Thoughts and Musings

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. The planets aligned, Mercury appeared to be out of retrograde, the moon was full, and several happy events came together to make this a truly feel-good birthday for yours truly. This was my day:

My husband had to work at a ridiculously early 3 AM. I, of course, was asleep when he got up to shower, but right before he left I was conscious enough to feel him come over to me, kiss me gently on the cheek, and whisper, “Happy birthday, Sweetie, I love you.” That was thing one that made my birthday great. I rolled over and resumed my contented slumber.

[A brief non sequitur: My birthday actually got off to a great start before the day even began. Earlier in the week I received emails from two friends, one a former colleague and one a current client, wishing me a happy day. These are two people I honestly had no reason to believe would know or remember my birthday, so that was really cool.]

Anyway. So, I rolled out of bed around 6:30 (thanks to Sasha whose inpatient stare I sensed even in my deep sleep), and decided I deserved a fairly lazy morning. It was rainy and dull outside, the kind of day that makes you feel less guilty about staying in your pajamas until sometime mid-morning. I made my way into the kitchen, grabbed some juice, and ended up on the couch indulging in a little free-time reading. Siddhartha is what I’m reading now. I’ve read it before but it’s been a while, so…

Around 10:30, my doorbell rang. Sasha, who was curled up next to me on the couch with her head on my lap (I have the world’s most cuddly dog!) jumped up and put her full weight onto my stomach as she leapt off the couch and gave out one quick “Woooof.” Then she sat patiently, swinging her head back and forth between me and the door, wagging her tail ferociously, waiting for me to answer the door. I was still in my bathrobe, so I peeked out the window and was delighted to see my best friend’s car parked on the street. She’s seen me looking worse, I thought as I headed for the door. I opened the door and there stood Lana with a card, a beautiful plant, and a hug to wish me a happy birthday. How cool was that? We visited for about an hour. My day was getting better and better.

Joe arrived home around 1:30 and caught me up in a big bear hug when he walked in the door. We had a few hours to kill before dinner with my parents, so we enjoyed some quality alone time. I love leisurely Saturday afternoons with my husband. We thoroughly enjoy one another's company and we don't get to indulge in down time enough!

We met for dinner around 4:30 and went to a fairly new restaurant in Rockland called Tuscany 323. Oh. My. God. Best Itallian food ever! We all enjoyed huge portions of our favorite dishes and came out of there completely satisfied. I think Joe and I have found a new favorite restaurant.

Later that night I headed over to Sean’s for a game of winner-takes-all ($20 per x 6 people = $120 pot) Texas Hold’em. The game was a precursor to our group trip to the casinos in 2 weeks. We were all trying to make a little money to waste on the slots, but only one of us would be going home with anything…and that one was not me! The night started out well. There were six of us there: Sean and Nikki, Big Dave, Matt and Christine (the newbie), and yours truly. This was not our usual quarter ante, low-stakes poker game. No, this was the big time. We started out with quarter antes, but upped it after a while to fifty cents, and finally a dollar. High stakes, baby!

Sean went out first and became automatic dealer. Nikki followed about an hour later, so it was down to the four of us. Big Dave, Matt, and I had about the same amount of money in front of us and newbie was down a bit. After another 30 minutes or so, my pile had dwindled to a mere $5. It was do or die time. I was on the button and checked on my hold cards of 6 and jake. The table followed my check, and the flop cards were dealt: 7, 8, 10. OK. Here we go. I was gaining back some confidence as I chased the straight. I bet a dollar (one had already gone in for ante, so that left me with three). The table raised to $1.50 and it was called. The turn card, a 2, didn’t help anyone, but I decided to be bold and bet another dollar. I had a good feeling. The bet was raised by fifty cents and called. The river card was on its way. C’mon baby, 9, give me a 9! Sean flips the card: an 8. Damn! Big Dave took the pot with a pair, the 8s, and high card. Ah, well. That left me with a buck for ante, which I did and proceeded immediately to find myself on the sidelines with Sean and Nik.

At this point Big Dave and Matt had about $115 split fairly evenly between them and newbie had about $5. If I had to guess right then, I would have said newbie would go out within a few hands and Big Dave and Matt would be left to duke it out until the wee hours of the morning. I prepared myself for a long night.

We took a break and had some of the delicious cream cheese pound cake that Nikki had made for my birthday…my friends even sang Happy Birthday to me, which was fairly comical after having imbibed in a few drinks over the course of the evening.

Play was resumed around midnight. The three left at the table remained steady for a few hands and I excused myself to the restroom, thinking it was going to be a while before anything big happened. I came back out and all of a sudden Matt was sitting on the sidelines! He had busted on an all-in duel with Dave for the highest pair. Matt was sure he would win with his hold cards: two ladies, but Dave psyched him out with his two kings. It was now down to Dave and the newbie…definitely not the combination I would have predicted at the beginning of the night!

