THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE BEATLES

Yesterday, as I was wandering around the Barnes & Noble at the Casey Plaza, I stumbled upon a book that I shall most certainly have to get sooner or later. I've always been interested in everything about the Fab Four. In this book, journalist Steve Turner analyzes our four very favorite hippie Evangelists, Sts. John, Paul, George & Ringo & their spiritual impact upon their contemporaries & posterity. It covers their religious upbringing & adult spiritual interests. Over the course of my lifetime I've always gotten seriously weird ideas about how they, & other sixties characters, could be compared & contrasted with New Testament characters. Today Robin will be flying in from Chicago. All my life I used to hear of the airport as the Avoca Airport. As it turns out, it's officially named the Scranton/Wilkes_Barre Airport. It's right over at the very northernmost end of Rte. 315. Alas, she will be only staying until Sunday. That's when the kids will be first showing up for their turn. Mary Anne called this morning to talk more about their big trip. My Carmelite meeting is coming up on Saturday morning. It should be really interesting. I got everything done in advance. The weather continues to get progressively better & better these days. Last night I watched Fr. Mitchell Pacwa on EWTN. His show was about the Nazi Holocaust in WWII during which many millions of Catholics & Jews were murdered. It included a defense of Pope Pius XII against left wing false scholarship.

NICE DAY SO FAR

The weather's still a smidge cooler than I like it but it's getting springier as we go along. Robin, from what I hear, is supposed to be coming to Pa. to visit for a while. So are Sam & Bridget. Unfortunately, Michael's not available. I should assume that things will be really busy around here with all them around. My mother made sure she called Rose last night to find out about how Karen has been coming along. We've all been most certainly praying for her. I just went to Turkey Hill today for gas. It's getting more expensive all over the place these days. Even more bad news is that because of the upcoming election we now have to put up with all sorts of interviews with Hillary, McCain & Obama. It's all as boring & predictable as it is unavoidably necessary. Pope Benedict, whose birthday is today, is now in Washington, D.C. It's the first time a reigning pope has visited the White House since Pope John Paul II visited Jimmy Carter in 1979. Yesterday I ate donuts & oddly, for once, they didn't come from Uncle Frankie. That was most certainly quite a surprise since he's our usual guaranteed source of all things fine & fattening. At my old KofC council, 794 in Lindenhurst, I used to get Dunkin' Donuts every Thursday night at bingo. Here I get to watch my step because nothing like that ever comes up. Brian from Myspace just reminded me that the fact that people spend so much time at computer keyboards these days has really been having quite an entirely negative impact upon our handwriting. I can't write for squat anymore...not that I ever could anyway. At least my penmanship used to be legible.

JOB FAIR

Oddly, they seem to be in the habit around here of advertising for job fairs that turn out to be on other days entirely. Recently I found out on the internet that the Wachovia Arena's fair was next Tuesday. Yesterday, though, I read in the Citizen's Voice that it was today. I think it worked out well. I must have given out at least ten resumes. There were even a couple of familiar faces there. Some people must be officially designated by their employers to show up at things like this. It's a very much more relaxed environment than an official interview ever turns out to be. Surprisingly, there seem to be quite a lot of organizations in this general area that deal with the handicapped. There were a few radio & TV networks, & newspapers. I couldn't resist checking out the media jobs. If nothing else, I've most certainly managed to amass quite a collection of free ball point pens among other things. They even give away candy too. It was crowded & I messed up a smidge coming home. The weather lately has been very nice & springy, even though I should really like it at least a smidge warmer. At least there's been no precipitation though. I've been reading as voraciously as possible lately. Yesterday I read a bit more of that book I have about Catholic converts. I haven't been watching TV lately except for "I Love Lucy", sometimes "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" & EWTN once in a while.

