I need diversions

[zyzyly]

I'm copying and pasting this "meme" from someone else:

"This is the problem with LJ, we all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me, something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away."

make it challenging...

Comments

[yechezkiel.livejournal.com]

What was high school like for you?

[myasma.livejournal.com]

High School was a tough time for me--probably one of the toughest.

I started HS as a bright, shy, socially awkward kid, dealing with the fairly recent trauma of my parents' divorce, and the even more recent remarriage of my mom to a guy with "two kids of his own". I found alcohol and drugs almost immediately, and stuck with it. I hung out with the stoners. After the first year, I attended classes only sporadically, and did very little of the work required.

I was unable to graduate with my class, and spent grad night passed out on my front porch. I left HS as a bright, shy, socially awkward kid, still dealing (or not) with the trauma that resulted from my parent's divorce and all that followed, coping with the help of drugs and alcohol, and with no idea where I was headed.

Years later, after I had gotten sober, I asked my aunt, who worked for many years in alcohol recovery, what my HS life might have been like had I not started drinking. She said, "If you hadn't started drinking, you probably would have committed suicide."

[saltdawg.livejournal.com]

I really mean no offense, but I've always been facinated by the "not quite there" orders. I mean I know you are no catholic "brother", but how exactly do you know...Err, I guess I'm asking a larger question, but...How do you know when you are destined to become a decon and not a priest? (Especially in light of the fact that I think that only catholicism is celibate. Let's hear it for Eastern Orthodox!)

You have to realize that I am asking as a once prospective seminarian, who realized he was too weak for some "desires".

[myasma.livejournal.com]

C'mon, spit it out!

I had, at one time, considered becoming a priest. But then I met the woman who ultimately led me to Arlina, and that was that.

Deacons are pretty much the only ordained ministers in the Catholic Church who are allowed to be maried when they are ordained. There are some exceptions--married episcopal priests who come over, for example.

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned that I will be held to a vow of celibacy when Arlina dies. The told us about it in the very beginning, but it was just one of those things that I thought would never be a factor.

I thought a lot about it after we knew her prognosis, and before I was ordained. Knowing that ordination meant that I would eventually walk a path that was completely unknown to me was probably the most significant factor in my decision to ultimately be ordained. Half-measures availed us nothing, ya know?

[one4k4.livejournal.com]

"I had, at one time, considered becoming a priest. But then I met the woman who ultimately led me to Arlina, and that was that."

The same exact thing happened to me. And the Permanent Diaconate is something I am now very interested in.

I was, basically, going to ask you the same question as the reply above yours.

Now, I shall think of another. :)

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

do you have a favorite time of day?

is there a book in your collection that is weathered with love and use? Other than your Bible.

:)

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Early morning is my favorite time of day--the time when things are still peaceful & quiet, and the last stars are still visible.

There are a number of them:

Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut

The Lord of the Rings (way before anyone even thought of making a movie out of it)

Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan

The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn, by Mark Twain

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

The Collected Poems of TS Eliot,

to name a few....

[zhenzhi.livejournal.com]

it's not challenging... but i would like to ask what is your favourite flower. :-)

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Which is your favorite child?

Haha--I love flowers, but if I had to choose one, I would choose the rose.

[niyabinghi.livejournal.com]

Tell me something about a favorite pet you had as a child...and if you didn't have one, a neighboring animal/pet you were close to.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I had two hamsters--Sam and Elmer, named after the two guys who owned the company my mom worked for. I loved those little guys.

One day I woke up to find that Sam had killed Elmer, and had him for breakfast.

Curiously enough, The real Sam eventually cheated the real Elmer out of the business, driving the real Elmer to an early grave.

[niyabinghi.livejournal.com]

Oh no!!!
I was hoping to invoke some favorite pleasant childhood memory for you, lol.
Prophetic hamsters....how 'bout that ;)

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I don't think there are any "boy and his dog" moments--just a succession of cats and other creatures.

