Inconsequentials and Trivialities

**Warning – the following will contain spoilers. Do not proceed unless you don’t care about ruining your own viewing experience!!**

This week, my intention was to see the following movies: The Tourist, Tangled, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader, and The Fighter. I was planning on one movie per night at $5 each.

Well, first night, I go to buy my ticket for The Tourist, a movie I’m given to understand isn’t very good, and I’m told that Sony Pictures doesn’t allow the theatre to do the $5 deal on its movies. So I opt to see Tangled instead. I liked this movie! The animation was excellent, the voice acting well done, the songs were pleasant, and wow, the textures on some objects were just incredible! When I was a young lad, there were half a dozen or so animated Disney movies (Snow White, Bambi, Cinderella, Dumbo, Lady & the Tramp, a couple of others) and being as how there were relatively few, each movie sort of stood out. Now, there are many, many, MANY animated Disney films and each individual movie seems now to just be part of a tapestry. So although I did like this movie quite well, I doubt that it will shine more brightly in my memory than any other Disney film. Recommendation: Go see it. It’s good. :)

Because I ended up seeing my Tuesday movie on Monday, I wasn’t sure what I should do on Tuesday. See Narnia a day early? Substitute in another movie like Country Strong that was also on the nominee list? Ultimately I decided to see no movie this night, and instead go down to the church to see a guest speaker, Fr. Tony Ricard. More on this in a future post. Maybe.

Thus far I was 1 for 2, which is a really great batting average, but lousy pretty much everywhere else.

Ok. So then I hear from my friend, Betty, with whom I had been planning to see The Fighter, that she’d like to maybe see Inside Job on Thursday in lieu of or in addition to The Fighter. I’m down for a double feature so I decide to skip a movie on Wednesday and make it an early night so that I’m not tired on Thursday evening.

Thursday evening I met up with Betty after work and we went and got a quick bite to eat at Hero’s Sports Lounge. I had their happy hour pizza, which is about 9” in diameter. Filling! As we’re walking to the State Theatre to see Inside Job, Betty’s mom, Jan, decides to come see the film with us. Bonus! One more person participating in the challenge!!
Inside Job was a pretty good movie but just a little heavy handed for me. When I am being presented with information, whether in person, via the news, or a documentary, if that information is presented straight, without bias, I am perfectly comfortable drawing conclusions from that information. However, if the information is coming slanted, from a position, I feel it would be irresponsible to make up my mind until I hear one or more opposing viewpoints. To me, this is just part of critical thinking. So this film lays plenty of blame on all kinds of people and entities. And though they may be dead on accurate, some of the snarkiness in the presentation is off-putting and prevents me from just taking the film maker at his word. He clearly has an axe to grind and I will not just accept whole hog someone else’s point of view. The film maker points out over and over that this or that person declined to be interviewed for the movie. I think this is supposed to be an indictment of those absent voices, but I can’t blame them for saying no. There is zero upside for them; the best they can hope for is to not look too bad. Because the film maker’s point of view is that they are bad and I would fully expect him to edit the footage in the most damaging way possible so as to reinforce his bias. Mind you, I have no complaint with this as long as his bias is disclosed.

Next up, we travelled a few blocks over to see The Fighter. We thought that this movie was scheduled to start at 9:40 but it turns out that it was really 9:00. Zoinks! As it happens, we were right on time. Jan skipped this second movie but Betty and I took our seats during the previews. The Fighter was also a good movie. (I’ve been rather fortunate in my movie selections over the past several weeks. All fair to good movies!) I think Mark Wahlberg did a good job and Christian Bale did a GREAT job! Amy Adams was pretty good too. Definitely a different type of character for her. The characters in this movie may have the most annoying family I’ve ever seen. So mind boggling to think that this was based on a true story. I mean it, this family is awful. And they don’t know they’re awful. And that may be the worst kind of awful. At some points during the movie, I was so annoyed by some of the characters and circumstances that I felt like crap. By the end, I really came around to liking this movie. Just at the beginning of the credits, there is a 30 second clip of the real life brothers. This 30 seconds may just earn Christian Bale an Oscar. He nailed it.


So, final score: I saw 2 of the 4 movies I set out to see, but I did see a total of 3 movies. Ima go ahead and label this a successful week of movie-going. Word.

