Two events you are sure not to miss--

This Saturday, downtown Home & Garden staff member John Steffenson
discusses "How to Attract and House Brown Bats."

U-M Japanese Animation Film Society: Hayate the Combat Butler deals
with a teen sold to the yakuza for organ harvesting who escapes and
out of spite kidnaps a girl who falls in love with him.

Found in Shady Barbeque Restaurant outside of Livonia. Headlines provided here for your enjoyment. :)
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My Eyes Are Blue, Desperately Seeking You.

New Beginnings

Middle Aged and Lonely

Hello Ladies: Where To Start I Don't Know But Here Goes [I'm still wondering how long it took him to come up with this!]

Happy Atheist

It's Never Too Late To Live Happily Ever After

Professor Seeks College Co-Ed Student [a little bit sketchy, no?]

Allow me To Cook For You, My Princess

I'm Confident Not Cocky [ooo tell me more!]

For Beach Boy Fans Only!

Looking To Go Asian [move to thailand like the other creepy old white men going Asian!]

Tired of Being Lonely [sounds like a lot of fun]

Do You Want to Come Outside to Play

Ode to Crayons

I love crayons. I love the colors- the potential- the reminders of childhood. As a child I found them stressful, but now I relish my right to make ugly drawings that don’t look much like they ought. Ugly grapes, disproportionate beach scenes- excuses to use every possible color that I can.

My favorite childhood drawing was a blue man in green grass. His entire body was red except for the last bit I colored, his right arm.. which was filled in with every color that remained in my crayon box. An interesting jumpsuit design, to be sure- I would definitely buy one. :)

Also exciting- rearranging the crayons in my box by color. Red to Brown, to Orange, to Yellow, to Green, to Blue, to Purple, to Black, to Gray. Such order. Such cheerfully colored order!

Firewall isn't working? Report totals aren't correct? You don't know how to install software? Screensaver freaks you out? NO PROBLEM. I've got 64 different colored crayons riight here to help me relax and say, "and did that file open? Okay, sounds like we may have done a left-click instead of a right-click. Go ahead and close that file. Yup, that's right. Great."

Was awesome. We had an in-house retreat all weekend long, and I am just ruined! It was such a great time- we had an absolute blast. We kept true to my campaigning promise of the 3am Taco Bell run, and also managed to swing freeze tag in a pitch black gym, a decent waterfight, and my favorite part- an excursion to the underbits of St Thomas.

I'd just discovered the basement bits and where we store replacement kneelers, old podium's, older designs for Crucifixes.. and my favorite part, an old Parish Mission statement that details how we are called to live together in community as we grow more and more in love with Jesus- taking care of the poor and goals for evangelism. We all agreed that we'd love to see that Mission statement unearthed and put up somewhere- it's such a neat part of our heritage, and it's so old!

I've always really really loved the teens at St Thomas, but there's just something about spending a weekend together on retreat that makes me love you guys even more! And same for the Volunteers. So many people helped. 4 different Priests, and probably close to 15 other Volunteers helped to make it great!

Check out the latest pictures and updates on the Retreat- www.findthevillage.com.

__




Montana:
First I think of Arby's.
Then ranch dressing.
Then cheese.
?
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Name Survey: Please rank in order of glory/horror
Blanche
Polly (not PollyAnna- just Polly)
Bertha
Gertrude
Suzette (is a real name)
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My pet cockroach died. I hadn't even named him yet.
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Things I don't know how to do:
Manage my finances
Iron clothes
Check my Antifreeze level
Make coffee
Put air in my tires
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My first day of work I cleaned my tape dispenser with Pledge. Stupid, I realize. I failed to take into account that pledge is to be used for wood surfaces exclusively. Now, week 3.5- my tape dispenser is still covered with grease. How much longer do you think it will stay greasy??

The Hunt for Peter(Petra?) Continues:

Both male and female rats make great companion animals, although they have different characteristics. Does (females) are smaller, more lithe and more active than Bucks (males). Does have a smoother coat (unless they are rexes, in which case they have a less curly coat); they have almost no discernible smell and rarely scent-mark territory. Approximately once every five days a doe will be in heat for around twelve hours. This usually happens in the evening. You will notice that your doe is in heat by changes in her behaviour: she will be jumpy, skittish, and may perform a mating 'dance' by freezing, arching her back and fluttering her ears if you tickle her haunches. Bucks are larger and more laid-back than does. Their coat is coarser and has a slight musky smell to it. While they are as affectionate as does, they are much lazier, and when left free-range will often curl up in a corner or on your lap. Some bucks scent mark almost everything that they run into -- including their human companions -- but this is not as disgusting as it sounds as the 'scent' is only a few drops of urine and does not smell strongly.

