Thursday, February 24, 2005

awkward situation

This is very unusual for me to blog this often, but I had an experience yesterday that was definitely blogworthy. I sat down to eat with a friend of mine who is not a real close friend but I've hung out with him some, and after I got my food, he proceeded to vent about how he wasn't motivated anymore because he has no social life and no good friends. I didn't really know what to say or how to react. I tried gently prying further to discover what was causing these emotions, and that really didn't seem to lead anywhere.

In order to understand this guy, you have to realize that he's the type of person who will just stare blankly at you during a conversation if it's not about something he's interested in talking about. His main topics of conversation are theological arguments and paintballing and once he gets going on these topics he won't let up.

So anyway, I'm trying to talk to him about this, but it just isn't going anywhere. He just keeps looking at me, and I can tell that he is depressed. Finally, I got to the point where I felt like I was just preaching to him and not doing any good. Finally, I told him I would pray for him, but I don't know if that did any good either because most of the time when people say that they never actually do what they say. Maybe my just being there to listen to him get it off of his chest was helpful. I don't know....I don't like these situations. I don't think I could ever be a counselor.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

glasses

This weekend I had to start wearing my glasses again because a week from friday I am getting Lasik surgery and no foreign objects are supposed to be in my eyes, which includes contacts. Unfortunately, my glasses are a weaker prescription, which makes it a little harder to see especially at nighttime. In addition to being a weaker prescription, the glasses tend to slide down my nose giving me a nerdy appearance and forcing me to push them up frequently, further reinforcing the nerd image. Fortunately, a week from friday I will be completely free of any sort of lenses, and I just have to keep telling myself this to cancel out the negative effects of glasses. So if you're driving at night, beware of a little green Corolla in which the driver can't really see too well.

Monday, February 14, 2005

I hate Illinois

Illinois sucks. Recently I filed my tax returns and got a good portion of my federal taxes back and all of my Wisconsin taxes back. And then there was Illinois. First off, I had to fill out a completely separate form because I'm not a resident. Then, they witheld 50 some dollars from my earnings which I figured I would receive back. I was mistaken, because when I filled out the tax form I had to pay all but one cent of what was taken out of my checks. One cent! How ridiculous is that? Is it some sort of ploy to make you think you're getting a refund even when you really aren't? Well, I hope the American Tooth-brushing Association or whatever enjoys the one cent donation that I will give to them. Maybe they can use it to buy one bristle. Illinois sucks.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Latin mass

So today I attended a Latin High Mass for church. I didn't really have any expectations coming into it because I didn't really know what to expect. The church building itself was absolutely beautiful. It was incredibly ornate and beautifully decorated. We took booklets that had the Latin and the English on opposing pages so we could follow along, but most of the speaking was done by the priest so that no one could hear what was being said. There is so much tradition evident in the liturgy that I wonder if anyone really knows what it means anymore. It seems like people just stand up and sit down at certain times and sit and watch the priest read from a book and prepare the Holy Sacraments. I guess I really don't know enough about the Catholic church to make any real judgements. I think that maybe that is just the way some people meet God. Anyone have any thoughts on that?