So. :) A fun-filled, action-packed week it has been! (Unless you count work...) :)



Monday was my sister's birthday, not that I saw her or anything. It was also the Stanley Cup final, which I did see, and Tampa won. So that was neat. I know nothing about hockey and I was rooting for Calgary. (But I would have liked for them to win in game 6 when they were home.) There were a couple of bad calls for both teams, but the goals they got kinda cancelled each other out. So I say Tampa won 1-0 on a really good goal, in spite of the fact that the score was actually 2-1. And the really bad call against Calgary in the first period had them coming from behind for the whole game. Which isn't the most desirable game dynamic. But anyway. As I said, I don't know anything about hockey. ;) Joe says Tampa deserved it because they're the better team. And it's always nice for the home team to win. So... yeah. Hockey season is over for another year.



Do you realize hockey season is eight months long and there are games pretty much every night? I didn't. ;) I like hockey. I really do. But not enough to watch it every day. Sorry babe. ;)



Football... there's a sport I can handle. Sixteen games in the season. One game a week. Yeah... having not grown up watching sports I think I just never realized what dedication it takes to be a true sports fan. At best, the most I will ever be is a casual sports fan. I enjoy following our teams. But if I wasn't dating Joe, I probably wouldn't pay any attention. (MAYBE, since I do live in Buffalo and we have major professional sports. But probably not without outside influence. I grew up in Syracuse and in spite of that couldn't care less about college sports.)



Yeah... that was way off topic. And here I was just going to tell you about my week. :)



Tuesday, Joe took me to John & Mary's for dinner (the best burgers around, especially for the price) and then we went to the Palace to see Shrek 2. For the third time. :D This ties with American Pie as the movie I have seen the most times in a movie theater. I'm half-tempted to go one more time, just to give Shrek 2 the record all to itself. American Pie is a movie that I liked as a different self. I can tell I've grown out of it because, knowing Joe hasn't seen it... I think I'd be embarrassed to watch it with him. Not embarrassed by the content so much as embarrassed by the fact that I used to like the movie so much. It's not the kind of movie I'd recommend to anybody anymore. Things have changed.



Clueless, I realized last night, is kinda the same way. How did I grow up with this stuff and not realize what it was at the time. *sigh* How do you protect your kids from popular culture?



But anyway, yeah... we saw Shrek 2. Again. ;) That movie is a ton of fun! If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out! We're buying the special edition boxed set when it comes out (which you know it will!).



Yesterday Joe took the day off from work so we could go to Thursday in the Square, which is a free concert thing they have every week in the city during the summers. The only good band coming this summer is Fuel, and they were there last night, which is why we went. ;) That was fun! I didn't know all the songs they played, but I recognized a couple of newer ones that are on the radio. And they played "Jesus or a Gun" which Joe knows, and "Shimmer" and "Hemorrhage" which were my reasons for wanting to go see them. So I did enjoy it. :) We ended up sitting on a bench on the fringes of the crowd, listening and talking rather than actually "watching" per se, but in an outdoor concert that's where I'd rather be. Up in front of the stage it's just a mass sea of people, there's no room to move and people are constantly shoving you around. Yeah... I don't really have a need to be in the middle of everyone. I'm glad Joe seems to be the same way. If it was an organized thing with seats I'm all over being in the front, close enough to see and be a part of the action, but the chairs keep everyone separated enough so you get some personal space. Less shoving. Plus you can sit if you need to. But I'm not really so much into standing in the middle of a huge crowd with barely enough room to breathe. It would have to be a band I REALLY loved. :)



Also last night there were some folks across the street from the concert with "Jesus saves" banners, handing out tracts. We stopped and talked to a lady and her husband. Well... Joe did most of the talking. ;) The first thing I noticed was that the tracts they were handing out were from Chick Publications, which immediately made me wary. These particular ones weren't really terrible, as they go. But Jack Chick is an anti-Catholic psycho, so even if some of his things do have more or less the right message there is no way I would support his business in any way. This goes for me two years ago when I was barely a Christian at all, much less a Catholic. So when I see somebody handing out his stuff I can't help but wonder how much of it they buy into. The people were very nice and the lady said she grew up Catholic, and there was a little minor debate about Catholicism. You know, the papacy, Mary and saints, faith and works, the Bible. Usual stuff. We didn't really go in-depth on any of it. They talked about needing to be "born again" or "saved" and how the KJV is the only authentic and true Bible translation. Eh. I wish I had better things to say in those situations. I know we have answers but I don't know them off the top of my head, I can't quote scripture chapter and verse. Joe is a better talker than I am, he can remember things as he goes a little better than I can. I think of them the next day. I need reference books in order to carry out a good debate, but unfortunately I don't seem to have them on me at the right times. ;) Oh well. Overall they are doing good work, or trying to anyway if people stop to listen. Leading people to Jesus is the important message they're trying to convey. But I do wish I could make everyone understand the things that I understand about the Catholic Church. :)



Tonight we are going to the art gallery to see the Rodin exhibit ("The Thinker" for those who might not know). I'm looking forward to that. I haven't really seen much famous art in my lifetime. I have seen works by famous artists, I suppose that counts. And famous landmarks. Joe was amazed that we didn't go to the Louvre on our trip to France... we didn't have time though. Not to do that and see the other sites of Paris. We were only in Paris for one day. We did go to Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle and some other places. On an unrelated sidenote, it will be REALLY cool to go back to all these ancient cathedrals someday now that I am Catholic. There are things I just couldn't appreciate about them before that I will be able to see in a whole new light a second time around. :)



In later updates: a review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Also, a newbie's perspective of the complex and frightening (though fascinating) universe that is D&D. Yes, you heard me right. But that's all I shall say for now. ;)