My Fair Lady

Last night, Mom, Dad and I watched My Fair Lady together. Once again, another classic. Expertly done. Henry Higgins has always been one of my favorite characters. I'm quite surprised that one of his lines isn't, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." It's overall a very fun movie, one of my all-time favorites.

The Shaggy Dog

Liz and I watched the Shaggy Dog yesterday. It was actually a very clever movie. It was a mix of the classic the Shaggy Dog and the Shaggy D.A.. In spite of all the bad reviews of the movie, I wanted to see it anyway. In my humble opinion, forget the reviews. It was actually a very good movie. It's fun, it's innocent, and there's no pointless sex scene to detract from the movie. :-D

The Music Man

I watched The Music Man with my parents last night. It's been a while since I've seen that movie. I should add it to my collection.

Based on my extremely limited experience as an actor, I watched this movie, keeping an eye out for all the little things that make this movie great. Before the movie, the actors were talking about how the director did an entire sections in one take. If you recall the dance in Madison Park ("Shipoopy!"), this was the part. And if you recall how many shots this scene consisted of, I was shocked at how well everything was done. The precision, the timing. My gosh! If Mike P. had a troupe of actors who were able to flow as easily as thee guys, he would be in heaven. At least, I think he would be...

In any case, looking at the dancing, at the singing, at the entire performance, I realize that an actor's life is not all being pampered. At least, these actors really had to work hard to make such a masterpiece. Not all the scenes were at the level of difficulty of the "Shipoopy" scene, but still. It's really amazing.

In any event, if you haven't seen this movie, I bequeath unto thee a smack, and thy penance is to watch this movie. Not much of a penance, because you'll really enjoy it. Unless you're a nutcase...

"You're Pounce Material"

I love Cute Overload!!!

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/04/someones_about_.html

Cute Puppy!

Such a cutie! I love puppies, especially huskies!

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/04/tuning_in.html

Sunday @ home

I hung out with Kelly P., Teresa McG., and Jenny D. last night. Jenny came and picked me up at home, and we went out to Dallas. 'Twas fun. The four of us met up at the Blue Mesa Grill for a bite to eat, a couple drinks, and just to chat for a while.

Jenny had to leave after about an hour or so, leaving Kelly, Teresa and me together. We talked about Teresa's papers and classes. After that, we went to go see Ice Age 2. It was really funny! I won't spoil it for anyone, but I enjoyed it immensely. :)

Of course, I love most animated films...

After the movie, Kelly drove Teresa back to U.D., and then me home. I was back at home by midnight.

Saturday @ Home

Mom invited my twin sister, her husband and kids (James, Elizabeth, A.J. and Anya F.), and my older sister, her husband and their family (Gilbert, Jane and Hannah V., with Kathy and a friend) over for dinner. (Lost yet?) {grins evilly} Dinner stated about 5:00PM, and we all just acted like family. It was loads of fun.

A.J. is really growing up. He's become a lot more polite and considerate since the last time I saw him, whereas Anya is going through the terrible threes. She knows she's cute, and it trying to use it to get away with murder. A.J. also knows he's cute, too, but isn't trying to get away with murder anymore. He's such a cool kid!

We got a few pictures of the entire family. I hope to get a copy of it. I'll post it here, if I get a copy. Not "here" here, but on this blog.

After Liz & the family left, the Jane and her family stuck around for a little bit. But as it was getting quite late, they packed up to head out shortly thereafter.

And, for the record, I still can't dance, but I remember a little bit. I remembered the tango steps as Jane and I got into a couple dancing positions in the den...

Musings at home

Dad is amazingly well. On Tuesday, he had as much life in him as he did back when I was at home for Christmas. I was really shocked. I expected to see him clinging on to life quite literally for dear life, but such was not the case. He seemed to be well-grounded in it, and did not have any plans to go anywhere. He was up and about, eating almost as much as I do, maintaining his normal attitude.

Gotta love that fighting spirit. :)

In spite of all the good news, I always remember that his time is limited, perhaps extremely so. There are good and bad days. I'm sure that Tuesday was just a really good day for him.

All of a sudden, the words "Good-bye" and "I love you" carry a whole lot more weight then they ever did. I'm sure you've had this experience before. These words were really heavy when I went to college, but now they are more so. They carry so much weight now, much more than ever.

The thought that tomorrow I might wake up but Dad may not makes me want to say them more often.

Before I went to college, Dad and I rarely had any real discussions. Usually, I just couldn't wait for him to get done talking so I could leave. Sounds cruel, no? Not anymore. The thought that I may never talk to him again, that this conversation here and now could be our last strikes fear into any heart. The last thing I want to do is to have a final conversation between Dad and me end in grief. I'd be stuck with that forever. The only thing I want to do now is re-live life and correct all of my mistakes towards my Dad when I was growing up. I'm sure I'd be a much better person if I could do so.

Sadly, we are all only given one chance at this life. No one gets a second chance. When you die, that's it. It's heaven/purgatory or hell. Making the last conversation you'll ever had with a person end on a bad note is not the way to go at all.

I'm not saying that you need to go blubbering back to every person you know now, recalling and apologizing for each and every time that you've ever crossed swords. That would most likely open more wounds than repair them. However, you do need to make darn sure to never end a conversation on a bad note.

As Our Lord said, "If you are bringing your gift to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar, and go first to be reconciled with your brother." These words carry a meaning with them that goes far deeper than just, "Don't go to Mass unless you're clean with everyone." Your entire life should be an offering to God. Don't offer your life to God if you have unfinished business with your brother. It shows your brother no respect, and God will make you pay all your dues to the last farthing, not just the last penny.

Anyway, my ramblings here are starting to lose focus, so I should probably stop while I'm ahead. I hope I haven't bored you...

At home

Well, I flew home yeterday. I asked Alex S. to drive me to BWI. We got there at about 3:00PM. I got up to the desk in no time flat, and was booked in even less time. However, I got booked as an "Ingrid". I didn't notice this, up until I was stopped by security. That's the first time I've ever heard, "This isn't you". I made it back through the line in record time, and got rebooked as me. but as I was about to go through security, I missed something. The ticket was for an "Anthony Smith", not "Anthony Smitha." This always happens. The security guard let me through this time, though. Thank goodness.

Then came the nice LONG wait. I sat around until about 5:30 PM, waiting to board the plane, a Southwest Airlines jet.

From here, I called Elizabeth F. (my twin sister) and talked with her for a little bit. The plane finally boarded, and I drifted off to sleep. The plan landed in Chicago. I had an hour layover here. At this point, I called Kelly P. We chatted for a bit until it was time to board, and then I got onboard an ATA jet.

In DFW, I landed a few minutes early, and got my bags. Just minutes before I got my bags, Elizabeth drove up downstairs waiting for me to show up. It was about now that I found out that she is pregnant, about three months along. But she told me rather non-chalantly, just kind of rattling it off, like, "...blah, blah, blah, and, oh, yeah, I'm pregnant again, and, blah, blah, blah..." Well, since she told me non-chalantly, I had to return the emotion: "...Blah, blah, blah, and that's cool, congratulations, and blah, blah, blah..." To quote an old cartoon character, "Ain't I a stinker?"

We met up with met up with Kelly P. and Teresa McG. and had dinner at Taco Cabana. It was fun catching up with them, although I think that Liz was having more fun. She was laughing hysterically at basically everything.

After this, Liz took me home, and I went right to bed.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep......

The Ten Commandments

Now I'll rant about the movie. I didn't miss anything with the movie. I should have, because I wouldn't have been cringing through a good chunk of it if I had.

