Before you keep reading, watch this video...it's a bit long, but it might put you in good spirits for the sad, disappointing, potentially soul-crushing news to follow. (If you don't have time to watch the entire 8.5 minute video, skip to about 3:06 for the most important part.)
So remember: if you want to get involved with this super sweet project, let me know as soon as possible!
Okay, now that you've seen that, you're ready for something of a bummer. Basically, the Grid Project is dead. As much as I loved doing it for the first several months, I started to get burned out. This isn't to say that I stopped doing exciting/adventurous/good-for-me things...I figured out after the novelty wore off that doing it in such an organized fashion only resulted in doing things out of guilt or obligation instead of the reasons I started the GP in the first place--making myself a better, more well-rounded, adventurous person. I think those are all things that happened, but I have to ask myself:
Is it really worth the guilt/negative feelings? And the answer was a resounding "NO WAY, JOSE! That is quite the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish!"
So...it's done. But I'm okay with it, and I hope you will be too. I'll try to update here more, but the GP updates are no more.
Well, I'm off to do some work stuff...love you, miss you, blah blah blahhhhh!
As promised, here's a little post about the Avett Brothers concert I went to on Sunday night. I originally didn't think I could go, but things rearranged themselves in my calendar and I was able to go at the last minute! A friend of mine was also going, so I called her a couple hours before the concert and we met up with another one of her friends and drove down to the venue together.
Here's a video I took of one of my favorite songs by the Avett Brothers ("Laundry Room"):
I didn't get home until almost 1:00am, but it was totally worth it...it was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to!
And this Thursday, Pasutti is coming into town and we're going to see Ingrid Michaelson again--this time, she's doing a concert at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. It's a good week!
Alright, time to go do something productive! Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!
First, and most importantly...YES, there were literally hundreds of tiny bugs in the pansies and YES, they were out of control so YES, I threw out the flowers. So much for that one. At least I tried? Oh, and my dumb cane (I love saying that) has a tiny mushroom growing in the dirt next to it. I don't know how to fix it...so I figure I'll starve it out--stop watering it for a bit, that kind of thing. A mushroom seems like something that really likes creepy, dark, water-logged situations. So there...we shall see.
Second, and least important of any detail ever...YES, I think I might have accidentally gone on a blind date last Wednesday. I mean, I can't say with 100% certainty, but I just have a feeling that we had different ideas of what kind of casual get-together this was...especially when he paid for my dinner. I went into the situation with the intention of making a new friend...but I'm not exactly sure what he was thinking about the whole thing. Either way, it was terribly awkward. I don't want to talk about it anymore. So let's watch this video instead!
I uploaded a quick video on the 'Tube a little bit ago, so I just wanted to let you know! It's kind of random, but I want to do a few random videos every once in a while just so you know I'm still alive and that I LOVE YOU! So...yeah! You can check out my YouTube channel or watch it below.
I'm heading off to Virginia to see Miss Pasutti today...should be a good little weekend trip! Springtime in this area is gorgeous, so I'm looking forward to the drive as well.
Okay, well...have a wonderful weekend! Love you, miss you, blah blah blahhhhh...
I made these little egg thingies...check it out! And let me know if there's a recipe you think I should make on my next "episode"...and maybe I'll give it a try!
ALSO, it might be best for you to actually watch the video on YouTube so that it's not cut off on the right hand side...and you can do that by double-clicking the video itself. The weird thing is that it's going to open a new window and start playing the video automatically in that one, but it'll also play in the blog one, so be sure to pause it so you don't have a lame echo. Cool? Cool.
Tonight at about 11:00, I decided that I wanted to make some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. So...I did. The last batch actually just came out of the oven! I'm going to let them cool overnight and then whip up some peanut butter frosting in the morning...and bring a dozen to the office. Because let's be honest--there's only so much baked goodness that one person can take!
