Prayers Please

I know that I haven't been blogging very regularly of late; very aware of it. I just haven't had the time. I'm overwhelmed and at the end of my rope. Stress levels are high. What is on my to do list?

Due on Tuesday:
Watch, "Rear Window"
Turn in short film
Read twenty pages from Shot by Shot
Be prepared to give a 2 minute presentation about myself.
Revised "Helping Hand" script.

Due on Wednesday:
Read selected chapters from Coming Soon.
8 minute presentation on my business idea (includes lots of industry research and memorization).

Due on Thursday:
Probably about 40 pages from book on cinematography
CCC reading
More and more and more research on industry...

This is just homework. Somewhere in there, I'll be sleeping, eating, doing laundry, etc. Please prayer for me. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for me and be my guide.

6 Quirks About Me

I was recently tagged by The Sojourner in meme titled, "Six Quirks About Me". So here are the rules and there by the the grace of God go I. :)

1. Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I can't write in a straight line to save my life.

2. I like lots of peanut butter in my vanilla ice cream.

3. I butcher the meanings of various words in the English language as I talk. And if that's not bad enough, I make up words as I go along. (For whatever reason, my family thinks that this is hilarious.)

4. I play the accordion.

5. I say, "It was exciting" at the end of every story I tell regardless of whether it was exciting or not.

6. I talk/yell in my sleep. (I more often yell than talk.)

I tag Steve, Lisa, BAGEL, Ria, Tim, and Mrs. Marshall.

I Love These Things (A.K.A. Runaway?)

1.Put your music player on shuffle.

2. Press forward for each question.

3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

What does next year have in store for me?
A: The Harvest (Riverdance)

What does your love life look like?
A. Hallelujah! (Handel)
Lol, I'm single. :)

What do I say when life gets hard?
A. Life is a Highway (Rascal Flatts)
This one definitely works.

What do I think when I get up in the morning?
A. Every Move I Make (Worship Together)
(I usually can't move when I wake up in the morning.)

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
A. If I Were A Rich Man (Fiddler on the Roof)
Oh shoot.

What do you want to do for your career?
A. This is October (Ceili Rain)
Um...

Your favorite saying?
A. Night Ride Across the Caucasus (Loreena McKennitt)
I do love to travel at night...

Your favorite place?
A. Andalucia (Riverdance)
Is that a place?

What do you think of your parents?
A. My Faith, Your Power (Ceili Rain)
They definitely have power that I do not.

Where would you go on a first date?
A. Sometime in the Morning (The Monkees)
Um...

Drug of choice?
A. Playing With the Boys (Topgun)
Who needs drugs when you have boys? (I'm just KIDDING everyone.)

Describe yourself.
A. There Were Shepherds (Handel)
I'm pretty sure that there weren't shepherds in the near vicinity the day of my birth.

What is the thing I like doing most?
A. Long Black Cadillac (Ceili Rain)
This song actually refers to a hurst. I'm not sure if dying can be a hobby.

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
A. Matchmaker, Matchmaker (Fiddler on the Roof)
Actually...

How will I die?
A. I'm Sorry (John Denver)
I guess that means I'm not planning on dying? (Or I'm dying too soon for your comfort.)

The song that will be played at your funeral?
A. Sing, Sing, Sing

The song you'll put as the subject?
A. Runaway (Bon Jovi)

The song that describes my friendships?
A. America (Praise and Worship)
That doesn't make sense, except for most of my friends are American.

The song that describes my future marriage?
A. Thank God I'm a Country Boy (John Denver)
I'm suffocating from laughing so hard, but hey, it works. :)

The song that describes my future children?
A. Do You Love Me? (Fiddler on the Roof)
I sure hope my children will love me.

The song that describes what this winter will be like?
A. I'll Stick With My Own (Ceili Rain)
I don't think that's a description of winter.

The song that describes what people think of me?
A. Caucase (Georgian Legend)
Huh?

The song that describes how I will do in school?
A. Runaway (Bon Jovi)
I don't get why it brought up the same song twice. :P

The song that describes how nice of a career I'll have?
A. Bells of Freedom (Bon Jovi)

The song that describes my personality?
A. Broken Vow (Josh Groban)
Oh crum...

Happy National Phillippine Day!

It was a couple weeks back. JP Catholic students were readying themselves for upcoming finals. There was tension in the air.

In case you haven't heard, the students and faculty of John Paul the Great Catholic University are beginning a new movement called Christ Our Hope. It is a movement which we hope to spread nationwide. We go to morning Mass every first Saturday of the month and then the closest City Hall to pray a Rosary for our country. So, with finals on the way, and every reason in the world to study, about fifteen of us departed for 8:30am Mass and San Diego City Hall soon after to pray the Rosary.

I was in my friend's truck and there were about four of us girls. We went to Mass with no difficulties and with forty minutes to spare, decided to swing by the library and drop off some books. It should have been no problem. The library was just down the street.

A detour blocked our way, however, so we proceeded to find a different entrance around the back. Eventually, after several shortcuts through apartment complexes, we finally found a back driveway to the library. There was yellow caution tape blocking the truck's entrance and a couple creepy looking dudes loitering on the grounds. The girl in the passenger seat offered to walk through the parking lot and return the books. So she did and we reassured her saying that the creepy dudes would protect her and we would watch from the truck.

She returned (without the books) and we went on our merry way. We concluded that the street we were on should take us to the main road. As we kept driving, we spotted a couple young Philippino women in long flowing gowns. We questioned what was actually going on. And then a couple of young men carrying a banner with large print, "Happy National Philippine Day". Oh. Apparently a parade was taking place. We then got stuck in a large line of vehicles. Our driver said, "This must be the line of traffic trying to get on the main road." Except the long line of traffic consisted of only brand new convertibles, all with roofs down and more young girls in pretty dresses sitting in the back. Me: I think this is the "line". That was exactly what it was. We were in the parade in a giant silver truck with a blonde driver, myself, and two other girls. Not exactly from the Philippines. We had to get out of that line. We had twenty-five minutes to get to City Hall. Our driver pulled into the left lane (going the other way, mind you) and went as fast as she could past all the convertibles. Passenger in front: Let's pull into this driveway and see if it leads to a back street. "This driveway" was the entrance to an apartment complex; a gated apartment complex.

We had to turn around yet again. Our driver booked it back the way we came. (She is an aggressive driver, to say the least.) We made it back to the last turn before the main road. Another long line of traffic and this time it was the line we wanted. The other side of the street was home to the parade which was taking place. More women in long dresses waving to their native crowd. Lots of flowers and lo and behold, a shrine to Mary! Then a large group of high school students all with colorful flowers, begging the drivers on the other side of the street to honk their horns. We had the windows down and we made eye contact with the students, still pleading for drivers to honk their horns. Our driver LAYED on the horn. The response from the kids was astounding. They had never been happier. They roared and cheered and for such a small group. You would have thought that the Chargers had scored a touchdown. One kid ran over, "Here, I found you and extra flower", he said and handed her a yellow flower. She goes, "Oh yeah!" and received the flower graciously.

