Tagged By Carrie

A - Attached or single: Delightfully attached. At the hip...
B - Best Friend: Betty, Art, Joshua, Jon, Nathan W, and Nathan H.
C - Cake or Pie: Yes, please!
D - Day of the Week: Friday afternoons...the weekend seems just about eternal right now, beer in hand, sun shining down.

E - Essential Item: Book and Computer (sadly enough about that second one...bleech...)

F - Favorite Color: The color of the mountains and ocean under a clear sky.
G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms. More tart and chewy.

H - Home town: Port Townsend, WA
I - Indulgences: Beer. Tillamook Chocolate Mudslide.
J - January or July?: January in New England, July in Seattle.
K - Kids: 13 or so...
L - Life is incomplete without: God. And books, friends, and beer.
M - Marriage Date: to be determined…
N - Number of Siblings: 3 brothers.
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples, but oranges have their place too. In juice.
P - Phobias or Fears: Spiders (in the house) Early death after a meaningless life. Lingering death. (Prefer to be blown up or just shot if I have to go young. Though, I do plan a grand exit the last 10 years or so, acting as crazy as possible while still keeping power of attorney.)
Q - Quote: Sursum Corda
R - Reason To Smile: Dogs. Particularly Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds. Kids. Sunshine. Cool breezes on hot days. The smell of Betty's hair. Sailboats, the beautiful 1989 M5 I saw on the freeway today. Garden. Mts. Rainier and Baker.

S - Season: Fall in New England, Summer in Seattle.
T - Tag Three: Too lazy.
U - Unknown fact about me: My sinuses make dolphin noises. I was also raised by pirates. (Seriously!)
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: If God hadn't wanted us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of tofu. Truly though...I like it mooing when it hits the plate.
W - Worst Habit: Their name is legion...
X - Rays or Ultrasounds: I don't have health insurance...so for now, 'it's not a tumah'
Y - Your favorite food: Tie: Thai and Lebanese
Z - Zodiac Sign: Taurus. I can also produce the bull.

Privilege...Courtesy of Beth

This exercise in recognizing privilege was developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, and Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

Directions: Bold the statements that apply to you.

1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher social class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18. (I paid for them.)
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child. (My mom painted it?)
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parents owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

I'm a Godfather

Here's the proof...
He name is Ainsley Elaine Mahar.
To date her primary responses to me have included falling asleep and throwing up. Both of which I've had before from others. I'm looking forward to more complex and rich interactions in the future. Particularly when it comes to teenage boyfriends...

I Love my German Shepherd

http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3323/pub_detail.asp

If You Love the Poor, Become a Capitalist...

http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/cuckoo-for-switzerland

Why I Don't Watch the News...

I don't watch TV. I'm rather busy and it seems to be largely a waste of time. Not to mention it turns ones brains to mush and makes an all too mold-able clay of the heart. That being said, TV News is the worst aspect of TV...

To wit,

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/08-02-13.html#feature

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.