Basics

Back to blogging basics for me. The reason I began blogging a year and a half ago was because I needed a creative outlet in my life. I lost sight of that somewhere along the way and I let it translate to "burden" in my head. I'm going back to basics because I need to keep creativity in my life.

The burden came when I kept trying to analyze my life for my blog instead of ... uh, living.

My eyes were too big for my stomach

Acceptable basics: God, family, food, water, shelter.

God

This weekend God made Himself clear through a whispering wind. My (not-feeling-well-because-this-year's-cold/flu-is-a-beeyatch-and-sticks-around-for-three-weeks) beau and I spent an entire day doing NOTHING like a pair of 5-year-olds.

Sloth-y squirrel

Sloth? Maybe, but we also shook off all of the poop that we allow our daily lives to accumulate. We prayed, we napped, we watched TV shows we haven't seen since the 90s, consequently giggled and shook our heads at 90s humor (Did I do that?), and READ BOOKS. It was a much-needed, extremely lazy Saturday. God helped us get our individual inner-children back into the picture.

Family

I spent Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday with my wonderful family at the beach. Hmmm maybe I didn't really need a lazy Saturday, after all. We goofed around, pretended we were all younger again, and walked on the beach. It was another back-to-basics weekend and perfectly timed to help me focus on God's great sacrifice and Jesus' resurrection.

My dad is always the photographer. YTBDITWWW

Food

During our lazy Saturday, my beau and I made THE MOST DELICIOUS lasagna that has ever existed. God had something to do with that, as well.

Mid-construction. Those are lasagna genius hands.

Email me, I'll send you a piece.

Water

Christ in the Eucharist is the Lamb of God. Food that prevents us from hungering for eternity. His blood is the drink that saves us and quenches our thirst forever. Music, sometimes, can be like water for our soul, relieving a spiritual dry spell or a least cutting a path to God so that He may work in us. One of my very talented (I have two of 'em) sisters is a fantastic singer. She gives me chills and when I hear her, I'm transported back to a time when I would watch her determined face grab her way across the monkey bars, four feet off the ground, swinging her three foot body with every successful move forward.

This Sunday, I was the proud sister again as she quenched a Mass-full of worshipers with her beautiful voice as a cantor. I'm so grateful to God for giving her a talent that will always be a witness for others.

Shelter

Much of the time, I prefer being outside to being just about anywhere. Not all of the time. I'm not Annie Oakley, but I do love a good hike and some serotonin. 

I had to bring in some nature to calm me in my room/office. Also, some Jesus.

So, in honor of our actual anniversary (instead of the monthaversaries we've been celebrating), my beau and I will be enjoying a hike this week! I hope the weather cooperates by raining down like Niagra the day before our hike so the pollen loses this battle.

Give me this view, anyday

Right for writing

Of course, Jennifer Fulwiler, I'll show you where I write! At the same time, I'll share with you my new apartment!

I have the sincere delight to work from home. I didn't realize how FORTUNATE I am until I travelled for about three weeks, moving from place to place, desk to desk, and power strip to power strip, trying to work. These were work trips, inconveniently shoved close together on the calendar, but they helped me appreciate the fact that I can wear pajamas everyday of the work week.

Coffee cup, obviously a necessity. I'm a duo-computer-wielding chickadee, as you can see. This inspiration-centre doubles as -- and is typically used as -- my day job workspace. ADD-fostering happens here.

This is my beautiful new bed with my beautiful new comforter. More often than not, I write my blog posts, diary entries, and attempts at creative writing from my bed. I like to be comfortable when I pick apart my own brain. Note: Nook for the win!

This is my new view. Not too shabby! I love my new space, but I have yet to get back on the ball with regular writing.... maybe this brag post will kick me into gear!

And finally: I ALWAYS have a notepad with me. ALWAYS. Sometimes I forget a pen, but whenever some to-do, a brilliant thought, or a reminder needs a home, I have the paper for it.

Half an idiom is wanting

I'm in a British mood. I'm currently obsessed with a new television show, and no, it's not Canadian. It's British and brilliant. As I seem to have a struggle finding time for poignant posts that fit the original intent for this blog, I will share with you a fun one.

Maggie Smith is quite British.

There is much to be thankful for with the English language. We are so blessed with synonyms that we could potentially create 78,990 versions of one ten-word-long sentence, without repeating key vocables. Or locutions, or morphemes, if you prefer.

