Weekend Update

So, I had a pretty busy and interesting weekend. Let's recap.

On Friday, Anne, Peter, Laura, Dan, Paul (Dan's Brother), and Michaela came over and took part in "The Ultimate Soft Drink Showdown." We held a blind taste test to determine which cola is the best out of Pepsi, Coke, and RC. Coke won by two points over Pepsi. However, results were mixed when it came to who could correctly identify the three. Dan and Laura correctly identified all three colas. Yay for them. While some had a much more difficult time identifying them. One person in particular had a hard time accepting the implications that a negative identification between Coke and Pepsi had on her own self-identification. LOL. It was truly a life changing experiment. Afterward, some of us played The Great Dalmuti. Laura and Michaela looked great in the Lesser Peon hat! Meanwhile, Dan and Paul played Duckhunt on the old Nintendo.

On Saturday, I got up at 6 AM in order to be at John Elias' baptism down in Indy. John and Katie worship in the Byzantine Catholic rite, so John Elias' ceremony was much different than the one we have in the Roman rite and much longer, but I didn't mind. First, the baptism starts at the back of the church with the baby facing east. This is where the baby is exorcised. Then after the exorcism, the baby is taken up the the front of the church where all of his clothes are taken off and he is anointed with oil. After that, he is fully immersed in water. Then he received his conformation and first communion. They do most of the Sacraments at one time in the Byzantine rite. While all of this was going on, I saw two children who were attending the baptism get up and walk over to the holy water canisters. They turned the spigot and began drinking several glasses of holy water. Now, this kind of freaked me out because we don't drink holy water in the Roman rite. At least, I've never seen anyone do it. It also freaked me out because they each had, like, ten glasses each. I mean, they were guzzling it. After the baptism, I asked John if that was OK in his rite. He said it was, though the kids probably shouldn't have had 10 glasses of holy water in succession.

That evening, David and I went to a party for young married couples thrown by Mary and Bob Schnerre. It was an awesome party. David and I really enjoyed ourselves. Grant and Claire, the Antonios, John Paul and Katie, and and bunch of other really great people were there. Amazingly, there were 26 children ages 5 and under in one house at the same time. The most amazing part is that it really didn't seem that overwhelming, and there were several opportunities for baby holding. My favorite babies there were Peter Xavier Antonio and Margaret Schnerre. Very cute.

Today, right before 9:30 mass everyone went to the gym to meet the new RCIA people. When we were going into the gym, I jokingly asked David if he thought anyone who worked at Ivy Tech would be converting this year. You see, David and I work at Ivy Tech, and last year he and another person who worked at Ivy Tech both converted. Well, to our surprise someone who we know from working at Ivy Tech is in RCIA this year! How wild! If that isn't a reason to incorrectly use exclamation points, I don't know what is!

Finally, My Aunt Barb is having a dinner/birthday party for my cousin Nicole. This means that there will be at least 5 different appitizers and plenty of wine to start off with. Then, I have been told that we are having pork tenderloin, potatoes, salad, green beans, and rolls for dinner. Then, we will have birthday cake, pie, ice cream and coffee to finish. My Aunt always has truly epic Sunday dinners. I don't know how she does it. I also don't know how I'm supposed to stay in shape when I eat there. Oh well. I love her to pieces and I know she loves us, too.

Next post I'll be back to my old self with scathing and witty social commentary.