Mass Review
I’m at the Knights of Columbus State Convention in San Jose. This morning we had the opening Mass. I thought I’d review the music (provided by a choir from Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara).
Selections: B+
Execution: C
Sound: C
Selections were good overall, but there were some notable exceptions*.
You Are Mine
Shepherd Me, Oh God
*Celtic Alleluia (in G. A is the original (& better) key.)
We Remember
*Mass of Creation (Mem Acc A is not the best choice but is the most well known.)
The Summons
I Am the Bread of Life
*Panis Angelicus (Not well known so not a great choice for Communion.)
**Ave Maria (Not liturgically appropriate.)
Canticle of the Sun
Group was a piano & 10 voices. There were ok but not especially skilled. They often didn’t use the written intros & outros for songs. The soloists were warbley. The Lamb of God was confused & only 3 verses were sung, all ‘Lamb of God’.
Panis Angelicus & Ave Maria began at the end of, or after, the Communion procession. Really, one Communion song would have been sufficient if repeated with interlude. Communion song(s) began about 45 seconds late.
Sound problems persisted throughout the Mass, though they did subside a little. Problems included feedback and being too loud/too soft.
There were a pair of sound guys but I’m not sure how skilled they were.
Overall, I give it a C+/B-. But I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and call it a B-.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Frustration #153,282
Complain, complain, complain. Sometimes it feels like that’s all I ever do. But I am not a complainer that is unwilling to work to make things better. And I don’t complain (much) about things in the past that we can do nothing about now. Well, what I do try to point out is that we didn’t take the proper steps then, and if we continue to misstep, we will keep running into the same problems; something about failing to learn the lessons from history or some such thing. (Also something to do with doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.)
I am becoming more and more convinced that I need to redirect my efforts and get a degree in communication. I am equally convinced, and thus dismayed, that any attempt by me to impart knowledge and skills to others will be akin to screaming into a vacuum. Not the Hoover kind; the outer space kind. We all remember the tagline for Alien, right? I am currently advocating for improving the communication processes at my church, but far from being considered or heaven forbid, embraced, I’m getting pushback and explanations/excuses for why things are broken. The implication is that they will continue to be broken and that will be ok.
Someone told me yesterday that there is fear/concern that I will leave the Church. I have been attending a non-Catholic church here in town for a couple of months now. At this other church, I have been welcomed and empowered. I indicate a willingness to get involved and they are putting me right to work. Last night I was asked if I wanted in depth training about how to run some of the technical side of things for one of the services. Compare that to how things work at my church. The chances that someone will welcome you when you come around are better than they used to be. But it still amounts only to a hello at the door. If you are a fallen away Catholic, you get higher priority than if you are a weekly, anonymous attendee. If you tell someone that you’d like to get involved with… whatever, chances are very slim that that message will ever reach someone who can do anything about it, and that’s only if there is someone who could do something about it, which mostly there is not.
And another thing, here we are, well into Lent, and yesterday was the first homily (an explanation of the scriptures of the day and how they pertain to our lives) that we’ve had at St. Stans in over a month. Every Sunday for the past four weeks, what we’ve had instead is someone asking for money. People, this is not feeding us.
I have no intention of leaving the Church. But it’s looking more and more likely that I will end up being just another obligatory attendee at Mass. I’ll probably be getting my spiritual nourishment and fellowship at a place that works harder to provide such things. And here’s the thing, I doubt many people will care.
Oscar Shorts – Animated
Of the animated shorts, I liked the one from Ireland best followed by the one from Spain. The one from Canada was the worst followed by the last one, the long one from France.
Next up, live action shorts.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wedding Day
My friend, Kathleen’s wedding is today. Some days it’s really hard to be happy for others’ good fortune when I am still so sad. Even watching tv shows, there are moments when very suddenly my chest feels empty.
The good news is that in the past several days, I have had a lot of opportunity for reflection. I hope that I have learned something from all of this. Growth is good, right? It’s easy to see where the term growing pains comes from.
My hope today is that I am able to look beyond my own neediness and be happy for Kathleen and Scott.
Something learned over time
So I had a random thought.
Here’s a suggestion for people coming to the end of a relationship. If at all possible, try to avoid breaking up with someone on or around their birthday. And especially at the occasion of their 40th birthday. Sure, it may be unavoidable but like I said, if possible.
Ok. That is all. As you were.
In completely unrelated news, I turned 40 a couple of weeks ago. 🙂
Nothing about nothing
Well it’s been a long time since I wrote anything here. I am just not making the time. As I sit and think about what to talk about, it all seems really futile. A lot has happened but it’s kind of old news at this point.
I guess I’ll try to get back to the fascinating minutia of my everyday life.
I’ve been a little sick. I left work early on Tuesday and was out today. I hope to be well enough tomorrow to make it in. Friday is a holiday so all the work that needs to get done before the weekend has to be completed tomorrow!
And here’s a brief listing of what I’m watching on tv these days.
M – How I Met Your Mother, House, 24, Chuck, Heroes (although God only knows why), Castle.
T – Lost, The Forgotten, The Good Wife.
W – Modern Family, Psych, CSI: NY.
Th – The Office, Survivor, CSI.
F – Smallville.
S – Legend of the Seeker.
