My First Report Card

I arrived back at this weekend to discover my first report card. Overall I was very pleased with how things turned out, especially considering the hectic end to the semester and my early departure. My goal is to have 4 A's and 2 B+'s this semester.


Communication for Pastors - A
Prayer/Priesthood- A
Introduction to Catholic Theology- A-
History of Philosophy- B+
Philosophy of Nature- B+
Epistemology- B


Tomorrow is a day of recollection, which simply means- prayer, retreat talks, and silence. Then at after evening prayer we have a big reception and a fancy dinner. I will let you know how it goes. Until then ...

A Last Minute Journey

Greetings All!

After a long break I am back to the blog. Unfortunately I was away from real computer availability for two weeks, hence the lull in postings. It was a real challenge to be disconnected from the world of technology. I am just back in the seminary now, as classes start tomorrow. I will use the next few days to catch you up on postings including (public speaking 101 at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, the Long drive Back, Better Late then Never, A New and Improved Room, and the Great Chair Arrival. (also I have not forgotten a few of your emails, please be patient as I catch up!)

- Mr. Nelson




December 30th, 2008

11:00pm I begin to ponder what to do with my free Southwest Airline ticket to
anywhere in the country

11:15pm Realize it expires in two weeks

11:20pm I discover I have no commitments for the next two days

11:25pm Consider all my options

11:30pm Remember that I have friends attending a New Year's eve wedding in Florida

11:35pm Decide I will fly standby the next morning and see if I can enjoy a crazy
adventure

11:45pm Frantically pack my bags, while on the telephone reserving a rental car




December 31st

8:00am Wake up

8:15am Still in bed

8:25am Panic realizing I need to get moving or I will miss my flight

8:32am Loading up the car

8:33am Snow on my car, was it supposed to snow?

8:34am Wow, there is a lot of snow!

8:35am I am stuck, look at my wheels spinning in place

8:40am I am cold, wet and moving down the road toward the airport at 5 miles per
hour

8:55am Quick stop at the post office, to mail a very important package to a dear
friend's family

9:10am Arrive at the airport, no time for the economy parking...when did the
garage cost $17.00 per day!

9:11am BITTERLY COLD OUT! Very Windy

9:20am Checked in for the flight (Southwest rocks!)

9:45am I am randomly chosen to have all my things searched, and to receive a "pat
down"

10:30am Seated and relaxing on the plane (note: I am the world's biggest southwest fan, but the one thing I hate is the open seating. If you are late to check in, like I always am, and are last to board, everyone is passive aggressive and does not want you to sit next to them. People always "fill" the middle seat with their things and refuse to make eye contact with you. No matter where you sit someone will hate you for hours, because you "ruined" their flight.)

4:00pm After a stop in Baltimore (ironic I know) I am off the plane in warm, sunny Florida!

4:05pm It is 75 degrees

4:10pm Why do we live in NH again?

4:15pm Summer is nice, but so is Winter, IN FLORIDA!

4:20pm Use free wifi to priceline a hotel (good thing there was room or I am not
sure what I would have done)

4:45pm Arrive at Rental Car Center to pick up my two door glorified golf cart, or
should I say "economy car"

4:56pm Inquire if there are any good upgrades available

4:57pm They say, "why yes, for ten dollars more you can have a brand new ford mustang convertible in red or grey"

4:57:01pm "Red Please"

5:00pm Top Down, 75 degrees, Radio Blaring, Sun Glasses on!

5:45pm Arrive at the Hotel, my lucky streak continues, Brand New, Sweet Room,
Views of the Water ($50)

6:30pm Meet friends for dinner

8:00pm Relaxing at the hotel overlooking the water (friends have gone to the
wedding- it was a non ND wedding so I could not really be a wedding
crasher)

12:00am Observe a family tradition (originating from our one Swedish ancestor) of
eating Herring at the strike of midnight

12:00:01am Wish I was adopted, or at least born to a nice Belgian family who eats
chocolates instead

January, 1st

7:30am Driving along the Beach!

8:30am Breakfast with friends, followed by a beautiful walk on the beach,
chilling and just taking in what NH does not have, warmth!

10:30am Send texts to people back home, touting the beautiful weather and
warmth

10:31am Some unChristlike responses are sent to me in reply

12:00pm Lunch on the beach

2:00pm Drop friends at the airport

2:10pm More driving and warmth

5:00pm Back at the airport

9:30pm touchdown

9:40pm FROZEN SOLID!

