Graduation Weekend

This was a bittersweet weekend, as graduation always is. I made plans to get down there early on Friday, circa 1:00 PM, but it didn't work out that way. I didn't manage to leave the office until 3:00 PM. Fortunately, it actually did work out, because Sylvia called me to ask for directions, and since I was still in the office at the time she called, I was able to pull up Google Maps and give her directions.

Anyway, so yeah, traffic was fun. I got to sit in "rush" hour traffic for about two hours. I made it to Christendom with only a few minutes to spare. The Mass was very nicely done, with several priests concelebrating. It was kind of odd seeing Emma, Lizzie, Laurel, Angela, Katherine, Emily, and Michael (I'm missing someone, aren't I?) all in graduation gowns. The reality of the situation came to smack me in the head. Soon, I would not see half of these people for a very long time, if not ever again...

That evening, I went to Sarah's apartment at Guardian Angel with Eric P., Draper, John E., Breanna, Chrissie, JD, Sarah (obviously), Freddo, Kyle, AJ (and I know I'm missing people in this list), and we all had dinner (thank you, Sarah!) and a general good time.

The next day, I saw many people (among whom I would classify several as my best friends) walk across the stage, receive their diplomas, and essentially cross over into a new life. They were no longer students. There was no more fun times to be had after Sunday brunch, singing, or beating out strange rhythms on tables (much to the chagrin of those surrounding us), or anything with these people. Some would indeed be around during the summer, but seeing them again as alumni is entirely different then seeing them as fellow students, even though we were only students together for two years.

After the graduation ceremony on Saturday, Emma F. and Claire O. held a music recital for their families. They both sang a few pieces that meant a lot to them and their families. It was a very nice thought -- very moving.

The next day, after Mass, there was a tearful goodbye with Lizzie, and then she was gone shortly after that. I went to brunch with Emma, her family, John E., and Breanna. That was a very interesting time. It was fun, but I had never met a few of the people present, so I was quiet -- well, quiet in comparison to how I usually am.

After this, I helped Emma pack up her stuff and load up her family's suburban. i was reluctant to let her go also the same day as my other close friends, so since we were both going to Ken's house for a bonfire, we rode together. After leaving Ken's place, I said goodbye and dropped her off at Blessed Margaret's. I then went to St. Theresa's and hung out at their bonfire for about fifteen minutes, chatted lightly, sang a couple songs, and then drove back to the apartment.

There is something to be said about juniors and freshmen. When I was a junior and I saw this class come in, I wanted to be there for them since they were the newest underdogs, and I wasn't worried about establishing myself in the heirarchy. I got to know this class very well, and I will miss them.

One of my thoughts on graduation is something that Deacon David B. (shares the same last name as my good friend Lizzie) from Holy Transfiguration recently told me. He actually told me this in the context of Pascha, and how good things must end. Many years ago, he and his family were visiting a friend's house, as friends are often found doing. When it was time to leave, his wife told his children to get ready to go. His children asked, "Why do we have to go? Can't we stay here forever?" Mrs. B. replied, "But if we don't leave, we can never come back." The children responded well to this, and prepared to leave.

My thought on the matter is that graduation is a very joyful time, and yet a very hard time for everyone. It involves parting ways with your best friends -- in some cases, forever. But, Deacon David's story plays its part now: "If we don't leave, we can never come back." In the original context, he meant that unless you stop celebrating, you can never again celebrate. Unless there is a parting of ways between friends, there can never be the joy of reunion. With that in mind, I will definitely be offering up my prayers for the class of 2007, that they may quickly find comfort in their graduation and new lives, and that both the good and the bad times that they had together in Christendom will prepare them for an incredible joy upon their eventual reunion. May God bless each and every one of them, and may Our Lady hold them each individually as her favorite son or daughter.

A rather long weekend -- kind of...

This weekend wasn't really all that long, it just felt it...

On Saturday, morning, I woke up bright and early to help one of Sarah H's sisters and her family unload a moving van. I got to Front Royal around 10:00 AM, just in time for some big stuff. Anyway, I worked with them until about noon, and then I went to Front Royal. I was scheduled to meet up with Dan D. to give him a haircut, but I didn't see him at brunch.

Alexandria C. was in town, so we went to breakfast in town and got caught up on life. I'm sure that there was more that could have been said, considering that it had been about two years since we'd seen each other, but a lot of stuff happens in two years, and it's hard to remember it all... :)

After that, I went back to Dan's room to see if he was there. Since he wasn't, I decided to go to Manassas. MikeE had invited me to go see Spider-Man 3 for Carissa's birthday. Originally, I didn't think that I could be there on time, but considering that I was done with everything early, I called them and let them know that I was on the way. However, they were in the theater, and the movie was about to start in 15 minutes, so I was going to miss it anyway. Since I missed part 1 of this 2-part get-together, I made tentative plans to meet up with them after the movie for dinner. I also made tentative plans to meet up with Emma in the evening. She had a Student Activities Council dinner to attend, so it probably wouldn't be until much later.

I went back to the apartment and worked for a little while. I had some classic cartoons going on in the background, mostly Popeye. At about 5:00 PM, I called MikeE back to see what the dinner plans were, but they were canceled. With this new change of plans, I went to Vespers at Holy Transfiguration, since I hadn't been there in a few weeks.

After Vespers, I came back to the apartment and watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Emma called me to let me know that she was on her way back from the dinner, but since I was still at the apartment, and it was nearing 10:30 PM, we decided to get together on Sunday.

Anyway, so on Sunday morning, bright and early, I drove to Front Royal, rather unlike what I had wanted to do (I was going to go there the day before so that I wouldn't have to make the drive in the morning). But I made it there. Emma's cold was getting better, and she sang with the choir at the Mass at Christendom.

Today was a big day for the Christendom College Choir because they were scheduled to sing at St. John's in town as well for the Tridentine Latin Mass at 12:30 PM. A couple choir members couldn't make it because of the cold that was going around, several choir members couldn't make it because of studying or other stuff that came up, so we had smaller numbers, but I think we did all right. After that, we went to Dean's Steak House in Front Royal for the choir dinner. Emma and I arm-wrestled. It's embarrassing to say that I won, because it's not cool for a guy to beat a girl in things of the sort, but it would still be embarrassing had I lost. In short, I'm a bad person... :-P

After the choir dinner, we all went back to campus, and I chatted with Emma, Lizzie, Laurel, M.C., Paul, and several other people for a little while. Emma said that she had some pictures for me, so before I left, I drove her back to her dorm and she showed me the pictures, and I got to pick a few. My favorite one is the last one on this post. Oh, and if you want to see bigger versions of the pictures, just click on them.

I went to Christine's house for a party that she was throwing for Josh and Leslie, to celebrate Josh's new beard and their new Corgi puppy, Sweat Pea. I'm fairly certain that she is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi -- I'm just guessing of course, because her tail was docked. All I know is that she was a Corgi and she was cute as a button, and she knew it...

So, after Christine's party, I went back to Christendom and met up with Emma again. We chatted for a little while -- I think until 12:30? I'm not sure, but Emma had a final in about 8 hours, and I was being rude keeping her, so I said my farewells and drove back to the apartment. And now, it's time for a very long and busy week at work...

The rest of the weekend, post-Formal

So, yeah. Saturday morning was fun. Lizzie and Emma had to be up for Holy Rood, which began cleaning the church right after the 7:00 AM Mass (recall that I had driven Emma back to her dorm at about 4:00 AM). I had gone back to JD's place, and slept there -- quite soundly, I might add. I didn't wake up until about 10:00 AM, when JD asked me if I was going to get up for choir practice. I didn't really want to, but I did.

Anyway, so after choir practice, I sat around and talked with Lizzie, Emma, Dr. P, Draper, and a few other people about formal and other things. At about 11:15 AM, I headed out. I had to be at the gym at 1:00 PM, and it would probably take me about an hour to get back to the dorm.

The Charger handled extremely well for the trip back to the apartment. I ran my tux and other clothes inside, grabbed a sports drink, and headed out again, arriving at the gym a few minutes before 1:00 PM. I warmed up, and Emily T. (my personal trainer) set about slaughtering my upper body. I should say that as gruesome as that sounds, I felt really good after that workout. My arms felt like they had no strength left at all.

I went to Vespers at Holy Transfiguration, and then went back to Front Royal for the evening, since I had to be out for Sunday morning Mass anyway.

After Mass, I had brunch at Sarah's, then to choir practice. Then, I went to watch the faculty vs. students football game. I had the game pegged the wrong way: the faculty had a lot of really strong-looking guys on their team whereas the students didn't. However, I wasn't thinking correctly: in flag football, strength is good, but speed and agility are better. The students had the faster players -- they did have some competition in that field, but it just wasn't enough.

