Happy fun omnibus post.

I have not been able to get sufficient time on a computer to put up a real post for a week.  I had several ideas for posts, but couldn't do anything about them.  So, I will here put these ideas together in one post, just giving the salient points and avoiding prolixity.

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Congratulations to and prayers for the three men who were ordained priests in Toronto last weekend. 

We need more.

***

I was going to write about he death of bin Laden, but I quickly got bogged down in a long post that was just begging for misinterpretation.  I will toss out the condensed version.

bin Laden point number one:  I do not rejoice over the death of anyone by violence.

***

I rented a car for Mother's Day weekend.  When I arrived at the rental agency to pick up the car, I discovered the agency had messed up my reservation.  "We don't have the Golf you requested," they said.  "But we will give you another vehicle at no extra charge."  The vehicle turned out to be a Lincoln NKX.

That thing had every piece of electronic gee whizzery imaginable.  There was even a television screen on the console that played a short Lincoln commercial every time the car was turned on.  It would show you where you were backing into as you went in reverse- which was good, because the car was full of blind spots.  It was beautiful.  I was scared to touch it. I especially didn't want to know how much it cost.

Back when I owned a car, I did the repairs myself, as I couldn't afford a mechanic.  This thing- I couldn't even begin to touch.  This could only be repaired by someone who had a PhD. in that car.

***
Elder had a project where she had to interview someone with a job, and present her findings to the  class.  I tried to give her an interesting interview.

Question number three:  What is the downside of your job?

Answer:  Dealing with my bosses.  And the customers.  And the coworkers.

Teacher's comment:  Your father doesn't like his job, does he?

***

bin Laden point number two:  I accept and understand the need of Americans to bring bin Laden to justice, or, as the case turned out, to have justice brought to him.

***

The car was a beautiful luxury ride.  We had room.  Usually we're crammed into the car, with elder and younger in the back complaining every inch of the way.  "Dad, she hit me!"

"I told you to give me more room!"

"There is no more room!"

Me, dispensing justice in my wise, equitable fashion:  "Shut up, the pair of you!"

***
Question four:  What level of education does your job require?

Answer:  My job could be comfortably done by any high school dropout.  Heck, it could be done by a one eyed, anacephalic chimp with a pencil jammed into its paw, were it not for the fact we prefer to employ them as managers.

Teacher's comment:  Your father really doesn't like his job, does he?

***

I took mom out for a drive in the car the day before Mother's Day.  She likes drives, and I try to take her out once a month.  This is my gift to her for whatever gift giving occasion comes along.   She likes to go places she's never been before, which, at her age, is something of a challenge.  On that day we were continuing our waterfall/battlefield/old church tour, specifically, the old church part of it.  I took her to see St Patrick's in Hamilton, designed by Joseph Connolly, who designed and did renovations to many of Ontario's most beautiful churches. 

This one was typical Connolly, very nice. 

A few people stopped us as we made our way around the church after Mass, asking me to join the choir.

Me:  I live in Toronto.  Besides, the way my voice is now, I tend to drown out choirs rather than blend with them.

Them:  Couldn't you be a cantor, then?

Me:  I still live in Toronto.

Them:  What about next week?

They were very helpful, though, in helping us around the church and pointing things out to us, even though the church was supposed to be closing.  We spoke about the history of the church, and they found out I have an interest in history, and that I am familiar with Connolly's work.  They asked me if I could help them find a picture of Connolly for their parish website.

***

Mom was pleased at seeing the church.  However, in taking her to Hamilton, I inadvertently broke my number one rule of taking drives, which is:  Don't go to Hamilton. 

I got directions as I disobeyed my rule, but as we were on our way, and I thought it was time to break out the directions, I discovered they had fallen from my pocket.  I had broken rules number two and three: 

2.  If Hamilton cannot be avoided, always have a reliable set of directions.
3.  Make that two reliable sets of directions:  one for coming, one for going.

Hamilton is all one way streets, and very easy for outsiders to get lost in.  I am told the Lincoln had GPS, but I couldn't activate it.