However, I often weep for the English language, at the same time I torture it. We're losing the ability to exchange intelligent thoughts, I fear. In looking for shorter, newer ways of speaking, we've lost a more eloquent tongue. One of the casualties of this slow murder has been the loss of significance in our idioms.

Here are several idioms that the show "Downton Abbey" uses in their entirety. You will probably recognize them, but you might not know they were longer than the version we throw around each day. Enjoy!

• There are more fish in the sea than ever came out of it. - When one of the characters used this in the TV show, it was the first time I realized the phrase didn't stop with "there are more fish in the sea." With the tail (pun) at the end of the idiom, it's more specific, as it refers to the fisher (usually someone looking for a love) who might catch two or three fish (love-ees). This serves as a reminder that not only are there more fish out there to "catch" but that you haven't done a relative amount of fishing to find them. I won't comment on how that agrees or disagrees with TOB...

• Shipshape and ready in Bristol fashion. - How FUN IS THIS IDIOM!? Try saying it with a British accent. Fun, right?! Bristol has been a prominent seaport town in the UK for centuries, though it is on a estuary river instead of at the coast. Therefore, the ships that came to Bristol had to be prepared to sit on dry land sturdily -- with carefully stowed goods-- as low tide went out (or came in, depending on if you're an English professor) each day. This phrase is a merge of two: ship-shape, which means just what it sounds like and has been used since the 17th century, and "in Bristol fashion" from the early 19th century.

• You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. - You cannot make a good quality product using bad quality materials. Because I never really paid attention to this and just made my own guess for what it meant, I absentmindedly took this phrase to mean something similar to "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Funny how I had that backwards.... When life hands you lemons, go shopping for better quality fruit, so they say.

• A drowning man will clutch at a straw. - I'm sure you know this idiom, or "grasping at straws," is used to describe the actions of someone in desperate situations. Its meaning comes from the former inference of "a straw" as it was once an accepted example to refer to anything flimsy or worthless, just as straw seems flimsy or worthless. So the language already had the word "straw" referring to anything worthless and we add the image of a drowning man clutch (derived from Wycliffe's 14th century English translation of 1 Timothy 6:12) at whatever might be able to prevent him from falling below the water, mix in several centuries and POOF we have "grasping at straws." Now you know what you're saying when you use that phrase!

• Three sheets to the wind. - I was so excited to learn that this idiom, used when someone is very drunk, is derived from the "sheets" or the ropes that hold the sails in place on a ship. If these are too loose, they are blown by strong wind, making the boat unsteady and resembling a drunkard. Jolly ho!

• One swallow doesn't make a summer. - One example or bit of proof doesn't make a pattern or truth. From Richard Taverner's transcription of the [Latin] proverbs of Erasmus - Prouerbes or adagies with newe addicions, gathered out of the Chiliades of Erasmus, 1539: "It is not one swalowe that bryngeth in somer. It is not one good qualitie that maketh a man good." And we thought we invented symbolism and imagery!

• The best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry. - Tickle me pink to learn this is the whole phrase that we lopped off into two! It's directly from the Scotsman Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse:" "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." Gang aft agley, as you will have to trust me, means "go oft awry," or "often go awry." Just as we shorten idioms to "When in Rome," here we see that people can quickly use "best-laid plans!" as a quip to bring our fellow men and women to the trough for a taste of sweet, sweet humility. Other times, people tend to throw around "of mice and men," methinks carelessly and in a way that doesn't seem to fit with the origin. However, "the best-laid schemes!"

• The darkest hour is just before the dawn. - A character from Downton Abbey used this phrase and followed it with, "But the dawn always comes." I've more often heard the intro to this phrase, "darkest hour," used as if it stands alone. I prefer knowing the entirety, because it packs in optimism while leaving it to the negative half of the equation suspends negativity indefinitely. That's the last thing our world needs.

• The proof of the pudding is in the eating. - "The proof is in the pudding."  What?! "The proof is in the pudding" made me think of some piece of key evidence -- a credit card receipt, a murder weapon, or my little sister's neglected green beans -- swimming around at the bottom of the pudding bowl. I chalked it up (probably another misused idiom) to the goofy English language and moved on. Now I know that "proof" means "test," in this example (as we know we only get proof as a result of a test). This proverb can be traced back to the 14th century and basically means what it seems after we replace proof with test: until you have experienced something and done everything to learn as much as possible about it, you can't know its value.

