Sorry not much blogging this week. School ended and I’ve been sort of coasting. Mind in neutral, a few hours each day at school cleaning my office and desk, then chilling out at the pool.
I was tempted to buy a motorcycle this week, justifying it as a necessary extra form of transportation for our family, but reckon the money could be better spent on home improvements and maybe a nice piano for our daughter Madeleine, and maybe a toupee for me….
Batteries are now charged, and I’m ready to roll into summer. This week I’m going with Joseph Pearce to the Chesterton Conference in the twin cities. The week after that I’m off to El Salvador on the St Joseph’s School mission trip. In July I hope to attend the Anglican Use conference in San Antonio and then I’m camp chaplain for a week at Camps Kahdalea and Chosatonga near Brevard, NC.
I’ve also got a list of stuff to write as long as my arm. Various articles that are on the ‘to do’ list and I’ve been encouraged to write my spiritual autobiography. It’s got the working title, There and Back Again. I’ve started it, but I’m always skeptical of the whole process of autobiography. How does one avoid either an ego trip or one of those false ego trips with loads of false modesty?
It all has to come out, ego and all, every word; then you have to brutally edit it back to the basic skeleton that the initial out-pouring will reveal (but don`t delet draft one in case in the final edit you put some of it back in); and then get a critical friend to read it and re-read it. Then spend your Summer 2009 school break touring the UK to promote it. Simple.(By the way, what is an Anglican Use conference ?)
“How does one avoid either an ego trip or one of those false ego trips with loads of false modesty?”Start at the beginning, go on through the middle, and then stop at the end. If it’s an autobiography, then you are the story, and if you are vain Fr Dwight, rather than modest Fr Dwight, then it will come out.If you are worried, and don’t know, or don’t want the publicity, then don’t do the autobiography!But I hope you do: the essay in “The Path To Rome” is, for a cradle Catholic, an ameuse-gueule: I’m looking forward to the main course!
If you are serious about getting a toupee, be sure to watch the movie “An Everlasting Piece” so you’ll know what you’re headed for! Besides, it’s great fun.jedesto
It’s impossible to live without ego so you might as well just get your inner narrative down on paper as the other commenters describe and get it all out there. Then revise and reign it in with revision and editing.WRT Motorcycles:Motorcycles are a completely daft waste of time and money. My blockhead brother bought one instead of saving for a car. While this is somewhat more intelligent in the Carolinas than elsewhere, why not by a motor scooter? The reason: Because it is a macho toy that strokes the testosterone of your inner adolescent. And like other adolescent things, it is (1)Dangerous, (2) Stupid, and (3) will someday take up needed space in your garage because you don’t have time to ride it or take care of it, but you’ll be unwilling to get rid of the manifestation of your mid life crisis. Plus, if you haven’t noticed there is a priest shortage. We cannot afford to be scraping your remains off the asphalt!
A toupee? Right when I’m getting half a notion to grow my Edward VII beard again? We must be losing it.
The toupee was a joke…
Marcus, I disagree with your views on motorcycles. Every man need an outlet to get rid of stress. If you have read Wild at Heart, you will find it is part of God’s plan for men to be men and do something wild and crazy sometimes. You feel almost as free on a bike as you do flying, not to mention the fact that I can go 140 miles on 3 gallons of fuel! Father Dwight- There is such a driver comradery between those who ride motorcycles down the road. There must be something to getting bugs your face, the lack of a.c., the rain, people who judge you in a negative way because of what you ride, (like our friend Marcus) that makes distinguished citizens and “riff-raff” alike, love to ride. God bless,Mikael
Ahh, Yes… A motorcycle. I have been angling for, lobbying for, and dreaming of for years. Unfortunately, all of my efforts to this point have not been enough to override my wife’s veto of the idea.Now with gas soon to be above $4 a gallon, my argument is getting stronger! Maybe when (not if, but when) it reaches $5, I might finally be able to pull it off. Hope springs eternal!Motor scooters, except in the most urban environments, are much more dangerous than motorcycles. They are less stable, and in an emergency maneuver, practically suicidal. And their general lack of power means that they just don’t work in the traffic mix one has to negotiate around here.
Now that you have me dreaming, Father….http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/
Mikael,I wouldn’t judge you motorcyclists as a good or bad people, only your lack of common sense and judgement. Man was not meant to be propelled at 60-90 mph with no shell of steel, plastic, and aluminum around him. Now the people who enjoy bikes with no mufflers, or even with cherry packs, who drive around residential areas, I judge them a bit to be a bit self-centered and block headed. They’re quite loud around my kids’ bedtime.
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Re your proposed title: No, Father, don’t you dare! Bilbo already has that title.(Éstiel=daughter of Hope,Elvish)