Long story short: we got lost. 

At least it's an easy way to show her things she's never seen before.

***

bin Laden point three:  I was uncomfortable with all the rejoicing over his death, and some of the forms it took.  That's what they did.  We're supposed to be better than that.

***

Me, to mom, in the car:  "I have no idea where we are."

Mom:  "What road is this?"

Me: "Wellington street."

Mom:  "That sounds familiar.  Turn here."

Me, sixty seconds later, as we're heading up the side of Hamilton Mountain:  "I kind of got me an idea that Mississauga is on the other side of the Niagara Escarpment."

(Hamilton mountain is the name of the part of the Escarpment that runs through Hamilton, for those who don't know.)

(Also, the "mountain" is a little over a hundred feet high.  This is a very flat part of the world.)

***

Question seven:  What do you do on an average day?

Answer:  I go to work, see what I am scheduled to do.  I begin doing it, until a manager comes along and tells me to do something else.  Do that until another manger comes along and tells me to do something else.  Do that until another manger comes along and tells me to do something else. Do that until the first manager comes along and demands to know why I haven't finished their job yet.  Go back to that job until second manager comes along, etc, etc.

By now the teacher was aware that I hate my job.

***

The irony of being lost in Hamilton this time was that the road the church was on would have lead us back to the highway, had we only stayed on it.

***

Question 9:  What are the rewards of your job?

Answer:  A paycheck.

Teacher's comment:  There, someone finally said it.  A paycheck is a valid reward for a job.

My comment:  This answer was a calculated risk on my part.  I imagined that most of the other parents interviewed would say stuff along the lines of: "Helping people is the best reward I can imagine," or "just knowing at the end of the day that I helped one person is all the reward I need," with all the sincerity of an athlete who earns a hundred million bucks a year who says: "I just want to help the team."  As it turns out, I was right.  The other parents gave the answer they thought the teacher would want to hear, thus ensuring their children an A.  I wanted to give the teacher an answer that would make Elder's report stand out from the rest.  That was my strategy for the whole interview.  The fact that my answers were also true is incidental.

***

Speaking of work, we've been pushing a bunch of 'fair trade' products as a socially conscious, or responsible, or more expensive, or something alternative to normal products.

Is it really an improvement when the sweat shops have air conditioners?

***

bin Laden point four:  A. Terrorism is an anomaly in international law.  A citizen of one country declares war on an entire nation, but the nation has no way of declaring war on an individual.

B.  Under international law, armed troops crossing an international border uninvited on a killing mission is an act of war.  This precedent could be with us for years to come.

***

My brother saw the Lincoln while I was at my mother's.  "How'd you score that sweet ride?" he said.  "That's a seventy thousand dollar car!"

Now I was terrified of driving the thing.

***

Took the family out for a drive on Mother's Day itself.  It was a nice ride.  I was scared silly that something would happen to the car.  Nothing did.  Beautiful drive.  Lousy on gas, though. 

It's unfortunate that's the way it has to be:  comfort or economy.  Beauty or affordability.  It's always a trade off between desirable but mutually exclusive ends.

***

Question 12:  What is your advice regarding higher education?

Answer:  Higher education is a trap.  Be a plumber or an electrician.

Teacher's comment:  Didn't you say your father was educated?

Elder:  Uh huh.  He's got his BA, his MA, and he's ABD on his PhD.  He says he's flunked people better and more educated than most teachers.

I think that report may just stand out a little too much.

***

bin Laden point 5:  And yet, the man had to be stopped.

***

I did some research into Connolly, both for them and for myself, as I have mentioned the man before, and intend on going to a few more of his churches, but I found very little.  I sent along my information to them in an e-mail.  They responded by telling me politely that they had already found everything I had sent along, and then repeated their request that I join a choir.

