Monday, February 11, 2008

Lately...

So,
It's been quite some time since my last post. A lot has happened, and seemingly not much has happened at all. That's how it always feels to me when I survey a chunk of my life. I know some important things have happened, but rarely have I slowed down enough to take notice of them. I need more liturgy in my life, and a little less desperation. Anyhoo, for those of you who care, here is what's up:

I've moved back to Seattle to pursue my girlfriend Betty. She flew out to to Boston, and we drove across the country in Emma, my Black Honda Civic, with WAY too much crap packed into and on the car. We live in a glorious and spacious land.

Betty and I are getting on swimmingly.

I miss the North Shore quite a lot, and will never carp about New England ever again. It's a positively wonderful place. (Particularly in light of Christ Church, Beer and Bull, the sunny winters, the vicious wild Turkeys, the Wrights, and the Mahars)

Times have been hard here in Seattle. I've been homeless up until a few weeks ago and my job has been unpleasant to say the least. Hopefully in the next couple days I will have a decent job for the first time since I've moved back. Though, I'm thankful to God for my amazing friends (particularly Jon, Arthur, Josh, and Nathan) who have been no small help in this time.

I've been working at a call center for Starbucks. Daily I contemplate seppuku as an act of protest. It's subhuman work, being a living cog in a dead machine. If there were a computer program with the adaptive and improvisational abilities of human being, we'd be replaced before the week was out. Our flesh and blood is merely provisional. We are expendable, and treated accordingly. Though, in all honestly, I do suffer from a bit of an entitlement mentality because I've worked sucky jobs for too long in my own (rather spoiled) estimation.

I've decided that the following things are spiritually important on a scale that I never realized before:
Tea
Homebrewing
Gardening
The keeping of horses and other livestock
Wooden sailboats(you that know me will readily acknowledge that I've always seen sailing in spiritual terms, but now things have moved on to another metaphysical iteration...ask if you're interested)

Sacramentalism continues to more fully work it's way into the nooks and crannies of life. Epistemologically and ethically it's been particularly relevant of late. The beat of the bird's wings is the beat of my heart is the rhythm of God's masterpiece.

Sigur Ros is positively the most beautiful contemporary music I've ever encountered.

I've come to miss the following people acutely: the Mahars, the Wrights, the Conrows, Lydia Frazier, Jurgen, Mario, and Bart; George Wingate, Thomas Howard, and the rest of Beer and Bull as well, the couple who hosted Beer and Bull (whose names I can't remember right now, to my great shame!). The Fee family. Richard Lints. Pete and Christine Alvarez. Arica Heald. Mark Dirksen and Beth Maynard. Matt Miller. Eve Amendola.

I'm coaching my old debate team from college. It's fun, and it pays well. How nice to get paid for something that you enjoy doing and really believe in, so to speak.

I live in a community house, where I often lead liturgical prayer, and have many conversations that hopefully bring a little bit of Christ into people's lives.

My car has been stolen. I had such fun plans for a new camo paint job and some interesting decals on the side too...this has been a significant financial setback for me.

I have become a neo-Thomist as far as I can tell. I've been reading and taking notes as if this were true, anyway. Hopefully Fordham, St. Louis, or Boston College take a liking to me.

Ironically, the poorer I've gotten and the harder things have been, the more conservative I've become. For a decent (though not exhaustive) summation of some of my thoughts, see this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditionalist_Conservatism
I'm open to discussion and expansion on such matters. Unlike many of my liberal friends.

All that to say, it's now the Lenten season. Reflection, self-denial, participation with Christ, ultimately...repentance and hope.

I hope, for those of you that care, that this catches you up a bit

Love,
t.