A plethora of typos.

It seems to me that recently the number of typos and mistakes in my posts has ballooned. Although there are a couple of somewhat legitimate excuses/reasons for this, it ultimately comes down to the fact that I'm lazy and I don't preview before I post. All I can say is that I'm sorry and I may start previewing because its getting really bad.

Okay, now that I've gotten all that taken care of, I need to think of something to write about. The only reason I'm on here is because I am overwhelmingly bored. I got up early and did most of my school before mass, and now I have nothing to do...except complain about my back hurting. It feels as if some mischievous something-or-other is inflating a beach ball in the midst of my spinal column and a bursting and snapping feels imminent. I shouldn't be surprised if I wake up tomorrow morning, paralyzed from the bellybutton on down. Its that bad. But the fight must go on! I must persevere! Further up and further in! *groans nobly in pain with the inspired look of a martyr shining forth from glittering eyes*

Or eye, rather. I went to the eye doctor on Fri. and was told that I was developing a dichloridedical astigmatism in my right eye and will have to start wearing glasses. The only problem with that, though, is the fact that I'm susceptible to migraine headaches and the pressure the glasses would exert on my sinuses would almost definitely make them practically unbearable. In order to rectify that problem I'm developing a special pair of glasses that will decrease the pressure using the principles of magnetism (and magnets.) A quite simple method, I grant, but I am convinced of its effectiveness. And, frankly, genius is often simple, i.e. the invention of the sandwich. 

In other health related news, I tore my rotater-cuff, and have tendinitis in my neck, left ankle, and both elbows. Yes, I do have two elbows. 

 We have now come to the climax of this post.

 *end climax*

Now you are are probably asking yourself at least two questions. One, Why the heck is this dude a triathlete if his body is such a piece of rubbish? And two, What was the point of all this, exactly?

The answer to the latter question will also clear up the first, to some extent, so I will answer the questions out of normal order. The point of this post is actually one word, or rather a clarification and example of it:

***Hypochondriac***

adjective; pertaining to or suffering  from hypochondria, an excessive preoccupation and worry about one's personal health.

noun; a person who worries or talks excessively about his or her health.  

 TTFN.

-Thomas, who just realized that tomorrow is April fool's is tomorrow...its the best....not telling the whole truth is...almost justified. And you are welcome for the reminder.

  

Happy Sunday! (feat. hipsters in SP)

I must say that I seem to have got the art of falling practiced to perfection. This morning I was skating down to a coffee shop to meet up with my friends and the toe of my skate somehow got caught up in the mist of a crossover. Anyhow, I did this sort of sliding inverted slits thing and gracefully flitted down to the concrete. And although it unfortunately didn't quite feel like landing on a pile of feathers, it really was pretty much devoid of any pain. Taking all of this into account, I have considered the considering the possibility of my vocation being that of a ballerino. But I think probably not.

The coffee shop was really quite nice, but it was hilarious because there was a clan of classy hipsters at the table next to us, complete with tiny round-rimed glasses, tight pants that were about an in and a half too short, etc. Let me put this in context for those of you who are outsiders. This is Santa Paula we are talking about, quite possibly on par with the most un-classy towns in California. Its the kind of town where its not an abnormality to see people strolling down main street in pajamas; this is the polar opposite of Seattle and SF. To see a such a large concentration of them was, needless to say, a novelty. All I can say is, they are invading. BEWARE!    

Anyway. Yesterday I went to the a seminar on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. It was insane. And I got really worked up. I honestly felt sorry for the leader because at times there were like five or six conversations going on and it's hard to guide chaos. He did an amazing job for what he was dealing with: a horde of emotionally dominated teenagers. Anyway. Because we were, at times, a somewhat dysfunctional group, I was building up steam the entire time. It wasn't that what we were talking about was necessarily bad, it was that we weren't working together well, which was, I think, due fact that its a powerful book and people were pretty invested in it. This all made it interesting, though, and it was ultimately really fun.

Afterwards the steam boiled over and I got into probably the most intense argument I've ever been a part of and it was insanity. And tiring. But good.

Once people were all argued out, we went outside and conversed in a more relaxed and pleasant way. I have mixed feeling about arguing, though, partly because its easy to fall into arguing for mostly egotistical reasons (at least for me...I'm working on that whole humility thing) and also because my mouth is so much more clumsy than my mind. All in all it was a awesome evening.

Well, I should probably now turn my attention to the present, instead of blabbering about my uneventful past.

TTFN.

-Thomas

Be a real hipster; don't cuss.

Well, my friends, Saturday has arrived yet again. The seemingly never ending cycle of the week has reached its completion for the four hundred and fifty-sixth thousandth trillionth time, in case you were wondering. As I have absolutely nothing on my mind right now except strawberries and bagels, today I think I'm going to talk about something extremely unoriginal and quite possibly boring. I'm going to talk about what are, at this very moment, (in reader's time, not mine) glaring back at your face. No, I'm not a wizard, I'm not even really that smart, but its obvious that words are glaring at you from this page. And that, quite conveniently brings us to the subject for today: Words.

The relationship between words and our senses is an intimate one. Words are ultimately dependent on the senses for functionality, and the functionality of our senses would be greatly dampened without the gift of words, or speech. It is not surprising, then, that they share common characteristics. Namely, that their nature is good, but they are often twisted for the use of evil. The gift of speech is truly an amazing one, and it's primary purpose is that we use it in order to glorify God to the best of our abilities. To use this gift in any way that is detrimental to that purpose is an abuse of that gift and a great tragedy. (that's why cussing isn't good, FYI. plus, its so mainstream, so why even do it anyway?)

