sandwiches.) But there's no nap time.

Also, today in class, Dr. L-A said something funny and I snorted. There's always something monumental about snorting for the first time around people. *shrug* At least Tie-Guy (as my mom has dubed him) found it amusing.

Birthday singing

2006-06-13T10:07:00.000-04:00

I know I sent it as an email, but I'm paranoid that emails don't reach people. So here is the message again, just in case you missed it the first time:

Hello everyone.
I hope that this email finds you in "good health and good times." I hope everyone's summers are going splendidly, and that everyone is getting some chance to relax. (I also hope that everyone on this mailing list knows that I have their email address. If not, I'm sorry, but it just happens. AOL likes to add addresses to my book without my knowledge.)

I am today to ask you a favor. I do not know how much help each individual could be, but I'm sure as a collective you will all be most helpful.

I am currently working on a monumental project, one that shows the true dedication not only of myself but the entire male side community. I am, in short, editing and filling the Birthday Singing Songbook. I am also working on what the second semester of birthday singing will be like under my leadership. This is where you people come in. I ask you humbly to give me song suggestions. Were there ever any songs that you asked for, or wanted to ask but could not bring yourself to ask, and did not hear, to your listening pleasure, the wonderful singing boys sing. Do not assume that I have the song already, for I may not. Never assume anything. Also, I was wondering if there were any other suggestions on how to make the second semester of my junior year (and probably my entire senior year) as painless as possible. Remember, this is for you girls, so it is up to you to speak up. Please tell me what you want to happen.

For you alumni please tell me what worked in the past, or you wished would happen, as well as popular requests from before I came to Christendom. Both will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time. Also, please email other people you know about this, giving them my address, so that they may also respond and give me precious feedback.

Hehe. I sound so formal in that thing.

Homeschooling Conference

2006-06-10T22:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I went to the conference, where there were a whole bunch of books. BOOKS PEOPLE! I couldn't help myself. More on that in a moment. First, the people. I saw Joe Mazarra and Andy Cole, together, as well as Draper Warren. It was fun seeing people I actually knew. I also stopped by and said hi to Tom McFadden at the Christendom stand, where I got a new map (an updated photo one) and other stuff. I also saw Mike Powell, and two of his sisters, who were working a stand. Mike was also promoting Chorus. There I saw the poster for the movie, which is an awesome, near breath taking thing. There was also a summery of the movie, as well as a laptop to show the trailer. I walked up to the place, looking at the poster, and commented to the girls behind the table (I didn't realize who they were then, but they looked familiar) that the poster looks really good. They asked if I was interested in it, and I said a little, since I helped make the movie, and am in it, and am in the trailer. By then they had gotten a better look at me, and realized that, yes, my hairy mug is in fact in the trailer. So we got to talking and I was excited. It was really exciting. It was later that I realized I forgot to email Mike and ask for my own poster, to have and to hold, richer or poorer, till misfortune do we part.
But anyway, to the exciting things, like the books I bought. This year I bought less than last, but the ones I bought were really good. So Here's what I got:

Mexican Martyrdom - About the Mexican revolution and the Church persecution involved.

Secular Saints - by Joan Carroll Cruz; discusses saints who reached their rank not through mystic visions or religious vows. These are all lay saints, people like you and me.

Philip II - by William Thomas Walsh; Used and highly reccommended by Dr. Carroll in Volume IV.

The Glory of Christendom - By Warren H. Carroll; I lost my other copy of this one at school (mysteriously...). Now I have the complete set of A history of Christendom (so far, that is)

Lepanto - by G. K. Chesterton with notes/commentary, ed. Dale Alhquist; the best possible combo of a poem and the background behind it.

St. Thomas Aquinas - By G. K. Chesterton; Now I have the 2 biographies, St. Francis and St. Thomas, that GK wrote.

C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church - by Joseph Pearce; I bought this, not knowing it was a presigned copy (not a stamped one, an actual written with a pen signiture). It is about Lewis and what stopped him from becoming a Catholic, something that has often puzzled me.