• The exception that proves the rule. - This never made any sense. Here again we need to remember that "proof" is the result of a test, so replace "proves" in the phrase. The phrase was intended to convey, "The exception demonstrates that the rule exists." It comes from latin legalese, circa 17th century: "Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis," or "exception confirms the rule in the cases not excepted."

Most of my information explaining the idioms comes from here. Check out more of them!

Traveling with Purpose

Tie your running shoes to the outside of your bag before the security lines to save space and wear slip off shoes for ease of removal. Keep your 3-1-1 liquids bag in an outside pocket. Have your ID and boarding pass in one hand and your laptop in the other, prepared to grab two plastic bins.

Fill this place with LIGHT

Much of the last two years of my life have been spent in airports or en route to a different location for work. The quirks of traveling have become habit. I am not as mechanical as Clooney in Up in the Air, but I'm good at the routine.

In the first few trips I took for my job, I concentrated on looking like a professional traveler instead of interacting with others along the way. I was always courteous and kind, I would even strike up a few chats:

"Is this seat taken?" "No, no, it's all yours!" or "I think I'm in the seat on the other side of you." "Okay, no problem, I'll get up!" I was really reaching people to the core.

Airplanes always seem like temporary time machines to me. I get on the plane, sit for X hours and then get off, knowing I might bump into that lady in the restroom or that guy in the line for coffee. We'll probably never see each other again.

It reminds me of how many people on Earth I will never know.

Read more at VirtuousPla.net....

Oh no, she's vlogging

That's right, folks. I did it.

I put my dorkiness on camera.




If you want to post your video on the channel, email the Bright Maidens here.

Pie-Crust Promises - 7QT, Volume 45

Click here to read the original post at ConversionDiary.com

*1*

Pie-crust promises.

Part delicious, part dangerous.

It's been about three weeks since I used my first "Sorry, I'll be back in full throttle soon, just hang in there," excuse card. Here is some "proof" that I really will be back in full throttle after my GRE. These are a few of the posts I'm working on right now:

*2*

Women, body image, and Christianity. In our pursuit of confronting major spiritual obstacles affecting Catholic women, we forgot about the things that affect us everyday! I know this has been a major tool in the Devil's toolbox against ME, so I'm writing about it.

*3*

Neither parties will do our job. Yeah, that's right, I'm going political for a second.

*4*

My Mt. Ranier epiphany.

I forgot to ask permission from his FACE.

*5*

Church facts I learned this year. This was fun to create and I'm still working on it for my one-year blogaversary.

*6*

A fresh take on NFP. No, really. I think it will be interesting, but I can't reveal the topic.

*7*

"Choose Life" vanity plates in Virginia. I see yellow everywhere.

Announcing: VirtuousPla.net, website for young adults

Readers o'mine, do I have a treat for you!?

The answer is both yes and CLICK HERE!

Welcome to a new world where a group of young adults who uphold a dedication to the Magisterium gather to write on one website about a myriad of topics relevant to young adults!

We launch today, on the Feast of the Assumption, with the prayer that Mary, Our Mother will help us direct people to her Son.

Please, if you like what we share today (and you look forward to seeing more) bookmark Virtuous Planet, tweet about us, post a link on Facebook, tell your friends, email your grandmother, spray paint the URL on your roof....

Let's pour some more Christianity into the Internet streams, what do ya say? UPDATE: Now we're at IGNITUM TODAY

How to write a letter to someone on a retreat

A few weeks ago, someone arrived on my blog by Googling this title. What a superb idea! We need a How-To list for a lot these days, so let's help each other with this challenge.

First of all, the person who Googled that was probably running late on the task. Yes, we’re busy, but think of it this way: I’ve kept all of the letters written to me while on retreats. Retreatants know they're important.

Hand-write your letters.

Letter-writing has been made more important with the advent of the Internet and emailing. Seeing your loved one’s handwriting on paper crinkled as their hand worked across the page adds value to the words. Making this effort will matter to your “retreat-ee”, so don’t put it off.

This is exciting! You care about someone enough to take on this challenge. It won't be easy because you want it to be genuine. Start with a prayer and start early.

