Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned.
How Long Since Your Last Confession?
Oh, Wow, I Don't Know Sir. About Nine Years, I Guess ...
* thump *

Yup. I think I gave poor ol' Father Schleicher a heart attack. I actually went to Mass tonight, for the first time since 1995. (see September 14th's "Catholicism And Other Musings" post for the backstory on this one.) The Church hasn't changed, except for a few things: Father is getting on in years, he can't kneel properly anymore; I saw more short Abercrombie skirts and flip-flops in the sanctuary than at the mall (and here I was worried about Father "smiting" me for wearing my New Balances); and I was the only one of The 5 PM Saturday Crew in "our pew". I ran across one of the guys' moms as we were leaving, and she just looked at me quizzically and said "not that I'm not happy to see you, but don't you live in Columbus now?" I explained that I was "home" for the weekend, and could she please pass my love to BabyBear (side note: he was always called "BabyBear" because he was always "just right" with the ladies ... different chick every weekend)? I didn't feel much like chatting. I just wanted to get home to see my dad, I'd left him alone ... heaven only knows what kind of fishing or hunting shows he'd found on the digital cable box. I said my polite good-byes to her (and Father) and got outta there.

It was refreshing for my first time back to Mass since 1995 to be in a familiar place, with a familiar face. I realized today that a big part of my life has been missing now for a while, and that it's high time that I found it. Now, keep in mind, Martini's not going all "religion" on ya, don't worry. It's just a part of my life, a piece of me, that I thought I'd share.

Mom's doing OK. They have her sedated at this point. They've done an MRI, a chest x-ray, some sort of exploratory scope thingy where they put a camera into her chest cavity, and something else. Her heart is terribly enlarged, and her creatanine (sp?) is sky-high. This means that her kidneys have all but shut down. There's only one match in the entire family for a kidney ... me. So, I'm on standby until they get more test results back tomorrow. At this point, she's not a candidate for any other transplants (or even the list for a kidney), because of her otherwise very poor health. We'll see what happens.

Off to head over to my sister's house to hang for the evening. She rented "Mean Girls" (a Mombi-recommended movie). I'll be sure to check in with a full review. Wonder if I should take some mojitos with me ...

11:15 PM EDIT: I highly recommend "Mean Girls". Could Tina Fey get ANY cuter? Furthermore, could Lindsey Lohan get ANY hotter? And when did Lacey Chabert get so tasty?

To answer Mombi, I took no mojitos. I didn't really feel like drinking. I think my blood is still 120 proof from last weekend.

I'm in a pissed off mood right now (for reasons that I probably have no right to be but I am ... anyhow ...), so I'm just going to go down and watch SNL on my parents' television ... which is far larger than mine at home. What I really want is a cigarette. But, seeing as how I quit in May of '95, (WAIT! A.D.D. Raddled Thought Time: hmm. coincidentally, that's when I stopped going to Mass. Wonder if these are related ...) I don't have any cigarettes.

Thought: I only get the A.D.D. thing when I'm really pissed off or piss-drunk. Hmm. This thought gives me pause ...