The Clam Rampant

Kasia February 16th, 2008

So I’m in Chatham at Chez Mere de Canuque this weekend. Last night when we went to bed I was in a really lousy mood. It was probably a combination of watching the final episode of M*A*S*H (The Canuck is a huge fan) for the first time and crying at several points, then getting an e-mail that I overreacted to. Anyway, so we’re getting ready to go to sleep and I’m trying not to be snarly and unpleasant, but am still being contrary, which is pretty much as far as I can get towards the pleasant end of the spectrum when I’m in that kind of mood. At that point, I usually have to sleep it off.

The Canuck, of course, is being very sweet and trying to be helpful. He’s offering to rub my neck, which is a little out of sorts - I’m refusing. He’s offering to go over and put the computer to sleep so the light will stop irritating me - I’m refusing to let him.

Finally he looks at me and says, and I’m not kidding, “OK, but the next contrary statement you make, I’m going to go put the computer to sleep AND rub your neck. Sound good?”

What could I say? If I said no, that would be a contrary statement, and he’d go ahead and do it.

I hate how easily he can outsmart me! I especially hate when I end up laughing off my lousy mood as a result of his having outsmarted me! GRRRR!

I always lose at chess, too. Like Inigo Montoya, I have no gift for strategy. I can play well for a while, but I’m never able to checkmate my opponent. I remember one time I was playing chess with my then-best friend; I had her down to two pieces, but for the life of me I couldn’t checkmate her. The game went on for HOURS. Finally she had to come up with my strategy to checkmate her, because we both wanted the game to end but didn’t want to just quit.

• Cranky Clam , My Beloved , Silliness
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Kasia February 14th, 2008

The first day in weeks that I haven’t brought a sweater to work, the boiler breaks.

I’ve already been told to keep my coat on, and (through the workings of our merciful God) the boiler guy was already here. We’re waiting to find out how long the fix will take; if it’s long, I’ll be sent home.

Believe it or not, I’m hoping it is a quick fix. I’ve got too much to finish this week to go home today and like it.

** UPDATE**

Haven’t heard yet about how long the fix will take, but the director found some space heaters for us. Poor guy’s freezing in his own office, but he found a couple for the rest of us…bless his heart…

• I'm an idjit , Work
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Kasia February 12th, 2008

I am such a Catho-geek.

I already knew that the Pope was coming to the East Coast, and had resigned myself to accepting that I would not get to see him while he’s in the States. I mean, DC and New York aren’t exactly on the other side of the world (unlike, say, the Vatican), but still.

Well, THEN I heard about tickets being available from our Archdiocese to an actual Pontifical Mass that’s being held at Yankee Stadium. So I jumped on the horn - well, on the e-mail - to The Canuck and asked if that was something he’d be interested in going to, assuming we could get tickets. I was debating: on the one hand, it’s Mass at a stadium, which seems a little incongruous… But on the other hand, it’s seeing the Pope celebrate Mass!!!!!!!!!!!!! (You can tell by contrasting the punctuation which consideration won out for me.)

He said sure, and I started calling other people to see if they wanted tickets. I couldn’t call everyone I would’ve liked to, but I got TBS, Jill and her family, and Jaibee (some of the biggest local Catho-geeks I know).

Noo Yawk, here we come!!!

• Catholicism , Current events
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Kasia February 11th, 2008

Their first dance was their last dance.

Lord, please receive her into Your loving arms; and please console her husband.

• Current events , Prayer requests
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Kasia February 10th, 2008

I’ve been tagged, both by the Archangel’s Advocate and Puff/Bear at The Spirit’s Sword, for the Middle Name Meme.
First the rules:
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.)
E - Emeril is my second-least-favorite TV chef. (Least favorite is Jamie Oliver.)
M - Meat and potatoes. It’s been clear from my early childhood that those are my strongly-preferred foods. (OK, meat and starch…)
I - Idiosyncrasy. It’s one of my favorite words.
L - Late. I constantly run late, usually due to overcommitting myself. Drives my poor compulsively-early fiancé absolutely bonkers.
Y - Yahoo. Yahoo is my free e-mail of choice.

