**I have several papers due this week. I'm deep into one right now but have 3+ more to go. I will finish this blog when I can. Probably in bits and pieces. For now, you get an outline for topics.**
Update: I promised myself I'd write this once I got enough sleep. I finally got more than 5 hrs last night. So here we go, just in time for another one tomorrow.Part 1: Thanksgiving summary
I had a whirlwind trip home to California where I got to see various members of the "cast of characters" in this blog. Most important thing, catching up with many of the dear friendships and wonderful family (families) that I am a part of of.
First night allowed me to catch up with Brock, Clark, Mama G RC Tequila and Alejandro. We had a nice little reunion in my old apartment, which hasn't changed a bit. Really. It hasn't. I even left Clark my bed and bookshelf, which haven't moved and still don't even have new covers on it. Like nothing changed. We had a few glasses of wine and chatting about our holiday plans.
We had a big debate over the proper way to do our annual Christmas/Holiday/Snowflake/White elephant whatever we call it Yankee swap exchange. Apparently, there were growing parties advocating for a less cutthroat feeling of stealing the best gifts from each other. Like a secret santa style exchange rather than the steal a gift and then get it stolen from you. I personally like that and felt that we don't steal from each other enough sometimes. I guess others thought we killed Christmas. Oops. Well, I'm open to compromise, though I like tradition, so I proposed a combination of a more traditional white elephant bring a used gift AND a secret santa. Or bringing a gift and then doing a mad scramble for gifts. Or a yankee swap that turns into a secret santa. Or a blind secret santa where you don't know who you are giving it to. Or a bunch of other crazy and much funnier ideas than I can remember two weeks later. Ultimately, we voted for the same thing as always, and we'll just try to slip some more Christmas cheer into it this year. It was definitely nice catching up with that group. Summary of the trip: First thing Brock says to me- "That's what she said". Yup. Nothing changed.
The first stop I went to when Brock picked me up: Awesome Burger Chain. Besides craving it for months, I was also just starving. Of course, walking in I couldn't resist an observation: I really missed diversity. I did not realize this but seeing all the different people in there made me notice how White Columbus is. There were only like 4 White people besides the two and a half of us in a store of about 30 people. And the other 26 weren't all the same race either. There were blacks and asians and mexicans and a variety of others I'm sure. I know this is a very un-student-affairsy way to describe things, and I say it with a bit of tongue in cheek, but still! Variety of people is nice!
The next day I went to the University where visited the Summercamp crew. Pokeboss, Red button, King Wrangler, Pandita, Noble Dancer, Captain Peanut, Shyly Sue Hoo, Terrific Craniac and Shy Rider (yes all of them!) had lunch with me which was fantastic. They took me to the new dining hall (of course they get more variety after I leave!) which I thoroughly enjoyed and nobody seemed upset with (first meal ever noone complained). Besides some epic Sporcle-ing and just catching up, we had dinner in ABC AGAIN, courtesy of Red Button. Then, because it seemed my staff turned 21 after I left, and I'm not their supervisor anymore, a few of us went out for a few early evening drinks at one of my favorite bars in the area. It was good times catching up on gossip older than my staff thanks to Red Button's buddy, Gogo Co 2.0, who has been around almost as long as I had. Pokeboss drove me close enough to home that my siblings could pick me up, for which I am eternally grateful.
I also got to spend a few hours with my dear friend who I call my quasi-twin. Qua Yams is one of those friends you have a special connection with, and even if you only end up seeing each other once or twice a year like we do, you pick up right where you left off. We filled each other in on our lives covering topics of life, family, love, apartments, school, and God all in about 2 hours. It is truly an honor to have someone I could call a sister in faith, a life long friend, and one of the few friends I have who will tell me it like it is. I can only think of a handful of other people in my life that I have that kind of relationship with. I'm blessed.
Cheeky Monkey and Drew York picked me up for our traditional Wendy's late night frostees. We joked and caught up and it was really wonderful. I love how they can fight so furiously and also be so supportive of each other in the same sentence. My folks had stayed up even though it was late to say hi and we talked and goofed off with the inevitable wrestling match between the three of us on one couch ensuing before my amused parents eyes. Another place that nothing has changed.
Thanksgiving with my family occurred at our house this year. Maybe in the near future I'll do a little blog about family traditions, but the short version includes rotating between my mom and dad's sides of the family (this year was moms), fighting for the crispy skin of the turkey, preferring gellied cranberry sauce to real cranberry sauce, epic gravy on mashed potatoes, and still having a kids table that my grandparents ended up sitting at! This year, we had a new potential tradition. We got my family to play kings cup! Yes, the drinking game King's Cup. We modified some of the rules a little bit (noone wants to play 10 fingers with their parents/kids) but ended up having a really really great time. Some played some watched, my aunt was kinda bad at it and my mom and Tia Favorita ended up getting the "mate" card which meant they had to drink every time the other had to drink. When the rule of Chipmunk voices only got instituted, they kept messing up and yelled at each other in squeeky voices and then caused each other to drink even more! It was a riot. Ahh good times with a growing, changing, but still loving family.