But enough of that dreary stuff. I want to talk about the power of words. Words hold the key to both the ennobling and the manipulation of the human heart. If one looks at history one sees examples of the words of one captivating the greats entire nations. Words are so powerful and I think often our words have an impact that we can't come close to imagining. A simple smiley "hello" to a stranger or other simple words of encouragement. These small gestures of speech can make a world of difference in people's lives. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the gift of speech is both more wonderful and powerful than we tend to think and that we should therefore always try to work at using it properly: something, I think, that most, if not all, of us need to work on.

In other happenings, my training has been going well, my friends are the best, and my mom just asked me to wash the car, so peace out.

TTFN.

-Thomas, who is craving some caviar right about now.

Well that was morbid.

Forgive me if this post is somewhat rattled and disjointed, I read Frankenstein earlier today and it was quite unnerving. Good, but unnerving. Nonetheless, if you frequent this blog you will by now have become an expert in deciphering rattled and disjointed posts, as they somehow find their way here more often than not. Well now. Shall we begin?

I had to omit two topics from my last post because I had classes to prepare for, so I think its appropriate to tackle them now. One of them has to do solely with me, whereas the other has to do only partially with me. In think we'll save the best for last and start with the former. You already know that it has to do with me, but it more particularly has to do with my triathlon stuff. Guys, I finally sat down and talked to the running coach that I've been trying to work something out with for almost a year now. Phew! I'm going to start training with a local high school's cross-country team that the coach coaches. It's going to be great. I'm finally going to be able to really run!

The later topic has to do with friends and grudges. You see, two nights ago I was walking home with a friend, who from now on will be referred to as Nemo, and we had this interesting heart-to-heart conversation. It was really nice. Nemo hadn't opened up like that to me for quite awhile, and I had had the feeling that we weren't, as of late, exactly seeing eye to eye. Nemo told me about grudges that he had harbored for years. Anyway. We talked until my dad came out looking for his son, who should have been home 45 min. ago, and picked me up. We talked about a lot of stuff and I hope I was a good friend for him and helped to warm him up. The idea of holding a grudge, though, is pretty foreign to me. I mean, sure, every once in awhile I get majorly annoyed with someone, but its usually forgotten by the time I go to bed. People say things to me that might hurt other people, but I laugh them off. I've always had the mentality that the only way people can hurt me is if I let them. I guess you could say I have a tough shell.

Now, believe it or not, I actually have a reason for bringing all this up. In talking and thinking about grudges with Nemo, a thought dawned on me that hadn't previously fully occurred to me. In the previous paragraph it probably seemed like I was lauding and harping on the fact that I don't hold grudges; that I was insensitive to the hurtful things people do and say to me. And it can be good. But like most things, I realized that it, too, has a flip side. It occurred to me that my being insensitive to myself could potentially lead me to being insensitive to others. Maybe I do or say things that I would take as a lighthearted joke, or even a sort of twisted sign of affection, that others could take offence at and even be hurt by. I hope that's the cause of most of the meanness in the world and that most people aren't actually trying to be hurtful when they are.  Anyway. Food for thought. I have to go swim.

TTFN.

-Thomas

Bloodstained hands.

….Or rather, hand. And if we want to be really technical, I suppose I should say that its actually blueberry juice. I know. I feel like I have let you down. There you were thinking that maybe something exciting had actually happened to me, but all I did was reach my hand into a bag of frozen blueberries. The stains really do look quite sinister, though, so I can at least pretend, right? Speaking of frozen stuff, I finally saw Frozen. It was most bodaciously excellent. Oh, I might as well also let you know that I just finished The Book Thief. My review is: if you haven't read it yet, read it ALREADY! I actually don't own it, I was borrowing a copy from a friend. But I gave it to her for Christmas, so I have a sort of connection with it all. I must say, I have amazing happen-chance taste. I knew nothing whatsoever about the book when I bought it for them, so it was kind of a shot in the dark. In fact, the only way I knew it existed was that I saw a trailer for a movie of it that came out last fall. What I could gather from the plot interested me, so I used my friends as guinea pigs got it for my two of my friends with an innocent hope that they would like it.

***A CONFESSION***

Most of my presents have twofold purposes.
For instance, I also gave a bunch of my friends beanies,

both because I knew they would like them,

and also so they would stop stealing mine.

The theory is better in theory than in practice:

they still steal mine.

Anyway. They did like it, and then I gleefully reaped the benefits of my scheme they graciously lent it to me. Now I just have to remember to get it back to them...

And now we shall take a nosedive from fairyland to Lincoln's Inn Fields (Sorry, its reference that very few, if any, of you will get. Pretty much the jist of it is that things are about to get real.) As some of you know, yesterday was not only the day of my my 200^th post—sorry it was so lame, by the bye—it was also the feast of The Annunciation. Which is sort of a big deal for everyone, whether they know it or not. I mean, all that happened was that God became man and in doing so set in to motion his plan for saving the entire universe. Yeah, that doesn't exactly happen everyday. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that—and you can quote me on this—its an even bigger deal than when The Avengers came out. Anyway. I'm going to talk about the most important word ever spoken by a human being: “yes.” That's what Mary said to God, and through her saying, “yes” the universe was saved. Granted, they spoke in a somewhat verbose and archaic fashion back then, so she actually said something along the line lines of, “Let it be done unto me according to thy word.” which is pretty much a super drawn out, yes. So back to “yes.” Its an amazingly powerful word, and the way in which it is used in our life can, and will, determine the course of our existence.

