catholics are so weird that people have to make up stupid sayings like this one just to keep up with all the things we are required to do. yes, i say we because *whispering* i'm catholic!! i know, i know... if you know anything about me this would be hard to believe. because i don't go to church. and i think we are all a big bunch of freaks with our chanting and bowing and kneeling and recitations. yes, recitations. if you've ever been to a catholic service you know what i mean. you are finally getting used to standing up and down with the crowd without looking like you've fallen asleep and have no idea what's going on (because you don't) when suddenly everyone launches into what i call "the script". it really freaks some first timers out. for us, it is second nature.
and no, i'm not a C&E either. i think it would be even more hypocritical for me to only go to church on holidays like christmas and easter. anyway, what kills me are some of the things i've heard in public over the last few days. first off, you have to remember that most of the people i see during the day are adults who can't even figure out the basic functions of a cell phone or rules surrounding a cell phone plan. that is code for ignorant. i've heard numerous non-catholics commenting on the pope's death, about how they are so sad/upset/surprised and saying things like well, he was, like, the closest man to god. uh-huh. that may be true... for catholics. but it really doesn't have anything to do with anyone else. and if they'd paid any attention to the pope in the last coupla years they would have known that he's had one foot in the grave for some time now and that this didn't come as some big, shocking surprise. really, the pope was pretty much the king of the catholic faith. but all this ignorance aside, he was pretty important to everyone because, despite some of the underhanded things that the catholic church does to cover its own ass, a lot of good things are done in the name of and with the full power of the pope. so... yay pope john paul!! you done good. peace be with you.
anyway, that picture up there is my personal pope dot. it was the only first hand experience i had concerning the pope. i went to rome as part of a trip i took in hs and got blessed in person by the pope in st. peters square along with what seemed like a million other people. it was kind of weird... they pretty much made us wait around for a long time, then threw open this window, threw out a tapestry and a white dot appeared. a voice came over a loudspeaker (kind of like a god voiceover actually) and i got blessed in italian, spanish and some other languages i think. so i snapped a picture (while praying along of couse) and got my pope dot. for all i know, that could be someone else completely up there... but i guess you just have to take it on faith.
and speaking of being catholic, i apparently am catholic enough to be my neice's godmother but not to do it without having to go to a class first. you have to have a letter from your parish saying you are a good catholic or some crap like that. and since i don't have a parish i have to attend the crash course refresher on how to be catholic some sunday in april. no big deal, only an hour out of my time... but it still seems silly. huey is all upset because he wanted to be a godfather but can't because he definitely isn't catholic.
oh... and i get to go down to atlanta motor speedway. apparently signing up all those years in the bars with the marlboro reps has finally brought me something useful. i was chosen to go, with a guest, and ride (but not drive) around in a car around the track at race speeds. from what i hear, this is about 130 mph. this is going to be soooo incredibly bad ass. i get to go in two weeks so i'll be pretend race driving to work for the next two weeks i'm sure. apparently they put you in a fire suit and sign a release and everything in case there is a fiery crash. all this seemed to me like just legal mumbo-jumbo to cover their own asses until huey's brother bryan piped up with one of those girlfriend's coworker's sister's cousin's grandmother stories about how someone he doesn't know but heard about died. i refuse to be concerned.
anyway, between that and work i plan on keeping pretty busy. baseball season starts again soon. i'm already planning an outing to that. i just don't know when. i'm glad college bball is almost over. tech did so-so this year, got out of the tourney early and i've been bored with it since. at least they've had the world cup qualifying games on lately. and in HD they look so damn yummy. i missed hockey this year though. ah well... conflict is what sports are all about.
catholics are so weird that people have to make up stupid sayings like this one just to keep up with all the things we are required to do. yes, i say we because *whispering* i'm catholic!! i know, i know... if you know anything about me this would be hard to believe. because i don't go to church. and i think we are all a big bunch of freaks with our chanting and bowing and kneeling and recitations. yes, recitations. if you've ever been to a catholic service you know what i mean. you are finally getting used to standing up and down with the crowd without looking like you've fallen asleep and have no idea what's going on (because you don't) when suddenly everyone launches into what i call "the script". it really freaks some first timers out. for us, it is second nature.