My brother, father and I put up all the Christmas lights, a tradition for Black Friday. I always spider monkey onto the roof and this year they didn't make me put all the lights up because I was the tallest. Funny thing though, we got a little cocky and didnt test all the lights before we put them up. This resulted in a long strand of lights that ended up not working, so we had to rethink our plan halfway through. The engineer that is my dad (and in both my brother and I) felt a bit embarrassed. Oh well it was fun.
Since it was my birthday this week, we went to dinner at a local Mexican food restaurant with my parents grandparents and Tia Favorita. Cheeky Monkey was exhausted from working Black Friday but overall we had fun with margarita and joking around like usual. It was a simple birthday, a theme for the year.
But the night continued with drinks with Drew, Dungeon Daddy and Heavy Spy where we out on the town. I'd never gone bar hopping in my hometown, only in the beach city where University is, so it was a new experience. Dungeon Daddy and I are drinking buddies, and since Heavy Spy was kind enough to drive, the two of us were able to match each other. I stocked up on all the drinks I can't seem to find out here. We played our traditional Smashed Smash and really had an amazing last night in California. I'm glad I'll be returning in a week to do it all again!
Changes to the Catholic church occurred on the first day of advent, so last Sunday. This meant a retranslation of the Mass, which hasn't happened in as thorough a way in about 45 years. So some of the phrases that we all say from memory without thinking have changed. Meaning we have to pay attention to those parts in Mass again. It's really great! I have been continuing my goal of a new look on my own faith so this lines up quite nicely with shaking things up.
A new year in the church is a good time for new resolutions. Advent = new year in the church calendar because its the season that precedes Christmas. It is a time of reflection and hope. It isn't quite as heavy as Lent, which more people are familiar with, but still a more mellow feeling than the celebrations of Christmas and Easter. I hope to make the most out of this with a bit of extra prayer and set the right tone for the rest of the year.
Amongst my reflections included thoughts about religion amongst friends. As I look at the friends I talk to the most, religion isn't a topic that necessarily comes up a lot. Some friends who when I met were pretty Catholic have drifted away from that. Other friends have gotten more devout in their faiths. Some are angry at religion. Some refuse to have an opinion on it. Some see me as very conservative and uncompromising. Others see me as very open in my faith. I'd like to think I am the latter, even if I hold myself to a very conservative standing. I try not to impose my beliefs on others if I can at all help it or assume that everyone must believe what I believe. That said, because I value my faith so much, I would love that everyone could find that same value I do. It's a tough balance then, to talk about religion without sounding like I'm imposing it, while at the same time not shying away from it.
Dandy Woo is a very devout Christian, as is Sunshine Knives and Faithful Filmer. Spam Boa and Micki Granger and Qua Yams are devout Catholics too. These are the few people I consistently talk religion with and aren't afraid to tackle heavy topics with me. I appreciate having these people in my life. There are others that will talk religion but often get frustrated or worse, the people that I'm not sure if I can bring religion up with. Those are usually people I want to talk about it with the most, but I also feel are the mostly for me to offend. Moral of the story: let's talk religion! It doesn't have to be every time, but as I once told Shy Rider in one of those drives where she was feeling less than shy, religion is such a big deal in our world its at least important to consider talking about it.
Also, I want to make it very clear: devout does not equal expert, it just means we are trying. What I like so much about my Catholic faith is that it is open to forgiveness and support over the PROCESS of faith, not just the destination.
One more note: Since this was on my brain last week, interestingly, last night religion came up with a few of my student affairs friends after several hours of alcoholic consumption. It was great to have a fair, non judgmental though differing conversation about polarizing topics like abortion. I guess that means alcohol makes for safe spaces! Don't tell the undergrads...
As I said before "Yea it'll be light hearted and heavy. Might split this second part into a diff blog" I kept it all one but you'll have a fun one tomorrow. Gloves vs Umbrellas: The Showdown!
Currently listening to: Coldplay. All of their songs. Its good for papers. Also, Plug In, Baby by Muse was stuck in my head while we were putting up Christmas lights. Amusing.
Reading: A Feast of Crows by George R.R. Martin - 4th game of thrones book. good so far.
Playing: The Old Republic, a preview to what next month will look like. I and got a beta for it. Its fun. Sigh. I don't have time to game!
No comments:
Post a Comment