Now saying “yes” can obviously lead one toward good or evil. I want this to be a happy post, so for right now we will just concentrate on it leading us to good. I've been thinking about this a lot lately as one of my Lenten practices; I've been thinking about how many more times I could say “yes” to God and to the people around me. I can tell you that its a staggering number. I can't tell you how many times a sibling asks me to get them, or help them with, something and I tell them that they can do it for themselves. Even if its just moving out of my way the tiniest bit for them. Even more staggering is the amount of times I say “no” to graces that daily God tries to give me. Once you start to think about it, everything becomes more clear, and you can practice saying “yes” in the little things so that once our time here on earth is exhausted, we will be able to make that ultimate “yes” and enter into the heavenly fold for eternity.

***A SACARY THOUGHT***

What if Mary hadn't practiced her “yeses”???

Its obviously quite important, so try to do it.

….And if you've read The Book Thief, you'll know that I'm totally stealing the bold interlude thing from that. Well, I can't help it. Its just too cool. And somewhat appropriate, if you think about it.

TTFN.

-Thomas

200th post!!!!!!!

Yay! Awesomeness all around! All I can say is thank you and that this thing has escalated rather more quickly than I anticipated, which actually isn't a surprise because I, more often than not, anticipate things wrongly. Unfortunately, I have to go for a run now, so...

TTFN.

-Thomas

Its been too long. Sorry.

I obviously have survived what will, from now on, be referred to as hell week. At some points I thought I was going to die, and at many points I almost threw up. But it was good pain for the most part, so 'purgatory week' might be a better suited name. But hell has more of a dramatic effect, so I think we'll keep it. I learned some new stuff, the most important being that I made the right choice by not taking swimming to a high level. Triathlon is way better. The life of a elite swimmer consists of eating, sleeping, and swimming, so they spend half their life gaping at the bottom of a pool. How boring is that? That's what I did over last week and it was indescribably boring. That is, when I had the energy to be bored; I was mostly in a comatose state. 

I am not going to bore y'all with a daily account of the camp, (pretty much eat, sleep, and swim, with a sprinkling of yoga) but there are a few things that are worth recounting. One of the days was Sunday, so I had to somehow get to mass. Enter Family Ambuul. Practically the best family ever. You know, the kind that makes you think, If I ever have a family, this is what I would want it to be like that. They were so awesome. I just love meeting nice, new people. I think its comforting because someday I'll probably be moving away from the great community I'm a part of right now and it goes to show that there are great communities and people all over the place. And you know, I think that's all I'm going to say about the camp.

Oops. One more thing. I'm somewhat annoyed. You know how I didn't bring my computer to camp because I wanted to get homework done? I got practically nothing done because in the rare occasion that I actually did have free time, I would flop on my bed and the most productive thing I could do was stare blankly at the ceiling. And sometimes even that was a tall order. Like everything, though, this state of lethargy had a flipsidical silver lining. I was too tired to do anything, even sin. I DIDNT HAVE THE ENERGY TO SIN. It was the weirdest thing. But extremely convenient.  

Fast forward to today, (but yesterday now because I'm not posting this until tomorrow which is actually going to be today...why does life have to be so complicated?) and things get crazy. I'm still getting acclimated to living a “normal” life, a.k.a. doing chores. (the dishes part especially stinks) Speaking of dishes, actually, we had about fifty people over for brunch this morning, and guess who washed everything? You got it. Me. It was a rude and painful encounter with reality. I am going to have to do dishes; the OTC doing them for me was merely a fleeting moment. And, as fate has prescribed, the first time I washed dishes since coming home, almost every dish in the house had been used. It was crazy; it was painful; it was like stepping out from a dark cave into the sunlight.

After doing the dishes, my friends and I went to play volleyball. We played forever and it was soooooo much fun. After the first game or so, everyone started playing really well and it was was insane. Once we were done with that, we all went back to a friend's house and chilled for a little bit before going to a fundraiser dinner. The story of that runs as follows: taking care of a billion little kids, standing in as a traffic police, waiting forever for my parents to get there a buy me a dinner, a really small and therefore unsatisfying dinner, cleaning up, and scrubbing an industrial stove/range that had eight burners, a huge flat frying surface, and looked as if it hadn't been washed in the entirety of its existence. But there were friends. And friends are the best. So it was bearable and even fun at times.

I realized that I didn't really tell you about my trip to the OTC because it would have “bored” you and then proceeded to tell you about a day in which nothing really happened. The irony of it all.

TTFN.

-Thomas,  

It snowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was wonderful and now I need to go take a nap/try to figure out how to get my bearding pass....wish me luck and I'll be back to normal soon.

TTFN

-Thomas

A farewell and sideburns.

Tomorrow I am departing forever and ever. Well, six days, but same difference. I've decided I'm not going to bring my laptop because I want to get some research done etc. for school and that means reading, lots of reading, not wasting my existence on this old thing. Please pray that I don't have a emotional breakdown....six days is a long time to be separated from the love of one's life. I don't know if I'll make it. Also, if certain of your guys' blogs' daily page views averages go down by about fifty, don't freak out. Fifty of your readers haven't suddenly died of heart attacks, its just me and I'll be back in six days to restore order, so to speak. 

Last night I found out that dill pickles aren't dill pickles and I was for some reason tickled pink. It was one of those instances in which you don't put two and two together for an embarrassingly long time. I knew dill was a spice, but for some imponderable reason I also thought that dill pickles were an actual type of pickle just as Gala apples are. But its just the flavor. I'm such an idiot. 