We made it onto the freeway and with our driver's magnificent driving skills (and fast means of transportation), made it to the City Hall just in the knick of time. :)

...and you shall be my squishy!

Boy, Scott seems to always tend toward saying the funniest things while we're getting ready for bed.

I had just climbed in and was lying on my back, when all of a sudden my sister's face was right above mine and before I new it, she was curled up on top of me (dog pile style). Then my brother walks in, "What's going on?" He's standing next to the long side of my bed and folds over in half, so he's half standing, half laying on Bridget's stomach.

Me: That must be awfully uncomfortable.

Scott: Naw, she's nice and squishy.

Bridget was a little taken aback by this statement, but let me assure you, it was said out of the kindness of his heart. :)

You Have to Get Through the Thorns Before You Reach the Rose

This is what my brother said last night. My mom has been reading Shadow of the Bear every night before bed. It's a Grimm's Fairy Tale retold.

Scott: You have to get through the thorns before you reach the rose. I just came up with that!

BAGEL: Unfortunately, someone came up with it before you.

Scott: Really? I thought I had come up with it. What does it actually mean?

Me: The girl is playing hard to get. You have to work hard to get the girl, etc.

Scott: Oh... well that's not what I meant.

Bridget: ?

Scott: I meant that the parents are the thorns. You have to get through the thorns to get to the girl.

This resulted in an eruption of laughter from the whole family.

Why the Delay

As you may have noticed, there have been long intervals between each of my blog posts of late. While this is partially due to classes, homework, projects, etc., my delay is due to an issue which has been pressing my mind. It is an issue which I have been long pondering and which I haven't quite come to answer. An issue which I have been long trying to find the answer to and which I think will end with me composing a long and detailed paper on my word processor. What is this issue you may wonder?

Ah, the issues of the world today. Our world seems to be in a continuous downhill state what with wars, politics, abortion, euthanasia, conflict between individuals, etc. Yet, my thought process follows none of these, except it does. Because the issue that I am thinking of can quite possibly be the core or at least very much in the midst of many of the world's dilemmas.

So, what is the issue? A dear friend once told me, "Sometimes, it is essential that you be blunt. You can say, "I really don't know how to say this, but you tend to be _____". So now I finally come to the issue, except I really don't know if it's an issue. But I'll come to that in the paper. So let me just state the issue as is. Bluntly.

RELATIONSHIPS

What to think of them? How does one enter into a relationship? How do we interpret them? Is a relationship simply romantic? Can a man and a woman be true friends without everyone jumping on their case? When people playfully tease two friends, can it be the cause of these two later developing a relationship down the road? What are the different kinds of relationships? Etc., etc., etc. Here's a monster to tackle: What is true love?

These are the kinds of questions that stream through my mind almost endlessly. Which I desperately need to let loose on my word processor, before I am overwhelmed. But I can't right now. Why not? Because I have to write an eight page research paper (which I think will end up being longer), develop a website, write another paper (a.k.a. my final for my production class), the day to day homework that never ceases to exist, two more weeks of class, and finals week. This is all happening in the next three weeks. May God help me to persevere and triumph through it all. (I have all the hope in the world that He will.)

I hope that after I write this work and edit it to some degree, I can post it in increments on this here blog. Stay tuned!

I Have Sorely Abandoned This Blog

For no apparent reason, I have decided that I have a dislike for my readers and that I am going to dump you all in a ditch (a.k.a. abandon you forever and ever and ever).

Just kidding! :) I swear I haven't been avoiding you all on purpose. But life gets hectic. Especially third quarter, sophomore year, when all your professors decide to give barely bearable piles of homework all at once. That's basically how I felt my first week back. As my uncle once said of MIT, "Open mouth, insert fire hose." So, I'm going to try to give a concise update on what's been happening in the very chaotic past several weeks of my life. I'll probably stick with the most interesting.

So what has happened in the past six weeks?
1) My roommate has a boyfriend. Don't ask me how it happened, because I really don't know. One moment she was really good friends with a very nice young man and the next minute she was in a relationship with him. Well, not really. But in order to reassure you all, I will tell you that I highly approve of the match and that I am just going to place it all in God's hands. (I'm pretty darn sure He knows what He's doing.)

2) Two people that I have met and know via the internet are going out as well. As I am never am around them, I am unable to say anything except for what I have already said. (If that makes any sense.)

3) Another one of my friends asked a girl out and she said no, much to his bitter disappointment.(But that's another story and shall be told another time. In different words, that is.) Now the girl appears to be interested in someone else and he seems to be interested in her. So we shall see how all plays out in the end.

4) Enough of relationships. Not only do I not want to bore you, but there is no more matter on the subject that I am aware of. :)

5) I finished the rough draft of my script!!!! It's just over 114 pages and it's written as a feature film. I don't know about you, but I would call that an accomplishment. I wrote it in about two quarters time.

6) John Paul the Great Catholic University had it's First Annual Giuseppe Award Ceremony!!! (A.k.a. John Paul the Great Catholic University's first film festival.) Five films were submitted. There were paparazzi, fashionable gowns, sunglasses, red carpets, elegant refreshments, etc. Very snazzy, very classy, very fun, very amusing, and very entertaining. You can see the winner here.

Those are only some of the happenings of the past several weeks. (They are also the most interesting.) I hope and pray, Dear Readers, that I do not neglect you as sorely as I have the past few weeks. Although it grieves me greatly, I now have to depart from my dear laptop, but this does not sadden me as much as the thought of leaving you all behind.

As they say in Hebrew, "Shalom!"

"And there, by the grace of God, go I."

I Just Love Pixar Shorts!

For the Birds



Mike's New Car

Good ol' Days

Tomorrow morning, one of my six roommates is leaving. So tonight, about fourteen of us went to Applebee's and had a goodbye dinner for her. While we were waiting in "the circle" for everyone to show up, I felt really bouncy and was getting the urge to Irish Step dance right then and there.

I have many inspirations and role models throughout my eight years of Irish Dancing and I still do today. And recently, I found a new video on Google portraying one of my top inspirations. This would be the group, "Celtic Spring". They are a family with six kids, all home schooled, the two oldest have gone (are going?) to Thomas Aquinas College, and they competed on the TV show, "America's Got Talent" and made it to the grand finale. I've posted the video here for your enjoyment!

Defense of the Young

This is an amazing video which I witnessed on a friend's blog. Watch the whole thing. It's fascinating.

April Fools!

Today was April Fools Day as you probably all know. I just had to relate this happening on my blog. It's too good to not tell.