After that, I went to find Joe P. He told me about the band playing at 6:00 that evening, and I wanted to attend, but Ken and Alaina had invited me to their place for dinner. I usually can't refuse good food, so I accepted. After dinner, Sarah came over, and we all played the Game of Life. I won the first game, but it was through pure, disgusting, wonderful luck. I happened to get the highest salary available, $100K. The second game was more balanced -- I actually got the lowest salary of the salaries selected, $60K. In the first game, Alaina got the lowest selected, $40K. In the second game, she got the highest, $100K.

The last thing i did that night before heading back was birthday singing for Jen P. Happy birthday, Jen!

On a final note, everyone that I took for a spin in the Charger (Emma, Christine, Sarah, and Alex) enjoyed it, or at least told me that they did. My one "complaint" is that it sounded like a Honda when fired up. Anyway, so the Charger is back at Hertz. I'd love to get one, but I wouldn't get the V6 version. If I do get one, it would be the Hemi -- and that's a really big "if". They are fairly expensive cars...

Formal 2007

I had requested a half-day off from work on Friday, so I only planned on working until about noon. With this in mind, I got up at 5:00 AM with the intention of going to the gym early, but, when I saw how clear the tollway was, I headed to work instead. I was there by 6:00 AM, and planned to leave at 10. However, two minutes before I planned to head out, I got a project, and I had to work later than I intended, and thus, I didn't get to go to the gym. I went back to the apartment, showered, worked again, packed up, and headed to Front Royal.

To backtrack just a bit, I asked Emma to formal on Monday and, after she accepted (obviously not before -- that would have been very egotistical of me), I began the process of renting a car from JD. I got her a corsage on Wednesday, but I asked them to modify it a little so that it matched her dress.

As regards the car, I was looking for a Chrysler 300, then a Ford Mustang. JD suggested a Dodge Charger or Dodge Magnum. Any of those options sounded good to me, so he did what he could.

Anyway, so, on Friday, I headed out of the apartment and over to Front Royal to pick up the car. JD had managed to get a silver 2007 Dodge Charger SXT. I picked it up at Shenandoah Ford, and, even after promising to not abuse it, I couldn't resist testing it out. The car looked and handled beautifully. It accelerated quite nicely, and took corners very well. I definitely didn't abuse it, but I put a bit more stress on it then I would normally have done so, had it been my own car.

So I drove over to Dane and JD's, and outside the apartment, I ran into Tambi. She and Dr. P were going to formal together, and she asked for some help with a pocket square. I gave her the red one that I had brought down for Dr. P just in case, and showed her a couple ways of folding it. Since I was running late, though, I excused myself, left her in the capable hands of Ed B., put on my tux (black tux, black shirt, cream vest, white tie), and headed out to pick up Emma. As luck would have it, I wasn't all that late. I was going with Sarah and Dan, Ashley and Dominick, Andy, Maggie, and Iona. It was set to be a fun group. :) Emma came out looking wonderful in her blue dress, and Nikole H. took a picture of us. If I get to see them before this post goes up, I'll post one here -- with permission, of course...

We went out to a little French chalet up in the mountains, somewhere between Front Royal and Harper's Ferry. (We actually got lost on the way up there, but I took it as more of a discovery of what the Charger is capable, and I also continue to be impressed by it's ability.) There were about thirty people at the dinner in all, most of whom were seniors, but there were a few alumni -- at least then, I didn't feel quite so out of place.

Peter K., Pate Q., and Bob T. seemed to be the student masterminds of the event. Peter was the announcer for most of the night, so when we got there, we greeted us, and when it was time to eat, he asked us to please be seated. Mr. Brown was the culinary genius of the evening. If you want to take a look at his menu, here it is:

• Caramelized Bacon, Almond and Brie Crostini
• Shrimp Spring Roll with and Apricot Chile Dipping Sauce
• Grilled Chicken Sate with Peanut Sauce
• Cream of Cauliflower Potato Soup
• Tartlet Duo: Onion, Prosciutto
• Orange Salad with Balsamic Drizzle
• Seafood Risotto with Seared Scallop and Parmesan Crisp
• Watermelon Intermezzo
• Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle Chile Rum Sauce, Fresh Corn Fritters, and Shoestring Sweet Potatoes
• Chilled White Chocolate Lemon Souffle
• Flourless Chocolate Cake

It was a lot of food, even in the small portions that he served us. It was a good thing that the portions were so small, because my stomach has shrunk significantly since Christendom, so I can't pack away food like I could in college...

After the dinner, Pate wanted to get a group picture, so we all gathered at the stairs to get a picture. (Thanks to Dampi for letting me use her picture. YOU ROCK, DAMPI!!!) After that, Emma and I headed out, following our original group to formal. Emma and I got onto 81 and headed north. At first, I was really confused by the fact that we were supposed to go to exit 5. It took a few miles, but then it suddenly clicked that exit 5 was in West Virginia. I felt really silly when I realized that, because I was going fairly slowly, looking for telltale signs of an exit 5. To those of you who don't know, once you get on 81N from 66, the first exit number is over 300. I knew that exit 5 was all the way south on 81 in VA, and that it would take us several hours to get there -- and then it dawned on me that the dance was in WV. I'm a little bit slow...

Anyway, the formal dance was being held in the large hall of St. Leo's Catholic Church. It was a very large hall. We arrived just about 11:00 PM, with about two hours left of the dance. As usual, I saw someone I knew outside, and I had to stop and chat with them. Emma was very nice and sweet in letting me continue postponing dancing (although kind of unintentionally postponing it), but after the third person with whom I chatted, I began to catch on to the fact that she wanted to get inside to the dance. Like I said: not all the lights are on upstairs. :)

We danced a few slow dances, a couple swings, and a waltz. I'm definitely out of practice -- however, it's a good thing that I had TJ's help earlier on (as I related in a couple previous posts), because the moves were coming to me, although embarrassingly slowly. There was one dance that I missed with Emma though: Laurel put on a tango (I love tango), so I quickly searched the room, but couldn't find Emma. However, feeling the need to dance the tango, I danced with Sylvia S., and proved that I was even out of practice with the tango.

Over the course of the night, I danced with a few other girls as well: Bridget R., Jenne L. (who had dislocated her hip -- that was an interesting dance), Emily G., and Sarah M. (formerly S.). That is not all of them -- I am just getting old and can't remember all of them. My first "dance" after I danced with Emma was a disco train, though. That was fun. I yelled at several people to get in it. Lizzie chickened out, but Dr. P, Tambi, and Krebsie joined. There was even an alternate train forming on a separate track, and we both merged into one giant one. Later on in the evening, I also heard the Electric Slide. This is by far my favorite line dance. It's easy enough to do, even though it's also easy to mess up -- which I do quite often. Usually though, recovery is quick and practically painless...

Emma, Josepha and I got together and walked around for a bit. We were going to go into the chapel to check it out, but this turned into an "acoustics test", so we grabbed a few other choir members that we could find fairly quickly and went to go sing a couple motets. I have to admit that I rather enjoyed the acoustics of the church, even though it seemed oddly dead. It was harder to fill the church with sound, meaning that we all had to sing louder. :)

About then, the dance was wrapping up. I danced the last three dances with Emma, and then there was the concluding prayer. As people made their exits, I noticed Peachy -- I hadn't seen him in a few months, so we exchanged e-mail addresses so that we could keep in touch more frequently.

After that, Emma and I joined Lizzie, JD, Sylvia, Michael, Kathleen and Andy for discussions on what to do next. It was 1:00 AM, but we still had some energy left. Someone suggested ice cream, and after discussing this for a little while, we all headed out the door. Since Emma and I were the first to head out, we stopped by Martin's and picked some up. Then we went to JD's, where the rest of the folks were waiting, and socialized for a while. I drove Emma back to her dorm sometime between 3:30-4:00 AM.

The Concert, the picnic, and the rest of the weekend

On Saturday, I drove out to Front Royal fairly early in the morning. I was actually quite pleased with myself. I rose early, showered and put on my suit, packed for the weekend, and was out the door in plenty of time for me to casually drive to Front Royal and arrive there in time for choir practice. It was a nice feeling -- no rushing, no "Darn-it-I-should-have-gotten-up-earlier"s, and no speeding. I liked that feeling. I'll have to try being responsible (i.e., not lazy) more often!

Anyway, I met up with the Palestrina Choir and we practiced for about an hour-and-a-half. Practice didn't seem to go too terribly well, but some of us were still a bit groggy (myself included), and thus our voices were not quite ready to cooperate. Dr. P seemed to be a little bit on edge, because we were performing these pieces in a concert in just a few hours, and, although we had them down, we were still messing up here and there, and we didn't quite sound like a unified whole...

Anyway, after practice, I went to Mass, and then into the Commons. John E. had come down from PA for the weekend, so I chatted with him for a little while, and then at 12:30 PM, we loaded up the vans and drove out to Bethesda, MD. We arrived around 2 PM, and practiced in the church. Once again, it was not one of our best practices. Normally, a bad practice doesn't phase me too much, because it's just a practice, but we were cutting it close, and even I was getting a bit worried.