Secondly, change things up. If you spend all of your time on the computer, give pen and paper a shot. Even if you draw blanks, start writing. Paper isn’t as rare as it used to be; you can start over.

If you live in 1789 and you tend to write with quill and parchment, Google up some typing lessons and draft your letter on a computer (transfer it to paper later, of course).

This letter is a visible sign of several relationships. Your relationship with the send-ee and his or her perception of you are good places to begin.

1. Do they look up to you? Tell them something about them that you admire.
2. Do they ignore you? (Secondary question: is he or she a teenager?) Surprise them. You don’t need to make yourself heard or try too hard. Most likely, you have their attention because of the compelling weight of an envelope full of pen and ink-scribbled paper. Remain authentic.
3. Another set of important relationships in this exchange is that involving God. How is your relationship with your Creator? Share some pragmatic ways you build a relationship with our Lord or how you need to work harder to do so.



Photo by Lonely Planet on Unsplash

4. Do you forget to show His Love to others sometimes? Write it down. It's good to learn from others' mistakes. You're not writing this letter because you're perfect and bestowing your wisdom on an imperfect being. You're both imperfect. Tell them that you love the way they Love, if you have witnessed a strengthening relationship with Him. 
5. If the letter’s receiver begrudgingly went to the retreat, they need your love now. The Devil hates the good fruit that retreats bring, so he constantly preys on retreatants. Start with Love. If you think their priorities stray from concentrating on Him, show them Love in your letter. 
6. This is not the time to say, “I wish you were more like THIS.” Instead, tell them that God knows who they are: His son or daughter. 
7. Chances are you’ve watched them grow at some point in their life. From an infant to a toddler. From singing the alphabet to writing stories with a fat pencil. From multiplication and division quizzes to algebra. Write to tell them how excited you are to watch them mature. Remind them that you know a sliver of what it must be like for God to watch all of his children grow. Let them know how privileged you feel to be in their life. 

Things to remember:

• Less is more. Lots of words do not always mean more love. You can have a greater impact with carefully chosen, few words.
• Keep in mind that he or she is probably exhausted. Retreats can take it out of you, physically and spiritually. He or she may not know how he or she feels at that point. Assure them that's okay.
• He or she either learned new facts about the faith or are trying to convince himself or herself they haven't learned anything. Assure them that retreats affect people differently.
• The person to whom you are writing may disagree with or dislike something about the faith. Encourage them to ask questions of the priest, if you suspect this is the case. Remind them to remain calm and polite when doing this. Discussion is good, but hostility will produce skewed results.
• Quotes are used so often because smart people pack HUMONGOUS messages in succinct, profound nuggets. Before you start your letter, pick a few quotes or Bible verses that embody what you'd want to hear at a retreat. You may be surprised by what comes out of your pen without aid and may not need to use the quotes/verses... but it doesn't hurt to have them if you need them.

What is your process for writing letters to loved ones at retreats?

Consider some personalized, Christian and inspirational note cards.

This post may contain affiliate links, which help me support my art habit, Liz Lenzi Art.

Google poetry: Gak squish

Simcha Fischer is hysterical. So funny, I am not going to defile the hilarity with an exclamation point. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself.

Every once in a while she gathers all the search engine entries that bring people to her blog and creates a poem. I'm a copy-cat. I hope you enjoy it:

Gak squish

god bless the man that can hold his own

hairy tush

alladin cartoon sex pics

fat dude

fat dude

fat dude

dan eldon journey

meet me in st louis spring

disney world aladdin stuff
"richmond accent" ugly

fat guy in bathing suit

The Jeweler's Shop

stupid kid laugh

dan eldon book pages

taj mahal prayer

white zombie eye sense

you're welcome in 6 languages

 

KAROL WOJTYLA The Jeweler's Shop

anne of green gables movie gilbert

priest with the eucharist

sign of the cross

eucharist

one hundred years of solitude and the holy trinity

fat man in the bathtub

fat man in the bathtub

visual diaries

robin williams genie

fat computer guy

eye has not seen

dan eldon

dan eldon

dan eldon

startling the day arranged

dan eldon travel journal

church collecting candy for easter

robin williams as the genie in aladdin

magic eye taj mahal

fat computer guy

(I do not own the rights)

7 Quick Takes Friday, Volume 15

Click here to read the original post at ConversionDiary.com

*1*

I'm proud to say that on Tuesday, someone from Halifax, Nova Scotia landed on my blog by searching for Gilbert Blythe.