For once, I felt like Colin and Nick M. While I was watching the movie, I was analyzing it all. Normally, I just watch movies for what they are, a movie--for the pure entertainment of it. I could not do that this time! I was criticizing everything! The beginning of the movie was OK. In fact, the first half of the movie, I only looked quizzically at the screen once, and that was because the Egyptian princess was a young widow. It's possible--I can't deny that--but I'd never heard that before. I'm no expert, so I just let it go.

Moses's entire young life as an Egyptian prince was also believable, and even as a righteous pagan, because Scripture does not talk much about his life before he killed the Egyptian. He was almost made Pharaoh himself. It was an amazing piece of history that I never knew, assuming that it is actual, and not just a Hollywoodization of Moses. The discovery of his heritage and acceptance of it was also believable. However, from this point on, I started cringing more and more. First of all, Moses caught an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, killed him, and hid his body in the sand. The movie portrayed that all right. However, the movie does not portray the next day, where he saw to Hebrews fighting, and they reveal his crime. Instead, the murder is revealed to Pharoah's son, who captures Moses and has him exiled.

Moses also does NOT easily accept his mission from the Lord. If you recall, the Lord gets angry with Moses, because he keeps making up excuses for why he shouldn't go to Egypt, and He finally tells Moses to bring his brother Aaron with him. Aaron, meanwhile was coming to find Moses. The movie portrayed Joshua as having found Moses out in the middle of nowhere, and Aaron still back in Egypt. (I was practically banging my head against the table at this point.) The miracles were fairly accurate. Aaron was the one who should have been doing the speaking, instead of Moses, although Moses was telling him what to say.

The plagues were portrayed pretty well, as was Pharaoh's stubbornness. I don't recall Pharaoh having any say in his plagues: by this, I mean that he decreed that the firstborn of the Israelites would die because of Moses, and it is this decree that God exercised on him, first. It was a very interesting portrayal. I'm not saying it's wrong: it's just interesting.

The flight from Egypt was rather odd, but I guess it gave the sense of how many Israelites followed Moses out of Egypt.

The Red Sea was very well done -- except that Pharaoh sent all of his men, chariots, and horses through the sea, but did not go himself. The Bible very expressly states that Pharaoh led the men through the Red Sea and died in it himself. !!!!!!!!!!!! But, it allowed for a resolution to Pharaoh's wife, I guess...

Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God was good for it's time. The fire effect was cool. But Moses rolling around on the rock, in an attempt to shield his eyes was ... well, very ... um ... well ... old-fashioned? I can't think of what I want to call it. But if you've seen the scene, I think you know what I want to say about it.

The portrayal of the golden calf was actually really good. I liked the portrayal of fallen humanity -- inasmuch as one can like such portrayals.

The end of the movie was ... well, it could have been better. Moses died. Very simply. He saw the Promised Land far ahead of him before he died. God decreed that he would not live to enter into it. He did not that Moses would see it, but could not enter it because he was forbidden to do so. The only man who survived the flight from Egypt to the Promised Land was Joshua, as I'm sure you remember. There is no movie reference to the fact that Joshua was the only survivor to make it into the Promised Land, but I guess I shouldn't expect it.

In spite of a potentially sore head, I recommend this movie as a movie for purely entertainment purposes. If someone is trying to learn some basics about Moses, then this is a really good movie. For non-theology majors, the movie is less painful. But to anyone who has read Exodus (and the rest of the Pentateuch, something I'm working on), they will find this movie lacking in many ways -- unless they can turn off their part of their brain marked "be critical".

Prayers in the East

By the wayside, if you're interested, a better list of the prayers and services of Holy Week for the Eastern Rite can be found at http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article8432.asp. I usd thsi as my source in the description of the prayers for the Holy Week services, because I couldn't remember the names of all the parts of the services.

Anywho, take care, and God Bless!

What do you do if...

...someone comes up to you and says, "Christ is risen!"?

You respond in kind: "Indeed, He is risen!"

If they say, "Christos anesti!" you say, "Alithos anesti!"

What about if they say, "Al-Massihu qam!"? You respond with, "Hakkan Kam!"

Is that so hard?

OK, yes, it is. But it's worth it. Sometimes after you have this series of responses, Easter kisses are exchanged.

:)

Say no more.

Easter/Pascha

On Easter morning, I woke up to a sharp rapping on the door. Jonathan D. was pounding on it to wake us up. It was 07:30, one-and-a-half hours later than I intended to wake up. I was not pleased. Mike P. and I piled into the car as quickly as we could, and took off to pick up Lizzie and Emily.

All this because I left my cell phone in the M.'s van.

I raced to Old St. Mary's. I do hope that I didn't cause anyone to wet themselves, but I was so worried that two of the people in the car would not get to Mass on time. Emily and I were set for Mass, because of Holy Transfiguration, but Lizzie and Mike were not set. If they showed up too late, they'd miss Mass, and it would be my fault. I had a little less than an hour to drive about 75 miles, complete with all the stoplights on Constitution Blvd.

Just about 8:45, we pulled up to the front of Old St. Mary's. I dropped everyone off, and the hundredth prayer that we make it there on time escaped my mind. I went parking space hunting, and found a pretty good one. I walked into the Church, dreading that I would walk in just in time for the end of the homily.

Nope. Much to my surprise, Father had just walked up to the altar after the prayers at the foot of the altar. Apparently, Lizzie, Emily and Mike made it inside just after the Vidi Aquam; they probably walked in almost at the beginning of the prayers at the foot of the altar. Quite literally, my jaw hung loose for a second, and I just had to say a prayer of gratitude.

I joined the schola upstairs, but they were about to begin singing the Gradual, Alleluia and Sequence, so I didn't actually join them yet. I put on the cassock and surplice before the Credo, and joined them for the rest.

After Mass, we went outside, and met with Tom and Andy C. and their parents, as well as TJ and a few other Christendom students. After chatting with them for a while, I noticed that the screw on my eyeglasses' left nosepad was gone. I noticed this because I pulled off my glasses, and the nosepiece stayed on my nose, while the rest was in my hands...

I scoured the ground looking for the extremely tiny screw, and soon, I had the entire crowd doing this. I'm sure that, as someone said, it looked to everyone else like a "weird ritual" where all of use placed our heads on the ground for a short period of time...

After that, Lizzie and Emily and I left. We stopped at Christendom to pick up food stuff from Blessed Margaret's and Campion, then went to Dr. M.'s house to retrieve my cell phone from their van. I called Emma to see if she and Sarah were coming out to join the fun at Christine's, and sure enough, she was coming.

We all went to Christine's, and shortly after that, it really hit me that I was really tired. I could tell because I was still upset about being late in the morning. I went downstairs and plinked around on the synthesizer for a while. After not feeling too much better, I decided that now was a good time to leave.

I stopped back at Guardian Angel to pick up my tie clip, then headed back to Herndon. I stopped at Trader Joe's and picked up some food (because I hadn't had anything to eat yet), and then went back to the apartment and chilled for a while.

I fired up the Ten Commandments and watched that. While that was going on, I had my laundry running. I was flying home the next day, and I had a lot of stuff to wash and pack.

After getting the laundry all done, and the movie was finished, I went to bed at midnight.

Great Saturday

On Great Saturday morning, I went to the morning liturgy. I had arranged to meet the Dr. William H. M. and his wife out there and then follow them back to their house.