***

I started to write a post on disgraced Canadian bishop Lahey, and his involvement with the Catholic Book of Worship III,  but the post got long and verbose.  The guts of what I was trying to say was this:  Bishop Lahey never missed an opportunity to change words and weaken the language of the old songs.   So unwilling was he to impose upon people the burden of a demanding faith, he didn't even impose that burden upon himself.

The man needs prayers.  Lots of them.

***

Father Z and NLM have posted on a BBC series I posted about weeks ago. See what happens when you don't read me? You have to wait weeks for one of the big guys to get around to it. I wonder if they'll get around to the documentary the BBC did on Allegri's Miserere.

elder here

Took over mom and dad's blog account. Thank you for praying for my aunt. I have no idea what to get mom, or Dad or anyone for Christmas. My little sister is sick and has full use of downstair's television with the digital cable box that has over 500 channels.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The other TV only has 89 channels. I am so happy my uncle got me a laptop.which means mom and dad have to negotiate computer use with me hahhahahahahaha.

What I am up too - Mother stuff

Elder has been bothering Bear and me to be able to read a book called, wait for it... "Twilight" Bear and I told her she could, though neither of us had read it, but her friends were. In any case she read almost half of it in 1 day (500 pages +- 10) I asked her what it was about and she said, that it's about a girl who is in love with a vampire and he can't resist wanting her blood.

Now I love vampire novels ( I read many of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles: I stopped after Body Snatcher, but that is another post.) Anywhoo, back to this. My main concern is that Vampires are very .. you know.... sensually if not outright sexually charged creatures of dark myth. And since Elder is 13 and the heroine of the story is 17 and the dark hero/villain is well old enough to be her great great great grandfather, I told her to hold off continuing finishing the novel, until it was vetted by me.

I started reading it and in less than the first chapter, I was bored. The author's style is slow. But anyway, I digress. I am still reading and I won't make any final decisions about letting Elder finish the novel (she wants to read all four novels in the series)- but honestly, it reads alot like Wuthering Heights. Meyers alludes to WH in the novel, and that is when I put the basic premise together- also kind of explained the boredom- I digress. So far my judgement is that IF I let her continue to finish the novel, she has to read Wuthering Heights- She has agreed. There seems to be great debate in which I cannot partake, until I am finished, regarding Edward vs Jacob [Basically it amounts to Vampire vs Werewolf] It might be interesting debate to have with Elder, I just think she may be to young to appreciate and evaluate such a debate and therefore may be too young for the novel.---- But the jury is still out.

Side note: At school, they have scheduled guidance periods, and in guidance Elder mentioned that sometimes she prefers to read and get INTO a novel she is reading instead of playing with other kids. Elder can be a loner at times. The leader asked what she was reading, to which Elder responded that she had been reading Twilight until her 'rents told her they needed to check it out. The Leader told her to tell me that it's ok to let her read it because Scholastic sells it, which Elder proceeded to tell me, and I answered: Tell this person (read "twit") 'Just because Scholastic sells it doesn't mean it's proper reading material: after all it sold an albeit watered down version of The Golden Compass, but that still lead many parents to letting their children read the unabridged version of a novel written by an atheist who has publicly stated that his intention is to destroy faith and belief in GOD.

This leads to to another beef: I being given advice via my kid. Whatever happened to supporting and backing up the 'rents? Has the Leader even read the series: It's a love triangle between a girl, a vampire and a werewolf with the latter two fighting over the first. What kind of 'rent doesn't take that kind of subject matter seriously- The whole Vampire/ werewolf not withstanding - It's two guys in "love" with 1 girl - that alone may make it inappropriate for 13 year olds to evaluate.

In the Public Library it is listed as Young Adult : for 9 year olds and older. 9 year olds are in no way adults - young or otherwise. Public classifications may help parents make up their minds, but it doesn't absolve us from doing our jobs.

I am rambling - 4 hours of reading has done this to me. Apologies one and all, back to the main gist of this post- if it ever had one: Where I am in deciding whether a 13 year old is old enough for this book and so far, my interim conclusin is:
the only harm this book may do is bore the reader to tears. I may end up NOT prohibiting it for elder, but I may not recommend it either.