After the choir and schola practiced, Jacinta W. practiced on the organ until about 4 PM, and then confessions began. While she was practicing, the bulk of us went outside and enjoyed the weather. I went back inside and to confession when they began, and then I did my best to avoid the pictures. (Call me what you will, I'm rather self-conscious about the fact that I'm not very photogenic.) Then I went to their 5:00 PM Mass.

This Mass was definitely sub-par in quality to any of the Masses that I attend, whether at Christendom, St. John's, St. Rita's, St. Andrew's -- they've all got them beat hands down. These other parishes that I mentioned do things by the book, whereas this church seemed to be making much more of a show about the Mass than anything else. It was kind of disturbing (the four altar girls didn't help matters either). I spent most of the time thinking to myself, "Just walk out. Leave. They won't mind. Look at the people around me. If they don't mind the way that they are dressed and the way that they are acting, then they certainly won't mind if a properly dressed man leaves because he's offended." But I couldn't bring myself to do it. There was a tinge of reverence for what was happening, and that tinge was enough to make me stay -- but only barely...

Anyway, the choir was supposed to sing the Communion meditation, so I went upstairs with them. Just about that time, the soloist began singing. Sounds rather counter-productive, but it's true. We went upstairs to the choir loft, and then waited through an entire hymn. When it was over, we sang the chant Tantum Ergo, followed by Maurice Duruflé's composition of Tantum Ergo. The congregation looked so shocked that another musical sound was playing in the church, instead of a piano and soloist, and most of them turned around and looked up at us. I saw more than half of those looking at us inquisitively, and the rest were smiling. The people who didn't look up looked frozen, either because they hadn't heard real music like this in some time, or else because they were uncertain about what to do, say, or think. When we were finished, silence reigned for about a second, and then the priest concluded Mass.

Immediately after Mass, we went out a side door of the church, and formed a line to assume our positions. Our concert began immediately after Mass. The priest invited the congregation to stay and listen, but most of them fled (in their defense, the weather outside was simply magnificent). The concert was being offered as part of a Sacred Music series that the church was putting on. I think that we were the fourth choir on their list (they were offering a concert a week), but I could very well be wrong about that. Anyway, whatever the situation was, we arranged themselves in order, and said a quick prayer. We were introduced, and when we came out, we all did a genuflection towards the tabernacle before we began (fortunately, the tabernacle was in the middle of the sanctuary, and not hidden away).

The music we did consisted of the following:

• Media Vita (Gregorian Chant)
• Franz Xaver Witt's Meditabor
• Orlande de Lassus' Improperium
• Felice Anerio's Christus factus est
• Ralph Vaughan Williams' O Taste and See
• Hans Leo Hassler's Missa Secunda (with the exception of the Credo)

After this, Jacinta W. played her three organ pieces:

• Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude in C major
• J.S. Bach's Fantasy from the Fantasy and Fugue in G minor
• George Frideric Handel's Adagio from his Water Music suite

After her three pieces, the choir got back up to finish the concert with:

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Sicut Cervus
• Ave Verum Corpus (Gregorian Chant)
• William Byrd's Ave Verum Corpus
• Ave Maria (Gregorian Chant)
• Tomás Luis de Victoria's Ave Maria
• Pange Lingua (Gregorian Chant)
• Maurice Duruflé's Pange Lingua
• Randall Thompson's Alleluia

The concert went, in my humble opinion, extremely well. I only heard one glitch, and that was very minor and corrected immediately. But then again, I was so focused on singing my part and blending with the girls next to me (Bridget R. and Christine C.) that I was only watching my music and Dr. P. I also made frequent eye contact with JD, because he's a fellow bass who was standing right across from me, and eye cues are very important. It makes things much easier for me if I can see a fellow section member while I'm singing. Hearing is good, but seeing is a big plus, too.

After the concert, Paul, MC and I packed up the stuff and brought it out to the van. We left the church just before 8:00 PM, and made it back to Christendom just after 9:00 PM. That night, Coffee House was going on at Christendom, but I didn't go. I was a bit tired, so I went to JD's place for a while, where John E. and Breanna H. were, and Emma soon joined us. I was also rather hungry. I sing better on an empty stomach then when I'm full, so I hadn't eaten anything all day. I went to Giant and picked up a sandwich for me, Dr. Pepper for JD, and some Starburst for John. I also grabbed some Doritos, since they were priced 2-for-1. :)

Truth be told, I guess that it took a second trip for the Starburst -- I had completely forgotten about them when I went into the store the first time, and I was almost back to JD's when I remembered them, so I turned around and went back to the store. I'm so ridiculously forgetful sometimes.

After eating and visiting for a while, I drove Emma back to her dorm, and then went back to JD's where Josepha had just arrived. I was pretty tired, so I completely zonked out while she was there. I had no intention of being rude; my spirit was willing to visit, but my eyes said, "I think not..."

The next morning, I woke up to JD asking me if I was going to go to choir practice. It had already started, and I was late.

After choir practice and Mass, I went to LD's in town and had breakfast with JD, Josepha, John E., Brenna H. and another girl whom I should know, but cannot remember her name. We had a good time there, and then headed back to Christendom for the Palestrina choir practice. Following this, I went outside with Lizzie, Christine, and MC to play catch with a water bottle. We ended up having a bit of a water fight, because the cap on the bottle got loose and splashed all over some people. Out of all of us, I think Christine was the driest and Lizzie was the wettest. The poor girl had the worst luck when it came to catching the water bottle when the cap was the loosest. Nevertheless, it was still pretty funny. :)

I was invited to St. Theresa's dorm for an outdoor picnic in the afternoon, so at about 2:30 PM, I headed over there after changing from my suit into jeans and a T-shirt. There were a lot of people over there: Emma and Sarah F., Lizzie, Andy C., Andrew T., Beth F., MC, Laurel M. -- it was a rather large group of people. JD brought along Breanna H. and John E., and a few minutes later, Larry H. showed up as well, bringing the total up to about 18 people, I think. I helped out a little bit with what needed to be done, but for the most part I was there for the entertainment. Mrs. Mary Alice R. (a professor at Christendom, and a good friend of all of ours) came over for a little while and chatted with Laurel, Lizzie, Emma, and me. When the croquet game ended, the football throwing began, and Mrs. R. decided that it was a good time to make her exit before she got hit.

I joined in the tossing of the pigskin, even though I had the worst throwing arm out there -- yes, even more so than the girls. The group changed around a little bit, and it became a game of keep away, with MC being the piggy in the middle, and then eventually died out. I think it had pretty much reached the end of the game when MC and Andy C practiced their climbing on the back porch. Although they put up a gallant effort, they were pretty slow in climbing up the back porch to rescue the fair damsels in distress. I poked fun at them for that. As expected, they challenged me to do better and climb up. I told them that there was no way that I could do it -- I'm not strong enough to act like a monkey.

This ended, and somehow or another, it led to John and MC leaping over Lizzie and Emma where they were lying (completely unsuspecting) on the ground. Screams erupted from them as they saw the two men jump over them, and guffaws erupted from the guys. Then, JD and I joined the girls on the ground, and gave John and MC a bigger challenge (JD and I were on the ends), and they both cleared us just fine. It was highly amusing, although I'm sure that the guys got a bigger kick out of it than the girls. Anyway, it was getting to that point of the evening, so I headed back to the apartment. I wanted to get there before it got too late...

Sunday and the Baptism

Well, little Kenny Jr. is no longer a catechumen (or innocent heathen, depending upon how you look at the situation). He was baptized yesterday, making him one of the youngest official members of the Church.

After Mass and Palestrina choir practice, JD, Justin, Emma and I went out to Jalisco's for a late lunch before the baptism at 3:45 PM. Emma and I hurried over to the church, and were there about ten minutes before the Baptism, so I helped Ken and Andy C. set up for it. Little Kenny was not too pleased with being bathed twice in one day, so he was a little cranky for the rest of the day...

After the Baptism, we were socializing in the foyer of the church. I saw both Ken's and Alaina's parents, whom I haven't seen in quite some time. At one point, I felt a hand playing with my hair to see how long it was. I snapped back quickly and grabbed it to catch the person in the act, only to be embarrassed by the fact that it was Alaina's mother. It was very embarrassing, but I think that she took it well.

All of us then went over to Ken and Alaina's house and had a bit of cake and more socializing to celebrate the newest addition to the Church. After a little while, Emma, Sarah and I took off. We went back to St. John's to pick up Sarah's car, and then Emma drove back to campus, where I got my car from M.C. After that, I met up with Sarah, Dane, and Pat & Laura S. at Jalisco's. The same waiter that served the table I was at the first time served us again.

