Levedy

Pop Quiz!

Met with Father John again today at the Greek Church. He's a really nice man, BUT HE GAVE ME A POP QUIZ! He quizzed me on information I haven't studied yet! I missed 3 questions, but on the whole I did okay.

The wort part was this question: What are the seven main sacraments in the Orthodox faith?

Um....er.....well...
1)Baptism
2)Confession
3)Communion

(I drew a blank at this point, and came up with the first thing to come to mind)

4)John
5)Paul
6)George
7)Ringo

We shared a good laugh about it. Then he made sure I could repeat to him what the seven sacraments really were. Sadly, none of them are from Liverpool.

I also asked him what the box of sand was called that propped up the candles that you light before entering the church. He asked me what I called it. I said "God's Catbox." He laughed and said "Well, at least it isn't God's Cathouse. Then we'd have a problem."

Hee hee hee. A priest made a hooker joke. I like it.

Farenheit 9/11

Saw Farenheit 9/11 last night with Dim. Wow. I thought that Kat was being sappy when she said that the movie made her cry. Nope. Bring Kleenex if you go to see the movie.

To Moore's credit, he never used footage of the 9/11 plane crashes. Instead, he makes the screen black and viewers only hear the planes slamming into the WTC. It was really moving to hear the crashes, the screams, and the fluttering of paper.

Moore's impish antics are in the film (most notably his attempts to get congresspeople to enlist their kids in the army and hijacking an ice cream truck to drive around the capitol to read senators the Patriot Act). Much of the time, though, he lets others do it for him. (e.g.- he films Marine recruiters try scary cult-like tactics to get poor inner-city kids to join the military and he films a mother who lost a son in Iraq confront a woman who thinks that the war in Iraq is a sham that's filmed on a soundstage.)

I highly recommend you see the movie. Bring kleenex for use during the movie and a sounding board for use after the movie.

Clean Sweep: Phase One

I’ve put it off long enough. I vowed to clean out the troll room (Closet under the stairs) weeks ago, and today I finally started. The troll room isn’t really good for much except storing my shoes. I have a genetic defect (also known as “irrational case of the crazies”) that prevents me from wearing shoes on carpet; I must take my shoes off whilst on tile. I have a shoe tree inside the troll room that works perfectly. Other items rightfully stored in the troll room are: our K-Mart Christmas tree and Christmas ornaments, gift wrap, and the one winter coat we own.

Things not rightfully stored in the closet include (but are DEFINITELY not limited to: hulks of ten-year old Computers, Dimitri’s nightstand from when he was living with his mother (which includes an interesting assortment of receipts (just in case we want to analyze what we ordered from Chili’s five years ago), unused gifts I do not remember receiving, and more scorpions than I am comfortable sharing a living space with (hereto known as “one.”)

Here's a view of the outside of the closet. There’s more stuff in the closet, but whilst emptying the closet, I found a scorpion running around, and promptly darted to the other end of the living room….to…get…bug spray. Yeah. Bug spray in hand, I returned to the last known location of said scorpion: nothing there but tumbleweeds. No scorpion anywhere. Sweet merciful crap. I sent the cat in, hoping she’d find the bugger, but so far, nothing.

Understand this: when we had the house carpeted and tiled, we specifically chose desert colors that would hide dirt. I only regret the decision when I’m made aware of scorpions and spiders. Darn that “survival of the fittest” crap! Desert bugs tend to be the color of, well, the desert. So, unless the scorpion is moving, say, in hot pursuit of my unshod foot, I’m not going to see it. The scorpion’s best bet is to hold perfectly still. For all I know, Mr. Stingy is chillin’ inside the closet, throwing back margaritas until I can collect enough Raid to bomb the entire area.

Braver people (and I am definitely NOT including myself in this group) would say: “Oh please. Put on long socks and closed-toed shoes and go back to work. Mr. Stingy was only about two inches long at the outside. You’re a billion times his size. He won’t attack you.” Chickens would respond (And yes, I am a card-carrying member of this group): “But Mr. Stingy has a stinger! He could be, uh, rabid. Yeah. And he might be the special kind of scorpion that has wings and can quadruple in size like a puffer fish! He could be the Dirty Harry of his kind! You never know.”

So here I am, trying to write a long post to delay my having to go back into the breech and face my Arachnid foe. I’ll probably put on twelve pairs of socks, boots, and wear some thick oven mitts before I attempt anything more regarding the closet. Wish me luck.

Before I go: gratuitous cat shot of Ruby eating a hawaiian straw hat while she thinks I'm not looking:here

Fun!

Let me know how far you get.

Productivity Update

Oh, man do you owe me one.

What's that smell?

I thought that smell was coming from Hollywood.

Yuk Yuk Yuk

I stopped by Michael's today to look at wedding decorations. I came across two cake toppers that I thought were really funny. I might be persuaded to use one of them.
Option #1:

Option #2:

Muahahahaha!

