Noooooo

Not liturgical dancing! My eyes, my eyes! It tastes like burning!

St. M's in Hudson had a slight problem with this a little while ago. "Slight" as in, Get out of my face with the fluid movements. I do not like to be smacked in the face with your "flowing arms."

Not to mention the sacrilege of it all.

Speedy Weekend

That went fast! All of a sudden, I'm back at school and attempting to avoid looking up sources for my journalism research paper. Which is supposed to be four pages long. And is due Wednesday. This is becoming a dangerous habit ...

I forgot to mention that Arthur, whilst playing baseball, managed to foul a ball off his bat and right onto his nose. Crunch, cut, splash (splash, that would be, of blood. I have such a lovely, gross way of writing ... )He had to get a whole bunch of stitches and his nose swelled up like some sort of balloon so that his face and forehead kind of molded into one - not a good look, but the poor kid didn't seem to be in any pain. Today his eyes got around to turning black-and-blue (looked a whole lot more like "really really red" to me). It made me wince just to look, I can't imagine what it felt like. Oh well, he's a big strong boy, he'll recover in no time :)

Wish me luck on this journalism thing. It's on women's magazines and how much they suck. They do generally suck, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a radical feminist and it's fatiguing to maintain the Outraged Modern Female voice for a whole four pages!

Heresy of the Week

Arianism (4th Century)

One of the greatest heresies the Church has ever fought was Arianism. Arius taught that Christ was less than divine, that he was a creature made by God. By disguising his heresy using orthodox or near-orthodox terminology, he was able to sow great confusion in the Church. He was able to muster the support of many bishops, while others excommunicated him.

Arianism was solemnly condemned in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea, which defined the divinity of Christ, and in 381 at the First Council of Constantinople, which defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit. These two councils gave us the Nicene creed, which Catholics recite at Mass every Sunday.

From Catholic Answers.

Ice Cream!

Ice cream is lovely! We had some after dinner with the guest of honor, Nicholas. I had cookie dough flavor, mmmm. Salmonella! KT was wondering why it isn't called Chickenmonella. Good question ;)

I'm kind of in recovery still, though. I ate too fast (actually I wolfed down my dinner, too). Ugh, delicious but painful!

I think sitting for ten hours causes problems with blood flow to the brain

Well, that's not quite fair. There WAS a brief period of lugging my suitcase up Morton Hill. And lugging it off the bus. And dragging it from one end of the Columbus bus terminal to the other. I was standing for all of that! But otherwise, it was pretty much an exercise in not exercising.

I actually had to TALK in order to catch my bus and I had numerous interesting conversations with numerous interesting people. I even got hit on by this creepy old guy with chin-length greasy hair: Ew, I saith. I got in at 10:30 instead of 9:50 because one of the buses was late. All in all, it was pretty bad. But I live! Aren't you relieved?

While I was at school, the household acquired 1) A fancy Victorian antique couch 2) a new computer 3) Cable TV and 4) A new bird feeder. Also my sister had completely rearranged our room. I was somewhat confused when I saw it. You know how easily perplexed I am :) My brothers have ESPN on all the time. As expected.

Apparently I was mistaken in assuming Nick was leaving last weekend! He's still here! And me and the girls are going out to dinner with him on Saturday. Yay! For food and for Nick :)

Brideshead Revisited

By Evelyn Waugh. If you haven't read it by now, what's wrong with you? Are you some kind of freak? Did your mother not love you? Is our society completely crumbling?

Click here to buy it, freak ;)

See you later if I don't see you sooner

I'm going home for the weekend, and I don't know what the state of the home computer is (probably on its last leg, panting to the finishing line) so don't be surprised if I don't write for a few days or if it's sporadic. I've got to pack tonight for the Grand Bus Tour of Ohio (hopefully it shall escape the less appealing moniker of the Grand Bus Fiasco of '04).

Ora pro me, all ye!