Now for the controversial topic of sideburns. I have some. I personally like sideburns, lots of people like sideburns. At the same time, I know that many people personally don't like sideburns. I don't really have anything to say to those of the latter group; if they are so disillusioned as to not see the good in sideburns, I must say that they are, in my opinion, a lost cause and utterly without any pretense of hope. Anyway. Did you know that before the Civil War, the term "sideburns" didn't even exist? They were previously called "chops" or even "lamp chops" I think. So. Civil War. You see, there was a Union General who's name was Ambrose Burnside. He had particularly magnificent and ugly sideburns on either side of his face--if you can call them that, I think "bushes" would be more appropriate--and so his soldiers started calling that particular form of facial growth "burnsides" in honor of their general. It stuck and spread and eventually some genius have it the metathetical change, sideburns, and it stands to this day. Yet another undesirable consequence of the Civil War. I like "chops" much more. I think a picture of Mr. Burnside is in order:

...Gnarly, huh?

Now the time has come for the first official episode (but 63rd unofficial) of Excruciatingly Embarrassing Moments with Thomas, brought to you by the IIPTA. (International Ipad Picture Taker's Association) Today's episode will detail a most fortuitously unfortuitous real life event that took place yesterday afternoon. And now please give it up up for your host and laughingstock, Thomas Cain!

"Hey everyone! How's everyone's day going...better than mine? Yes, that's probably true. Well, today's moment, which is technically yesterday's moment, has to do with going to Church. Yes, I'm one of those people who still goes to Church and I love it. Anyway. Yesterday I went to Confession. (For those of who don't what that is, you better not the Catholic because its quite central to the life of a Catholic. Its where we 'fess up and are forgiven for our sins.) Now, although you are literally getting redeemed and that is super happy, there is a somber side to it because you are remorseful for your sins. At least during the actual Confession. It is generally not the place where one would crack jokes and laugh etc. 

"When I finished confessing my sins, the priest asked me if I was visiting because he knew I wasn't a student (the church is at the college my works at) because I confessed domestic sins like talking back to my parents and stuff. To which I replied, 'No, Father, I'm just a tutor kid.' Now this particular priest has an amazing sense of humor, and his response made me laugh out laud, 'Oh, you don't have have to worry, that's not sin.'...The many layers that it had and the way he said it just made it hilarious. And everyone in the Chapel heard my resulting laughter. It was somewhat mortifying to find that out, but at the same it was worth the laugh."

....And that was Excruciatingly Embarrassing Moments with Thomas, tune in next time for yet another unbelievably awkward moment. 

Bye now....be back in a week! :)

-Thomas 

 

Mommy made meatballs.

They are so good. I am content. Except for the fact that I am still not feeling great and I kind of need to be better by Fri. because I'm flying out to Colorado Springs for a training camp. But what's the use in worrying about that? There isn't any, so I won't.

This morning was about normal, as far as Tuesdays go. It consisted of yours truly frantically taking a physics test, of which he invariably puts off to the last hour possible. It also doesn't help that he studies about 20% of the amount that is assigned. The thing is is that I get much better than 20% of the points on my tests, so if you look at it proportionally, I actually do better than the people who study 100% of the assigned work and get 100% on their tests. Remember: everything in life has to do with perspective.

While my interest in physics has somewhat lagged lately, my interest in the government class I'm taking has increased exponentially. To the point that I have recently discovered that I am destined to become President when I grow up. No, but in all seriousness, I am really enjoying the class.

Also, yesterday I forgot to tell you about one of the most monumental moments of my life. You know those stupid quizzes that people are always sharing in social media? Well, I normally stay away from them. Because they really are just completely stupid. Every once on awhile I'll be really bored and take one if it looks interesting-ish. For example, I think that last one I took was, Which famous President's personality do you have? I got Obama. It was most definitely flawed. I even tested it. It was flawed. Anyway. Yesterday I saw one that ran, Which character from The Princess Bride are you? Well I JUST HAD to take it. Can you guess what I got? Click here to see. :) ...I was just happy I didn't get Humperdink or the Albino. XD

Well, I need to, or at least pretend, to do something productive with my life, so take care.

TTFN,

-Thomas

We foolish creatures.

As I have nothing much to write about at this particular instance, I have started typing without aim, and hopefully an inspiration will eventually show its elusive head. For the present time you will unfortunately have to deal with an aimless scrambling of consonants and vowels, the purpose of which are unknown not only to you, but to their author as well. Inspiration is quite a strange phenomenon, is it not? It seems to show itself when one is in the least need of it, and when it finally would be useful to have a nice dose of it, it invariably slips from one's mind like grains of salt through one's fingers. That being said, I am under the opinion that the meaning of having "writer's block" has come to be over, and therefore improperly, used. Many aspiring writers spend too much time discussing and 'learning about' this problem to the extent that it becomes a subconscious mental obsession. The aspiring writer's creative side lives in constant fear of experiencing a case of it. Fear causes small hurdles to appear the size of mountains, so when these aspiring writers sit down to write and they draw a blank, as I have done today, the idea that he or she is experiencing writer's block creeps into their minds. So this is what it feels like, they think to themselves. And eventually they start to freak out. The result of this extremely liberal idea of what writer's block is is much like when too little butter is spread over too much bread. The new slice of aspiring writers is tempered and does not reach its full potential because many of them give up: their fears make lilliputian pitfalls appear in their minds as impassible crevices.

Well that was cheery, wasn't it? Yep. I don't really know what happened, but there you have my totally uninformed opinion. It just kind of flowed. To be honest, I have no idea what I'm talking about and unfortunately that doesn't usually doesn't stop me from blathering about stuff I have no business discussing. But hey, it did sound pretty convincing, didn't it? And at least I know I don't know what talking about, unlike many who publish books and make bucket-loads of money off the general ignorance and simplicity of humanity nowadays.

