DB#450 - Murphy’s Law
Today on the Daily Breakfast: The Exultet and Easter Vigil; my day at the UGameUlearn conference in Delft; gaming and learning: Pokemon as a teaching tool. What churches and libraries have in common, and what they have to learn; Iron Man and Microsoft’s Vista patron saint; staying calm or stressing out: How to survive Murphy’s Law?
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Whoops! The file cuts off about 5 1/2 minutes in.
Oh no.. not AGAIN! I hate it when that happens.
Ok, I reuploaded the file. It should work now. The final revenge of Murphy after a crazy day!
Monday was my day for Murphy’s Law.
ROFL!!!
I can SO relate to your Murphy Day - and you described it so wonderfully! LOLOL!
Thanks Father!
Oh my goodness, I’ve been to Saint Brunos’ in Whittier once….it was for Ash Wednesday one year while I was away at college. I don’t think I have ever attended a more packed mass. I cannot believe I’m hearing about it one the DB!
Oh and I really do miss our Latin lessons, father, so do bring them back please….
I hate to say this, but, your “bad day” stories are quite the entertainment….I enjoy listening to them…(even though you are internally upset). I actually hope that you bring your personal stories into the podcast, because I love them.
Sometimes, when it rains…it pours…..and, like you, I experience plenty of “murphy law” days too….maybe murphy law year better applies to me…sigh
Have a blessed Thursday….
love from,
me
Thanks for your ecouragement on “The Exultet”, Father. We’ll keep you updated on our progress… and I think we need to hear a recording of YOUR rendition!
Oh Fr. Roderick you are so funny your are not the only one it happens to me too. It is hard but it part of the human condtion. Trust is hard because we fear rejection and hurt eventhough God never hurts us. If we slip we just need to get up and carry on. It say so in the bible but I can not remember it just now. Must go will find it later
GB. And many blessings
Work calls boo hoo
I sent you a parcel and I forgot to say you can open it when you get it is coming from the UK. I will give you a clue i sent it early as you will be away on the day you should really open it!!!!!!!!!
Have you heard of “O’Toole’s Syndrome”? It says that “Murphy” was an OPTIMIST…!!!
Here is a website from some newfangled librarians:
http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/
very interesting stuff!
Please do some catechesis on the Exultet ! there are so many people out there that have no clue that it is such a beautiful and significant prayer. There was one year I was to sing the Exultet and I had a bad cold. We had planned to do it with a light cordal music background — ended up doing a “Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady” type of thing –somewhat of singing but really talking. God was with us that night! it went really well. And everyone was able to understand and pray the Exultet.
Its just you Father, it’s just you
Just think — if you took the whole day in stride there would be nothing to talk about ! Loved the story - reminded me of when I commuted in NYC from Long Island on the Long Island Rail Road. Great stories !
I loved your comments on learning and gaming. My husband and I work at a university. He has his own research lab and collaborates with a colleague in Venezuela. Here in the States we have a number of friends and colleagues from Latin America and, living in San Diego, Spanish is everywhere. My understanding is pretty good in Spanish. I can read and understand fairly well. My speaking is rusty because I don’t get the opportunity to speak Spanish very often. Everyone I know who speaks Spanish wants to work on their English! My husband is determined to learn Spanish because of his work. He speaks, reads, and writes Italian and can read and write German and Russian. For some reason, though, even though it is similar to Italian, Spanish has him intimidated. Go figure. He’s tried a number of computer programs to work on his Spanish. We must have five or six different ones, including Rosetta Stone, but practice on his part has been sporadic. He spends huge portions of his day writing and working on his computer and by the time he gets home, the last thing that he wants to do is sit down in front of it again.