After my second meal of the day at Jalisco's, I went back to the apartment, and to sleep.

Bryan and Christina's wedding

I arrived in Front Royal about 12:45 PM, 15 minutes after when I meant to get there. The wedding was supposed to begin at 1:00 PM, so I was cutting it really close. However, it didn't actually begin until about 1:40 PM, so I actually had plenty of time. I was singing with Alaina and Kathy R. (formerly, Z.) for the wedding with Jacinta W. on the organ. I think it went over pretty well.

Rumor has it that Bryan and Christina missed the wedding rehearsal -- if that was the case, that would explain a few things, like why, at the presentation of the flowers to Our Lady, Christina went to Our Lady, but Bryan went to St. Joseph.

I booked it out of the church after Mass to get to the reception hall. As I passed the church, I saw the General Lee, which Mr. S. had rented for his son's wedding. It looked really sweet. I didn't see what happened, so I won't say for sure, but rumor has it that it didn't perform really well.

When I got to the reception hall, MikeE and Carissa helped me carry in all the equipment -- which I really appreciated, because otherwise I would have had to make multiple trips and it was raining outside, so if you guys are reading, Thank You!. We were some of the first people there. There was a CD going with some older swing. I fired up the computers, got them working with the sound system, and and began playing music

• Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock of A Bay (2:45)
• Bing Crosby - True Love (3:03)
• Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody (3:36)
• Roger Williams - Autumn Leaves (3:03)
• Simon & Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair/Canticle (3:10)
• Turtles - So Happy Together (2:55)
• Frankie Valli - You're Just Too Good To Be True (3:19)
• Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer (5:10)
• Mamas & Papas - California Dreaming (2:41)
• Eagles - Hotel California (6:31)
• Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (5:56)

By this point, the bridal party was there, and I was to announce them. I had prepared clips from songs that they wanted to enter. In order, the bridal party and their entrance themes:

• Geoffrey S. and Anna C. - Tim McGraw - Last Dollar (Fly Away) (3:33)
• Grant C. and Olivia S. - Strawberry Shortcake - Cuppycake (0:42)
• Jamie S. and Logan H. - Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water (2:41)
• Alex S. and Beth T. - Frank Miller's 300 - Returns A King, composed by Tyler Bates (0:54)
• Nate S. and Angela H. - Kenny Chesney - She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy (3:21)
• Ben S. and Erin M.E. - Vanilla Ice - Ice, Ice Baby (4:18)
• Robert T. and Holly K. - Carl Orff - Camina Burana Cantiones Profane: O Fortuna (2:34)
• Alex K. and Melissa M. - Shakira - La Tortura (ft. Alejandro Sanz) (3:36)
• The best man, Richard S. and the maid of honor, Jessica R. - Will Smith - Miami (2:24)
• The groom, Bryan Thomas Anthony S. and his new bride Christina Maria S. - Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine (5:56)

I let their entrance theme play all the way through, and then launched into the dinner music.

• Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesday's Gone (7:29)
• Metallica - Turn The Page (6:06)
• Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride (4:28)
• Dropkick Murphys - The Gang's All Here (2:06)
• Hank Snow - I've Been Everywhere (2:47)
• Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire (2:37)
• Alabama - Five O'clock 500 (3:38)
• Montgomery Gentry - Speed (4:01)
• Asleep At The Wheel - Hot Rod Lincoln (2:55)
• John Denver - Country Roads (3:09)
• Billy Dean - Thank God I'm A Country Boy (2:55)
• John Michael Montgomery - Letters From Home (4:29)
• Montgomery Gentry - I Ain't Got It All That Bad (f. Hank Williams, Jr.) (3:23)

The bride and her father's dance was to Es Mi Niña Bonita, and the bride and groom's first dance was Walt Disney's So This Is Love, from Cinderella. I followed that up with Walt Disney's Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty. At this point, DJ Insomniak from Miami took over and DJ'ed the rest of the dance, so in transition from me to him, I played Jennifer Lopez's If You Had My Love. Judging by the dancing, the people loved the music assortment -- DJ Insomniak played a lot of their requests and mixed in current Latino hits. It made for one heck of a party.

After the reception, I helped clean up, and then a few of us went to Ken and Alaina's house to sit around and talk. When I left there, it was close to midnight, and it was time to go to bed...

Palm Sunday weekend

On Friday evening, I went to Holy Transfiguration for the Presanctified Liturgy, and then drove out to Christendom. I got there just about 1:00 AM -- I would have driven there first thing in the morning, but I had to be there for choir practice at 9:00 AM, and I knew that I would never be able to get up on time, so I chose to go drive there and sleep in Front Royal instead.

Before practice, Michael and I practiced the gradual, Christus Factus Est. After that, choir practice went well -- at least, I thought it did, but I've been proven wrong many many times. We practiced the responses for the Passion Gospel by St. Luke, and then we were done.

After this, I had choir practice in town from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. It was with a different set of guys, some of whom I have sung alongside before. I think that one also went well. Draper and M.C. will be singing with that group on Easter as well, but they were unable to attend that practice.

After that, I went back to Christendom on my way out of town. I had to pick up some vestments to take to the dry cleaners. I only found one next to some directions, so I grabbed it and headed out. On my way there, I called the cleaners -- it's a good thing that I did, because they were closed, and they were all the way out in Arlington.

I then went to Vespers at Holy Transfiguration, and after that, went back to Front Royal, because of Palm Sunday -- I could not be late on Sunday, and if I slept at the apartment, I would do just that: be late on Palm Sunday.

That night, the guys went to sing at Bridget R.'s window for her birthday. Being a little paranoid about April Fool's Day, I checked to make sure that it actually was her birthday. I called TJ and Matt, and I also checked on Facebook. All three of them agreed that it was her birthday, so I took it that she wasn't trying to pull an early April Fool's Day joke on me and joined the guys to sing for her.

Palm Sunday Mass went well -- or, so I think. I guess that I should say that I don't remember anything bad about the music. There was only one spot that I recall sounding a little odd, but I don't think it was all that noticeable...

After Mass, I was invited to Sarah H.'s house for brunch, so I joined Christine, M.C., Emma, and J.D. at her place. Following this, we had to go back to campus for the Palestrina Choir practice.

Immediately after the Palestrina choir practice, I went to the gym, and TJ D. and Lisa H. once again went through the basics of dancing with me, while I acted like a monkey and generally fumbled through the entire lesson. I have such a hard time remembering dance moves, most especially how they start...

I then headed back to the apartment. Eric invited me to his place for WrestleMania 23, and this is one sporting event that I did not want to miss. Alex came along, and it looked like he was enjoying himself, even though he wasn't as much into wrestling as the rest of us were. I guess it's like me at a football game though. I'm there for the company and the fun times, not so much for the game.

We got back to the apartment about 11:30, and I went right to bed. I meant to get up early (like 6:00 AM) the next morning to go to the gym, but I was unable to. Call me lazy, but I was exhausted. I think it was all the sleeping on couches over the weekend...

Sunday, and You Can't Take It With You

Sunday morning, I drove to Front Royal and went to Mass at Christendom. During the Palestrina Choir practice, we practiced the choral responses to the Passion of St. Luke. After this, I went to Little Washington and watched the Christendom Players in action. This semester, they were performing You Can't Take It With You, which they all did remarkably well. I watched the matinée showing and the final performance, just so that I could get see both the regular version and the comic version.

The cast was an all-star cast:

• John C -- Grandpa Vanderhof
• Catherine T -- Penelope "Penny" Vanderhof Sycamore
• Andy Bodoh -- Paul Sycamore
• Grant D. -- Mr. De Pinna
• Adrienne S. -- Essie Sycamore Carmichael
• KC D. -- Ed Carmichael
• Shelagh B -- Alice Sycamore
• Emily S. -- Rheba
• Jon Pat M. -- Donald
• Julian A. -- Tony Kirby
• Kyle K. -- Wilbur C. Henderson
• Sam P. -- Mr. Boris Kolenkhov
• Anne Therese S. -- Grand Duchess Olga Katrina
• Bridget R. -- Gay Wellington
• Chris D. -- Mr. Kirby
• Cathy N. -- Mrs. Kirby
• Matt van L. -- Lead Federal Agent
• Joe V. -- Federal Agent #2 (Jim)
• John J. -- Federal Agent #3 (Mac)
There's a possibility that I have Federal Agents #'s 2&3 backwards. If I do, I'm sorry...

To be perfectly honest, the matinée performance was not as much fun as the final performance when comparing them side-to-side, but both plays were a lot of fun to watch. The personal animation that goes into making some of these characters, like Sam's Russian, Adrienne's dancing, Emily and Jon Pat's black impersonations, and Grant's eccentricities (wait -- was that last one really acting???) is simply amazing. It was also very refreshing to see recurring actors like Julian, John J., and Sam get differing parts, where they can't act off each other -- it really shows their natural talents to be able to work with any group of people and give simply amazing performances. I include John J. in this list because he was the director as well as an agent. Julian and Sam had two of the bigger roles, and they were simply incredible.

