Well, it’s been a long time since I did one of these, but let’s not fail to start with a video. I’ve been watching super-recent reruns of How I Met Your Mother (and not even intentionally—that’s the beauty of reruns!), and I realized that I forgot to check the latest of HIMYM’s real fake websites: lilysinlabor.com.
[Note: Neither HIMYM nor some of its real fake sites nor parts of this video are super family-friendly, but they are all hilarious.]
— 2 —
As I type this, I just finished watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on BBC America. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before, but I enjoyed it. It seemed a lot grittier than other Robin Hood movies I’ve seen, and I was fed up with Kevin Costner’s haircut (seriously!), but it was cool to see Snape Alan Rickman fight. How exactly do you stay that awesome for so long?
— 3 —
I don’t work on Fridays, so I was nowhere near campus for the UT bomb threat this morning. I did get all the emergency alert text messages, though, so I knew what was happening. I watched the news coverage on TV once it finally started, but listening to their inaccuracies and lack of information made me so fed up that I just quit watching. I was reaffirmed in my decision to never watch TV news in general (except for press conferences, maybe), and I can confirm that the best information comes straight from the source.
The only valid point the news had was that some students didn’t receive the texts. First of all, that’s just a technical glitch, and second of all, not all students can be assumed to have phones. They’ll find out the old-fashioned way: their friends, classmates, strangers, and TV reporters on the street will tell them.
— 4 —
I will give the TV news one credit: they knew it was a bomb threat before the texts came right out and said it. I had a suspicion from the directions (move out of buildings and get far away from them), but it would have been nice to know from the beginning. There’s a fine line between inciting panic and giving information (see also Virginia Tech).
— 5 —
I knew it would be tricky to come up with all seven takes this week. And it is. I’ll try to be more interesting next week.
Let’s start this week with a video. I was searching for the lyrics to No Doubt’s new song, discovered that P.O.D. released an album this year, and decided to figure out which was the latest of their songs I remember. Turns out it’s this one, so here’s a nice throwback Christian hip-hop video for you.
(P.S. Watch all the way to the end and see if you can spot a certain pop diva who has made various bad life choices since those days.)
— 2 —
In addition to doing marriage preparation, I am now our non-priest baptism preparer. I had my first “student” on Tuesday. We run a sort of self-study course since we have so few baptisms, and he did a great job preparing. My role was mostly to acknowledge his learning and fill out the appropriate forms. I still love it when people do their homework.
— 3 —
I went to confession on Saturday. I think I’ve mentioned here before that I am on a once-a-month schedule, but this time I actually needed to go. I always feel a little awkward going in; since I’m there so often; I’m in and out pretty quickly. I’m too busy being absolved and happy to notice anyone’s reaction, though.
— 4 —
I am leaving tomorrow morning (so early) for a retreat. I actually get to go on this one! I was offered the opportunity to give a talk, but I politely declined because this is the one retreat I get to go on all year that is not work. It’s just time for me to hang out and pray and learn and just be. I am very excited.
— 5 —
In preparation for the retreat, I just finished baking eight dozen cookies. The recipe officially yields five dozen, but I guess I must have used a tablespoon to drop them last time instead of a teaspoon. That leaves me with six dozen to take on retreat and about a dozen and a half for myself/coworkers. And my apartment smells like chocolatey heaven.
I call them monster cookies. I like to imagine that the oatmeal cookie sneaked up and ate the chocolate chip and peanut butter. No one suspects the oatmeal cookie.
— 6 —
On Tuesday, my door refused to lock. It was frustrating because then I had two broken locks (including the deadbolt), and I can’t exactly leave my apartment unlocked. I will give my management company credit for sending someone within ten minutes of my frustrated call and then making sure the problem was actually fixed, but I will not give them credit for letting an entire business day go by between my reporting the almost-non-lockability and their actually fixing it. The regular maintenance guys showed up about an hour ago (8 p.m. on a Friday). Nope; locking just fine now, five days after I told you about the problem.
— 7 —
Oh! I almost forgot: I got new glasses! The prescription is basically the same, but the frames are totally new. This is the biggest change I’ve made in five years. I also have sunglasses now. They have made my world figuratively brighter (and literally shadier, of course), and they are Wayfarers, so I feel like I’m living “The Boys of Summer” every day. When I have a good hair day, I’ll get a new picture, so it should be up in about a year.