You should listen to your mother when she tells you clowns are evil

Via the Curt Jester (you oughta be reading them daily like me!)

May 25, 2004
If only clowns could marry

A circus clown who goes by the name of "Spanky" was arrested last week in Fayetteville on charges involving child pornography, federal agents said Tuesday.

Thomas Riccio, 23, of Jacksonville, Fla., was arrested Friday by officers from the Fayetteville Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, ICE said in a news release. He was arrested while traveling with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, they said.

Riccio, who made his first court appearance Monday in Cumberland County District Court, faces 10 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said he was not clear what happened with Riccio in court or whether he was still being held. He also did not know what sentence Riccio would face if found guilty.

Riccio was arrested as part of ICE's Operation Predator, which targets predatory crimes, including child pornography and child trafficking. Since July, Operation Predator has led to more than 2,900 arrests nationwide.

My referral log was showing a lot of hits for "Spanky the Clown" and I wondered what was going on. The story on my site was about a different Spanky the Clown who was trying to have Mayor Daily excommunicated.

Ha ha! Evil, evil clowns. Except for the one trying to boot out Daley. I probably would like that guy.

(Singing) Oooohhh, It's Thundering Again

Yup, more storms in Athens tonight. Is this typical? Usual? Normal? Maybe I'm just used to the semi-arid droughts of Northeastern Ohio. They always result in complaints about how dry it is and how the water bills are ridiculous and how if anybody whines about the state of the lawn I'll take their head off, it's not my fault if the grass dies! That's my father talking. The people being decapitated are myself, my mother, my siblings and our snotty neighbors.

I took my Philosophy test and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be! Unfortunately, I have this tendency to make the wrong call on how well I do on exams. I was notorious for this with regard to every examination having anything at all to do with arithmetic. So keep your fingers crossed, or whatever superstitious pagan ritual you fancy ;)

La, I've gotta buy a bus ticket tomorrow between 11 and 1, which is when the station is open at the Oasis. Odd hours. And fifty bucks! It's an eight hour ride what with the bus route meandering all over Ohio on its merry little way to Akron. They better have room for luggage, that's all I can say. Apparently I'm also going to have to change buses in Columbus. This is asking for trouble. I can't resist!

Betsy, you'll have to say rosaries for me all day Thursday so that I don't get found lost. Sigh, I'll probably end up in Peoria. But the Bishop is kosher in Peoria, isn't he? Start out for the Diocese of Cleveland, end up in the Diocese of Peoria ... Maybe not such a bad switch!

Beautiful, beautiful piece from Crisis magazine

Father Rutler writes so well. Read the entire piece. (Just click above.) It's on Auden and I can't help but excerpt it -

"Delusion thinks that the self is a steady axle, and everyone else spins about in the turmoil of change and its toll on the flesh. W. H. Auden was only a few years older than I am now when in my early 20s he seemed to me half as old as time. His face was so wrinkled; I had never seen anything like it. I had seen weather-beaten faces blown red and scuffed by gales and wars, but I had never seen so many wrinkles. A friend of his from schoolboy days remarked that it seemed to have come on all of a sudden ...

... Unlike many actors on the shaky stage of culture in the 1960s, he knew that no drama matches the eternal drama of Redemption. He wrote:

Just as we were all, potentially, in Adam when he fell, so we were all, potentially, in Jerusalem on that first Good Friday before there was an Easter, a Pentecost, a Christian, or a Church.

He was certain that none of us will imagine ourselves as cowering and terrified disciples. Few are important enough to imagine being Pilate or good enough churchmen to suppose we might have been of the Sanhedrin.