In between shows, I went to the Griffin Tavern and met up with Emma, Laurel, M.C., JD, Greg M., Mary B., Emily G., Breanna H., and Andy C. After the final performance, most of us went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. I took off about midnight and went back to the apartment. Along the way, I got rather tired, so I took a quick nap in Manassas, and got back to the apartment at about 2:00 AM.

The weekend so far...

This morning, I woke up late, which I did not need to do this morning. I needed to be in Front Royal at 10:30 AM to leave, and I was going to make it, but only after booking it to Front Royal. However, I got a call from Paul, saying that they were leaving at 10:15, instead of 10:30, and I had to drive to Staunton, VA. I wasn't too terribly pleased with this new development, but, hey, such is life. I ended up stopping for gas, and then Jonathan passed me as I got back onto the highway, so I followed him all the way to the church.

Now, you're probably wondering, "Why is there a wedding in Lent?" I have no idea either. There had to be a dispensation involved, and, as I'm not privy to all information of the sorts, all I know is that there was a wedding, and it was today, the fourth Saturday of Lent...

Anyway, so the wedding was OK. Acoustically, the church did not seem to carry sound well at all. I guess we sounded OK, though. However, at the time, it felt like no matter how much sound I tried to produce, it was always muffled.

After the wedding, we went to lunch at a small diner in the town and had a late lunch or early dinner, depending upon how you want to look at it. After that, I went to Ken and Alaina's place.

I saw their baby for the first time, and he's pretty cute, and very peaceful. I was quite surprised that he didn't start crying immediately like most babies do when they see me...

After that, I went back to my apartment. I was going to go to the gym, but it was too late when I got back. I'll have to make a point to go there multiple mornings nest week. Anyway, I'm picking up David at the airport tonight, and he's waiting on his baggage. Hopefully, it'll come soon, because it's now midnight...

Sunday conclusion

After I got done with the previous blog post, I headed over to the gym. Keep in mind that I was still really sore and still dressed in my Sunday clothes. Soccer? I think not. However, I was convinced that it was a good idea, so the vest and pocket watch came off, the rugs were scooted out to the end-zone, and I became the best-dressed goalie in the game. I wasn't the best goalie, that's for sure, but if style counted, I was definitely scoring points by my pretty-boy look...

After that, I headed back to the apartment, ate four ears of corn on the cob and some potatoes, while watching Gargoyles. What a fun evening...

St. Patrick's Day & Sunday

My plan was to go to choir practice on Saturday morning at Christendom, go to the gym (back in Herndon), go to Vespers at Holy Transfiguration, and then go back to Christendom and attend the St. Patrick's Day festivities. That was the plan, anyway...

I got up late on Saturday. I actually got up and out of bed at about 9:30 AM. I debated with myself if I should shower -- no, I decided against it. Why should I? I'm going to the gym. I'm only going to get sweaty again, and then I'd have to come back and take another shower. So I put on my gym clothes and got ready to go to the gym...

(10:00 AM)

...right after I checked my e-mail. "Hey, check it out, someone added me on MySpace." I go look. "Figures. It's just some person trying to bump their friend count up. OK, whatever." (Accept.)

I saw some videos on the MSN homepage about St. Patrick's Day. They've reduced his status to mythological. They don't doubt that he existed, but St. Patrick didn't cast out all the snakes from Ireland. They believe that he couldn't have, and they back it up by saying that there were never any snakes in Ireland. Everything else was pretty cool -- there was a recipe for Guinness cake (which I think I can make), some sort of bacon, cabbage, and mashed potatoes mix -- I can't remember the name of it, but it looks really good.

And after that... "Oh, and I got something on Facebook! I gotta see that!" So, I checked my Facebook account. "Ah, that's cool. Hey, I've been poked!" Pokes poker back. "Ah, much better."

(11:00 AM)

"You know, my profile needs to be updated. I'll do that really quickly. Well, this won't be a quick thing. I'll fire up an episode of Gargoyles." So, I fire up one of the episodes (I think it was The Thrill of the Hunt), and begin editing my profile.

(2:45 PM) "I've now uploaded a lot of pictures, joined a few groups, and I've gotten through Season 1. Time to go the gym." I was cutting it close, because my workout would probably be about an hour-and-a-half, and I still had to shower. Should I even go? Yes, I should. I grabbed my MP3 player, a change of clothes, and headed out.

My workout was actually over two hours long. The bulk of the workout was legs -- that was fairly quick, although not easy. The situps and other core exercises were a lot harder. When I was done, I went to the steam room. It was so warm in there. I almost fell asleep, but I didn't. I was completely drenched in sweat, so I jumped (not literally) into the hot tub. (No, it wasn't too hot in the hot tub.) After that, a shower, a shave, head back to the apartment, grab a change of clothes for the weekend...

(5:45 PM)

...or so I thought. I stood around debating with myself -- do I need a change of clothes? I would, if I was spending the night out there. But I was driving Matt G. (one of the guys at Holy Transfiguration) from Vespers to Christendom to join in the St. Patrick's Day festival, so I would be driving him back that evening. I left my stuff at the apartment and headed out the door...

...after I finished making my protein shake. But it wasn't much of a shake. I put some in the freezer to solidify, so while I was waiting for that, I checked my e-mail again. "Huh, I've got more stuff on Facebook. Let's check that out."

(6:30 PM)

I finally pried myself from the computer, got in the car, and drove to Holy Transfiguration. I had missed Vespers completely by the time that I got there. Of course, it was entirely my fault -- I'm definitely not trying to duck out of it. Anyway, Matt and I got on the road to Front Royal...

(7:15 PM)

...but I had to swing by the office first and check to see if Paul's computer was turned on -- he had tried to get some work done, but he couldn't log into his machine. It was turned on, so I gave Paul and call to let him know that it wasn't his computer's fault, and then headed out. I also discovered that it would be just as easy for Matt to sleep out in Front Royal (easier, actually) than for us to make the drive back that same night. So we also stopped by my apartment and picked up my change of clothes that I had almost packed but had not brought, because I was sooo clever earlier and we finally made it down to Front Royal circa 9:00 PM.

St. Patrick's Feast was celebrated with much Guinness, Irish dancing, Irish songs and high spirits. Seemed to me to be a stereotypical American/Irish festival, and it was a lot of fun. Towards the end, I talked to Father H. and Mrs. O'D, and it just so happens that Mrs. O'D. is looking for a set of bagpipes for her son. I just happen to have a set of bagpipes that I have never opened. I wanted to learn them, but I'm never going to be able to do so in an apartment. I agreed to bring them this coming weekend, so she could take a look at them to see if she was interested.

When the party ended in the St. Lawrence Commons, everything moved over to St. Killian's Cafe, which is part of the John Paul II student center where the old library had been. I had a Guinness earlier, so I had an Irish coffee there. I chatted with Pate Q., Fred F., Peter K., Matt G., Cynthia and several other people who were there. After that, I head over to Sarah H's place, where she and Vivian were visiting. I ended up having two shots of Butterscotch Schnapps and one of Cinnamon Schnapps -- both really good, and really sweet.

Matt G. gave me a call, and I drove back to campus to pick him up. We both went back to Sarah's and chatted until 3:00 AM (quite by accident), and then I dropped him off at St. Pius dorm where he had an invitation to stay, and I went to St. Kevin's and crashed there. The next morning, Matt rode back out to Holy Transfiguration with Katherine M.

I got up about 8:00 AM to light pouring in my eyes. I went to choir practice, schola practice, and Mass. After that, there was a second brief schola practice before the Tridentine Mass in town, and then Dr. Poterack, Draper, Andy C., and I went to that Mass and chanted the schola pieces there as well. After this, there was the Palestrina choir rehearsal, and we were done about 3:30. I stuck around until about 3:45 just talking, and I went to the gym at about 4:00 PM to meet up with TJ for more dancing lessons. When I got there, he was in the middle of a game of wallyball, so I lifted weights for a few minutes until he was done.

After our lesson, I went back and lifted weights for a little bit longer, and then I came to the library to type this up. I really should go now. I told M.C. and Francis that I would join them in the gym. It's 7:00 PM now, this was about half-an-hour ago...

The weekend

This weekend, Dr. P. recorded a few tracks for a new choir CD. This was also the beginning of spring break for the students.

On Friday, after work, I drove down to Front Royal for choir practice. It seemed to go really smoothly -- there were a couple intonation problems, but overall, it was nice. After this, Paul E., Michael C., Emma and Sarah F., and Lizzie B. went to Sarah H.'s house, where we watched Star Wars, Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi. I fell asleep about 30 minutes into it, but it wasn't any big deal for me -- I've only seen it more times than I can count. Plus, I really needed a nap anyway. After that, I drove Michael back to Christendom, and crashed on the couch in his room.

