Well, happy Statehood Day!  For those more in the mood for love, remember that, "...the true message of the saint's day - that martrydom is the highest form of love." (BBC News)

 

I'm a few weeks behind here due to LepreCon XXXI work.  I should be doing that now, but I'm taking a break.  I probably shouldn't be, as next weekend I'll be at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and thus not working on Lep31 stuff then, either. 

 

I have a few blisters on my fingers, so typing is fun.  I was doing yard work.  I'd probably still be doing it if some enterprising young neighbors hadn't offered to help.  The three of us made the work go much faster (and probably spared me further blisters), and they seemed happy with what I thought was paltry pay (but they went with what cash I had on hand rather than accepting checks).  All this rain left me enough green to get a notice, and with no time next weekend I knew that I should do it today.  Luckily for me, there's more rain scheduled for this week. 

 

It's getting late, I recap my life sometime later.  Night.

Here's an interesting article on how electoral votes, as a function of house and senate size, influence US presidential elections.  It's a very fascinating read. 

 

Busy, busy day today.  I had a lawn to mow, weeds to pull, laundry to do, a bicycle to fix, E-mails to catch up on, vacuuming to finish, bills to pay, a checkbook to balance, groceries to buy, photocopies to make while my printer is not working, a trip to the bank (forgetting that it was the last day of the month when some people get paid and need to cash their checks), Safe Environment Training Phase II at my parish, and the usual daily activities. 

 

But right now I'm trying to wrap my head around John Muir being a seminarian.  I remember the amazement (and I'll admit a certain envy) when my friend Matt Lowry showed up in last year's CDA appeal video as a seminarian.  I watched him and his brothers and sisters grow up with me in Life Teen.  His sister Jen, Melissa (I forget her maiden name now), and I taught the Confirmation class which included John Muir.  Wow.  That's so cool that God has reached him so.  I'll admit that I haven't seen him since that class in 1994, unlike Matt who've I've seen a smattering of time since.  He looks nearly identical to what I remember.  Wow. 

 

As I see people young, and old, that I've known take vows of marriage or religious life I wonder why I have yet to be called to either.  I have felt for most of my life that I will likely have neither.  I am happy for each friend and acquaintance who obtains either sacrament.  What a wonderful thing for them, for the community, and for God's plan.  My happiness for them is weirdly overlapped with small amounts of doubt, worry, and envy.  Am I doing something wrong?  Am I missing opportunities?  Am I not in close enough fellowship with Our Lord and Saviour?  Well, obviously I am not (to the later), and I need to continue my efforts to improve there.  As to the two former possibilities, I just chalk them up to unfounded insecurities and pray.  Thankfully God provides an ear for prayer and forgives our weaknesses of spirit.

 

Interesting that five of the twenty-two seminarians from our diocese are from St. Theresa Parish.  That parish has always been special to me, even now when I know so few people in it when I visit anymore.  It is a spiritual place, despite some of its personel who (at least from my perspecitive) are not.  It would still be my home parish today if it weren't over two hours away.  I've never felt that kind of spirituality at St Paul Parish.  By comparison, it is a spiritual wasteland.  But that is dangerous thinking, and if you look close enough it is indeed a place of spirituality.  It's spirituality is quiet and subdued, while St Theresa Parish's spirituality is loud and dynamic. 

 

Anyway, I'm getting tired.  Night!