Last weekend before Lent

This weekend was fun. I didn't do a whole lot. The highlights of the weekend were Alaina coming down, Jonathan's birthday party, and a final pre-Lent fling...

Alaina, Ken's fiancée, came down this weekend. Everyone thought that she was coming down to celebrate their new house, but we all know that she was more glad to be coming down to see a certain someone (*ahem*), right, Ken?

{wink, wink, nudge, nudge}

Anyway, there was a large celebration at the girls' house for the return of the wonderful Alaina, and there were collectively about fifteen people there. We all sat around talking, and having a wonderful time, often at the expense of others. For instance, when Ashley showed up, MikeE and I ran out to our cars and got our reflective sunglasses, and towered over her with them on. For some reason, it freaks her out, and for some reason, she actually admitted that it freaked her out. MikeE and I know this and play it to the hilt. It's so much fun. Is that wrong, playing on someone's freak-outs for sheer amusement? :)

But what goes around comes around. When Josh and Leslie showed up, one of the first things out of her mouth was that she had heard the most about me. While it sounds like it should be rather flattering (and it actually is), wait until you hear the stories about me that go around. They make me sound like I'm not angelic, which we all know I'm approaching rapidly.

Oh, and by the wayside, "angelic" here means "like a good angel". Don't twist my words around and say, "Demons are fallen angels!" I don't need that. ;)

I made mudslides much later in the evening. They were very good, if I do say so myself. There are things to be said about a good mudslide, and among them are the words, "Yummy!", "So good!", and "Crazy delic!" Let Alex have the eggnog -- I'll take care of the mudslides!

A side note, "delic" is pronounced "delish", like the normal pronunciation of "delicious", but without the "-ious" at the end. Mad props to Joel and Curt for bringing that piece of vocabulary into my life. :)

Jonathan's birthday party was fun. We went to Roma's in Stephen's City. The food there is so awesome! I went out on a limb and tried something I've never had before: the Italian combo, which consisted of pasta alfredo and lasagna. Wow! It was really good! The popular favorite was Tuscany something-or-other. That looked really good, and I even thought about ordering it, but I didn't. And I'm glad I didn't. I'd hate to be a copy-cat... :P

In any event, the party was good. There were a large number of Christendomites in attendance, making Justin L. and me the only alumni. But that's cool, right? Alunmi or not, it was still good to hang out with everyone around really good food and have fun conversation.

After that, we went back to Christendom, just in time for the small plays that were presented by Julian and Ariel. I couldn't tell you what they were called, but they were very well done. Actually, I just remembered what one of them was: Ariel's was a scene from (if not the whole thing of) the Jeweler's Shop. Julian's was a scene from the life of St. Thomas Becket, about his four temptations: women, money, power, and false humility (i.e., his active seeking of martyrdom for the wrong reasons). They were both very powerful in their own ways. The Becket story was a nice beginning to Lent, as though it was warning me to not overdo it, for the sake of the sacrifice.

Every Lent, I'm tempted to go farther and farther, to beat myself and what I did in the previous year. This was a simple reminder as to why Lent is important, not why I think it is important.

The Jeweler's Shop got me thinking along another line. If you know the story, then you can probably guess what about. I was mostly thinking about the fact that I will have to make decisions somewhere along the line, preferably sooner rather than later. These decisions have to do more with my future than my present. Currently, I'm in no position to make many lifetime decisions. I need to start hammering away at my debts first. Later, I'll figure out the more pertinent stuff, like where I'm taking my life...

ANYway, that's a subject that I'm not going to go any further in. Maybe another time...

The final pre-Lent fling: knowing that Lent was right around the corner, I decided to partially live out Mardi Gras a bit early. Rather late on Sunday, I called Lizzie and Emma and asked if either of them wanted to go out and get some ice cream. Only one of them came, and I had a fun time talking with her for a while. The sugar began to work its way through my system, so I knew that I had enough energy to get me back to the apartment.

And on that note, I'll close. Tootles!

Linus lays it all out...

Now, why didn't I think of this before joining a gym?