In my most optimistic mood I see myself as a Hellenized Jew from Alexandria visiting an intellectual friend. We are walking along, engaged in philosophical argument. Our path takes us past the base of Golgotha. Looking up, we see an all too familiar sight—three crosses surrounded by a jeering crowd. Frowning with prim distaste, I say, ‘It’s disgusting the way the mob enjoy such things. Why can’t the authorities execute criminals humanely and in private by giving them hemlock to drink, as they did with Socrates?’ Then, averting my eyes from the disagreeable spectacle, I resume our fascinating discussion about the nature of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

I take those lines as an indictment of myself, for all the while I was prodding Auden for something shining to say about the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, that wrinkled face was engraved with intimations of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and I in my young clumsiness with deep things just kept pouring him some lesser spirit on ice. He had lived long enough in New York to require ice with his whiskey ..."

I hope I haven't broken any copyright laws, and gosh, that's lovely.

I love philosophy, I really do

But right now I hate it because I have a midterm tomorrow. I'm so loyal and consistent. Sigh.

Today was a fairly okay day, except I had that test hanging over my head. I'll really have to hit it all hard tomorrow. I got a 94 on my Journalism exam - the one I thought I failed - so that was a big plus! I guess I'm just tired. My last few posts have been so downer-yish! Yes, downer-yish is a legitimate vocabulary word, because I can use it in a sentence: "No chocolate in the dining hall makes for a downer-yish dining experience." They ought to use it on the SAT.

My parental units want me to take the bus home. The bus? How am I going to cart all my stuff up that hill? ... Oh, blah. I hope everyone had a fun time at the Goodbye For Now Nick, We'll See You Again On the Hidden Camera We've Decided to Stalk You With party. Of course being stuck in Athens I didn't get to goooo. Why Nick, why couldn't you wait one more weekend? Sulk. Didn't you read the rule book? Everyone must arrange their topics of conversation, schedules, and collegiate careers around me. It's a great book ;)

Ha ha, here's a great article. Satan in an online Methodist Church ... interesting.

Icky feeling in belly = cranky

Auuuugh. My stomach muscles are tied up in knots for some reason (probably just stress, I work too hard, ha ha ha. NO laughing, you, only I am allowed to laugh at my witty, sarcastic remarks!). Today was Ascension Sunday since Cincinnati moved the Feast from its regular day. I hate when they do that. And they do it all the time.

Sorry I'm grumpy! The homily was very good anyway. I'm reaaaally looking forward to heading home for a few days this Memorial Day weekend. I need the tune out and I'll be all rested up for finals, joy. I just gotta get through four days of class. It won't kill me, will it? Will it!? WILL IT!!?? ::: Breaks into panicky sweat ::: Ahhhhh you'll come to my funeral, won't you? Maybe these cramps will kill me first.

Die Penguins

This comes as no surprise since I've had quite a large number of issues with the penguins before.

Now that you mention it

Since we've all been talking about Confession (ha ha ha) here's a neato little poem from The New Oxford Book of English Verse

A Lover's Confession

by Charles of Orleans {?1394-1465}

My ghostly father, I me confess,
First to God and then to you,
That at a window - wot ye how?
I stole a kiss of great sweetness,
Which done was out avisedness;
But it is done, not undone, now.
My ghostly father, I me confess,
First to God and then to you.
But I restore it shall doubtless
Again, if so be that I mow;
And that to God I make avow,
And else I ask forgiveness.
My ghostly father, I me confess,
First to God and then to you,
That at a window - wot ye how?
I stole a kiss of great sweetness.

N.B. - "out avisedness" = without thought. And the ghostly father is the priest.

Yay for Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones is on tonight - and my favorite one, The Last Crusade! Hooooraaaaay! I didn't really like The Temple of Doom. Too dark and dreary. But Raiders of the Lost Ark was goody, obviously :)

Liz went to Confession with me! Another hurray! See, I told you it wouldn't be bad. They're always glad to have you back after a long time away :) It was two weeks since my last trip but he (I mean the priest) didn't call me a scrupe or anything. I'm trying to remember what my penance was. Hmmmmm....

