sometimes I wish I were you...

so that I could be friends with me... this funny but arrogant statement was highlighted the other day on AOL IM and I originally left it on as my away message cause I thought it would bring a little laugh. I don't know if it was from the study of family dynamics in my pastoral theology class or a discussion that I had with an old friend about what he recieved anonymously or perhaps it is the typical self analysis that I do before lent, but I took some time and reflected on this and wanted to share it with you. I pondered what is it like to be friends with me? How do others see me and is that how I want them to see me? I guess this came about when thinking about conversations I have had with other friends and misinterpreting what they said or how they said it, there were times that I asked for clarification or my reaction signaled that I had not comprehended what they meant, but a couple times, I did or said nothing... how often do we all do this? I like to think of myself as pretty content with who I am and not worried about what the other thinks and I believe this is still the case, but still wonder how it is percieved. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want six billion replies on the subject telling me who I am to other people, but it was something that I thought was worth thinking about for all of us. I encourage us all to think about this as we approach Lent and look for ways to better ourselves, not for the sake of the other, but for the sake of ourselves and who we want to be.

In what has become a small tradition now, Saturday marked the feast of St. Blase and the blessing of the throats, and now I am in my room sick. I finally figured it out two years ago (after getting sick for five or six years in a row within two weeks of the feast day) - it is a blessing for other people not to hear me talk! Unfortunately for you, I still have a keyboard and fingers :). Seriously though, I am not overly sick, just really off; I haven't found a solid sleeping pattern for about a week now and have just been sluggish. I decided to just take some time in my room today to try and recover which stinks cause I hate missing classes, but hopefully I will back up and running tomorrow... we shall see.

The Super Bowl was one of the worst games I have ever watched (I actually started falling asleep twice in the 4th quarter), but the food was good and so was the company as most of the house came down for the super bowl party. I thought the commercials were pretty brutal, I don't think I will ever eat a snickers again. I did like the commercial about the robot arm though, and rock paper scissors and the blockbuster 'mouse' ad weren't too bad either. '24' on the other hand was great last night (SPOILERS ahead - if you didn't watch it skip to the next paragraph). Some of the show was kind of predictable - I mean everyone kind of figured out that it was going to be Morris' picture on the screen, but I also guessed that Jack's father was involved in the whole thing when he shot the other guard. There are small things that bothered me last night though, 1) why was Jack's father able to see Jack interrogating Grahm? I mean come on, how about following some protocol sometimes at least. 2) Why did they leave everything in Grahm so his dad could just inject him? and 3) if they left the tubes in why didn't they leave the cameras on so that they knew he was involved? 4) Does every Vice President hate the President as much as in this show? OK, that's enough for now...

Just remember next week we get TWO new episodes of 24 starting at 8PM!!! Keith is happy :). National letter of intent signing day is tomorrow (college football), this is when all of the players that said they were coming to Rutgers usually sign on the dotted line to make it official. There have been last minute switches, although I am not a big fan of that, and some people, like Antwain Easterling the #5 RB in the country, have not decided. *cough* *cough* I think I will still be sick tomorrow ;). It is shaping up to be an awesome class though and am just happy for my beloved Scarlet Knights, although I may not be able to see them anymore as there has been a hold on new season tickets because of interest (now a 2000 person waiting list) and I no longer have season tickets since I moved to Baltimore. The single game ticket may no longer be available, which is great for the university, but not so great for me. Oh well, such is life, but luckily I still have some friends who might be able to help out.

Anyway, I should stop writing now since I am cold and need to hop back in bed (life is so tough). Hope all is going well wherever you may be and I will talk to you soon. oh, and today's moment of zen comes from a brother seminarian who shares a similar sense of humor - I addicted him to Pearls before Swine and he sent me this beauty - start from the bottom and work your way up. Pax et bonum.