Well, our sons (Sam, 13, and Paolo, 7) have been trying to get him to play video games for years. We got him the original Nintendo DS and it sat unused for a couple of years before we gave it to our younger son. Well, recently I heard about a game for the DS called My Spanish Coach and I bought a copy to try out. What a blast. It was amazing. I really believe that they should use it at the university to supplement the introductory Spanish classes. It combines some text (explanations of grammar, culture, regional geography and history) with games that reinforce the lessons. It has a function that allows you to speak words and sentences as you learn them and compare your pronunciation with proper pronunciation. It does everything that the bulky computer programs do, but is much more fun - and, it does an initial assessment of how much you know so that you begin where you need to without having to slog through material that you already know. Paolo is learning Spanish with it easily and I figured that this might be just the thing for my husband, so for Valentine’s day I bought him the new cobalt blue/black DS and his own copy of My Spanish Coach and it worked. Every evening before he goes to be he spends time playing the DS and learning Spanish. The month before, I got a DS for my 83-year old mother, because she wanted to try Brain Age, and I ended up getting her a copy of My Spanish Coach as well. My kids take great joy in telling their friends about their Nintendo grandma. So it seems our entire family, from age 7 to age 83, is learning by gaming.
I sympathise with your train delays: Of course in UK, train are a lot more unreliable: Travel blips are common in this family, especially when my daughter and I travel together! However on one trip, (she was about 7, and is 15 now) she comforted me with “Mummy,treat it as an adventure”; and that phrase has got us through quite a few more travel distruptions/delays since. Actually it works! We have lots of memories of things that happen on these ‘adventures’: unschedualled extra days on holiday, visits to places we didn’t expect to be, and we’ve met some real nice people too. Adversity often makes friends of strangers I find.
This is the passage I was trying to remember today
Romans 5:1-5
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
I agree on it is a great idea to do a section of the Daily Breakfast on the Exultet. I sing it every year for my parish, and your insight on it would help me make it an even more prayerful event for me and my parish!
Heather
I have to get my friends at our church youth group to listen to your busy day. It could really help us out, cuz school…school can be so stessful, getting on the bus in time and remembering to do homework or research and taking home the right books, gosh. Anyway, loved it so much I had to listen to it twice;)
@LarryOC If you’re singing the Exultet in 6 1/2 minutes, you’re really flying through it, it seems to me. I’ve never been able to get through it that fast without it sounding forced.
Wonderful story-telling!
This sounds like most work day mornings -LOL. If it had been video captured, we would have been treated to seeing the facial expressions that went along with all the sound FX. Ah well, the things you hear when you havn’t got a handycam running…
@MJ - My dad taught my sister and I to do the same thing when plans went awry…make it an “adventure.” It’s made my travels as an adult much more interesting and exciting, since I don’t worry about sticking to rigid schedules, and I look at delays and mishaps as a challenge to change plans on the fly and still have fun. Glad your daughter has caught on to that early
@Fr Roderick - Your misadventures the other day made for the funniest story I’ve heard in awhile, complete with amusing sound effects. Of course, it was only funny because I TOTALLY identify with it! Naturally, you’re not the only one who gets frustrated and annoyed, sometimes for no good reason. The difference is in having the good grace to check yourself before it gets the best of you. BTW, I had been listening to that Lonestar song you mentioned right before I switched on your podcast…that gave me the biggest laugh
For de-stress music, check out Natalie Merchant. I only listen to her when I need to relax or to keep my head together, but when I do it really helps. I can highly recommend some of her songs: “Where I Go”; “Motherland”; “Just Can’t Last”; “Break Your Heart”
Here is something by her that I just adore. It’s Christmas-related — I think you’ll like it:
http://www.nataliemerchant.com/features/mylittlesweetbaby/index.html
hey Father Roderick, I have just gotta tell you that I just listend to this podcast while I was in the train, going home from school. And I laughed so hard! When you described your day, when you went by train to Delft, omg, so funny! I travel by train every day so I can totally relate, your running and running, there always people who are blocking your way, and they don’t seem to know the word ‘haste’. It was just so funny, and it is true what you said. You know there is no way that you can have any controle over the schedual of the NS, or over al the other people that are there, and still you get so upset, instead of just relaxing and exepting the situation. This is a good inside in our own behaviour, and I think I have to act more on it.
Can’t thank you enough for all your podcasts, keep it up. God Bless.
Linda from Harderwijk, Netherlands