[tiwonge.livejournal.com]

How long have you been such a good cook, and what was the first "real" meal you prepared for somebody else?

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I started cooking pretty young--at about 12 or 13, after my parents divorced and I was on my own in the evenings for a while.

I suppose the first meal I made for someone else was in the boy scouts--I recall a meal cooked entirely on a flat stone!

I took a year-long cooking course in high school, where we operated a restaurant out of a closed school cafeteria--that was where I really learned the basics of cooking, and I have been practicing at it ever since.

I'm glad I never really pursued cooking as a profession, because it is such a satisfying hobby.

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

Where did you go to school(s)?

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Do you mean geographically?

I went to primary school in a little town in the San Francisco Bay Area called San Lorenzo. I went to a very small Lutheran parochial school--it was a great education in everything but science.

High School in the same town.

Attempted college in a number of places. Finally succeeded in Sacramento, at the city college, where I completed my nursing degree. I did part of my BSN at CSUS, and finished it through University of Phoenix.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

June 30 1985. I think it was lonliness that finally drove me to quit.

It was hard--I had to face all the things I was holding down through drinking and deal with them. It took years. Ultimately, I had to go through the growth that I had supressed throughout my teens and early 20s--it was pretty awkward at times, but at some point I felt that I had caught up with myself.

I have always meant to make a post on this to add to my "My Life from A to Z series, but I guess I got sidetracked.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chandra/]

Your interests include Leonard Cohen, is that for his music or poetry?

Do you have a favorite poem or song from him?


Also, what's your favorite foreign film?


I have an extra copy of Leonard Cohen's Stranger Music: Selected Songs and Poems, if you'd like it. It's beautiful. I love my copy which is old and ragged and marked and read and reread.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

My favorite song of his is "In My Secret Life". Do you know it? Followed by "Hallelujah", and Chelsea Hotel #2.

I have never read his poetry! Yes, I'd love it!

Favorite Foreign Film: Tampopo. A Japanese noodle western.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chandra/]

I don't know it, but I'm gonna check it out.

Email me (my email is on my user page) your address and I'll mail it out!

[idasusan.livejournal.com]

Tampopo is a very strange, funny, wonderful film. I have seen it at least 3 times. Another Japanese film I like is Taxing Woman. Very different from Tampopo, but great in its own way.

[pecosbill.livejournal.com]

Have you written any songs? Also I'd like to add you as a friend if you don't mind.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Never! In fact, until you asked, it had never even occurred to me to even try.

Please do!

[pecosbill.livejournal.com]

My mother died a year ago September. As she lay dying, I felt a very strong urge to write this song. I performed it with my daughter at Mom's funeral.

Precious Light
Come to me
Bathe me in your love
Please come and set me free

Precious Light
Oh so near
Draw me closer now
Please wash away my fear

Beyond my reach I feel you
Beyond my sight I see
Your loving arms they beckon me
Behold Divinity

Alleluia alleluia alleluia alleluia
Alleluia alleluia oh I have been set free

[myasma.livejournal.com]

those are beautiful words.

[heyfatass.livejournal.com]

Before entering highschool, what did you hope to do as an adult?

Also...
Trout Fishing in America is an excellent book

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I wanted to be a zoologist and work in a zoo.

Hahahahahaha!

No, seriously, I'm not sure I had an idea, although when I was little I wanted to be an astronaut. I abandoned that after someone told me I was too short to be an astronaut. It was not until years and years later that I learned that they liked short astronauts--they fit better.

[ldygwynedd.livejournal.com]

How did you end up in nursing?

[myasma.livejournal.com]

My original plan was to be a cook. I was relief cook in a hospital kitchen after high school. The kitchen management changed, and the new dietitian didn't think men belonged in the kitchen.

Plan B: Get out of town. I joined the Air Force pretty much on impulse, just two weeks after talking my friend out of it. The first tech school opening they had was for corpsman, so I took it.

I liked healthcare, and worked in clinics after the AF. I had a plan to go to nursing school, but never seemed to be able to get it together.