I found two spiders in my apartment today. When I find a creepy-crawly in the place where I live, I always put them outside because I can't handle the sound bugs make when you step on/squish them. Now, you may (or may not) have heard about my little run-in with the GIANT DEMON CENTIPEDE last week...honestly one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, but OH WELL! Something had to be done, so I manned up and took care of the situation...with a good bit of screaming and shuddering and jumping about. Okay, so when I went outside with the GDC last week, there was a guy coming in from his car or something...I had seen him before coming and going with his two small children (creepy like bugs...children, that is). So anyway, this dude that I don't know at all got to see firsthand how a pansy like me deals with the scary GDC situation. Well, tonight when I brought the first spider out, Random Dude was there again! He actually said to me, "Another one, huh?" and then commented on how it wasn't nearly as big as the last one. God bless him! If I knew which apartment he lives in, I would leave a cupcake at his door in the morning. But alas, like so many saints, he goes unnamed. And alas, if the ants are as big a problem throughout the whole building as I they are in my apartment, that might be terribly disastrous. Or at least very sad. Well, happy for the ants (until I crush them)...so you get the idea.
Okay, that's all for now. I'm actually really tired from all this cupcakin'...so I'm going to do my dishes and then go to bed! But before I do any of that, I would like to show you a very random video:
The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride. ~The Exultet
I'm off to church soon, but I've got a video in the final stages of the uploading process on YouTube, so hopefully by the time you read this, it'll be all processed and ready to go (though I say "hopefully" because sometimes YouTube is on the fritz and randomly stops uploading, so...we'll see).
Imagine, if you will, a beautiful day. All the elements are there--it's warm but not too warm, there's a bit of a breeze but it's not too windy, the birds are singing, there's not a cloud in the sky.
Now imagine, with all those elements in place, that you are walking up a mountain in Italy.
I honestly couldn't have asked for a more perfect day when I went to Subiaco on Sunday. My parents stayed in Rome that day, which meant that I was by myself for the first time in about a week...so here's what I did:
I woke up at 6:00 and caught the Metro to St. Peter's Basilica for 7:00 Mass. Basically, starting at 7:00am, there's Mass going on all day at St. Peter's. When it's not the big Sunday Mass that a bunch of bishops and cardinals attend, there are smaller Masses going on in all the side chapels throughout the place. The one I went to was in Italian, but luckily (okay, not luckily--very deliberately and strategically) I brought my iPod with me, which has an app on it called iMissal. iMissal has all the readings and prayers of the Mass and everything right on it, so I could still follow along, even without knowing the language. I love going to Mass in different countries and languages and stuff. It speaks so well to the truly catholic (think "universal") nature of our Church...but I talk about that in the video a bit, so you can just watch that.
So after Mass, I caught a bus out of Rome to a town called Subiaco. For those who might not be familiar, Subiaco is home to the cave where St. Benedict went as a teenager to retreat from the city life, and where he lived as a hermit for three years before starting up a bunch of monasteries and moving to Montecassino (probably his most famous monastery, where he eventually died). While he was in the cave (known as the "Sacro Speco"), a monk named Romanus would actually lower food down to him in a basket several times a week. Basically, it's really cool...like, the place where Benedict's monastic movement began. So of course, with my Benedictine roots (holla back CSB/SJU!), this was a very meaningful trip for me.
I mention this briefly toward the end of the first video, but it bears repeating: St. Benedict definitely knew what he was doing when he decided to go out to the middle of nowhere to be in solitude. It was an intense walk up the side of the mountain, let me tell you! For the first time on the whole trip, I actually felt like I was on a pilgrimage! And as much as I loved spending time with my parents (haven't seen them since Christmas, after all, and probably won't see them again until July), it was nice to give myself the space to reflect without all the distractions of the city and being a tourist and always having my guard up.
So when I got to the top, I found my friend Andy in the gift shop and he gave me a tour and all that. Andy and I had a class together last year at CSB/SJU, and after graduation, he applied to spend a year with the Benedictine Volunteer Corps. He ended up getting placed at the monastery up at the Sacro Speco and prays and eats with the monks there, gives tours, works at the gift shop, and does other random stuff (...and his Italian is really good!). So it was fun to spend a litte bit of time with him and the lovely monks up there. I even got to eat lunch with them--and have some delicious cake afterward!--before catching a ride back to Rome with one of the monks (who is actually from St. John's Abbey in Minnesota).
Upon my return to the city, I was dropped off at a metro station which I took to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. It's a huge, beautiful church with some sweet frescoes and terrible bathrooms. There is a set of stairs on either side of the high altar which lead down to the "Bethlehem Crypt," a small area with benches, facing a relic of the Holy Crib of Baby Jesus. I spent some quality time down there--even taking a walk around the rest of the basilica before feeling pulled back there to pray a Rosary for everyone back home.
