Today I'll be caught-up! Woohoo! (I now understand why so many bloggers frequently get "behind," this stuff is a lot of work!).
My day today was a day of playing "catch-up." After touring and being out until, well, bedtime last night, I had a lot I needed to accomplish today. It was my "old-man" day, if you will (however, no offense to old men!).
I started off my day by getting up at 7:30 (I know, 7:30 ON A SUNDAY!) so I could skype with my friend Jena. She is in Italy studying abroad, so our communications are limited and quite restricted, since she is 6 hours ahead of my time zone. Again, as in most of my posts, I digress. So, I woke up at 7:30 so I could shower. You never know how long Jena and I are going to talk. Maybe it will be 15 minutes, or maybe it will be 2 hours and 15 minutes (depends on how chatting both of us are, because if we are both in talkative moods, then you'll never get us to shut up). After I was finished skyping Jena, I planned on heading out to Mass, so I wanted to be sure I was ready.
We had quite the conversation (as we always do) covering all sorts of topics, baiting and insulting one another, and just having an overall good time.
After my skype call, I had about 35 or so minutes to kill before I needed to head to Mass...well, I had two options: 1) Read the Science of Success or 2) Watch How I met Your Mother. Since HIMYM happens to be roughly 22 minutes long, I figured I might as well get an episode in before Mass, and then maybe read a bit too (I didn't).
After that episode, I piddle around and did a few small things (responded to some emails, did a couple small chores, etc) and then decided to head to mass. My target this morning: Our Lady of Good Counsel.
It was a little farther from my apartment than St. Leo the Great, but not too bad. I think it took me around 15 minutes to go the 4.2 miles (which I HATE...after all the traveling I've done, and living in the country, 4.2 miles should take between 4.2 minutes-7minutes, max). OLGC was a lovely campus. Yes, I said Campus. They had a Chapel, the Church, a School (up to 8th grade from what I understood), and a couple other buildings. They also have quite a few morning masses, so they must have quite the congregation. I would say the church was between 2/3-3/4 full this morning. Not as many people as what St Leo had, but then again, OLGC has more time for parishioners to attend. Parking was also much better here than St. Leo.
Regardless of the mundane details, let's get to the church itself. I loved it. It was a brick building, that sloped-up as you approached the altar. Along with sloping, the church itself came to a point, so the Priest was sitting in a "corner" that was lit by a large skylight you were unable to see. Hanging over the altar (since there was not a flat wall) was a large carved crucifix. Unlike St. Leo's, this one was not painted. It maintained the dark color of the wood. I felt as if Christ was truly hanging on the Crucifix. While the colors were not human, the woodwork was exceptional. The fact it was hanging directly over the altar, and not against a wall, really made Christ tangible in the service--at least for me.
I won't lie, I was a little scared of what the music was going to be. The choir section had roughly 8-10 people in it (it could probably hold 30+) and the majority of them were...older. Our Cantor also was a little ill, and her voice was not nearly as powerful as it could have been--in addition to giving out at times. However, never judge a book by it's cover--especially during mass! I was pleasantly surprised when the entrance hymn began. The Cantor had a lovely voice, even if she was ill, and the choir was (no offense St. Leo) superior to the one I had heard last week. I was amazed at the power and beauty that came from those "old souls." It was a beautiful mass. The priest was an older gentleman, but had a beautiful message. He used the cellphone commercial where the guy is on a date and he keeps getting updates on his phone about "the game" he is watching. In essence, it was about the beauty of a relationship and how a table of two (Christ and oneself) really should be free of distractions. Despite getting up at 7:30, and sleeping less than I had last week, I felt much more awake at this mass than last week. I really enjoyed the Priest and the Church.
I'm debating between going back to OLGC or keep exploring the different churches in the area like I originally planned. We shall see what the future holds!
After mass, I ran back home to change (I literally was limping because of my disgusting sore on the back of my ankle from my dress shoes. Lesson to be learned: Do not break in your new shoes in DC).
As I was grocery shopping I received a lot of looks from what I suspect are/were mothers. It was that "aww-look-at-you-all-grown-up-shopping-on-your-own-without-a-mom-or-wife" look. At least, that's what I hope it was; the alternative doesn't seem as nice "you-poor-soul-you-don't-have-a-clue."
Regardless of what was behind the looks, they always looked endearing and that's all that matters to me!
Upon returning to my apartment, I unpacked all my groceries (considerably more than I bought last week at a lower price. However, last week I did buy a coffee pot, so that makes a difference) and decided it was lunch time (or mid-after-noon meal time, since it was close to 2:30/3:00). I found something to eat (I have yet to cook any hot food, other than Campbell's microwavable soups and instant Velveeta Shells'n'Cheese, It's on my to-do list this week) and headed to the basement to hideout until Monday morning!
Ok, so maybe not hide out. I simply had to blog and read some more. I finished yesterday's entry (while watching HIMYM) and upon completing that, finished the majority of the book I have to have read for tomorrow. (We have reading assignments each week for our program. Along with placement, Tuesday is a group seminar day, so we are learning about advancing Economic Freedom both academically and through a hands-on approach). I left the last chapter to read for the Metro ride in tomorrow.
Tomorrow begins a new week. Monday and Tuesday we will finish-up our program training, and from there on out, it will be strictly business interning and KIP programming! I'm quite excited! Now, having finished this, I'm thinking more HIMYM (Yes, I know, I have a problem. I believe I'm somewhere around the half-way mark of Season 3. Yes, I've managed to watch almost 3 entire seasons in a week. No, you cannot judge me [at least, not openely]).
And that concludes my "Old-Man" Sunday. I foresee most of my Sundays looking like this, and I am perfectly ok with that! After all, everyone deserves a break, even Interns!
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