Last weekend, I was cleaning up our house while my housemate Chris, the Middle School Youth Minister, and his bride-to-be, Teresa, were in the kitchen preparing a Sicilian (ie. not Italian) feast for a housewarming party at our humble abode. I think at one point my other housemate Joe, the Police Officer, came home from Mass lookin' all GQ front page because that's just how "Sunday best" he is. After the pasta was made, and the garlic knots baked, we all did some sampling in the kitchen. Chris and Teresa started talking about their engaged couples retreat they recently attended while we were munching on those super-incredibly-muy-delicioso garlic knots.
Such stock photo
Chris made a reference to the 4 F's of married love that they covered during their retreat, and he joked about the 5th F of love.
Faithful, as in love is unfailing and is exclusive to each other.
Fruitful, as in the love shared between the beloveds is so strong that it overflows, which sometimes results in children, and being open to that possibility.
(jokingly) And fifth-ly, love is...
Food, as in the necessary nutrients that allows one to live so as to be able to love
...and get fat so that the beloved can't run away.
Yes, many insights into love and life permeate within the walls of this Catholic household. Indeed, authentic love mandates the 4 F's, but in a way, Food is necessary too. It's just a bonus that the food happens to be really delicious Italian Sicilian cooking. Chris is one sure lucky guy.
After much laughter and reflection in the kitchen, we continued sampling garlic knots. And we rejoiced all the more later during the actual party with baked pasta, more garlic knots, wine, salad, and cheesecake with choice of caramel, chocolate and/or strawberry topping. Many more laughs. There may have been a game of "salad bowl" (a mix of Taboo/Catch Phrase and Charades) where the invited seminarian tried to trump everyone with Latin phrases, and many lessons were learned that night on the detection of sarcasm.
I had the fortunate opportunity of going to see Audrey Assad in concert at a local Catholic university last weekend. She recently released her newest album, Fortunate Fall, and is touring around the country to promote her new album.
I have to say...I'm a fan! She's got such a pure voice and to hear her sing is always pretty awesome. She performed her whole album plus a few crowd favorites from previous albums, and she ended the night with Matt Maher's, "Lord I Need You."
On Monday I took a "So you've never shot a handgun before" class. Groupon can be a dangerous thing, and it has led me down this path of firearms that I've previously ignored, but am now getting into it. I think my previous skills and appreciation for archery, combined with my aerospace engineering skills, has increased my love of projectiles. And apparently handguns are the next step after Nerf guns. Oh and after airsoft guns too.
Don't worry. I've taken the time to educate myself on safety, Texas' gun laws, and all that jazz. And I have extreme malice towards paper...like so:
Not bad! ...at 3 yards
--- 3 ---
Napping in my car is now a bad habit. 60-mile commute to work, one-way...and carpooling has been a difficult thing as of late. Therefore, I have mastered the art of the 10-minute nap so that I'm not falling asleep at the wheel...
Travel-sized pillows are a blessing. And once again...Groupon strikes again! ...because a memory foam travel pillow is that much nicer, especially at discounted price. ;-)
--- 4 ---
But all that napping is due to all that overtime-ing. Things have been hectic at work since I've gotten back from Brazil. Like, mandatory 10 hours of overtime per week for nearly all of August! Pulling a near 12-hour day plus the commute for several weeks has burnt me out, and the only consolation is that glorious 10-minute nap before work in random parking lots.
Though...all that overtime has been nice. But then I severely lack...time. >_>
--- 5 ---
A good way to de-stress from overtime-ing is to laugh. And I literally LAUGHED OUT LOUD for several minutes like a crazy psycho maniac at this video:
So simple! So hilarious-for-some-irrational-reason!
...and I haven't even delved into the variations on this theme of a waffle falling over!
...I could easily overtime on YouTube for the sake of falling waffles...
--- 6 ---
It's always awkward to have a conversation with a dental hygienist. Well, clarification. It's always awkward to have a conversation with a dental hygienist while they are currently cleaning your teeth. But luckily this past week, I didn't really have to maintain any sort of conversation while I felt the picks and pokes and gentle turns of the brush-drill with the instant flow of water out one nozzle and into the other.
Actually, the most intriguing conversation I had with my dental hygienist was just before she lowered the chair.
Chocolate covered bacon...served with cheese.
-Spanish accent- Repite.
Chocolate covered bacon...served with cheese.
But it was a conversation on the start of football season which ultimately led to the greater conversation of football food traditions.
Though the conversation was short. I ...don't have any football food traditions...unless it's me serving concession stand food along with my fellow Filipinos at a Texas A&M home football game. A bucket of popcorn is exciting stuff. But I didn't get a chance to talk about that with my hygienist because I was already under the lamp.
And the whole time...I was very much intrigued at the idea of ruining my cleanly fresh teeth to have but a taste of chocolate covered bacon...served with cheese.
I must save this idea for future reference.
--- 7 --- Speaking of football, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Cowboys play last Sunday. Sundays are always busy for me in that I'm usually running around doing stuff for my ministries. But it was nice to chill after all that was over by going to a fellow volunteer's house to watch the Cowboys play the Giants.
Nevermind that he had a 115" (projector) screen, his couch was comfy, an oversized ottoman was conveniently located near my feet, and a cold adult beverage was served.