*2*

I'm befuddled to report that someone else landed on my "A hairy tortoise?" post by searching for "hairy tush." Tsk, tsk, people.

*3*

(I don't own the rights)

This is 2011. I've been wearing glasses since 2004. I think it's about time I shovel out the cash for an alternative, so I'm getting contacts! I considered ordering some specialty contacts that blend in with the white of one's eye, excepting the pupil.

That would attract some attention.

*4*

I don't own the rights, God does.

On that subject, all optometrists should be as good looking as mine. You come in with fuzzy vision and POOF he fixes it and you're looking at a wonderful example of God's creation. 

And, if they can help it, they should also be as funny.

If you're in Richmond and need an optometrist, consider Dr. Josh Shows with Precision EyeCare. The mundane chore of going to the eye doctor can be a fun hour!

*5*  

"As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into His kingdom and glory." 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

Adoption is a beautiful practice in our society. I cannot imagine the pain and frustration of trying and being unable to bear children. However, through the discernment and goodness of others, those who cannot physically get pregnant can become loving parents.

I don't know Patty or Phil, but I've seen their advertisement in several Virginia local and university newspapers. They seem like very nice people when I read their blog, but as I don't really know them, I am not endorsing them.

However, if there are any pregnant women or friends/family of pregnant women reading this blog, hello! Right now you may be in the tough position of being unmarried or unsure about the future of the baby. Please consider couples like Patty and Phil. There are hundreds of worthy couples nearby who want nothing more than to welcome your child into their home and family.

*6*

How many people can say they have spoken with one of their favorite authors? With gratitude, I had the opportunity to interview Rick Bragg for an article last summer. His writing is poignant, tight, and transcending and his speech is similar.

I was nervous and in awe throughout the entire conversation, tickled by his country Alabama accent. Yes, that nightmare came true: I said something ridiculous and stupid. He was good about it and I made it out alive.

For those with an e-reader, attack this website and download one of his books, All Over But the Shoutin.' For those without an e-reader, here it is on Amazon.

*7*

Homeboy McCoy one-upped me on my own blog. It's okay, I've recovered.

On my snigglets post (thanks, Jim!), the Punk To Monk writer suggested we create a word for "a male bff often mistaken for gay because he's in religious formation." Four minutes later, he had the answer: holysexual.

Here's to all my holysexual brothers: thanks for being who you are.

You're welcome, English language

If this is your first post you've found on this blog, WELCOME! Please enjoy and consider subscribing to the RSS feed for more!
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America: the land of the free and the home of the inventor.

I do not support killing the English language with text lingo ("r u goin 2 da mall l8r? lol.") or with "abrevs," (fab, totes, etc) as my Canadian friends call them.

But I do like making up new words and phrases (Ex: Ennui-versary). My dad is the genius behind most of the definitions below, as he is always saying, "We need a word for..." If these new words stick, they could be a wonderful birth in the language. If they don't, at least Google will find them on here.

(I don't own the rights, but I did make up these words...)

 We need a word for:

• Benedict Arnoldyougoingtosignthat? - a disloyal pro player who switches teams to the hated, dreaded enemy.
• EX: Boggs, Damon, and Favre are famous Benedict Arnoldyougoingtosignthats? who played the traitors' game of capture the flag with fans' hearts.

• Condisweat- the very watery liquid which first comes out of a ketchup and mustard bottle on a hot day.
• EX: "Tommy, don't forget to shake the ketchup. Your father is afraid of condisweat because of his soggipaniphobia."

• Creeptronic Period - the era in which cyber-stalking, otherwise known as "MyFaceStalking," is socially acceptable and common.
• EX: It was in the Creeptronic Period that man started losing retinas and more sleep than ever before.

• Digiveil - the moment one says, "Hello?" when answering a phone with caller ID, which told one who called.
• EX: Since the late-nineties, Edith has upheld the digiveil, pretending she doesn't know what the caller ID already told her.

• Deliveranc-hnozzola - the moment one can breathe again after having a cold or flu.
• EX: Finally, Jim thought, deliveranc-hnozzola after 72 hours of sneezing. 

