Home

The Gospel today tells us that in order to follow Christ, we must hate those closest to us, including ourselves. The priest’s homily focused on the idiomatic meaning of hate in this context. Hate is meant instead as a less-preferred option, rather than our general usage of an actually unwanted thing.

I’m reminded of two lessons that have been taught to me, however. The first is that anything earthly is only good only in how it orients us to He who is Good. That is, if love of our family or life keeps us from following Christ, we do need to actively choose to not love them in that way in order to follow Him. I personally cannot think of a better example of hatred than actively choosing not to love.

Of course, this takes us to the second lesson: Christ asks us to be willing to give up everything, not to give up everything. That’s a bit of a narrow distinction for many to understand, but the examples are easy. Imagine two monks, both with a vow of poverty. One owns a single book, which he treasures and refuses to share.

The other owns dozens, at least in theory. In practice, he lends them out constantly, never expecting the book returned. Which of these two monks is living free from material attachments better?

More than that, we are not all called to a life of physical poverty and celibacy. But, if the Lord should demand it of us, we are told that we need to be willing to give anything of ours to Him.

On Handwriting

Draft 1

As I mentioned in my monthly reflection, I finished a journal that I’d been working on for a while. Since I finished it, I went back to look at the other journals I’d written. One of my major goals, back when I started filling these journals, was to improve my handwriting.

I still remember when I was in sixth grade and a teacher was completely dissatisfied with my handwriting. She told me to come back to the classroom after school, where she would fix my penmanship. A few minutes into the practice, she gave up and told me I should go to become a doctor.¹

Other comments like that followed me through most of my schooling. So, when I went abroad², I decided that I could work on my penmanship. It’s really fun to look and see how each of the four notebooks looks notably³ different than the others in terms of writing. The speed at which writing changes has slowed down for sure, even ignoring the fact that each journal lasted longer than the one before.

Still, since starting this journey to good handwriting, compliments of my penmanship happen fairly often, which still feels really nice. I think a large reason I get compliments is that I have a very distinct pen.⁴ Since I was teaching myself to write well as a college student, there was almost nothing which restricted what I can do.

So, I write in all capitals, with the first letter of each word larger. Double letters share everything but a vertical stroke if possible⁵, and a’s are written as a caret with a diagonal line from the bottom right to halfway up the left stroke. The only reason a’s are shaped like that for me is that a professor my senior year told me that he couldn’t read my caret a’s, and I needed some sort of horizontal stroke. This seemed to work as a compromise. For the newest journal, I decided to add a new trait to the handwriting, so now I have the top stroke of some letters⁶ extend across the entire word.

that part I remember slightly less well, but it was definitely a joke, just whether about how common computers were or that doctors have bad handwriting I no longer recall.↩︎
coincidentally when I started this blog↩︎
hah↩︎
is pen the term there? I’ll assume so↩︎
so not in c,s, sometimes e↩︎
t,i,s,c,g,j,f still unsure of b,p,r↩︎

On Running Redux

Draft 1

When last I mused about running, I mentioned that I had achieved my goal of running 3 continuous miles. My goal with that post was to prepare for the race I ran today, which at the time was set to 5.39 miles, but ended up being 5.1 or so. My mile splits were much more regular, and I ended up going faster in my first three miles today than I did in my 5K, which is fun to realize as I write this post.

That being said, I did not train really at all in August. Near as I can tell, I went for a single run in August, which was only about 1.5 miles. Still, I decided I wanted to run the race today, and I managed to run the entire time.¹ It’s really cool to know that I can, in fact, run as long as I end up needing to.