I stayed for about an hour of Adoration and I said a rosary. For the conversion of Russia. Then I trooped back home for laundry. Blah, boring and dull. A little while ago we had an interesting time in the Study Lounge with The Ball. Also there are apparently numerous instruments of torture available at Walmart, including bull horns, "million candle" lights etc. Lauren found them out and now my life will be hell ;) or more hellish than it usually is, lol!

Now I'm gonna watch a little Indy and get to bed. I hafta get up in the morning, ya know!

Harrison Ford & Sean Connery = perfect perfect perfect movie combo ....

I asked for it

And I got it. We got thunder, lightning, rain, the whole bag of tricks. It definitely made the evening more interesting, but someone remind me to be careful what I wish for!

Stay dry, everybody. Or try to anyway.

Ho Hum

Today was kind of from the twilight zone. I didn't really do anything and yet it's already 5 o'clock! Very strange. I guess I should get started on my homework. Yeah.

I went to see my advisor, the guy in Bentley. He gave me my DARS but we really didn't have a lot to talk about since I was accepted into J-school and they're going to advise me from now on. He was very flattering about my grades. I felt like I was supposed to burst into song, "Oh Daaaaahling, you don't mean it!" Etc. But it did pick me up a little bit :)

I had meat today. Chicken, la. I'll say a rosary tonight instead ...

Other than that nothing new. I guess all hell is breaking loose up north complete with hail and strong winds. Send some of that down here, I'm bored.

P.S. I fooled around with the HTML a little bit today, so if you find anything annoyingly wacky or broken, rip your hair out in despair. Then write me about it ...

If only they would have chocolate cake

There was no chocolate in the dessert section of the dining hall line tonight. I compensated by having a large amount of ice cream, which I ate before the rest of the meal. No sooner had I finished the other items on my plate than my so-called friends (who are in fact fattening me up before they kill me and eat me and/or sell my meat) brought me another bowl full! With whipped cream and sprinkles and toppings of all sorts! They had obviously put forth a great deal of effort to present the munchy in a tasteful and alluring manner, so I was socially obliged to inhale most of it. Burp.

Remarkable discovery: The Art Renewal Center. Great place for classical art. Yar, take on those modernist abstractionists! My favorite pieces are by William Bouguereau -

Regina Angelorum, La Vierge, L'Enfant Jesus et Saint Jean Baptiste, A Soul Carried to Heaven, and La révérence "The Curtsey". I adooooore him. Hint hint hint, see my wish list ;)

Heresy of the Week

Gnosticism - actually experiencing quite a revival nowadays.

"Matter is evil!" was the cry of the Gnostics. This idea was borrowed from certain Greek philosophers. It stood against Catholic teaching, not only because it contradicts Genesis 1:31 ("And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good") and other scriptures, but because it denies the Incarnation. If matter is evil, then Jesus Christ could not be true God and true man, for Christ is in no way evil. Thus many Gnostics denied the Incarnation, claiming that Christ only appeared to be a man, but that his humanity was an illusion. Some Gnostics, recognizing that the Old Testament taught that God created matter, claimed that the God of the Jews was an evil deity who was distinct from the New Testament God of Jesus Christ. They also proposed belief in many divine beings, known as "aeons," who mediated between man and the ultimate, unreachable God. The lowest of these aeons, the one who had contact with men, was supposed to be Jesus Christ.

from Catholic Answers

Click for Monty Python Fun - Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

No, Cardinal Ximinez, and nobody expects to sleep through their alarm until 11:08, when they have a class that starts at 11:10! Luckily my roommate was sweet and woke me up before I missed it entirely. I was only about ten minutes late - I spriiiinted across the campus. I didn't put on make-up or do my hair - just ran a brush through. I barely got dressed! And I didn't shower, so the people who sat around me got a nice hour of Sleep Stink. Congratulations to them.

Ohhh, and I had to get a seat in the second row because all the other aisle seats were taken. So I got to walk where everyone could see my straggly unwashed self. "Freaks on parade!" Yay!

