Because it's such a beautiful story, from Natter:
Katie: I was distinctly underwhelmed by the Sistine Chapel. It was so familiar that I ended up looking up and thinking "huh. Yes, that would be the Sistine Chapel. How interesting."
Rick: I spent a term in Rome while I was in college. On my first quick tour of the Vatican I felt the same way about the chapel. A few weeks later the choir from my college visited Rome on their European tour, and some cardinal who heard them thought that they were wonderful and should sing in the Sistine Chapel. This was a surprising bit of diplomacy because, well, it was a Lutheran college and a Lutheran choir had never been invited to sing there. So they kicked the tourists out, and the choir gave a concert to a group of cardinals, bishops, and a handful of us who snuck in pretending to be connected with the choir.
When it was being used for its real purpose the chapel was transformed. The music and the frescos and the chapel design combined into an extraordinary spiritual experience. You really felt as though you were being lifted right into the scenes on the ceiling. Later, we were told that most of the church officials had tears in their eyes. Fortunately, when I have returned to the chapel I've still been able to hear the choir over the clunking of tourists' shoes and the incessant babble of the tour guides. So it's a special place to me.
Teppy, in Natter, placing Nilly on the timeline:
Okay, so you're 8 hours ahead of the US East Coast, and 11 hours ahead of board time. So tell me, how does the rest of Monday turn out?
For Crazy Talk, in Natter:
Ita: Man, if you have to leave home to find crazy, you're looking with your eyes closed.
Cashmere - Paul Newman's the only septuagenarian I'd considering doing.
erikaj - It disturbs me there are a few on my list.
ita - Why should it disturb you? Septuagenarians need lovin' too.
Steph L.:
I'm going to hurl lightning bolts at you from my Mt. Stephlympus.
DavidS:
snickers as Stepheus pricks finger on lightning bolt and drops it on her divine foot, hopping around and cursing a blue streak
Steph L.:
Ooof. Taunting a demi-goddess. The nerve....
erikaj:
Still better than Glory...
Sean K:
Now giggling madly at the idea of Tep playing Glorificus instead of CK.
Steph L.:
I'd oversleep and miss that one specific moment when the Key could rip open the portals. I guarantee it.
Lit (Steph is on a roll):
Steph: I am terrible at synopsizing books and movies. Just terrible. Thank God for Amazon.com. (Except in F2F conversations, of course, in which I think I once gave someone the impression that Return of the Jedi was a documentary about bears.)
In Firefly:
BHP: I have decided that leaving Firefly in the Tivo Season Pass is like leaving a candle in the window, or setting a chair for Elijah. One of these days the place will be filled.
ita: That's such a coincidence. I have made a bed for Orlando.