My po' widdle memowy...

I had such an awesome dream last night. I wanted to put it up here, but I just now remembered that I had meant to do so earlier, and I can't remember anything about it. Drat!!!

Sorry, I have nothing to amuse you with now...

Well, maybe I can come up with something, if I think really hard...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... {POP!}

Shoot. My slippery mind has popped out gotta go fetch it.

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Have you ever tried to pick up a wet watermelon seed off the floor? It's nearly impossible.

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That's what this is like. Except my mind is smaller than a watermelon seed, and a whole lot more slippery...

Tools 'n' fun times

I purchased a lot of tools. :)

Yesterday was a second shot at fixing Carissa B's brakes on her car. She has a nice car, but the brakes were heck. Last week, when I tried fixingf them, I got the wheel off, discovered which bolt I had to remove, and found that it required an alan wrench, which I did not own. Little did I know that at the time I would need one. I knew that I needed an Alan wrench, and in light of this, I purchased every Alan wrench size I could think of, both metric and SAE. Just to be safe, I also purchased star wrenches. For the fun of it, I purchased a lot of other tools and a toolbox (finally!). With all of this stuff, I thought that I'd be able to do the trick for sure.

It never occured to me that "complete" sets fo Alan wrenches, both metric and SAE, would not be enough to do the trick. I tried the larger wrenches. 5/16 was too big. 1/4 was just barely too small, small enough to be able to scoot around and pop out when pressure is applied to the wrench. I used the metric: 10, 8, and 6. 10 was too big. 8 was too big. 6 was way too small. I was really in a hurry when I discovered this, because it was getting late, and I really wanted to get this done. I called Autozone and Advance Auto Parts, asking if they had a 7mm or a 9/32 alan. Advance had a 7mm, but it was part of a socket wrench set. I said, "I'LL TAKE IT!" and went out and got it, a 3/8 socket wrench bar, and a large set of screwdrivers (because I still didn't own any).

The front driver's side was a piece of cake. On the front passenger side, my caliper compressor tool broke. It was quite convenient. At that point, I was kicking myself for not picking up a c-clamp...

I raced back to the stores, but they were closed. I went to Christendom, and finally just borrowed one from the maintenance shed. I hurried back and finished the job, and now her car stops on a dime!

Well, maybe a dollar. It is a bigger car than either one that I have, and they can stop on dimes. :)

Today's Peanuts

This displays my thoughts on 90% of philosophy books. Although my thoughts are not explicitly mentioned in the words, I think you can gather what I mean...

Today's "Adam @ Home"

Now this is my kind of exercise video!!!

Valentine's Day with the girls

Yesterday, Alex S., MikeE, and I went to the girls' house for Valentine's Day. It was really fun. Sarah H., Carissa B., and Christine C. went out of their way to fix us some great food, and we went out of our way to eat it all. :-D

All? Ok, there was too much for us to eat all of it, but we did some pretty significant damage anyway. :)

After dinner, we went downstairs and played "Love Darts" or whatever that game is called where you throw a ball at a target and you have to do whatever it says on the target. I went first, but since I was the only person down there and I threw it on, "Tell someone their three greatest features", it was easy to compliment myself. Next up was MikeE. His first shot was, "Wild". He got to choose what he wanted to do, namely sit on the couch and pass off the balls to someone else. Alex threw them and landed on "Hold someone's hand and sing to them", so Carissa was the victim.

The game got old pretty quickly. We fired up a movie, and ended the night with a comedy. After ten rounds of, "I really should go," we finally left.

Thanks, girls, for a great night!

Today's "Adam @ Home"

How many times a day do you do this? This is the reason why my head is so hard as it is...

Valentine's Day Poems

I love Christendom. I know I've said this before, but I really do. Why do I like it now? Because it gives me an excuse to be really stupid, publish my ridiculous thoughts as poems, and amuse the girls.

Today was the big Valentine's Day celebration at Christendom. I was going to change Carissa's brakes, but I was waylaid by poems. TJ caught me last week and asked me to write some poems. I was only too glad to help him out.