That night, we had a fancy schmancy closing dinner with the folks from my dad's company. It was actually really fun, mostly because they had a little band (accordion and all) and some girls who were dancing around in pretty dresses while playing the tambourine. The food wasn't bad either, haha...
All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend my last day in Italy. I already miss it there...in fact, I even went online today to try and find some airline tickets for a trip next year. But maybe I'll wait a bit--I spent plenty of money this last week, and I need to do things like pay off loans and buy groceries and pay my rent and other fun stuff...so perhaps I'll wait a couple of years before I jet off to the Eternal City again. All I know is...I'll be back someday!
Here are the videos from my last day in Italy:
Please know that I was thinking of you and praying for you throughout my entire pilgrimage to Italy...it was truly my privilege to bring you and your prayer intentions along with me! I will continue to keep you in my thoughts and prayers throughout the rest of this Lenten season--may it be blessed and fruitful for you!
I'm writing this from my apartment back in the Burgh...the second half of the trip was really crazy, and I wasn't able to keep up with my blog, so I apologize.
Friday started out really rough. Mom had been pickpocketed, and we were all a bit bummed about that. On the train, the person who was checking everyone's tickets tried to fine us 50 Euro for not having validated tickets (simply because we didn't know they needed to be validated, but obviously we would have if we had known we needed to!). And since we were pickpocketed (GO FIGURE), I was the only one with cash, and only 25 Euro at that. And THEN the lady said that if we didn't pay 50 Euro on the spot, we would have to mail in 100. WHAT?! After a conversation which consisted of me telling my dad to stop swearing, Mom trying to show the lady our receipt, and me translating on the spot as much as I could, she left and didn't end up coming back (thankfully!) but the whole thing still put us all in a terrible mood.
So weren't we relieved when we arrived in Assisi! For one thing, the pace in Assisi is much slower, which was a wonderful break from the chaos of Rome. The taxi driver was so lovely and kind, and he even talked to us and gave us a map and told us of some good places to visit while we were in town. It's hard to explain, but the whole time we were in Assisi, I just felt such a sense of peace--and I think it had everything to do with the intercession of the saints who had lived there so many hundreds of years ago. We were able to visit the tomb of St. Francis, as well as the place where he established the Franciscan order. We wanted to go into the Basilica of St. Clare (she's buried there), but it was closed at the time so we couldn't. I guess that means I'll have to go back!
This place reminded me of the importance of taking time for quiet throughout one's day. St. Augustine said "God, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." So many times I think I just expect to feel at peace in the midst of chaos. As if out of the blue, a sense of calm will just overtake me and everything will be fine. But more often than not, things just don't work that way. I have to search out that peace, dig a hole in my day to find it. And in this case, my parents and I had to get on a train and travel for two hours to find it.
And that's also one of the main reasons I chose to wake up early and pray as my Lenten resolution this year. I literally roll out of bed and into my prayer corner, where I just sit for half an hour. And while I was able to have a little quiet time to myself while I was in Rome, I'm almost relieved to be back in the States, where I can roll out of bed each morning and greet the day by offering it to God. I love being spontaneous, but after a while, I yearn for routine and stability.
Saturday was a wonderful day. In the morning, we went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel, which was at once both overwhelmingly beautiful and slightly overrated. It would have been easier to reflect and enjoy the space had it not been for the dude working there who kept shouting over everyone, "SILENCE! NO PHOTO! NO VIDEO!" But all in all, it was some pretty intense art.
Then we went on the Scavi tour, which led under St. Peter's Basilica to the tomb/bones of St. Peter, which are located directly below the high altar of the church. That was a really important moment in my life, I think, and I explain about it a bit in the video, but I want to say a little more about it here. Our guide (a student at the North American College--where we visited Deacon Craig) was telling us about how Peter was buried in a "poor man's grave"--but the whole reason for the existence of St. Peter's Basilica, in all its grandeur and magnificence, is to recognize the simple place where Peter was laid to rest. Here's the thing: Peter was a bumbling idiot. So were most of the Apostles. And if God can work with that, if God can lift up someone so humble, and miraculously give him the ability to do monumental things for the glory of God, give him the ultimate responsibility of leading the entire Church...what can God do with me, and with you, and with all of us together? Let me tell you something, there's hope in that.
