Bustin' Up A Starbucks

Exams this week have been ridiculous. If it weren't for Starbucks, I wouldn't be alive right now.

I'm a patsy for the man.

My Funny Valentine

It was a fantastic weekend thanks in large part to the pretty girl in the picture below. Laura came to visit campus, heres some photos:

Ah, there we are, the happy couple, stuffing our faces with cupcakes.

These cupcakes actually. Laura made them. Quite delicious.

Karl especially enjoyed them.

Friday night was dinner and movie. If any of you get the chance, you should go see "In Bruges." It was the best movie I've seen in a long time and definitely the best Colin Farrell movie I've ever seen. Actually, it's the only Colin Farrell movie I've seen worth watching. Cast members aside though, it was a brilliant dark comedy. The truly tragic kind that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. A little gory; but hey, what isn't nowadays? 

Best. Napkin. Ever.

Yes, that is a shelf filled with dozens of varieties of hot sauces. My dad would love this place. 

The name escapes me, but dinner that night was some mexican place in Chinatown. I suppose it's sad that we didn't get Chinese, but it was a friday in lent which means no meat for us Catholics. Thankfully, we were in the sprawling metropolis that is our nation's capital, where a vegetarian burrito joint is never hard to come by. 

Saturday night was the main event: spanish tapas and swing dancing. The dinner was fantastic. We ordered all sorts of odd dishes including battered shark meat and tuna that had somehow been cooked to the consistency of clear bacon. Not bad though. Any of you who know Laura are probably thinking "Oh God, she hates seafood, she must have been miserable," but I was proud of her. She sampled all the icky fishy stuff and actually enjoyed some of it. We also got lamb and some really delicious potato thing, so she seemed to be alright. 

Swing dancing was a challenge. No one ended up getting flipped around or anything, but we got some of the basic stuff down well enough. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my camera that night so the pictures are a little crappy. (When the battery gets low, the flash is the first thing to go)  

There's Karl and Mary, being adorable. They're quite a pair: great dancers and even better company. We were glad to have them with us (especially when they were showing us how to look like we know how to swing dance).

This was the only picture of Laura and I that I could doctor up to look like anything. Like I said, the flash on my camera was gone and hers was in the car. We look pretty good though, right? Thanks Karl and Mary!

The weekend was fantastic, but now it's monday afternoon and I have a latin exam to study for. 

Blah.

Feliciem Diem Sancti Valentini!

Yes, that's right folks, it's that time of year again. The paradoxical holiday that simultaneously evokes lovesick sentiment and cynical distain in American society is upon us once more and it's time to celebrate! I for one have been having a pretty good one. God saw fit to grace us with beautiful weather here in DC today and it's been a blast.

 

Ah yes, plentiful sunshine and almost 50 degrees... gorgeous. Enough to keep even the most bitter of CUA's singles scene content.

Don't get me wrong, Cupid didn't miss Catholic U on his radar. There's been plenty of Valentine's spirit here on campus. The picture below is the entrance to my dorm a few nights ago. No one I've talked to knows who it was from or who it was for, but it certainly did serve as a reminder to us all that Valentines was just around the corner. 

Of course, I suppose it's worth mentioning that, shortly after I took this picture, someone pelted it with rotten apples from the cafeteria. I'm not sure if it was the young lady/man refusing or just some bitter third party, but it certainly was amusing... right up until maintenance power-washed the whole mess off our entranceway.

As for me, I have an absolutely beautiful valentine and we plan to celebrate our third Valentine's day with some Spanish tapas and swing-dancing this Saturday. It's going to be a blast, I can't wait. 

Enjoy your Valentines Day everyone. I wish you all the happiness you can stomach after eating so much heart-shaped candy.  

utter. blog. failure.

So, as you may have gathered from the title of the post, I feel like I haven't done a very good job with this blog in the few months I've had it. I was feeling pretty confident in my blogging ability earlier last month when I found a nifty layout, posted some pictures, and even inserted a nifty music playlist (the black-ish thing on the right in case you hadn't noticed: hit the triangle and it plays awesome music!); but recently, I feel like a sub-par blogger. 

I mean, honestly, can you blame me for feeling this way? Other blogs are so awesome. People who take artsy photos, write certain words of particular emphasis in different colors, and like... post regularly make me look... sub-par. I am vowing now that I will make a sincere effort to become a par-blogger, but I wouldn't put much stock in that resolution if I were you. The truth is, I'm too busy to be a good blogger. I'm a college student, and... I sleep a lot. I can't be expected to update this thing regularly, can I? Even if deep down I really want to. 

That sounded a bit more pathetic than I intended it to. Eh... pathetic is actually proving to be a good mood for this post... I might run with it. 

I mean... commmeeee onnnnnn. 

Ok, nevermind, thats just whiney; and no one likes a whiner. 

Seriously though, I will search the depths of my soul to find something in my relatively uninteresting life to fuel this blog. Also, I'll mess around with html a bit more and try to get some nifty color text and stuff. I might end up turning this ship around after all.

Does anyone even read this thing? I don't blame you if you don't, I wouldn't. It's terrible. But once I fix it, you all better read. Grrrrr.

The End 

March For Life 2008

"Each according to his or her possibilities, profession and responsibilities, should feel in themselves an obligation to love and serve life, from its beginning to its natural end."
- Benedict XVI: 3 February 2008, Noon Angelus, Italian "Day of Life," Italy

*This post for some reason never made it out of my drafts folder. Given that I now know where that is, I may now post this long lost gem for all to see*

First off, let me apologize for how late this post is. A bunch of work and a rather nasty flu have kept me off this thing lately.

Almost two weeks ago, tens of thousands showed up on the streets of Washington DC to protest what is perhaps the greatest and most urgent moral issue of our age: what has been called the genocide of the unborn. If you happened to be on the streets of DC on Jan 22, then you caught a rather impressive sight. Unfortunately, if you weren't in our nation's capitol on the 22, you probably knew nothing about it. The event wasn't so much as mentioned on any major news network; not even a blurb on the scrolling marquee. Actually, MSNBC and their crack team of journalists saw fit to mention it under the "health" section of their website complete with pictures of the maybe five pro-abortion advocates brave enough to attend.

I want you all to take note: this is proof that what you see on the news is not by any means a complete depiction of whats happening at any given time; even within your own country. Sadly, no matter what CNN (or Fox News even) tells you, there is no substitute for being socially aware.

Don't I sound worldly?

There was a beautiful air of collaboration at the march that transcended Catholic (and even Christian) affiliation. Everyone there was praying, singing, discussing; a comforting atmosphere which gave us all hope that change is on the way.

I, however, am reminded of the words of a close friend who was an adult leader on a confirmation retreat I led a while ago. He recalled the first March for Life in 1974, which had a relatively favorable turnout (by my understanding, consistent with today's numbers); "we all looked around and thought, 'oh man, this is definitely going to get someone's attention.'" Thirty four years later, he's still marching.

But at least he's not alone. Catholic U sent nearly 400 to the march this year; a personal record for the university.

Although we all know I could certainly fill this post with volumes of philosophically and logically sound reasons why you should agree that abortion is a great injustice and demand its immediate abolition, I will give credit to the 20,000 men and women I marched with and allow their photos to tell the story.