**Warning – the following will contain spoilers. Do not proceed unless you don’t care about ruining your own viewing experience!!**

I have seen three movies in the last week. I anticipate seeing many more in the weeks to come. There are three things fueling this prognostication.
1) Brenden is offering $5 movies Monday – Thursday, all showings, so it’s actually affordable.
2) It’s awards season and, just as happened last year, my friend Betty is engaged in an effort to see as many of the Oscar (and Golden Globe) nominated movies as possible prior to the ceremonies. And also like last year, I am joining her (at least to an extent) in that pursuit. So far, I’ve seen 10 of the 34 movies that are involved in the Golden Globes.
3) I’m not taking an evening class this semester so I have more free time than I’ve had in the past 6-7 months.

So, first, here is a list of the movies that I have seen that are up for a Golden Globe.
• Black Swan
• Inception
• The Social Network
• Alice in Wonderland
• Red
• Easy A
• The Town
• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Toy Story 3

So I have two more Best Picture-Drama to see (The Fighter, The King’s Speech), and 3 more Best Picture-Musical/Comedy to see (Burlesque, The Kids Are Alright, The Tourist), as well as numerous other films that made it in other categories. I plan to see The Fighter and The Tourist (and possibly Burlesque) next week. Pretty good!



**Begin (potential) Spoiler section**


The first movie I saw recently was True Grit. This version is supposed to be much closer to the book than was the original movie starring John Wayne. In preparation for seeing the new release, I made a point of watching the original (for the first time!)
I enjoyed the original although of course it seems a bit dated now. But I liked this new version better. Westerns from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s seem to offer a sanitized version of the 1800s. The actors rarely appear to get dirty and never swear for example. I prefer the (theoretically) more accurate representation we get nowadays (but for all I really know, they’re just as romanticized and skewed as films of past decades).

On Tuesday evening, I went to see Black Swan. I didn’t really expect to like this movie; I was only seeing it because it’s on the list. I was surprised to discover that I really did like it! I didn’t know much about the premise or story before going in. And I’m not sure how much others know about what the movie is all about. If I’m NOT worried about spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it, I’d say that it depicts what mental illness might look like from the perspective of the person suffering it. That the sufferer in this case is a ballerina strikes me as especially true to life. I have known a few ballet dancers and while their experience may not be typical, this movie reminded me quite a lot of what I saw in them. I’ve had one friend opine that the cause of Nina’s mental illness may stem from an overprotective mother. It makes me ponder about possible associations between mental illness and ballet. Do those sufferers gravitate towards ballet? Can ballet push one over the edge? Is there a reciprocal connection? I’ve just known too many dancers who knew that they weren’t supposed to eat anything, who were pushed to punish their bodies for the sake of dancing, who ultimately turned out to have real emotional and/or mental problems. Yep, I am not a fan. But, like I said before, that is what I have witnessed. YMMV.

Finally, last night I went to see Tron: Legacy. One word: Meh. Like with True Grit, I made a point of watching the original TRON recently so I would be all primed for this sequel. I was sort of surprised at how poorly the original held up over the years. As I was watching last night, I found myself wondering if, in 20 years, we will think that these graphics looked cheesy and dated. Right now it looks pretty darn good; except for the CGI Jeff Bridges. I think they should have waited another 5 years to let the technology advance a bit. They still don’t get faces right. Olivia Wilde looked amazing though. All in all, I can’t see that this is a sequel that needed to be made. The premise of the original was pretty thin and this one isn’t much more robust. I still don’t understand why programs are forced to play games. Oh well.


Stay tuned….

In case I haven’t mentioned it before, my time off work really needs to be down-time for it to do me any good. Upon returning to work yesterday after being off for 11 days, a coworker told me that she hadn’t accomplished anything (housework, cleaning, organizing, whatever) during the break. I replied that this sounded like an awesome break to me. I know plenty of people who use their weekends and vacations to go do all the things that they normally don’t have time to do. Even their stories of whirlwind travel, snow or water skiing, hiking, camping, running around, shopping, parties, and family gatherings leave me feeling exhausted. It’s a wonder they have any energy to get up and come to work on Monday. But, that is what rejuvenates and re-creates them. This is not me. I enjoy doing stuff but not nearly to the extent that these people do and certainly not all at once. It’s almost like my goal is to do so little when I’m off that I’m excited to go back to work. (Yeah, it sounds sort of thin to me too but let’s just go with it.)

