Wendy the Waitress

On friday I remembered to go to the Harvard Musical Association concert and social evening, and had dinner at Scollay Square. I asked the waitress, Wendy, if Seth still worked there on Mondays and Saturdays. He does, she said.  So if I had remembered to go last Monday, I'd probably have seen him. Oh well.

Wendy immediately noticed my book and asked if it was by Malcolm Gladwell, which led to a bit of conversation about his books. Seeing where my bookmark was in the book, she suggested that I might finish it that evening, and in fact I did. Later, we got to the matter of my being in Boston for a concert. She was immediately interested. She likes to go to Boston Symphony concerts on Tuesday evenings, and I was able to tell her that she's in for a treat next Tuesday,  since I had heard the same program on Thursday and enjoyed it a lot.

She was also very attentive, as Seth and other waiters have been, clearing dishes as soon as I had finished with them.

All in all, I think she's a good replacement for Seth. Obviously there won't be the slight sexual overtone that was there for me with Seth, but I think I'll enjoy whatever conversations I'll have with her.

Burnt Velveeta and Other Frustrations

Background.  The Catholic Bishops of the United States have established January 22nd (or 23rd, when the 22nd is a Sunday) as a day of penance for the millions of lives lost to abortion in our country since the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade and of prayer for the legal establishment of the right to life of the unborn. I did the prayer part by attending a service at my church. That left the penance. I decided that for the penance I would forgo having the leftover chicken-rice casserole or the spareribs for dinner. Instead I'd have a very simple macaroni and cheese. Then I decided that instead of using the good cheeses in my refrigerator, I'd get some Velveeta (which makes it more of a penance since, as I pointed out to Brody, "El pueblo unido / jamas comerá Velveeta!") I toyed with the idea of livening it up with a bit of Tabasco, but decided anything to make it more tasty would violate the penitential aspect.

Burnt Velveeta.  Come dinnertime, I got out some enriched rotini which would take 10 minutes to cook and also started boiling water to cook some frozen peas. Then I started in on the Velveeta. I greased a saucepan so it wouldn't stick, sliced about 4 ounces of the product and turned on the burner. I figured it would melt fairly quickly, and I could pour it over the pasta when it was liquid. Then it occurred to me that maybe I should add some milk to thin it a bit and glanced inside the cover and found that their recipe called for butter and flour as well as milk, then baking for 20 minutes. Well, no time for that, but I did stir in some milk. The ten minutes for cooking the pasta were up so I drained them, then went back to the Velveeta sauce and found that on one side of the saucepan a brown residue was forming and sticking to the pan. I managed to blend a little of it back in before I put the rotiini into the pan and mixed them together. I put them on the plate, drained the peas, and put them on the plate, too. At the table, it seemed that the sauce was cooling and thickening too fast, so I tried to mix in the peas for added warmth. I was moderately successful. The result was edible, and it certainly did not taste bad; but it was definitely bland and unexciting — good for a penance. I'll have to keep it in mind for Lent.

Draper's Law in Action.  Many years ago my godmother, Marguerite Draper, was reminiscing with her sister and with my mother about types of undergarments that they used to get, but that were no longer available, and she pronounced what I call Draper's Law: "If it's any good, they stop making it." Recently I found a product labeled "Rice Select Texmati Rice Medley." One thing I liked about it was that I can make smaller quantities than a package of Near East rice pilaf. So while I was out buying the Velveeta, I went to get more of that Texmati Mushroom Medley. There was none in the store — not the small size jar that I had had, not the big jar, such as they had for some other Rice Select products. I'll look in a couple of other stores, but I'm afraid that Draper's law has struck again, just as it did recently for New England Coffee Four Seasons Blend.

Seth the Waiter.  (See link for other posts mentioning Seth) Back home from my shopping expedition, I was at my computer and glanced at my i-cal and saw the notation HMA, referring to a Harvard Musical Association concert and social evening. It was just recently scheduled and is the only one in my memory to ever have been scheduled for a Monday. Mondays were one of the two evenings that Seth had indicated that he worked at Scollay Square restaurant after he got his job at the State House, and I had planned to go there on Monday evening for dinner before the HMA event and say hello — since I never have occasion to go to Boston on Monday evenings. But I procrastinated on making the reservation, and finally got so involved with other things that it slipped my mind until that glance at the i-cal. I looked at the clock: 7:00 — too late even for the concert, to say nothing of dinner at Scollay Square. I don't know when I'll have another occasion to be in Boston on a Monday or Saturday evening — Seth's nights at the restaurant — and of course he probably won't work there forever. So it's possible that I've missed my last chance to see him, unless I make a trip into Boston just for that purpose. But it would have been pretty close timing to go to the prayer service and get into Boston in time for dinner preceding the concert.

Oh Well.  I must admit that these are very minor frustrations compared to the things other bloggers have had to endure; and if nothing worse happens this year, 2012 will be the best year of my life. But I hope this has given you a bit of entertainment and a little glimpse of my personality.

Theology of the Body — 2012/01/20

"When God told Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he made a covenant with man. But man broke this covenant …. The tree … stands on the dividing line between two very different situations …: original innocence and human sinfulness.

"… Christ's words to the Pharisees, leading them back to the beginning, show that even though now we are tainted by sin, it is important to remember the state of original innocence. We need to compare our present sinfulness with the way God meant things to be.