Meeting the new office cronies-


"And this is Will, he's in charge of quality- and he's a quality guy! Huh Huh Huh.."

"Yup, I'm in charge of all the internal server errors- but don't come to me with a domain problem! Huh, Huh.. I sure don't know how to handle those- give those all to Ed. People always bring those to me, Huh Huh.."

This just in folks--



1. Our first Village of the year, was AWESOME. We had 26 people, more than I've ever seen at a High School event at St Thomas. People laughed, people prayed. Glorious.

2. Beth just got a job offer!! Beth will now be working 40 hours a week at a Catholic Software company, which is going to -wait for it- PAY HER BILLS! This is, as you can imagine, quite thrilling.

3. Exciting event #2, leads to exciting event #3, which is-- Beth will soon be upgrading her living situation to include such commodities as: a sponge, a dishdrain, a bed, sandwich baggies (no more plastic wrap), and -gasp- food beyond tator tots and frozen burrito's.

4. As a further extension of exciting event #2, Beth's last day at the dreaded Computer Showcase will be this coming Wednesday, Sept 27th.

5. Kato-San, the bestest best friend of aforementioned Beth, will be returning from Italy to commune with Betho for 2 days very very soon (of course official alibi for return is Brother's wedding- but lets face it folks, the Betho draws all).

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True or False:

---I played the bagpipe this weekend in the middle of the street, to the sounds of massive applause.

---I worked 25 hours this weekend.

---I am presently stressed out about whether or not I will have enough time to purchase 3 dozen goldfish today, tomorrow, and everyday this week.

---My real name isn't Beth.

---Today I will be driving around dressed as a giant lobster.

---I just asked my co-worker if I could borrow his cat. [Response: "Hmm.. That's awkward."]

---I have recruited 14 ppl to help me with The Village, St Thomas the Apostle's new High School group.

The zenith of my day today, aside from awakening in my new farmhouse to the siren of our smoke detector, was the trip to Ann Arbor's Recycle Center for used furniture. The food-stained couch was a steal at $500, and why buy a new couch when you can buy used for more? Hmm. The hunt shall continue. FYI, used toilets are going at about $35 these days- so you'd better get down there before all the nice avocado ones are gone!

Today I had the pleasure of disappointing college students who had waited in line for 45 minutes, only to be turned away with nothing...The glorious legacy of the Computer Showcase lives on! :) Bleck. Come-on job at the hospital!!

Is v. first day of school at St Thomas elementary! So many cute little kids parading in with their bright shiny backpacks, and new pencil cases. It's all I can do to resist rushing off to the store to purchase a nice clean notebook for myself, and freshly sharpened pencils. I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils, if I knew your name and address. Don't you just love NY in the fall? :)

Through a virgin, you have brought forth a new birth in our world; through your miracles, a new power; through your suffering, a new patience; in your resurrection, a new hope, and in your ascension, new majesty.

- Divine Office, morning prayer

So there's this gorgeous apartment that's just off of Michigan Ave, first floor of a stone farmhouse, huge stone fireplace, sun-porch, three bedrooms, new appliances, two bathrooms, and all of this on 12 acres of farmland. There's a giant pond across the street, and I can't stop imagining how beautiful the lake will be in the fall, surrounded by the beautiful leaves changing colors...

Anyway- I just heard back that my brother and I can move in in a week and a half! And even better, it's affordable. :) Stay tuned on housewarming party to come soon. In other news, I got a hookah for a late birthday present. WOOT! Will also be featured at said housewarming party. :)

This weekend I learned to polka! Had a blast. Who knew it'd be such fun to polka? Was out at German park and loads of fun. Good people. Good beer. Huuuge park. Now if only it wasn't their last night of the season... :(

Highlights of my day--
1. Painting Heidi's foot with watercolors
2. Finalizing Lobster-suit rental
3. Exploring a gorgeous stone farmhouse for potential rental with Brother
4. Bubble bubble.
5. Telling Bethany about the fountain
6. Borrowing Father Chas's credit card

In other news, I've discovered that I'm eligible to be a:
- Home Health Care Specialist
- Assistant PreSchool Teacher
- Panera Bread Company Cashier
- Front Desk Receptionist for the Devil (aka UofM Counseling and Psychological Services)
- High School Coordinator (aka Coffee/Administrative/Enforcer Chick)
- Executive Head Chef for UofM Catering
- Waitress (Restaurant patrons rest easy, I've declined this offer..)

And tomorrow is sure to bring all sorts of exciting adventures! Perhaps I'll sport my brand new fuzzy sea-green Barbie purse that I won at the St Thomas picnic as an 8 year old. OR, perhaps I'll have new food adventures utilizing the ingredients of my fridge-- lima beans, romaine lettuce, guacamole, hummus, and eggplant.