That being said, I had a very relaxed and stress-free break; starting Wednesday, the 22nd. The boss told us to go home at 1:00 in the afternoon and we were only too happy to do so. For the entire span of my break, unless otherwise stated, I spent my time watching tv and playing LOTRO. I don’t remember what, if anything, I did on Wednesday evening. Probably nothing, which is perfect! Thursday evening I went to Camp 4 to see my buddy Aaron play his last Modesto gig before moving down to southern California. It was a pretty good show. The place was packed! I had a really nice time chatting with people, taking photographs, and enjoying the music.

The next day was Christmas Eve and by golly, I don’t remember doing anything all day. Until nighttime anyway. I was the sacristan for Midnight Mass. I also took some photos during and after Mass. It wasn’t as cold out at midnight as I remember it being in past years. Saturday and Sunday I guess I pretty much did nothing (SCORE!!).

Monday was a game day at the House of Robot Pets (HoRP). Ross ran Brandon, Jay, Kathleen, Mike, and I through a short little adventure that involved searching for a missing smuggler and dispatching some goons that were trying to muscle in on his operation. Giacomo (my dwarf bard) acquitted himself admirably.

Tuesday was a rather frustrating day. I had on my schedule: donate blood, take my friend to a movie using passes that I was to get from the blood bank, and play guitar for the first time in months at a home Mass. I went to the blood bank for my appointment and had to wait 15 minutes for them to open; always annoying. Then of course there’s the donation process. I do aphaeresis which involves taking my blood out of me, separating out the parts they want, and returning the rest back to my body. This used to mean a needle in each arm for about 90 minutes. Nowadays, it’s a single needle/arm but it takes closer to 120 minutes. I’d rather it be the first way. (There are other complaints I have about recent changes, but you’re bored enough already.) Anyway, after being there for 2½ hours, I went to redeem some points for movie passes only to be told that they don’t do movie passes anymore. Grrrrr! So I had to call my friend and, with 30 minutes notice, tell her we’d have to postpone seeing the movie. The upshot of the whole experience is that I am DONE with the blood donation thing. At least for the foreseeable future.
The only part of the day that went as planned and therefore well, was playing for the home Mass that evening. Turns out I haven’t forgotten anything about playing, although I have lost all my calluses.

Wednesday and Thursday must have been uneventful as I do not remember those days.

Friday I ran around paying some bills then drove to Copperopolis to do a photoshoot with my percussion group, Burning Sky Musicians. I think the shoot went reasonably well. As I was racing home to meet up with a friend (we had plans to see a movie), I got word that she was feeling ill and had to cancel. *sigh* I wasn’t having much luck with movies to this point. That night, I was in bed by 9:30 and slept right through the commencement of 2011.

Saturday, I finally made it to the theater to see a movie! My friend (from Tuesday) and I saw True Grit. I really enjoyed it! I had watched the original a week or so earlier and liked that version, but I liked the remake better.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful/can’t remember.

Regarding tv. I watched all of the first season of Magnum PI, most of the first season of Lie To Me, some Rockford Files, and various other things on my dvr and computer. Speaking of Lie To Me. I really like this show! It’s too bad that it’s on Fox as that network has broken trust with me. I’m not sure I will ever forgive them for cancelling Firefly. In any case, I refuse to watch new shows on Fox because God only knows if they’ll make it through even a full season.

Regarding LOTRO. I spent most of my playing time leveling my captain, Aluatis and doing the winter festival event. Good times.

So, dear reader, thank you for sticking with this lengthy post to the end. Feel free to leave a comment indicating what you think the reward for your perseverance should be.

ttfn

What have I been up to? Well, let’s see. I just finished up a couple of classes here at the college; a radio broadcasting class and a speech class. Work’s been pretty sucky. I’m pretty burnt out.

I just got a new TiVo, the TiVo Premiere. It’s a great upgrade from the box I already had but I’m having trouble getting the mcard digital decoder from Comcast to work. I have a cable technician coming out this afternoon so we’ll see. I re-signed up with Netflix because this box will stream directly. That’s been cool.

I’ve been playing lots and lots of LOTRO; I've been enjoying leveling up my Captain. I haven’t been to the theatre much but I have watched several movies at home recently. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Toy Story 3, RED, Knight and Day, some others I can’t remember.