In one of my classes, Leadership and Management, we have two textbooks. One is called, "Lincoln on Leadership", and the other is called "Developing the Leader Within You". Today was our first class and our professor lectured on the first chapter of each book. The first half of the lecture being on the latter and the second half on the former. He told us during the beginning of class that he had a special guest coming to speak for about ten minutes; a guest who was going to make comments on the lecture. "He's sort of famous", the Professor told us. "A real busy man who said he would stop by for a few minutes. Some of you may recognize him when he comes." Well, we were excited to say the least.
About two hours into the class, our guest still hadn't arrived yet. Our Professor goes, "I just received an email from our guest saying he would be a few minutes late." About ten minutes later, he goes, "Excuse me." He pulls out his phone. "He's here. I'm going to greet our guest and when I come back, I expect you all to give him your attention and respect. Give him a warm welcome." He exits the classroom. The class starts talking excitedly.
Five minutes later, one of the freshmen marches in with a big ol' grin on his face humming a very patriotic song. Following close behind is our professor wearing a top hat, black necktie, and holding a black beard to his face. (The adhesive wasn't working correctly.) The very man, Abe Lincoln himself. There was much laughter, cheering, and applause. He spoke for a few minutes about himself and his leadership position and responsibilities.
This school is so great

Read here for a few more jokes pulled off by our very own professors and devious students.

The Longest Pointless Quiz I've Ever Taken

I know I've done something like this before, but this particular quiz was fifty-eight questions long, so I figured it must be fairly accurate. If it's not, oh well!

Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Elinor Dashwood As Marianne's older sister, Elinor lives at the other end of the emotional spectrum. She rarely reveals her intense feelings and is more concerned with being honest and loyal than having what she deserves. Even though her intentions are pure, she sets herself up for loss by constantly placing other people before her own needs. Overall, Elinor is gentle and rational but is just as capable of radical emotions (despite her withholding them) as her sister. Elinor Dashwood 91% Elizabeth Bennet 56% Jane Bennet 47% Emma Woodhouse 44% Marianne Dashwood 44% Charlotte Lucas 41% Lady Catherine 3%

The Joys and Wonders of Easter Break

I know I've left my dear readers hanging for the past week and a half. And some of you (a.k.a. The Sojourner and the Cobbler), probably have no clue what I've been up to. So I am writing this post to let you in on some of the adventures I've experienced since Wednesday night. It might be rather long (I'm not infamous for writing short posts as you probably all know.)

On the Wednesday of Holy Week, finals finished, for better or for worse, my roommate and two others decided it would be an excellent plan to go to the beach and chill for a few hours.



I decided to tag along and within a half hour we packed into Daniel's car equipped with a jar of p.b. and four spoons, sliced apples, and some rather amazing bread (the last two provided by Miss Tasha). It was a rather lovely night. Good discussion, much walking, lots of pictures (just me), and myself and Tasha acted like little kids in the playground (what fun). We concluded the night by walking along the shore while praying the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. All the while avoiding giant piles of goo (which I later learned were jellyfish).

The next day was Thursday, and being that I had decided to spend an extra day at the apartments enjoying the company of my friends without the worry of homework, I made the decision that my day would be best spent at Miramar Lake. It's quite large, about five miles all the way around, with an excellent walking path and various hillside trails. Once again, we (Lisa, Tasha, Daniel, and I) all piled into Daniel's car (he's such a sweet guy) and drove to the lake where we managed to have more good discussion while walking the entire five miles around the lake with some detours (not necessarily short cuts) on the hiking trails.




One one of the trails Daniel found a miniature boulder weighing about thirty-forty lbs and decided that it was really quite amazing. He carried it all the way down the hill on his shoulder and the rest of the way around the lake. (You see, the reason it was so amazing was how sturdy it was, unbreakable and "practically perfect in every way".) At one point, he decided to drop it on the asphalt to see what would happen. Nothing really, except it made a large mark on the pavement. The rock now had a name. It was henceforth dubbed "Rocky" and the poor unfortunate pavement was dubbed "Mark".



We managed to make it back in time for seven o'clock Mass which lasted until about 9:15. It was quite nice and very packed. Good Shepherd is the largest parish in San Diego. I got there with my roommate about ten minutes early and had a hard enough time finding a seat.

That concludes my adventures while staying at the apartment. I left on Good Friday and unfortunately got back with all my stuff only to unpack it and then repack for our trip up north the following day. During the three hours, we watched "Jesus of Nazareth" and my sister picked up her Bible and Summa Theologica. She and I prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3:00.

In case you don't know, every year my family makes a trip to Redwood City (halfway between San Jose and San Francisco). The entire extended family lives there. I lived there until a couple months before my eighth b-day. We usually drive, but this time we flew. As I hadn't been on a plane in about four years, the whole thing was rather exciting for me. I am going to make this explanation as short as possible, mainly because I think a whole account of the trip would bore you, but mostly it would take up a lot of time and a lot of room.

I managed to spend a good deal of time with cousins (mainly those on my mother's side). There's two of them: ages three and seventeen months. The youngest also happens to be my godson.



My grandparents have a rather large hill in their backyard which was covered with a green and gold blanket of poppies.



The entire yard is dotted with fruit trees which were all in blossom; all pink and white. Onions were growing at the bottom of the hill. I spent much of my time back there, chasing and tickling little ones on the deck, and watching as they delightfully picked poppies off the hillside and ran down the hill. Perhaps the cutest thing I witnessed during the week was the "monkey see, monkey do" act, performed by the three year old and her brother. Everything she did, he had imitate (rather unfortunately in some cases). On our last night there, Clara had started to cry over something. Benjamin simply looked at her, looked around at all of us, and started to cry to0. He would stop, smile, and then let out a wailing noise, imitating her with all he could muster.

Another large part of my trip was spent taking long walks around my grandparents neighborhood. It's really quite gorgeous. Large trees (and houses), colorful flowers blossoming in purple, pink, yellow, and white, the occasional cat curled up in the sun or carefully treading through the long grass, stopping to stare with large green eyes.

On the other side of the family (my dad's side), I have several cousins. My dad is one of five and all except one are married and, interestingly enough, each have three children. I saw five of them over the past week. On Monday night, after an excellent dinner and my grandma's homemade cake, my grandmother was playing cards with me and my siblings. Two of my cousins were watching and my dad was talking with his brother (their dad). At one point, my dad was trying to get my direct family's attention. So he calls out, "Hey, Lynches?" and we all look at him. You see, we're all Lynches. I speak up and say, "Which ones?" We all had a good laugh.

My dad has one sister and she happens to have three little girls. Very cute, very blonde, and very sociable, always wanting to play. We ate lunch outside, and while my mom and sister played with the youngest who were walking about watering the roses with a giant watering can, my grandmother, six-year-old cousin, and I discussed the shapes of the clouds. At one point, I said, "They really are quite lovely, aren't they. Like tufts of cotton." My cousin goes, "That is what they are." Oh, loveliness. After lunch, we had a wonderful time playing hide'n'seek, which I seemingly had a difficult time with. I (the hider) literally walked in on my seekers. :)

Cousins!


