+Snippets

OK, so that was cool.

Late Tuesday night, the Lord was telling me about my vocation, that I’m still to be a priest despite everything.  And he said he’d be sending me a sign so that I could be sure of his intentions.

The next morning at Mass, I’m the first up at Communion (I always sit in front) and our parochial vicar beckons to me, gives me Communion, then hands me the paten and asks me to distribute in his place!  I’ve never seen that done before, and I still have no idea why he did it (in his own mind, at any rate…)  But he did.

Chalk one up in God’s corner, I guess? 🙂

It was good that I was able to make it to Mass that day, because I had to walk.  My car has vanished.  Again.

As my readers know, this happened very embarrassingly to me a year or so ago.  That time, I just parked it somewhere out-of-the-ordinary and forgot all about it.  So this time, I was VERY thorough.  I checked out EVERYWHERE I could conceivably have parked it.  And it’s just gone.  I’ve reported it as stolen.

Why anyone would WANT to steal that ugly bucket of bolts, I have no idea.  It’s old, it’s beat up… If I could afford something better, I’d ditch it in a second.  But I can’t.  And no, my insurance isn’t going to cover it.  Looks like bus tickets and a lot of walking for me, unless it turns up soon (and in working order).  I suppose I can check if Mom still has my old bike stashed away someplace…

The election turned out rather more overwhelmingly than I expected.  I developed my first smidge of respect for Kerry when he conceded graciously rather than starting a legal battle.  That’s the last thing the country needs.  … I ended up helping Juan vote, he’d never done it before.  (Just became a citizen this summer.)  That was a test for my resolve… I described the candidates and parties and issues to him as neutrally as I could, without spin.  I even suppressed my winces when he made choices I severely disapproved of. 🙂  He had no qualms filling out his ballot right in front of me.

I myself was unable to vote in good conscience for either Bush or Kerry.  I ended up picking a tiny third-party candidate who wasn’t TOO insane. 😛  I found him more tolerable than either of the two bigs, not that that’s saying much.  Gah.  Were these candidates really the best this country has to offer?  I sure hope not.

But enough about politics, it’s too depressing.  At least the campaigning is over for the next few years.  I was getting really sick of the bombardment of phone recordings and mass-mailings.

I haven’t been praying as I should lately;  I’ve allowed myself to get too “busy”.  Gotta work on that.  I also haven’t been hustling after private business the way I should have been.  I don’t like selling myself, never have.  I do have a client for tonight, though, in an engineering thermodynamics class.

Mike and I had a bad session, and I walked out on him.  Haven’t seen him in a couple weeks now.  Honestly, I’ve asked myself several times over the last year and a half whether he’s doing me much good.  He seems to be out of ideas;  we’re just going through the motions.  I’ve stuck with him because I didn’t want to start all over with someone else;  now that I actually HAVE started over, with Mary, I’m feeling little need to continue seeing him.  I probably should call him to let him know, though.

Haven’t been able to see Joan and Steve much the last few weeks;  I’ve been incredibly busy, and when I have taken the time to head over there, nobody’s ever home. 😛  I did encounter Steve on the street the other day, though, and he seemed glad to see me.  That was when I just realized my car was missing, and he helped me look for it a bit.

I’m not sure how to end this entry. 🙂  I hate it when they just peter out…  Oh yeah!  Good news.  I should have known there was an ulterior motive for my family suddenly moving my brother’s stuff out of my place.  Turns out he’s moving into a place of his own!  He even has a part-time job!

This is great news.  His doctors do think this is a little early for him to be on his own, but they had to act… his name came up on a subsidized housing list (he’s been on it for two years) and they had to act on it or forfeit the opportunity.  We’ll see how it works out.

I’ve had some more deep-but-odd conversations with Juan.  He’s very conflicted, very confused.  I hardly know what to say to him sometimes.  I think that he’s wrestling with God in the depths of his heart, but doesn’t realize it yet.

Bless him, Beloved, and my brother.  Draw them ever deeper into your heart.  Guide me as I walk with them and speak with them.  And some help with job-stuff and the car would not be amiss, either! 🙂

Thank you for all you’ve been doing in my life the last few weeks. I love you.