I joined a Middle Eastern/Tribal/World Fusion percussion group and I’ve been playing for a lot of belly-dance events. You may have seen pictures on flickr or facebook. I ordered a new drum that is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. It’s called a cuica. This is a Brazilian friction drum that’s used in samba music. I can’t wait to get it and start mixing it in for our playing.

Family Christmas gathering tomorrow. Work MTW next week then 11 days off. I hope it helps.

First off, let me apologize for all of you experiencing asphyxiation. It has been overlong since I reported on the burger challenge. Rounds 3 and 4 are complete. We now move to the semi-final rounds.

Here are our results from the last two qualifying rounds (remember, points can range from 8 - 40):

Round 3 (September 29th)
#3 P Wexford’s Irish Cheddar Burger with 26 points
#2 Fast Eddie’s MOAB (Meal on a Bun) with 27 points
#1 Fudrucker’s ½ pound burger with 30 points

Fudrucker’s ½ pound Burger advances.


Round 4 (October 13th)
#3 Sips Sliders with 32 points
#2 Scenic Drive In Knock Out Burger with 33 points
#1 Harvest Moon Dinah Burger with Swiss Cheese with 34 points.

Harvest Moon Dinah Burger with Swiss Cheese advances.


Wow! Round 4 really had some high scores!
In my opinion, the Harvest Moon Dinah Burger was the best burger we’ve tried all semester. Certainly the points support that, but we’ll see what happens when it goes up against winners from previous rounds.
Coming up, the highest point earner, Harvest Moon, will go up against the lowest winning point earner, Chili’s. Two weeks after that, Bacchus vs. Fudruckers.

Stay tuned and don’t forget to breathe!

My office is in the process of trying to determine what the best burger in Modesto is. We’re conducting this investigation using a tournament bracket model. Using a highly unscientific selection process, we started with twelve burgers that would be in contention for the title of Modesto’s Best Burger. Every other week, during our office staff meeting, we would sample three burgers and rate each of them in the following categories: taste, value, burger construction/ingredients, and how well the burger appeals to the other senses. Of the three burgers, one advances.

We’ve completed two preliminary rounds so far with two more to go. Once the field has been narrowed to four contenders, we will have a semi-final round to identify the two best burgers in Modesto. Then, at the end of the semester, the final round will determine the champion.

Here are our results from the first two rounds (points can range from 8 - 40):

Round 1
#3 Firken & Fox Mushroom & Swiss Burger with 26 points
#2 Firken & Fox Guacamole Swiss Burger with 27 points
#1 Bacchus Kobe Beef Burger with 28 points

The Kobe Beef burger advances.

Round 2
#3 Mike’s Roadhouse San Francisco Sour Dough Burger with 23 points
#2 In N Out Burger with 25 points
#1 Chili’s Shiner Bock BBQ Burger with 27 points

Chili’s Shiner Bock BBQ Burger advances


Round 3 will happen on September 29 and will include burgers from P Wexford’s, Fudruckers and Fast Eddie’s MOAB.

Round 4 will take place on October 13 and will feature burgers from Sips Bistro, Barking Dog, and Harvest Moon.

For some reason, several frozen yogurt shops have sprung up in the greater Modesto area over the last several months/years. I'm not complaining, but I am at a loss as to why this has happened all the sudden. For years and years, we've had TCBY and the Yogurt Mill. But all of the sudden, we have LA Cultures, Yogofina, Yogolicious, Oodles, and probably some I don't even know about!
I've tried all the ones listed here and I have no complaint about any of them. I do have a preference for the places where you create your own serving and pay by the ounce. So of all the places listed here, I like Oodles the best. Not for any particular reason apart from it is the self-serve type and it happened to be 'on my route'. I like that there are lots of fresh fruits to choose from for my toppings and I typically go for a vanilla or banana flavor yogurt with lots of fruit.

However, there is one flavor that I will not pass up. That is the Irish Mint. I'm a sucker for mint. I get this flavor with chocolate chips, Andes Mint topping, or both. Love it, love it, love it!!

The heat of the summer is gone and we're headed toward fall and winter. I hope that Oodles and the other froyo shops can make it through the colder time of year so that they are all thriving next summer. I know I'll do my part. Will you? Yes, I'm talking to you Rachel! When are you coming down to help support my froyo habbit??!!?! Make it so!

Ok. Sunday.