That would be my break in a nutshell. Since we got back on Thursday, I have been hurriedly getting ready to return to school on Monday. :) Organizing books, downloading software, buying more books, getting school supplies, putting away old notes from last quarter. I need to finish everything today, as I am going to a Baptism tomorrow. The joys of welcoming a new life into the Church! I hope that I haven't bored you all with this post. Hopefully, I don't wait too long before I post again. :) Have a wonderful Easter season and may Christ bestow his blessings upon you all!

On With the Discussion

For those of you who don't know and for those of you who do, about five or sixish of the students at JP Catholic have been discussing what it is to be a true gentleman or a true lady. How each of us should carry ourselves and present ourselves, and how gentlemen should respect women. So, you can imagine how interested I was when I read a post on The Sojourner's blog yesterday, and I wasted no time asking her if I could put it on my blog for all of you to see.

So, without further ado, here is the post:

"Last semester, I knew a guy--we'll call him Ben--who liked to fetch chairs. He wasn't really one of my friends, but I had a class with him and one of my good friends was likewise one of his good friends, so we saw each other pretty often. It sometimes happened that I would be looking for a seat in the Caf, notice my friend sitting with her little group, and go to sit with them. Sometimes it would happen that there wouldn't be a free chair. When that happened, everybody would start moving their chairs a bit to make room, and Ben would get up and get me a chair. Every time. It didn't matter if he was in the middle of his dinner or if the nearest free chair was quite out of his way, he got up and got me a chair. I let him. It seemed to make him happy and it didn't hurt me any--in fact I rather liked it. It's not that I'm not perfectly capable of getting my own chair, because I am and I have done so on numerous occasions, but if a gentleman wants to get up and get me a chair I'm not going to be offended. I find it rather charming, in fact.

Ben has since transferred, but there are still plenty of gentlemen running around here. Franciscan is full of them. A good example would be my friend and fellow blogger Scott. Scott makes a point of holding open doors. On second thought, perhaps that is a bad choice of words. He doesn't make a point of it in the sense of, "Hey, look at me, I'm being chivalrous!" He just puts special effort into being the first one to get to the door when we're walking together. I let him. In fact, I give Scott more room to be chivalrous than I do most guys. You know what I mean when I talk about there being two sets of doors leading out of a building? There's one set, and then a little anteroom, and then another set. How it works is this: Scott opens the first one. I go through and then pause. Scott opens the second one. I go through and we continue on our merry way. The pause is the part that's unique to interacting with Scott. Usually when I'm going through two sets of doors and somebody holds open the first one I thank them and then keep going. Every now and then a guy will be quick on his feet and manage to open both, and if he does I thank him again, but I don't stand around waiting for him.

Another thing Scott does that I only just figured out: When we are walking along and happen to cross a street, he will make a little half-stop. At first this confused me and I would stop too. Finally I figured out that whenever Scott stops, he resumes walking on the other side. That is, if we are walking with me on the left and him on the right, and we cross a street, Scott arranges it so that he will then be walking on the left and me on the right. Why? Because gentlemen walk on the street side of the sidewalk, and ladies let them.

I want to reemphasize that second point. Men have really hard time being gentlemen unless women cooperate by being ladies. In all of the above examples, I could have gotten offended and refused to have my chair fetched/ have the door held open/walk on the inside of the sidewalk. I hear that some women do that. I personally don't understand that. When a man acts like a gentleman it doesn't make me feel condescended to (as if I can't do the things they're doing for me); it makes me feel special. When I know my companion is going to treat me like a lady, I'm more disposed to act like one.

Here I would like to make a little side note, concerning the distinction between courtesy and chivalry. Courtesy is a very good thing, I don't want to downplay it at all, but there is a difference. Courtesy is when I hold open the door for the people behind me because nobody wants to have the door slammed in their face. Men can be courteous towards women--and I am quite thankful for the men who have considered my feelings and not let the door slam in my face. Men can, however, also be chivalrous. Chivalry is a bit more gratuitous than courtesy--when a man's being chivalrous, he's not holding the door open because I happen to have been walking behind him and I deserve not to have the door slam in my face. He's being chivalrous when he gets to the door first on purpose and holds it open for the simple reason that I'm a lady and he's a gentlemen and that's how it works.

I suppose it's quite possible for a man to act like a gentleman without really being a gentleman--just going through the motions without really caring about the ladies he's being chivalrous towards. I don't think that happens very often nowadays, though. Maybe it would have happened in Emily Post's day when people were expected to do that kind of thing, but in the good old 21st century, if a man acts chivalrously he probably means it, because the prevailing social conventions are, for the most part, anti-chivalry. You can hold the door open for someone who's carrying a heavy box, for instance, but heaven forbid that you should hold the door open for someone simply because she's female. The brave few who do that anyway are probably going to be real gentlemen. How do you tell a real gentleman from an imposter? Simple: you just know. We're women, after all, and we're entitled to our intuition.

I don't want to give the impression, however, that "it's the thought that counts" and chivalrous actions don't really matter. We're an incarnate people. We need symbols, visible and tangible things, to comprehend unseen realities. I am perfectly capable of opening a door, but when one of my guy friends holds it open for me it's a symbolic way of saying that he respects me. The more respectfully men treat me, the more likely I am to respect myself. It works the other way too: The more I respect myself, the more likely men are to respect me.

Which brings me to the second topic of my post: modesty. Modesty is in its essence an interior disposition. There's a story that says Marilyn Monroe could walk down the street in a nun's full habit and still find a way to be immodest, while a nun could walk down the street without a stitch on and still find a way to be modest. That's true, but we're still incarnate and symbols are still important, so in the normal course of things women ought to dress in a way that is befitting their feminine dignity. I'm not one of those people who thinks a woman's being immodest if she wears pants (I happen to be wearing pants today, in fact) but I do think that makes a difference. I feel different in pants than I do when I'm wearing a skirt or a dress. When you're wearing a skirt you have to be more careful about how you carry yourself, how you sit down, etc. There are times when you don't want to have to worry about things like that: horseback riding, carrying firewood, playing Twister--and those are times when I think a woman ought to wear pants. I also think, though, that barring times when a skirt would be a severe hindrance, women should try to wear them as much as possible. How you carry yourself is important, how you present yourself to the world is important. I might be as ladylike as can be on the inside, but if the way I dress and the way I carry myself doesn't indicate that I respect myself, then how can I expect men to respect me?"

I Remember That Show!

If only I could use these to study for my final exams. *Sigh*

You Are Garlic

Of all the spice types, you are the most universally loved. You get long with pretty much everyone, and you leave a lasting impression. You adapt yourself well to situations. You can fit in or stand out, depending on what you're called on to do.