I went to Holy Transfiguration, not really knowing what to expect. The Liturgy was pretty much a normal Divine Liturgy, except that they brought two men into the Church. While the beginning of the Liturgy was going on, the two men were being baptized. After all the candles were lit (which I helped with! {excited grin}), and the Gospel antiphons had been sung, the doors to the church were thrown open and Father Joseph and a number of acolytes and people in procession came in with the two Neophytes. The Neophytes and their sponsors (one of whom was Dr. M.) stood up at the front of the church for the Gospel, the homily, and the rest of Mass. This was the first Mass that they had been allowed to attend. When they first became Catechumens, they were never allowed to stay past a certain part of the Mass -- in fact, they were dismissed with the words: "All Catechumens depart, all Catechumens depart, let no Catechumen remain." After which "The doors, the doors!" were closed to them while the Great Mysteries of the Liturgy were going on. This time, "The doors, the doors!" were closed, but they remained inside.

Ahhh, the symbolism... I love the East!!! :-D

After the Liturgy, I realized that it was April 15th, and I had to hit "send" on my taxes. I had them prepared for a few days (really!), but I hadn't e-filed them yet.

Remind me to never e-file state taxes. $19.99 through turbo tax online. Grr...

After this, I wanted to get a suit for Easter and for home. I got a charcoal, blue-and-white pinstripe, two-button, which was configured for me while I was there. (I've still got the techie side of me -- what would it be? Hemmed? Suspender-button-sewn-on'ed? Whatever you call it, it as extremely quick service! I was really amazed! Go, Men's Wearhouse!

After getting out of there, I went to the apartment, and relaxed for a bit. I took a shower and got ready to go to Front Royal. I called the good Dr. M. and family to let him know my E.T.A., and he said that they'd be ready. At this point, I was talking to Mrs. M., who had been the one to ask me about taking their girls to Holy Transfiguration. She informed me that I told her that I had developed a small dilemma. I was taking not just Emma, but also Sarah. Including the three of us plus the two M. girls, my Acura would not be big enough for the five of us. I felt weird asking, but I knew that they had a van, so I asked if it was possible to borrow that. We concluded that it was all right.

I was informed shortly thereafter that the M. girls were taking one of their friends with them. And shortly after that, Emily G. asked if she could go. Thus the seven passenger van was filled, and I took over Sabbatino's role of being the official "take girls to Holy Transfiguration" person, at least for one night...

I got to Front Royal about 6:30. I spent some time at Dane's, then headed over to Dr. M.'s house. I arrived at his place about 7:45 or so, half-expecting to find them waiting on the doorstep, drumming their fingers. As it turns out, I was half-wrong. I was invited inside, and Mrs. M. and one of her girls were making food for the Pascha festivities, so Dr. M. and I went out back onto his screened deck, and we sat and chatted for a while.

I finally told him the story about how I did my thesis. He seemed to enjoy the story. After that, we discussed how his classes were going. Listening to him talk made me want to go back to Christendom again. His classes were so awesome!

Finally, about 8:30 or so, the three girls were ready. They wanted a picture of this momentous occasion, so they joined me on the couch, just as Emma called. There are, somewhere in this world, two pictures of me on the phone surrounded by three women-folk, and a third picture of us, with me playing up the "stud" role, probably rather poorly. My excuse was that I was asked to play the role of "stud" with no time to prepare at all...

We left their house very soon after that. They asked me to stop at an Exxon, so I did, only to discover that they wanted to pick up cigarettes. Now, don't get me wrong: I don't necessarily care that people smoke if they want to smoke. It's their health, their choice, their responsibility -- besides, smoking affects different people different ways. I am usually surprised when women smoke, because it's a thing of mine that ladies do not smoke. I've seen enough women smoke, so it doesn't really bother me that much, but there's something in the back of my mind which still whispers that.

I think what really bothered me the most was that we were on our way to Divine Liturgy and they wanted to smoke on the way. In any event, that seemed to be my overarching thought as we went to pick up Emma, Sarah, and Emily at Christendom.

When we entered the girl's side, I was looking at Blessed Margaret's. There were no lights on, but I figured it was because Emma's room was in the back. I pulled up in front of the dorm, and called her to let her know that I was out front. She said that she was, too, and that I had gone tearing past her. Whoops. They were waiting for me at the rock. {grins sheepishly} I really should have seen them, because they were wearing light clothes, but that's what you get for focusing on the destination. I turned the van around, and, sure enough, there they were. Except now they were standing in the road, to make sure that I'd see them. I raced up to them, in an attempt to scare them (because I'm a jerk like that), but they didn't move in the least. Drat! Foiled again!

On the way into the church, everyone gets a candle. Emma, Sarah, Emily and I sat up in the front to get a good view. Evening liturgy consisted of the Lamentations, a procession, and evening liturgy. The Lamentations remind us that Christ is in the tomb. After this, the priests came out of the sanctuary with their candles lit. From these candles, the congregation lit all of their candles, and then proceeded outside. I held the door open for the congregation. This helped make sure that I would have a great spot to stand and see everything. (The girls stood at the front of the steps about ten feet away from me, so they also had a great view. See? I'm not that selfish!)

After going outside, everyone gathered at the door. The priests, deacons and the acolytes were the only ones left inside, and they came outside at the end of the congregation. Some antiphons were chanted, the Gospel that related the story of the angel telling the women that Christ is risen was read, and then Father Joseph began chanting in Greek:

"Christos anesti ek nekron, thanato thanaton patisas, ke tis en tis mnimasi, zoin charisamenos." ("Χριστος Ανεστη εκ νεκρων, θανατω θανατον πατησας, και τοις εν τοις μνημασι, ζωην χαρισαμενο!" Right, Greek scholars?)

To which the people responded in English,

"Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life."

The third response was in Aramaic (right?), which I still can barely pronounce and have most certainly not memorized:

"Al-Masihu qama min bayn ilamwat wa wati-al-mawta Bil-maut, wa wahab al-hayat liladina fil-qu-bour."

Generally, these were sung in the following order throughout Mass: English, then Greek, then Aramaic.

Anyway, back outside the church, Father called upon the tombs to open their doors and release the dead from their grip in obedience to their Lord and Master, Christ. The he then knocked on the doors loudly. This was repeated twice. After the third time, the doors were opened (I held them again!), and the priests, deacons, acolytes, choir, and congregation went inside. I was one of the last people inside. After that, I came up to the front of the church, I hadn't missed much. I did, however, miss the one thing that I was hoping to see. It's such a simple thing, but it's really awesome! When you walk back into the church, all the hanging candles are swinging, symbolic of the earthquake at the Resurrection. The first time I saw this, I could not help but find my place, while remaining awe-struck. It seems like such a simple thing, and most of you are probably asking, "Why in the world would swinging candles cause so much awe?" I can't explain it any better than the fact that the first time you see it, the symbolism really hits home. Couple this with the sadness of the Holy Friday burial liturgy, and it really is an amazing experience...

From here on, Liturgy was almost as normal, except the chant that I mentioned above was repeated over and over again through Mass. After the Gospel, Father gave the Paschal homily. This can be found on http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Paschal_Homily Trust me, it's well worth the read, but it's even better listening to Father Joseph give it. The one that I heard on Pascha was modified slightly from the original, but the content is identical.

At the end of the Liturgy, I helped them move the chairs out of the church and into the dining hall for the celebration immediately following. After getting a couple things to eat, I went to help out Sabbatino and Co. with their service. I ended up refilling/replacing a lot of the food trays, and then took over washing the dishes for Christine.

It was about 01:30-02:00AM when we left. I drove us back to Front Royal with some lively mariachi music to keep me awake. I dropped Emily, Sarah, and Emma off at Christendom, drove the M. girls back to their house, and then spent the night at Eric's place. It was 03:00AM when I crashed. I realized in some panic that I did not have my cell phone on me at that point, and to go back to Dr. M's house was not ideal. I asked Mike P. to set an alarm to get up at 06:00 to get to Old St. Mary's.