Enjoy, my state employee friends.

Quizzed by the Priest

Met with Father John today at the Greek Orthodox church for the second of my catachism meetings. I had the feeling that I was going to be quizzed, so I brought along the book that he had asked me to read.

Dimitri got specific questions, like "Where was Pentacost held?" (Jerusalem) "What does (Greek blather) mean in English?" (Communion and Community)

Sure enough, he quizzed me, too. He asked me quite possibly the broadest, most vague question possible:

So, Jennifer, who is God?

Yipe.

Couldn't he have given me the Pentacost question? That one I knew. Noooo, hit me off the bat with the deepest question of the ages. why don't you?

:)

Blather #3

My weekend was relatively uneventful.

Saturday was spent training new SAT teachers. Sunday morning was for church and Sunday afternoon was training again.

I was really nervous about messing up again in church. I had the spot in the liturgy marked so I would know when it was the congregation's turn to turn to one another, kiss each others cheeks, and say "Christ is in our midst" to which I was to reply "He is and ever will be" (not "yup, he sure is" like last week.)

I was ready. I was willing. I was able. The moment arrived...

No one was sitting next to me, behind me, or in front of me.

Drat.

I'm meeting with the priest tomorrow as part of my catechism. I'll tell him about my scaring the natives in church. Maybe he'll get a laugh out of it.

Athena (my future sister-in-law), who directs the choir at the other orthodox church in town, was funny about it. She said, "don't worry. Just point at you're blonde hair. They'll forgive you." See, I'm one of the only obviously non-greek folk at the church, so I stand out like a gringo-sore-thumb.

During the reception after services, a woman who knows Dimitri but who had not met me approached us. Her name is Dina (short for Constantina) and she is the woman who instructed Dimitri to command me "Greek style" to come to church. Dimitri introduced me, but before he could tell her my name, she already had my hand and shoulder and was asking me my name. When she found out that my name was Jennifer, her face fell a little bit. I'm sure she was hoping for Athena or Alexa or Sophia or something equally Greek. She asked me where my family was from. Here, I said. Las Vegas. Four generations. "no" she said. "Where is your family from?" Oh, oops. Ireland. Ireland and England, ma'am. "Well," she says to Dimitri "At least it's European blood."

She was joking, and it was funny, but I did feel like a xeno, a foreigner.

Blather #2

Man, why do wedding dresses have to be so expensive? The cheap dresses I like are about $800 before alteration. Holy matrimony, Batman!

And speaking of wedding dresses, why do 95% of them have to be strapless? What if you're a little modest about the girls popping out to greet your guests? Why do the non-strapless dresses look a)like muumuus or b)like 1980's Dynasty nightmares?

Ack!

Blather #1

I hope that I'm as cool as GB is when I'm 80. I can't stand his politics, and he provided the world with progeny that is stupid and evil (not just evil), but man, is it cool for an 80 year old to go skydiving, or what?

Goodbye Ray

I love your music. Sorry to hear you're headed elsewhere.

Pipe Down Already!

I had dinner with Kat last night, and after admitting to not checking/posting to my blog in a week or so I was reprimanded by Kat on behalf of Jenny and Susan.

I'm pleased that you ladies think my life interesting enough to check up on
every day. I shall try to recap the week:

1)No, I haven't started plans for the wedding other than to pick the date and to reserve the church.

2) I embrassed myself in church (again) by not knowing the proper response when a neighbor said "Christ is in our midst" during the liturgy. She probably thinks I'm an idiot. I'll sit in another pew this Sunday.

3) Got the ring fixed. Had to take it back to the jeweler to get the stone tightened. Now the only probalem is I keep forgetting to put the ring back on when I get out of the shower.

4) Got the oil changed in my car (finally). Not the Anti-lock brake and emergency brake beep and light up sporadically when I drive. Greeeeeeat. I think I'll swing by Jiffy Lube on my way home today and make sure that the grease monkeys actually filled my brake fluid.

5) Saw Shreck 2 and Harry Potter. Loved them both. Can't wait for Stepford Wives this Friday.

6) My teaching sabbatical nears, which excites me. Lindsey pushed it back two weeks, which was kind of a pisser, but the end of the month can't come fast enough.

7) Speaking of pissers, my Palm still won't talk to my computer.

8) I don't understand the hullaballo about Regan's death. Yes, it's sad that an important president died, but I don't think his presidency merits the canonization that the press is portraying. I think that Republican nostalgia has swept the media and lesser-read people are taken in by the hooplah.

9) Found a Cranium game called Zigity in Starbucks. I like it a lot.

10) I got a manicure, Pedicure and Eyebrow-Waxing yesterday. Other than the small wax burn above my right eye, I look socially acceptable again. I still haven't found a good hairstylist since my lady moved to Japan a few months ago. Anyone know a good colorist in Vegas who can touch up my...ahem...naturally blonde hair?

That does it for now. I'll try to be a little better about posting.