More thoughts.

Several of my texts claim that the Welsh church was "conservative."

Allow me to define "conservative." They didn't follow the judgment of the Council of Whitby for 105 years.




What this makes me think: "I hope that I live to see, in 2070-something, who can be stubborn longer: The Welsh, or the post-Vatican II sedevecantists?"


I'm rooting for the Welsh, but then I certainly swing pro-Celtic* and anti-Moonbat.


(Is it a bad sign that I talk about canonical debates that were settled in 663 as if they could be changed with a papal letter? Does that make me, too, a moonbat?)


---
*If there was such a thing. Much of this "primitive Celtic church" nonsense is either:
a) Protestant propaganda
b) Romantic tomfoolery
c) Both.


Hookay, Alice. Time for bed. Too much BA for you.

I have these questions, too.

From the (other) girl in glasses. Some important questions

I am particularly suffering from #7: "Why are there so many books in the world that I haven't read yet?" I'm already making the list of books I will read when I finish my BA. None of them have anything to do with Wales or Saints.

Diolch am y haberdasher'd one.

*ahem*

Larry presents the below as a true girl genius. Presenting, for her social debut, Miss Lana Connolly-Killacky (a.k.a. "The Vapid Paralytic"):



I myself somewhat prefer the below picture, in which she shows of her Irish pride:



*NB: This does not qualify as a depressing "Alice is going to grow up to be a sad, sad, cat lady" post, because it isn't my cat. My cats are not sufficiently Cinderella-like to have had SF SPCA newsletter articles written about them. But that's a story for another post...

Bad Things to Find Yourself Thinking...

"It's 1:30...and I'm not tired! Perhaps I have awoken my latent superpowers!"

I did spend a great deal of the day reading Girl Genius. That might have something to do with it.

I have a project this week. (I mean, aside from the obvious ones of working on my BA and cleaning the apartment.) This project is called "eat things other than pasta."

To that end, I went online yesterday afternoon when I started feeling peckish and discovered a recipe for vegetarian fajitas which was, as Bill would say, "yummers yummington."

"Well," I thought to myself today after I had finished the leftovers for lunch, "that was all well and good, but now what do I do with the rest of these flour tortillas?" I cast my eye over the contents of the refrigerator and thought to myself..."eggs...salsa...sour cream...tortillas...cheese...buy some refried beans, and I'll have huevos rancheros!"

So I have now returned from the 55th street Co-op, where refried beans were purchased. Meal going: according to plan. EXCELLENT.

Also in the "excellent" category: Morningstar Farm's Vegetarian Corn Dogs. I don't actually worry about my protein intake as much as I probably should (I worry more about getting enough vegetables), but Corn Dogs were my favorite junk food as a child, and in High School I discovered the Vegetarian version being sold at the Iowa State Fair. These were something of an indulgent purchase (I try not to buy insta-meals, especially of the fake meat variety), but I did enjoy having one as a late night snack last night.

Two St. Patrick's Day Quotes

For an example of the kind of fun you may expect from your "special" guests, witness the interchange one of the authors overheard at a "Catholic Rendezvous" in the woods which began as a retreat but devolved into "a bunch of Irish-Americans singing and arguing around the keg." The two key speakers we will call "Andrew" and "Robert."
Andrew argued that the Irish people had completely lost their culture when they gave up the Irish language. Robert insisted that they'd kept the Catholic faith--far more important.
Andrew disagreed: "You don't understand. The Word was made flesh. The Word!"
Robert paused. "Surely, 'the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, refers to Our Lord Jesus Christ--not the Irish language."
Andrew replied: "You can't keep making these arbitrary distinctions!"

--The Bad Catholic's Gudie to Good Living (Technically, this comes from the entry under St. Dymphna, the patron saint of those with mental disorders.)

At these words Patrick raised his eyes from the place in which he was standing, which now is called "the Seat of Patrick," and beheld the whole island [of Ireland]. At length the mind of Patrick was appeased, and he cheerfully quitted the sacred spot [of Vallis Rosina] for holy David; and preparing a ship in Porth Mawr, he raised from the dead a certain old man, Criumther by name; and Patrick sailed for Ireland, taking with him the man he had just raised from the dead, who afterwards was made a bishop.