While I was in the halfway house, I got a job as a phlebotomist. I had very low self-esteem at the time, and wasn't sure I could feel anything but self-pity.

One afternoon, a few months later, a woman came into the lab to get her blood drawn. As I stuck her, she winced and crabbed at me a little. She told me she was a cancer patient, and was just plain tired of being poked with needles--she just couldn't stand it anymore.

I felt a wave of compassion for this woman. I think tears came to my eyes. I wanted to do something to make her pain go away. It was the first time I had felt something for anyone other than myself for so long. It was such a gift. I remember knowing at that moment that I could be a nurse.

A few weeks later, I went down to the college and signed up for classes. I had just turned 29.

[kristli.livejournal.com]

How did you and Arlina meet?

(Can I have a second question? And does that count as my second question? Uh oh, there's three questions so far. Erf. Oh well.)

How long did you know each other/ date before you were married?

[myasma.livejournal.com]

1. Short answer: We met at work

long answer

2. Sure!

3. We dated for about 3 1/2 years before we got married.

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

I loved the long version!
=)
*claps hands*
thanks for the link on this Mike.

[calledisrael.livejournal.com]

[sidenote: the only thing i ever wanted to be before i wanted to be a priest was an astronaut! i even used to have my birthday parties at johnson space center in houston, and read 'the space shuttle operator's manual' all through middle school... he he. then it turned out that i get way too motion sick to do stuff involving flying. that is so awesome that you wanted to be an astronaut too.]

i know it's nerdy, but i was talking to someone the other day about how much i miss getting to distribute the sacraments in communion, which was a privilege of deacons (upper seminarians) in my diocese. can you talk for a minute about an experience with the sacraments? i am not sure what catholic deacons do all the time, so you might have to educate me, but i am always interested.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Let me come back to this one.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I received all but one sacrament as an adult, and so was able to spend time reflecting on each of them. Right now, I continue to reflect on the sacrament of marriage, and how its grace and meaning continues to unfold for us. I suppose this is also a lesson in the rest of the sacraments--that they are not just one-time events, but something that continuesto grace us.

After I was ordained, the first sacrament that I administered was baptism. It was such a wonderful and awesome feeling to baptize these little babies! I really felt the Spirit at work that day.

Maybe not challenging, but at least 'wordy'

[felixbunay.livejournal.com]

What's a vice you think you'd like to try, but haven't tried, either because your fear always overcomes your curiousity, or because you figure you'd get hooked and you'd rather not be hooked?

Not counting ones you've already tried, of course.

Re: Maybe not challenging, but at least 'wordy'

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Haha--I tried pretty much every vice I had a hankering for.

I have always wondered what Zima tastes like, though.

[waypasttense.livejournal.com]

I'm up at almost 1 am, trying to divert myself from worry. So I am reading your beautiful posts.

What theological concept/reality - for example, grace, redemption, incarnation - holds the most meaning for you and why?

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have ever really considered it that way. I guess it would be grace. The idea that God's love is greater than anything, and that there is nothing we can do to earn it--it is a gift.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, Mike!

Do you watch TV? If so, what are some of your favorite shows?

What is your favorite type of cuisine to cook? What is your favorite type of cuisine to eat?

:-)

xxoo

Ruma

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Well, I really don't have any favorite shows anymore--I just don't watch all that often. When I do watch, I like Alton Brown on Food Network, Frontline on PBS and The Simpsons. I like 6 Feet Under, but we don't have HBO, so I have only seen the first two seasons.

I guess I like to cook mostly western european cusisne--italian, french, german, and I like to eat italian.

I have given some thoght to moving to italy for a while and doing an intensive language/cooking program, but that is probably just a daydream.

[ahsu.livejournal.com]

What led you to become a deacon? (I was going to ask how you and Arlina met, but someone else got there first.) What do you see as your mission as a deacon? What's your spiritual job?

[one4k4.livejournal.com]

What do you do for work?