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After having leaped the paper application and psych evaluation hurdles for the diaconate application process, I am now bounding towards the third stage: the multi-hour panel interview! That will happen sometime in February.
My psych eval results were really funny. The summary was worded all scientifically: "Has difficulty expressing anger", and "was somewhat guarded in his responses." Yes, I'm a Minnesotan-- I'm well aware! All I could think of was this video, haha.
I had a really nice lunch today with my employer's chaplain. He gave me a couple of good nuggets. The first: the Ignatian Examen!
Along with the Evening Prayer, which Duncan and I already do, I'm going to start doing the Examen every night.
A second fun thing we talked about was: I asked him if he was familiar with the concept of "Liminal Spaces". Not only was he familiar with it, but his circle spends a lot of time around the notion of "liminality" in general!
He explained "liminality" as the mind being between two places. So-called "liminal spaces" play on this by putting the mind into a conflicting , or "liminal" state: "Normally airports are bristling with activity and life-- but this one is dead and empty."
"Liminality" can apply to situations too. For example, during the "Reconstruction" era in United States history, people had to rebuild from a partially demolished base. In this state of liminality, creativity became king.
In terms of faith, his circle's working model is that if people become too caught in "church as institution", they don't turn to the Lord with earnest open-heartedness: instead they just blindly follow routine, going to services on the weekends and dropping their kids off at Sunday school.
He gave me an example of embracing liminality: he has a friend who was praying, "I want to help poor people." Ok, how? "Well, I want to meet them where they are." And do what? "Um, they need to bathe first." This turned into mobile shower trailers and prayer services, right on the street! This guy has gone on to convert countless people using these methods.
As a Catholic I see it happen a lot, where people become somewhat "rutted". While I'm the first person to embrace Tradition-- heck, I've spent the past several days endlessly memorizing and repeating to myself Aquinas's "O Salutaris Hostia"-- and extoll its importance, it's also important to save souls by leveraging all of the gifts the Lord has given us, including creativity.
Lazio Market Going Bananas
Way back when it was first announced we'd bought Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, I watched a highlight reel of him on YouTube and got the chills: "This guy is going to be really good." I'm having the exact same reaction to watching Petar Ratkov videos: I think this guy is potentially going to become a world class player. He absolutely has all of the tools to succeed in a place like Italy.
As for Guendouzi, I tried so, so hard to like him. And I do! He's a nice guy at heart. But despite his obvious talent, Arsenal wanted to see the back of him. Then Marseille wanted to see the back of him. And now I'm ready to see the back of him: I finally get it. And at that price!
Meanwhile, Kenneth Taylor is the real deal. I couldn't be more thrilled with not just the talent we're buying, but the age profiles as well.
As for the refereeing situation, imagine your NFL team's receiver is going up to catch the ball in the endzone, the defender pulls his arms down, and there is no pass interference call. Then your defensive end beats the tackle, but the offensive lineman pulls a big fist full of his jersey, while their quarterback throws the game-winning touchdown.
Now imagine that these kinds of calls are only happening against your team. Now imagine that they've been going on all season, to the point where it's a running joke with fans of other teams-- with no skin in the game incidentally-- that the referees hate your team.
That's what's going on with Lazio this season. The games almost have a surreal quality, which is difficult to describe even. I don't know what is going on behind the scenes: money exchanging hands? Political blowback against Lotito? But it's definitely "a thing".
Street Fighter: The Movie
With the new "Street Fighter" film coming out this year, the kids and I have made a minor "nerd project" to watch the first film, from the early 90s-- and also to play "the game based on the movie based on the game". So I dutifully ordered a "CIB" copy of "Street Fighter: The Movie" for the Saturn, and have been playing it the past few days. We're presently trying to pick a night when the three of us will all be home, to watch the film.
I like the game! It's literally the "Super Street Fighter II Turbo" engine-- one of the best 2D fighter engines ever created, easily-- with "Mortal Kombat"-esque sprite swaps. The load times aren't very optimized, and I think the backgrounds are kind of boring, but the title plays like gold.
