Ode to Boggle

Boggle is one of the best games ever! I remember playing it while away at college, and I'd forgotten how much fun it could be. Just a couple days ago I found a website that has a Boggle knockoff called Spellbound at www.spogg.com. It's not exactly like Boggle, but it's pretty close. For those of you that have played Boggle, you'll understand my one complaint about the knockoff game--that is, that it requires clicking each letter in by mouse rather than being able to type in letters to form words. It's still fun, and, in the absence of knowing other Boggle players, it's better than not playing at all. I haven't found a letter limit either which is nice because so many other Boggle game variations wont take longer words.

On the wedding planning front, may I say: Thank God one only has to plan once. Talk about expensive! There are so many details to a wedding. Though it may sound like I'm not enjoying the process, I am actually, especially the process of getting baptized and preparing for Lent. I want to get married in the church, and I can't do that unless I'm baptized. Today, for the first time ever I participated in an Ash Wednesday Mass. It was moving. And, I appreciate that with each day my understanding of marriage and my desire to be married is growing because my relationship with God is growing.

Having adequate time to read religious materials and attend Mass has been a great help. Plus, the Rite of Christian Initiation class has been fun for the most part. There is one participate who asks really bad questions (yes, there is such a thing as a dumb question) and demands a lot of attention and that slows the class down and makes it more awkward than it needs to be, but other than that it's been quite interesting. I still don't entirely understand Original Sin or the Immaculate Conception (Mary's having been born without sin). Anybody have an explanation?

I read the Handbook for Today's Catholic, and while it has some beautiful passages, including those on Formation of a Correct Conscience and Baptism: New Life and Ways of Living, it hasn't provided adequate answers to many of my questions. I found the following passage particularly moving:

Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon
himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to
do what is good and to avoid evil, tells him inwardly at the right moment:
do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.
His dignity lies in observing this law, and by it he will be judged. His
conscience is man's most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with
God whose voice echoes in his depths (p. 38).

I think it's one of many beautiful passages in a short but intellectually hefty book. It's like the cliff notes to the Catholic Catechism book. Some of the passages contain language that sounds like Aristotilean and in other instances very Platonic philosophy--neato! I don't feel like it provides full explanations for everything "Catholic," like the Immaculate Conception or Original Sin, but it's a good start.

The nice thing about being on vacation is that I have the chance to read and write alot. I finished Dan Brown's Demons and Angels (no I don't read just "religious-related books"), enjoying it for what it was. It was a basic beach book--fun but light. I do commend the author for meticulously weaving the credible with the unreal, creating a fun explanation of real historical events and architecture. I did find portions of the book's end to be a bit trite and overly predictable. It has made me think that I might like historical fiction. Any suggestions?

I've also been reading books about wedding planning. May I just say that I haven't found a super useful one yet. Most of them have titles like Budget Wedding, How to Plan a Dream Wedding on a Small Budget. They've been useless. They give advice like invite fewer people--duh! Of course the smaller the wedding party, the less expensive it will be. Anyway, Miss Manners on Painfully Proper Weddings by Judith Martin was good for basic wedding etiquette most of which I already know or would have guessed. I'm sure there's a great wedding planning book out there but I haven't found it yet.

On a different note, I have to admit that though I've been reading alot, I had to set aside Voucher Wars by Clint Bolick because it was reading like a bullet point memo to me. I'll go back to it, but I needed a break from it. Instead of that I've been reading other law related material and working on becoming a Guardian ad litem for children. Plus, I'm preparing a piece about law school to submit to a literary agent. I've had good feedback from attorneys and nonattorneys that have read it, so now I have to take that next step and see what an agent thinks about it. I also have an idea for a children's story-don't know when I'll find time to work on it though.

Anyway, back to looking at a book titled Impressionist Roses in order to prepare for spring gardening, reading The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels, another Lemony Snickett installment...and listening to my Bob Schneider cd. Ooh, plus I should send my Valentines.