I have not written long and hard for quite some time.
I have been well, of late. I adore working 43 hours a week, and going out almost every night as well. Yesterday at work, a family came in and sat down in the dining room. They were obviously traveling (my place of work is right off exit 11 on the Mass Pike), so they all took shifts using the bathroom. When one of the little boys came back, he loudly whispered to his mother, "Mom, there's a sign in the bathroom that said please flush after using. So I didn't flush!" I walked over to him and said, "If you didn't flush the toilet, you'd better go right back in there and flush it, because I clean that bathroom, and if it's dirty when I go in there, I am NOT going to be happy." I think I have scared the intention of flushing the toilet into that boy for the rest of his life. His mom thought it was hilarious. She whispered back at him, "oooooohh, you got caught!" Hee hee.
Christine's friend Emily came to visit, which has been grand. Emily is so cool. We all went to Borders yesterday, where I bought Do What You Are (Jeannie said, Do what you are? Hey Mom, this book says I should be a genie! I'm a genie in a bottle, gotta rub me the right way...), and a belly dancing cd to which I have not yet listened. Chris and Emily and I picked out the one with the coolest-looking person on the cover. She was wearing a flowy white thing. One of my goals in life is to learn how to bellydance.
After dinner (it was my day to cook, but I pretty much peeled vegetables, and my mom cooked), we went to Hebert's Candy Mansion, home of white chocolate, and ate ice cream sundaes until they closed. Jill informed us that it was illegal for them to forcibly throw us out, they could only ask us to leave. That was my new knowledge of the day. At Mrs. Mack's we make you sweep the floor if you stay too long.
After that, we went to Price Chopper, where Kev Crouse works. We didn't really hang out with him much, but it was good to see him, because we were stand partners for two years in high school (since we were the only two bassoonists), and I hardly see him anymore. But He'll be at UMass next year, so I will actually have GUY friends. I'll hang out with Jameson too, except not excessively, because his main form of entertainment is video games, and I'm sure my gpa doesn't need any help dropping lower than it already is. I like the part of Jameson that is intuitive and introspective. I'd really just like to have three hour conversations with him rather than just playing games.
Jameson actually came up too, on Thursday. We didn't really get to hang out too much (Chris didn't hang out with him much either), probably due to the fact that Ashley is manipulative and controlling. Sometimes she irritates me, but she is a good person too, and she really cares about my sister. She's just extremely decisive about everything. Gah.
But back to Emily. Price Chopper actually had an alternate purpose, which was that I had to buy stuff for the picnic I went to today. And Chris had to buy chapstick, which I often find more essential than keys or money.
And Jill, Emily, and I all discovered that we were champagne blondes, according to L'Oreal Preference box. So we all shunned Christine for a while, but not too meanly. We spent lots of time in the parking lot, doing interesting dances, discussing relationships, and making fun of each other.
She decided to sleep over, which was cool. She even got up and went to 7:30 Mass with us, in which the sermon discussed emblazoning "In God We Trust" on our hearts instead of on our dollar bills. I sort of agreed with it, but it sort of felt like we was saying, we're cooler than atheists, even if we don't print it everywhere. And whenever someone tells me that our group is inherently better than another, I flinch.
We went out to brunch at the Edgemere Diner because Dave and Shirley's was closed. It was okay. The prices were a bit high, and the service left something to be desired (granted, I am very picky about my waitresses), but they had a nice atmosphere and the food was really good. I special-ordered a fried egg and tomato sandwich. Yum. Apparently people don't often special-order their breakfasts. At Mrs. Mack's, it happens all the time, we have to go find someone who knows the meaning of "Brian's usual" or how to make a breakfast "Jerry style," and we have to make up prices. It keeps things interesting.
