gobble gobble

It's here! Thanksgiving Break at last! Today is my first day of break and I'm loving the idea of not being required to read, write music, practice my voice pieces, write papers, and so on. I slept 'til 1 and I'm still in my pjs. I have no classes until the 28th, so this is awesome. I'm gonna be putting up the rest of the outdoor lights, maybe making some goodies to freeze for Christmas (like I did last year), cleaning house a bit, and just having some fun. The other day I filled the cookie jar with a batch of chocolate chip cookies (Hershey's Classic Recipe) and they're 2/3 gone. Dad is dangerous around a cookie jar. I think I'm making a pumpkin pie with apple butter for T-day. A few years ago I made a pumpkin cheesecake...SOOOOOOO rich! It's just the 5 of us this time, which I'm looking forward to in ways I can't even say.

Dad got WinXP since our folders have mysteriously disappeared and rearranged themselves. Bye bye NT! I defragmented, virus/spyware/adware/worm/etc scanned, and did some folder searching and organizing of my own and nothing has fixed the probs, so the new XP should be nice. You know what this means though--I have to reinstall my music software/hardware for the 8th time!

I've got much to say, but it doesn't really fit here, so maybe I'll post it another time.

Song of the Day: "Somnambulist" by BT. JC from NSync is also on the track. Good tune.

peace out,
steve

Once upon a time I updated regularly...

In case you were wondering, I am actually still alive. After the past week it's a shocker though. I've been so exhausted I have barely wanted to get out of bed. I've missed a bunch of classes and some work as well. I don't know if the constant pushing has gotten to me emotionally and physically or if I just had a weird bug, but I hope this week is much better. Needless to say, I had no energy or will to write anything for you.
On Thursday night, a dear family friend passed away. His name was Father Reisdorff and he was the priest in Seward when my folks moved here. He baptized Lisa and I and is the reason my mom has her job as Religious Ed. Dir. at the church. This is her 20th year at that job, which he personally asked her to take by coming to our house. When I was suffering from depression and panic attacks in high school, he gave me the Sacrament of the Sick at the 'retirement home' for priests on one of my visits. We've gone through a total of 5 priests at our church through my lifetime, but I always kept in contact with Fr. R. His last years were spent at Madonna Hospital and I visited him just days before he died. A few priests were there, along with some family. He was wrapped in blankets and unable to move, speak, or even open his eyes much. The last thing I did was tell him that we loved him and blessed him by making the sign of the cross on his forehead (to which my mom commented that I'm still gonna be a priest).

Thanks for reading--keep in touch,
Stephen