I am so obsessed with the Target back-to-school commercials. School supplies and 80s music? An English teacher covering the Go-Gos? Yes, please!
— 2 —
Then comes the science teacher. Very apt choice of song to cover, by the way. (Edited to add: It’s “She Blinded Me with Science.”)
— 3 —
When the music teacher gets involved, things get pretty epic. It makes me want to buy denim and tell him what’s the word. Word up.
— 4 —
Then, ¡se tiene el mismo comerical en español!
He’s singing to “Blame It on the Boogie,” by the Jackson 5. Translated by me, he says “Hello, parents. I’m the music teacher, and with me, your children will get the best grades. [Lindsay's note: Cute pun with "grades" in Spanish and "(musical) notes" in English.] For that, they will need: (enter music) They’ll need crayons! They’ll need scissors, snacks for lunch, and they’ll need some sweaters! T-shirts with designs, sneakers and socks, some pants, and the backpacks they like. (voiceover) School asks you for a lot. Target has it all.”
— 5 —
And, if that wasn’t enough, the Music Teacher gets to break it down a little more.
— 6 —
In non-Target commercial news, I had my first official FOCCUS facilitation session this week with the couple I’m preparing for marriage. It went very well. I asked what they thought of the (beginning of the) process after we finished our meeting, and they said it was more helpful than they’d expected. See? Not everything is just red tape; sometimes we’re just trying to help people make good decisions.
— 7 —
On Tuesday, my morality group had what I think was my favorite discussion so far. We discussed the situation with the Vatican investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women’s Religious and its moral implications. I managed to keep my cool and be civil and clear (I think). We raised some great issues related to the situation. I’m very interested in the actual result after the LCWR gathering this weekend. Remember, charity in all things!
I think I’ve mentioned here before how much I enjoy reading Betty Beguiles, a Catholic source for fashion and romance advice. Way to find a niche and fill it, Hallie! Occasionally, Hallie hosts themed link-ups. The past ones have been about how you met your husband or your favorite date night tips and so on. I’ve never been able to participate—until now!
My Favorite Love Songs, in No Particular Order
“Set Me As a Seal,” by Matt Maher: So beautiful, so biblical, and not hard to sing. It’s a duet, so the man and woman get to share this expression of their feelings. It contains actual Scripture quotations. This is love.
“God Gave Me You,” by Dave Barnes: He let Blake Shelton re-record it. I’m hoping this could be like “Your Grace Is Enough” and help get people to notice the original artist. (“Your Grace” is a Matt Maher song. Chris Tomlin is his friend.) My friend Jess actually used this as her first dance song (albeit sung by Blake Shelton). It is the perfect blend between a song that praises the beloved (like secular songs at least try to do) and a song that acknowledges the true Lover. (As a bonus, I also snagged this song free and legally online!) (Warning: You might need your tissues for this video.)
“Beloved,” by Tenth Avenue North: This is another song that makes a very clear statement about where love really comes from and what real love looks like. My favorite part is, “It’s a mystery” This is another good candidate for my wedding first dance song.
“At Last,” by Etta James: Just when you thought this whole list was going to be serious and intense. In the Harry Potter fandom, we sometimes discussed what song Ron and Hermione would use for their first dance. This was a good candidate because it’s about finally being with someone you’ve been waiting for as time passes by.
“Only Hope,” by Mandy Moore or Switchfoot: I love both versions, and I love how it was portrayed in A Walk to Remember. When I was a teacher, I used to show music videos to my students on Fridays in lieu of our standard prayer to start class. I called it Song Prayer Fridays. I fielded student suggestions, and one of my tenth-graders sent me a link to this video. I gladly played it, because if God is love, then every love song is a song about God.
I will also admit to a soft spot for the premise to “Love You Like a Love Song,” by Selena Gomez and the Scene. I like the concept that everything good about love has already been said. It’s like the idea that there are only something like seven stories in the world and every new story is just a retelling of those. Love has been around since the beginning of the world, and it will always remain.
