My Opinion/Interpretation Today...

Catholic: Becoming a Catholic. This is a process that I am currently going through. Catholic Answers calls it "one of life’s most profound and joyous experiences." I would have to agree. There is no feeling like joining the one true, original church! I was raised Lutheran and attended church off and on with my grandparents and for a time, regularly with my parents. I went to youth group and Sunday school. It wasn't a bad experience and I was always content to go, but it never really grabbed me. In grade 11 I moved from public school to Catholic school and quickly became interested in Catholicism. I enjoyed going to Mass, I happily attended chapel and religion class, I actually retained information when I read the Bible and about the church. After graduation, I attended Mass off and on but in a largely Mennonite community, I didn't really have any Catholic friends and I ended up becoming active for a while in the MB church. This was a great experience, but I still had Catholicism in the back of my mind. When I got married and bought a home in Chilliwack nearly 3 years ago, I brought my husband with me to attend St Mary's RC Church a few times and immediately felt that connection again. I was always happier when I went to Mass. I felt more spiritually fulfilled. I even had more patience about crying babies in the church than I've had at other churches. This fall I decided to do something about it. I joined RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) and am taking the steps to formally becoming a Catholic. This Easter I will make first confession, be confirmed and take first Holy communion. I can't wait! RCIA has been so awesome. I have met so many amazing and friendly people, I have joined the Catholic Womens League, I'm studying the Bible and the catechism, learning about saints, and I feel like I belong. If you are wondering which church might be right for you, or if are bringing God into your life and want to become a christian, I encourage you to give the Catholic church a try. It's a great place to be! For more information on becoming Catholic I'd reccommend http://www.catholic.com/library/How_to_Become_a_Catholic.asp

Politics: My asthma was keeping me up last night, so I slept in and missed the morning news today. That means that my only source of political "news" in the last 24 hours is from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. HaHa. Consequently, I keeping thinking of the US State of the Union Address and President Bush talking about cloning human-animal hybrids.
On Canada.com this morning, under The Province newspaper, (http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=f1ecc187-83a7-44ba-89d1-b6dfb0c65078&k=15931) I'm reading that outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin says he is proud of his performance. Proud of the Liberals cheating taxpayers out of millions, charging pizza and gum to us? Proud of the fact that you apparently never knew this was happening? (Are you lying, or were you just completely clueless?) Proud of the fact that the Tories knocked you out of power and that you had to resign immediately afterwards? Proud of the fact that you enabled homosexuals to marry and made sex/swingers clubs more legal and accessible to the public? Proud of decriminalizing drugs instead of enforcing tougher punishments for those in the drug business and lifestyle? I don't know if I would be proud. I think I would be embarrassed at my lapse in judgement and lack of morals.
Finally, we have a Conservative government. My wish is that is 4 years we will see Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper get re-elected, with a majority government. Mr Harper will keep the federal government accountable, he is tougher on abuses of social assistance, he will do the most for the working families of this country and will work for social reform. I'm so thrilled we have a Prime Minister who stands for the type of conservative social values that so many people in our country do have. It seems like lately Canada is forgetting that there are many people in this country with conservative values. People of faith, old fashioned, hard working, straight forward, patriotic people. Those who are tired of seeing others get "free rides" and the government run amok. Those who want change and really want Canada to stand up as a first-rate nation again. And she will.

Art: Recently, my friend Rob introduced me to an artist called Brom. (www.bromart.com) His art is dark, haunting, unforgettable and eerie. I love it! Right now I am very interested in his series "Things That Bite." It's really intriguing and I'd reccommend checking it out, especially if you have a penchant for the bizarre.

Music: I'm still completely in love with HIM's latest album, Dark Light. I find it's aggressive when I need it, yet at the same time very beautiful and soothing. Ville Valo has an amazing voice, and was just as good live (we saw HIM at The Premier in Seattle Octover 6 2005) as he is on the album, despite smoking, sweating and spitting profusely through the entire show. At the moment I'm also digging the songs "Sugar We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy, Marilyn Manson's cover of "Tainted Love" and anything by Death Cab for Cutie (who did a great job on SNL a couple of weeks ago.) HIM is at www.heartagram.com .

Books: I have a few different books on the go at the moment. I'm reading about the Billings Method (natural contraception), Robert Parker's illustrated Frankenstein, and the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation. The latter should take a while, as I'm making notes and studying each chapter along the way. I just finished reading John Grisham's latest, The Broker. It was fantastic.

School/Work: I have been accepted to school and will be starting at Vancouver Community College in May. I'll be taking my school in 3 parts. First, an Administrative Assistant program, then a month off over Christmas, then a Legal Assistant program, and then once I am finished and working I will take a few more courses in a specific Paralegal program. VCC looks like a great school, they have very friendly and helpful staff, a nice campus in downtown Vancouver and small class sizes. Until I start school (and while I am in school actually) I'll be working part time for my Dad, doing renovation work like painting and tiling, plus I'm an independent demonstrator for Stampin' Up! www.stampinup.com.

Life: Life is great lately. My best friend, Josh, moved in and is renting a spare bedroom off my husband and I. It's nice to have somebody else around, and to be honest the money doesn't hurt while I'm in school. We've got a big stack of horror movies to sit and watch this weekend and we have been having fun grocery shopping together. Josh has even very nicely put up shelving for my stamping supplies in the basement and fixed a plumbing problem.
We are currently in the middle of home renovations, and for a whie we went gung-ho but then our enthusiasm (and the amount of work being done) tapered off. Josh moving in seems to have kickstarted that again. We got my bathroom painted and tiled and some cleaning done around the rest of the house, and have more plans for what to tackle next. I can't wait until we're done!
At the moment we are also dealing with our new puppy, Oogie Boogie, a Husky/Terrier cross. God bless him, but man is he frustrating sometimes! He's not bad, it's just typical puppy things like biting and getting into stuff, harassing my cats and being hyperactive. He truly is adorable though and I am so pleased that we got him. With a little growing up and maybe some obedience training and agility classes he will be completely lovely.

That's enough of my yakking for today!