Cool.

Zzzzzzzzzzz...................

Great Friday

Old St. Mary's had their Holy Friday service at noon. I made sure that I would have some free time then, because I really wanted to go, and the schola leader asked for help anyway. I definitely wanted to help him out, so I made sure that I would have free time. I should have asked if it was Tridentine or Novus Ordo, because I was rather disappointed to discover that it was not Tridentine. Oh, well...

But to make up for it, I went to Holy Transfiguration at 7:30PM. When I first went to Holy Transfiguration for these services, I was told that the East does everything one day in advance. As true as it may be, its also wrong. The East's Great Friday liturgy is a burial liturgy. It's main focus is Christ in the tomb. Is that early for 7:30PM on Good Friday? No. It's timed perfectly. By this point of the day, Christ has descended from the Cross and was in the tomb. At 3:00PM, Holy Transfiguration had the Vespers of the Taking the Body of Jesus down from the Cross, once again, timed rather well. It was about the ninth hour when Jesus died on the cross. The removal of His Body and preparation for burial would have followed soon after.

After singing many antiphons, psalms, and hymns, we processed outside, and walked around the parish in procession. The main thing chanted was the Trisagion:

"Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us."

That was the only thing that I knew, and it was chanted over and over again. In the melancholic tone that is used, you can hear the sorrow of those who bore the Body of Christ to Its resting place in the sepulcher, and as the crowd moves slowly in procession to this chant, the reality of the Death of Christ sinks in. In the West, the primary focus is the Passion and Death of Our Lord. Although the East does not forget that service as shown in the reading of the 12 Gospels on Great Thursday and the Vespers of the same day, they also commemorate the actual burial in a separate service.

The best way to explain it is to recall a painful experience, if you will bear with me. Recall the death of a loved one, or if you have been blessed to not have a loved one pass on from this world to the nest, try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who has lost a loved one. Yes, their actual death hurts, terribly so. But somewhere, something inside of you thinks, "They'll be back. What if they are not dead?" Even seeing them in the coffin is not final. It is when the coffin is closed and placed in the ground that it adds a certain finality to the situation. Everything comes to an end when they are buried.

This same sense comes to those who have been living out Lent with this image in mind. Christ has been crucified and has died for my sins. But He'll be back. In the East, the image of the burial enhances the fact of His death so much more than just the Liturgy of His Passion and Death. I know I'm falling short, but I can't seem to explain it any better...

At the end of the prayers, a Gospel is sung, and the congregation is dismissed.

I had taken Alex S. with me to Holy Transfiguration. He seemed to like it. He said he did. After the service was over, we found Dr. William H. M. and chatted with him for a bit. It turned out that he needed someone to take his girls in to Holy Transfiguration the next day for the evening Liturgy. Christine C. was going to, but for some reason or another, she couldn't anymore, so I offered. I could do it. I was coming down to Christendom anyway to pick up Emma for the same Liturgy, so that left two seats available in my car...

Great Thursday

Yesterday, I went to Holy Transfiguration for the Great Thursday Liturgy, which was called "The Reading of the 12 Gospels". It is exactly what it says it is.

When I walked in, I saw the large cross standing there. This cross is over seven feet tall, and about five feet wide. Behind it, there was a row of twelve tapers (tall, thin candles about half-an-inch wide, and about a foot tall) lined up in a wooden support. There were also twelve votive candles set in holes alongside these tapers. The candle pattern was votive on the outside, taper next to it, votive, taper, and so on.in the center, between tapers six and seven, there was no votive, keeping the total number of candles 24. (From left to right: votive, taper; votive, taper; votive, taper; votive, taper; votive, taper; votive, taper; {space} taper, votive; taper, votive; taper, votive; taper, votive; taper, votive; taper, votive.)

I came and stood near the front of the church, not at the very front, because I wasn't sure exactly what I was supposed to do. This way, I had someone next to me, and if I forgot something I would see them do it, and I would follow suit...

The service begins with a psalm and a prayer. Father Joseph came out from the closed sanctuary doors (the single left door) while these were going on, stood in front of the double center doors, and at the end, he went back into the sanctuary via the single right door. The center doors were opened, and the deacon announced the reading of the Gospel. Father Joseph came out with the book containing the Gospels, and the congregation came forward to the front of the church. Holding the book in his hands, Father Joseph chanted the first Gospel, which was about Our Lord's last sermon to His disciples, before His bitter agony in the Garden. In it, He prophesies His death and His resurrection.

At the end of the Gospel, Father Joseph closed the book, and blessed the people with it, and we all went back to our places. The outside left taper was extinguished. A psalm was chanted, and the deacon announced the reading of the second Gospel. Once again, the people came to the front of the church, and Father read the second Gospel, about Our Lord's Agony in the Garden as told by one of the Evangelists.

At the end of the second Gospel, he closed the book and blessed us with it, and we went back to our places. The outside right taper was extinguished. A psalm was chanted, and the deacon announced the reading of the third Gospel.

This pattern continued like so until the end of the fifth Gospel. At this point in the Gospels, Jesus has been condemned to death, and has received His cross. After the fifth Gospel was finished and the fifth taper extinguished, the lights in the church were turned off. Father Joseph picked up the large icon of the Corpus, and goes to the left sanctuary door.

At this point, everyone able to do so in the church prostrates. The Eastern prostration is not like the West's. In the East, you kneel down, fold up, and place your forehead on the floor, whereas in the West, you lay out on the floor, face down. While we were prostrated, Father Joseph processed completely around the outside of the congregation, counter-clockwise. When he reached the front of the front of the church, he went around again, but at the center-back of the church, the procession came forward on the middle aisle to the front. When he got to the front of the Church, he nailed the Corpus to the cross.

Meanwhile, I was prostrated the entire time. I knew what was going on, because I had been here for this before, but at the same time, I had never actually seen it. It's hard to see when your face is on the ground. In any event, I was right next to the middle aisle, so I heard the acolytes, the deacon, and the priests passing by. While we were still prostrated, you could hear the slight jingle of metal rods, and then this metal-on-metal "tap-tap-tap" four times. When you finally get up, there is the cross, but this time, the Corpus is on it, with nails through the hands and feet.

Father Joseph began a chant. I know a version of this chant from "Thy Passion" by the Boston Byzantine Choir, which is why I recognized it immediately (I actually suspected that Father would sing this Antiphon here). The words were along these lines:

"Today is hung upon the Tree, He Who did hang the land in the midst of the waters. A Crown of thorns crowns Him Who is King of Angels. He is wrapped about with the purple of mockery Who wrapped the Heavens with clouds. He received buffetings Who freed Adam in Jordan. He was transfixed with nails Who is the Bridegroom of the Church. He was pierced with a spear Who is the Son of the Virgin. We worship Thy Passion, O Christ. Show also unto us thy glorious Resurrection."

At this point, a soloist begins singing. I'm not sure, what, because I don't know the language -- perhaps the same thing, but in Hebrew. While she was singing, the priests and deacon in succession prostrate twice, kiss the Corpus, and prostrate a third time before going back up into the sanctuary. At the end of her chant, she left the front of the Church and went back to her seat.

At some point earlier in the evening comes another of the chants from the Boston Byzantine Choir CD, "Thy Passion".

The other seven Gospels resumed; the sixth is the first Gospel to tell about Our Lord's crucifixion and death. At the end of the twelfth Gospel, Our Lord was in the tomb, and the women have looked and remembered where it is, so that they may come back to it...