• Dess-nial- the mindset when a waiter asks "Will there be dessert?"; everyone in the crowd thinks, "Darn, right," but says aloud, "No, I probably shouldn't." Bonus for a commenter who invents a name for the good soul who orders it with six spoons!
• EX: It was their first date and she was in dess-nial, but that Death By Chocolate cake sounded delectable.

• Gray-dar - the ability to notice when someone is dying his or her hair, covering the gray.
• EX: My gray-dar goes off whenever I meet a 65-year-old raven-haired beauty.

• Jublianthusiasm - the phenomenon of one noticing one's parents are still hopelessly in Love and entertained by one another. 
• EX: The jublianthusiasm was palpable when my mom burst into laughter because of something my dad said.

• Melanchaudio - the feeling that overwhelms one when one hears a song that reminds one of a bad time, of an ex-significant other, or of some memory that puts a gray cloud over one's head.
• EX: Sally's melanchaudio was particularly strong the night of the Michael Bolton concert.

• Misconscription - a joke, idea, or thought that doesn't translate well in writing without a lot of explanation.
• EX: In the first few conversations with his new friend, Jake thought Adam was a mean jerk, but it turned out much of Adam's humor became misconscription when they were instant messaging.

• Mortigait shuffle - the action of running for a few steps while looking back at the area where one tripped over nothing, when many might be watching.
• EX: The man engaged in a little mortigait shuffle to fool the other people on the street. That microscopic crack was a doozy.

• ObliviPAX - the thoughts that escape you so quickly that you KNOW you're never going to remember them so you make peace with it.
• EX: I have at least one obliviPAX per day and I'm okay with that. They must not be important.

• Obnoxygen - when the general atmosphere of a room is an unhealthy combination of annoyance and impatience. (This one comes from my good friend's dad!)
• EX: "I have to get out of here. I'm allergic to the obnoxygen in this room right now."

• Phone Tennis- that uncomfortable 120 seconds when both parties say goodbye on the phone but cannot seem to hang up.
• EX: Mary was a champion Phone Tennis player, confusing the person on the other end of the phone and costing her more minutes on her cell phone plan. 

• Redundanecdotes - stories heard a million times before, which are recognizable before the fifth word is spoken.
• EX: The 17-year-old Anne politely smiled as her grandfather told her another redundanecdote at the family reunion.

• Renter's block - the phenomenon where one can never think of a movie to see when one is standing in the store (or at the redbox, or with the Wii-mote on Netflix).
• EX: Margaret rarely rents movies because she gets renter's block before she even enters the store.

• Resplanitory - a message that needs no reply.
• EX: "Carl, 'I'll see you in five minutes' is a resplanitory. No need to waste a text with 'K.' I am going to see you in five minutes!"

• Revertigo Melanchaudio - the depression which envelopes one when a song popular in high school or college days plays on the elevator Musak station (the idea for this one is from my dad and I stole "revertigo" from How I Met Your Mother).
• EX: Revertigo Melanchaudio set in when Harold heard the chorus of a watered down version of "Fat Man in the Bathtub" play between the 20th and 32nd floors in the elevator. 

• Rude-duet - when one is talking to someone on the phone and it is quite apparent that the other person is also on the computer or watching TV.
• EX: "I'm listening," Samantha said. "So you heard me tell you I'm going to the hospital because I have heart burn from the live parrot I ate for lunch? You're rude-dueting me."

• Soggipaniphobia - the fear of bread that sat in soup too long. This phobia can also apply to a day old sub sandwich, the tomatoes and lettuce of which have moistened the roll.
• EX: Elizabeth has severe soggipaniphobia and therefore keeps bread and liquids totally separate. (taken from real life)

• T-ninerpreter - one with the ability to decipher T9 or auto-correct foul ups in a text received.
• EX: "What? I can't read this: 'G an three me ugh,'" said Sydney. "Oh, he said, 'I am tired of this' and forgot to type the last letter," said Patrick.

Tweet with me

Social media isn't scary, it's helpful. In the last several months I have crossed tweet-paths with hundreds of Catholic bloggers, Catholic tweeters, and pro-life activists. The deal is: you follow me, I'll follow you. With my new crop of Catholic followers I traipse on my merry Twitter way and expect we're making an impact.

