Which film is interesting, by the way. It is akin to Lawrence of Arabia or The Guns of Navarone in that I don't fully understand how it operates. It is about a character--not character interactions so much as a character--and the symbolic code or order or whatever you want to call it is different from most movies made nowadays. There is something entirely inaccessible about Dillinger, which is usually a mark of an older movie (ie. 60s) rather than a newer one. At least, in my limited film-watching experience it is. Maybe I'm just a dummy when it comes to watching the classics. Whatever you may think about me, this is not an impossible proposition.
Anyway, my brother coming over meant that the family was together again, at least for a week.
2. We, my family, volunteered at the Salvation Army's Christmas Dinner on Sunday. Mother and I helped set tables while brother and father worked in the kitchen. Then, once food was being served, I was in the kitchen generally slacking off and doing dishes with the other men-folk in my family. We (Nick and I) were sent out to eat once all the guests were served, and we joined a very bearded man named Rob who told us quite a lot about electromagnetism and how the whole system was being run improperly. We chose sitting with Rob because he had been alone for the whole meal.
My mother and I spoke to a woman who wore a nice necklace. My mother commented on it, and she said something like, "Oh, thank-you. Yes, I got it from a dumpster. I got everything I'm wearing today out of a dumpster. You'd be surprised what people throw out." She said it as someone in my own demographic would say, "Oh, yes, I got it on sale at [Abercrombie-and-Finch bracket accessory store]." That is, she said it with a certain amount of pride. And let me be clear: she takes care of those clothes. I'd have assumed she bought them at Wal*Mart or Zellers or maybe somewhere higher-end.
This did mean that I didn't go to church, but I think that's fine in this case, just this once.
Oh, and did you know that the Salvation Army's clergy (their term, not mine) wear uniforms and have ranks, like "officer" and "captain"? I did not know that. I think it's fascinating.
3. On Monday we celebrated Christmas. My Dad works irregular shifts, see. Well, he works very regular shifts, but they don't align with the days of the week, and he doesn't get stats off. 
(He makes an obscene amount of money on stats, too, so he doesn't exactly want to take them off.) So we celebrated on Monday. It was good, of course. I received more than Fallout 3 and seasons 2.0, 2.5, and 3 of Battlestar Galactica (see photo), but those are the salient points here.
(He makes an obscene amount of money on stats, too, so he doesn't exactly want to take them off.) So we celebrated on Monday. It was good, of course. I received more than Fallout 3 and seasons 2.0, 2.5, and 3 of Battlestar Galactica (see photo), but those are the salient points here.4. On Tuesday we drove on the winter road to Fort Chipewyan. It is only maintained
during the winter, and is rather cool. Perhaps I will have more to write on it later as we explore it a little further. (I can't claim the coyote picture; Nick took that one.)
5. I went in to work on Wednesday for four hours in the morning. I got some work done and got some questions answered, the latter of which was most important. I also showed brother and mother my project when they came to get me.
My brother also managed to get Fallout 3 working this day, and I played a little. I have not played it since, but I did enjoy it. I so rarely do that sort of thing any more--play video games, that is--but I used to do it fairly often. I think I like the FPS-RPG hybrid. (If you don't know what those terms are, I wouldn't bother looking them up.)
6. On Thursday, Christmas Eve proper, I served at St. Thomas'. In fact, I served for midnight mass, or the 11:30 service. It was the first Communion service I participated in as part of the worship team. I was jittery at first, but it worked out. Cues were, of course, as always, an issue. I was too distracted and nervous to feel overwhelmed or elated or whatever by the sacrament. But I will get 'better' at being a server and will hopefully as a result learn more things.
6. On Thursday, Christmas Eve proper, I served at St. Thomas'. In fact, I served for midnight mass, or the 11:30 service. It was the first Communion service I participated in as part of the worship team. I was jittery at first, but it worked out. Cues were, of course, as always, an issue. I was too distracted and nervous to feel overwhelmed or elated or whatever by the sacrament. But I will get 'better' at being a server and will hopefully as a result learn more things.
It was tough work staying up late enough for that, though.
Evidentally more happened on this day than evening service, but that might be better explored in the next entry...
7. On Friday, brother and I watched obscene amounts of Battlestar Galactica.
Over the last week we managed to finish seasons 2.0 and 2.5, but as much as 4 and a half hours of that were viewed on Friday. I must again repeat the quality of this show: it is not your 'dinky' or 'silly' Star Trek-like sci-fi people seem to think it is. That's not to say that the original wasn't--I wouldn't know--but this show is good. It deals with "issues" and characters and suchlike that are required of being good. I have discussed that some extent here, but if you weren't with me back then, you could use being told it now. So consider yourself informed!Which is not to say that we did nothing else. We--Nick and I--went for a walk down to Conn Creek, a little brook which runs through green space in the middle of the Thickwood-Timberlea area of town. One thing I didn't do is post on my blog, because I spent most of the day thinking it was Thursday instead of Friday, so I'm not doing Quick Takes until now. Sorry.
Today we returned my brother to the airport, from which he will go back into the Internet. But that is really for next week's Friday post.
Adieu,
Christian H aka English Clergyman
No comments:
Post a Comment