Good People

I was browsing facebook today and I came across a post on someone's wall and I was like "who's this joker with his rectangular-framed glasses and goatee/beard facial-weasel". Then I realized that I'm not the twelve year old with a bowl cut that I see in my mind's eye. I'm a 22 year old with rectangular-framed glasses and a goatee/beard facial-weasel. Huh...

Just My Shoes

When I got home Friday from school to an empty house I was ecstatic. I cranked some tunes, grabbed a trashbag and the vacuum and attacked Brad's former room with hurricane force. After vacuuming and dancing around in my underwears for a couple hours I realized that I was alone. No Brad. No Leroy. It was Friday night, it was pouring rain, and I had no idea what I was going to do with myself.

I woke up about 2 hours later when Vivian called and luckily at the same time I got a voicemail from Jose saying that he wanted to come down for the day on Saturday.

We ended up going to the Cave of the Winds to do a lantern tour. It was a good day. It would have been a great day if we could have just explored the caves by ourselves, but at least with the guide there we got to hear about what sort of a life someone has who violates Native American superstitious taboos and keeps a mummy in the cave he found. Afterwards we went for pizza at Poor Richard's (a combination bookstore, pizza-place, toy store, and chocolate and wine bar). Emily Dickinson's poetic wiles finally got the best of me and bought her collected poems. That should tide me over for the dateless couple months that lie ahead of me. Good pie, good scenery, good company, and good conversation, not a bad way to complete my goal for the week.

But now Brad and Leroy are gone, Jose left this afternoon after lunch at Chipotle and he'll be headed home after this upcoming work week, and BoyScout will hopefully be visiting the Springs this Wednesday and then heading back to Hillsdale. There go all my summer buddies. Time to get friendly with the locals.

On that note:

Jose and I did the Sunday circuit today, attending, once again, both Divine Redeemer Catholic Church and New Life. Divine Redeemer was pretty good today: a nice mix of music, a homily about being patient which included a rebuke against those people who just walk out after Communion, and a special presentation from a couple who recently moved here from, of all places, Michigan. New Life also had a special guest, also from Michigan. The music was a bit too fast for me today and the sermon a bit too slow, but that's the way it is.

So, here's the rub: New Life small groups (there are about 100 different groups to join, not kidding) start next Sunday and Divine Redeemer's RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) classes start Sept. 6th, and, being the over-achiever that I am, I want to do both. Again, I'll be going to RCIA for the Trinity and to small group for the fellowship, but twice as much church, that can't be wrong, right? Let me know your thoughts on this. I just don't know if you can cheat on Jesus with Jesus. I mean if you were to have your wife...okay, we shouldn't make an analogy of that.

It occurred to me today as I left the sanctuary at Divine Redeemer and looked at their "max. capacity" sign that at some point this church placed an order for 8,419 interlocking chairs.

P.S. Who wants to go see this movie with me?

The Middle

This guy on the far side of my block has a weekly garage sale entirely directed towards selling one highly overpriced item for his weekly food budget (or so I'm convinced). Today I saw him selling one of those plastic see-through drawer things with wheels, but it didn't have wheels. And he wanted $18.00 for it. Wal-Mart charges $15.00 for the same thing brand new.

On Double-dipping - or - The Art of The Churchathon

Double-dipping: 1) After already dipping a chip, veggie or other food item into any form of dip, salsa or caso, and after taking a bite out of said food item, dipping that same food item a second time into any condiment whatsoever. 2) A little-known practice in which an individual attends multiple church services of different denominations on the same Sunday. 3) Deep frying anything, waiting for the greasy outer shell to dry and then deep frying that bad boy again.

While none of these practices are particularly well-regarded by society and while I do indeed practice all of them, I want to talk today about #2.

For almost my entire last semester at Hillsdale I woke up early on Sunday morning, went to the earliest possible mass at St. Anthony's, slipped out with only minutes to spare before a C.S. Lewis adult Sunday-school class, and then proceeded to a church service at the local United Brethren church. Today I attempted this for the first time in Colorado Springs. After attending the 8am mass at Divine Redeemer, taking a short break to play this game, I took the drive out to New Life Church on the “Jesus side of town" (home of the headquarters of Focus on the Family).

But why would I do this?

Well, that's a very complicated question. Mostly when I was double-dipping last spring it was for the sake of Traverse City sweet-cherry coffee, a heavenly brew served weekly at the C.S. Lewis class. Secondarily though, it's because I wanted to be comparing as critically as possible Catholicism and whatever I can find that closely resembled Grace Church (the church I first attended after becoming a Christian) Protestantism. So, after leaving Hillsdale fairly satisfied that I would be starting confirmation classes when I found a Catholic church in the Springs, I cut out the Protestant side of things for a couple months. So, why am I going back now? Three reasons: coffee, girls, and coffee (originally reason #3 was music, but I've since changed my priorities). To illustrate just how radical of a shift I have to undergo to pull off the double-dip, let me outline the day I've had so far.

Divine Redeemer: Walk in, find a pew, decide if I want to cross myself and genuflect or look more like the wannabe that I am. Look around, find the one person my age amidst the flocks of families who were here being Catholic since before this state was part of America and old Irish grandmothers who have the misfortune of following their grandkids from the east coast out to the desert wasteland of the American West. Sing a couple songs. Homily. Feel weird being the only person who doesn't go up for Communion, and we're done.

New Life: Drive around for 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot. Park in section K row 15. Try to figure out which building on the New Life campus is the one where worship actually happens. Walk through a lobby big enough to hold four Divine Redeemer's into a sanctuary which is probably capable of seating more people and pumping out more decibels than any concert venue in the state. Sit in the one open seat I can find in the 7^th section. Realize that not only does this sanctuary house seven projection screens, a flag for every country and a twelve person band (including a guy with two turn-tables), but also a mosh-pit (not even kidding). Sing a couple REALLY LONG songs. Feel weird being the only person who feels weird about taking Communion, and we're done.

So Zach, after the concert did you sip some hot latte and talk about Purpose Driven Life with a flock of eligible young Jesus-freaks? Nope. I walked around a bit, realized that there was no coffee and that I was a quarter-mile from (though in the same building as) the Guest Center and then once again, for the 12^th Sunday in a row, no one at church spoke to me (outside of the obligatory “good morning” or “peace be with you”) and I left. It's not that I mind that most people I interact with in daily life are trying to get me to join a cult, vote for Obama or give them my loose change. I would just like to talk to some guys my age who aren't cult-leaders and maybe some girls who shave their armpits. Such is life.

Coming this week:

• A helpful product and/or website review (I haven't decided yet).
  
• A tribute to Joss Whedon and his lovable cohorts.
• "The Bachelor's Kitchen"
• More talk with volunteers at the Obama camp and a trip to McCain headquarters.
• A look into exactly how wild (and by wild I mean relatively behind in freedom crushing legislation) the west really is.
• And finally...Some funny stuff.

Got a blog or a personal website? We should trade links. Just link me on your page and leave a comment here with your URL so I can do the same for you.