At the end of the twelfth Gospel, Father Joseph asked everyone to come to the front of the Church and reverence the cross as he, the other priests, and the deacon did before. The acolytes lines up in the front with the choir behind them, and the congregation behind them. The priests heard confessions, and those wishing to remain in the Church for a while were invited to do so.

I found these great pictures today...

The first one is hust a generic bunny picture, but he's just a liddle cutie!!!

The second one was was mildly disturbing, but so funny!!!

And the third one was too darn cute to not post...

What can I say? I'm a sucker for cute things...

*Ahem!* STEAK!

Palm Sunday

On Sunday, Mass at Christendom was pretty normal, with the exception that today was Palm Sunday, and thus it was normal for Palm Sunday. The schola dressed up in cassocks and surplices (too bad they weren't choir surplices) and went outside for the blessing of the Palms. We sang a couple chants outside and then processed inside.

The only other difference was that I got to sing the Gradual verse by myself. That was scary. I kept expecting my voice to crack, but it didn't...

Dr. Poterack, Dr. Davidson, and Father Heisler chanted the Passion, and instead of having the chorus line for the second half of the Gospel, a select group of the choir sang the responses in polyphony. It was truly an amazing feeling. Chant and polyphony bouncing off each other like that...

After Mass and brunch, I got ready to go to Old St. Mary's. I didn't leave immediately, because I had some time, so I went over to the girl's side and chatted with Emma for a while. I asked if she was going to the play. She said that she wanted to, work permitting. I offered to pick her up, depending upon how long it took me to get out of D.C. It wasn't really out of the way, because the only way that I knew to get to the Theatre was to go through Front Royal. I had taken another way before, but that was with directions...

Mass at Old St. Mary's was actually really nice. Three schola members sang the Passion. It was really moving -- and really long. I wouldn't be complaining if I hadn't been so tired, but after a long Mass in the morning, a long drive to D.C., and the promise of a long way to go before the day was over, it was very tiring. When the schola sang out the responses, I was very tempted to sing out the bass line of the polyphony from the morning. I had to really look at the music to remember how it went. It was a stark contrast to the Passion of the morning. Where the Passion this morning resonated with beautiful polyphonic tones (they were potentially beautiful -- I don't know if we helped or hindered that beauty from coming out), these chant verses were deliberately sung with a sense of sneering, to add to the cruelty of the Passion. It only helped me see it all in my head as the Latin was being chanted...

After Mass, as I approached Constitution, I called Emma, and told her that I would be late, but I could still come pick her up. A surprise was waiting for me: Constitution had an accident on it, and it was backed up for blocks. I should have turned off, but I didn't...

After exiting D.C., I burned rubber back to Christendom. I picked up Emma, and tore off to Little Washington. I saw most of the play. I think the actors all knew when I showed up. I could not stop laughing practically throughout the entire performance.

Being the final performance, the actors almost always do something funny to spice up the play. The best line was when Sam P. quoted Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind (the only good line in the entire movie), "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." It took several seconds for the place to die down from the cheers and the laughter that erupted from the audience after delivering that line. It was so perfect. He even had the look of Rhett Butler with the small mustache, and he sounded a lot like him too...

There were two other spots where I caught the actors adding lines. One was immediately after Sam's line. John J. yelled a line directed at Christina M., the same line he used on her in Hamlet: "Get thee to a nunnery!" The second was Julian A.'s all-famous Darth Vader impersonation. After Oberon realizes that Puck enchanted the wrong man and broke up a couple who were actually in love, Julian (Oberon) got the look in his eyes, raised his right hand, and made a force-like motion towards Josepha B. (Puck), and said the immortal line in the immortal voice, "You've failed me for the last time." Josepha played along perfectly, grabbing at her throat, choking, and when Julian "let her go", she dropped to the ground, and took a few deeps breaths. It was great. :)

Peter S. (Peach) was great as Bottom. He held the audience in the palm of his hand. If he wanted them to laugh, they would do so. Fortunately, that's all he had to do was get them to laugh. After he changed and grew the head of a donkey, it was all over for any sense of sanity that I had left. I could not stop laughing. It was so perfect. He played the role of the ass remarkably well. No offense, buddy... :-D

And Greg M., a HUGE freshman, played the part of the guy who has to act to be a girl for Bottom's troupe. It was simply amazing. He also played the audience very well. When he hit the "wall" (played by Grant, another freshman) in frustration, he broke Grant's "wall" costume in half. Fortunately, he warned Grant ahead of schedule that he was going to hit him as hard as he could, so Grant took it really well. The impact of the blow resonated all over the theatre, and the board Grant was wearing snapped in half. Both Peach and Grant looked absolutely stunned as they picked up the board from the ground. Needless to say, the strength and the deep bass voice of Greg really helped enhance the needed effect, namely that the actor in the play did not want to play the role of the woman, and is only doing so rather grudgingly, after Bottom took all the other roles.

Anyway, after the play was over, I had to go congratulate everyone on a magnificent job. Mad props to the director, too! Poor Donna S. looked so frazzled...

*Side Note*
Donna, if you're reading this, I don't think that I ever told you what an honor it was working with you in Hamlet. I hope that if you continue directing, you'll let me know?
*End Side Note*

After all the congratulations had been given, we left and I got Emma back to campus before midnight. I got back home at 1:00 AM.

Saturday

After Mass, I had some time to kill before Choir practice. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of people up on Saturday mornings.

Later that evening, I went with Dr. Poterack, Lizzie, and Emma to the opera Das Rheingold, by Wilhelm Richard Wagner. It was at the Kennedy Center in D.C. It was done really well, in my humble opinion, and we all know that my opinion is very humble. I have to admit, I'm becoming more of an opera fan with every opera that I listen to.

On the way back from D.C., I successfully got us lost. I need to stop being a backseat driver and saying, "I know that this way will get us to Constitution." I don't know anything in D.C., except for how to get lost.

Super Stations & Adoration

Last night was "Super" Stations of the Cross at Christendom. As such, I began work early in the interest of getting to Front Royal on time to attend, and hopefully, to make it in time to join the choir...

I made it with about five minutes to spare before choir practice began.

I love Super Stations. We sing some of my all time favorite polyphonic hymns. Among them is "Vere Languores" by Tomás Luis de Victoria. He is an amazing polyphic music writer. He, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and William Byrd are the three of the composers whose pieces we do the most. I'd love to get some Claudio Monteverdi in there. His pieces are also some of the most beautiful that I've ever heard...

Last night was also all-night Adoration, because it was first Friday. I wanted to come to Christendom for this reason in particular, because I don't get too many chances to go to adoration away from Christendom. I wanted to spend all night in the chapel, but I've tried it in the past, and the same thing always happens: my eyes start getting heavy, my mind starts wandering, and things always just seem to end up out of focus. In anticipation of this, I asked Jonathan D. if I could borrow his Bible. He handed me his Douay-Rheims, and I went to the chapel.

I began reading Isaiah. It's an incredibly powerful book. The first few chapters are incredibly moving. You know that the words from God are directed right at you, and you feel about 2" tall, if even that. Isaiah 1:16-7 is one such place where you feel like you've been reprimanded by God Himself. Of course, you have been. Perfectly put in context, you really take them to heart, especially if you have read the first few chapters before.

Anyway, I read chapters 1-6 to myself in the very back of the chapel, after which I said a rosary. At the end of the rosary, I was drifting. I came back to Isaiah, with every intention of at least getting through chapter 10 before saying another rosary. I didn't make it through chapter 7. I compromised with myself, and my erect position in the pew, glasses off, reading the Bible (about three inches from my face because my vision really is that bad), arms suspended, slowly gave way to the elbows resting on my knees, allowing for a slight slouch, which slowly gave way to resting my forearms on my thighs, allowing for an even greater bend, and so forth, until I put the Bible down. My excuse? I was going to "meditate" on the words of Scripture. I got about this far: "Repent, oh ye *yawn* ye heavens and {rubs eyes} ye heavens and {adjust seating on hardwood pew} ye heavenzzzzzzz..."

