BIG CARMELITE MEETING

This morning, I went to the T.O.Carm. meeting in Wilkes_Barre. It went quite well as usual. I was absolutely stunned as I was able to get around with light clothes. I didn't even have to be bothered with warming up my car. Last month's meeting was even cancelled because of a raging blizzard. A few people didn't show up. I went nuts today & drank a spot of tea at the meeting though I usuall end up getting coffee. Uncle Frankie came over for a visit & KrissyKrissyKrissy has an earache so she won't be back until tomorrow. Things have been working out quite well for her lately though. Every day lately that Virginia Tech story makes the headlines & it's a typical conversation piece. As expected, there are copycats. I agree completely with the guy on the news who said that a major source of all the trouble is the ACLU mentality. In this country, for entirely too long we've been obsessed with the left.wing assumption that the accused, at all times & at all costs to his innocent victims, is entitled to a blank check. The victims' rights are conveniently ignored.

WHOA SPRING

Today is finally & at last perfect weather absolutely. It's only around a month overdue. Tomorrow is this month's big Carmelite meeting. Last month's was cancelled because of a blizzard. I was beginning that would happen every month at the rate we seemed to have been going. The library computers are extremely crowded right now. I most probably don't have much time of my ten hours left on mine by now. All sorts of things are going on because of that mass murder a few days ago. There's at least one copycat so far. Many people I've met have even become afraid of lots of things in general exactly because of this incident. That guy was a real trouble maker & never got any help that could have prevented it all. Michelle has been sending out e mails every once in a while & I just noticed that she's sent me another one. This one is about nine angels who have to be sent out to nine people including her. Lots of times people send jokes, prayers, etc. I'm an especially big instigator in cyberspace. heh!heh! Today I also have to wish you a happy Friday dance. Yesterday I read an extremely seriously irritating essay in the Times Leader. It was written by an over_50 grandmother who bemoaned the fact that her little granddaughter was forced to settle for a bunch of obsolet nursery rhymes like "Mary Had A Little Lamb", "Jack & Jill", "Ring Around the Rosie" etc. instead of being allowed to have some new stuff today's kids could relate to. This attitude is very common & puts current events on a pedestal above history, religion (but of course, duh!)literature & all sorts of perks that can be gained by letting the little young_uns find out about yesterday's classics.

NICE DAY FINALLY & AT LAST

Well, I see the weather has finally & at last given us the satisfaction of warming up a smidge. Will it last though? Lately it's been around fifty degrees. Today is the second anniversary of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's election to the papacy. As Benedict XVI, he's really been keeping people hopping. Last night I watched for the first time "Faith & Culture", Colleen Carroll Campbell's new show on EWTN. She interviewed Charles Colson, an Evangelical Christian who founded Evangelicals & Catholics Together. It was a very good show. I found out she once wrote speeches for W. but hey nobody's perfect. Didn't the living legend of Pat Buchanan once work for Nixon? Lately all the news has obviously been about that Va. Tech shooting. That's most probably not such an especially bright idea because it will most probably have an entirely detrimental impact upon many people. The news nabobs always dwell entirely to intensely on things like this. There just isn't any way to make it easy on people & it has to be reported but those news nabobs are always more concerned with sensationalism than legitimate journalism. Something should most certainly have been done about that kid a very long time ago. His dysfunctional track record wasn't exactly a very well kept secret. I just found out on the radio this morning that today is the fortieth anniversary of the day Hostess first invented Ho Hos. My old supervisor Carole, originally from Pittsburgh, should be quite proud that her hometown is the Ho Ho capital of the free world.

WENT TO EYE PLACE

Today I went to that place in Exeter that works with the blind. The receptionist referred me to a gentleman who explained exactly what kind of volunteers they need. He came up with something that would be very good for me. He said I should go over to one of the colleges in Wilkes Barre & ask about reading on their radio station at night. On their program they read to the blind. I most certainly have lots of experience with reading to people because I was, for an insanely long time, a lector at O.L.P.H. Many people in Lindenhurst, to this very day, have no idea what my voice sounds like without its being amplified through a microphone. The weather is still absolutely nightmarishly cold but at least there's finally no precipitation. KrissyKrissyKrissy is still gone for a while, until Saturday as far as I know. I've finished that Flannery O'Connor book. Every time I watch "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire", it occurs to me just exactly how ridiculously out of touch I really am with all sorts of things, including today's pop cultural trends. I'm insanely knowledgeable about millions of kinds of obscure things but I haven't been keeping up with what's right around me every day lately.

VIRGINIA TECH MASS MURDER

Yesterday was the day that Cho Seung_Hui, a 23 year old S. Korean senior, killed 33 people at Virginia Tech. He committed suicide at the end. It's the biggest mass murder in recent U.S. history. He was a permanent U.S. legal resident. The Columbine massacre was on April 20, 1999. Fifteen people were murdered. Both the killers committed suicide. In 1966, there was a rampage at the University of Texas, in Austin. Charles Whitman murdered 16 people. Policemen shot him to death. It will be the most important news story for quite a while. Because of all the frustration that inevitably comes from our currently prevalent culture of death, we can expect these kinds of things to happen. Abortion, euthanasia, etc. can't be isolated from other parts of life. They inevitably play cause to everything else's role as effect.

I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE

I woke up to a blizzard this morning. It's freakin' April 16 already & I was literally forced to plow through snow & ice. At least the roads are fairly good though. Pittston is in major trouble, from what I've heard. Schools & other kinds of places are closing & experiencing delays in this entire area. Uncle Frankie got KrissyKrissyKrissy the cheese she so desperately wanted. That's the important thing, I reckon. New York has been taking a whooping too. Hello to all my connections out there. Today's a good day to avoid any unnecessary aggravation. Cell phones are a major source of it for me. Everyplace I go, their presence is made known. Even in libraries, churches & other havens of peace & quiet, they can be found. At least in this library, with few exceptions, unlike Copiague, they're hardly ever around. Today we've been really lucky but sometimes we get stuck with the occasional troublemaker. KrissyKrissyKrissy, thanks to her constant New York jaunts, has been keeping us abreast of all the gossip out there. I also have been hearing from my e mail connections lately so I know stuff about other people too.

VERY COLD DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

It was ice cold & raining. I went the Oblates' Seminary in Lafflin for 2:00 p.m. Mass. There was quite a nice big crowd, especially considering all the miserable weather. My claustrophobia wasn't afraid to kick in among all those people. I went there by way of The Cross Valley Expressway to 315. I've really been learning to find my way around over here quite well by now. I've always wanted to go to their Mass in Stockbridge, but it must be even more crowded. The Marians have been on TV all day & night. I got a chance to meet many of them in person a while ago, so I saw several familiar faces. Uncle Frankie showed up today. KrissyKrissyKrissy worked two hours late overtime. That left us with pretty much a typically droll mundane day around here. Pretty soon, I shall have been living in Pa. for a grand total of exactly one entire year.