Sunday, 23 May 2004 09:25 pm
Massive, punny birthday
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deckardcanineAs of today, I am 22 years old. I always felt funny about being 21, as tho I were lying. Some people lie that they're 22 or 23, but I still feel a little realer now.
Yesterday I went with two close friends and two less familiar OCF members (defensibly all friends) to a Benedictine monastery in Cleveland, where we spent the night. One of us gave them a large check, which turned out to cover a few presents for me: a Scriptural Rosary, a bead rosary, and a metal cross necklace of my choice -- the last of which I had sought but never found in the Oberlin area, which is more likely to carry "Witches Do It in Circles" bumper stickers. It was pleasantly surprising to be shown around by a monk who says "like" and "and stuff." His name is Brother Mario, and believe it or not, none of us noted that he's "one of the Mario brothers" until I told my dad. My only disappointment regarding the monastery is that two friends had acquainted themselves with a young tiger there before, but it's only kept there from August to December.
After evening and morning prayer at the monastery, we attended two churches' Masses, one at a Korean church that was thrilled to have non-Korean visitors. When I told my mom that the service was mostly in Korean, which only one of my friends knew (he's studied at least six languages besides English!), she asked if I followed the Latin any better. To her surprise, there had been no Latin in any Catholic service I've attended, unless you count "Alleluia" or the occasional "Hosanna," etc. Times have changed since she last sampled Catholicism.
So I did eat out with friends for my birthday, specifically at a Vietnamese pho restaurant, where I learned that I'll want to go to more such back in D.C. I mentioned that I could call my parents and say, "I had a pho, pa." They all thought that was the kind of joke their dads would make. As you can tell from above, mine's no exception. Is it particular to his generation?
As it happens, they nearly "fined" me for too many puns in too little time, most of them not my own. I partly blame the one who said more than once that this would be a Mass-ive day. It was, in both senses.
EDIT: My fortune cookie this evening says, "When you speak honestly and openly, others truly listen to you." I'll believe it if someone responds to this entry.
Yesterday I went with two close friends and two less familiar OCF members (defensibly all friends) to a Benedictine monastery in Cleveland, where we spent the night. One of us gave them a large check, which turned out to cover a few presents for me: a Scriptural Rosary, a bead rosary, and a metal cross necklace of my choice -- the last of which I had sought but never found in the Oberlin area, which is more likely to carry "Witches Do It in Circles" bumper stickers. It was pleasantly surprising to be shown around by a monk who says "like" and "and stuff." His name is Brother Mario, and believe it or not, none of us noted that he's "one of the Mario brothers" until I told my dad. My only disappointment regarding the monastery is that two friends had acquainted themselves with a young tiger there before, but it's only kept there from August to December.
After evening and morning prayer at the monastery, we attended two churches' Masses, one at a Korean church that was thrilled to have non-Korean visitors. When I told my mom that the service was mostly in Korean, which only one of my friends knew (he's studied at least six languages besides English!), she asked if I followed the Latin any better. To her surprise, there had been no Latin in any Catholic service I've attended, unless you count "Alleluia" or the occasional "Hosanna," etc. Times have changed since she last sampled Catholicism.
So I did eat out with friends for my birthday, specifically at a Vietnamese pho restaurant, where I learned that I'll want to go to more such back in D.C. I mentioned that I could call my parents and say, "I had a pho, pa." They all thought that was the kind of joke their dads would make. As you can tell from above, mine's no exception. Is it particular to his generation?
As it happens, they nearly "fined" me for too many puns in too little time, most of them not my own. I partly blame the one who said more than once that this would be a Mass-ive day. It was, in both senses.
EDIT: My fortune cookie this evening says, "When you speak honestly and openly, others truly listen to you." I'll believe it if someone responds to this entry.
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I think that this is a strong case for retaining Latin as a liturgical language. One can walk into any church in any country and be able to find one's place in the liturgy.
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You definitely had an interesting one. I visited a monastery when I was in Rome a few summers ago, the Capuchin monastery. The "capuccino" (sp?) was named after them actually. :) Anyway, these particular monks decorate their monastery with the bones of dead monks from the order. The displays were absolutely amazing and actually quite beautiful, keeping in mind I enjoy the macabre. I had my picture taken with one of the monks and he put his arm around me and said, in heavily accented English, "Smile". :) It was a great experience.
Speaking of cryptic fortune cookies, the first time I went to dinner with my then boyfriend, now husband, my fortune read "Stop searching, happiness is sitting next to you".
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This monastery kept monk bones in a glass case, but that was confined enough that I wouldn't say they served to "decorate the monastery." Probably the most beautiful part was the courtyard. I brought a camera on the trip, but being me, I didn't take any pictures. (The last time I did was on an exchange trip to Panama in July 1999, when I had a lot to show my folks.)
In truth, I think fortune cookies only work by being vague, such that they can easily be right by luck. I still like to pretend that some parts of pseudoscience and superstition are for real.
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I remember the same feeling about turning 22, actually. Odd, isn't it?
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