"What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." --Matthew 26:40-1

These words echoed in my head as I knew that I could not stay awake...

I got up and left the chapel. I was only causing distraction by my sleeping in the back...

I went birthday singing with the guys in an attempt to wake up, but I was fighting sleep even standing there. As I walked back to the car, I decided that I would go get some sleep and be up early (6 A.M.) for Benediction and reposition...

I didn't get up until almost 7:30, just barely in time to catch Mass. Needless to say, I missed Benediction and reposition...

Nothing much here...

Work is really, really busy now. I've been working on reports for the better part of a month, and I'm still not done...

I got one of my deadlines pushed back a couple days. That's awesome for me, because it gave me some more breathing room...

I called home last night and talked to Mom for a few minutes. Everything's OK for now over there, so my plans to go home for Easter are still a go...

Sarah H. pointed out the fact that I promised Christine C. that I would sing at a wedding on the Saturday after Easter. You now what I had to say about that? "I did it again. I double-booked myself..." Well, I didn't say exactly that, but what I said conveyed that...

Not-quite-so-busy weekend

This weekend was a lot slower. John E., Michael C. and I did some chanting immediately before choir practice on Saturday. At the very least, it helped my voice warm up for choir practice.

At work, we have a new contract in the works with one of our clients. I spent a decent amount of time working on getting the information that they wanted. It's going to take a while. I started on it on Friday, but I had so much to do on it that I e-mailed it to myself to handle over the weekend.

Emma and I went to the Mystery Dinner Theatre on Saturday. At 4PM, I went to the Commons and paid for the tickets, so that at 6PM, when the doors opened, we could just go right in. At 6PM, I expected a rush, but there was no one there. In any event, Emma and I were the first people inside, so we got seats right up front. After all, it would be bad form to miss anything, especially when we're trying to solve the mystery...

After the first act, the actors mingled with people for a while, just talking to them so that people could get an idea of their personalities. After the second act was the murder, and it was up to us to question the remaining people and figure out what happened.

Mom, you would really enjoy this. I'm sure you could have solved it. :)

We were the first people to turn in a solution, but we were, unfortunately, wrong. We chose the obvious person, who was pointed at by the evidence. We missed a couple things, though, that led us to not be able to solve the mystery accurately. However, the nice thing is that we guessed the second-to-last culprit, so we stayed in the running for a while...

On Sunday, we had the regular routine: choir practice, Mass, brunch and another choir practice. Palm Sunday is one week away, and we need to make sure that we have the choral Passion down pat...

I headed back to the apartment, and Alex and I went to dinner at an Indian cuisine place. It was really good! I was really impressed. I'll definitely be going there again...

In any event, I am developing some eeeeeeevil plans. I'll tell you later, once my plans come to fruition...

New Blog!

I have opened a new blogsite. For those of you interested in seeing my dreams, check out http://gettinginmymind.blogspot.com. It's also listed on the side...

Another rather busy weekend...

This weekend was quite busy, but but not in the same way as always...

On Friday, my company had it's quarterly party. Lizzie B. and Sarah H. came out for the party. I think they liked it. I guess, from their perspective, it was a little weird. I do know that the entire office thinks that Lizzie is my girlfriend, though, and what a lucky girl she is...

JUST KIDDING, GUYS!!! I'm only kidding!!!

After lunch, we explored the Spy Museum in DC. It was pretty cool. There was a lot of really fascinating stuff.

After leaving the museum, we went to Stations of the Cross, and then came back to the apartment and hung out for a bit.

Over the past couple of days, Ken has been in the process of getting his stuff out of the apartment and into a new house. On Saturday, Alex S. moved in (at least partially), and Richard S. drove Ken's stuff down to him in Front Royal.

About 4PM (or so), I drove back to campus with Michael C. We dropped his stuff off, went to Dane's, where I checked my snail mail. It looks like most of it is starting to not come to that apartment anymore. It's about time...

My starter cylinder arrived last Monday. Figures that it was the day after I could do anything about it. After picking it up, we went to the library and got to work on my car. After fiddling with it for a few minutes, we both saw that the switch had been installed in such a way that I could not get it off. Here's why:

There were two bolts that went through a small clamp around the shaft. These bolts originally had extensions on them which you could apply a wrench to and turn. These extenstions had been snapped off -- a good safety precaution, so people can't just replace your starter to steal your car, but it made it impossible for a guy like me to replace myself.

For the fun of it, I stuck the same screwdriver back into the ignition and fiddled around with it, just to see what would happen. Sure enough, it didn't budge. And just to make sure, I tried my key again...

...and I was practically sent into shock when my key actually worked...

It took a bit more force than normal, but it caught the grooves and turned. After I "broke it out" of it's original state, it became pretty smooth again.

In disbelief, I hooked my battery back up (I unhooked it the last time I worked on my car to save juice), and we tried to fire it up. It turned over slowly. As I realized that I had spent $140-some-odd dollars that I could get returned, I quickly attached my jumper cables between the Acura and the Sentra.

The Sentra started right up.

It was so nice. I let it un for a few minutes, and just to make sure again, I turned the car off, let it sit for a minute, and fired it back up again. It worked beautifully. We parked the car over at Guardian Angel, and we left for town to return the ignition switch.

After returning the part, I remembered that it was the feast of the Annunciation, and that I had been discussing having a small celebration in honor of the feast. Michael and I ordered pizza, rolled out to Martin's and picked up some desert goodness, and on the way to Sarah and Christine's house, picked up the pizza, too.

Later that night, I got a call from Emma. It turns out that it was actually Emily askign where I was going to Mass. I told her that I was going to Old St. Mary's, so she said that she wanted to go.

Bright and early on Sunday, Emily and I drove to Mass. I saw the Very Reverend (do I have the title wrong?) Michael S., back from the seminary with his cassock and biretta. He couldn't wear the biretta, because he was not in his jurisdiction, but he was carrying it with pride.

On the way back, just as we were about to pull onto Shenandoah Shores Road, we saw Ken F. pulling out. I started following him, he recognized me, and slowed waaaaaay down. I called him and asked what he was doing. He said that he was meeting up with a number of people at Jalisco's in town for lunch, so Emily and I joined him. And there was quite the crowd there...

I left Front Royal early to get home, because I was rather tired after so much excitement...

Another busy weekend

This is getting ridiculous...

This weekend was the CD recording at Christendom. I knew the weekend would be busy, but wow...

Alaina came down on Thursday to see Ken and to be in the recording, so on Friday, she came into the office with Ken. I think she was scared of my side of the office, because I didn't see her much in there...

I left work early to rush back to the apartment, pack a few things, and then burn rubber to Front Royal to make it there in time for the 6:30 PM schola practice. I didn't get there until 7:00, but, hey, you do what you can.

Josh, Draper and Dr. P. were already practicing, but I was fairly confident in all of the pieces, so I just dealt with my lateness and sang everything else that I hadn't missed.

Bright and early, Saturday morning, we had another practice, which, in my opinion went rather well. But by the time that lunch time rolled around, my voice was in need of a break. I don't get to really sing all that often, so I'm losing a lot of the power, control, and range that I used to have. I need to find something to do to keep the ol' chords in shape than singing once a week...

Anyway, we had pizza and soda for lunch. I knew that those would not help my voice at all, so I refrained, and just waited for dinner instead.