The girl had no more than five bucks in her hand and yet she managed for nearly an hour to stave the big guy off by losing small and winning big! Newbie has some guts. An hour…on five bucks! Dave was killing himself with those losses, and the rest of us were in hysterics as she continued her ride. In the end, Big D won it by buying the last few pots. The strategy scared newbie off and she ended up right where I was earlier in the evening: with enough left for one ante. When Dave bet instead of checked she panicked and folded, leaving the pot the big guy himself. In his glory, the master swept the coins off the table and into his Crown Royal bag, laughing heartily in the face of his friends’ defeat. Man that was a good game. And I believe Christine’s efforts may just have won her the opportunity to lose the moniker “newbie” forever. One thing I know: Dinner’s on Dave when we’re at the casino!

A "Passion"ate tirade

My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law went recently to see Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. I'm hoping that neither of them bring it up in front of me, or ask me if I am planning on seeing it. I'd hate to insult them by admitting that I'm not particularly interested in supporting Gibson's fanatacism. Not that my nine bucks will make or break him, but there's a principle. Actually, the film doesn't need my help to become successful commercially...only in its first week it's broken all kinds of records. Marketing sure is a powerful tool...and that's where's Gibson's brilliance lies, marketing (read: manuipulation).

David Denby, in an article published in a recent issue of The New Yorker writes, "The movie has been hailed as a religious experience by various catholic and protestant groups, some of whom, with an ungodly eye to the commercial realities of film distribution, have prepurchased blocks of tickets or rented theaters to ensure "The Passion" a healthy opening weekend's business."

For what Gibson claims this movie to be, the commercialism sickens me...Bibles with Jesus portrayer James Caviezel's face imprinted on them, rope necklaces with a single nail attached, etc. Shameful. (Caviezel, by the way, likes to point out that his initials are also JC...what are you trying to say there, Jimbo?) And Gibson likes to point out that the movie was directed by the Holy Ghost. Audiences, however, will doubtless see in it the hand of the man who directed "Braveheart." Critics (who Gibson claims are merely spewing anti-Christian sentiment) have accused him of making a war movie.

Now, I have not seen the movie, but I have some very definite ideas about it and about it's creator. Gibson is a traditionalist catholic...a sect I'm not entirely unfamiliar with as I happened to have married into a family with more than one follower. Traditionalists reject the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. They reject the Council's Decree on Ecumenism, which declared that all Christians, even those outside the catholic church, "have the right to be called Christian." This decree basically overturned the catholic notion that the only true course to salvation was through the catholic church. In addition, the Council's final session included a declaration known as the Nostra Aetate, which formally reconciled Chrsitians and Jews and condemned the idea of Jews as "cursed by God." Traditionalists defy the reforms of Vatican II (as well as the authority of the Pope). Peter Boyer writes that some Traditionalists, "attempting to explain what they see as Vatican apostasy, have inclined toward conspiracy theories. Some blam a Communist plt, others the old catholic antagonist Freemasonry, and others, inevitably, see the hand of the Jew (the Devil working in each)." Nice, huh?

In an article about Gibson and his movie, journalist Christopher Nixon writes that Gibson's faith is a "strain of catholicism rooted in the dictates of a 16-th century papal counil and nurtured by a splinter group of conspiracy-minded catholics, mystics, monarchists, and disaffected conservatives." He goes on to say that Gibson's movie may serve as a propoganda vehicle for such views. Interesting.

OK, so again, I haven't seen the movie, but I've consumed articles on the subject and have taken into consideration the views of those who have seen it. In one review, the author writes, "Gibson is so thoroughly fixated on the scourging and crushing of Christ, and so meagerly involved in the spiritual meanings of the final hours, that he falls in danger of altering Jesus' message of love into one of hate." Well, as far as I can tell, the Traditionalist view is one not of mercy and grace (unless, of course, you beleive as THEY believe), but rather of fear and discrimination (not to mention hypcrocy, narrow-mindedness, and intolerance). The same author goes on to say that "The Passion, in its confused way, confirms the old justifications for persecuting the Jews, and one somehow doubts that Gibson will make a sequel in which he reminds the audience that in later centuries the Church itself used torture and execution to punish not only Jews but heretics, non-believers, and dissidents."

The fear when this movie came out was that it would result in a rise in anti-semitism. So far as I can tell, no one has actually accused Gibson of being an anti-semite. (Note: His father is a notorious Holocaust denier and when asked about his own beliefs regarding the Holocaust, Gibson simply replies that he will not allow the media to try and drive a wedge between he and his father. Ok. So, Mr. Gibson, do you believe 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust or not??) From what I've heard, Gibson's movie expresses t he sentiment that the Jewish leader were vicious and jealous, and they ultimately called for the death of Christ. Though formally, only Pontious Pilate, as the Roman leader, could have people crucifed and so the Jews plead their case to him. Pilate apparently is made out to be a civilized and humane leader tormented by the burdens of power, insterad of the ruthless bloody governor of history. So Pilate "relents" and allows Christ to be murdered. Please.

I'm done writing about this. I'm giving myself a headache, and I didn't mean for this to be a bloody thesis. All I have to say is that it would be wise for us to remember that the Jews did not kill Jesus; it wasn't even the Romans. Rather, it was the whole of humanity who are responsible for His death. He was born to die for our sins and to lead us to salvation, and that is the gift that we too rarely reflect on. Especially during this season of Lent, let us reflect on that gift.

And So It Begins

Oh, I have so much to say about this...