The next morning, I went to Mass on campus, and then assisted Dr. P. by moving the music from the crypt to the choir loft. Practice lasted from about 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM, and then we had a break.

During this break, I played poker with Paul, Michael, Jonathan D. and Draper W. I lost all of my money in one game of Three-Five-Seven, but Texas hold 'em also helped clean me out...

After break and lunch, we went back upstairs to record. The sessions seemed to go well. I had a problem with Meditabor by Franz Xaver Witt in that I kept pulling flat on the introduction. I think I got it once, but for some reason, I kept pulling flat. It could have been that my voice was just getting tired, but I think I'll just say that it's because I'm getting sloppy, and I need to work on keeping in tune. Why? Because the latter gives me a reason to work harder.

Of course, in retrospect, I should have backed off a little bit. Jonathan was nailing it every time.

As for the rest of the pieces, I don't remember anything horrible in the rest of them, but it could be because I was concentrating too hard on my own part to notice anything wrong anyplace else.

After the choir recording, the schola had its turn. By this point, all of our voices were getting rather tired, so we all had to work to get everything to sound good. My voice cracked several times, and I felt myself pulling flat. I tried my hardest to stay on key -- easier said than done, but I think we managed to pull it off well. When the schola finished up, Emma and Lizzie had a recording session, and then we all went out to dinner at Dean's Steak House.

Dinner was fun. Ken and I got to talking technology-in-work (SQL, salesforce, and all that stuff), but it didn't last all that long, and we got back to normal conversations with everyone else at the table. We discussed books, took a couple pictures and even sang a couple songs at the request of one of the waitresses.

Following that, I drove Michael, Sylvia S., and Lizzie out to JoS. A. Bank in Winchester, because they were having a sale. It turned out that it was an internet only sale, but we got Michael sized up for a suit, and that's what counts...

After spending the night on Michael's couch again, I got up early on Sunday morning, and drove Jen P. to Dulles airport. After that, Paul and I went to Old St. Mary's for Mass, then I drove him to his house in PA. I visited with his family for the day -- I even got some exercise. John, Paul and I went out for a bike ride, biking down some relatively easy trails which were made harder by the presence of mud and ice.

After we got back, I played Texas hold 'em and Anaconda -- I didn't do as badly this time -- I didn't lose all my money.

After this, we had dinner, and I left the house about 9:00 PM, and drove back to the apartment. On the way back, I called Mommy, and after getting cut off about four times, we had basically gotten caught up on life again. :)

Vocation Discernment Weekend

The weekend started with my first vocal lesson. I went to Kathy C.'s house (she was recommended by Sarah H.) from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM. She figured out my comfort range, and she gave me a few pointed on things to do. I'll try to have a lesson once a week, but with my schedule being what it is, we'll see if that actually works...

After my lesson, I went to Front Royal, chatted with Lizzie, chatted with Sarah, and then went to St. Kevin's were I spent the night.

Saturday morning, bright and early (8:30 AM) I woke up after getting about five hours of sleep. The first talk I went to was Fr. Frank Pavone's talk, entitled "Master, Where Do You Stay?" Dealing with Uncertainty in Choosing a Vocation. This was a great speech. It got me all fired up about my vocation -- whatever it is...

At 10:00 began Exposition, Adoration, and Confessions in the chapel until 11:15 Mass. After Mass, then lunch, the first talk I went to was Diocesan Priesthood/Permanent Deacon with Fr. Brian Bashista and Fr. Matthew Zuberbueler. This was a good presentation. I got some information regarding a vocation retreat for the Arlington Diocese.

Following this, a large group of people piled into the smallest classroom for Gerard A.'s talk, Discerning Your Vocation While Still Single (Gerard graduated from Christendom, class of '05). We moved out of that classroom into a larger one, but even that was packed -- standing room only. Gerard gave an incredible speech, presenting some ideas for discerning your vocation. His main point was just live life. Do what you need to do, do what you see needs to be done.

The third and final talk was Marriage as a Vocation. You can guess what it was about. It was a good talk -- it was given by the parents of a current junior, whom I first met as a freshman: Micah W. After the talk, I spoke to Mr. W. for a moment.

After all this was a social/happy hour. I stopped in for only a moment to speak to Fr. Bashista about what it would take to get bi-ritual faculties if I were to become a priest. He said that for something like that, I would have to be selected -- it's not something that I could ask for, nor is it something that he or anyone could guarantee. Satisfied with that answer, I left to go to Vespers at Holy Transfiguration.

After Vespers, I went to see Ghost Rider with Eric. I got back to the apartment about midnight, checked my e-mail and went right to bed.

This morning, I got up at 7:00, and was at Holy Transfiguration at 9:00 in spite of the snow/ice mix that was raining from the sky. Divine Liturgy was loads of fun, especially with the anathemas. I wish that the Roman Rite had something like that. It's not often that I get to hear heresies and then repeat the anathemas that proclaimed them heretical.

I drove back to the apartment -- it took me over half-an-hour to actually get back to the apartment, using the tollway -- about twice the time that it normally takes. On the way back, I called Francis F. who relayed to Dr. P. that I would not be at practice.

When I got back to the apartment, fired up the Godfather Trilogy. {shrugs} Eh...

Weekend activities...

On Saturday, I went to Baltimore to audition for a short film. It was an hour long drive (one-way) for a ten-minute long audition. I drove back to Herndon, and in the process, I exchanged a shirt at the Men's Wearhouse, then stopped at Best Buy to pick up a wire adapter and a mounting kit for my new tape deck. It took about an hour-and-a-half to install, mostly because I had never installed a car radio before, plus I'm not that great at stripping wires. The tape deck seemed too big, but it fit. I also replaced the front right parking light. The left side will require some bending to get it put back into shape. I also need a new bumper cover and grille. Neither one are too expensive -- it's just bending the car back into shape will require skill that I don't think I have...

That evening, I was going to go to Glen Echo, but I decided against it. It was $15 to get in, plus I needed to be up early on Sunday morning for Mass. I was not going to go down to Front Royal that evening, so I had to get up early the next morning. And I did. I actually went to bed at an almost decent hour and got up about 6:45 AM. (Hey, I'm a slow mover in the morning...) I made it to Christendom just before nine, catching almost all of choir practice.

After Mass, I went to brunch, and then to the practice for the Palestrina Choir, which until now I've always called "the select choir" because there wasn't really a name attached to it...

After this, I spent about 2went to the gym and played racquetball, wallyball, and basketball. Then I went to Dane and JD's for a little bit. After that, I went to the chapel and chanted with the guys for a while.

Dr. P. had an art song recital, which was excellent. I had to heckle him a little from the audience, but I tried to keep it down...

At brunch, Sarah Fr. and Beth Fe. had asked me if I knew Monty Python's Lumberjack Song. Sadly, I had forgotten most of the words. They asked me if I could re-learn it, be at birthday singing that night, and sing it. So, I found the lyrics on the internet and re-studied them. At birthday singing, I sang the part of the lumberjack and everyone else sang the part of the mounties. I think that the girls got a kick out of it...

I spent the night at Ken and Alaina's place, and on Monday, Ken and I drove in to work together. That night, TJ helped me learn how to swing dance. It was embarrassing at best for me. I inadvertently insulted my dance partner by indirectly calling her heavy. That was definitely embarrassing. Then there is my general clumsiness, poor balance, and my own remarkable method of getting in my own way. I felt a bit like a fool, needless to say...

Then Eric and Sarah showed up. I felt even more clumsy, because Eric is an exceptionally good dancer (implying by this statement that I was in a room of really good dancers -- if you take this to mean anything else, it's not what I mean).

After that, I hung out with Eric W. and Sarah H. After I left, Eric and I went to Fast Eddie's Billiards, had a drink, and just chatted for a while. The time being late, I went home to bed. Well, I actually tried to do some work, but I fell asleep in front of the computer...

Pretty normal weekend

This weekend, I didn't do a lot. It was nice. I went to Front Royal on Friday evening and watched Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope with Emma, Lizzie and Sarah. On Saturday morning, I went to choir practice, and then headed back to the apartment. Ken had called me to see what was going on, so I invited him and Alaina out that evening. Josh and Leslie were planning on coming over, and with Alex coming back to the apartment, we could all have a fun time.

I actually had to work on Saturday, so most of my day was spent sitting around. Later on in the evening, I got word from Ken, Alaina and Alex that they weren't coming, and shortly after that, Josh and Leslie called as well to say that they couldn't make it. They were flying out the next day on a vacation cruise, and they hadn't finished packing yet.

We had also planned to meet up at Glen Echo and go swing dancing. I arrived there at the very end of the practice, and I stuck around for a little while, but I left at about 10 PM. I was going to go to Front Royal that evening, but I ended up not going. I was pretty tired...

