First Published: 2019 January 6
Isaiah 60:4A: “Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you.”
Today’s readings focus on the first time that we see people recognize the Lord in his human incarnation.1 And, as the other readings point out, this is the answer to Isaiah’s prophecy, that “[Jerusalem’s] light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon [it].”2 And, perhaps because I went to a Mass in Haitian Creole, where the priest made a point of mention that the Mass is the same in any language, other than the words themselves,3 that’s the part of the readings I’ve focused on.
The first reading tells us that all will gather and come to see the Lord. And, as the Mass is the same in every language, we can truly be a catholic4 church, one where all can join in the song.5 In this way, the message of today’s readings is especially relevant to the random happenstance of life. It’s nice when that happens.
First Published: 2019 January 05
Today was my first dive meet of the year, and also my first meet since studying abroad. Interestingly, I performed as well as I’ve ever done in the past. It may just be that the judge1 was hoping to make me feel better about myself, which is likely the answer. We’ll find out in around two weeks.
don’t ask↩
First Published: 2019 January 04
Today I made pizza with some friends. It came out really well, which is always satisfying. And, I reaffirmed my knowledge that I really don’t need help making bread anymore.
I tried to follow a recipe that was given to me, but realized I had nothing to measure water or flour with. I guestimated my 12 oz. of water, then just decided that I knew the right texture, so could use flour to that result. I put in too much oil and sugar, but no one seemed to notice or care. So, turns out I can make pizza dough. That’s nice, and I might never actually follow a bread recipe again. We’ll see what happens
First Published: 2019 January 03
I don’t have the mental energy tonight to figure out a real recipe. Instead, here is a recipe for boiled water. This is often used in such dishes as pasta and pasta-related dishes.
Ingredients:
Water: 1 Quart
Salt to Taste
Pour water and salt together in a large pot. Put on high heat until water begins to form bubbles that disturb the surface. Remove from heat.
First Published: 2019 January 03
For nearly 2/3 of this day, I was on a bus. While bus rides are conducive for many activities, in my experience, they tend to be very harmful to writing, especially digitally.
First Published: 2019 January 1
Today I packed for a ten day trip. It’s odd how much less impactful that packing feels now that I’ve left for a semester. Weird.
First Published: 2018 December 31
As I finish this post in the early hours of the morning, 2018 is officially over. And, as of the end of this post, this blog has 125 posts, which is a surprisingly nice and round number for being completely unplanned.1 So, I thought I’d use this to look back at 2018.
2018 was a really fun year for me. Due to it being late, and my having been up for a while, I don’t remember most of it. However, looking back, five big positive events for me this year were: medaling at the Conference Swim and Dive meet, joining the Track and Field team, beginning the bagpipes, going to London,2 and finally having a trimmed beard.
Of these, I think the final will prove to be the most impactful on my life in 2019.3 Since I reflected on five big changes in 2018, I feel like I should also list five things that excite me about 2019, which are:4 learning the accordion, figuring out what I’m going to do after college, being a senior, watching my little brother’s final high school memories being made, continuing to grow at the instruments I’m already taking.
Of course, three5 of the items that were most memorable to me about 2018 as I was writing this post weren’t things that I knew would be happening at the beginning of the year.6 So, more than anything, I’m excited to find out what new and wonderful events will change my life in 2019. In the7 words of the immortal Caesar, venio, video, vivo. In English, that would be:sayI come, I see, I live. If I can’t fail to be pretentious on New Year’s Eve, then when? Anyways, best of luck to anyone reading this, and a happy end of the Christmas Season.
Today marks the end of 2018. As of the end of this post, I’ve posted 125 posts, which is a surprisingly nice and round number.8 2018 was a really fun year for me.
Looking back, some big changes include: medaling at the Conference Swim and Dive meet, joining the Track and Field team, beginning the bagpipes, going to London,9 and finally having a trimmed beard.
Of these, I think the final will prove to be the most impactful on my life in 2019. Since I reflected on five big changes in 2018, I feel like I should list five things that excite me about 2019: learning the accordion, figuring out what I’m going to do after college, being a senior, watching my little brother’s final high school memories being made, continuing to grow at the instruments I’m already taking.
Of course, three10 of the items that were most memorable to me about 2018 as I was writing this post weren’t things that I knew would be happening at the beginning of the year. So, more than anything, I’m excited to know that I don’t know what new and wonderful things will happen to me in 2019.
First Published: 2018 December 30
Luke 2:52: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.”
Today’s readings, as the name of the day would suggest, all focus on family. The first reading focuses on one family, the prophet Samuel’s. We learn that he is offered as a “perpetual nazirite,” or holy one.1
The second reading explains what Paul sees as an ideal family.
Finally, the Gospel speaks of one of the only instances of the Holy Family where all is not perfect. The young Jesus goes missing after Passover, and is found at the Temple. This reading comes from Luke, and like most of Luke, I really enjoy it.
The reading tells us that children are inquisitive, and that is a good trait. It tells us that mothers should show concern for their children. It doesn’t say much about a father’s role, but the reading can’t do everything. And, like much of the dialogue in the Bible, it contains some dialogue that seems hard to picture actually happening.
1 Samuel 22↩︎
First Published: 2018 December 29
As some of you may know, I dive. And, as a result of this, I’ve learned the numbering system for diving. It’s fairly straightforward. For example, 103 means front one and a half. Each time the final number increases by one, the number of half-rotations does as well. So, 104 is front double, and so on. Now, this brings us to a topic of debate among my teammates and I. Should front 5 and one half be 111 or 1011? While in London, I heard that one of my teammates knew someone who threw the dive, so I could’ve asked what the number was. But, I forgot, and now don’t know the number. However, some research I’ve never tried to do before now suggests that the answer is 1011, which is fine, just wrong.
First Published: 2018 December 28
As some of you may know, as a way to kill time and attention, I sometimes draw celtic knotwork. Today, I tried to make a shape that included some interesting breaks. Unfortunately, I realized that the shape required more than one line. To remedy this, I tried some different patterns before asking my father.
After a quick Google search, we learned that1 the number of lines required for a knot is the greatest common divisor of the length and width of the knot. Unfortunately, that didn’t end up being incredibly useful for my piece, but it’s still cool to learn.
for a simple rectangle↩