Sunday, started off with 8:00 Mass. I was asked to sub as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. One thing that is definitely true about me is that I like having a job to do. Music was meh. I was surprised by how little singing there was in the pews. Sad. The choir sounded small and very far away. Piano and strings sounded good but voices were just about too quiet to evaluate.

Then it was back over to BVG for the later morning service. I was helping with audio/lighting again. As an added bonus for this service, my friend Sonya was there, so after all the songs and baptisms, once Pastor Rick began his message for the day, I left the sound booth to go sit with my friend. On my other side was an attractive woman who it turns out Sonya knew for years past. After the service, Sonya, this woman, her dad, and I sat talking for a bit. Attractive, but this woman has many problems in her life. We prayed for her and will continue to do so.

So then it’s back over to St. Stanislaus for the priests’ residence open house. There was so much food! I spent a couple of hours chatting and mixing with fellow parishioners. But man oh man it was hot! Side note: there is some moving and shaking that’s getting going at the parish. GOOD!!

In the later afternoon, I met my friend, Lance to see A-Team. The movie was good, ridiculous fun. It really captured the spirit of the series in many ways. I hope there are sequels.

Finally, back home to play LOTRO for several hours. I’d have stopped playing earlier than I did, but it was too hot to go to bed.

This was a busy weekend! I was go, go, going the whole time. But I didn’t feel like I was overburdened with activity. Oftentimes, I am scheduled for so much on the weekend that I don’t feel like I’ve gotten any downtime when I return to work on Monday. For some reason, that wasn’t the case this time. I need to figure out why so that I can replicate the effect of this weekend.



That is all.


Sean.

Out.

This was quite a good weekend! Let’s run it down.

Friday started with me assisting as a sacristan at a funeral. I know this will sound strange, but I like serving at funerals. Not because of the grief or what have you, but because I feel like I’m really providing a service at a time of real need. Hard to explain maybe. Anyway, I prepared the materials beforehand, served as an altar server during the Mass, proclaimed the first reading, and helped distribute Communion. I joked with the office staff that the next time, they’d have me preaching!

Then, in the afternoon, I went over to Rob’s place and played Dark Heresy with the gang. The adventure that day was very theatrical/cinematic and fun! My character did a decent job in combat, but I made a few bad rolls which nearly led to the demise of my Guardsman. Looking forward to the next session!


On Saturday, I went down to Big Valley Grace church for the Love Modesto event. Everyone met in the Worship Center to kick the day off, and I met up with my good friend Sonya. She and I went out to work at the Habitat for Humanity site. Met some nice people, broke up some concrete, had a great lunch.

In the late afternoon, I went back down to BVG for the evening service. It was my first time helping with audio/lighting tech for the regular services and I really liked it!! I ran the lights this time. At the service, I saw my ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend. I surprise myself a little by realizing that I really am over her, in the sense that I am NOT interested in dating her at all anymore and wouldn’t want her back. Granted, it still hurts, the way she treated me; I don’t think she was very honest with me. And, she still owes me $100 that she borrowed from me at the end of January.

So anyway, after the service, I’m driving over to my favorite frozen yogurt place, when I notice that she’s in the car behind me. She’s going to the same place. Now, she’s essentially been ignoring/avoiding me for the last couple of months so I think to myself, “This could be interesting.” I park my car and walk directly to the shop. She’s parked off to my left, 15 yards away with two rows of cars between us. As I’m walking up, her boyfriend and his kids(?) get out of a car right in front of me. I deliberately didn’t look her way as I walked up (I wasn’t looking to cause a scene or anything. If she wants to avoid me, I’m not going to try to force her to be a grown-up) so I only imagine that she must have made some motion to him to come her way. She certainly didn’t say anything out loud; I’m guessing so as to avoid drawing my attention. Anyway, he sort of stops and then starts moving her way. Ok, so I enter the shop, which was bustling, and go about getting my yogurt together. As I’m doing so, I can look out and survey the scene in the parking lot. Again, in my imagination, they’re having a confab about what to do.

My imagined dialogue goes something like this:

Her: Wait, maybe we should change our plans. My ex just walked in there.
Him: What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s just go in.

