I Survived Christmas And What I Learned

As you may recall from a earlier post secular Christmas is not in my top ten favorites things in the world, but it's not in my top ten hate list. I actually enjoy Christmas Day for the actually reason of the holiday.

As I opened my gifts with my family, I realized that I really need my own place. Do not get me wrong I am grateful for my parents for letting me stay with them, rent-free, after my graduation from college (May 2010). Because of this I am able to spend the money I earn towards my loans which I cannot wait to pay off. But any person who has gone off to college then come home for the holidays knows the plight of readjusting to the rules of their parents. This has been my biggest challenge since graduation. But my current financially situation does not allow me the luxury of moving out.

This realization came to light with the aid of my parents via their gifts. How many people can say they got a microwave for Christmas? Very few I imagine.

On a completely separate note, my New Years resolution: lose weight. I know it's not original, but it's something that I have to do. I'm over weight but not obese (Thank God), but I need to lose about forty pounds to be in my ideal weight for my body type. I have started today; on the recommendations of a dear friend I've invested in those 'Shape-Ups' sneakers, and some hand-weights to hold. The sneakers were a bit weird to wear but when walking I could feel the difference from regular sneakers. We shall see as the year progresses.

I also hope with this oncoming year to pick a little German. My mother's family is ethnically German and I have always been interested in my German roots. I have started listening to Disney songs sung in German to pick up on the pronunciation. When studying French in High School I found that listening to songs (Broadway-esque style not pop) helped a great deal; reason being that in singing to syllables are elongated and over enunciated so you hear the word clearer. But I digress, I've always wanted to pick up some German if any; another reason in the story I'm writing (see earlier post) some of my main characters are German thus I need to know German so the characters can speak in their native tongue.

Until next post, God Bless!

A Bit of Fun

This is a sketch I did my last year in college. I got the monologue from 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged'; if you have not seen it please do, it's quite funny. The introduction is something I made up on the spot as a filler, so it's not quite as humorous as the rest of the clip.

Enjoy!

Strange, But Fun

I found this video on Youtube sometime ago and I decieded to share it with the few people who actually read this blog.
Just watch and enjoy, especially you Psych fans!!

Have you tried writing?

Well I have, and I can tell you it's a lot harder then one thinks.

I have been try to write a modern fantasy series for the past few years. About a year ago the worst possible thing could have happened -- my computer suffered the Blue Screen of Death and was no more.

A moment of silence please.............




Finished? Alright then;

Well, as a result I lost two years worth of work, which included a complete plot-line sketch for the first story, finished character development of all major and minor characters, and so forth. None of which I committed to memory. Ugh! I remember all my main characters and the gist of the plot, but details and minor characters can say bye-bye. So sad... who knows they may return to my subconscious.

This event has lead me to revamp the entire story and write it down on paper. It's harder to organize but it won't get loss from a Blue Screen of Death, it just stays on the book shelf. Despite this set back I find it to be a new opportunity to sort of reinvent the wheel as it were. Most likely because I understand my characters better and how they interact with people and react to event will come across more genuine.

This writing quest of mine started as a way to deal with the Hell my life was going through whilst at college. I, fortunately, survived and so did the story I started, but it grew beyond the therapy. I found myself looking at situations and wondering what my characters would do, what would they think; from that the short story (lost to the Blue Screen of Death) grew into a series of adventures. New characters were slowly added, depth was created, I knew I couldn't keep this all to myself. I told some friends and they added ideas and they even have a fan club for one of the characters.

I highly suggest writing for therapy -- write in a journal, write nonsensical ramblings on a page, write a song, write anything!!! What you write comes from you; after you've written put it away and come back to it later. Think over what is written in front of you and come to your own conclusions. It can be both interesting and fun!

Until next time I leave you with this piece of advice: Adversus solem ne loquitor.

Christmas: A Time For .......Joy?

Christmas: A Time For .......Joy?

Christmas to me has been a holy day to celebrate when the Word of God took on flesh. But to many others it's about gift, cookies, Santa, end of the year sales, and decorating. Radio stations begin playing Christmas songs, both secular and religious, before the month of December start has even begun. After living through 20 some odd Christmases I can say without a doubt that I hate Christmas.

I hate the decorations that blink on houses as you drive by, the commercialism that bombards me when I turn on the television, everything just fills me with dread. I have, surprisingly a good reason.

I would first like to say that I am far from being a Scrooge. I enjoy giving gifts to people, I do not even need Christmas as an excuse to do so. I value the real meaning of Christmas with all my heart. But when it comes right down to it I'm just burnt out with secular Christmas. Being forced to decorate every year with decoration that are so disgustingly cute made me cringe, it also took out the joy I once had in the holiday. When I went off to college I was forever happy that by the time I got home for Christmas the decorating was overall finished. I dread this time of year because it is at this point where I fight and argue the most with my parents. Both my parents enjoy Christmas, one more then the other; they watch the Christmas themed movies and listen to the music as soon as the radios have switched. I come home to the demands of 'Turn on the Christmas lights,' and 'We have to watch a Christmas movie.' Their love for Christmas has lead me to my Christmas burnout.

