Yay, Zenkitty! That sounds like a decent first date to me. Even without the asshooks.

If they would just stick it out for a week, they'd learn it's not that scary.

Make a deal with them.

"Stick with me for a week and I'll give you M&Ms.

Two weeks, and we'll talk about s'mores.

Three weeks, and you owe me a Dove bar."

I would LOVE that!! Ha!

But isn't it an elective?

Yes and no. We lost a lot of electives in the budget cuts a couple of years ago. As a result, there are very few the kids actually get to choose and those are all year-long electives (Spanish, choir, band, orchestra). All the semester long electives (there are only 4: general music, art, first aid/nutrition, and drama) are just in a pot and kids get put whereever their schedule allows. They don't get a choice.

ugh Scrappy, that sounds so hard.

Fixed, sj. Sorry about that.

Thanks, Burrell. I am on the phone with my mom about it several times a week. It's really hard for her to give up wanting to fix it, or at least to know WHY.

Oh, Scrappy, that sounds thoroughly miserable. Opus Dei is such completely, poisonously bad news, so toxic to everyone in its orbit.

Yay good first date and potential friend with potential for potential, Zen!

I really, really hate the hierarchy.

One of the Boston parishes [shut down by Bishop Lennon in order to redirect funds to cover abuse survivor lawsuits and settlements], St Frances Cabrini in Scituate, Massachusetts, has been occupied for the past eight years by parishioners who have refused to accept its closure. They have a roster chart to ensure at least one person is at the church at any time, so that the archdiocese can’t change the locks.

OTOH, I really kind of love the (non-Opus Dei) lay members. Eight years. That's one seriously fucking impressive Occupy movement. (There was also a parish in Cleveland that did an even more elaborate and impressive end run around the same bishop attempting to pull the same shit -- the article is kind of jaw-dropping, in an amazed "Holy crap, why can I not hire or vote for these people to organize every popular uprising ever because they are so terrifyingly good at it" way.)

The traditional greeting at my parish is now (very bitterly), "Aren't we lucky to be living in such an interesting time to be a Catholic!"

I must be really lucky in the Catholics I know. Because my uncle still loves me and I am really not Catholic. He just accepts it. And this weekend is the 40th anniversary of his ordination. Priest Party!

It's a really messed up organization, I think. I think there are absolute horrors done in its name. But the people I know really have a faith and want to do good. There's something to be said for that.

The traditional greeting at my parish is now (very bitterly), "Aren't we lucky to be living in such an interesting time to be a Catholic!"

I will not attribute the quote but I have heard, "May the Pope open his eyes. Or close them."

And, Aims, I hope Switch comes home quickly and safely. Stressful to have missing kitties.

adding return~ma for Switch

Switch come home!!

ION- I am that grumpy old man, giving a "get off my lawn" type of speech to punks on skateboards making a rukus outside my office. Skateboards make a lot of noise when they scrape the planter and land on concrete. Told the kids to go to the skatepark. They asked "Do they need helmets?" After just looking it up on line, and it says "full pads required", I'm guessing it does. But I said, "I dunno. I don't skate. I do know, there is no skating here."