"When sin entered the world, God responded with a plan of redemption. The first whisper of his promise is found in  … Genesis 3:15 …

"And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

"… Christian theologians have viewed this text as a foreshadowing of the Gospel … From Genesis 3:15 onward, man lives in the hope of redemption.

"… We are all participants in the history of human sinfulness, both by the original sin we have inherited and by the personal sins we commit. But we are also called to participate in the history of salvation …. We may be shut off from the state of original innocence, but we are open to the mystery of redemption.

"In  his Letter to the Romans, Paul expresses our situation this way: 'We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies' (Rom. 8:23).

"We can't lose sight of this hope as we follow the words of Christ, which direct our attention back to the beginning."

Let the Celebration Begin!

Next Saturday, January 21, is my birthday. If I'm still alive (and I have no reason to expect not to be), I'll have been breathing the air of this planet for 69 years.

My brother usually takes me to dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate my birthday. This year, however, going out on a Saturday would have interfered with my other brother's weekly call. So the dinner got pushed to Sunday. But on Sunday the 22nd, we're going to a concert in Boston in the afternoon, and then he'll stay "in town" to be ready to leave on his winter trip on Monday. So the Sunday to which the dinner got pushed was last Sunday, January 15. We went to an expensive Italian restaurant, where I had a very nice salad and something they call Veal Portofino — veal scallopini rolled up and stuffed with spinach and a little cheese with a wine sauce. It was very tasty.

So that got me into even more of a celebration mood than usual. I've got some leftover pot roast for dinner tonight and Thursday, and I'm toying with the idea of having lobster on my actual birthday, when my big brother will be here. But he likes the steak dinners I usually cook on Saturdays. So idk. Do I give him what he wants, or do I say, "It's my birthday, dammit, and I want lobster, so you'll just have to take it?" LOL (BTW, I'm buying whatever it is, but he gives me a set amount each month to help with the cost of food, since he's here just about every weekend.) Anyway, I've got time to think it over, and I'm sure it'll be okay, whatever it turns out to be. How about lamb chops?

Things Got Busy

Nothing too spectacular has been happening, but there's been a fair amount of little stuff to attend to — meetings, appointment with my dentist's cleaning woman (hygienist, to use the official title) (BTW, the dentist is also a woman). Working on the next schedule for liturgy ministers (people other than the priest who have special functions at Sunday Mass) was quite time-consuming for a couple of days earlier this week. I went to a symphony concert last week, and to two this week. Check out my music blog if you want more info about those.

Last week, I sent off an e-mail to "Tim" from the Race Committee, asking if he might want to take in a show with me sometime. He replied that he had "a lot on [his] plate" right now, but we could discuss it when sailing season resumes. It used to be that an answer like that would have me feeling completely rejected. But now I see it as less drastic. For one thing, it was probably an unexpected invitation. For another, he did indicate a willingness to explore the idea. So I'm choosing to take a glass-half-full attitude toward it. And even if nothing ever comes of it, it's not the end of the world. It was worth asking.

Immediately after posting the above, I came across a link to this article by James Martin, S.J., pointing out that it is the official teaching of the Catholic Church that we must treat homosexuals with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. I think it's worth reading. Some of you may have reactions similar to some of the commenters, but what he quotes is official and I think deserves to be known.

Theology of the Body — 2012/01/09

"The second story of man's creation comes from a different perspective than the first. [It is subjective rather than objective.] But the two accounts relate to each other, because … our subjective experienves correspond to the objective reality that we are created in God's image.

"The second creation story is distinguished by its account of the creation of the first woman, Eve [from a rib taken from Adam, causing him to say, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh"].

(Gen. 2:21-25)

"Immediately following this passage, Genesis 3 begins with its account of the Fall of man, linked with …the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' (Gen. 2:17). From then on, Adam and Eve find themselves in an entirely new situation — their world is turned upside down.

"In the state of original innocence, Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and evil. Then, at the prompting of the evil one …, they disobeyed God's instruction …. In the second situation, our first parents experienced sin and its consequences.

"These two situations correspond to two different aspects of human nature: our created nature and our fallen nature. When Christ referred his questioners back to the beginning, he was directing them to look at man's created nature.

"To learn God's intent for marriage, we must look back to that state of original inocence. 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard,' Jesus says. "But it was not this way from the beginning.'

"Even though man has lost his innocence and our hearts have grown hard, God's design for marriage hasn't changed."

"

Happy New Year! — Resolution

Happy New Year to all my readers.

I never make New Year's resolutions, but this year I'm making one, only it is not anything new. It is summed up by the words often found in scripture: "Do not be afraid." My retreat director last March pointed out that I was "always looking over [my] shoulder" for fear somebody would figure me out, and that fear inhibited my actions. Actually, I had already begun to do things I'd have been too afraid to do before I began blogging and met people I liked on the internet — I had begun meeting some of them irl. But the urging of the retreat director has persuaded me that I should overcome that fear and live as I want to. I'm not planning to do anything I believe is wrong, but I hope to continue the sort of doing things that are perfectly legitimate that I've recently been blogging about and to live without the constant fear that something I do will out me. There is a limit to it: I'm not going to come out where I live and at my church. But if I can develop close friendships with guys I like, I'm going to do it, because it's what I should do, and it's perfectly alright; and if somebody figures out that I have a homosexual orientation, oh well, I'll deal with it as best I can.