We went to early Mass today due to the fact that I, once again, decided to go into Boston for the day. Nancy invited me to have a picnic on George's Island, so she and Eric and her cousin Amy (who is really cool and directed me through the subway system) and her friend Ranna and I ferried over with a huge amount of food. We ate well, I waded and made designs with crab shells, we all walked through the many corridors and rooms of the fort on the island, and we watched some boys play whiffleball. Good stuff. One weird thing: There is no place to throw trash away. I walked all the way around the picnic area, and about a quarter of a mile to the concession stand, where there was a trashcan. But the guy running the stand said I couldn't throw it out there, so I wanked back to our group. But apparently one of the people in charge of keeping the island clean had watched me the whole time. So he walked over to me and said, "Well, you made an honest effort to dispose of your trash properly, so the least I can do is take it from you." And he did! I don't know what he did with it, but I was very pleased. Imagine! Rewards for NOT littering!
My family decided to go to Boston too (there's a family discount on the commuter rail), so we all hung out on the train together. They walked around the public gardens and chilled at Harvard Square, which is my dad's favorite place in Boston.
I read CS Lewis on the train. I'm on Surprised by Joy which I will probably continue on our road trip next week. I haven't gotten very far, but he uses these beautiful words to describe how many books were in his house...so much like our house, books in every room, towering and sometimes collapsing bookshelves, two-deep, never sold, never thrown away. Books are to be collected, treasured. The written word is sacred here. And in his opening, he speaks of how even the most idiosyncratic of thoughts a man are often experienced by many men. "You think about that too? I thought I was the only one!"
On the same vein, I contemplated the moment. I do that every so often. How often, I do not know. But I like to stare into space and think, this is the moment I am in. And I am thinking about the moment. And sometime later, I will think these very same thoughts, yet it will be a different moment, and yet it will still be now.
I believe that the future exists, but only for God, because God is in all times at the same time. However, God does not choose what our lives will be like. We choose our own decisions. God knows what decisions we make, because he is always there with us, but just because he knows what we will do does not mean he decides what we will do. I am vehemently against the concept of predestination. No no, there are no chosen ones. We choose ourselves.
And I pray that all of us will choose to live.
In response to a question posed to me recently, I have determined that my definition of religion is the search for truth.
Simpsons quote for the day:
Moe: It's not creepy. It's pomo.
*blank stares*
Moe: Post-modern.
*blank stares*
Moe: Ok, weird of the sake of weird.
I am wearing my ladybug pajamas.
I am listening to DC Talk.
I am full of pretzel goldfish and potato salad and turkey on Italian and capri sun and cantaloupe.
I am well.
Christine's friend Emily came to visit, which has been grand. Emily is so cool. We all went to Borders yesterday, where I bought Do What You Are (Jeannie said, Do what you are? Hey Mom, this book says I should be a genie! I'm a genie in a bottle, gotta rub me the right way...), and a belly dancing cd to which I have not yet listened. Chris and Emily and I picked out the one with the coolest-looking person on the cover. She was wearing a flowy white thing. One of my goals in life is to learn how to bellydance.
After dinner (it was my day to cook, but I pretty much peeled vegetables, and my mom cooked), we went to Hebert's Candy Mansion, home of white chocolate, and ate ice cream sundaes until they closed. Jill informed us that it was illegal for them to forcibly throw us out, they could only ask us to leave. That was my new knowledge of the day. At Mrs. Mack's we make you sweep the floor if you stay too long.
After that, we went to Price Chopper, where Kev Crouse works. We didn't really hang out with him much, but it was good to see him, because we were stand partners for two years in high school (since we were the only two bassoonists), and I hardly see him anymore. But He'll be at UMass next year, so I will actually have GUY friends. I'll hang out with Jameson too, except not excessively, because his main form of entertainment is video games, and I'm sure my gpa doesn't need any help dropping lower than it already is. I like the part of Jameson that is intuitive and introspective. I'd really just like to have three hour conversations with him rather than just playing games.
Jameson actually came up too, on Thursday. We didn't really get to hang out too much (Chris didn't hang out with him much either), probably due to the fact that Ashley is manipulative and controlling. Sometimes she irritates me, but she is a good person too, and she really cares about my sister. She's just extremely decisive about everything. Gah.