Ask nicely, and I'll post the poems I wrote. :)

Well, anyway, I got a huge kick out of them, but then again, I find that I'm often the only one laughing at my humor. Maybe it's because I'm the only one around? Then again, maybe it's because I need to mature a bit...

...

Nah!

Out with the girls

I went out with Jenne L. and Claire R. today. Peach (Peter S.) joined us as well, which was probably better. One guy with two girls? It could look a little funny.

It was loads of fun! We went potato-chipping at the Route 11 factory. This consisted of watching them make potato chips and trying them afterwards. It's really fascinating. There's an industrial-sized blender that they all go through which slices the potatoes up to the chip sizes, and pours these slices right into a vat of a deep-fat frier. They cook for about ten minutes, during which time they are stirred with a rake. Then, the chips are scooped out, and they dry off almost instantly. The men then sort through them, quickly pulling out the burned chips, and seasoning the rest.

We had some of the fresh batch. They were really good! Claire and Jenne bought a few bags of the yummy goodness, and we took off.

After that, we went to Wendy's and got food. Oh, and since it was snowing, we had a picnic at the gazebo. Have you ever done this? It was really cold! But it was fun!

After that, we walked down Main Street, with them playing my "girlfriends". Jenne played the clingy girlfriend. As the video was shot, she clung tightly to my arm, hinting at marriage and long lives together. Claire played the wierd one. She played the role of the sheltered girl who had seen all of her friends do the arm-in-arm thing, but had never done it herself, and was very clumsy. The third video was me with both of them. If I had a seam, I'm sure I would have torn.

I should probably mention that some onlookers looked at us kind of funny, but they seemed to enjoy the spectacle.

Our final stop was in Faithful and True, the Catholic store in town. I picked up a statue of the Child Jesus, a small, golden-framed image of Our Lady, and a small crucifix and a chain to put it on. After that, we headed back to Christendom, just in time for Peach to get to work.

Fr. O'Keilty

I had the awesome-est dream last night. I dreamt that I was at Christendom, talking with Fr. O'Keilty. He started telling me one of his life stories, and as he told it, my surroundings changed to reflect everything that he was saying. He told the story so vividly that I was an observer of the events as they happened.

There was also a new priest at Christendom. He was a larger priest with red hair, and a bushy red beard. The color was not unlike Kelly P., but lighter and brighter, like the McG. twins. Remember Brendan's beard? That color, but all over. He was Irish as Irish can be. I can't recall his name in my dream, but I know a priest who kind of looks like this: Fr. Dennis Smith. This priest was not Fr. Smith, but for the sake of the story, I'll give him that name.

Anyway, like I said before, I was talking with Father O'Keilty, and the new priest joined our conversation. Fr. O'Keilty and Fr. Smith, both being Irish, had a jolly good time reminiscing about the old days. Apparently these two priests knew each other from way back when. I asked them how they first met each other. Fr. O'Keilty's eyes lit up, and he looked off into the distance. Fr. Smith told me under his breath that Fr. O'K told the story much better than he did, and we both turned towards Father O'K.

Suddenly, I was no longer at Christendom. I was a silent observer. I was in the middle of a jungle, and it was night-time. Machine gun fire could be heard everywhere, and flashes lit up the area. I looked around to see where I was and whether I was in danger. I was in no danger: I didn't even exist, except metaphysically. I could see and interact with everything, but nothing could see me or hear me, but they could become aware of my presence if I had desired to make it known.

I looked around to see if there was anyone around me. As I scanned the brush, I saw a thin barrel and a pair of eyes peeping out. I knew the eyes, but I wanted to make sure. As I approached closer, I saw what looked like a younger Fr. O'Keilty in marine BDU's holding a sniper rifle. He wasn't firing at anyone, but he was ready to, when it came time. A few solo soldiers came out of nowhere a few paces ahead, but they did not see Father, and ran right on past. As they disappeared, I caught a glimpse of the insignia on one of them: they were Nazis.

I was seeing WWII.

