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!