--The Life of St. David

My Flippancy Always Comes Back to Haunt Me...

Learned today, post Latin final, that Fr. Pat's mother is very ill-- so ill that the Spring Break mission trip to Kentucky was canceled because he couldn't leave Chicago.

This makes me feel a little guilty about talking so lightly about giving him conniptions.

So I guess this is just a prayer note for those of you who know & care about Fr. Pat but are out of the Calvert House loop.

ALSO:



I want a goat. Will someone please give me a goat as a graduation present?

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

1) No, I haven't heard from "Grad Schools" yet. This is a sore point for two reasons. One: I only applied to Toronto. Two: I'm really nervous Toronto won't want me. I swear, when I hear, you'll know.

2) No, I don't know when I'll hear.

3) No, I haven't finished the draft of my BA. Yes, it is due to my preceptor tomorrow at 4:00.

4) No, I'm not done with finals. I have a Latin final at 10:30 tomorrow, my draft due at 4:00, and I'm turning in my paper for Hanna Gray on Monday. I will be done on Monday.

5) I'M NOT GOING HOME FOR SPRING BREAK. Please to be stopping the asking of when I am leaving.

Continued asking of these questions will be met with: links to this post, profanity, and/or violence.

ALSO: I have an exam tomorrow morning and a BA to write. Why am I looking at mantillas online?

Probable answer: Any item of clothing that would give simultaneous conniptions to Fr. Pat and the haberdasher'd one is worth definite consideration.

(I want this one. Also this one.)

I have not yet begun to write for the day.

I need a full draft by tomorrow at 9:00 (am!)

I am clearly suffering from insufficient doom.








Hefyd: pedwar ac ugain! Cachu!

Oh, and in case you were wondering... we're at 25 days to thesis.

(Yes. My BA is due on Good Friday.)

Having seen "Dialogues of the Carmelites," I've been thinking about my own past vocations qualms. Here's a news clip about The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, an order I was very much interested in joining at an earlier time in my life.



Diolch am y Holy Whapping

Grade-school nostalgia rejected by the Senior Gift Committee...

Fan fic.

Especially X-Files fan fic.

Especially, especially, that 'Shipper Fan fic you wrote in eighth grade.

No, I didn't write any. Don't look at me like that.*

(Explanation of the title, for those not currently traversing the Quads of the University of Chicago: The Senior Gift Committee, in its eternal hope that we will contribute more money to the College than the Class of '06, has been bombarding we fourth-years with various nostalgia-inducing relics of our grade school years. Including slap bracelets.)

ALSO:
Meredith: Give me back my scarf!
Haberdasher'd One: No!
Meredith: Alright, I'll have to beat you. (Picking up volume of Czeslaw Milosz) Insight into the Eastern Soviet Bloc, coming right up.

---
*No, really, I didn't. I did spend far too much time reading it, though.

Adding excitement to your hum-drum study schedule:

Fire drill at the library.

I am a bad historian. I grabbed my laptop (which has my plays, which were my life, but left my source texts.

In case you didn't know I was doing Welsh history...

So far, the three most oft-quoted secondary sources in my BA are Oliver Davies, Wendy Davies, and one H.R.E. Davidson.

Primary source edited by Mr. Wade-Evans.

I think my bibliography has six or seven individual Davies, and at least one Jones.

Good Questions.

...Although one hopes Fr. Orthometer didn't mean to encourage apostasy, but rather the acceptance of church teaching. I may go so far as to say that such an attitude has the opposite effect on me.

Being a good Catholic by definition entails believing all that the Church teaches to be true. Why be a Catholic if you don't believe in what the Church teaches.

A: Because leaving, I fear for my soul. Staying, I fear for my sanity.






ADDENDA: He does continue to amuse me, however. Because it should still be done right. And no, we don't have anything quite that bad in the Calvert House sacristy.

While doing this, I found an artifact of pure liturgical evil. I don't know what it is called. I don't want to know what it is called. All I know is that it was used to inflict folk Masses on innocent people.

YES I SHOULD BE WRITING MY BA THESIS NOT READING CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC BLOGS I AM HERMITING MYSELF AT JAS' DESK WITH TEA, MY BOOKS, AND ST. NICHOLAS THE MIRACLE WORKER OK BYEBYE.