So they head for the entrance. I can see all of this from inside, but because of tinted windows, those outside can’t see in as well. As they enter, I’m at the cashier. I gather up my purchase and I’m leaving, but, if it’s obvious that we’re in the same place at the same time, I want to be nice and say hello. (I guess this is sort of in opposition to what I’d said before but I’m a complicated guy.) So, bag in hand, I reach the door and go to back out of it, opening it with my derriere. I was giving the room a quick scan so that if I saw her, I could walk up and smile, say hello, how are you, good to see you, have a good evening. Here’s the funny part (to me), she’s nowhere to be seen. She’s hiding in the bathroom or behind a wall or something. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I feel quite wicked deriving amusement from this, but it is what it is.



Next up: Sunday and the end to the weekend.

I'm at the Knights of Columbus State Convention in San Jose. This morning we had the opening Mass. I thought I'd review the music (provided by a choir from Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara).

Selections: B+
Execution: C
Sound: C

Selections were good overall, but there were some notable exceptions*.

You Are Mine
Shepherd Me, Oh God
*Celtic Alleluia (in G. A is the original (& better) key.)
We Remember
*Mass of Creation (Mem Acc A is not the best choice but is the most well known.)
The Summons
I Am the Bread of Life
*Panis Angelicus (Not well known so not a great choice for Communion.)
**Ave Maria (Not liturgically appropriate.)
Canticle of the Sun

Group was a piano & 10 voices. There were ok but not especially skilled. They often didn't use the written intros & outros for songs. The soloists were warbley. The Lamb of God was confused & only 3 verses were sung, all 'Lamb of God'.
Panis Angelicus & Ave Maria began at the end of, or after, the Communion procession. Really, one Communion song would have been sufficient if repeated with interlude. Communion song(s) began about 45 seconds late.

Sound problems persisted throughout the Mass, though they did subside a little. Problems included feedback and being too loud/too soft.
There were a pair of sound guys but I'm not sure how skilled they were.

Overall, I give it a C+/B-. But I'll give the benefit of the doubt and call it a B-.



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Complain, complain, complain. Sometimes it feels like that’s all I ever do. But I am not a complainer that is unwilling to work to make things better. And I don’t complain (much) about things in the past that we can do nothing about now. Well, what I do try to point out is that we didn’t take the proper steps then, and if we continue to misstep, we will keep running into the same problems; something about failing to learn the lessons from history or some such thing. (Also something to do with doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.)

I am becoming more and more convinced that I need to redirect my efforts and get a degree in communication. I am equally convinced, and thus dismayed, that any attempt by me to impart knowledge and skills to others will be akin to screaming into a vacuum. Not the Hoover kind; the outer space kind. We all remember the tagline for Alien, right? I am currently advocating for improving the communication processes at my church, but far from being considered or heaven forbid, embraced, I’m getting pushback and explanations/excuses for why things are broken. The implication is that they will continue to be broken and that will be ok.

Someone told me yesterday that there is fear/concern that I will leave the Church. I have been attending a non-Catholic church here in town for a couple of months now. At this other church, I have been welcomed and empowered. I indicate a willingness to get involved and they are putting me right to work. Last night I was asked if I wanted in depth training about how to run some of the technical side of things for one of the services. Compare that to how things work at my church. The chances that someone will welcome you when you come around are better than they used to be. But it still amounts only to a hello at the door. If you are a fallen away Catholic, you get higher priority than if you are a weekly, anonymous attendee. If you tell someone that you’d like to get involved with… whatever, chances are very slim that that message will ever reach someone who can do anything about it, and that’s only if there is someone who could do something about it, which mostly there is not.

And another thing, here we are, well into Lent, and yesterday was the first homily (an explanation of the scriptures of the day and how they pertain to our lives) that we’ve had at St. Stans in over a month. Every Sunday for the past four weeks, what we’ve had instead is someone asking for money. People, this is not feeding us.

I have no intention of leaving the Church. But it’s looking more and more likely that I will end up being just another obligatory attendee at Mass. I’ll probably be getting my spiritual nourishment and fellowship at a place that works harder to provide such things. And here’s the thing, I doubt many people will care.

Of the animated shorts, I liked the one from Ireland best followed by the one from Spain. The one from Canada was the worst followed by the last one, the long one from France.

Next up, live action shorts.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My friend, Kathleen's wedding is today. Some days it's really hard to be happy for others' good fortune when I am still so sad. Even watching tv shows, there are moments when very suddenly my chest feels empty.
The good news is that in the past several days, I have had a lot of opportunity for reflection. I hope that I have learned something from all of this. Growth is good, right? It's easy to see where the term growing pains comes from.