Today I met a sweet little black cat that meowed at me and let me scratch him behind the ears. I felt bad that I couldn't invite him in for a bit of milk, but we aren't allowed to have pets.

For lunch I had an enormous salad of spinach, romaine, kidney beans, walnuts, onions, carrots, and balsamic vinagrette. Oh, and a huge bowl of green beans. Was great. Problem with new "Eat to Live" food plan is time constraints-- takes 20 min to chew aforementioned ingredients...

In interim since last post, have purchased cheerful red 94 Honda, from terrific and sweet woman named Julia- who lived in Geddes Lake, one block from me. Also, have moved downtown to St Catherine's House, the St Thomas-run women's discernment house. Is v. crazy. Am considering how to create sustainable life in new Catholic Real World that have enrolled self in.

Have just met with dear parishioner on Junior High Youth Ministry, which I feel is an untameable beast and perhaps is best left alone- aside from dropping off occasional human sacrifices to appease. ;)

So I've been home for just over a week- and what a glorious time it has been.

The flight home was hillarious, initial take-off delayed due to packs of stray dogs on the runway. Of course Indian people on every flight disobeying airtraffic rules- not buckling seat belts, letting children run and play in the aisle, keeping carry ons at their feet. :) On an Indian flight they would have gotten away with it, but the British Airways staff couldn't dig it!

My family met me at the airport, even though my flight got in 3 hrs late, at 3am! Great to see them- after imagining that moment for so long. My Sister had even flown in from NYC to be there for my homecoming.

Initial culture shock has been interesting, random bouts of crying and feeling frightened in cellphone stores... but getting to catch up with some of you has been great! It's so exciting to have my family, Katosan, Pav, Fr Bob, Megan, Nesto, Sinko and Bdthelen back again!!

My favorite moment so far was in the movie theater with Katie. A movie experience in India contains the following- assigned seats, cell phones ringing and being answered with entire conversations, the movie screen going entirely black for 10 seconds at various points of the movie until people yell enough that it gets fixed, not to mention the valid fear of being groped by the men sitting on either side of you.

So back in America we walked in and sat down at Showcase Cinemas- I breathed a sigh of satisfaction. :) Behind me came the gentle cry of a newborn babe... and I sighed again.. just when I'd hoped for peace, now this. The woman in front of us reeled around, saying-- "Oh no they didn't- if that baby cries one more time I'm going to pick up the red courtesy phone and have them thrown out!!" Harsh words, to be sure especially considering the movie hadn't even begun yet! Still, I was so proud to be back in a movie theater experience I could understand. :)
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I've accepted a job at St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church (my home church) as the Coordinator of Youth Ministries. I'm really excited to start- I've been a volunteer with the youth programs for the past few years. My favorite quote for youth is from Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day 2000-

"Around you, you hear all kinds of words. But only Christ speaks words that stand the test of time and remain for all eternity. The time of life that you are living calls for decisive choices on your part: decisions about the direction of your studies, about work, about your role in society and in the Church. It is important to realize that among the many questions surfacing in your minds, the decisive ones are not about 'what'. The basic question is 'who': 'who' am I to go to, 'who' am I to follow, 'to whom' should I entrust my life?"

I look forward to walking along with the St Thomas youth as we explore these questions.

I'm also thinking of starting Nursing school in the Winter semester. I'll have some prerequisites to take care of before I join a program, but I'm looking forward to it. I see nursing as a way to be able to help the poor in a practical way, both overseas and domestically.

Some days ago I had my last day at Shishu Bhavan, the orphanage where I have spent the last 8.5 months. I wasn't sure how to say goodbye- but tears were involved, and my departure did not go unnoticed. Sister Beatina gave me a card from the children, with each child's fingerprint. It meant so much to me.

Said goodbye to Sister Karina, the Sister in charge of Volunteers. She's been great- and my favorite Sister by far. With nearly 400 volunteers at Christmas time, she has a lot to do. Still, her compassion and listening ear have meant the world to me.

In fact- have wrapped up everything of my normal life here, since I am working with the Sisters on a summer camp for Indian girls for my last couple weeks- in a more remote part of Kolkata. Like nearly all MC programs, it has been total chaos. :) The Sisters haven't explained anything to volunteers, but they disappear for hours at a time with no explanation. Each program is 3 days long, with 60 girls. This past program we actually lost 6 girls. There's got to be a rule against losing children in youth ministry, right?? ;)
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After just 10 days of being back in Kolkata it seems all that was seemingly so sorted and processed in my head has proved far from it. At any rate I will be returning to America in a couple weeks. :) Will be great to see you all, eat Chocolate-Peanut butter ice cream, Qudoba, *real* cheese, and to have the freedom to have a beer with dinner without risking malaria. :)

Please be patient with me if I seem distant at first, and continue to pray that I would make a healthy transition to home life.