New Jersey Update: Saturday

So the last day in Jersey is completed. We went to the abortion clinic again in the morning. Nothing new to report... we got more fingers and swearing this time though. We then came back to the house, had a lunch and went out. We went to Target with this "Ix" kid. She was not as revolutionarily strange as had been advertised, but seemed nice enough all around. Typical Ann Arbor 16-year-old anime-obsessed slash-writing girl, I guess. Claire bought the "adult" (i.e. grown-up, not sketchy) version of Apples to Apples. I bought X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, because it finally got down to $20.

When we got back to the house, Mark and I put the first layer of paint on some siding that the Gilligans are putting up. We then had to leave for "Mass". I say "Mass" because we actually went to Divine Liturgy. It was pretty awesome. It was a pretty small (though it was the Saturday vigil) parish called St. Elias (named after Elias Magnus himself, Aaron Harburg). The architecture, mosaics and icons were beautiful. Their liturgy is also very good. There are many prayers in it that I wish we had at least equivalents to in the Roman rite. We certainly made at least one old woman's day, even though I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt (my dress-clothes were beyond dirty...). That sort of thing is always worth it. Showing them that there's still youth in the Church, y'know. It's one of the reasons that I love going on retreat where we do: it's a powerful witness.

So after that, we came back to the house (stopping only to get some flowers and a card for Mrs. Gilligan) and had a great (delayed) St. Patrick's Day dinner. Corned-beef and cabbage. I love them both super equally. After dinner, Mark and I put on the second coat of paint while the girls did some vacuuming. Everyone played about three games in a row of Apples to Apples then. It was a lot of fun. I won the first game, Susanna won the second and I forget who won the third. It is a very fun game and I am glad that Claire will be bringing it back to Steubenville.

So, on the whole: New Jersey was a lot of fun. We did a bunch of awesome things and none of us got in any huge fights. There was surprisingly little "I'm sick of being around you guys all day" friction, or else it all went over my head. I am definitely ready to get back to school though. Breaks are a lot of fun, but only when they end. That is the entirety of my tired thought of the day: all good breaks need to end sometime. This one was very good, and is ready to be over.The last thing that we did tonight (just got done with) was watching Aladdin. Disney's Aladdin. It was about 10 years since I last saw it, I think. At least. It is a very enjoyable film still, and probably one of my favorites. Anyone who says that Disney/Pixar only started making movies for older people with Shrek hasn't rewatched the old classics. I think that it's only after like, Hercules or something that Disney movies became /entirely/ insipid. At least, that's when I stopped watching.

The platitude of the day was: "Priests/religious are 'married to the Church'." I realize that I forgot to list the other various platitudes of the day that have occurred throughout the week... um... I don't remember most of them this late, but maybe if you ask me later I will.

Hesychia,
-L