Here's some sugar for your Wheaties:

The Time Cube Guy.

Apparently he's a serious academe? Or something? Hard to believe. My favorite part is where he says

"The New Tom Green Show" equates to evil, for due to pressure
they rescinded their guest invitation to me. You might say that
they support evil against youth.

It does equate with evil, but for other reasons, my socially challenged friend.

Another Day, Another Drama Snarl

Weeeell, I guess things haven't quite gotten worked out yet re: the drama which had its poisonous birth in the Great Housing Disaster of '04. It begins to be somewhat worrying and annoying. Let's all play "We're Grown-Ups" and make up, shall we? Not that I'm at all mature, myself. I had chicken twice today. I am far gone.

Here's a little fun to brighten your day. These people seem to be nice-but-rather-freaky Christian folks. I mean, Bible-thumping, "say a prayer accepting Jesus!", "When were you saved?" types. What's funny is they have this thing here. Not the same thing as the Catholic version at all, but still pretty funny. And get this, they have a section on.... Democrats! ROFLOL. Yaaaaah, our Mary-worshiping pagan rituals are spreading, my fellow Pope-loving conspirators! :)

I Would Hate Mondays, But it's Such a Cliche

Well, I did indeed manage to get my paper done. I was actually only up until 11:30 doing it! It goes a lot faster when you write crap. Everyone in my group had their parts ready and nobody's was a disaster, except mine in terms of diction and verbal style. I would post an example but I value your respect. (What's that? I do have your respect don't I? Snicker, snicker.)

Soooo, Betsy might be going to Kent State next year and living at home. Or, Papa think's she's going back to D.C. If she goes to Kent she's going to be an education major. Gah! Betsy as a teacher! Run little kiddies, run! Everyone pressure her to come see me this weekend. If she doesn't, I'll know she hates me and never wants to see me again and blah blah blah. Her E-mail is Lilllabettt@aol.com, and that's her IM name too. IM me if you want her phone #. Pressure, pressure, pressure. How juvenile of me! What's not juvenile is Journalism midterms which come on Wednesdays. Nooooo, not juvenile at all.....

"And the axe fell, with a shattering crash..."

Time to pay the piper. Face the music. Poop hits fan (how classy of me). How many other cliches can I think of? Oh, misery, I have got to get this Anthropology paper done tonight. It's supposed to be three pages, and I have, la, almost two. And that's if I use every font trick in the book. My group didn't discuss style continuity so our final product will probably look like a messy mish-mash of different fonts. Watch, some idiot (who has yet to reveal himself in all his glory - they all seem pretty smart to me so far) will type his up in modern font.

There was beacoup de drama here in the dorm what with the Housing Assignment Server taking a nice long nap. I hope it enjoyed its sleepy time, the heeeewre. I got a room in Lincoln, but that takes me away from all my friends. Definitely sob... Unless Leslie's parents break open administration skull/rear ends! Yes, if Leslie's mother is my clone, as alleged, then I know exactly what she will do, he he he.

Anyway, let's all cool down and focus on what's important: our festering resentment at having another four weeks to go when most other universities are closing for the summer.

Oh, Sweet Jesus and Mary, it's 10:30. I am, what's the French for screwed? KT, help me out here, oh fount of filth (I lovingly and admiringly mean that as a compliment, of course!). St. Jude, St. Thomas Aquinas, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Augustine, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Fatima, St. Philomena, pray for me. Moan. Cough.

A Little Perspective

Here's a nice story courtesy of Nick that will possibly help to briefly assuage the throbbing bitterness of your life:

The following from a Florida newspaper:

A man was working on his motorcycle on his patio and his wife was in the house in the kitchen. The man was racing the engine on the motorcycle and somehow the motorcycle slipped into gear. The man, still holding the handlebars, was dragged through a glass patio door and the motorcycle dumped onto the floor inside the house.