In other happenings, Frankenstein (the book) just arrived at my door, so I will be reading that in the near future. I've heard mixed reviews so I'm somewhat excited to be able to form an opinion of my own. It should be interesting.

I also have decided to keep my mouth shut about food because I most often stand alone in my opinions about it and I like my friends. I mean, taste in food is quite subjunctive, so there is not really any right or wrong and there is therefore no sense in arguing about it. From now on I will try to keep my opinions to myself on such matters. Its going to be hard.

TTFN.

-Thomas

Why dost thou do this to me?

Daylight savings, I hate you with every ounce of my being. Why? Just why? I also am not entirely happy about the fact that both of my brothers had to get up at what should be 6 in the morning.  And they woke me up as they invariably do. But I am actually sort of cool with it because I got to see the coolest sunrise ever. It was amazing.

Last night I went to a dance with a van-full of friends and it was most excellent.

You know what? I've decided. I really am not up to doing this right now. You are saved.

TTFN.

-Thomas  

New Template.

So. New template-background thing. What do ya think? I was really bored yesterday and that's how it happened. I think I'm going to change the text color later, but we'll see. Anyway. This instance fits perfectly with one my favorite old sayings, "Boredom breeds creativity." Actually, its not that old, I coined it last night. But whatever. The problem is that its not actually perfect if you really think about it. I didn't do anything exceptionally creative. I just scrolled through some options ans picked one. Now you may be thinking that the person at Google is the creative mastermind, but all he did was copy a picture of a map that was drawn probably centuries beforehand, so you can scratch Google-man off the list. Oh, I have it now, you're thinking to yourself, the map drawer. Well, you're wrong. He's not it. Think about it. All he did was draw copies of things that were created millions and millions of years ago. (or so they say) So the real creative person is the guy who created the stuff on the map. You may have heard of him, he gets around quite a lot. He goes by the name of God. Yeah, I thought you would know him. He's quite the creative genius, actually

In other happenings, last night I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas with a bunch of friends. Before I go on, I want to say that as soon as we started it, I realized that its probably the kind of movie that's better to watch in a smaller group rather than the dozen or so we had there. But it captivated everyone. And I think its an important movie for people to watch.

Although charming at times, overall its not what you would call a pleasant movie. The more I think about it, though, the amazing and important it gets. After it ended people were saying stuff like, "I knew stuff like that happened, I didn't need to see it dramatized." or, "I wanted a happy ending."

But I think its good to see what it (the Holocaust) was like, for many reasons, but ultimately all those reasons come down to the fact that we are fighting a battle. Life isn't always about feeling cozy inside, although that's definitely the optimal. In this case I really like the first of my quotes, the one about not wanting see it. And I say to that quote, How are you going to fight evil if you don't have clue about what it is? If you go into the world clueless as to what going on, it would be like a New Yorker going into a jungle without a guide. He'd die. Lilke right away.

I'm going to take it even further though. I'm going to say that that 'not wanting to see it' mentality that we have is why we're in such a mess right now. There is a crime going on in our so-called civilization that is every bit as evil as the Holocaust and has effected many more lives. Why is it still allowed to continue? Because we don't stand up, we don't draw the line; it's not fun to think about, it doesn't make us feel good, so we push it to the back-burner to let it simmer on the fringe of our minds. And we forget. Because its convenient.

This is not meant to be a condemnation. Its just my rather roundabout way of telling you why I think its an important movie to watch. It changed the way I think about the Holocaust, it changed the way I think about life. And I know I go with the not-wanting-to-confront-the-evil flow all the time. Its so much easier. Its feels so much better. I don't do nearly as much as I can. Yeah, I pray at a clinic every once in awhile and once a year I go to a demonstration in San Francisco, but that's nothing, or rather very close to nothing.

We need to stand up. We need to fight. Our rights and our lines are infringed and crossed constantly. We are being hemmed in. But we are passive. We act as if we don't even care. It hurts too much to look, to confront, to see, so we let it pass back, we let it simmer, we let it be forgotten. The problem is if we don't do something soon-ish, what little freedom, what little culture we have will be snatched from beneath our noses while we are busy feeling cozy inside. And don't get me wrong, feeling cozy inside is important. But all things, except God, in moderation.

...Well that got a little bit emotional...It was probably hard to follow and I think definitely redundant. Sorry, its what happens when I get worked up about things. Just watch the movie if you haven't already. It will change you. And the beautiful thing about it is that its pure drama, pure emotions. There is no slapstick violence or gore.

Lastly, I want to say that I know what people were saying after the movie wasn't serious. I get that. It's just that what people were saying was in tune with what I wanted to talk about. I used the quotes a little bit out of context.

TTFN


-Thomas, who just realized that his post did a complete 180. Yikes!

Why are cinnamon flavored things red?

People resort to various liquids when feeling down. Coffee, tea, wine, beer, cocktails, and hard liquor, to name a few. They have different effects on different people, but overall I think we can agree that these potions have the common purpose of lightening up their users lives, making them feel better. These, "magic cures" are well and good in their own right, I suppose, but I rarely use them. They are so commonplace; so unsophisticated; for the most part, at least. Now you may be wondering what I do/use when I am "feeling down." I do occasionally have down days. I know this may come as a shock to you, but I am not, in fact, superhuman. I'm just a product of humanity in its highest form. (Think a combination of Albert Eisenstein, Usain Bolt, and Micheal Phelps as a rough draft.) But as of now you are still lost in the dark as to what my sophisticated methods are. Let me enlighten you with silver. Yes, liquidated silver my friends. That's what I drink when I need a perk, and that's what you should drink if what what to be as sophisticated and classy as I am.