My psych eval results were really funny. The summary was worded all scientifically: "Has difficulty expressing anger", and "was somewhat guarded in his responses." Yes, I'm a Minnesotan-- I'm well aware! All I could think of was this video, haha.
I had a really nice lunch today with my employer's chaplain. He gave me a couple of good nuggets. The first: the Ignatian Examen!
- Become aware of God's presence.
- Review the day with gratitude.
- Pay attention to your emotions.
- Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
- Look toward tomorrow.
Along with the Evening Prayer, which Duncan and I already do, I'm going to start doing the Examen every night.
A second fun thing we talked about was: I asked him if he was familiar with the concept of "Liminal Spaces". Not only was he familiar with it, but his circle spends a lot of time around the notion of "liminality" in general!
He explained "liminality" as the mind being between two places. So-called "liminal spaces" play on this by putting the mind into a conflicting , or "liminal" state: "Normally airports are bristling with activity and life-- but this one is dead and empty."
"Liminality" can apply to situations too. For example, during the "Reconstruction" era in United States history, people had to rebuild from a partially demolished base. In this state of liminality, creativity became king.
In terms of faith, his circle's working model is that if people become too caught in "church as institution", they don't turn to the Lord with earnest open-heartedness: instead they just blindly follow routine, going to services on the weekends and dropping their kids off at Sunday school.
He gave me an example of embracing liminality: he has a friend who was praying, "I want to help poor people." Ok, how? "Well, I want to meet them where they are." And do what? "Um, they need to bathe first." This turned into mobile shower trailers and prayer services, right on the street! This guy has gone on to convert countless people using these methods.
As a Catholic I see it happen a lot, where people become somewhat "rutted". While I'm the first person to embrace Tradition-- heck, I've spent the past several days endlessly memorizing and repeating to myself Aquinas's "O Salutaris Hostia"-- and extoll its importance, it's also important to save souls by leveraging all of the gifts the Lord has given us, including creativity.
Lazio Market Going Bananas
Way back when it was first announced we'd bought Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, I watched a highlight reel of him on YouTube and got the chills: "This guy is going to be really good." I'm having the exact same reaction to watching Petar Ratkov videos: I think this guy is potentially going to become a world class player. He absolutely has all of the tools to succeed in a place like Italy.
As for Guendouzi, I tried so, so hard to like him. And I do! He's a nice guy at heart. But despite his obvious talent, Arsenal wanted to see the back of him. Then Marseille wanted to see the back of him. And now I'm ready to see the back of him: I finally get it. And at that price!
Meanwhile, Kenneth Taylor is the real deal. I couldn't be more thrilled with not just the talent we're buying, but the age profiles as well.
As for the refereeing situation, imagine your NFL team's receiver is going up to catch the ball in the endzone, the defender pulls his arms down, and there is no pass interference call. Then your defensive end beats the tackle, but the offensive lineman pulls a big fist full of his jersey, while their quarterback throws the game-winning touchdown.
Now imagine that these kinds of calls are only happening against your team. Now imagine that they've been going on all season, to the point where it's a running joke with fans of other teams-- with no skin in the game incidentally-- that the referees hate your team.
That's what's going on with Lazio this season. The games almost have a surreal quality, which is difficult to describe even. I don't know what is going on behind the scenes: money exchanging hands? Political blowback against Lotito? But it's definitely "a thing".
Street Fighter: The Movie
With the new "Street Fighter" film coming out this year, the kids and I have made a minor "nerd project" to watch the first film, from the early 90s-- and also to play "the game based on the movie based on the game". So I dutifully ordered a "CIB" copy of "Street Fighter: The Movie" for the Saturn, and have been playing it the past few days. We're presently trying to pick a night when the three of us will all be home, to watch the film.
I like the game! It's literally the "Super Street Fighter II Turbo" engine-- one of the best 2D fighter engines ever created, easily-- with "Mortal Kombat"-esque sprite swaps. The load times aren't very optimized, and I think the backgrounds are kind of boring, but the title plays like gold.