Early on Sunday morning, I drove down to Front Royal, went to Mass, went to all the choir practices and then went to Old St. Mary's for the Solemn High Tridentine Latin Mass. After that, I met up with Maria B., and we went out to grab a bite to eat. We got caught up on life in general, and then I drove back to my apartment.

Pretty plain weekend...

The weekend and the Royal Rumble

This Saturday, I went to choir practice on Saturday morning.

After choir practice, I practiced with a few of the guys on Billy Joel's The Longest Time for Lizzie's birthday. We also made a last minute addition: Can't Buy Me Love.

Later in the day, I noticed that I messed a call from Eric and one from Carissa. Eric invited me to come watch the Royal Rumble on Sunday. Also, congratulations are in order to MikeE and Carissa for getting engaged! I haven't heard the story, so I can't relate it.

M.C. and I went back to Herndon, where I got him two French cuff shirts, and some cufflinks. The poor guy owned cufflinks but no French cuffs, and that just won't do...

I picked up Alex from the airport, after he landed. He had just returned from visiting Ashley.

M.C. and I drove back to Front Royal, and we practiced The Longest Time again with more of the guys. It seemed to be coming together pretty well.

On Sunday, I sang with the choir, then Dr. P., Draper, Andy and I went to the Tridentine Mass and chanted there.

The Palestrina choir rehearsal followed that.

After that, I stuck around until about 6PM, and practiced The Longest Time again with almost everyone.

On the way back to the apartment, I called Lizzie, and asked what time she wanted us there. In that conversation, I found out that I can't do math. Her half-birthday is the 30th of January, which I knew, but for some reason, I thought that we would sing on the night of the 30th, thus confusing myself into thinking that her birthday was on the 31st. I tell you what, the things I do to confuse the heck out of myself...

That evening, I went to Eric and MikeE's and watched the WWE Royal Rumble. That was fun. I haven't watched wrestling in years. Carissa was there with MikeE, and she really started getting into it! It was really awesome!

And now it's time to go to bed. I have a long day tomorrow, what with birthday singing for Lizzie and all...

The weekend, the proposal, the story, and the March For Life

On Friday evening, Ashley flew into Dulles on a surprise visit for Alex. I drove her out to Paul H.'s house in DC, where Alex was practicing a song for the Coffee House for Life that Paul and his housemates were hosting. He was surprised to see Ashley.

On Saturday, I woke up and went to the gym. After this, I spent a good chunk of the day cleaning. The apartment now looks pretty good.

I drove to Front Royal and delivered Josh's mail to him. After that, I went to Christendom, where Lizzie and I chatted for a while. Then I went to St. Kevin's, and chilled with Matt and TJ for a while. The three of us went to the store and then back to St. Kevin's. Matt and I hung out for a while, and TJ went to the welcome back dance. After that, I fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up the next morning to Francis's saying that choir practice was beginning right then. I changed quickly, and drove us to campus. The bass section was rather small, sadly, but Francis and I helped boost it up. Mass was as normal, and then I showed a few of the guys the music for Billy Joel's The Longest Time. The Palestrina Choir met and looked at/learned a new piece rather quickly. It was an Alleluia, but I can't recall by whom...

It was snowing outside. Lizzie, Emma, Emma's mother, and Sarah F. (Emma's sister), as well as a family friend were in town, and they were going to go into Washington, D.C.: Lizzie for an interview, and the rest for fun. But the weather was so bad that they turned around.

After choir practice, I drove back to the apartment. On the way back, I saw four or five overturned cars, five to ten cars that had slid off the road, a broken guardrail that looked like a car had broken it and slid down the embankment, a few wrecks, and several trucks driving around with their snowplows up. Driving wasn't difficult, but it was slow. It took almost two hours to get back to the apartment.

Ashley and Alex came back from the store. I was busy doing the dishes, and I had my headphones on. I was completely oblivious to the fact that Ashley was wearing Alex's engagement ring. She did everything except shove it in my face to get me to notice, but I was in a different world, doing my own thing. Finally, when I was done with the dishes, and I was just standing there talking to them, they threw me one final hint, and then, laughing at my density, they just flat out told me that they were engaged. I wasn't sure what to make of it. I stood there stunned.

One thing that I try to do is too keep an eye on a girl's finger, especially when I know that she and her boyfriend are getting along well. I knew that Alex was going to propose to Ashley quite soon. I knew he had a plan. He even told me when this plan was going to go into effect. This is why I didn't look, nay, didn't even think to look at Ashley's finger. This also explains my complete surprise.

The story is quite good. I don't know if I should tell it or not. It's not my story to tell to the world. Oh, what the heck...

I shoudl forewarn you that I heard this story from Ashley, Alex, and Paul. I may be getting some details mixed up. If any of the three afore-mentioned people read this, or if anyone reads this who was there, please provide comments and correct any mistakes I will probably make.

At the Coffee House for Life, Alex sang One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer by George Thorogood & The Destroyers. It's a fun song, and he'd been practicing for a couple weeks, making sure that he knew all the words. He'd even gone to Paul's house twice in this past week to practice with the band. So, on Saturday, he was ready to go. Everyone else was performing some sort of life-affirming song. At the end of his song, people asked him what his song had to do with life. Alex began some sort of hammed up explanation of how alcohol in itself affirms life, and how it's a natural good, and all that. At the end of this, he said, "But I can't stick with that, because that's just wierd. The only way that I can make this song life-affirming is if I ask Ashley to marry me."

The house had about 40 people in it, all chit-chatting and socializing, and several listening to the song. After Alex said that, the entire place went quiet, shocked that he had actually just said that, all thinking, "He can't be serious. Is he serious? Really?" This includes Ashley. She had been watching the performance, and was listening to the hammed speech, and then she just froze. Alex pulled the ring from his pocket, dropped down to one knee, and formally asked her to be his bride. Shaking and crying, she went up to the front of the room, unsure what to do. She managed to squeak out a "yes" from her shocked state of mind. She held out her right hand, still shocked, still uncertain about what to do, and still crying and shaking. Alex took her left hand, and placed the ring on her finger.

I'm sure that excitement flows freely through the veins of a newly-engaged girl. After the shock wore off, Ashley and Alex became the most popular couple in the house. Congratulations came from all directions, and when they finally got a break, Ashley went outside and called the important people. While she was outside talking, the guests all wanted to hear the story of how Alex met Ashley. Someone who knew the story, asked him, "Alex, have you ever punched out a girl's tooth?"

"Well, actually..."

It requires little-to-no prompting to get Alex to relate this very unique story. Oddly enough, he had. It was Ashley. And now they were getting married.

This happened our freshman year at Christendom. Ashley, Alex, and I were all classmates. The story, in short, is that there was a small confrontation that went kind of along the lines of this -- paraphrased, of course:

Ashley: "I like kids."
Alex: "I hate kids."
Ashley: "I know Taekwondo."
Alex: "I don't."
Ashley: "I can beat you up. See? I'll kick as high as your head."

What follows next all happened within seconds, and there are differing versions of the story. Ashley proceeded to kick as high as his head. Alex naturally deflected the blow, possibly uncertain as to whether or not she actually would kick him in the head, or possibly just to show her that she did not have the upper hand after all. After the deflect, he punched out with his fist, stopping it in time so that he wouldn't hit her, but close enough to prove that he did, in fact, have the upper hand. Ashley landed forward, bringing her face into contact with his fist. I know, I know, it sounds like a story a five-year-old would say, but I saw it.

An instant later, Ashley was cradling her face, and Alex was apologetically asking her to please open her mouth so that he could see the damage. He saw that he had punched her tooth out and we rushed her out to the hospital. Jimbo, who had been hanging out and studying with us, came as well.

Imagine, if you will, Alex and me. I'm 6'2" -- Alex is taller and broader. We're college men, and it's winter outside. It's cool to wear black trench coats, because they keep us warm. Jimbo is smaller than either of us. Alex and I lead the way into the hospital, with Jimbo and poor bleeding Ashley right behind us. The hospital staff takes one look at three men escorting a bleeding woman into the hospital. It takes them no time at all to assume that we did it, and they removed Ashley from our presence for her protection.

The police walk in shortly afterwards, scouting the place out. They look directly at Alex and me, just sitting there, looking at them. In walks a man bound in chains and in prison attire. They make him sit down across from us, and they remain near him.

In the meantime, Alex calls up the basement of Ben's, shortly before curfew. He tells them the abbreviated story of what happened, and why he will be late for curfew. We also called Ashley's dorm.

That evening, we had invited some people over. Sarah H. and Carissa were the only two to come, though. We chatted for a while, Ashley showed off her ring, told the proposal story,

I wasn't able to make it to the March for Life in DC today -- I had too much to do at work. I did, however, manage to get into DC to meet up with Lizzie, Emma, Laurel, Emily, M.C., Michael P, Francis, Paul E., and several others. Emma's mother and the family friend had also gone to the March.

