I’m not dead yet.

Things have been crazy lately. I should have many things to share soon. I have several projects (some of them secret) cooking, which I will bring to light when it becomes possible.

I signed my petition for ordination today.

I got a new red chasuble today. It was a very reasonable price, but when I saw the tag on it, I found out that the place I got it simply resold it, so it turns out that I could have gotten it even cheaper. In any case, the quality is a bit better than I expected. It’s not top-shelf, but it’s decent, and it looks great.

I debated with myself about whether to buy any vestments at all. I mean, whatever parish I’m assigned to will have something. On the other hand, I thought it would be nice to own at least one set of decent vestments. Plus, many parishes will be missing things like burses, chalice veils, and maniples. The next question was: what color? Well, considering that my first Mass as a deacon was Pentecost, and my first Mass as a priest will be … Pentecost, I thought red made sense.

Here I am, perhaps getting ready to pray the Oramus te, Domine:

The front:

And, the back:

The design is a pelican.

The colors look kind of weird in these photos, it’s actually a really nice red. Here is a more accurate shot of the color:

I had another dream last night wherein I was speaking Latin. This time, however, it was not because I had traveled through time somehow. Rather, I was part of a large liturgical service and had to read something from the Lectionary (in English), but the pages in the book were stapled together in strange ways and I couldn’t find the right place. So, I told the MC (it was a big liturgy of some kind): Non possum invenire locum aptum so that others would not find out about the problem. When he came over, I said something like (my memory is a bit fuzzy on this part) [Quaesivi]? lectiones aptas … non viderem. I don’t remember what I was trying to convey on this second point, just that I apparently thought I needed to use the subjunctive.

Obviously with full consciousness, I hope I would have used better Latin.

All birds and beasts that day know well,
Though scarce a creature could foretell,
When from afar there came the Hind
Forever in the wood to dwell.

The sweetest breeze across their breast,
And rousing from a mournful rest,
The faintest glimmer they beheld
Of unspoken hope, that hour blest.

Then shaky legs forgot their fear
Amid the silence, strong and clear;
He turned to earth his kindly eyes
To draw the timid creatures near.

It seemed that he had come so late
To weary spirits who must wait,
And yet the secrets whispered there
Would serve to make that darkness sweet.

From forest waters rushing through
He drank and made their currents new,
But then he paused and raised his head.

In latter days it pleased him so
To make the trees and flowers grow,
And thus his heart immersed their roots.

At every place upon the earth
The newer blossoms came to birth
Where he had lain his blessed hooves.

All days and hours, uncounted time
Say little of that gift sublime,
But grateful creatures know him well.

No, not a post about complex wave physics.

When you have to microwave something for a minute and a half, do you hit 90 instead of 1:30? I do. It’s more efficient. What I noticed this morning, however, was that I opted to heat something for only a minute and a half as opposed to two minutes or a minute forty-five in order to save a keystroke. So, my food was slightly cooler than it would have been, but I didn’t have to press an extra button. I realized today that I do this often such that I don’t really deliberate about it.

At Macaroni Grill the other day, I drew a dragon:

A friend and I once pieced together a team of people from the seminary that would be good to have if we ever did some serious time traveling. It’s necessary to keep the team small, so we have to choose wisely who should go.

The primary concern (if there will be any interaction with natives from the destination time period) is to have someone who knows several languages and — more importantly — can pick up a new language very quickly.

We need someone with a good general or Macgyver-like knowledge. Someone who can solve problems with random and variable resources. This is the sort of person who can learn the rules of a system and then work effectively within that system to get the job done.

We need someone who is skilled in combat in case things get hairy.

Less crucial but useful crew members include:

Explosives expert.

Computer expert (this may also be the Macgyver mentioned above).

Medical expert.

Historian.

I’ve had dreams about traveling back in time before. In these cases, I recall shuffling through available languages, ultimately settling on Latin in each case.

Vocatus sum.

I received a letter from His Excellency, Bishop John R. Gaydos, today calling me to the Order of Deacon. I will take the oath of fidelity and promise celibacy next week.

Please pray for me and my classmates.

I have just posted The Fox Tear online. It is hosted on the new Writing section of Ipsissima Verba.

The Fox Tear is a children’s novel that I’ve been working on off and on for awhile. My brother has done a lot of work in editing it. The motivation behind the book for me was to write something that I would have enjoyed as a child. Yes, it contains a lot of melodrama.

I’m working on having the book on-demand printed so that it will also show up on Amazon.com at some point. I don’t foresee making any money, but I am glad to have written this story, and it will be fun to see it listed in case there are people with similar tastes out there.

Here’s the text from the back cover:

When eighth-grader Jonathan Scott, who dreams of being an artist, finds himself in a strange land, he befriends a young fox. It’s a difficult time for Jonathan so soon after the death of his mother, but his new friend offers him a chance to take part in his search for an ancient relic. Will Jonathan be able to help this fox, and will those he meets in this new world be true friends?

I have joined the online document-sharing community Scribd, to which I have uploaded some of my documents.