Thirsty

- said to be the personal motto of Alex Haley, popular writer from The Gambia, West Africa. Friday night I drive home to Muncie, Saturday morning I drive down to the Indy airport with my parents. Many hours later, we arrive in The Gambia, the smallest country in Africa, touching the west coast and surrounded on all other sides by Senegal. Rebecca will meet us there and show us her life as a Peace Corps Volunteer for the next 10 days. We'll arrive back in Indianapolis 2 weeks from Friday. I'm looking forward to meeting the Mandinka people, the hot African sun of the dry season, and drinking in some time with my parents and my passionate sister. Wikipedia: The Gambia , Mandinka people CIA World Factbook , Peace Corps , Catholic Relief Services As a Christian, pray for and with the 95% Muslim population via their 99 names for God . Friends of Senegal and The Gambia .

Today's "Penny Arcade". Generally, the comic is so worthless that I'm not even going to link to it. But today's was absolutely amazing. Post title from Father Bob's Billboard .

You know what "For Adults Only" means. X-rated. Porn star. "Explicit material." Seedy characters walking into an adult video store just off the Interstate. The word "adult" is commonly used this way. So what does it mean to be an adult? Some stuff that you can complain about all day (both about yourself and about others) without being called a Jesus freak. This stuff applies to everyone, regardless of your vocabulary blacklist.

Forgive me in advance. This blonde joke is high -larious! P.S. - while I'm linking, you must read a bit about Obi-Wan Kenobi I can't help you my love. All I can suggest is three things (1) whether you feel as I'm sure you do that Christ was true in his claims and is God (2) whether you are satisfied that the claims of the Catholic Church are reasonably justified. And then (3) -- probably more difficult for you than for me, as it's a question of temperament to start with -- whether in a Catholic Church you feel a sense of worship. For me this last grows. I find it less and less a difficulty -- in fact none really -- except through my own fidgetiness and distraction and general crossness with people and things -- but I accept absolutely now and with no effort that I am in the actual presence of God on the altar. There have been very few days this year when I haven't paid a visit -- even if only for three minutes -- to a church, merely to kneel and be astonished at t...

Today over my lunch hour I walked with Mehdi and Dan to a Mosque downtown near State and Adams. On the walk down, among other things, we discussed a bit about organized religion and how it compares to personal individual religion. The entrance was not very clearly labeled but Mehdi knew immediately where it was by all the Arabs coming in from the street. It was very close to the 1:10 start time so the small foyer was packed with men waiting for one of the two small elevators to take us up to the 5th floor. A few men waited in the foyer, making sure things were running smoothly, offering a "Salem Aleikum" to those they recognized. Once at the 5th floor, we squeezed into a packed gathering room where the preaching portion of the service had already begun. Shoes were taken off and placed in shelves on the back wall and in a side room. Some barefoot, some with socks. The front of the room was located in the northeast corner of the room, where a man was giving a moderately...

(A Tale of Flodden Field) Day set on Norham's castled steep, And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep, And Cheviot's mountains lone: The battled towers, the donjon keep, The loophole grates, where captives weep, The flanking walls that round it sweep, In yellow lustre shone. The warriors on the turrets high, Moving athwart the evening sky, Seemed forms of giant height: Their armour, as it caught the rays, Flashed back again the western blaze, In lines of dazzling light. Nought say I here of Sister Clare, Save this, that she was young and fair; As yet a novice unprofessed, Lovely and gentle, but distressed. She was betrothed to one now dead, Or worse, who had dishonoured fled. Her kinsmen bid her give her hand To one who loved her for her land: Herself, almost heart-broken now, Was bent to take the vestal vow, And shroud within Saint Hilda's gloom, Her blasted hopes and withered bloom. Lovely, and gentle, and distressed- These charms might tame ...

Just spent entirely too much time cleaning up the guts of this blog. I know it doesn't look terribly different from the outside, but I completely css'ified it to ease future maintenance. The most noticeable change is probably the fact that you can read comments right from the main page without going anywhere. I guess I was feeling a little non-geeky and wanted to reassert my geekiness. This had been on my to-do list anyway. Completely pointless comments would be thoroughly enjoyed. (pointful comments of course are welcome too) [Note: Best viewed with Firefox ] Update: wowsers. sorry about that folks, some stupid stuff in the page was causing browser lockups across the board. should be fixed. blogger's way of dealing with trackbacks is majorly bloated.

... Patrona de México y Emperatriz de las Américas Madre Santísima de Guadalupe. Madre de Jesús,    condúcenos hacia tu Divino Hijo por el camino del    Evangelio, para que nuestra vida sea el complimiento    generosa de la voluntad de Dios. Condúcenos a Jesús, que se nos manifiesta y se nos da en la    Palabra revelada y en el Pan de la Eucaristía. Danos una fe firme, una esperanza sobrenatural, una    caridad ardiente, y una fidelidad viva a nuestra vocación    de bautizados. Ayúdanos a ser agradecidos a Dios, exigentes con nosotros    mismos, y llenos de amor para con nuestros hermanos.    Amén. Today (what's left of it) was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe . This is a huge day for the Hispanic culture, and that includes our very own Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago. My friend Fr. Jim Collins concelebrated a 5:00AM Mass for the occasion. The Mariachi band start...