The wife, hearing the crash, ran into the dining room and found her husband laying on the floor, cut and bleeding, the motorcycle laying next to him and the patio door shattered. The wife ran to the phone and summoned an ambulance. Because they lived on a fairly large hill, the wife went down the several flights of long steps to the street to direct the paramedics to her husband.

After the ambulance arrived and transported the husband to the hospital, the wife uprighted the motorcycle and pushed it outside. Seeing that gas had spilled on the floor, the wife obtained some paper towels, blotted up the gasoline, and threw the towels in the toilet.

The husband was treated at the hospital and released to come home. After arriving home, he looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his motorcycle. He became despondent, went into the bathroom, sat on the toilet and smoked a cigarette. After finishing the cigarette, he flipped it between his legs into the toilet bowl while still seated.

The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her husband screaming. She ran into the bathroom and found her husband laying on the floor. His trousers had been blown away and he was suffering burns on the buttocks, the back of his legs and his groin. The wife again ran to the phone and called for an ambulance.

The same ambulance crew was dispatched and the wife met them at the street. The paramedics loaded the husband on the stretcher and began carrying him to the street. While they were going down the stairs to the street accompanied by the wife, one of the paramedics asked the wife how the husband had burned himself. She told them and the paramedics started laughing so hard, one of them tipped the stretcher and dumped the husband out. He fell down the remaining steps and broke his arm.

Now, THAT is a bad day.


Ick. Yes, that day does, in my measured opinion, suck.

Mmm, procrastination is delicious, and so is chicken

Today was Pretend Anthropology Project Doesn't Exist Day. It was highly successful, in spite of the fact that I had a group meeting for said project at the library at noon, which meant I had to get up around ten to be fully washed and dressed (I move at a slug's pace) all of which made me cranky.

I was mostly recovered by the time I ate my chicken (yes, chicken again, but I didn't have anything to eat at ALL yesterday, this is how I justify my addiction, he he he).

The rest of the day was highly productive as I managed to dawdle, procrastinate, and self-defeat with consumate skill. You might suppose from my performance that I have had a great deal of practice in the art (and I have!)

I went to St. Paul's for Eucharistic Adoration at 8. I thought Liz was going to go with me to Confession at 7, but Nicole said she went home or something :( Oh well. I said a rosary, prayed for vocations and orthodoxy and my family and all my friends, you know the drill. I got out at 9:15 and the streets were already pretty full with less than sober people crawling down Mill Street. So I went home along College Street, which was a little less ... Busy, you might say, LOL.

Nobody was home around 11 o'clock, and it's time for bed. Wish me luck getting to sleep, I've had a hard time of it lately.

I love library sales

Today I slept till 11 (are ya shocked?), went to the library, and bought a bunch of books for a buck a piece. The Fire of Love, Pilgrim's Progress, etc. etc. I spent seven bucks total, so I guess that's, doh, seven books. Yes, Betsy, you can read them when I come home. Speaking of which, here's another reason you should come see me next weekend: You can pick up your lousy birthday present. I'm starting to hate looking at it. I'm not hostile, I'm just sleepy!

Hmmm Palmerfest starts tonight I guess. Be careful, all.

I didn't have anything to eat today at all. Not one bite! And it's not a fast day either, or anything, I just never got around to stopping at the dining hall. Did anybody go to dinner? I kind of dozed off on the floor whilst doing my homework. Probably missed a whole lot. I guess that's another reason to feel tired - no gas in the tank. Must sleep now, I have a meeting at noon in the library for my awful anthropology project. G'night, sleep tight!

Good Although Disturbing Poetry

The Second Coming
By ..... You guessed it.. Yeats!

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is lost;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

N.B. - Spiritus Mundi means spirit of the world, sort of like total human imagination ... etc... I think this is supposed to be about the rise of fascism. Yar, that's what I've read. Good ole Maggles reading literary analyses....

Let's pull Billy Yeats out of his grave and see what he has to say...

Oh, Joy!