What Spice Are You?

Wow, I'm a Colon

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Precious Moments

Children at their best.






And last, but not least, my personal favorite.

Rainy Breakfast Day

I was just thinking that almost every time I write something on my blog, it's cold and wet outside. Well, today is no different and that is exactly why I'm posting. Because it did rain today, and has been raining ever since I got up this morning at 6:00.

It was my turn to cook breakfast for the "Tired of Being Tired" crowd, and, as I always do on Friday morning, I produced a large batch of Apple Snapple (my "secret" recipe, except everyone in the "Tired of Being Tired" crowd knows how I make it). It finally finished cooking, the table was set, and there were only two people (Steve and myself). It turned out that Neil didn't know we were having breakfast. So, as soon as he figured out that we were, he came down to enjoy what he calls "Mystical Apple Snapple". (I guess he doesn't know what's in it.)

I'm going off on a tangent. The main reason for writing this post is to tell you how we ate breakfast this morning. Anyways, we ended up moving a smaller table and three chairs out onto the porch (covered porch), complete with the pot of secretiveness, p.b., bread, and tea. And we sat their with our piping hot breakfast, watching the rain fall and the drops splash on the railing. I felt like the animals in the old Narnia movie, sitting out in the snow, feasting, right before the White Witch discovers them and turns them into stone. The second reason I'm writing this post is because, while we were enjoying our food and the rain, I said, "I think I'm going to write a post for my blog about this later". So I did and am doing and now I'm finished.

Jamba Juice and Pickles

Yesterday, I vocally wished that it would rain. Well, I got my wish. Sheets of rain slanting in the wind POURED from the sky today. Just my luck.:)My Thursdays are equal to Fridays. Last day of class, no homework due the next day, I tend to get nothing done on Thursday night. To make up for that, I have 4 1/2hrs./2 classes on Thursday; 1 1/2hrs. in the morning, and 3 in the afternoon. In between classes today, I went back to the apartment to grab some lunch. On my way back to the school, the roads were barely visible through my fogged up windshield and the rain was coming down really hard. I was going 25-30mph in a 45mph zone.

After my very long day, I am finally back drinking a very cold smoothie. (Ask me why I'm drinking something frozen on a cold and rainy day.)So, my dinner consisted of a p.b. smoothie and pickles. I'm still drinking my smoothie, sitting on my bed with my laptop equipped, wearing my fuzzy socks, and listening to Rascal Flatts and swing dancing music (by far, the best). Hmmmm... very comfy:)

Just for fun:

A couple pictures I took recently:

Movies to Look Forward To

Here are a couple trailers from YouTube.com for two movies. I think we can look forward to these two films with great anticipation.

Batman: The Dark Knight




Prince Caspian



And supposedly there is a fourth Indiana Jones coming out as well! Well, doesn't that beat all? I will let you know if I find any more information. I have yet to find the official trailer.

Goodbye Facebook, Hello Lent!

Well, today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the beginning of our spiritual journey towards Easter. A time of year where Christians take it upon themselves to give something up. Friends from my old homeschool group have a tradition of giving up sweets and TV. My dad, without fail, gives up sweets every Lent. One year, I gave up singing in the shower (much to my sister's relief). Although it is going to be difficult as I receive notifications every day in my gmail inbox, I gave up facebook this year for Lent. Hence, the title of this post.

I recently discovered how much time I spend in the world of cyberspace and what I do while I'm on: blog jumping (a term that my roommate coined), reading cartoons, browsing YouTube videos, and spending lots of time (too much time) on FACEBOOK. Do you realize how much of that time I could have spent studying? All two hours of it every day of the week. Fourteen more hours a week!!! (I am disgusted with myself.) My dear reader, please realize that my grades are fine, and that I could probably continue going about the way I have been. But I have decided that it would be one of the biggest sacrifices I could make to tear myself away from the world of facebook.

Another issue that was brought to mind, was the sad loss of old fashioned communication through the means of hand written letters and, more recently, talking on the phone and emailing. (Keep in mind, seeing people in person is the ideal.) People had friends before MySpace and Facebook existed. Going back to what I was going to say, I would so much rather receive a hand written letter, or an email, or a phone call, than a notification in gmail informing me that "So and so has written on my wall".

Grant, that this is going to be very difficult, because I do really enjoy using facebook. I have so many friends that live out of state and facebook makes it really easy for me to communicate with them. But I feel the need for a change in my habits and doing this will encourage me to become more productive in my every day life.

I hope that all of my readers have a beautiful Lenten season. I hope that you all discover through each sacrifice you make, what is really important in this life and how each thing you do will prepare you for a perfect and eternal happiness in the next. Remember, that nothing matters except that you live all for the greater glory of God. I pray that these next forty days will bring you closer to Him.

Side note: If you have some spare reading time, you may enjoy this post by the Curt Jester: L-Mart

On a Whim

Hello to all my readers, although I have a feeling that there's probably not very many of you. For those of you who do read, I thank-you much. The cause of this post? There isn't one. I just feel like writing something other than an assignment.

Today is another beautiful Sunday in San Diego. NOT!!!!! Actually, it is raining as I write this and water is streaming down my window. My roommate is asleep. I'm listening to Josh Groban music on my laptop. Although it may not be beautiful for some, it sure is wonderful for me to hear the wind through the trees and the rain softly pattering on the roof. Why, oh why do I live in southern California? Sometimes I think that I should move somewhere where it rains consistently, like Seattle. But then again, if I was born in Seattle, I could be grumbling to myself about the cold and the wet. The grass is usually greener on the other side. Oh, and I'm also very, very stiff, sore, and tired, but I'll get to the reasons why later on.

This weekend has been amazing so far. Not as productive as I wished it to be, but amazing nevertheless. Every weekend, I plan on finishing most of my homework for the next week on Saturday. In the words of Bill Cosby, "riiiiggghhhhttttttt...." ~ Noah. Yesterday, despite my best efforts, I managed to finally get up at 9:43am. I did homework (with some detours, of course) until approximately 1:20pm.

Then I ventured downstairs to The Pelican Perch (one of JP Catholic's common rooms) for an open house. Half the student body was there (about thirty students) eating Oreo's, playing Apples to Apples, and drinking some red stuff they called fruit punch. More like sickly sweet red liquid if you ask me. The Perch was more than crowded already and became very tight and loud when the prospective students finally arrived. I figured the ratio of students to prospectives was about 5 to 1.

At about 3:00pm, the prospectives began to filter out and some of the students had the bright idea of going to the park to play soccer. Now, I LOVE soccer and I usually won't skip out on a game for the world, even if I have a lot of homework to tackle. So I played with about ten others. We played for about two and a half hours and I was the keeper. I blocked most of them, but I did a lot of running back and forth when they missed (or occasionally got it in). That's why I'm sore right now. My team won, 1o to 6!!! I'm happy.

