Life is Full

Basil Wenceslas' birthday party on Tuesday was a lot of fun. The only problem is that my house is too small to invite all the people we want to invite. We've decided to rectify this problem by hosting more events. I'm trying to talk Athanasia into a St. Catherine's day party with all the traditional stuff: Wagon wheel suspended from the ceiling, lamb's wool, and pledges to improve vocabulary and elocution. So far, she isn't going for it. Maybe something on St. Nicholas' Day? We'll see.

I have been aware of streaming video on Netflix but I haven't really used it for anything except kids movies. Well, earlier this week I discovered the TV show Heroes. Oh my! I think I am an addict. I watched most of the first season in just two nights. This put me way behind on my homework. Also, I think the gruesomness of the show is not good. It feeds the bad wolf and works in opposition to everyting I am trying to accomplish. So, even though I really want to see what happens in the fight beteen Peter and Sylar, and if Mohindar survived his encounter with Sylar, and why saving the cheerleader saves the world, and what the connection (competition?) between "the company" and the rich guy in Vegas is, and whether or not Jessica/Nikki get integrated... Even though I have all these dangling threads driving me nuts with anticipation and curiosity, I have to stop watching the show.

School is just no fun. It is like taking three classes in "I hate everything that is good." In the past few days, in response to assigened readings and things said by my clasmates I have defended in class the following ideas: That freedom is good, that the life of any woman is more worth saving than the life of any man, that money is not everything, that people are more important than any other physical things on the planet, that Marxism is bad, that making a profit is good, that eating meat is okay, that farmers are necessary, and that autism is not good. A couple of my classmates have expressed their admiration for me and their enjoyment of what I write for the class, but the whole year and a half of struggling against the socialism, sexual-egalitarianism, amoralism, anti-humanitariansim at the University of Massachusetts School of Community and Government Service has taken all of the fun out of school, which I used to enjoy. As of now, I have no desire to even do the reading, let alone the writing.

On Friday night, Athanasia and I went square dancing at the fairgrounds. It was a fun and exhausting time. My legs are still sore. We're going again after Church on Sunday.

Today all four of us watched the new Lion Witch and Wardrobe on DVD. I prefer the old BBC TV version as it tracks more closely to C.S. Lewis's book. Athanasia hates the BBC version because of the lousy special effects. I think they are charming. She thinks they are hokey and distracting. I think they are better because the monsters are not nightmare inducing. She thinks the BBC version beavers are utterly stupid. I think they are delightful. We might have to get a divorce,or maybe, we'll just have tea with sardines on toast.

After the movie we went for a hike in the Santa Cruz Mountains and then popped into the St. Lawrence's Church in Felton for vespers. When we left Anselm Samuel said something I thought was interesting. He said he liked their music because it was the same as the music at St. Stephen's. He was right, the music was very similar. I think they both use Arabic tones. (I don't know. I'm just guessing. I barely know tht music my parish uses.) I was surprised by his comment because we haven't been to St. Stephen's since the spring of 2006, which is a very long time ago for a 6 year old. Speaking of St. Stephen's, we are actually planning on visiting there in the morning.