9:41pm Wish I signed up to be a seminarian for the diocese of Miami or Honolulu,
Hawaii

10:00pm ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz

Christmas Madness

I was fast asleep in my room when suddenly I sensed it. I sensed that someone was there and was watching me. Now normally I do not pay much attention to such things, but since there was a famous murder on our property one hundred years ago, I am a little skittish. Not sure what to do, I just lay there nervously. Seconds later I again sensed the presence. This time I did not know what to make of it, as surely it was real. Then I heard breathing and the gentle pitter patter of feet. Suddenly out of nowhere there was silence, and then a thud, as a forty pound projectile fell upon me as a lay in bed.
The silence and ensuing “thud” was followed by the words “wake up Uncle Andrew!” It was 6:30am and my niece and nephew were visiting from Vermont. Now, I suppose a better person would have jumped out of bed and began coloring and reading stories, but I am not such a person. I was unsure what to do. Do I tell her to go away? Do I wake up? Instead I decided I would just do nothing and shut my eyes, secretly hoping she would go away. Unfortunately, my niece would not give up that easy. Ten more leaps onto to my back and still no movement from my tired, battered body. She craftily grabbed a large pillow and began hitting me across the face cheerfully declaring “wake up Uncle Andrew, I want to play.” Well it was 6:30am and Uncle Andrew did not want to play. So for the next ten minutes “thump” after “thump” I was beat up by a six year old. Yet for some strange reason I did not give in. Feeling put off by my refusal to acknowledge being attacked with pillows, my niece decided she would try to wake me by putting a pillow over my face and sitting on me. Now I must admit I almost gave in to her ploys to wake me, but still my exhaustion and stubbornness allowed me to hold on. That is, it allowed me to hold onto until she unleashed a nuclear weapon from her arsenal of wake up ploys, the dreaded nose. Until yesterday I mistakenly believed there was no noise worse in the world, than the high pitch screeching of a small child, I was wrong. The high pitched screaming of a six year old imitating an alarm clock is hands down the worst.
After covering my head with the pillow I muttered the magic words that rescued me from my distress, “why don’t you go wake up Grandpa, I think he wants to read you a story and make you breakfast.” Then I heard pitter patter yet again and then silence, followed by "zzzzzzzzz," the most beautiful sound in the entire world.

Break

Since Christmas I have been up at my parents house spending some time on break. As my parents have dial up internet and a really old computer, it takes years for the internet to load. It is of course driving me mad and I go crazy before I get a chance to post anything. So I have decided to take a few more days break from posting and will resume in 2009 (the end of the week)when I am near a real computer.

Merry Christmas

The Man and the Birds by Paul Harvey



The man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn't make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man.

"I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "but I'm not going with you to church this Christmas Eve." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite. That he'd much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound...Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud...At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They'd been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.

Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it. Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them...He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms...Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn.

And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me...That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.

"If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to safe, warm...to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand." At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells - Adeste Fidelis - listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.







*** Merry Christmas to You All!***

Mass, Macy's + Madness

Mass:

I spent this morning with the Trinity community celebrating the Advent season and the approach of Christmas. The best Christmas present I could for ask for was being able to see everyone again and to share in the beauty and power of the Mass. The choir was subperb and nearly made me cry at several points. Mr. Maurier's solo was outstanding as always, as were the solos by choir members (including Ms. Byron- who has been secretly hiding an amazing musical talent all this time). It was also nice to see so many alumni back again for the Mass. Because of the inclement weather the party after was cut short and everyone made their way home.


Madness:

It has been snowing like crazy all day and it is great! It finally feels like Christmas and it just feels right, as long I stay inside and am looking out the window at the cold and am not in it.


Macy's:

I decided to drag Father Jerome out to the store with me in the midst of the storm to do some Christmas shopping. We arrived at Home Goods at 8:30pm and Macy's at 9:30pm and we were literally the only people in the stores. It was rather strange to arrive at a department store with only 1 other car in the entire parking lot. It was amazing as there were no crowds, no lines and tons of personal service. Next year I will be sure to do my shopping in the middle of the snow!

I had intended to write something exciting but instead I will head to bed (it is almost 12:30am). ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

What You Don't Want to Hear

I am still keeping busy at the parish and enjoying the break from school. Since the rectory does not have wireless I only get to post updates when I can sneak on the pastor's computer. Please excuse the short nature of today's posting.

Last night I helped out with the food pantry and was amazed by the organization of the team working. It was a great experience and I enjoyed meeting the wonderful families that came for a little extra help.

After the work was done I was able to catch up with two old friends from my days at Saint Anselm. One of them told me their family was just talking about me the other day. Expecting them to say something nice I said "oh really, please share." Well I really wish I didn't utter such foolish words. They said "we were just watching my sister's wedding video and there you were at the reception dancing. My dad said (to my college friend) look there is someone even you can dance next to and look good."

I am still feeling the burn!