I have come to a point in my life in which I must skip Christmas or else I will lose any inkling towards the holiday. I hate Christmas. I wish I didn't, but when a small irritation is blown up and pushed in one's face repeatedly, what can one do?

A Postscript to Spoon River Anthology

Spoon River Anthology is a collection of free form poems by Edgar Lee Masters about a fictional town called Spoon River. Each poem is an epitaph of each of the citizens delivered by the dead themselves. Here's is one that I wrote. Enjoy!

Change was constant in my Life

I’ve seen different places, different things, different people
Some of which gave me unspeakable joy
Others – a stabbing horror into my heart
Everyday held a task that I had to do
Some I meet with a delightful happiness,
But others put a fear that consumed my very being.

Failures, achievements came as the day closed into darkness
My closest friends became Tears and Loneliness.
In a crowded room Loneliness was there beside me,
Holding my hand tightly.
As I went to sleep and closed my eyes,
Tears moved his warm hands down my face.
But my greatest friend, I could always find by a lit red candle.
I would often go to my friend by the red candle with Tears and Loneliness
But Tears and Loneliness would stand aback
As my friend by the red candle held me lovingly in His arms.
As His blood dripped from His head to mine
I was reminded of what He did for me.

Though my life these three friends accompanied me
Though the failures and the achievements there they were – always near.
Even at death there they were.
As I lay dying I found myself cold
With Tears’ hands on my face
Loneliness holding my hand tightly
And my friend by the red candle, holding me in His strong loving arms,
With the greatest love in world.
And I believe, with all my heart, that there is no great friend than Him – My friend by the red candle.

Can any one guess who my friend by the little red candle is? It will be revealed in next post.

Update

I lot has been happening to me over the past year.

So much that I haven't been able to post as much as I would like. Please forgive me and I will try to put up something worth reading soon.

God Bless

Gilbert

I love GK Chesterton!!
And here's a little comic from the Gilbert Magazine that I want to share!!!

First Strip
1. Wally: You must be Gilbert. I'd turn to face you, but I'm psychologically tethered to my computer monitor.
2. Wally: To turn away even for an instant would shake the foundations of my world.
(Gilbert pulls out a gas canteen)
3. Wally: The new guy set fire to my cubicle.
Dilbert: Join me. Tether yourself to the water cooler.

Second Strip
1. Pointy-Haired Boss: Gilbert, I have to ask you not to drink frothy ale or stout in your cubicle.
2. Pointy-Haired Boss: Also, I -- Great Scott!! Are those distributists!?! They can't be in here.
3. Pointy-Haired Boss: Is- Is this un-pasteurized milk?
Wally: Someone replaced my microwaveable hot pockets with this fresh home-made bread.

Third Strip
1. Pointy-Haired Boss: Gilbert, I'm afraid we're going to terminate your employment here.
2. Pointy-Haired Boss: Your faith, your economic ideas, and belief in common sense – It threatens our bureaucracy.
Wally: See if we can keep the goat.
3. Pointy-Haired Boss (with GK's legendary foe G.B. Shaw): I think Mr. Shaw here will be a much better -er, "fit".
Gilbert: !!

Promise

I know that I haven't posted often, but I promise that I will do my best to post more frequently.

 
God Bless!

March for Life

January 22, 1973 one of the saddest days in the history of the United States. The day when being in the womb becomes as dangerous as the streets of a big city.

January 22, 2007 a day in which we show that those who value life to the fullest will not stand by and let the killing of innocents continue. A day in which we react to the violence of this unholy Holocaust of the innocent unborn with the peaceful marching of silent prayer.


Around 8 o'clock a group of about 30 students, including myself, and faculty from Southern Catholic College loaded on a bus to go the the Atlanta March for Life. This was my first March for Life, an experience that I will never forget.


Driving to Atlanta is never easy and we were unfortunately late for the Rosary at 9:30. So, we said it on the bus. We were able to get to Mass, it started a little late, and there was only standing room only at the back of the church. The church was the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the oldest Catholic church in the South. It was built before the Civil War and was spared in the burning of Atlanta because the Pastor asked Sherman not to burn the church. Sherman agreed, being Catholic, though not practicing, and fearing desertion from his Catholic soldiers. This act thus saved the Catholic Church, several other churches of other faiths, and the courthouse. The Mass was concelebrated by Archbishop Gregory and priests of the archdiocese. The Archbishop's homily began with 'The Father has sent me and now I send you,' noting that God sent Jesus as a little baby and now we are sent to help the innocent babies being killed. Also that, as Catholics, we are still in the mindset of Jesus being born to us as a baby and it is sad that the decision of Roe v. Wade was made so soon after the Christmas season.

