Goings on

The time betwixt my last substantial post and now , though it may have looked like I was a lethargic laconic bum, was quite filled with events which were, to be quite honest, more than a worthy reason for only now taking the time to set them down in the so many words which will comprise this post for your reading pleasure. That does not mean to say that they will be necessarily interesting to the reader, but the fact that you are here reading anything on this site shows that you have a slight curiosity into the goings on in my live. And so for my own posterity, and to propitiate my wide readership who have clamored in my absence for some account of why I have not posted, I will now relate to you the events that have transpired.

The first notable event would have had to occur about two days after that most sacred of purely American holidays, this being the fourth of July, when for the first time since I can remember, the YFL meeting was changed to the first Wed. of the month. This, though a break from tradition, was most welcomed as it allowed us to have as guest speaker Michael Patrick Cassabon, cousin to the German spouting Great Curtis, and a seminarian who is studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. This was not the first time that I had ever had the opportunity to hear him talk, as we had met him about two or three years ago, and him being my brothers confirmation sponsor, we hear get a ring from on the telephone quite frequently. That being said, it is always so refreshing being around him because he is so knowledgeable and solid when it comes to the Catholic faith and so, to quote myself, “ I love listening to, and talking to Michael Patrick. He’s such a brilliant person with a great gift for talking in a eloquent and commonsensical manner that makes you fall even more in love with a faith that’s already very dear to you.”

While he was here, Michael also put on a guy’s retreat, which was held at the wonderful Curtis household. I won’t go into much detail about the actual retreat, as it was meant or guys and due to the fact that I’m still digesting a lot of the things that he talked about. He talked about a lot of things that I really needed to hear, and count myself lucky to have a friend in him. To every guy out there who couldn’t make it, suffice it to say you missed a wonderful experience.

The day after the retreat Alex, Kelby, and I joined up again with Michael, the Russell crew, The Perkins, Cow, and Paul to do some bowling down in the Lynwood area. A great time was had by all as we continued to prove how little we engage in this pastime. Perkins surprised every one by being a natural, and we all marveled at how easy he made it look. After two and a half games, we headed over to the Russell abode for a scrumptious dinner of “rum” French toast, cooked by Senior Vacca and Claire, and a game of Loaded Questions, which proved quite hilarious. We then decided to go to the Novena mass at the Carmelite convent in Shoreline, which was wonderful as it had been forever since I had been there, and because Michael needed to go to Mass as he wasn’t going to have a chance on Sunday.

After mass, we decided that we should head on over to a Starbucks and get some coffee for the drive home, and ended up sitting inside talking until they closed. After they had kicked us out, we proceeded to stand out in the parking lot and talk for another good hour and a half. I immensely enjoyed this as I got to talk not only to Michael, but Hannah too, who I had not had a chance to really talk to since she came back from school.

The next event which deserves some verbage was the Russell family joining my family at the Black hole of Sanity for dinner on the last Sunday eve past. This was rollicking good fun as it was the fist time the Russells had been to our new home, and they are only the second family we have had over for dinner so far. By far the most noted events of that night were when we played Badminton with eight people and three birdies, which turned out to be highly chaotic and immensely fun, and when we broke out some music and started dancing out on the lawn. Those Russells are always good for some highly enjoyable company and some vigorous dancing ;)

After the Russells left that night it was straight to bed for me, as I had an early appointment with the open road the next day. After four hours of gorgeous sleep, my alarm sounded to me the fact that if I was to make the trip ahead of me in the time frame allotted, that now was the time to get up. And so at two a.m., I was on the road to Spokane.
~We’re off on the road to Spokane
That beautiful town in the East
Where the sun it shines so bright
That is hurts your sight
Like me, myself, and I
I’m Spokane bound~
I couldn’t help throwing that in there, as any of you who have seen the Road to series will understand. As for the purpose of this trip, it was to take the assessment test for the college that I plan on attending over there. I won’t go into the specifics, but I will say that I did about as well as I expected. Not much else to report.

In other news, I’ve also been getting more flying in, and have successfully added another three solo flights to my credit. It was a little eerie at first flying and doing my maneuvers and landings all by myself, and I must admit that at first I made a lot of mistakes. But this was the purpose of my instructor sending me out solo, to teach my not to use his as a crutch whenever I’m flying the airplane. Not that I had had much of a problem with that anyway. But its paid off, as each time I’ve gone up I’ve gotten progressively better, until today when I went out and made ten really good landings out of twelve. I was quite please with that fact, and am looking forward to learning some new and exciting things now that I have reached this level of my training.

I continue to grow more excited as my trip to Germany draws closer. It is now only eighteen more days until I and “The Weasel” leave, but it seems like its taking forever for that gap to lessen. Hurry up and get here August 8th!!!!!

And that’s about all the news that is news for now. I will try to be a little more faithful in my postings, but I ask you to be patient, as I have to write my updates at home, and then find time and drive down to our public library to post them on the internet. I will try to get a few more in before I go to Germany, and circumstances permitting, I may even write you a post from there. Until our next cyber- spacial meeting, I will leave you with these profound words

~To experience the bittersweet
To taste defeat
Then brush my teeth

‘Cause I struggle with forward motion
I struggle with forward motion
We all struggle with forward motion

‘Cause forward motion is harder than it sounds
Well, every time I gain some ground I gotta turn myself around again~ From Relient K’s song Forward Motion off of the album Two lefts don’t make a right… but three do