I'll include my Day Four and Five videos here for those who haven't visited them on YouTube. I noticed that the edge is kind of cut off, so I think if you double-click the video itself, it'll open a new window and take you to the YouTube page where you can see the whole thing.
Day Four:
Day Five:
My next post will be about my last day in Italy, when I visited Subiaco and spent a little time there with my friend Andy. But for now, I'm going to get ready for work...wait, what's that again? Should be an interesting day...especially considering that the time change has messed with me a little bit and I was up at 4:00 this morning (which is 10:00am in Rome).
Thanks for reading, and I'm sorry that this post is so belated...love you, miss you, blah blah blah!
As you may (or may not) have guessed from the title of this post, I have made the video for Day Three in Rome! It includes the Colosseum and a couple of really sweet churches.
One correction of note: In the part about San Clemente, I mentioned that it's built on another older church, and there's an ancient Roman road underneath. WELL! Turns out that along with that road, there's also a house and a spring--but most significantly, the church was built directly over a pagan temple. Quite the symbolism, eh?
I actually have things to say about my trip to Assisi today...but that'll have to wait until the next post when I can get the video created and uploaded. :)
So this one time, I saw the Pope. And now you can, too! Here's the first half of the day, including the part of the Holy Father's address that he gave in English--it's about St. Bonaventure.
And here's the second half of the day!
I wish I could spend more time actually reflecting on things in the blog...but things are nutso around here, as you can imagine. I'm heading off to dinner right now, and tomorrow we're going to Assisi for the day--so I'll try to get today's post/video up either tonight or tomorrow morning! Lots of good stuff to look forward to in that one!
I want to talk briefly about something in that video, namely the sculpture of the Annunciation in the wall of the church. It was so beautiful...and because of the time of day when we were there, this bright light was shining on the angel. The thing that really stuck out to me, though, was the look on the faces of all the angels. There's a whole bunch of them gathered around the scene...and almost every single one is staring at Mary with this look of anticipation. Even God the Father is staring down as if he's got his fingers crossed and he's saying, "Is she going to say yes or no? Please please please..." The entire heavenly kingdom is holding its breath, waiting to see if she's the one they've been waiting for. And you can tell she's really thinking it over, too. That's the thing I love about Mary--not once did she ever take this decision lightly. But then again, I guess bearing the Son of God isn't really something to take lightly...
Okay, it's 7:15am local time in Rome, and I am going to eat breakfast and go hang out with the POPE!
If you know me at all, you know that I'm a big proponent of snow. But right now, I would really like for it to go away. I'm sure things will be fine by Monday...but I'm still really nervous, particularly for the part of the trip which involves Philadelphia. They've gotten positively slammed with snow these last few days (the good folks on the Weather Channel are calling it "February Fury," dun dun dunnnnnnn!), and the Philly airport has had to cancel hundreds of flights. So hopefully things will be back to normal soon...at least soon enough for me to leave the country, suckaz!!
I have uploaded my very first video to YouTube:
I know, I am officially a dork--not that I wasn't before...well, I DON'T CARE! So go ahead! Subscribe to my YouTube channel! See if I care! (Hint: I won't!)
The video above is sort of a test run so I could get an idea of how long it takes to process videos and all that...so keep on checking back for EXCLUSIVE NEW VIDZ from J. Johnz! And maybe I'll keep doing them when I get back...depends on how motivated I am, I guess. I just want to be a real live MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZAAAAAAAA!
I went to a local high school's production of Beauty and the Beast tonight. It was lovely--a handful of my youth group kids were in it, so I thought it would probably be a good idea to go. That and I really love Beauty and the Beast. In fact, I was planning on going last night with Erin and her BF, but the weather was TRECHEROUS and I didn't feel like dying in the snow...and they already had other plans for tonight, so I went by myself and sat in front of some annoying girls who snuck food in via the LOUD PLASTIC BAG OPENED FREQUENTLY DURING THE FIRST ACT method.
Anyhow, tonight was a great performance...except for one unfortunate part. As the second act was beginning--and this is after the little music thing (overture but not?) had already started--there was a little bit of an oopsie. What happened? Well...the curtain wouldn't open. They even tried to be cool and do the first scene in front of the curtain to stall so they could fix it, like it was on purpose or something...but finally they had to stop everything and this dude in a suit came out and was like, "Give us ten minutes." So we did. And a bunch of dudes from backstage got this huge ladder and fixed it and everyone cheered and the show went on! It was all around a great show...it made me want to do theater again.