My hope today is that I am able to look beyond my own neediness and be happy for Kathleen and Scott.

So I had a random thought.

Here's a suggestion for people coming to the end of a relationship. If at all possible, try to avoid breaking up with someone on or around their birthday. And especially at the occasion of their 40th birthday. Sure, it may be unavoidable but like I said, if possible.

Ok. That is all. As you were.



In completely unrelated news, I turned 40 a couple of weeks ago. :)

Well it's been a long time since I wrote anything here. I am just not making the time. As I sit and think about what to talk about, it all seems really futile. A lot has happened but it's kind of old news at this point.

I guess I'll try to get back to the facinating minutia of my everyday life.

I've been a little sick. I left work early on Tuesday and was out today. I hope to be well enough tomorrow to make it in. Friday is a holiday so all the work that needs to get done before the weekend has to be completed tomorrow!

And here's a brief listing of what I'm watching on tv these days.
M - How I Met Your Mother, House, 24, Chuck, Heroes (although God only knows why), Castle.
T - Lost, The Forgotten, The Good Wife.
W - Modern Family, Psych, CSI: NY.
Th - The Office, Survivor, CSI.
F - Smallville.
S - Legend of the Seeker.

I'm also trying to catch up on Mad Men. I'm told I need to watch Caprica.

I have mixed feelings about the sequels to Twilight. On the one hand, the writing has gotten better, there are less of the pages and pages of nothing but staring into each other’s eyes, and we’ve spent more time with characters I’m a lot more interested in than Edward and Bella; characters such as Carlisle and Alice. But each book is sort of formulaic with nothing much happening for the first 85% of the story and then a whirlwind of action for the last bit. This is both good and bad. I’ve learned that if I just endure the bulk of each book, there’s a reward coming. But then again, I do have to endure the bulk of the book.

On the down side, I’ve gotten to know three very annoying people, Edward, Jacob, and above all, Bella. I was practically screaming at her all through the third book. “Bella! You stupid idiot! Let the supernatural types go fight! Your constant whining and worrying about their safety is a real drag. You are very unpleasant to be around. Shut the hell up for God’s sake.” Honestly, the author has done a remarkably poor job of helping the reader to understand what anyone sees in her. And Jacob is a complete tool in the third book. Sheesh!

I’m about 40% of the way through the fourth book and the author may have changed things up a bit. Some of the interesting stuff has happened earlier than in the other books. It’s a departure but it has made me like this one a lot more. One section I really enjoyed is when Jacob broke from his pack to go do the right thing. I was so stunned and off balance that he was manning up, that when moments later, Seth joined him in running to warn the Cullens, I wanted to cry at the breakthrough these idiot characters were having. Way to pull your head out, Jacob!

I have hope for the conclusion of this series. The pacing could be much better but Breaking Dawn is so much better (so far) than the previous books, that it’s like a breath of fresh air. Ok, like breathing smoggy air after living near a factory, but it’s an improvement.


Full disclosure, I am overly harsh on the books. But after being told that I just HAVE to read them, I’m still trying to figure out why.

I’ve noticed that I don’t write much except to complain. That can’t be fun reading for you, but I’m guessing that it’s sort of therapeutic for me. When things are going well, I want to be fully engaged the good times. But when something annoys me, I want to vent about it. Having no actual people who care to hear me rant about stuff, I channel that into writing. Even if I had friends that were willing to listen to me, I am reluctant to subject them to my tirades. I wish I had better friends, the sort that MADE me understand that I could spout off about stuff.

I’m doing something wrong.

So my friend, Alyssa, tells me I just HAVE TO READ TWILIGHT. Well, I’m game so I tell her to lend me the book. Trouble is, she doesn’t have the book. She watched the movie then read the three sequels. Alright. So I obtain the audiobook and put it on my ipod to listen to it. It’s about a 14 hour book so it’s going to take a while as I don’t have much time for just sitting and listening. I think the story is ok but the author repeats herself far too much. I swear if I had to hear much more about the color of Edward’s eyes or how frequently his mood changed or his granite like skin, I would have had to quit the book in frustration. And by the way, why does this 100 year old vampire think and act like an adolescent? Ridiculous. The book really picked up some when the second group of vampires showed up and I devoted most of Sunday afternoon to just listening so I could finish the book.

