Demon's Souls owns my Soul

I have been obsessively playing Demon's Souls all weekend. It was my first real do nothing weekend in a long time, so I took advantage, but it was kind of sad. And let me just say, that game is brutal. Its like playing games on the old school NES again where you die a lot and there very little forgiveness. Its nice to actually have to get better at a game. And I was just complaining that games are too easy these days... Not this one!

In other news Lent start in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, but this season seems to be one everybody knows about. At least for the whole giving up something part. While the reason for the Lenten season is to prepare and remind oneself about the purpose and meaning of Easter (the most important day of the year as it celebrates the reason the Christianity is even a valid faith system), I do like how the giving up something has become a bit of a cultural thing. The background to giving up something is that you get rid of the excess distracting stuff in your life and replace it with something that will bring you closer to God.

Usually, if I give up something like junk food or whatever, I find myself just thinking about what I'm not having. So instead I try to do some extra things that are really God-focused. I've been reading my Rediscovering Catholicism book. I am going to weekly Stations of the Cross and Adoration. I may even try hitting weekday Masses at times. And I'm trying to be all around healthier: running usually involved praying for me, especially if I'm out of shape and pray I can make it to the next block.

It's late so I won't be writing a long entry tonight but I do have a few fun stories:

First in the two Masses I went to this week I had an Irish priest and a black priest (I want to say he was Nigerian but I have no basis for that. I only could gauge that he was not African American). I bring this up because the both celebrated Mass a little differently then I'm used to. the Irish priest at the 7am Ash Wednesday Mass (a Mass usually and hour and a half long) celebrated it in 35 minutes, speeding through the prayers. There was no music and the priest did all the readings and ministries within the service. Judging by my dad's trips to Ireland, this was how Mass is often celebrated there. Very to the point. The black priest at Sunday Mass also sped through the service. He kind of slurred the prayers together opting for speed rather than accuracy. His sermon was short and for a long time I thought he didn't really care about what he was doing. Then at the very end with the closing song, he literally danced down the aisle as he ended the Mass. It was the surprising glimpse of culture, with him smiling and dancing to a beat much faster then the annoying somber closing hymn.

These instances remind me of the difference within my own faith and how I take for granted how things are usually done the same way. I would love to see a little more dancing in church and I appreciate a priest who can put things back to the basics every once in a while. Overall, just some interesting unique churchgoing experiences that I'm probably one of the few people reading this who care about.

In Brock's life, Alejandro came to visit us. As promised, fifteen minutes in Brock was up to his usual odd sayings and goofy self. One minute he had us watching Ru Paul's Drag Race and the next we were out on the town, piled into Brock's car which smelled like rotting Slim Fast. Fun.

Highlight quotes:

Brock to Alejandro: I think you sister got your mom's boobs and your dad's abs.

*facepalm*

Another: Alejandro- As far as I'm concerned, Twitter is a vagina and I don't want any part of it.

Yea good times.

In Summercamp the raccoons keep scaring residents. One was lounging precariously on the edge of the roof. Not one but 3 different residents came RUNNING to me saying that the raccoon looked like it had die or was dying. Like there was something I could do about it. Still, I have to make sure they felt like they mattered (oh higher ed theory...) and I walked out there to check on the animal. It was fine, just chilling on the roof. The residents felt better after I told them that if was still there in an hour I'd call the front desk (who would probably call animal control and have the animal put down, but they didn't need to know that).

Actually, its moments like that that make me really enjoy working on colleges. When there's this sincere panic over something small and then seeing their face in relief that someone's going to help them, even if there's nothing that can be done.

Someday, I'd really like to be a dad.

And on that note, I sleep. I say goodday to you.

Currently listening to: Nothing. It's late. I want to sleep. But I am trying to do lots of religious music for Lent. Which means Matt Maher usually.

Currently playing: Demon's Souls. OBSESSIVELY!

Currently reading: Demon's Souls manual, FAQs, hints etc. See above.