After the game, I walked back (I also walked there) and entered my very dark apartment. I put my muddy shoes out on the balcony, put my keys on my desk and set about making myself dinner (flour tortillas, an orange, vanilla ice cream with p.b.) Little did I know, that my roommate was asleep on the couch (she's been doing that a lot lately), which I walked right past. TWICE!! I think I woke her up. Whoops. Once I was settled with my dinner, I settled down to finish writing my seven pages of screenplay due on Tuesday.

After finishing it, emailing it to my writing group, losing it (long story), and finding it again, I headed down to Magnificat's household meeting. You see, JP Catholic is so new that we don't very many households yet and we don't exactly all live in the same room. But we see each other a lot, have our trademarks (still in development), and have finally started our Lord's Day Dinners. Actually, we do Mass downtown and get together for lunch afterwards. However, since this weekend was the open house, we decided to have tea and cookies at 9pm and then head down to the Rosary, which one of us leads.

Once we prayed the Rosary, I bolted the other common room (St. Jude's) for night prayer. You know, Liturgy of the Hours, the Divine Office, night prayer? Magnificat's brother household, The Divine Officers, lead the students in prayer every night. Night prayer being over, I had a long and interesting discussion with my fellow students and R.D. (another long story) and then finally headed up to bed at 1am. I think I finally went to bed at 1:30. My roommate was up until almost 4am and then laid wide awake in bed for another hour and a half. We got up for 8:30am Mass. Hence, she's tired.

(Wow, this post is long.)

Today is the Superbowl! Actually, the only thing I'm excited about is that I get to go to a Superbowl party at 3pm with JP Catholic. Two of the students (they're married with one on the way) are going to host it in their apartment and project it onto the wall. Should be fun! (Even if I don't care a fool thing about football. Although, I must say that I would like the Giants to win. Stupid Patriots, who put an end to the Chargers' winning streak.)

Well, that's the end of my writing on a whim. I hope that if any of you read this (which you probably won't), you weren't bored to sleep. (Sleeping does seem to be a main topic in this post, does it not?) Happy Sunday!!! I'll make an attempt to post a video or something soon.

I've been tagged AGAIN!!!

Well, here it is the infamous meme...

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

2: a biological species name consisting of two terms - binomial adj - Bi.no.mi.al.ly
binomial coefficient n (1876): a coefficient of a term in the expansion of the binomial (x+y)2 (that's squared) according to the binomial theorum.
binomial distribution n (1911): a probability function each of whose values gives the probability that an outcome with constant probability of occurrence in a statistical experiment will occur a given number of times in a succession of repetitions of the experiment.

Now it's your turn... (and pleassssseee don't tag me again)

Studeo
American Papist
C. Gallucci
Jone
E. Merriman

I Was Tagged!

I was tagged in this recent meme by The Sojourner

Anyway, here it is:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

"We accept it, but in all honesty we cannot feel that it makes any great difference to our spiritual or mental life, to our love of God or to our comprehension of reality. But the prime question about a doctrine is not what does it do to us, but is it so. The doctrine of the Trinity is reality about God." ~ Frank Sheed (Theology and Sanity)

T. Evans
Ria
S. Marshall
MK
Lisa

That was fun!

Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?

Take the Quiz here!

You Are...Elinor Dashwood!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

The Chalice With the Palace Has the True that is Brew

Here are two great clips from the movie, "Court Jester". If you haven't seen it, you haven't lived. This is one of my favorite scenes. Movies used to be much more clever and Danny Kaye never ceases to amaze me.

Homeschooler Theme Song

Enjoy this video. I happen to come from a very large group of homeschoolers myself. There weren't very many families, but there were many children within those families. Enjoy!

Today (Or Yesterday) is Born a Savior

Merry Christmas!

Matthew 1:23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' ~Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space. ~Dave Barry

Christmas Cheer!

A little something to raise your Christmas spirits! Merry Christmas everyone!

Home, Sweet Home

For my few dear readers, I apologize for not having posted anything for a while. Life has been quite hectic, yet an exciting adventure. Here is a brief update on what has happened over the last three days.

On Thursday night, I finished my last final, so on Friday, I took the liberty of cleaning the apartment and packing. (Not like I have much to pack, since I only live about twenty-five minutes away.) After packing, I washed my sheets and wasted my life away on Facebook and Youtube and listened to some music. I departed at about 3:00pm after wishing farewell to my beloved roommates and putting everything in my truck.

That night, my mother made a hearty meal which I savored. It was much better than the food I had been preparing myself over finals week. After dinner, we decorated the tree and put the stockings up. Glass icicles with glitter, angels, completely random ornaments received when we were small, Andrea's First Christmas, gingerbread men (made of some sort of plastic), bows, colored balls, and oh, so many others went up on the tree. Some great pictures were taken including the one below. Sorry that it's a little fuzzy.

After a great night, I got up early the next morning for my root canal on my front tooth. With a sore mouth, I spent the whole day eating soup, scrambled eggs, very soft bread, and rice pudding. I also spent the whole day reading a fascinating book, Waking Rose, written by Regina Doman. Alas, if only my school books were that exciting.

The next day was Sunday. We had gone to Mass the night before, so I slept in (until 9:00!). I spent another day eating soft foods that could by mushed around by my tongue (TMI!) and continued to read Waking Rose. At about 5:00pm we left the house with deli sandwiches for Coronado Island to watch the Parade of Lights which is a parade of various boats covered in Christmas lights. Since we don't have the pleasure and entertainment of snow, we San Diegans watch boats bob past covered with colorful and fancy lights. There was a pirate theme this year, so several of the boats were blasting either "A Pirates Life For Me" or the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song. Some had Santa walking the plank and then one particularly creative one had constructed a huge skull wearing a Santa hat with candy canes for cross bones. There was even a small boat in which the owners had built a small blazing fire. My family all had an excellent time and we drove home amidst lots of Christmas crazed drivers.

After Sunday, comes Monday which brings me to today. Since my siblings are still in school (at home), I finished Waking Rose (all 371 pages). It was an awesome read and I enjoyed it immensely! The rest of the day has been rather uneventful. I spent most of it in front of my computer trying to upload 114 pictures from my camera and then onto Facebook, I helped my mother pick up the van from the garage. (My sister is learning to drive and has hit the curb a few times. The van had to be realigned.) I also took the dog for a walk, which was slightly annoying, because he has to sniff everything and will stop at random intervals, causing his walker (who is busy enjoying the brisk weather) to trip over him.

Well anyways, I think my mom is making dinner which means I will have to abandon this post. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

What Kind of Christmas Tree Are You?

You Are a Bright Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays are all about fun and seasonal favorites. You are into all things Christmas, even if they're a little tacky.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Kurt Browning figure skating to Gene Kelley's "Singing in The Rain". They had to film this in several takes, because the rain kept melting the ice.