After I finished listening, I decided to watch the movie. Big mistake! The movie made the book seem like a masterpiece work of art. I will put aside the fact that the story was very different because of how truncated it was (I mean rewrites, not just an abridgement). But this little town of 3100 people in the Pacific Northwest has to be the most ethnically diverse town in the country! Every demographic was represented. There was the token this and the token that. And because the storyline was so chopped up, the pace at which things happened made no sense at all. And one more thing I’d like to pick on; Carlisle was so chalky white that any person he ever came into contact with would take one look at him and think, “This guy’s a vampire.” Really it was unnecessarily pasty. In an effort to make it obvious to the audience, it only makes me think how unrealistic it is. Sure, vampires and such may be unrealistic to begin with. But I can accept the premise that vampires exist. What I can’t accept is that in this world, people are blind idiots who don’t blink twice at a guy who’s whiter than any albino.

So I’d say the book was ok but the movie was pathetic. I hope the sequels are better.

On Sunday morning, I awoke to discover that my home had been burglarized while I was asleep. The perps came in through a kitchen window that they forced open. They took the mobile phone from next to my bed and the ipod from my bedroom. They also took three flash drives, my Playstation 2 and game controller, and about $80 from my wallet. My viola is also missing but I haven’t seen it in some time so who knows. My car keys were on a table inside the front door and with them, the thieves got into my car and took my camera bag with all the equipment therein and the ipod fm transmitter. Other stuff may be missing but it may take time to realize it.

I reported the crime to the police, the neighborhood security patrol, and to a few neighbors.

Monday night at around 1:15, I woke up when I heard shouting outside my home. It was Modesto PD in the process of arresting three teens who had been in the middle of breaking into my house. Within a few moments, several police cars arrived and the officers spent the next hour or so questioning the perps and collecting evidence. It turns out that the neighbor across the street has noticed these dirtbags prowling around my house and called the police. Many thanks to him!

I can only assume (and hope) that this was the same group of knuckleheads that broke in a couple of days before. If so, I may have some slim hope of recovering some of my stuff. I’m hoping for the return of my camera and with any luck, my viola as these were the most expensive items.

The Dedication Mass went well however my attempt to record it did not. I’m told that the video is still in production.

Since then, we also had to plan for Holy Week and the Triduum. It was hectic but I think that Holy Thursday went exceptionally well. Good Friday was meh, and the Easter Vigil went well, but again, Thursday was really good. Several musicians from the Spanish choirs as well as several people that were new to music ministry at the parish sang with the choir for one or both days. It was the first truly bilingual Triduum that we’d done at St. Stanislaus.

For weeks prior to Easter, I’d been saying that I couldn’t wait for the 13th and be done with the preparation for Holy Week, etc. But come the 13th, I was already trying to look ahead and plan for the next big thing(s) for music at the parish. I identified four specific things that I want to move forward with.
• First, we need to be looking for more opportunities to bring everyone together to do (bilingual) music. Perhaps Pentecost will be the next logical opportunity.
• Second, I want to try to restart the local chapter of NPM (National Pastoral Musicians). Maybe instead of trying to organize this on a diocesan level, we can work on a greater Modesto area gathering. Anyway, I’ve asked Beth Holtan, Music Director for Our Lady of Fatima to consider taking a lead on such a project.
• Third, I want to start a hand bell choir at St. Stanislaus. I believe that we can make a start at this with 2 octaves of bells and 6 ringers to play them. I’ve asked Jeff Bonilla, my friend who teaches music at Central Catholic to consider directing such a group. Or even if he’s not willing to do that, maybe we could borrow the school’s bells. I think a hand bell choir is doable and I’m setting Christmas 2009 as the target date for the debut of this group.
• Fourth, I have long lamented that there are all these kids that study instruments in jr. high and high school (and college) and never do anything with that experience after graduation. Parallel to that, we have all these kids in the parish who play clarinet, or baritone, or tenor sax, or whatever and we do very little if anything to allow them to put that gift to work for the church. I’d like to try to put together an orchestra of these kids (and adults who still want to play) that could play a couple or three times per year (Christmas, Easter, mid-summer maybe). In addition, if there were a few parishes doing the same sort of thing, we could even get together for combined orchestras now and again. Now, I say orchestra, but it would probably be more like a concert band, and not a full one at that. I imagine that we would do stuff like four-part choral arrangements of hymns arranged for A, B, C, & D parts so that any instrument could play one of the four parts.

Any suggestions about how to approach any of these ideas?