Okay, that's all. Watch the video (or don't)...and send me your prayer requests before Monday!
Yesterday, I spent some high quality time on airplanes and the like. I was greeted at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport by my friend S. Trish from St. Ben's. She was kind enough to bring me to the St. Cloud area, which was about an hour and a half that my mom didn't have to drive. After a bit of shopping (wahoo...), Mom and I drove the three hours up to B-Town. I spent a bit of time with some high school friends and two kittens, and then I went to bed because I was super tired from being awake for about...18 hours. Yesterday morning, I slept in until 10:30, then I had lunch with another one of my high school friends (SUP, MATT?!), got a haircut (yayyyyy), bought some books, mailed the rental car key back to Pgh, had dinner with some of my parents' friends, and watched It's A Wonderful Life with Tibby. I had never seen it before, so that was fun. I guess it's one of those things everyone is supposed to do...so I'm just catching up.
Okay, I don't understand children. The couple we had over for dinner last night have a two-year-old GENIUS of a daughter, and she actually asked who I was because she didn't recognize me. And after that, I basically had a leech clinging to me all night. She was super cute, but it was weird. Like, she was with me ALL THE TIME for a couple of hours. We played with some giant blocks and named the three wisemen in the nativity set (Pete, Sammy, and Charlie) and played the "What's that?" game with the objects on my Mika shirt and annoyed the cat. I don't know what her deal was...I thought children could smell fear?! Hmm.
I know I've been kind of big on the videos lately, but I don't care...and if you have a problem with it, you can just go chew on a stick!
Love you...hope you have a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas! Enjoy your time with family and friends--I know I am! And right now, I have to make a last-minute grocery store run...gotta love the Christmas Eve insanity.
The lock-in went smashingly, in my estimation...despite the sickitude and everything. Pittsburgh FINALLY got a decent snowfall in the middle of the night (actually really dangerous with the hills and all, but fun for us...) and so we had a snowball fight at 3:00am. I wish I could have taken pictures, but you know what they say: "Live for the memory, not for the photograph." Well...that and "I forgot the camera inside." I think the kids had a really good time, and they did a great job of keeping the cell phones out of use all night so that they could get to know each other. And even though midnight Mass was, well, at midnight, it seemed like the they didn't hate it...they even sang along with the music, which was AWESOME since I had almost lost my voice by that time! And Fr. Bob was great--I was pleasantly surprised when I asked him about the lock-in about a month ago and he agreed to say midnight Mass for us. He joked in his homily that it was just practice for this upcoming week (Christmas Eve).
And did I mention that the youth room looks SWEET?!?! I'm hoping to start having Open House Hours starting at the new semester--basically, a few hours after school a few days a week when kids can come and hang out in the youth room, do homework, play games, chat, etc. The folks I've talked to seemed really excited about it, so that's a good sign so far.
Last night at our first annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party, we came up with a new name for the youth group, to replace St. Teresa's Youth Ministry starting in January. So now we are called The 412--not just because it's the Pittsburgh area code, but also in reference to 1 Timothy 4:12, which reads: "Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity." BOMB!
So after 25 hours awake with a cold, I went home at 8:30am on Saturday and crashed for about ten hours before getting up around 6:30pm...then I wasted time for seven-ish hours and went back to sleep from 2:00am until 9:30am on Sunday. And from then on, my body was like, "Okay, I guess I will sleep at normal times."
So it's about a MILLION ZILLION degrees in my apartment right now...and here's why:
Keep in mind that I'm getting on a plane to Minnesota tomorrow, so of course I left all my laundry until now, which led me to turning the heat up and using my Hello Kitty hair dryer (so the process will go faster). And that was just the first load!
That said, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and I'll catch you on the flip side...most likely next week when I get back to the Burgh!
I can't sleep...so I thought I would do something productive, like make a little video to show you what my apartment looks like! Wahoo! So without further ado, here it is! (Sorry about how long it is...there's just so much to see! Haha...)
Yep. That's really about it. I have a big day tomorrow, so I'm going to head to sleepy-land now. PEACE!