All this being said, I still don’t really love running. I think I’m going to take up swimming again. Expect future musings on that.

for very slow definitions of run↩︎

Monthly Reflection

Draft 1

Wow, once again, I have watched as a month slipped by my life. I finally finished the journal I started in November of 2019 which is really exciting.¹

Overall, I met almost none of my goals, but I’m ok with that. I was having a rough month in a lot of respects, so I’m mostly proud of myself for doing as well as I could. That being said, I’m going to strive to do better this month. So, monthly goals are:

I’ve taken the musical goals off the list because I don’t really know if that’s a goal I have anymore. I certainly want to practice enough to not hold my band back, but that’s not necessarily a quantity thing for me anymore. Now it’s more about learning specific songs.

Though the comments I got on my new, identical-but-for-wear journal have already started.↩︎
maybe friends!↩︎
so still horribly behind but↩︎
and shouldn’t↩︎

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

Luke 14:14 “blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”

Draft 1

The common theme this week I saw was a fairly straightforward exhortation to seek the Lord our G-d. The best way to do so, as the Gospel points out, is through corporal works of mercy. That is, seeing Christ in the poor and needy, and giving to them.

As I thought about the Gospel, something else came to mind as well. We can never repay the Lord for any of the good that He gives us. In that way, striving to be like the Lord means doing good to those who cannot do good to us.

The Second Reading is also powerful this week, especially since I’m currently reading the part of the Bible referenced in it. In this reading, St. Paul reminds us of the difference between seeking Christ and seeking the Father without Christ. Without Christ, the Lord’s presence is too awesome for us to behold.

24 for Twenty Four

Draft 8: 3 August 2023, added final notes and removed some extras!

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition titled n for n.¹ While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,² I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I think that I revisited it a little too infrequently for the hope of intentionality to seep too far. I did feel motivated to try a few more things these past weeks. Now that I’ve completed the list, I think this is something I want to try again with each following year of my life. There are an infinite number of things that I can do, which means there’re an infinite number of things I haven’t done yet.

Draft 7: 26 July 2023, added new notes

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition titled n for n.²¹ While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,²² I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁴¹ have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

Note 26 July: I’ve apparently done twenty three new things this year, which is basically where I want to be. I need to do a single new thing before I turn twenty five, which should be doable.⁴² If I do more things that feel notable, I suppose that I can get rid of some items I don’t feel strongly about/combine them.⁴³

Draft 6: 3 June 2023, added new notes and revised opening text

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition titled n for n.⁴⁴ While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,⁴⁵ I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁵⁹ have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

Note 3 June: I’ve apparently done eighteen new things this year, which is two or three⁶⁰ fewer new tasks than I would like to be at now. My standards are absolutely dropping here, but that is probably ok. After all, I am generally ok with who I am as a person, so remaining myself isn’t anything too bad.

Draft 5: 15 May 2023, added new notes

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition that was titled n for n. While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,⁶¹ I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go. Thus far I really only have one, but I’m hopeful to add more.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁷¹ have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

Note 15 May: I’ve apparently done thirteen⁷² new things this year, which is five⁷³ fewer than I would like to be at now. Either I need to start lowering my standards for what counts as new or I need to start doing more.

Draft 4: 1 December 2022, added new notes

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition that was titled n for n. While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,⁷⁴ I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go. Thus far I really only have one, but I’m hopeful to add more.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁷⁹ have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

Note 1 December: I am now slightly behind which is fine. Now it’s time to start doing things outside of my comfort zone I guess.

Draft 3: 26 October 2022, added new notes

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition that was titled n for n. While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,⁸⁰ I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go. Thus far I really only have one, but I’m hopeful to add more.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁸⁵ have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

Note 26 October: I’m currently even more⁸⁶ slightly ahead of schedule for skills which is fun! I haven’t had to use this list as motivation yet, but probably soon.

Draft 2: 1 October 2022, added new notes

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition that was titled n for n. While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,⁸⁷ I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go. Thus far I really only have one, but I’m hopeful to add more.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁹² have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

Note 1 October: I’m currently slightly ahead of schedule for skills which is fun! At some point I may want to trim down and condense skills, but that’s a problem if I do too well only.