The Irish in America - A kid's book, but pretty comprehensive, and gives me names and battles to look up for my thesis.

The Spirit of '76 - Not only was this used by Carroll in Volume V, but it is also an out of print Christendom Press book.

I also ordered to be sent to me the following:

Isabella of Spain - William Thomas Walsh; Highly recommended by Carroll (he used it in Isabel of Spain and in Volume II), and I used it for my paper on her as well. I really wanted to read it, and now I can.

Characters of the Inquisition - William Thomas Walsh; Also used and recommened by Carroll in Volume III. Should be interesting.

So that's what I got. I will, eventually, read all of these books and more before I die. I saw some copies of some Dostoyevsky books, but they were not in that great of condition. So I skipped on them. Oh well.

Also, my parish held the annual softball tournament for the Archdiocese. We didn't make it to the finals, but I think most of them had fun. It was great, even if I was too old to play.

And ladies and gentlemen ...

2006-06-06T22:49:00.000-04:00

... the Ayes have it! Or rather Christendom has it. They have gotten their hands on the apartments that Mrs. Bauer told us about during our second Rome meeting. We are going to be living less than a mile from the Vatican! Here is the place we are going to be ... and below is a map of how far it is from the Vatican. Enjoy!

Phantom Update

2006-06-06T07:09:00.000-04:00

I've been busy. Somewhat. Bob and I went down to Sioux Falls a couple of days ago for one of my friend's ordination to the diaconate. This was my first ordination, and, whoa, talk about cool. I've experienced or seen all the other sacraments. (Although, I'm thinking back to the few weddings I've seen and. . . hmm, maybe. The rest of the sacraments, I've experienced personally, so we're good on that. And what does this have to do with the price of cheese? Sorry, 'bout that.) Anyway, it was totally cool and if any of you guys (and I do mean guys :P) want to become priests, I am so behind you! (Well, except maybe Basil Howe. Basil, if you're reading this, don't even think about it. Everyone else, go for it.) So my friend, Toma. (nickname) Great guy and now he's got three indelible marks on his soul. Lucky dog. It was so bizarre, though, because there was a general reception afterwards. There were so many people there I haven't since the summer before I came to Christendom. Granted, I'm kind of at the same spot I was at that point. (Sick, single, not sure what I want to do with my life, living at home, and jobless. Wow, I sound like a bum.) Or at least superficially. Ha ha. I do like to think I've grown since then.

I wasn't able to make it to Toma's private party. (Stupid, stupid head.) But Bob went so that was good. The next day I was able to see Kali (y'all remember her, right?), who is off to Penn. for some more Army training. She's changing her MOS from mechanical to chemical so she can be part of some chemical reconnaissance team. She's also applying to be a sergant, which is crazy, because she's only been in for a couple of years. But it sounds like she's going to get it. (I think I'm going to have to start saluting her.)

We left for home the next morning at early. (5 am.) Bob hadn't gotten much sleep and was in a fowl mood, so the car ride back wasn't too pleasant. At least Grumpy Gills made me sit in the back seat, so it wasn't all akward and I'm-going-to-pretend-I'm-giving-you-space-even-though-I'm-in-
the-seat-next-to-you. But then we stopped at Perkins (y'all know what a Perkins is?) and got foods and life was better.

Since then I've been painting the railing on the deck (scraping rust off of metal is not an enjoyable task) and mixing techno songs (or at least trying). Oh! I got my grades. Other than that one soar spot which is Latin, I did pretty well. I guess you could say I got 5 Ds, but 4 of them were wearing belts. He he! No Cs, and unfortunately, no A's. But someday. My GPA is finally not something I want to throw up on, although I think I'm going to be working my little Phantom bum off trying to make it presentable. I'm counting on PBJ Girl being a good influence.