I tag: Jaibee, Jill (in the combox is fine), The Canuck, Heather Price, and Heather Siekierski (a.k.a. Mrs. Kheldar).

• Friends and fellow bloggers , Memes , Silliness
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Kasia February 7th, 2008

The dress came yesterday. Because I was afraid of my cats doing something to it, from launching long-distance fur missiles to getting up close and personal with their still-attached claws, I managed to resist the temptation to open the box right away. But now I’m going stir crazy, so TBS and I are going to open it up tomorrow evening. Further bulletins as events warrant…

The Canuck and I are pretty sure we’ve settled on our reception location: Picano’s in Troy. However, we first have to go sample their wares, so we probably won’t book that until the end of this month or the beginning of next. But they didn’t think it would be an issue this far out - there aren’t that many January weddings in Troy, apparently - so that’s more or less on schedule.

I also found a potential pair of shoes, but can’t make my decision until I have seen the dress on me. Likewise with the veil - I have it narrowed down to a couple of styles, but can’t decide for sure until the dress has gone on. We’ve pretty much settled what color the bridesmaid dresses will be (some sort of burgundy or wine shade, with gold as the accent), but we’re not ordering those until after Lent, as one of my bridesmaids is expecting her measurements to change significantly during that time. I’m not going to even try to get my alterations done until at least summer, probably fall.

Do any metro Detroiters here have recommendations for cakes and photographers? Feel free to e-mail me at clamrampant at yahoo dot com if you know someone who’s especially good (and preferably not too expensive)…thanks!

Oh - and we’ve started marriage prep at church. We’re supposed to meet with the premarital counselor in a couple of weeks. NFP is proving to be…interesting. I’ve spent most of my pubescent life trying to ignore the very things I have to now closely observe and chart. Blech. :-p

• Wedding , marriage prep
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Kasia February 1st, 2008

My mother moved to Las Cruces last spring. We’re still recovering. I still need to tell the story of the Poppytrail…but that can wait.

Anyway, she’s wanted us (TBS, The Canuck, and yours truly) to come visit since…well, pretty much since before she even left. I haven’t had the money for a plane ticket, so it hadn’t happened yet. Well, yesterday she e-mailed to tell us she’d found some great fares on Travelocity from Detroit to El Paso (which is apparently the most convenient airport for visiting Las Cruces), and would we please check and see if we could take advantage of any of them? She even offered to reimburse the airfare. So, in the spirit of honoring one’s mother, and with the additional benefit of an inexpensive vacation - ok, yes, I’ll be glad to see her, I admit it - The Canuck and I are booked to visit Las Cruces in April.

However, our trip runs over a Sunday. Has anyone visited Catholic churches in Las Cruces? I checked out masstimes.org and found there are quite a lot, but I’d prefer a recommendation if possible. Oh - and neither The Canuck nor I speaks Spanish, so an English Mass is preferable.

Also, if anyone has must-see recommendations for while we’re there, I’d certainly be appreciative. I’ve already asked my mother to think about the best way for us to visit Mexico while we’re there, since Las Cruces is so close to the border, so she’s percolating on that. Does anyone else have any suggestions, for either side of the border?