Alex and I drove in to Union Station. He met up with Ashley, and I met up with Lizzie. She just had an interview from a priest for a job in St. John (right?), MO. I told her the story of Alex's proposal to Ashley, and just as I was finishing, Emma came up. Shortly after that, the rest of the group came up, and we went outside to sing a few minutes later.

Outside, we sang in front of a line of people waiting for taxis. It was loads of fun, especially seeing a few people holding up cell phones to either take pictures or let the person on the other end of the phone hear us. It was very flattering. A few people gave us a few dollars in the hat that we left on the ground. In the middle of our third song, a security guard asked us to move. Sure thing.

We moved, and began singing again. We didn't have that many donaters of monies this time, but the listeners were more around our age, and they seemed to really like us a lot more. One man came up to us and asked if we could sing Amazing Grace. We did. Ah, 'twas fun.

We decided to go back inside. Emily stopped and talked a different security guard about the rules. He said that it was perfectly fine to sing outside, and that he would take care of the misunderstanding. After we started singing, the first security guard came running up to us, yelling that we had disobeyed him, and that singing was against the law. It was all I could do to stop myself from physically dragging him away and making him show me this law. It was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. "Singing is against the law." Really? I think not. I think that he was just on a power-trip...

In any case, we were done anyway, so we went inside. The money went to ordering a pizza, but I was getting kind of tired, so I drove back to the apartment. And now, I'm about to fire up Top Gun. I haven't seen it yet, and it's been recommended to me very highly.

Colin & Sarah's wedding and the rest of the weekend

This has the potential to be a massive post, just so you know. I'll try to keep it entertaining...

Colin and Sarah got married this weekend. I drove to Front Royal straight from work, getting stuck in traffic as I was leaving Manassas, of course. I made it to the church to catch the last few minutes of the rehearsal. From there, I drove to St. John's in town and joined everyone for the rehearsal dinner.

The food was prepared mostly by Mrs. M. (Colin's mother), but she did have some help. At this point, I would normally go on a rampage about how wonderful the food was and how much of it I ate, and how when I was done I was happy, and how I need to get her to teach me how to cook, because I'd be a world-class chef, and all of that. However, in the interest of time, let's not and say I did. Why not? Words can't do it justice. In short, the food was excellent, and thank you to Mrs. M. and Helpers for making my tummy happy.

After the rehearsal dinner, we had a choir practice. Lizzie was conducting the wedding choir, which consisted of her, Emma, Sylvia, Anna, Draper, Paul E. and me. Francis ended up joining us as well, but he had already made a commitment to work as a waiter at the reception, so he could only sing through about half of the wedding.

On the day of the wedding, we had choir practice, and the wedding then began at 1:00 PM. Not quite on the dot, but within 15 minutes. Colin wanted to hear Dr. P.'s self-composed Mass in Honor of St. Anthony, or, commonly known as Missa Smitha, considering the mad cool bass line. Emma soloed the Ave Maria while Lizzie played it on the organ. It was very beautiful, if I may say without making either of them blush. And if either of them is blushing, well, I'm sorry for causing the blush, but I have to stand by my statement.

From my end, the reception was a bit stressful. I got there and found that the system did not like my laptop. I didn't know why, but it didn't. It was particularly frustrating, as I'm sure you can imagine. Whenever I plugged my system into their receiver, it would buzz. This was most certainly not the intended effect. However, there was a gentleman there who helped me get it all fixed. We discovered the problem was the microphone. While the microphone was turned on, the sound would not work properly. This would be a problem, and was going to be annoying, but at least I knew what the problem was and how to deal with it.

I began playing general music: soft Celtic, Irish, a couple ballads, just something to keep the sound going. When the bridal party came, Ryan loaned me his laptop, and I began the task of switching machines, going from my slower computer to his faster one. The bridal party's official entrance came about 15 minutes later. Most of the bridal party entered to Battle Without Honor Or Humanity, by Tomoyasu Hotei, from the Kill Bill: Volume 1 soundtrack. Colin and Sarah entered to Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti, on the Original Rocky Soundtrack.

During dinner, I played a lot of classical (Mozart and Chopin), as well as a couple other random pieces, two of which were from video games. One was an orchestrated version of the Super Mario themes, and the other was a Final Fantasy mix.

Come What May, sung by Ewan MacGregor & Nicole Kidman, from Moulin Rouge was the first dance of the bride and groom. It was very fitting. Your Song, sung by Ewan MacGregor from the same movie, was Sarah's dance with her father. Colin danced to Swinging on a Star by Bing Crosby with his mother.

The rest dances consisted of a lot of swing, some ballroom, and a lot of otherwise freestyle dances. The wedding ended on a remarkable note, with Switchfoot's This Is Your Life. During this dance, Colin and Sarah were surrounded by all the guys carrying the lights from the tables. They started to walk in time to the music, counter-clockwise around them. All the girls joined hands outside of them and walked around them in the opposite direction of the guys. It looked both odd and really cool at the same time.

The pictures from the wedding are also up. Check them out on Snapfish.

After the reception, Lizzie, Emma, Laurel, Krystle, Claire, Sylvia, M.C., Mike P., Draper and I went to a local Exxon station to grab some ice cream. I was, for some oddball reason, rather tired. I didn't get any ice cream because I was afraid that it would put me on a very short-lived sugar high, and then drop me lower than I was then. In any case, just sitting down and relaxing was enough. I drove Draper to his house, and then I drove back to Herndon.

On Sunday, I went to Old St. Mary's for the Solemn High Tridentine Latin Mass in the evening, and sang with the schola out there. Thus began a new-yet-same-old week for me.

Colin and Sarah, on the other hand, began a whole new life with each other. Congrats to them both, and I expect to still see them on at least a semi-regular basis? Hopefully they won't become hermits?

Last Christendom weekend

Well, starting next week, I'll be a free man, of sorts. Although I won't have to sing at Christendom, I'll still be singing elsewhere...

This weekend has been pretty busy. On Friday, Ryan, Eric, Joe, Ken and I drove down to SC for the funeral of Mama (Ginger) E., MikeE's mother. The morning of the funeral (December 8), Eric, Joe, Ken and I went to early Mass before heading out. Ryan wasn't able to make it to the morning Mass, so we had to catch one that evening. All five of us piled into Eric's Explorer, and we made the trip, arriving at the church about five minutes before the ceremony was about to begin.

It was a sad time for all of us who knew her. I had only met her twice, but it was still sad, losing such a great woman. Her family is all in my prayers as they continue to struggle with this loss...

After the ceremony and the reception, we went to a local Catholic Church and caught Mass, just in time for Ryan. The first thing we noticed about the church was that it looked more like a warehouse than anything. Turns out that it was a run by the Franciscans. To those of you who don't know, this usually implies a great deal of liberality... Here we go: ready?

• The priest was vested in blue vestments. Blue. Does anyone else see a problem with this? Thank you, I knew I wasn't alone.
• There were two altar girls. There was also an altar monk. There were plenty of men and other people of the male gender in the congregation. Problem? Call me old fashioned but, back in my day, if you filled the position of acolyte or lector, it meant that you could be ordained to the priesthood. I don't have a problem with the altar monk or the deacon. However, neither the lectorette/congregation "choir" director nor either of the altar girls could ever be ordained.
• Guess what color the altar girls, the altar monk, and the deacon were wearing? If you named off any color in the spectrum aside from blue, you're wrong... (White isn't a color, but yes, they did have white robes on, too.)
• At the Our Father, everyone joined hands with everyone else in their rows ... across the church. I did not. The altar monk seemed to be glaring at me for not participating. I glared back.
• Extraordinary Eucharistic ministers -- unnecessary because of the presence of a fully capable priest and a deacon.
• Saving the best for last: the Mass was made illicit by the actions of the priest who broke the host before the consecration, because he was acting out the words...

*Whew!* Enough there? If people still wonder why I hold to the Tridentine Latin Mass as the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the top notch, the Royal Flush (or the five-of-a-kind hand of Aces, if you're playing with wild cards or multiple decks), the quadruple-shot of espresso for the soul, etc., I pity them...

On Saturday, I cleaned up the apartment, because we were having guests over. Ken and Alaina were the first to show up, followed not long after by Alex, Ashley, Elizabeth, and Sarah.

On Sunday, I sang with the Christendom choir, and then out at Old St. Mary's. I took TJ, Ellen, and Jason to Old St. Mary's -- which meant simply that I had to take them back to Christendom...

There was a visiting choir at Old St. Mary's, the Ad Hoc Singers. They sang (among other pieces) Mozart's Missa Brevis in B-flat (KV 275), which is a very beautiful and rather impressive Mass.

On Monday, I rode in to work with Ken, and then back with him. I think this is becoming a weekend tradition...