Your Majesty...

(Chapter 14, Question 1)

In Daniel 5, we read about King Belshazzar of Babylon and how he holds a great feast where he and his guests eat and drink using the silver from the Temple. As a result of the sacrilege of these sacred things, God delivered a message to Belshazzar, foretelling the near end of Belshazzar’s kingdom. Once again I ask the popular questions, “What is the meaning of this story and how does it apply to us”? Many times we do not realize the symbolism of the stories in the Old Testament that apply to our own lives today. The above story of Belshazzar applies to our respect towards sacred things such as the Holy Eucharist.

As Catholics, we may not realize the many graces which God has bestowed upon us. These graces he gives to us through many sacred things including the Eucharist. In the Eucharist God gives of his whole self to us. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we are truly receiving His body, blood, soul, and divinity. Jesus in the Father and the Holy Spirit is actually present when the priest speaks the words of the Consecration.

Let us picture for a moment that you are in the chapel or just an ordinary room. In walks Jesus. He is standing before you, gazing at your face. This is God and He is in your midst only a few feet from where you are sitting. I don’t know what your reaction would be, but I think I would probably stare in shock and awe for a few moments before falling at His feet and pleading for forgiveness for every wrong I had ever done against Him, because He is so perfect and wonderful, and He loves me so much that He was gave his life for me. Every whip that tore at His flesh and every thorn that dug into His skull and the nails that were driven into his hands and feet are my sins laid against him. If you were the only person on the face of this earth, He would have been crucified just to save you.

Let us come back to the present. The priest has just spoken the words of the Consecration and has elevated the host which is now Jesus Christ present before you. What kind of respect will you show to him? We are not worthy to eat His Holy Flesh or drink His Holy Blood. Jesus is the one and only King. Before I came to JP Catholic, when I was about sixteen, I was talking to one of my godsisters after daily Mass. We were discussing how to properly dress for Mass. She explained it very well when she said, “When I go to Mass, I am presenting myself before Jesus who is God who is King. If I was going to see a king, I would put on my best gown, get my hair done, and wear my most expensive jewelry. How much more should I dress well before God who is King over the entire universe”. The same concept applies to our behavior. If we were to go before the Queen of England, we would never turn bow or curtsy or even kiss her royal hand. The same applies at Mass. Before receiving Communion, we are taught that we should bow or genuflect. God deserves much more than the Queen of England. He deserves our all.

So, before receiving the Eucharist, we should show the utmost respect for our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Signs of respect show in our dress and in our behavior. How would you dress and behave before a king on earth? How much more should we do these things before God, who is our creator and King of the entire universe?

Entertainment of the Night

I did this a couple months back and it said my blog had a high school reading level. I guess this means I've improved.

Wizards in Winter

One of my favorite songs called "Wizards in Winter". It is performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra and has been coordinated with a Christmas light show.

God's Abounding Forgiveness and Mercy (Ch. 13, Qst. 1)

King Manasseh became king of Israel and Judah after the death of his father, Hezekiah. Manasseh was pure evil destroying every good thing his father had built up; building up high places, bringing back idols, and burning his own sons as sacrifices to pagan gods. This man was bad news.

However, all evil and wicked actions have reactions/consequences. In the case of Manessah, the consequences came in the event of the Assyrians swiftly attacking and conquering Jerusalem, carrying off Manessah in chains. This is when the evil king took a turn for the better and something amazing happened. Having lost all hope, the distressed Manessah humbled himself before God and prayed to him. God received him and brought him back to Jerusalem.

We can see in the course of Manessah’s action and God’s response the sacrament of reconciliation, which is the act of human beings asking God to forgive them after committing a fault. Manessah knew that he had lived a life of profound evil and placed himself in God’s hands, asking God to forgive him the faults he had committed. God listened to him and returned him to Jerusalem where Manessah tried to straighten out the mistakes he had made previously. He got rid of the foreign cults and the pagan altars and made sacrifices of Thanksgiving in the Temple. As a result of his conversion, he reigned over Israel and Judah longer than any king had before him.

The tie between Manessah’s turning to God a thoroughly evil kingship and the sacrament of reconciliation holds a strong meaning for us as Christians. Because of God’s unlimited love for us, if we detest and are profoundly sorry for our sins, God will forgive us our faults. This does not mean, however, that we can do anything we want, because of the knowledge that God will love us anyways and forgive us whenever necessary. I believe that would be considered taking advantage of God’s mercy. We are such sinners and already do not deserve God’s forgiveness as is. As humans, it is impossible to reach heaven without God. Testing God’s love for us is very treacherous, because God could unexpectedly end our lives.

Just as Manessah repented, we should also repent and we should do it as soon as we can and we shouldn’t wait until the last minute, because we never know when the end of our story will come. God is ready to forgive each and every one of us, no matter how grave the matter. In order for this to take place, we as God’s children need to place each moment of every day of our lives in His hands.

Don't Be Lazy! (Ch. 12, Qst. 1)

After reigning over Israel for forty years, King Solomon departed from this life into the next and kingship befell his son Rehoboam who had grown up in the court of his father and had known nothing but a life of luxury. Now Solomon had harshly reigned over his people, laying on them much suffering and difficult labor. When Solomon died, the elders came to his son asking if he might lighten their burden.

Sending them away, Rehoboam brought in his father’s counselors; some very wise old men. He asked how he should respond to the elders. They advised him to become a servant to his people and speak good words to them and if he did this he would be rewarded in that they would never leave him and always be his faithful servants. This advice did not sit well with Rehoboam, a man who had been accustomed to living a life of laziness in the grandness of the his father’s court. Hoping for an alternative, Rehoboam turned to the young men who befriended and grew up with him sharing in his idleness and wasting themselves away. Of course, being accustomed the same ways of living as their friend they told him to add more weight to the people’s burden. It was going to be worse for the people under the reign of Rehoboam than it had been under King Solomon! In making this decision, he was displaying a want of being more powerful than his father and proving it to the people under him by adding more weight to their already heavy burden.

The decision of Rehoboam resulted in disaster, but it also marks one of the seven capital sins – the sin of covetousness. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that this is not a grievous sin, except in certain conditions which involve offense of God or the neighbor. In other words, “when one is prepared to employ illicit or unjust means to satisfy the desire of riches”. Rehoboam was prepared to burden the people more heavily and to “chastise them with scorpions”. In doing this, he was refusing to serve them or to take some of their labor upon himself. They instead would work more in order that his riches and comfort in his vast halls would grow larger than they were in the reign of his father.

Besides the sin of covetousness, Rehoboam was also adding to his idleness almost to the point of slothfulness. He wanted to continue lying around in his court wasting his life away with his friends. The last thing he wanted to do was to take some of Israel’s work upon his own shoulders.