I will say that this was my worst experience trying to use Travelocity ever. I’ve used Expedia with a fair bit of success, and I think I’ve used Travelocity too, but for some reason I could not get it to change the number of adults when I clicked on the “book now” from the e-mail alert, and I couldn’t find the same fares when I searched for two adults traveling Detroit to El Paso. Then, when I called their customer service number, I had the singular delight of speaking to a well-intentioned but not particularly proficient non-native English speaker who began every sentence with “See, ma’am…” He tried - he really did - but when I finally managed to get through to him with what my concern was, his response was to tell me to call the airline directly and consider Travelocity for my future travel needs. Not exactly stellar customer service…but then, it may have been the only thing I could do - I don’t know whether he had the ability to help me (communication aside). As it was, I found the same flight seventeen dollars cheaper on the airline’s web site, so all’s well that

• Family , Travel , Vacation
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Kasia February 1st, 2008

Book Meme Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Now, first I have to admit that I’m cheating on this, because I saw it this morning at home, and probably really should’ve done it there. But the thing is, my office at home has books stacked on the desk, on the floor, etc. as part of this massive book-purge I’m doing, and there were easily half a dozen books that were roughly equidistant from me. So I’m doing it at work, and I’m intentionally skipping over the shelf of reference books (particularly since a lot of them are in Italian or Latin, or do not involve true sentences, i.e. the Kenedy Directory), and skipping right to an actual BOOK that I actually bought to read on my lunches, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and to Most Holy Mary by St. Alphonsus de Liguori. No, I’m not trying to show off; if you’d rather, I could reach twice as far and pull out Emily Post. No? I thought not.

It does include portions of two paragraphs…

It asks for the grace not to be numbered among these ungrateful people, for the gift of a deep love for the Blessed Sacrament, and for help to love him more deeply. The prayer to Mary uses a verse from the Song of Songs, a spurious saying of St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 37 - ca. 107) and a saying from St. Ephrem to describe Mary as a powerful defense against the powers of evil for all who have recourse to her.

In the Office of the Most Holy Sacrament the Church sings: “There is no other nation so great that has gods as near to it as our God is near to us.”

And there you have it.

Jaibee already tagged The Canuck and Jill, so…I tag The Big Seester, Julia, DJ, Mrs. Kheldar, and…um, a lot of people have already been tagged for this, so how ’bout we leave it at four?

• Memes , Silliness
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Kasia February 1st, 2008

Back in October I posted this:

Second, euphemisms reach new heights in lunacy: at Warren and Conner there is actually a “Life-alysis Center”. I ask you, how ignorant do you have to be to be frightened of the word “dialysis”?

Someone stumbled across that post (I say that because I rather doubt anyone is systematically reading my archives, but I could be wrong), and commented thus:

Using the term “life-alysis” isn’t so much of a euphemism as it is a state of mind. If you’ve ever actually experienced dialysis you would understand how exhausting, how frightening, how draining the whole thing can be. So some centres in the States have switched their names to Life-Alysis Centres in order to help patients change their thinking…because positive thinking is 90% of the battle in any illness.

Perhaps a little bit more understanding and empathy on your part is needed.

Fair enough. I will agree wholeheartedly with the last statement - it’s a rare person who couldn’t do with a bit more understanding and empathy. I’m certainly no exception.
The poster (Rachel) is correct in her assumption that I have never experienced dialysis, nor has anyone close to me, so I’m pretty ignorant of the toll it takes on one’s body or state of mind. What I was reacting to was the replacement of the Greek prefix “di-” with the word “life”, thinking that people were irrationally reacting to it and refusing to get life-sustaining treatment because they incorrectly associated it with the English word “die”. Considering that I saw this, the only case I had seen of a “life-alysis center”, in a city that has a something like 50% adult rate of functional illiteracy, I don’t think it was an unreasonable assumption on my part, but it may have been an incorrect one (I don’t know if that particular reason plays into centers’ decisions whether or not to rename).

I do know that psychology factors into ongoing medical treatments. I do not know whether there’s any benefit to changing the name to Life-alysis. It seems to me that I’m still too ignorant, and there are too many variables in place, for me to make an assessment. However, I appreciate Rachel’s explanation, and will certainly make an effort to improve in understanding and empathy.

UPDATE: A gentleman by the name of Bill Peckham has posted on the exchange, such as it is, between Rachel and myself, including a tactful correction of the actual etymology of the word. You can read it here.

• Responses to posts , Words
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