....Okay, am I right in thinking that an explanation may be in order? Last night my mom and dad returned from a health food store with a whole armada of natural remedies that are supposed to help me in some way or another. One of the fleet was a bottle of...can you guess...liquefied silver. Its supposed to work as some kind of natural antibiotic. I think the theory is that it has electrical charges in it that zap and kill bacteria. Anyway. The thought of drinking silver was, in my mind at least, quite funny, so I just had to share it with you. It seemed fitting to writing it in stuck up sort of way. Plus, is there anything more fun than writing in a pompous manner? I don't know about you, but I love it. And, although I'm not sure this is entirely a good thing, it comes rather easily to me. ;) 

Oops, I have to go get dressed for mass....

TTFN,

-Thomas 

Surviving Ash Wednesday.

Let me just start off by pointing out that the combination of being sick and fasting is not by any means ideal. Yesterday was not too fun, but I guess that's kind of the point, so its all good. The weird thing, though, was that for me the most painful part of it all wasn't not being able to snack etc., but rather the realization of how soft I am. In other words, the idea that going without so little was so painful was more painful than the pain itself. I am so addicted to snacking. Its unreal. If I had a snack-o-meter, I'm guessing that it would record between 20-30 ticks a day. I mean, practically every time I walk into the kitchen I grab something to munch on. Its somewhat shocking to think about, and it really makes one feel compassion for those who don't have even enough food to eat healthily, let alone have the seemingly unending supply of food we have at our fingertips.

Right now I am living a rather uneventful existence because I'm sick. The sore throat and general sluggishness feeling have returned. Again. Its becoming almost laughable, in a sick sort of way. I hope its just a random little virus and not the nasty infection that I thought we had gotten rid of. Because if its still that nasty infection, that kind of places my entire season in jeopardy, because I need to do well in early season races in order to qualify for World Championships. The really stinky thing is that results from this year also affect my chances for Rio in 2016. So it would be quite nice if this all is just a short term illness. The thing is that I have no control over these sorts of situations, so it doesn't make any sense to freak out about it. All I can do is deal with the problems that come my way to the best of my abilities and that's what I'm trying to do. In the end my triathlon stuff isn't the most important thing in life. That being said, I am doing all that is within my power to get to the point where I will be able to compete with and beat the best. 

 I was going to post some pictures from the snow trip, but they didn't turn out that well and they were rather unbecoming, so I think I'll pass on that one. Actually, there was one amazingly hilariously awful picture of one of my friends that is super tempting to post, but one of my Lenten resolutions is to try to start being a nice person, so I think I'm going to pass. Plus, it would probably hurt his pride to the extent that he'd wear a ninja mask for the remainder of his existence and that would get awkward at times, so I think it my decision is best for all parties concerned....now, on Easter on the other hand.... =P

Oh, yesterday I waved goodbye to my literal waves of hair. It was crazy cleaning up after it. There was a small mountain of hair. I could have made about 5 out of it, probably. But in the end I threw it out because it is my impression that the market for hair shirts isn't, at the present, very popular, so my profit would have been minuscule at best.

Lastly, I don't think its fair that I'm never around when my friends meet famous people. A couple days ago my friend randomly bumped into the actors who played Fili and Ori in The Hobbit, (the slingshot one) plus some Elf from LoTR, in a pub. I'm not at all one of those cleb-crazed people, but still it would cool to meet those sort of people every once in awhile....Mostly because I have friends who freak out over people they haven't even ever met, and it would be awesome to make them jealous...No, Thomas. You're being nice now, remember?...Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. Ahem. The main reason that I'd potentially want to see certain famous people, is because those friends of mine who are burdened with cumbersome obsessions would probably be there with me when I would meet certain famous peoples, so they'd be able to...live their...dreams?...Is that what you'd say? Well, it doesn't  much matter...There Conscience! Does that satisfy you?...No?...Well then, you're fired!

....Apparently I don't have a conscience anymore, so watch out. ;)

TTFN,

-Thomas  

Holy Lent!

I don't want to do a full on post for you today because its Ash Wednesday, so here is a good Lenten reflection I found. Enjoy!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Because none of us can say with truth that our spiritual lives are in a state of perfectness, we are, or should be, constantly striving to improve the state of our souls. But we are human and it is in our nature to become distracted from this mission of improvement. This is where the approaching season of Lent comes in; Lent is a time when we redouble our efforts in the life of faith, it is a spiritual “Boot Camp” wherein we strengthen ourselves against the waves of temptations the devil hurdles our way.

Brothers and Sisters, how desperately we need this strengthening! For the devil can, and does, twist almost everything that is a good into an evil; he tricks us, and makes us into little children who, upon seeing a delicious looking lollie-pop on a high counter, become blinded to the dangers of attempting to climb the counter. There are so many who walk with childlike blindness towards an apparent good, but do not see that that apparent good is, in actuality, their undoing. One can see, then, why the words of Jesus were only too true when he stated that those who walk the straight and narrow are few.

But the devil is no fool. He knows how many lukewarm and even dead souls will be raised to a new state of union and happiness with God during this blessed season of Lent. And, although it pains him most to see the hardened sinner repent, he also detests seeing the somewhat holy person, in other words ourselves, abandon his spiritual mediocrity and in doing so, destroy, at the very least, a whole year of his work. So he, like a person being pushed to edge of a cliff, makes a desperate effort against us: he hurdles a torrent of fresh temptations our way. In addition to the repentance of sinners, the devil is further enraged because with lent there comes the Triduum and with the Triduum, the crucifixion: the turning point in the history of humanity, the day the devil’s master-plan was given its deathblow.