I’m always a little miffed when a solemnity sneaks up on me. I made a Catholic calendar for Google; you’d think I’d actually read it sometimes. The problem is mostly that I have prayed the incorrect day of Night Prayer.
On the bright side, I realized that it’s a Friday solemnity. That means it’s Meatday again! This is the last one until the Friday after Christmas, so enjoy your Church-approved bacon!
This is like the Friday after Easter! (Click for full size.) (image from Slightly Orange)
— 2 —
Next on the list of things I’ve nearly forgotten, I am now three days into the Novena to St. Maria Goretti, my favorite saint. She’s my favorite saint, so I was super embarrassed to forget to start it on the correct day (Wednesday), but I prayed two days’ worth yesterday, so it’s all good. (And I already did today’s, so hooray!)
— 3 —
I have discovered the benefit of pre-meetings. Get-It-Done Guy has recommended pre-meetings for ages (under “Meeting to Make Decisions”), but I never attempted to actually have one until now. (Sure, that was because my boss/priest asked me to, but that totally counts!) Instead of trying to hash out a plan with six interested parties all at once, I’m trying to meet with four of them individually and use the big group meeting to combine and summarize all our ideas. I’ll let you all know how it turns out.
— 4 —
I try not to turn Jen‘s Quick Takes into mine, but she is going to write about “Somebody That I Used to Know” next week, so I had to watch her recommended covers and share the “five people, one guitar” one I posted here. So, here’s Ingrid Michaelson playing ALL THE INSTRUMENTS!
— 5 —
I did a lot of evening traveling this week. In addition to my usual Monday night holy hour and my new Wednesday night Bible study, I went to a happy hour straight from work yesterday.
On Tuesday, a coworker drove us all the way to Temple straight from work. We had to leave at 5:15 to get there just before 7 p.m. (oh, Austin traffic), but it was worthwhile. I got to see Bishop Joe in his non-Mass fancy clothes (purple cassock and surplice) and to support our student who received the Lumen Gentium Award. It’s an annual diocesan award to the person or couple in each parish who has best been a “light to the world” (as in the encyclical Lumen Gentium, which I am coincidentally reading right now).
— 6 —
I also “traveled” to the eye doctor this week. It’s been five years, so I figured it was time. I have also finally realized that squinting against the summer sun is not a good idea, so I’m going to need sunglasses, and it would be silly to use a five-year-old prescription for them. To my delight, my eyes haven’t changed very much. Frame shopping is always tricky; if I could see how I looked, I wouldn’t need them! My new plan is to take iPhone photos of myself and evaluate that way. We’ll see how it goes.
— 7 —
Here’s some great music as you slide into however much time you get off for Independence Day. Amazon MP3 is offering 20 summer songs (classic and 2012) for 25 cents each! One quarter for “Call Me Maybe” or The Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” (featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff)! (They also have 50-cent Linkin Park songs. Those are less seasonal, but some are equally catchy.)
When Amazon MP3 offered its most recent free music credit, I jumped on it and finally got around to purchasing Vice Re-Verses, Switchfoot’s remix album of songs from last fall’s Vice Verses. Between the drive to work on Thursday and some downtime on Friday, I finally managed to listen to it. Nevertheless, I declare that my Switchfoot passion remains strong.
Here’s my track-by-track review:
“The Original” (JT Daly Remix): I love “The Original,” but I found myself annoyed by this remix. It was too high-pitched and tinny. Switchfoot’s music has grown more bass-driven and layered over time. This stripped too much of that away, so it totally lost the original sound.
“Selling the News” (Photek Remix): I didn’t like the techno driving this remix. When you don’t like the bass line, it’s hard to get into a song. (Contrast this with “My Sharona,” by The Knack, which has possibly the best bass line ever.)
“Blinding Light” (Adam Young of Owl City Remix): I can handle Owl City. I love Switchfoot. Trying to make Switchfoot sound like Owl City is not a good idea. The subject matter is too intense to sound right with such a lighthearted background. If I didn’t know, I might think this was Jon singing for Owl City, and that sounds like an awkward combination at best.
