Happy New Year! I wish I could say I’d slept enou…
admin January 1st, 2007
Happy New Year!
I wish I could say I’d slept enough, or read enough, or cleaned enough, or ANYthinged enough over the break. Ah well. There’s always next year…
I’m not making any resolutions right now. I always break ‘em anyway, and then I feel like a maroon. However, I want to focus on a couple of areas of general improvement:
1. Work. I get easily distracted or anxious, so I then underperform, which makes me more anxious and distracted. Vicious circle. I’m really quite good at my job, and have an excellent work ethic, when I don’t get into this self-destructive circle. So I’m going to try to minimize that.
2. Not overcommitting. I have a few projects for this semester. I decided to drop the class I was planning to take; it turns out there’s a PR Campaigns class as part of the Masters program anyway, so taking the undergrad version, while it may be beneficial in some respects, doesn’t add a lot of bang for the proverbial buck. It doesn’t cost me tuition to take the class, but it does cost time and energy, and there’s a huge opportunity cost for that right now.
So I’ll be working my full-time job, plus 10 hours per week at Shrine. I’ll also be putting together my Masters application for February 1. I have to fill out the application, order my transcripts, write a personal statement, and dig up some writing samples. Not onerous by any stretch, but a bit of a nuisance. At least all it’ll cost me is the transcript and some paper; my application fee is waived because I’m a member of the Alumni Association. Yay! I should be starting my Masters coursework in the summer, though depending on a lot of factors I may ask to defer until fall.
Oh – and of course I need to keep up on my reading and study for RCIA. I didn’t get as far into the books I borrowed and bought for break as I’d hoped, but I’m making some good progress in Adrienne von Speyr’s The Handmaid of the Lord. Father John recommended it particularly, so I went ahead and bought it. I also borrowed Fulton Sheen’s The World’s First Love and Luigi Gambero’s Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought from the library. I probably borrowed more, but I can’t think of them right now. Von Speyr is hard going. I suppose I should be flattered that Father John thinks I’m S-M-R-T enough to read her. She’s very eloquent and highflown, but I’ve gotten spoiled with no-nonsense directness. Von Speyr reminds me a bit of how I used to write, before my undergrad mentor got a hold of me and flogged me mercilessly for unnecessary verbiage. I’m still wordier than I need to be, especially for PR, but hey – it’s progress. 
Christmas was busy. I think the most enjoyable part was hanging out in Chatham with the Canuck and his mom and grandmother – it was very low-key and relaxing. As for Christmas Eve and Day…
My mother was out of town for Christmas, which is actually not a bad thing – divorced parents make for a hectic holiday, and she’s always a little resentful about us going to Dad’s on Christmas Day. However, my aunt had decided that TBS and I needed to go over there for Christmas Eve, and since we nearly lost her to a massive brain aneurysm back in March, of course we went. It wasn’t nearly as oppressive as it has been in past years; my more difficult cousin is busy offending the Mormons in Utah (Father Erik, I’m praying he runs into you out there, as I think you’re the one of the few people stubborn enough to convert him). My other cousin is difficult, but without her brother there to needle her, she’s usually not so hard to take that I can’t smile and offer it up, and she’s made a good stab at doing some growing up since her mother’s aneurysm. However, I have to admit that I was very glad when TBS and I left at the end of the evening.
We went to Midnight Mass at St. A’s – it was the single most beautiful Mass I’ve ever attended. I don’t think I even have words adequate to describe it. But what struck me the most was the feeling of being at home there – I saw people I knew, people who knew me, and as I sat waiting for the Mass to start, the same thought kept echoing in my head: “This is my parish. This is my home.” It made me want to cry. And then, when time came for Communion, TBS somehow forgot that I’m not actually Catholic yet, and was nudging me to go up for Communion! Too funny…and a little gratifying, I admit, because it means I was doing things right during the Mass! (She CAN be taught!)
Christmas Day was a mixed bag. TBS and I went to our father’s house, which is a generally very pleasant place to be, and saw our extended stepfamily. It was nice, but honestly it just felt like a really long day. I love my dad and stepmom, and I love the extended stepfamily, but I think I was just tired and missing the Canuck by then (he’d stayed back in Chatham to spend Christmas with his mother). I think next year, if he decides to spend Christmas in Chatham again, I might just join him and make other arrangements with my family. We’ll see – there’s plenty of time to decide about that.
Boxing Day TBS and I made our grandmother’s stollen together – I think it was a pretty good job for our first effort. We made copious notes for next year, too, and I’m hoping we can bake it before Christmas next year. We’re going to make orange chocolate cake, another family recipe, for my birthday in a few weeks. I love learning to make family dishes!
My birthday. Would you believe I’ll be 30? That’s a whole ‘nother post…