STOPPED RAINING

It's not raining today but I like the weather a bit warmer than this. The library's ice cold. It's frequently very cold in here so it's not all that much of a surprise. I couldn't help noticing, while looking through a pile of my papers this morning, that there will be yet another job fair at the Wachovia Arena next Tuesday. Going to one of those things has always struck me as infinitely easier than any other way of getting applications for jobs. It leads to much more volume. I'll be able to have a much easier time getting to the place for this next one because I've already made the trip once before. Last night was our monthly Holy Name Society meeting. It went well except that one of the guys got really offended by an offhand remark Howard made. He left in the middle of it all. Jerry made chili with beans & rice. Sometimes I miss one of the meetings because they're hard to remember. This month's meeting wasn't printed in the bulletin. There were the usual hooch, soda & cookies. Fr. Walsh didn't show up. The lectoring went well on Saturday. Mary covered for Rocco. It was even Rocco's birthday recently. The cousins are still rambling on back & forth on email about all their current events. Lately we haven't heard too much from anybody except that Larry said he wanted to visit Karen. Yesterday I watched a little of Raymond Arroyo's interview with W. on EWTN.

DANG ROADHOG METHODISTS

Next door to the Wyoming Free Library is the friendly neighborhood Methodist church. Today something is going on over there & both parking lots are entirely filled up. I ended up being forced to park over on one of the local side streets & take a short walk over here. I most certainly need the exercise & at least it's not raining although it was last night. This morning I put my computer on top of my desk. It still has to be hooked up though. Since I was on a bit of a roll anyway, I decided to take advantage & do a bit of spring cleaning. I dusted & put some clothes away. I made sure I asked John this morning why the library was closed when I first showed up yesterday. He gave me a predictable answer. Barbara was sick & couldn't show up. He couldn't get here until 10:30 because he always has to take public transportation. That's most certainly not exactly a big surprise. Something weird is constantly happening over here. I like it much better than Copiague's library though. They're all completely impossible to take over there. I'm still reading all those books, a little of each at a time. I've got to cut down on my compulsive coffee drinking. I've always really enjoyed it but I've been finding out lately about all sorts of medical studies showing that it's awfully bad for the health. Knowing me, I shall most probably never end up giving up on it. It's my one & only real vice(ahem). Tonight I have to make sure I show up at 5:00 Mass so I can lector with Rocco. Laura's not available. Lately all my relatives are abuzz with the current events & inevitable controversy that go with being a part of our lopsided crowd. The cousins are keeping in touch on the email list.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEITH PARTRIDGE

Either yesterday or today, according to my sources, is David Cassidy's fifty eighth birthday. In the immediate aftermath of the Beatles' break_up, the Partridge/Brady rivalry most certainly helped give people a much needed distraction. Let's do the Friday dance to a medley of their songs. I found out that the name Partridge is big in England, & Brady is famous in Ireland. For that reason it's also a good metaphor for the troubles between those two peoples. My cyber friend Gary is back in circulation after his three.day heart attack. He's still a wild & crazy guy (wink wink nudge nudge....). All he could think of was that the women who were his doctor & nurses were such a bunch of lookers. Uncle Frankie came over for a while last night. He & my parents ended up watching a western from the sixties. Roy Orbison was in it. Fran called a while ago. She got her cast taken off. From what I can remember of what I went through when it was my turn, it must have been quite a thrill for her. I got completely spaced out when mine was first removed. I wasn't in any pain, just went stark raging nuts. This morning I took apart the computer that doesn't work & put it into the garage. Pretty soon I shall have to figure out exactly what I can possibly do with the other one. Last night Laura called. Because of personal commitments she wants to switch. I have to lector for her on Saturday & she gets my turn on Sunday. For some reason Wyoming's library is closed & I'm back at the Hoyt again. It appears to be one of the main libraries in the area. I've started reading "The Aenead" even though I'm still reading that Jane Austen book. It's in keeping with my usual practice. I still haven't finished reading "The Iliad".

NICE DAY

Today's weather has been very nice so far. Uncle Frankie came over yesterday & left a box of donuts when I wasn't around. I haven't seen Fran lately. Yesterday I made sure I went over to Barnes & Noble at the Casey Plaza. One day, a few months ago, I took KrissyKrissyKrissy for a ride to the one on Main Street in Wilkes_Barre because back then I wasn't the least bit sure of how to get to this one. It's really easy to find though. It's right over by the Wyoming Valley Mall. That's always been one of my very favorite environments. They even have a capuccino stand. Besides Borders, theirs is about the best selection of books. Unfortunately the nearest Borders is somewhere way over in Scranton. I've most certainly gotten through quite a bit of that Jane Austen book. Next, I shall probably try to take a crack at Virgil's "Aenead". That church lady, who got sick a few days ago, most certainly appears to be back on her feet so far. She showed up at Mass this morning. Unfortunately, gas prices have been going up again. From the looks of what I've seen so has the price of everything else except the Citizen's Voice. On top of that, Java's favorite commander.in.chief won't be letting any troops come home after the summer. Yesterday I watched a little of Oprah Winfrey's boring show for some strange reason. She's involved with some new artsy.fartsy self.help trend. It bored me like crazy of course so I didn't bother even to go on watching it.