Because of this desperate effort by the devil to pull us deeper into a life of sin, we need to increase our vigilance. The devil will begin with subtle temptations, the consequences of which are merely lilliputian sins. But, once we get into the habit of sinning, he will increase the openness and gravity of our temptations. These worse temptations would have been easy to detect if we were not in the clutches of those small, “harmless” sins, but since we are in the habit of sinning, they do not look so bad. To combat the devil’s strategy we must be ever careful and frequently perform honest examinations of conscience.

Even if we make good confessions and try to make our relationship with God stronger, there are other required elements that are part of our Lenten duties, namely to show mercy towards others through forgiveness and alms giving. For, if we expect God to forgive us, we must first “forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Moreover, since we are not only forgiven, but also reconciled by God, is it not our duty to, once we forgive the others who have wronged us, also to repair our relationships with one another? Also, because Lent is a time when one tries to make oneself as Christ-like as possible, we should also practice alms giving. For the whole purpose of Lent is the purifying of our hearts, and with that purifying becoming more Christ-like; what could be more Christ-like than the giving of oneself for the sake of others?


Happy Lent!


TTFN,

-Thomas

Fat Tuesday.

Lent is here...ish. But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about...well, anything. Today has been hard, but good. Amazingly good, all things considered. I didn't get much sleep last night. It was restless for two reasons. One, I got an awful sore throat and two, I had a terrifying dream. It was so awfully torturous I don't want to get into it. The funny thing, though, is that today I feel more at peace than I ever have. Its so great. For the longest time, I was contemplating leaving everything to live with and help homeless people or something of that nature. I felt like I wasn't going anywhere in terms of my spirituality and I was tired of being a mediocre Christian. Although I wasn't having any real problems, I didn't feel like I was really getting better, and I somehow was feeling a sort of disconnect with everything. I wanted to jump start my spiritual life and storm the gates of heaven, so to speak. In the end I obviously didn't. I decided that I had too many commitments, and wasn't sure whether or not deep down it was in actually a form of cowardice. 

Even though I had decided not to go out on my own, I still wasn't sure whether or not I was right in staying. I still usually felt a disconnect; I still felt like I was stuck in a bog of spiritual mediocrity, never straying much below the x-axis, but at the same time never rising far above it. It seems that that disconnect has passed, though. Now I can truly start working towards being the man I want to be, the man God intends me to be. And as providence would have it, it's the day before Lent. What perfect timing! There could not be a better time to get going, as it were. For, just as it helps to have a running partner or a writing confidant, so it helps to have someone renewing and redoubling their faith as you are; someone to lean on, someone to relate with. And, well, the whole Church is doing that, so I guess that works. ;)

Now I know that was probably totally uninteresting and also a bit personal, but when I came on I really and truly couldn't think of anything else, so you're going to have to deal with it. Unless you skipped over it, which, by the bye, you are totally justified in doing. :)...At least its not as long as my last ones. 

Ahhh, I have studying to do, so I should probably get off. 

TTFN,

-Thomas 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

SNOW!!!

I awakened this morning to a blue sky. It seemed like it had been ages and ages since I had seen the pale-blue of a morning sky, but in reality it was only 4 or 5 days, I think. My eyes then rose to the mountaintop that's behind our house and saw that it was a adorned with a speckled-white mantel. Snow! Yippee! It makes the mountains so beautiful. Little did I know that 3 hours later there would be a caravan of families congregating at my house with the intent of going up to that beautiful white stuff.

I wasn't sold on going until the very last minute because I had had my day planned out and I wanted to get a bunch of stuff done, but then again I didn't want to be a party pooper and in the end I decided to go. After a somewhat stressful ride up, we finally arrived. And there was thankfully an ample amount of snow. I love going to the snow, but like pretty much everything in life it has a flip side. And in this particular case, it is much, much cooler than that of your pillow. It was so cold. Everything was just burning. That is, when I could feel it at all. My contraption for keeping my feet dry failed miserably and there were basins of ice water in the interior of my shoes. But it was still fun in a sort of odd way. It was totally worth the cold misery my friends and I were suffering through. Possibly. No, it really was good. Deep down inside where it counts.

In other news, I am pretty much done with Perelandra, the second book in the C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy. I am not sure if I can describe how much I loved it. I am in awe. Its not just his amazing writing; its not just the amazing intuition he has in regards to both the workings of the human soul and the devil; its not just his crazy good imagination, although those are all wonderful in their own right. What really amazed me were his thoughts on the bridge that exists between the spiritual and the physical in our case. It was indescribably cool to read his thoughts on that connection, because I've spent a lot time pondering it. I don't doubt it, but if you think about it, it seems strange that, for instance, an infatuation your taste buds develop for food can decide the course of your everlasting soul. It is a mystery to me as to how the physical has spiritual consequences. They are so far and wide apart. To me it seems strange that something as significant as the destiny of an everlasting soul can be decided, controlled by fleeting, time-bound physical acts. In comparison they seem so insignificant.