“Darkest Horses” (JT Daly of Paper Route Remix): Now this is what I look for in a remix. One of the things I love most about Switchfoot is the lyrics, so I love remixes that leave good solid chunks of the lyrics intact. I also liked that the title was changed just enough so that you can tell it’s a remix without needing to read inside the parentheses. Second-best song of the album.
“Vice Verses” (Darren King Remix): I liked Darren King’s remix of “Yet” from Hello Hurricane okay, but I think “Vice Verses” works best in its original form. It needs to be acoustic.
“The War Inside” (DnJ Remix): Sorry, Drew and Jerome, but I’m not feeling it. I liked that the acoustic line reminded me of “Boys of Summer” at the very beginning, but that’s the only part I liked. Maybe I just love the chorus too much to ever really enjoy a version that doesn’t use it enough.
“Afterlife” (Neon Feather Remix): The beginning was startling after the soft and smooth ending of the previous track, but I found myself jolted into awesomeness. I was half-napping while I listened to the last four tracks, but I started basically dancing while lying down when I heard this one. I couldn’t tap my toes from my position lying there, but I certainly tried. I loved that an entire verse was played intact. I have a soft spot for techno dance music. It sounded as though Daft Punk had decided to feature Jon Foreman’s vocals, and it was fantastic! I’m so glad this won the remix contest, and I can absolutely see why it won. They saved the best for last and didn’t even know it.
Remixes can be tough. It’s tricky to balance references to the original while making something that is justifiably new. This was a good step in that direction, though. I can’t wait to see what Switchfoot has in store next.
Yikes. I meant to post this yesterday, when I decided I should just change this to 7 Quick Takes Saturday for my purposes, like my friend Jessa has done with the Sunday Seven. Then I forgot to actually post it. Fail.
— 1 —
An old college acquaintance, Ada, shared an article about why not to read Fifty Shades of Grey on Facebook. I love it. Her reasons are not specifically Catholic, but they are biblically informed, and I agree with her. I don’t read erotica as a rule, but I definitely don’t read popular books that feed people lies about sex. Popular opinion is bad enough. When this is what’s popular, I start losing hope.
— 2 —
I use Instagram, and I just realized that the Instagram blog, which I have been following for a few months, is so much better when viewed at the actual site than through RSS (which is how I read all the other blogs I follow). The editors use the featured images to make an unequally proportioned collage, and when you hover over each photo, the others are darkened, it is highlighted, and it links you to the photo’s home on Instagram.com. Brilliant!
— 3 —
I have started making my way back into the Harry Potter fandom (the mostly online fan community). I’d forgotten the joy and fun spirits all these people have. Not through the fandom but via The Leaky Cauldron on Facebook, I found this video of “all” the spells in all 8 HP movies. It’s not perfect (if Dumbledore’s memory removals counted, why not Slughorn’s or Snape’s, which were equally as important?), but it’s pretty fantastic. For example, just look at the number of spells cast in the first few movies compared to the latter ones, which had fight scenes full of spells. Even for the fight scenes, it’s a different experience to see them without dialogue and the non-magical fighting moments. It’s seventeen and a half minutes, so settle in, but it is seventeen and a half minutes of awesome, so get excited.
Speaking of Instagram, I’d heard of solutions for printing IG photos as magnets, books, and wall art, but I had not yet seen these basic prints. They’re like thick Polaroids that don’t come straight out of your camera. I especially like that they have the wide blank space at the bottom for writing captions. It’s like Polaroids are back in new high-tech clothing!
— 6 —
At the grocery store earlier this evening, I sniffed out the staffer cooking free samples of sausage. It turned out that she’d used not toothpicks, but mini pretzel rods as serving tools. That is genius! It’s a bonus free sample, and it creates zero trash. Why haven’t I ever seen that before?
— 7 —
I discovered last week that I greatly enjoy tater tots and Sonic cheeseburgers. This may prove to be a bad discovery.
While viewing a blog post on a serious topic, I was invited to watch this cover of “Somebody That I Used to Know,” a song that grew on me once I started listening to the the lyrics. (I originally just liked the main singer’s vocal range and use of xylophone.) I think this is one of the best covers I’ve ever heard, period. It’s got five people playing a single guitar. This might be better than OK Go.
Although I must say that it is a strange world we live in when, because of this, I am no longer impressed by the video I saw a while ago of two people playing one guitar. The bar has been raised.