NICE SPRING SO FAR

Lately the weather's been getting better. Let's just hope spring keeps going like this. As long as it's not raining I'm happy. Snow now would be completely insane. I made sure I sent Karen a card this morning. She needs lots of encouragement these days considering her circumstances. There's been no news from Uncle Frankie or Fran lately. As far as I know they've been doing well. I found out in church that that lady who got sick a couple of days ago has been recuperating quite well lately. Gary, one of my Newblog & Netpotion connections, just had a heart attack. It took him three days to figure out what was really going on. He's only forty one years old. He's in a hospital somewhere over in Missouri. He always really likes to listen to KTOZ_FM, the radio station that's known over there as Alice955. Everybody's been sending them e mails wishing him a nice speedy recovery. He's a neat guy who, at least when healthy, always seems to have a spunky streak. Let's just hope it sticks with him. Yesterday I finished reading "Pride & Prejudice" & got started on "Sense & Sensibility". Lately Obama, Hillary Clinton & McCain are all over the place. I've really never been all that especially interested in keeping track of things like this, unfortunately, but it's a necessary evil. Soon W. will be out the door, put to pasture. I really can't say I expect any of them to be the least bit better unfortunately.

SPRING DAY

Today the weather's been especially nice, but a little on the cool side, so far. Marian, one of the church ladies, got very violently sick right at the very end of 9:00 a.m. Mass yesterday. She didn't show up today so I'm assuming she's still unable to get out. I put the site for Steve's jazz band on my netpotion website & they've been most certainly getting quite a very favorable response so far from all my connections. I also asked the netpotion people about what they thought of the word "ain't". It occurred to me yesterday that there really isn't any other legitimately available alternative for how to say the contraction of "am not". I've always been compulsively articulate so it gets me more than slightly miffed when someone tries to excuse inappropriate use of the English language. I'm down to my last few dozen pages of the Jane Austen book I've been reading. Frequently it goes epistolary on me. I have to read all the fine print in the letters written by certain characters. All the tiny little print gets me crazy. Yesterday I made sure I called the local Catholic radio station to get reservations to see Fr. Donald Calloway, M.I.C. He's a priest with the Congregation of Marians. I met him twice when I visited them at their scholasticate in Washington D.C. during the 1990's. I spent a few days there each time. That was when Fr. Larry Dunn & Fr. David Lord were their vocation directors.

A VISIT TO KRISSYKRISSYKRISSY'S

Everybody made the trip except me. Having spent much of Saturday & some of yesterday with a bad headache, I blew my chance to go to Jim Thorpe to see KrissyKrissyKrissy. I made sure I finished the dvd of "The Guardian" which she lent me a few months ago. My parents gave it back to her when they & other kinfolk spent the day visiting her. My mother went down there with some relatives & My father & Uncle Frankie went down right after the big game. Unfortunately the latest news story around here is about anti.Semitic vandalism against a Wilkes_Barre synagogue. Two teenaged girls, members of a Nazi cult, put anti.Semitic graffiti on Congregation Ohav Zedek. We can't let this garbage go on. Wilkes_Barre's already a bad enough area anyway. The weather's been very nice lately but a smidge colder than I'd like it. We just got some e mails from Mary Ellen & Vinnie about Karen's latest circumstances. We shall all have to keep in touch with her. My brother in law, Steve, has a jazz band & a Myspace site. I should most certainly hope everybody listens to them. Their username is Spectrumjazzco. Yesterday I was looking through a book I have about the Beatles. It was really interesting to get a reminder of exactly who wrote their songs & how things were done in those days.