After Mass we ate lunch and went quickly to the State Capitol, which was only a block or two away from the church. There the introduced all the Pro-Life politicians of the Georgia House and Senate, a pretty big group (Thank God!!!!). The politicians had to go quickly because they were going in to session soon. Archbishop Gregory spoke saying the almost the same thing as his homily only for a wider audience. He is such a good speaker. Then there was a Southern Baptist preacher, I think his name was Mark Stone, who spoke to us. If he was not introduced as a Southern Baptist preacher his talk would remove all doubt of what he was. He spoke very passionately and I thought he alienated some people, including the politicians, that just said that they are working for a Pro-Life Georgia, by saying he would not stand for sly politicians.
Everyone prepared for the march after the preacher finished. To begin the heartbeat of an infant growing in the womb was played through the speakers and we began when Taps was played on a nearby trumpet. Through out the March there was a trumpet player on every corner playing Taps, a salute to the unborn. My group walked behind a Southern Catholic Banner to show the school's support for the the Pro-Life cause. I marched and quietly prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet.


Downtown Atlanta is home to Georgia State College. As the marchers were passing by the school, classes were letting out. Some just stared, some gave disgusted looks, one guy yelled out "Freedom of Choice", and two girls gave us the finger. There were some students that just walked right through the marchers to get to the other side of the road without looking at us or saying "Excuse me".


At the beginning and end of the march (both at the State Capitol) there were people passing out Chick Tracts, the one track that bears the title 'Are Roman Catholics Christians?'. It was almost ironic - they were Pro-Life, and yet Anti-Catholic - trying to kill two birds with one stone.
All in all it was a good March for Life. One thing that I have to point out was how quite it was. Downtown Atlanta is not know for being quite and it was amazing that so many people remain silent for so long speaking only in prayer.

I pray that there will no longer be a need for these Marches and that innocent unborn life will be seen by all as just that....
LIFE.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us and the innocent unborn

The Siblings I Never Met

A few days ago my mom did something unexpected. Saturday my mom and I took my little brother to altar severing training/party. While sitting in the back waiting for the training to finish my mom tapped me on my arm and asked me if I had known she had two miscarriages. I knew she had a miscarriage but not two. So, in reality I am my mother's fourth child not her second.

To me this question came from nowhere and I asked why she was asking me. She told me that the other day she was talking to someone and the other person asked how many children she had, without thinking she said five. I have two sibling that I never met who would be older than me if they had been born alive. I wonder what my life would have been like with two more siblings in my life. I would not be the middle child but one of the younger kids. I might have had a different outlook on life and my faith. I wonder if my life would have been as it is now or slightly different. I simply do not know.

It must have been terrible for my mom to have lost two children -- she was so upset that she did not name them. When she told me this two names popped into my head -- Benedict and Rebekka, two names I really like. I told my mom the names and she smiled at me and asked what would I do if I married and wanted to give those names to my own kids. Without thinking I said that my kids would be named after the brother and sister I never met. My mom smiled and went back to her book.

This is a conversation I never expected to have with my mom. It is so strange that my mom even broached upon the subject.

Well, here's to the siblings that I never met and I hope that they are in Heaven smiling down on me and my family.

God Bless everyone.

Promise Rant: Why Charlotte Church, Why???

Ok, here is that promise rant.

First of all I would like to ask Miss. Church WHY????????? (Note the many question marks) Charlotte Church's last CD was back in 2003 where she was singing the songs that made her famous and everybody was in love with that voice of an angel.

No more I tell you - she has forsaken the ways of 'Danny Boy' and 'Jerusalem' in favor of pop music. Not just any pop music mind you - pop music that focuses on her body more than her voice.  Catching sight of her music video for 'Crazy Chick' I began to cry in mourning the lost of the sweet girl that we all grew to love.  I ask WHY Charlotte, WHY???

I also, unfortunately, discovered her mini-series in which the pilot episode she dresses as a hallucinating nun taking host with the ecstasy smiley face on it, broke a statue of the Blessed Mother to get some hard cider and stuck gum on a statue of the child Jesus.  This makes me very upset. I thought she would be a good role model for young girls - wrong!!!!

I will continue to mourn the bad decisions made by Miss. Church and hope for a better role model to come along

Midterms

Mid-terms have to be invented by teachers who just want to laugh at us when we are stressed. the only one I am not worried about is Scared Theology, which I am majoring in.  I love my Scared Theology teacher is he Awesome!!!  Dr. Bowring is my first religion teacher that I haven't had to correct in class.
In High School I have had too many religion teachers who did not know what they were doing, didn't care, or taught dissent.  I guess that is why I decided to teach religion, I got fed up with bad religion treachers.

There will be more post in the near furture - I have just a lot of studying to do and I haven't had time to post.  Next up my rant on Charlotte Church!  Stay tune!