Thursday, April 20, 2006

Being an Orthodox Christian, oftentimes I don't celebrate Easter along with the rest of the Western world. The Orthodox Church is on a different calendar, which means that we follow different guidelines for when Easter will be held. This year, we are a week behind the Westerners. So right now we are in Holy Week, and the anticipation is still building- we're not there yet (although I must say I never experienced a whole lot of anticipation as a Protestant, except that choir rehearsals got to be more frequent). There are services every night this week, and tonight has got to be one of my favorites.

But I feel a little strange saying that this is my favorite service, because ultimately I think it sounds like "I love that part when they kill Jesus". Tonight is all about the crucifixion, and the cross is taken around the church, and the service is incredibly somber (and very long). But of course it is extremely emotional, in a subdued sort of way, and the resolution comes only after 3 days of waiting, just like it did in real life. The services between now and Saturday at midnight are ones in which Christ is taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb, and you have to wait until that midnight service on Saturday to celebrate the culmination of it all: the resurrection. There is no way for me to express what an experience this is, it's just incredible. I almost want to warn people against asking me about it, because I know how much time I will take to explain it. But I highly recommend that anyone with any religious inclination take part in this week of Orthodox services sometime in their life. It's beautiful.

At 2am Sunday morning I will be eating meat, cheese, chocolate, and drinking alcohol, with the words Christos Anesti! on my lips.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Scrabbular Fun
I recently pointed out to Mike how we may just be the world's biggest nerds (I have starred all parts of the following story that classify as true-blue nerdliness):
On Saturday night, we decided (well, Mike decided) that we should do a little church-hopping* that evening. We had nothing else to do, our adventures in cleaning* had come to an end, and even though I was entirely wrapped up in my book*, Mike got me out of the house with him. We have two churches that are within walking distance from our house, so we walked* (I don't really think walking is nerdy, but because we weren't cruising in a sweet ride I will classify it as such) to the nearby Lutheran church, especially since the pastor is a family friend* (again, not nerdy in my opinion, but it probably is for others). But the only thing happening there was cleaning, and we had already done our share for the day*, so we set off for the Episcopal church* (2 churches in one night? Seriously.) We got there during an Easter vigil, and Mike recognized a few professors*. We didn't stay for very long, but we were really excited when the Easter homily by St. John Chrysostom was read*. When we got home, we decided it would be fun to play Scrabble*. I was trying to find a word* that would connect a G and the word Wipe*, and came up with gaswipe*. We had quite the chuckle about it*. And we told other people about it and laughed*. And we brought it up today (twice*) and laughed*.
At least I am comfortable with who I am.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Having done my fair share of surfing MySpace and other blog sites (although I'm not sure MySpace qualifies as a blog site- it's more of a meat market/high school reunion), I have come to find a few typical characteristics that irk me.

The first irksome thing is the profile section and the way that about 73% of all people fill it out. "I am just a fun (guy/girl) who likes to have a good time and is looking for someone who knows what they want". Blah- thank God I'm not single and looking on the Internet (which I am somewhat ashamed to admit I have done before, albeit inadvertently). I honestly think that creativity in general is diminishing more and more (increasingly diminishing?) as time goes on.

My second pet peeve is the acronyms. Again- creativity, out the window. Why does lol have to be a part of the sentence structure? For instance: "my dog is so cute lol he just lays around all day lol". It's not a word- it doesn't even make sense if you actually say it. I know I can't compain too much, I was like this too, but come on! If you are over the age of 16, your lol privileges should be revoked, I'm sorry.

Of course, I do like the benefits of sites like MySpace. I have gotten in touch with people I hadn't talked to in years. And then they used LOL in a sentence, and I blocked them (just kidding- oh, sorry: jk).

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

If my hair were its own human being, it would definitely be an awkward adolescent going through puberty right now. It is growing, but it is at the point of just being ugly and weird. I don't want to cut it, but it is making me crazy at the moment. I had layers, and now the layers look more like a shaggy dog than anything. But I will stick it out, and knowing me, in about a month I will cut it anyway.

Tragedy has occurred this evening. My hubby informed me that Law and Order SVU will not be shown tonight. Instead, a wannabe drama that pales in comparison to the likes of Stabler, Benson, and Fin (Ice T- Cop Killer), will be shown in its place. It's called Conviction and it's lame. I don't know what NBC is trying to do to me. Last week they cut The Office for the other new show, Teachers, which is equally lame. If you have to stick a new show in a good show's slot to get ratings, then it obviously isn't worth the time. We still have Scrubs tonight, but Tuesday just is not the same without SVU.

Considering all of the innovative things that are happening in TV Land these days (TiVo, podcasting, etc.), we are REALLY behind the times- we still have an antenna, and we still have to get up and fenagle it for each of the 4 channels we sort of get (not counting the Christian channel that sells Miracle Spring Water). I don't mind it too much, except when Mike has to drag the antenna to the bedroom, I have to report to him how the picture looks, and a pair of pliers actually has to get involved- all just to watch the Simpsons.

Anyway...time for Scrubs.
Do I get the thing that is floating in my tea out of my tea, or do I just drink it?