It was clear that Father was, indeed, a priest, but the situation called for the chaplain to take up arms. There was no one around him, and he was in German territory.

I looked around, knowing that Father had no one watching his back. To Father's left, just outside of his line of vision, I saw a Nazi setting up a heavy weapon, along the lines of a chain gun. His partner carried the ammo. They were silently setting up this gun, and it was obvious that they had seen Father.

I didn't have time to act, and even if I did, I don't know what I could have done. I got in the line of fire, knowing full well that my metaphysical presence would not stop a bullet, especially of that caliber. The heavy weapon mowed down Father's section of the brush. I turned, knowing that I would see what I did not want to see.

But Fr. O'Keilty surprised me yet again. Some force stopped the bullets from hitting him, and as flattering as it would be to think that that force was actually my presence, I seriously doubt it. Instead, I credit it to Father's Guardian Angel.

The Germans began to quickly pack up their weapon, believing Father to be dead. Suddenly, a bright flash exploded somewhere behind the brush, exposing the standing silhouette of Fr. O'Keilty. He just stood there, knowing that these two Germans had seen him. Sure enough, they had, and they drew their pistols.

I looked back at Fr. O'Keilty, who stood straight, strong and unmoving, as though he was challenging them to fire. Whether he was or not, they did so. After emptying their magazines at him, he was still standing. Fear struck the Germans, and they hurried to reload.

The soldier started screaming something in German, and the leader started yelling "Silencio!" over and over.

Father calmly drew his pistol and fired two shots. The assistant and then the leader went down. The leader of the two Germans lost his helmet in the fall, exposing a shock of red hair. I looked in disbelief, knowing that it was Father Smith. The subordinate Nazi was not dead, but he was in no condition to think about firing. Father had known exactly what he was doing when he fired, and had simply disabled both men. Father walked up to both men, and stood over them. The subordinate clutched his wound, and looked up at Father. As Father stood calmly over them, the leader moved quickly towards Father and made a grab towards his left leg. I thought for sure that he was making one final desparate attempt on Father's life, but he proved me wrong. He was, instead, embracing tightly, and saying the only word I had ever heard him say in the story: "Silencio." He rocked himself back and forth in his pain, but he looked imploringly up at Fr. O'Keilty's eyes, and Father looked down at him and his buddy.

Smith was crying as he was embracing Father's leg, believing that he and his buddy were dying. Father assured them that such was not the case. As tears continued to flow from the face of the red-headed German, he begged for forgiveness, because he saw that he had attempted to kill a man of God (I'm sure that by this point, he knew that Fr. was a Catholic priest). Father, of course, forgave him.

I knew that they were both in good hands.

The scene switched suddenly. The days were lighter, and Father was back in his BDU's holding the same sniper rifle. Instinctively, I knew that we were out of WWII, and were in the Vietnam War. Father advanced in this new jungle slowly, eying everything. Father waved his arm, and out came a familiar heavy-weapons soldier, but this time, with he was allied with Fr. O'Keilty. They paused for a moment, enough time for Smith to thank Fr. O'Keilty for his assistance. Father asked him what he intended to do with his life. Smith said that after this, he would be stuck in Poland until 1996, but as soon as he is able, he would enter a seminary, become a priest, and then find Fr. O'Keilty.

The time zipped back to the present. Fr. Smith had fulfilled his promises: he is now a priest, and has found Fr. O'Keilty. One part that he neglected to mention, but that was clear to me was that he didn't intend to let the simple priest who changed his life get away from him. He intended to serve Fr. O'Keilty as long as he could be, to help in the payment of a debt that could never be repaid.

Gym

Well, it's been a week since my last post. All that happened since then was that I finally went to the gym...

...And I'm so sore...

I stretched (which I hear is a good thing before working out), and started out with legs. After going through four leg machines, they felt like jelly. I then did arms. I made it through five machines, and died on the sixth. I was using 50% of the weight that I had done a year-and-a-half ago...

I'm such a weenie...

Let's all say it together! "You're a weenie, Smitha!" Thanks, maybe that'll motivate me to do more...