The recording sessions in the afternoon went pretty well. There were a couple mess ups here and there, but that's what multiple takes are for. :) I hate to brag, but I think that that schola recording went over the best.

It's kind of funny: there was one chant that we split up for. Dr. Poterack and Draper have very similarly matched voices and Josh and I also emit complementary sounds. Thus, we split up like that. Dr. Poterack intoned a verse, and Draper came in to be the rest of the choir. On the alternating verse, where you would normally have the chanting sections split up between left and right, all four of us sang. The result that I was hearing from where I was singing sounded really cool. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it actually turns out.

When the recording session ended, those of us who were left went to dinner at Dean's Steakhouse. It was fun -- we ate and chatted with each other, not mentioning singing a whole lot. After John E. had to take off, the rest of us stuck around for a little bit, but eventually the fun times ended...

Michael C. was going to spend the week at the apartment. He and I went to Holy Transfiguration for Mass. It's been too long since I've been there. I really miss that church at times...

After Mass, we just chilled for a while back at the apartment...

Really busy weekend

Wow! I had a really busy weekend. I'll try to summarize, but it's not going to happen, just so you know.

On Thursday evening, I went to Christine's in Front Royal to practice for a wedding choir. Emma, Lizzie, Michael and I were her choir at that point. We sang a few relatively familiar pieces, but my voice isn't what it could be. Considering I don't get regular practice like everyone else does, my voice wasn't doing too well. We finished up around 11:30 at night, and I got back to the apartment at about 12:30. Too late for me... ;)

On Friday night, I was in Mike P./Colin & Nick M.'s film. I had a scene where I was a chauffeur in one scene. The scene went pretty well. I had on old pair of khakis that I wore, because they were going to get ruined. The van gets wrecked, and in the process, I get somewhat impaled. Needless to say, the makeup for that was interesting. I've never seen blood quite as realistic as what they had, aside from the real thing. I was expecting that they'd be dousing me with red sauce or something like that. This was a bit more bloodlike. I don't remember the ingredients, but I do remember that what it was first applied, it stung for a second. I don't know why. I didn't sting anyone else, but only me. Very wierd. Maybe it was so sticky that it was pulling out my leg hair...

In any case, the side of my pants were sliced open, and I was made to look like a relatively large branch had gotten wedged into my leg. It was really gross. I made some girls scream!

:)

Ok, no, I didn't, but come on: you know how I react to regular blood. This was realistic-looking (and feeling), it was kind of running down my leg, and in the light, it looked very fresh. Eeeee-yuck!!!

On a side note, I did scare a girl. Laura S. had the hiccups, and she was saying that she wished that she could get rid of them. I turned around in the driver's seat, and faced her (she was right behind me). I askd her to scoot over to the center of the van's seat. She did so, but I'm sure that she was wondering what was involved in this ritual. After she scooted, I asked her if she was comfortable. Before she had fully responded, I snapped my hand out at her, and gave a mini war cry. She jumped back in her seat, and looked at me with this accusative look on her face that seemed to say, "Why did you do that? You were supposed to help me get rid of them!" Then she realized that she didn't hiccup like she had been, and that she wasn't hiccuping at all. She sat there in disbelief saying, "I can't believe that worked. You actually scared the hiccups out of me!"

As a side note, I should say that I didn't think it would work. I've tried it in the past, but it has never worked before. In reality, I did scare her for the fun of it, but it was a nice side effect that she didn't have the hiccups anymore. Oh, yeah, I'm cool.

And, yes, I did tell her this afterwards... :)

We stayed up until 01:30 filming the movie scene. After this, I went inside Kevin's and stayed up until 4AM playing Metroid Prime: Echoes. I should have been asleep, but after about 5 hours of filming, I was rather awake and did not feel like sleeping much...

After about five hours of sleep, Saturday morning was here, and it was definitely time to get up. The first thing up was choir practice. Dr. Poterack was having practice for the CD recording, so I wanted to make sure I was there for that one. After this was Mass, and after Mass, I was going to go replace the igintion switch on my Sentra. I ordered it last week after I killed the one in my car, and I expected it to be here now, but there it hadn't arrived yet. With that in mind, I had nothing else to do on campus up until the play that night, so I went to the afternoon Shield of Roses.

Shield of Roses is the campuses active Pro-Life group. They go to an abortion clinic in D.C., and pray outside of it for a few hours every Saturday. The last two times I went, I went with the morning group. The first time, it was cold and raining, and my coat got soaked through. The second time, it was nicer weather, and the pro-death escorts were being especially rude that day. It was all I could do to stop myself from whaling on all of them (and judging by the level of shape they were in, I could have done so, quite easily). After realizing that I would be lowering myself to their standards, I decided that I was not the right person to attend Shield of Roses, and I didn't go again. But Jen P. and Joe M. told me that there were no escorts in the afternoons, so I decided to go again. It was far less infuriating.

Driving in D.C. stinks though. I hate most D.C. drivers. They don't know what they are doing, and are also incredibly rude. If I didn't have passengers in my car, I would have come a lot closer to coming to blows with one of them. He cut me off from behind when it was clear that I was coming over into his lane. Naturally, I got mad at him and we started making gestures back and forth. He was a black dude who looked to be in decent shape for being a stuck up prick, but I'd have hated to have to embarass him by taking him to school in his hometown. I smiled and waved at him, just to get him mad. It was fun. {insert evil grin here}

Standing in front of the baby death mill and seeing women go in and out, I felt very useless. It is very sad seeing anyone go into a place engineered to kill human beings. Another sad thing I noticed is that they were all African-Americans. I know that they hate it and will yell "RACISM!" when people point out the obvious (namely that abortion kills more blacks than whites), but if they hate it, why do they continue to go there to kill their babies? I just don't understand people, I guess...

That evening, I watched the Scarlet Pimpernel put on by the Christendom Players. Holy cow! It was simply amazing! The actors clearly put a lot of work into this production, and were clearly having fun with it. It really is an amazing thing to see good actors put on a good show with as few props as Christendom has. Words don't do the play justice. It was very funny, it had a score of good people in it. It was cast very well, I have to admit. The leads in the play did an extremely good job.

Two really good friends of mine were in the play: John E. and Julian A. Whenever they were on stage, I practically died laughing -- more so with John, because I've seen Julian play a foolish character before. John and Julian were both playing fops. It was really funny. They both did an incredible job. The syncronized stepping, dancing, and cane-work was simply genius. I don't know if this was all scripted, or if they came up with it, or Bree D. (the director) did, but it was very well done. Mad props to all involved!

On Sunday, there was the usual choir practice, followed by Sunday Mass and brunch. After brunch, we had choir practice for the singing of the Passion, and then a quick practice and recording for the wedding choir directed by Christine. This time, Draper had joined us. We practiced and recorded a couple things, and then I got ready to go to Old St. Mary's for the Second Sunday High Mass. Before I left, though, I sang "Rejoice, O Bethany" with Draper, Michael, Emma and Sylvia. Emma and Lizzie rode with me out to Old St. Mary's. Today was the day that the choir was going to Old St. Mary's for Sunday Mass, so I knew that they may have some extra room on the way back.

Parking was heck in D.C. We drove around for several minutes trying to get a spot relatively near the church, but with no great luck. We parked a couple blocks away and walked back. I attended schola practice, the rest of the choir showed up, Mass was as usual, and then it was time to go. The vehicles going back to campus had enough room in them, so I went straight back to the apartment.

I stopped and picked up some food at Taco Bell. As I ate it, I watched Collateral Damage, an action flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ahhh... Good old violence on TV... :)

Music!