I know why this is, but I desperately want to know how. In regards to the 'why', I especially picked the word "controlled" for it has a significance. Isn't that what its all about? The body is a gift, a tool through which you are enabled to carry out the great trial our earthly existence is. That trial is, to put it it simply, the trial of whether you use your body as it was intended, or whether you let it takeover and control your soul. Its not the 'why' that fascinates, though, that's quite simple. Its the 'how.' To see how God bridged the enormity of the gap between the physical and the spiritual. That is my fascination. I know this sounds rather morbid, but in some ways I just can't wait to die. So many answers to so many questions will be revealed through the Beatific Vision. Anyway. Lewis brings his ideas about the connection between the spiritual and the physical to life in Perelandra and its simply wonderful. He doesn't explain the phenomenon because, well, no normal human can. But his ideas about the nature of the interaction that the two share are wonderful. Read it if you find the time.

In other, other news, my knee is sore for some mysterious reason and I'm not happy about that. But everything else is going quite perfectly, so on the whole I cant complain. In fact, I am sometimes overwhelmed by how lucky I am. My faith, my family, my friends, my community....its like, How, exactly, do I deserve this? The answer is nothing. But, no one deserves anything in life because life itself is a free gift from God. (that's why its sacred and we are not to tamper with it, btw) Heck, no one can say with truth that he or she deserves to exist.

Happy living!

TTFN,

-Thomas

To run or not to run.

I am currently babysitting people who have the average age of 20.6. (Yes, I did the math.)...I think peoplesitting would be more appropriate, but ya know, that's what peoples say so yeah. Moving on. My formula for being a successful babysitter is: 1. Shut oneself in the closet. 2. Close one's eyes. 3. Put one's ear buds in. 4. Recite a concise prayer asking that the house isn't in ashes when one's parents get home. 5. Blare one's music whilst contemplating deep things. It works like a charm every time. And don't worry, you can thank me later.

Ahem. As you all know, yesterday I tried writing a blog post without mentioning myself. Needless to say, it was a failure of a post. But as an experiment it was awesome. It proved something that I have been fairly certain about for some time. People enjoy talking about themselves and that is why the majority of blogs exist. There are, of course, a sprinkling of people who have blogs and are creative and skilled enough to produce things that are worth experiencing in in of themselves. But bloggers who share those characteristics are sprinkled far and few between. The majority of bloggers either write about themselves as if the course of the universe depended on it and them, or post of constant stream of pictures of themselves and/or their offspring. For the picture type it seems they think they are the epitomes of beauty and perfection, or that their offspring are the epitome of cuteness, or both. There are also sometimes Evangelical ones on one extremity and and crazy terrorist ones on the other. And I know this because when I was bored I used to flip through random blogs. Yes, I'm a sad person and I live a sad life. 

So. Its given that most blogs are just ramblings of random people rambling about themselves, with occasional ramblings about random, unimportant other things mixed in, or a stream of random pictures, the majority of which filled are with plain subjects. That is because most people like talking about themselves etc. and blogging is the perfect excuse. Simple enough. But my question is, why does anyone read them? Okay, I get close friends who are terrestrially distanced. That's about it, though. I have no idea why in the world people read this, but they do. Quite a few of them, too. And I have friends who I see almost everyday that have blogs. I read them. Straight up. It doesn't really make sense if you think about it, but I do it anyway. 

The funniest thing is when you find out that someone who you would least expect to reads your blog. Inside its like, Wait, you?....Saith Whaaaaaaaaaat? But on the outside its like, Oh, thanks. Glad you enjoy it...Yeah, I have a lot fun with it. Its awesome to know that people do enjoy this, even if its for some imponderable reason. 

Anyways. Its now time for me to do what I'm best at: broadcasting the details of my uneventful life to the world wide web. Last night was the long-awaited Marti Gras dance. It was tolerable, I suppose, but not eventful enough to please me. Just kidding. It was more than worth the wait. It was amazing. And as I had nothing whatsoever to do with putting it on, I want to now take the time to thank those who did. Especially our hosts. And the musicians and the decorators and everyone who helped make it such a fantastic evening.

Today had its ups and downs. It started with a down. At 7 in the morning. I was guilt tripped into going to my friends' basket ball game. I'll go without out sleep for my friends anytime, but our choir was singing one of my favorite pieces and I had practiced really hard for it, so it was a hard decision. I decided that getting up and going to the game was the right one in the end, even though I would have much rather slept in and sung. (You should have seen my friends' faces when they saw I had shown up...they were so surprised to see me...it almost made everything worth it.) I'm convinced that I made the right decision because everything else fell into place wonderfully. I got home just in time to go to the midday mass with my family and then I had an awesome afternoon with my friends. Nothing could have changed my having to babysit and I knew it was going to happen, so I really can't complain. It was a good day.

Now I'm trying to decide whether or not to go on a run. I think I will. And then for homework. Yay!

TTFN,

-Thomas

Awesome slippers.

I returned home a short while ago with a considerable amount of booty. The prize of the day is a pair slipper-shoey things. I've been wanting a pair of them for about a month now because they're so cozy and convenient. Especially for nippy mornings. I'm happy.

For the rest of the post I am going to attempt to not talk about myself. At all. So. What to talk about? Well, there's always the weather, but if you live in close proximity to the totally random person who's writing this blog post, you already know what its like and if you don't live in a close proximity, it doesn't concern you in the least,. Plus, its not like any one of you can do anything that can effect it, so that option can be crossed off the list.

Ok, sorry, but this experiment has proved to be way too hard to carry out, so this post is going to end right now.

Just FYI though, there is a soon-to-be NFL football player who's name is Ha Ha Dixon. No kidding. It just sounds like it should be in one of Key and Peele's East-West bowl videos. It cracked a-certain-person-who-will-remain-unmentioned up when he saw that.

TTFN

-Thomas