May She Rest In Peace

2006-06-05T19:38:00.000-04:00

I have a request to make of everyone. If you could all please pray for the soul of Mrs. Kelly, K. C. DuFrain's grandmother who passed away today I would be very, very grateful. Please also pray for all of her family, that they get through this period of sorrow and grow in grace.
Thank you all, very much.

In Christ;
Sean

Report cards

2006-06-04T00:17:00.000-04:00

Your report cards will be coming soon. So, either be prepared to show them happily to your parents, or hide them in your desk or something.

I'm not gonna say what I got on my report card yet. For the details, see my blog. Let's just say this taste, a preview:

I've decided to enter myself into the mental running for cum laude. If all my report cards are like the one I just got today, It will be easy. Or at least not impossible. In fact, it is very possible.

Well, that was pretty round about.

some of my hobby work...

2006-06-04T00:07:00.000-04:00

So yeah, I was tinkering with the group photo, and decided to make a picture of Maria and Me out of it, and this is how it goes:

Andrew, you mentioned how the banister "disappears" behind us. Take a look above our heads. That fine vertical line is where the wall does a 90. At that point, the banister is gone, so that actually would be wall.

Anyway, I love doodling and changing pictures...

Old School

2006-06-03T15:13:00.000-04:00

I was at my old high school again. I saw their school play and the graduation. Ariel Lynch directed the play and they broke with so many traditions. It was cast based on personality instead of rank. This breaks my heart but it did improve the quality of the performance. I saw Mary German and Andy Cole there. Dr. and Mrs. Rice were also in the audience.

I was also at the graduation. Dr. Manion was the guest speaker. That's right, they had a guest speaker. Did I have a guest speaker? No, I don't think so. Oh well. James Fallon and possilbly Dex Curi will be among the freshemen next year. Remember them Sean? Excentricity this way comes.

Hehe... I have an internship too!

2006-06-03T00:58:00.000-04:00

That's right, I officially have two jobs this summer. I feel GREAT! On top of that, I had three other places call me saying that they wanted me to come in today (Fri) or early next week for interviews. And guess what I got to do? T u r n t h e m d o w n. Booyah. That felt good. I really needed that boost in confidence. Anyway, I'm not going to brag anymore, even though I actually could... lol. I should get to sleep. I'll catch up with you guys later. Word up; Love out; g'night y'all...

4 Days Left!

2006-06-03T00:05:00.000-04:00

well, i'm glad to hear that so many of you are doing well, finding jobs, getting learner's permits, picking thesis topics, etc. i've been busy lately so tonight i visited the blog for the first time in a week or so and i really enjoyed catching up on all your posts.
i'd like to add my name to the list of summer employees. i'm back in front royal and i started waitressing at the south st. grill this past wednesday. i really like it. i've worked every night this week and i'm making really good money. w00t! college can be paid for!
i also might start helping mrs. j'ski and getting paid for that too, so more money for college! double w00t!
Jericho: if you read this, which hopefully you will, the songs i'd like are Unwritten, Bad Day, Your Song (moulin rouge version) and Accidentally In Love. thanks a million!
Ry, if you and Maria have any free time give me a call and i'd love to get together with you guys.
well, thats about it for now. oh yeah, and the title of this post has great significance. for those of you who can't guess, its the number of days until Teddy gets home. 4! thats it! i'm so excited, and he is too. he's looking forward to getting to know those of you who remain on campus this fall, and hopefully he'll be incorporated enough into our weird ways to want to get to know the rest of you come spring semester. anyway, triple w00t!
oh, and one last thing: here's a hint for having the best summer ever ever ever. . . EAT WHIPPED CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More fun Updates

2006-06-02T23:07:00.000-04:00

Alright, I know that this is getting boring, but I'm checking things off my to-do list for the summer (see my blog for details). Today I got my picture taken for my passport. Now all I have to do is fill out the form and go to the place and do the thing.
But more importantly, I have this happy news: I don't have jury duty on Monday! My group number, according to the phone line, does not need to show up for duty. In other words, I get another day off before having to go to work! YEA!

Life is getting better.