Where's Joseph?

A tribute to my cultural Catholicism:

Didja?

Did you miss me? Huh? I went a WHOLE DAY without saying anything! OMG! I can barely believe it myself!

Yesterday I went to a coastal city (~2.5-3 hrs) for a short meeting with another organization much like mine. I was accompanied by the other people who hold key positions here, and the purpose of the meeting was basically to compare programming and learn from one another.

It was fine, though tiring. Especially because I didn't exercise common sense on Sunday, and overdid some nice beer, food and company. I didn't sleep particularly well, either.

And then today,

Oh wait, let me interrupt this blog entry to say that I am over-the-top happy to have just discovered anew that I have a jar of Nutella in my office. Praise FOJ. Remember him?



Anyhoo, today I zipped in to work, hurriedly gathered up the lessons I was to begin at a far-away high school (20 miles beyond my office). On the way I get pulled over and given a speeding ticket for 54 in a 45 AND not having changed my freaking license address when I moved. I don't remember exactly why I didn't, but I think it was that I wasn't allowed to, for some reason related to a county-level tax mix-up.

The fine? $25.
Court costs? $120.
Total? $140

Mind you, this is the first speeding ticket I've ever gotten. (Praise FOJ). It's not going to give me any points on my license. Nor will it affect my insurance rates. (This all according to the charging officer).

Nonetheless, my court date is here in the city where I work at 7:45 a.m, in a couple of weeks. I don't have anything else planned for that time. I think between now and then I'll make sure I have my license replaced and then actually make them earn the damn court costs.

Fiber-Optic Jesus.

World Without End

First communion? Yes.
Confirmation? No.
Current belief? No.

David, Maria's partner, grabbed me on Sunday when I came into the house for some water.

"Stew, are you catholic?"

"Um....kind of?"

"Tell me about the rosary"

So I did. I dug deep into my repressed conscious and pictured my mom's coral colored beads with their tarnished silver crucifix. I had them hanging on my wall in my last house. I wonder where they are now.

"Well, there's a bunch of beads, 10 in a row, and for each bead you say a Hail Mary. Then there's a space and you say some little prayer there that I don't remember. Then there's a bigger bead, and that's an Our Father. And then eventually when you get down to the cross, there're some other prayers you do. "

I was actually pretty impressed that I remembered that much. What really shocked me, though, is that David couldn't recite the Hail Mary at all.

Hailmaryfullofgracethelordiswiththee blessedartthouamongwomenandblessedisthefruitofthywombjesus holymarymotherofgodprayforussinnersnowandatthehourofourdeathamen

Never did it occur to me that only Catholics would really know that prayer.

So that piqued my curiosity...I looked up the rosary and was pretty fascinated at how complicated that particular ritual is. I just remembered it as a penance for the one time I confessed.





Image yoinked from here.

She's got it, alright!

People, we have a crisis on our hands, and I need YOU to help.

See this cutie??
She had part of that brown ear taken off recently.

(loud whisper) CANCER

Her name is Moxie, and she's my friend Ols's fave doggerson. I'm thinking that a dog that is THIS cute....

....really needs a lot of people and other doggies and kitties ON HER SIDE to make it through.

Are y'all up for it? Can you get behind loving up for the clear post-surgical recovery of a handi-capable* dog in an Elizabethan collar??

All's you gotta do is think about MOXIE. Tell your animal companions about Moxie. She's a winner, darn it. Hug your dogs and cats, Folks.


Here's what Ols has to say about Moxie's condition:

I think that she is going to be fine. Her ear reconstruction looks great, hardly noticeable -- perhaps a little bit smaller, but the doc did an amazing job. She is totally normal, healthy as a horse, so I am very confident that whatever it was, it was locally invasive and they got it right out.

We love her!

*Ols's words here

Life goes on...slip sliding on by

Hey, thanks for the calls and emails yesterday...things look a lot better today. I spent some time brainstorming what to do, and while the short term will continue to suck big monkey balls, the end results will be worth the discomfort. Fiber Optic Jesus will help and combat evil clown-Jesus, who appears at left.

So back to hair: I don't think that the baking soda on the dry hair treatment worked. I woke up this a.m. and it was as greasy as ever. But that's fine. It just gives me an opportunity to go to the next idea: absorbant powder in the form of cornstarch.

I parted my hair down the middle and shook a little baby powder onto the roots. I then parted the hair a couple inches to the left and repeated. Ditto the right side. I then took a brush (of the "space-between-the-bristles" sort) and brushed vigorously, so as to distribute the powder evenly around the head. I followed up with another brushing, this time using a bristle brush. Again, I'm trying to make sure the powder is covering any and all grease producing areas.

The results so far are that I have greasy roots that look like they have dandruff. No fears. For the sake of science I will continue my day with this look. I'm wondering if the powder will absorb the grease and then fall out as the day wears on.

I wondered whether my gal Ols's suggestion about a tinted hair powder designed specifically for this purpose would work better. But I'm not about to buy one.

Here's a fascinating* review of the Bumble and Bumble hair powder, as compared to plain cornstarch, such as I'm using today.

*to people who are currently obsessed with their greasy hair

UPDATE:
Here's another fun read, this time about Pssst! spray shampoo. At about $5.99, I think I'll be going to look for it.

The Student as Ni**er

(N.B. See comments for an explanation of the inflammatory post title)

I'm a Kick Ass Shopper, finding what I want/need for ridiculously low prices. I also have a realllllly hard time spending money. Even when I have the cash to spare, I tend not to buy something I like if it's not 100% neccessary or highly desired. If I need it and it's $5 more than I want to spend? Not buying it.

I'm similarly ruthless when it comes to culling STUFF from my house. I feel no compunction to hold onto things unless they are used often, have intrinsic monetary value, provide extreme pleasure*, or have personal sentimental value. Anything else I'll periodically toss**.

Of course this comes back to bite me in the ass sometimes, like when I sell a bunch of clothes at consignment, only to gain the weight back within a year and have to buy all new ones. Ahem. Not that that's ever happened or anything.

I fell out of that pattern yesterday. I bought something entirely frivolous, at a time when I really don't need to be doing that. I had to really struggle to overcome my gut feeling of putting it back on the shelf, because a strong part of me NEEDED this t-shirt.

Rationalization helped a bit. I had just scored a very well-fitting pair of cords and a button down shirt that matched for $3.06. Total.

Really, could YOU turn this down for another $3.19?

Front:



Back:



Somehow I don't think it's this Jerry Farber, though I bet he'd approve.

p.s. Nice title! It has quite a ZING to it. Makes me want to read the essay, which I had never heard of before today.

*Fiber Optic Jesus fits this definition
**This means Donate To Local Thrift Store or Elsewise Discard of Without Being Irresponsible, Most of the Time.