— 2 —
I watched the House series finale on my DVR this week. I loved the retrospective they aired before it, even if only to hear Hugh Laurie’s native accent. We’ve had a couple of Australian exchange students at work this year, and I wonder if they’d sound like him if they tried to fake an American accent.
I thought the finale was fantastic. I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t see it coming. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Cuddy had shown up again. I know she left because of contract negotiations, but I hate when storytellers can’t recover from real-world circumstances. Perhaps it was the House version of “Once More with Feeling”: the bright spot after Buffy had been struggling in its post-cancellation/new network/Buffy’s not dead anymore life. If you’ve never seen House, it is syndicated on multiple channels. And if you have, a great way to look back is to relive eight awesome seasons of Patients of the Week.
Now let’s see if How I Met Your Mother will end as gracefully next spring. (It’s not official, but I don’t think it can last through a ninth season, and I want the ending to be legendary.)
— 3 —
Speaking of House‘s Patients of the Week, I was intrigued earlier this season when Chase had an encounter with a novice. As a Catholic, my ears are always tuned for representations of Catholicism in the media, which are usually inaccurate. In brief, the episode presents the POTW as a woman about to take her first profession in a brown-habited religious order. (I noted that no one on House’s team seems to realize that you can still “get out of it,” so to speak, even after first vows. That’s why they’re first.) Chase, the Australian doctor who went to Catholic school (that magic bullet that gives everyone instant theological expertise!) notices that she is very pretty and is clearly attracted to her. But she’s taken. By God. The episode is titled “Chase,” though, so that’s not the end of it.
The wrinkle is that the woman is also attracted to Chase and shows up at his apartment one night claiming to have given up on religious life. She eventually returns to her order, leaving Chase hurt and confused. I wasn’t quite sure what to think. Now that I’ve viewed that POTW slideshow, I’m guessing the writers needed a nun this season to parallel the one from the first season and to continue to explore House’s (false) science-vs-faith dichotomy. Since the woman is just the POTW, though, we don’t get to see how she moves on from her fling with Chase. I think it was useful to portray that doubting one’s beliefs and choices can confirm them, and that God always forgives. We don’t see a lot of that on TV; we mostly get the leaving and the relief at having given up on past beliefs.
— 4 —
I have been so popular this week. It was my bonus week off from work, so that would usually have spelled disaster in the form of sitting around and not doing much. Instead, I had an outing every single day:
a graduation/birthday party on Sunday between Masses,
a visit to a philosophy-based apologetics series on Monday, featuring a UT professor and 7QT host Mrs. Fulwiler herself),
jury duty on Tuesday morning, during which I didn’t have to actually serve,
my morality discussion group on Tuesday night, which I led for a change,
a friend’s community orchestra concert on Wednesday,
To Kill a Mockingbird at the Paramount with a friend on Thursday, which was still a fantastic movie despite the loud and oddly-timed laughter of many of the other patrons (TKAM is not a funny movie),
I miss Harry Potter. I know it hasn’t gone anywhere, per se, and I just started tiptoeing back into Pottermore, so that’s been delightful. But I miss being part of the fandom at FictionAlley and reading fanfiction and getting to know other fans online and all that jazz. I have currently just rejoined a LiveJournal community centered around Potter-related activities, and I hope that will help. And there’s still a good dozen chapters of Pottermore.
I also plan to actually set up a summer-long slow marathon of all eight movies with a friend of mine. I refuse to watch either part of Deathly Hallows on its own anymore now that they’re both out, though, so that one might require an actual marathon.
— 6 —
I have a video this week, so I’m not as much in need of a picture as usual. I will note, though, that I found a way to brighten up my Booking Through Thursday posts. I turned to Google Images to find a nice big header, and then I asked the creator for permission via email. It felt so old-school to be using an email address instead of a contact form, but it worked out very nicely, and now I can use this:
In her Quick Takes, Jen lamented that other participants have themes for theirs and she doesn’t. I like not having a theme. I see 7QT as my weekly opportunity to dump seven bits of information that aren’t big enough for individual posts. This is the way I used to blog in college. I look at my calendar and think “what happened this week?” And then I write about it. Done and done.