I went to St. Andrew's today for confession. When I walked in, I heard music. My first thought was that they had a choir singing during confession times, which would be really cool! But it turns out that it was pre-recorded. It took me a minute to get used to it, but after that, I found that concentration was so much easier, focusing on my examination of conscience was easier, etc. Plus, it gave the extra benefit of helping mask any noise coming from the confessionals (and they are already quite soundproof).

I heard Improperium, the Christendom version. I forget who wrote it, but I heard it, and I couldn't help think/singing the bass line along with the music.

Anyway, that's the only significant thing that happened today. Mazeltoff!

Read and enjoy.

My all-time favoritest wonderfulest Mommy sent me this:Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'putering',
And I had to answer "yes."

He told me to get off my fanny
And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work...
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops I found
A real absorbing site
That I got SO way into...
I was into it all night. {Sigh}

Nothing's changed except my mouse
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney.

Great pics of AJ and Anya

My sister sent me an e-mail with a picture of her kids in it. This picture was taken while AJ and Anya were helping me get my stuff out to the car after my last visit. The box was too big for AJ (of course), so I asked him to carry my jacket.

He grabbed my jacket and threw it over his shoulder. Mayhem ensued with the contents of my jacket pockets, and pictures as well as that New Testament in his hands were thrown clear. He picked up the Bible, and I picked up the pictures.

I was going to put the hat on Anya, but she was being shy, so we plopped it on his head. The result was pure hilarity. :)



After a bit of touching up, I think he could make a great door-to-door Catholic. Take that, Jehovah's witnesses! The cuteness level of a four-year-old whoops most righteously upon your teenagers!

I'm sore...

Well, this weekend was a fairly busy one, and I'm rather sore.

To start things off, I got to Front Royal on Saturday morning for choir CD rehearsal. I was late, of course. I didn't mean to be, but my bed was so comfy, and my alarm was so ... not comfy...

Anyway, after that, I was going to go help Joel S. move, but he called and told me that he had enough people, so don't bother. "Are you sure?" "Yeah, man." OK, I had things to do anyway...

My Sentra was still broken (of course), so I decided that I was going to fix it. :) After all, I'm a natural -- my first-rate Father is a natural, and he taught me well. Mechanics must run in the family! Besides, I know how to replace brake pads, change oil, and replace headlights. I'm the man!!!

Well, I go to save my battery. As you may or may not know, there is a constant drain on my battery. The ignition switch doesn't lock in the off position. It just kinda sits in the not-quite-locked-so-I'll-be-annoying-and-beep-at-you position. There's one way to fix that. I'll just take my screwdriver and pop that switch back into place. That'll take care of it. :)

*CLICK*

Uh-oh...

I put the key into the ignition. It won't turn. Maybe I didn't put it in far enough. Nope, I did... The thing is completely locked. No ifs, ands, or buts. It's dead in the water. I have to replace the entire key / switch / ignition / cylinder thingy. Darn all my luck...

So, another $140 later, I am now the proud owner of a new thingy. It will be shipped to me sometime this week...

As long as I'm doing stuff, let's replace my shocks. They are in depsarate need of it anyway... $250 later, I'm the proud owner of four struts... Any my wallet is sore...

Am I sore yet? I'm getting there...

I had dinner with the girls later in the evening. Sarah, Carissa, and Christine extended their hospitality for me to come over and share in the wealth of a home-cooked meal. It was really good. :) While I was there, I played some music for them, in particular, Mitch Miller. I had so much fun with my dance interpretation to the music, and I think the girls enjoyed it.

On Sunday, after Mass, I attended brunch in the Commons and introduced the group I was sitting with to a song by Mitch Miller: the medley I've Got Sixpence/I've Been Workin' On The Railroad/That's Where My Money Goes. It was a lot of fun, for me anyway. I think that everyone liked it, until I sang the last part. The guys found it quite humorous, while a couple girls were shocked that I would sing that. Like I said, it was fun... :)

After this, I played soccer with a number of friends: John and Paul E., Breanna H., Lizzie B., Emma F., Michael C., Sylvia S., Emily G., and Jonathan D., for starters. We were soon joined by Francis, Tony, Therese, Mike P., and several others, bt I can't remember all their names... Jonathan and I played goalie in the same net (we were playing half-court because of softball practice). I played in the field for a bit, but I was really too out-of-shape for it, so I went back to goalie. It was fun, but I was sore after about an hour-and-a-half of this...

After this, Solemn Vespers were held in the Chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. They were very nice, and sung very well.

When this was over, I played Draper W. in a game of racquetball. In the first game, he squished me like a bug: 0-15. Second game: 1-15. Third game: 10-15. Fourth game: 3-15. Fifth game: 2-15. Sixth game: 1-15. Like a bug. I was now sore.

I went into town to get some food, and called home. I haven't called hom since Ash Wednesday. Things are going well. Dad is in good spirits, as is Mom. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong, except for the fact that I know that he's hooked up to an I.V. Please continue to pray for him, my family, and his recovery, but if it is not God's Will, please pray that we can all accept that. I, for one, will not be quite the same when that time will come...

I had a Spelunkers burger, onion rings, and a shake for dinner. Oh, I missed that place, and their great hamburgers. :)

I ended the day chatting with Emma. She recently discovered my weakness: blood and the internal workings of the body, so she was exploiting that. I guess I deserved it, coming to bug her at 9PM, especially after she went through all the trouble of fixing my tie...

Mike P. came back to the apartment with me. Half-way back, we stopped at the pad and picked up Ken F., who had driven Bill I.'s car back there (Bill had flown out of Dulles to purchase a new car, and asked us to move his car). We got back to the apartment about midnight, and I crashed soon after.

Hey! Whatchu doin'?

This was such an awesome picture, I had to post it as my background at work!

Well, I get a kick out if it every time I see it... :)

I got this from Cute Overload.

Check here, here (and click on the link inside there), and here for some of my favorite pictures from that website. I have a soft spot in my heart for animals. They're just too cute! :)

Mixed day...

Just a quick blurb...

Days like today make me feel like I'm not supposed to be working where I do...

I overslept this morning, so all day I had a lot of energy, the kind where I wanted to go out and run around. Needless to say, I couldn't concentrate. All day, I tried to get into a groove where I could just work. I didn't get into this kind of groove until almost 7:30 tonight. That's just ridiculous...

On the plus side, I got home this evening and I found that what I had ordered had finally arrived (I wasn't expecting it until April). I ordered some Mitch Miller CD's and a new Choir of New College Oxford CD set. They all got in today, and I can't wait to listen to them!!!

February 31?

Oh, for the record, I did try to create a post and date it February 31, but it registered as March 3, 2006. Oh well...

Old St. Mary's

Today, I went to Old St. Mary's with Paul and Alex for their Ash Wednesday Mass. The Mass was at 7:30 PM. It was so good to see a good number of people at that late Mass -- in a certain sense, I expected to get there and see no one, but in another sense, I expected to get there and see the place packed. But life has a way of pulling fast ones on me and giving me what I don't expect, and there was a medium number of people there. There were several Christendom alumni, of course.

Father's sermon was very good. I admire that new priest there. He's so young and so full of life. My experience with a lot of priests who say the Tridentine Latin Mass is that they are cold and solemn. Notice, I didn't say all priests who say the Tridentine -- I said a lot. I can think of several off the top of my head who are not cold or solemn, but rank right with there with this new pastor. It's very heart-warming to see good men become priests. It is always a boost to the part of me that says, "I should be a priest."

But I'm getting off into a topic that I won't discuss now...

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.

.....................

.....................

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

.....................

.....................

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...