Draft 1

This year I chose not to participate in a yearly tradition that was titled n for n. While what that initially meant is unimportant, what’s important is that I’ve decided to reincorporate the name. Instead of meaning whatever it used to,⁹³ I’m going to try to learn 24 new skills while I’m 24. These can be actual skills, like an instrument or language, or things I just had never done and so had no way to do them. I’ll also include skills I once had but no longer do, such as picking up an instrument I’ve forgotten or doing some athletic feat that I needed to retrain for. I’ll keep this list updated with them, and may remove them depending on how things go. Thus far I really only have one, but I’m hopeful to add more.

Thanks for following me on this journey! I’m hopeful that this will let me reflect on the passage of time more intentionally. I’m also hopeful that it will mean that next summer, when I⁹⁴ have far too few entries, I’ll use some time to branch out and try new things.

e.g. 21 for 21, 22 for 22↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant? /s↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
Note 3 aug, we’re now up to at least three originals↩︎
Note 3 Aug: not enough for retuning, which is my new issue↩︎
3 Aug: I should get back into this↩︎
3 Aug: two now↩︎
3 Aug: which is currently ranked number around 800/43000some on the site. sadly ratings drop me lower now↩︎
which included writing over 80000 words in the span of about a month↩︎
I mean I guess I had done that when I finished the Writathon, but this one didn’t just do two thirds of its plot in the final chapter.↩︎
Which, in retrospect, maybe doesn’t deserve an exclamation point.↩︎
to at least a very low extent↩︎
Twice now!.↩︎
shockingly I think my first one ever.↩︎
3 Aug: Wild I misspelled it and didn’t notice↩︎
which is a lot I think↩︎
I’ve seen improv before, but I’m almost certain this is the first time I went to an event explicitly for the improv, rather than as a part of other things I was going to (though the pizza at the show certainly helped↩︎
e.g. 21 for 21, 22 for 22↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant? /s↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
which is currently ranked number 760ish/43000some on the site. sadly ratings drop me lower now↩︎
which isn’t that much different from NaNoWriMo, but I’m counting it↩︎
which included writing over 80000 words in the span of about a month↩︎
Which, in retrospect, maybe doesn’t deserve an exclamation point.↩︎
to at least a very low extent↩︎
which I did before posting this, whoops!↩︎
and did absolutely terribly, but that was half the fun!↩︎
wow I completely spaced that this is a thing that I did...↩︎
which was fun!↩︎
I didn’t really want to include this, because it’s hard for me to admit that I’m not a swimmer anymore. But, it has been well over two years since my last swim I think.↩︎
which I hopefully will muse about after this. (hmm muse versus blog is something I should revisit)↩︎
shockingly I think my first one ever.↩︎
I also think for the first time, but at least in my memory the first time↩︎
I mean I guess I had done that when I finished the Writathon, but this one didn’t just do two thirds of its plot in the final chapter.↩︎
likely↩︎
though it would be funny to have “lived a year as a twenty four year old”, I will refrain.↩︎
like Writathon and Nanowrimo. They’re basically the same entry I think.↩︎
e.g. 21 for 21, 22 for 22↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant? /s↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
which is currently ranked number 760ish/43000some on the site. sadly ratings drop me lower now↩︎
which isn’t that much different from NaNoWriMo, but I’m counting it↩︎
which included writing over 80000 words in the span of about a month↩︎
Which, in retrospect, maybe doesn’t deserve an exclamation point.↩︎
to at least a very low extent↩︎
which I did before posting this, whoops!↩︎
and did absolutely terribly, but that was half the fun!↩︎
wow I completely spaced that this is a thing that I did...↩︎
which was fun!↩︎
likely↩︎
hey that lowered! then again, most of the tasks I added I had done before 15 May, so this musing is also good as a reflective tool I suppose↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant?↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
which is currently ranked number 630/43000some on the site↩︎
which isn’t that much different from NaNoWriMo, but I’m counting it↩︎
which included writing over 80000 words↩︎
Which, in retrospect, maybe doesn’t deserve an exclamation point.↩︎
which I added after posting Draft 5, but I doubt anyone read it in the thirty seconds between when it went up and my correction.↩︎
likely↩︎
ope that’s an unlucky number↩︎
interestingly, the first time I wrote today’s draft, that number much higher↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant?↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
likely↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant?↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
likely↩︎
isn’t it weird how more slightly means less?↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant?↩︎
I’m not counting the ones I did in college because the only people who came to them were open-mic performers (open mic-performers?), and I never prepared for them↩︎
I’ve done lots of me singing with a piano and the open mic as mentioned above↩︎
1 October↩︎
also at the open mic last week (26 September) we had a guitarist that we’d only run the songs with once and a drummer who just came on stage for our set, so that’s super cool! (Actually, the two of them added a ton to our musicality)↩︎
likely↩︎
truthfully, who can remember what it meant?↩︎
likely↩︎