But back to Emily. Price Chopper actually had an alternate purpose, which was that I had to buy stuff for the picnic I went to today. And Chris had to buy chapstick, which I often find more essential than keys or money.
And Jill, Emily, and I all discovered that we were champagne blondes, according to L'Oreal Preference box. So we all shunned Christine for a while, but not too meanly. We spent lots of time in the parking lot, doing interesting dances, discussing relationships, and making fun of each other.
She decided to sleep over, which was cool. She even got up and went to 7:30 Mass with us, in which the sermon discussed emblazoning "In God We Trust" on our hearts instead of on our dollar bills. I sort of agreed with it, but it sort of felt like we was saying, we're cooler than atheists, even if we don't print it everywhere. And whenever someone tells me that our group is inherently better than another, I flinch.
We went out to brunch at the Edgemere Diner because Dave and Shirley's was closed. It was okay. The prices were a bit high, and the service left something to be desired (granted, I am very picky about my waitresses), but they had a nice atmosphere and the food was really good. I special-ordered a fried egg and tomato sandwich. Yum. Apparently people don't often special-order their breakfasts. At Mrs. Mack's, it happens all the time, we have to go find someone who knows the meaning of "Brian's usual" or how to make a breakfast "Jerry style," and we have to make up prices. It keeps things interesting.
We went to early Mass today due to the fact that I, once again, decided to go into Boston for the day. Nancy invited me to have a picnic on George's Island, so she and Eric and her cousin Amy (who is really cool and directed me through the subway system) and her friend Ranna and I ferried over with a huge amount of food. We ate well, I waded and made designs with crab shells, we all walked through the many corridors and rooms of the fort on the island, and we watched some boys play whiffleball. Good stuff. One weird thing: There is no place to throw trash away. I walked all the way around the picnic area, and about a quarter of a mile to the concession stand, where there was a trashcan. But the guy running the stand said I couldn't throw it out there, so I wanked back to our group. But apparently one of the people in charge of keeping the island clean had watched me the whole time. So he walked over to me and said, "Well, you made an honest effort to dispose of your trash properly, so the least I can do is take it from you." And he did! I don't know what he did with it, but I was very pleased. Imagine! Rewards for NOT littering!
My family decided to go to Boston too (there's a family discount on the commuter rail), so we all hung out on the train together. They walked around the public gardens and chilled at Harvard Square, which is my dad's favorite place in Boston.
I read CS Lewis on the train. I'm on Surprised by Joy which I will probably continue on our road trip next week. I haven't gotten very far, but he uses these beautiful words to describe how many books were in his house...so much like our house, books in every room, towering and sometimes collapsing bookshelves, two-deep, never sold, never thrown away. Books are to be collected, treasured. The written word is sacred here. And in his opening, he speaks of how even the most idiosyncratic of thoughts a man are often experienced by many men. "You think about that too? I thought I was the only one!"
On the same vein, I contemplated the moment. I do that every so often. How often, I do not know. But I like to stare into space and think, this is the moment I am in. And I am thinking about the moment. And sometime later, I will think these very same thoughts, yet it will be a different moment, and yet it will still be now.
I believe that the future exists, but only for God, because God is in all times at the same time. However, God does not choose what our lives will be like. We choose our own decisions. God knows what decisions we make, because he is always there with us, but just because he knows what we will do does not mean he decides what we will do. I am vehemently against the concept of predestination. No no, there are no chosen ones. We choose ourselves.
And I pray that all of us will choose to live.
In response to a question posed to me recently, I have determined that my definition of religion is the search for truth.
Simpsons quote for the day:
Moe: It's not creepy. It's pomo.
*blank stares*
Moe: Post-modern.
*blank stares*
Moe: Ok, weird of the sake of weird.
I am wearing my ladybug pajamas.
I am listening to DC Talk.
I am full of pretzel goldfish and potato salad and turkey on Italian and capri sun and cantaloupe.
I am well.