Saturday, August 22, 2015

Steve Carell, Astro Wives, and random thoughts

one last note on the Foxcatcher critiques... I couldn't help but notice in the movie how a big part of Carell's character is having a warped sense of others' regard for him.  How someone is insulting and ignoring his presence (which is arguably inappropriate, among other things) and he is completely oblivious to it.  Remind you of another character he's done?  I'll give you a hint ;)


Anyway, onto The Astronaut Wives Club.  As I wrote earlier, I was curious how it was going to be an entire show with multiple seasons, but I think they did realize it and the "season finale" perfectly wrapped up all of the characters' developments.  All of the stories were closed on the characters (although they could have mentioned John Glenn's 2nd orbit of the earth in 1998 - I remember watching it in school).  But I'm still a little confused as to why it was called the "season finale" and not the "series finale" though...

Also, the thing that bugs me is the emphasis on birth control and that the contraceptive devices developed in the '60s were such wonderful things.  Like, no one notices the fact that Irene touts the diaphragm in her news anchor bit, as she's in the middle of what looks to be a painful separation from her husband?  But there couldn't possibly be a connection, right?

I went to Jazzercise this morning and was a little saddened by some of the comments made by other women about their husbands and about children.  It was very cliche - women making comments about their silly husbands, and I get it, sometimes I tease Kamil (and he properly teases me back ;) ).  But it seems strange to do it in a public venue with women you don't really know.  I suppose I still have some rose colored glasses since we're just now approaching our 1-year anniversary (one week!!). 

But another interesting remark was that the Jazzercise instructor (who is in her early 50s) recently had a stomach bug and she told us how a coworker joked she might be pregnant.  Her response was complete disgust and a view that it would be the end of her life.  I'm probably a little melodramatic in my interpretation, but as someone who would very much like to be pregnant now (and again and again!), it's a little hurtful to hear someone else's guffaw at such an idea.  But as I'm younger than most of the jazzerciser's by at least 15 years, I suppose it's only natural to feel a little out of the group.

At least it was some social interaction.  I always thought I was more of an introvert, and I still think I am pretty content in my solitude.  But I couldn't help but notice a few weeks ago when I made a quick stop in a Starbucks and sat enjoying my chai tea latte in a chair, that I was thriving a bit off of the energy of having other people around me.  That I need to force myself to be a little more social to fuel myself for the long hours of quiet alone at the apartment.

I guess that's enough rambling for today.  Ooh, but before I go!  I did manage to get a bunch of photos off of my phone so here's some to share:

an adorable Hannah in her glasses from my trip to Illinois a few weeks ago. can you STAND the cuteness???

all of the cousins on my Dad's side (and some cousins' kids too!) with Grandma for her 85th birthday

beautiful St. Isidore in Riverhead, right in the middle of a Polish community. Mass is offered in Polish so I'm curious to try it out!

Off to occupy myself for another 4 hours while Kamil sleeps off his night shift :P

Loves,

LL

Monday, August 17, 2015

another book/movie review, and some honesty

So, to start with my follow-up to my last post, I read and watched the book and movie Foxcatcher, regarding the interesting story of John Du Pont and the Schultz brothers.


The book was a good read and held my interest, although it was difficult with some of the descriptions given of the various wrestling matches.  I'm not really familiar at all with the sport, and still have no idea how the points are given, so those parts of the book were glossed over.  I'm definitely more of a visual learner in that respect.

Another thing is that the author, Mark Schultz, writes from a perspective that I find a little unusual.  His is not the story of an underdog overcoming odds and seeking the thrill of victory in his olympic medals.  I found some of his commentary frustrating, and maybe if he had written it differently I could understand his story better.  But, for an example, his explanation of losing in the 1988 Olympics sounds a little whiny - that he could have won, but just decided not to because it would have made John Du Pont happy.  It seemed a little sad to me that he wouldn't seek victory for the sake of having it for himself.  But maybe that's just me.

Now, I was looking forward to the movie.  I enjoy some of those dark indie films, and was interested in the movie before I knew there was a book.  But the movie also left me wanting.  It didn't seem to rely much at all on the story given in the book, yet made assumptions that its viewers had read the book to understand some of the more subtle moments.  It suggested that Dave and Mark were both working on Du Pont's property at the same time, and also completely ignored the angle that Mark was initially brought into Du Pont's world under the impression that he would work at Villanova for an up and coming wrestling team.  So, the movie was a bit of a disappointment for me.


On a less "academic" note, I need to get a few things off of my chest.  I suppose that's what a blog is for, right?  So here goes...

The last two months have been hard.  They have been a continued test of my patience, and a practice in better understanding myself.  I think what God is trying to tell me through all of this is, "Wait.  And please keep waiting."

Case in point:  I am desperately trying to find a good parish where I can get involved and make good Catholic friends.  I previously wrote about the various churches and their quirks, and we still haven't found a place to truly call home.  We even thought we had, but I guess it's not our time yet.  I seriously ache for the churches of Arlington.  I feel like I'm going crazy in seeking out a parish that upholds the Catholic Church which is why I'm taking a step back.

We joined a parish and registered and everything.  I then went to Sunday Mass on my own and was brokenhearted after the priest's homily.  He saw fit to use the Bread of Life discourse as a jumping off point to discuss the current debate over divorced Catholics.  Yet no where in his homily did the term "annulment" get mentioned.  Instead, he proceeded to make off hand comments like, "I don't really care about Canon Law" and "It's funny these men are making decisions about divorce when they'll never get married."  What's worse, the congregation ate it up, erupting in applause for him.  I barely made it through the rest of the Mass.

So I'm back at square one in the church search, and I think I'll just take some more time to figure this out.  I just wish I knew where else I might meet people to make some friends here.

I'd appreciate some prayers...

Love,

LL