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

Draft 1

Oh boy is there a lot to talk about this week. The theme common to all three readings was that of the Lord as Father, especially Father of All.

However, there are also other pieces to talk about. The Second Reading was written by Paul to the Jewish people. In it, he reminds us that, just as children may not understand the reason for punishment or discipline from a just parent, so too do we sometimes misunderstand the reasons for suffering in our own lives.

Board Games

Draft 1

This past Saturday I spent more or less the entire day playing board games. It was really incredible.

The day began with a 6 hour DnD session.¹ It was really fun to try an officially published encounter, for all that it lacked the organic feel of homebrew.

After that, I went to a board game night. There I found out that original rules Risk goes significantly faster. I assume this is due to the three following reasons:

More or less, this meant that I had 15 soldiers⁵ to take over Australia. Once I did, I then gained 15 troops from eliminating someone, which spiraled out of control quickly. I think the fact that all of us played an aggressive game also helped.

I then learned how to play euchre. And, then it had been 12 hours of board games!

interrupted briefly and constantly by a small child↩︎
so you don’t have blocs↩︎
so especially with 6 players, it’s just three tokens at a time↩︎
4,8,10,12,15,20,25...↩︎
my allotment plus the 12 from a set↩︎

Supper Club

Draft 1

Anyways, this past Friday I went to my first supper club. It’s apparently a Wisconsin thing. More or less, it felt like a restaurant, with a major difference: you did all the food ordering before getting a seat, only getting a table when your food was ready. It was great to see a friend before they leave Madison!

Sharing a Song

Draft 1

In October of 2018, I apparently wrote about writing a song. Despite the fact that I’ve done a lot of composing, I realize now that most of it happened in the dark ages.¹ As a result, I don’t know that I’ve talked about writing a song at all.

Anyways, I wrote most of a song, which I’ve shared about previously.² I shared the song with the person I play open mics with yesterday, and he liked it.³ It’s really scary to share things you make with people around you, so I’m glad for his reaction. Now I just have to finish it and muster the courage to share it with people at an open mic.

i.e. the period of time between stopping and restarting this blog.↩︎
I don’t remember where, so no links↩︎
or said he did, at least↩︎

Musings

I'm just copying my father

Home

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

Draft 1

On Handwriting

Draft 1

On Running Redux

Draft 1

Monthly Reflection

Draft 1

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

Draft 1

24 for Twenty Four

Draft 8: 3 August 2023, added final notes and removed some extras!

Draft 7: 26 July 2023, added new notes

Draft 6: 3 June 2023, added new notes and revised opening text

Draft 5: 15 May 2023, added new notes

Draft 4: 1 December 2022, added new notes

Draft 3: 26 October 2022, added new notes

Draft 2: 1 October 2022, added new notes

Draft 1

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

Draft 1

Board Games

Draft 1

Supper Club

Draft 1

Draft 1