There are people who suffer terrible distress, and they cannot tell anyone of it, and they go about full of suffering. But if you meet them with a kindly countenance, you may lighten their load with your joy. And it is no small thing to cheer another. - Martin Buber Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself. - Chief Tecumseh Once when I was in Victoria, I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank, and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back, with interest. We are Indians, and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them, and our hearts fe...

Three ways to escape the endless cycle of self-consciousness and neurosis : Learn a new language. Place yourself in front of something beautiful. Do something purely for the good of another. (and here's the kicker: without them knowing ) Courtesy of Fr. John Blaszek citing an author I forget. (PS- My kidneys are almost all better, and my sore throat has been replaced with minor scratchiness and a runny nose... almost gone! And I got a bus ride with Carrie out of it, after skipping my usual bike ride.)

This reminds me of when I had spinal meningitis in college, except I didn't really, just felt like I did. Maybe I wasn't at quite the level of deductive logic that I'm now at, as I insist that my kidneys hurt. As I squeezed into seat A1 of the little puddle-jumper for the first of two legs on my flight home from Charlotte yesterday morning, I pondered the achiness I was feeling in the general vicinity between my knees and chest. My groin muscles had been complaining for a couple days already, after playing some frisbee and football a little too hard. (When I say too hard, I usually mean running too much and dodging too fast... not catching too much nor throwing too accurately.) My younger and bigger brother and I had wandered down to a park, tossed the frisbee, and joined some neighborhood kids/parents in a pickup game of football, plus got to play with somebody's massive Newfie named Molly. Anyway, I was also experiencing some lower back soreness yesterday, whic...

Why is this stuff so interesting to me? I'm so farblondzhet. Wikipedia: Yiddish words & phrases ... Shalom aleichem.

I grew up in the Muncie branch of the People of Praise , and among the members is this hilarious lady named Mary Collins. I almost called her "elderly" in trying to describe her to you, but I couldn't bring myself to use that as the first word, because I simply cannot imagine her as old. She is crazy energetic, and when you are speaking with her, you nearly melt under the spotlight of attention and love that she blasts directly at you. When I graduated from high school, she impacted me greatly with a simple little note about noticing that God had been changing me over the past couple years, and assuring me of her daily prayers for me through college. I never really knew any of her family, her husband passed away before my time, and her kids were all grown up and out conquering the world, other than occasional visits home during the holidays. When I moved up to Chicago, I heard from Mrs. Collins that her son Jim was working at a parish in Chicago and that he'd lov...

What a curious thing praying is. Do any one of us have the same understanding of "praying" as any other person? Yet we use, hear, and assume things about "praying", quite often. What is praying, to you? And what about what it is to others, how does that affect you? This post is what sparked my thoughts. I enjoyed it. On a similar note, I was amazed Wednesday night and Thursday, at the communal happiness people are capable of, as evidenced by the Sox win. It made me wonder why I'm not as outward about the things that make me equally as happy.

The thought that the affairs of the world, like those of the stars, are in God's hands - and therefore in good hands - apart from being actually true, is something that should give great satisfaction to anyone who looks to the future with hope. It should be the source of faith, joyful hope, and, above all, of deep peace. What have I to fear if everything is guided and sustained by God? Why get so worried, as if the world were in the hands of me and my fellow men? And yet it is so difficult to hold onto faith... He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring. Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon. Only the childlike retain the child's gift of wond...

Ok, I gave you a chance to change the subject, and you didn't. So it's back to me me me. A brief glance back in time: Friday, after some good convo with a fellow yahoo poker addict, I biked towards Helen's condo for dinner. But I had some time to burn so I stopped at Millennium Park (who knew millennium has 2 n's in it??) (here's a good shot of it..). I layed down on the cool grass in the pavilion and took a little nap. It is dimly lit throughout the evening, had a very peaceful ambiance. I then walked it over towards the bean and picked through the exhibit of photos and dialog detailing the past, present, and future of the sustainability of Chicagoland. It was very well put together, I hope it helps increase awareness through it's prominence. If people would just take a few moments to read it. I then made it to Helen's where dinner was about half done and we all kinda helped a bit to finish it... great experience! I feel bad because I don't ...

So I'm in a bit of a predicament. I've got that post below talking all about me me me, and I want to push it farther down the list and get back to non-me stuff. Except I have nothing worthwhile to post. Help?

This is going to be hard. Therese over at Exultet has tagged me with a meme where I must try to convince you folks that I am, for some reason, special. This is going to be really hard. But the fun part will be the end, where I get to tag a few other most unfortunate individuals. So, five idiosyncracies, five stupid little things about me, quirks of my nature. Here goes.. I walk on the edges. I hug the edge of the sidewalk, whether I'm walking or running. I subconsciously cannot stand to walk down the middle of a sidewalk, or right through the middle of an open room. Perhaps an explanation for the first one, I am always touching objects and structures that I pass. In the office, if I turn a corner, I nick the corner with my knuckles as I pass. In stores, I feel nearly everything that I come near. It's some kind of sensory curiousity/boredom. My ideal sleep conditions: on my stomach, socks off, feet off the end of the bed so my legs can lay flat, head resting on the very corn...

" Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction. " - Blaise Pascal Today, that quote means something much different than it ever has for me before. I will always remember today as the day that my hope in religion has been restored. And what happened today? Externally, nothing. Just a little revelation. An explanation will do no justice, except to say that I suddenly have a confident belief that religion can and does bring far more truth, beauty, and goodness, into the world, than the opposite. How blind our lack of comm union makes us!