I’m not always a fan of the random question grouping (that’s an oxymoron), but these look intriguing.
What’s your favorite sandwich? I don’t know if anyone has ever asked me that before. I really enjoy the turkey guacamole sandwich at Schlotzsky’s, especially because it comes on wheat bread and with just a touch of sliced red onions. So tasty. I also like to make peanut butter sandwiches with tortillas. (Think quesadilla, but wit peanut butter.) I made it up when we were out of bread once, and it was so tasty that I started making them all the time.
You have unlimited funds and unlimited space to make your dream abode. What and where is it, and what does it look like? Do you share it with anyone/anything? At the moment, I’d like to stay in Austin because I enjoy my job, and I’d stay in this part of town. It might be nice to move a bit farther to the west in my neighborhood, though. I live alone, so I don’t really need more space, but it would be sweet if I could have unlimited space to store my books. I wouldn’t necessarily have unlimited funds to buy them, but I’d be able to at least keep them somewhere.
If you made a movie, what would it be about and who would be in it? Well, as I mentioned in my review of October Baby yesterday, I would like to make another compelling story (I love stories) with values like mine that isn’t cheesy, preachy, or badly produced, but is still honest. I like the idea of using minor celebrities to add legitimacy, but I don’t know who I’d pick.
If you were to start a charity, what would it be for? I work for charity. Can it just be us? No? There are so many great and underrepresented causes. The first thing I’d want to contribute to is one of the organizations that helps potential entrants to seminary or the novitiate pay off their education loans so they can enter. If I had to start my own charity, it would be raising money for (moral) research about cancers that aren’t breast cancer or leukemia. People are aware of and focused on those to the exclusion of so many others. (I have a pet peeve about claims of “raising awareness” for breast cancer. People are aware!) I would be more inclined to contribute to an existing charity than to start my own.
What’s your favorite music video? (Bonus points if you embed/link it.) I’ve embedded or linked back to “Captain Jack Sparrow” so many times already.OK Go makes great videos, too. To answer this question, I popped over to YouTube to see what I might have missed and discovered this apparently most recent one. I prefer the ones that have the actual band members because they’re musicians, not dancers, so it’s awesome to see them dance anyway. These featured players are dancers, however, and they’re almost mesmerizing. I also love some of the woman’s dresses. So many colors, and at knee length!
That was the best random question set in a very long time. Coming next week: a better image to accompany the F5!
At least I didn’t have the goal of posting the F5 on the correct day every week!
We are a third of the way through this year. How are those New Year[']s Resolutions coming along? I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, so I guess they’re going fantastically!
Have your goals for the year changed? I didn’t make it an explicit goal, but I wanted to build and maintain a good regular posting frequency. Adding three new memes to my week (7 Quick Takes Friday, Top Ten Tuesday, and Booking Through Thursday) definitely helped with that. I never have to worry about having a post topic for the day. On the other hand, it has made me less likely to write the life-update and essay-style posts I used to do.
When working on personal achievements, do you do better when left alone, or do you need a support network of friends/family? With my blogging, it has helped to know that the world can see when I post or do not post. With most other goals, I tend to keep them to myself unless I have a huge triumph. Then again, Maura was very helpful when I was trying to take up vegetables. Without her, I might never have discovered the joy of fresh spinach as a salad on its own.
Who is your best personal airbag? Airbags are only there to rescue you. Airbags by definition never share your joy. I hope I don’t have anyone I only turn to in extreme crisis, and if I do, I apologize for treating him, her, or them so badly.
What song or quote do you think best describes you right now? Well, life is relatively easy now that the Easter season is here and summer is approaching. It’s not easy overall, of course, but I feel much less frazzled than I did just a month ago. The first song that popped into my head was “Ease on Down the Road.” Mom would be pleased.
There’s a long chunk of related video links in a style I’ve never seen before at the end; sorry about that. I don’t usually get ads on YouTube, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. It’s The Wiz, though, so you know it’s going to be good.
My name is Lindsay. I love. If you're looking for a blog about a 20-something Catholic from Maryland currently living in Austin, Texas, who loves Jesus, loves grammar, loves Harry Potter, and just plain loves, you're in the right place. (More?)