My little girl, with a poll

I have just been informed by Puff that Elder was asked by a boy over to his house yesterday. Elder said no, just as I taught her. But Puff also informs me that Elder wants to now renegotiate the age at which she may start dating, ("when I'm dead and cold in the ground") but only with Puff. For some reason Elder is afraid I'd overreact. I trust Puff to handle this adroitly, and I have helpfully provided her with two ready made answers:

1. No.

2. H-ll no.

But now I have boys sniffing around. I want to ask the father's out there what would be the best way to deal with this matter, therefore I have created the poll at the sidebar. Please take some time to vote. And vote often.

UpDate: I've found out that thirteen year old boy in question is an altar boy at church. Should this modify response at all? Perhaps I should cross off the nukes.

Overheard

Tonight I had been working in my garage tuning up a few of my tools, and as a result was really rather filthy around the time to put the kids to bed. I asked Elder to read to Younger for a few minutes while I took a quick shower. After my quick rinse, I could hear Elder reading to her sister in the next room. Without any prompting from myself or Puff, Elder was reading to Younger from the children's Bible.

I guess we're doing something right.

Overheard

Bear: Younger, would you give me Park Place and Boardwalk for a hug.

Younger: Okay Daddy.

a few seconds pass...

Bear: Hey, Ow. Elder, when did Monopoly become a contact sport?

Elder: When you weasle Park Place and Boardwalk, each with a house on it, off a five year old for a big hug.

A Few More Things Stemming From Last Weekend

Every time I take the family into Hamilton, we end up wandering through cemeteries. Younger actually enjoys this, at least ever since I taught her about rubbings. But it has given her a rather skewed view of the world: Hamilton is one big cemetery. The other day we were driving past Prospect Cemetery on our way to Puff's mother, and younger looked at the headstones and asked: "Are we in Hamilton?"

Elder asked me what else I knew about Billy Green's story. There was a children's story book about him out years ago called "The Scout Who Lead An Army," of which I had a copy, and which I gave her to read a few months back. Showing her the remains of the British Camp piqued her interest in the story, and she wanted to know more. I am always glad to give her a little more history. Among other things I mentioned that the house the Americans used as their headquarters at Stoney Creek still stands, and is now a museum to the battle. Every year on the anniversary of the battle, or the closest weekend, there is a re-enactment of the battle. Elder's reaction was predictable: "Ooh, ooh, can we go? Can we go?" I think we might be able to swing it. It's more educational than Wonderland, and cheaper.

Looking back, the last few days have been pretty good, which can only mean one thing: disaster is a-comin'.

Elder gets it

Yesterday after Mass, elder asked me why I don't sing the songs anymore (I just sing the ordinary.) I went over the songs we had sung that Mass and I explained how the songs all focused on the congregation, and how I did not come to Mass to sing the praises of myself, or of my neighbours (I am sure they are all very nice people, however...). "Well, duh," said Elder. "We're here to praise God."

I, Elder, hacked into my folks blog, bwaahahaha

While they are reading, I will post for them. Since Dim-bulb lead me onto the Way of the Fathers, I asked Dad all the questions (- it's so easy to get the truth out of him when he is preoccupied - hehehe) and now post his result. BTW if Dad asks ssshh, don't tell him.

You’re Justinian!

In the sixth century, Justinian accomplished the brief recovery of the empire’s old territory in the east, in Africa, and in the west. His victories, however, were hard won over the course of decades, and they came at a great cost in human life, not to mention taxation. Paradoxically, Justinian’s military successes probably contributed to the empire’s subsequent decline. The conquered lands were hardly secure, and many were lost in the years after his death. During his reign there was a great flowering of Byzantine culture, whose monuments remain in Istanbul (e.g., Hagia Sophia) and Ravenna. His reconstitution of Roman law, the so-called Justinian Code, is still the basis of civil law in some modern states. Justinian is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church.

Find out which Byzantine ruler you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Yup that's dad, hard but fair.