The lives of the people of Israel were made almost worse after King Solomon died and King Rehoboam took over. He succumbed to the evils of greed and slothfulness in order that he might be more comfortable in his court and keep his fair share of work down to a minimum. We can compare the sins of Rehoboam to two of the seven capital sins: covetousness and slothfulness. As human beings trying to conform ourselves to the perfection of God, we need to avoid these two sins that we might get along peaceably with our neighbors and be able to love God as he loves us by serving one another.

Howler Power

In case you are wondering, this is my dog Sam. He howls whenever I play my accordion, so my sister thought why not catch some live footage. You can hear me playing the set dance, "King of the Fairies" off screen.

(He mostly howls when I play in minor, which matches up with a study. Dogs are more likely to respond to music played in a minor key.) Enjoy the proof!

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Parents' Weekend!!!!!

It's that time of the month, or week, or day; the time to vent about how hectic things are at JP Catholic in the life of a sophomore (namely myself). So many projects (and classes, work study, and activities), so little time!

This weekend is Parents' Weekend; a time when students' parents come from all over the country to visit their "kids" for the weekend. My parents are from San Diego, but it's still exciting all the same. Yesterday, several parents came to observe classes. We all then ate an excellent lunch consisting of croissant sandwiches, apples, cookies, chips, soft drinks, and bottled water. Dr. Connolly gave his infamous talk about the school's three most important aspects: students, faculty, and benefactors. He pointed out with no subtlety at all whatsoever that if anyone had a million dollars burning a hole in their pocket, feel free to give it to the university.

At about 5pm, I went out to Island's with my family for dinner. My brother got the Big Wave, my dad got some sort of blue cheese burger, my sister and my mom got giant salads, and I got the Sunset Burger. We split a giant basket of fries with ranch dressing.

With full stomachs, my dad headed home (he's been working fifty hours a week) and the rest of us headed to Good Shepherd Parish for a talk given by Dr. Brant Pitre and Dr. Scott Hahn. Needless to say, they were AMAZING. I was trembling with excitement when we left.

Tonight is the 4th Annual John Paul the Great Catholic University Gala. Several of the students are going and we are supposed to mingle with the benefactors and have intelligent conversations until about 7pm. At that time, we will settle ourselves for a lovely dinner and listen to Dr. Connolly ask for money and listen to Joe Campo who is one of the head people working for Grassroots Films. We are actually supposed to see one of his films tomorrow. It will be an exciting night to say the least.

Aside from all this, I still have a lot of homework. I think to myself, as soon as I am finished with this huge project, things should get much easier. Of course, they don't. Oh well. This is the life of a college student. To think that I'm paying thousands of dollars a year to do all this homework and take lots of tests. I'd much rather just buy the degree.

That's all for now. The fun is about to begin!

The Ark of the Covenant of the Old Testament vs. The Tabernacle of Today (Chapter 10, Question 1)

As children of God, we are called to listen to his Word in the Bible and to learn from individuals such as the early prophets who provide examples for us through their successes and failures. We can learn from them because they are like us. They, like us, each had fallen natures and faults of their own. King David, “a man after God’s own heart”, was one of these individuals; a good man profoundly loved by God, but a man like us, who made mistakes, because he too had a fallen nature. In 2 Samuel 6, David tries to have the Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem, but because he did not prepare properly, disaster came out of it. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament is the Tabernacle of today, because God dwells within it. Therefore, the Ark needs to be treated with great respect. What special sacrament did God provide us with so that he might be present within us and what signs of respect should be shown towards that sacrament, whether it be in a Church or during the Mass?

2 Samuel 6 begins with David’s first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. His preparation is poor; a new cart pulled by oxen is their (David, and all the house of Israel) means of transportation for the Ark and the journey is arduous going over unstable terrain. “And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.” (2 Sam. 6:6) Uzzah died on the spot, for God had given specific instruction that no one who was unclean must touch the ark. The people of Israel had not prepared properly for the journey in that they had not cleansed themselves beforehand.

This story holds great meaning for Catholics, especially because of the great gift that God has given us in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. When receiving this sacrament, we are actually consuming the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ in his entire being. He becomes truly present within us and because he is complete within each one of us, we become one body in Christ. It is one of the most important and precious mysteries in the Church.

Jesus is God and God is perfect. Therefore, when receiving Jesus, who is so great that no words could describe his greatness, it is important that we are in his good favor. When David decided to bring the Ark into Jerusalem, he failed to prepare the people. They were still unclean and when Uzzah touched the Ark he died. When communicants who are in a state of mortal sin receive Jesus in the Eucharist, it is an act of immense disrespect against God. This is a mortal sin in itself, and when we are in this state, we lose all sanctifying grace. We die spiritually and no longer are in communion with God. And if we physically die in this state, we are forever damned and separated from God. Before receiving the Eucharist, we must cleanse our souls by means of Confession.

When we enter a Church, the presence of the Tabernacle, or when we attend Mass, it is critical that we show respect for the presence of God in these places. For example, before entering a pew or receiving Jesus, we might bow or genuflect. In Queen Elizabeth’s presence we do these things as a sign of respect for her royal status. It would be considered very rude and inconsiderate if we forgot to bow, curtsy, or turned our back on her. She’s just the queen of England. God is King of all creation; the entire universe. Our respect for him should be one hundred times greater than for the queen of England.

The Ark of the Covenant from the Old Testament and the Tabernacle of today have similarities with one another. Both are dwelling places of God and they are two types of houses for Him in the midst of his children. Inside the Ark of the Covenant dwell three things: the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and the manna which was used to feed Israel for forty years in the desert. The manna is crucial when comparing the Tabernacle with the Ark. The manna was a flake like substance which tasted of honey and God commanded Moses to fill a container with the manna and to keep it as a memorial of how God fed the people of Israel in the wilderness. In the Tabernacle, we keep a container which holds the Eucharist in the appearance of unleavened bread (flat wafer-like substance). The Ark of the Covenant was overlaid with gold and made of the finest wood. The Tabernacle is also made with gold. The Bible also says that the Ark of the Covenant was like a tent. When the Tabernacle doors are opened, the priest draws aside a fine cloth.

As with the rest of the stories in the Bible, we can learn from the story of David’s journey with the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament and why it is so relevant to the Eucharist and the Tabernacle today. Since the Eucharist is indeed the entirety of Jesus Christ present in the most holy sacrifice of the altar, it is critical that we pay Him the respect that he deserves through our actions and by cleansing our souls. Otherwise, we will doom ourselves to an eternal fate of separation from God. We can also learn about the Tabernacle by reading this story, because there are so many similarities between the Ark and the Tabernacle. The story of the Ark traveling to Jerusalem holds many underlying meanings for us as Catholics and only if we meditate on it, will we find the messages that God is trying to convey to us.