I'm sure we're making some kind of impact, but I think it's time we make a deal, Catholic blogosphere. Billy Atwell wrote a great piece about the Christian effort in the social media world and I agree with him vehemently. Go read it and if you don't come back, that's okay.

Tweet me!

There are a LOT of Catholic blogs and we all seem to turn inward. These blogs are really great in many cases and I enjoy stumbling across new one after new one.

We get into a pattern of driving traffic, so we visit others' blogs, comment and then move on. We RT (retweet, for non-tweeters -- actually, "retweet" probably means nothing to you either... just know it's a compliment) and @ reply (again, compliment). There are a handful of blogs we read regularly, but the main objective seems to be attracting more people to our own site.

Billy points out that we need to create relationships in this social media realm. Scott Brown won in Massachusetts. Let me repeat: a REPUBLICAN (albeit pro-choice, etc) took a seat formerly held by a Kennedy. Whoa.

And yes, I believe we can give a lot of credit to social media and tweeters spreading the word about Coakey's slip of the tongue that Catholics just shouldn't work in health care. Ahh that fits so nicely in 140 characters: the absurdity of saying that to a state full of Irishmen came across in a short, sweet tweet.

I don't like that Brown is pro-choice and the party affiliation has nothing to do with my point: we should foster the same kind of movement among Catholic blogs. Pick ten or fifteen Twitter buddies at a time, click on their links, read the blog in its entirety, post it to Facebook, ask everyday Catholic questions in your blog like they do on The Practicing Catholic and other blogs, and don't be concerned with coming across as "too" Catholic on your social media forums.

We're in this for a reason and it's a pretty darn good one. Let's grab the torch and RUN!

Lisbon, here I come!

My dad suggested we call it Elizbon while I'm there...

I fly off to this former world power port tonight and I return in a week! I'm going to attempt to let you know what's going on from there via the blog, but I don't want to assume I'll be able to find a computer or Internet easily.

Pray for me! I'm hoping to see the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima and I'll tell you all about it!

May God bless your week!

The BBC has no faith in us

Many of you have seen this BBC list of 100 greatest novels on Facebook. Apparently, the BBC thinks most people have read only 6 of these 100 books. Show those limeys what's what. If you've read more than 6, shout out. If you haven't... read a few of them. Many of them aren't very long (Great Gatsby: love, obsession, murder, parties, all under God's watchful eyes).

You'll notice I didn't go through and show which ones I've read because I have an unfair advantage over science and econ majors.

Groan if you want to, but I'm actually disappointed that I have read only 32 with all the time I spent in English lit classes. I've gotta get crackin'!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 White Fang/The Call of the Wild - Jack London
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Gak me.

God knows what He's doing.... and He didn't call me to FOCUS. That was the elusive opportunity that I was referring to in the last few weeks. I was really excited by the idea of ministering and evangelizing (this is such a scary word. I really consider it "talking" to people about things that we're passionate about. I happen to be passionate about Christ) on a college campus somewhere in the U.S.

But like I said, He knows what He's doing and those weeks between applying for FOCUS and waiting to hear back woke me up. They suspended me in my plan, which, as my dear friends and family can tell you, changes A LOT.

Testify.

I miss school. SCHOOL: writing papers, getting in academic discussions/debates, reading, pulling all-nighters. I miss learning from professors who have made knowledge their life. My shape-shifting plan over the last few years has gone from pursuing a masters in English lit, a masters in physical therapy, an MBA, a masters in creative writing, a masters in arts management, and probably about a dozen striations in other directions.

(I don't own the rights)

My plans are like Gak: it looks like it could dry into a cement you could walk on, but then you squish your finger into it. EWWWWWWWWWWW hehehehehe. Nope, there she goes again.

Two years ago I steered away from the plan of getting a humanities graduate degree because I figured I need to think about practicality. Also, I wasn't confident in my potential as a professor. Working with TOB teens (all 5 of them!) and my first graders has been some of the most fun I've had this fall. And college students are basically really tall 6-year-olds, right?

Many, many topics grab my attention and passion; I hate having to choose.

I'm working my way down this post, trying to decide if I want to conclude with "so I'm going to get a X degree!" Nope, I still can't decide. I'm going to stick with a list and I'm sorry that I've used you to get my ideas out in this platform.

*Master of Arts in English Lit
*Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
*Dual MA/MFA degree
*PhD in English Lit
*Change my mind once more