I’m also trying to catch up on Mad Men. I’m told I need to watch Caprica.
Twilight, part deux
I have mixed feelings about the sequels to Twilight. On the one hand, the writing has gotten better, there are less of the pages and pages of nothing but staring into each other’s eyes, and we’ve spent more time with characters I’m a lot more interested in than Edward and Bella; characters such as Carlisle and Alice. But each book is sort of formulaic with nothing much happening for the first 85% of the story and then a whirlwind of action for the last bit. This is both good and bad. I’ve learned that if I just endure the bulk of each book, there’s a reward coming. But then again, I do have to endure the bulk of the book.
On the down side, I’ve gotten to know three very annoying people, Edward, Jacob, and above all, Bella. I was practically screaming at her all through the third book. “Bella! You stupid idiot! Let the supernatural types go fight! Your constant whining and worrying about their safety is a real drag. You are very unpleasant to be around. Shut the hell up for God’s sake.” Honestly, the author has done a remarkably poor job of helping the reader to understand what anyone sees in her. And Jacob is a complete tool in the third book. Sheesh!
I’m about 40% of the way through the fourth book and the author may have changed things up a bit. Some of the interesting stuff has happened earlier than in the other books. It’s a departure but it has made me like this one a lot more. One section I really enjoyed is when Jacob broke from his pack to go do the right thing. I was so stunned and off balance that he was manning up, that when moments later, Seth joined him in running to warn the Cullens, I wanted to cry at the breakthrough these idiot characters were having. Way to pull your head out, Jacob!
I have hope for the conclusion of this series. The pacing could be much better but Breaking Dawn is so much better (so far) than the previous books, that it’s like a breath of fresh air. Ok, like breathing smoggy air after living near a factory, but it’s an improvement.
Full disclosure, I am overly harsh on the books. But after being told that I just HAVE to read them, I’m still trying to figure out why.
On motivation for posting
I’ve noticed that I don’t write much except to complain. That can’t be fun reading for you, but I’m guessing that it’s sort of therapeutic for me. When things are going well, I want to be fully engaged in the good times. But when something annoys me, I want to vent about it. Having no actual people who care to hear me rant about stuff, I channel that into writing. Even if I had friends that were willing to listen to me, I am reluctant to subject them to my tirades. I wish I had better friends, the sort that MADE me understand that I could spout off about stuff.
I’m doing something wrong.
Twilight
So my friend, Alyssa, tells me I just HAVE TO READ TWILIGHT. Well, I’m game so I tell her to lend me the book. Trouble is, she doesn’t have the book. She watched the movie then read the three sequels. Alright. So I obtain the audiobook and put it on my ipod to listen to it. It’s about a 14 hour book so it’s going to take a while as I don’t have much time for just sitting and listening. I think the story is ok but the author repeats herself far too much. I swear if I had to hear much more about the color of Edward’s eyes or how frequently his mood changed or his granite like skin, I would have had to quit the book in frustration. And by the way, why does this 100 year old vampire think and act like an adolescent? Ridiculous. The book really picked up some when the second group of vampires showed up and I devoted most of Sunday afternoon to just listening so I could finish the book.
After I finished listening, I decided to watch the movie. Big mistake! The movie made the book seem like a masterpiece work of art. I will put aside the fact that the story was very different because of how truncated it was (I mean rewrites, not just an abridgement). But this little town of 3100 people in the Pacific Northwest has to be the most ethnically diverse town in the country! Every demographic was represented. There was the token this and the token that. And because the storyline was so chopped up, the pace at which things happened made no sense at all. And one more thing I’d like to pick on; Carlisle was so chalky white that any person he ever came into contact with would take one look at him and think, “This guy’s a vampire.” Really it was unnecessarily pasty. In an effort to make it obvious to the audience, it only makes me think how unrealistic it is. Sure, vampires and such may be unrealistic to begin with. But I can accept the premise that vampires exist. What I can’t accept is that in this world, people are blind idiots who don’t blink twice at a guy who’s whiter than any albino.
So I’d say the book was ok but the movie was pathetic. I hope the sequels are better.
Bad boys, whatcha gonna do?
On Sunday morning, I awoke to discover that my home had been burglarized while I was asleep. The perps came in through a kitchen window that they forced open. They took the mobile phone from next to my bed and the ipod from my bedroom. They also took three flash drives, my Playstation 2 and game controller, and about $80 from my wallet. My viola is also missing but I haven’t seen it in some time so who knows. My car keys were on a table inside the front door and with them, the thieves got into my car and took my camera bag with all the equipment therein and the ipod fm transmitter. Other stuff may be missing but it may take time to realize it.
I reported the crime to the police, the neighborhood security patrol, and to a few neighbors.
Monday night at around 1:15, I woke up when I heard shouting outside my home. It was Modesto PD in the process of arresting three teens who had been in the middle of breaking into my house. Within a few moments, several police cars arrived and the officers spent the next hour or so questioning the perps and collecting evidence. It turns out that the neighbor across the street has noticed these dirtbags prowling around my house and called the police. Many thanks to him!
I can only assume (and hope) that this was the same group of knuckleheads that broke in a couple of days before. If so, I may have some slim hope of recovering some of my stuff. I’m hoping for the return of my camera and with any luck, my viola as these were the most expensive items.