Whoo hooo, great news! Thanks for the heads up, KT. They're making a remake of everyone's favorite masterpiece (MY favorite masterpiece!) The Lion In Winter. Huh, Patrick Stewart, the guy from Star Trek? Should be interesting. Hopefully the live footage will be AP Euro History quality as we're used to, eh? Apparently they're using the exact same script as the original. Allow me to quote Katie:

"y'all know what this means...

"I know,
you know i know
i know you know i know
we know henry knows
and henry knows we know!"

yay!!!
someone hasta tape this for us (ahem *cough* nicky p *cough*) cuz it's on showtime sometime in the next few weeks. we can have a party!"

Yes, we must have a party. Even if the movie sucks we can still sit around and make fun of it.

Emerging Briefly From My Shallow Day

Not much new here in Athens. The school year is almost over, and it really seems to have gone quickly.... Anyway, time for Semi-Deep Reflections. There are three major things I have learned about myself this year. Or so far, anyway, since I guess the year is not all the way over:

First, there is nothing in this world I love more than the Real Presence;

Second, I am going to be a journalism major. Hopefully, this means I will get to go dancing around the established liberal media and tip over their sacred cows. Divine bovines. Holy heifers.

(Speaking of which)

Thirdly, I am one. A cow I mean. Mooooo. Honestly, I really like to eat. I think I have some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder. Snickers, Ritz, Chicken! Yes Lauren, fried chicken, FRIED.

Today I finished Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Science fictiony, Armageddon type stuff. Normally not my cup of tea at all, but this was really, really good. I have that slightly depressed feeling you get after you finish a good book. Sigh, this too shall pass, mes amies!

Must Remember to Read Over and Over Again

Christian Philosophy? from First Things. It is a very brief, great little bit on, well, Christian philosophy. The essay as a whole is a reaction to Fides et Ratio - that would be Faith and Reason, Betsy-the-Latin-Neophyte. But remember it's gauche to use the English. I would recommend the entire essay, actually - writ by Fr. Neuhaus of course!

Prayer Of An Unhappy Sinner (Don't remember where I found it)

On my knees, I confess to you, my Lord and my God, that I am unworthy of Your gifts, and most especially Your mercy. Behold my flesh, insolent, disobedient, the unhappy inheritance of Eve; woe that I sin against You, who are all my Love and all my Hope! Yet this dust is made holy by the Blood of Your Son, crucified for my sake and my sins, by His own choice, in obedience to Your will. Therefore, Father, do not permit me to fall to the Enemy, but be with me in temptation; humble me, drag me unto the depths, that I might be free of pride and all else that keeps me from you; O Most Just and Most Merciful, Poorest and Most Glorious, God and Man, Mortal and Eternal - in my misery I cry out to you. You alone know how weak I am and how I long for You. Take pity on Your sinful child, whose heart, though robed in worldly mire, yet reaches for you in adoration.

Happy Day After Birthday To Me ....

Well, wasn't that the bestest birthday ever! Well maybe not in the history of the world, but it gets pretty close in terms of my history. Everyone was so sweet to me and bought me nice things. Thanks, you guys :::tear::: :)

Hymn - anyone else hear of it?

ALL HAIL, ALL HAIL

I.

All hail, all hail Emmanuel
The newborn King of Israel
The Lord of Angels, Prince of Men
Come forth to free the world from sin.

II.

Behold the angel Gabriel came
Before the Virgin to proclaim
His coming and His Sacred Name
All hail, all hail Emmanuel

III.

To shepherds watching in dark of night
The herald choirs sang of His Light
And an eastern star in heaven aflame
Disclosed to kings His Endless Reign

IV.

O lowly, wretched, ill-esteemed
And fallen men, though lost ye seemed
By God Incarnate be ye redeemed
All hail, all hail Emmanuel

Pretty hymn. I seem to remember it went to the tune of The Glory of These Forty Days, which is odd since that's definitely a hymn for Lent.