I'm happy when life's good...

Hasn't actually been a month since the last time. The interim post was removed for *ahem* discretionary purposes.

Simple pleasures. That's where it's been at lately and it feels, to quote one John Manke, "pretty fucking ok." Such an intensity of contentment that one might be tempted to call it joy. But isn't that for Christmas mornings as a five-year-old and such like? Still, it's a rush that I can't properly explain, except to say that when it hits, I love the world and most everything in it. Better still, it hasn't been brought on by any groundshaking or momentous occasion, just nice little moments: Watching a baseball game with my grandpa (and laughing as Jarrod Washburn catches a shaving-cream pie to the face; well done mike sweeney), canoeing with the two greatest kids in the world, footballing and making brilliant nose saves, hiking a bit and looking forward to more, listening to some legit music (check out Rachid Taha), things of that nature. Well satisfying and much healthier than playing COD 4 all day (not that there's anything wrong with that, just, Mario Tennis is way more fun). Burrus had it spot on; it's about people and relationships. More so than the actual activities, this summer has been made great by the people I've either been with or been thinking of whilst doing said activities. I've been blessed with the most amazing friends anyone could ask for and the family ain't half-bad either (even if the parents are a little wearisome at times).

Speaking of blessed, I haven't made it to Mass in ages, and contrary to what I would have expected, I'm actually feeling something of a gap because of this. My level of dedication to my faith has waxed and waned over the years, and I feel a large part of this can be attributed to the fact that I was born into my Catholicism rather than converting or coming to it later on my own. Without ever making a conscious commitment to my faith I've often taken it for granted. I'm now at the point in my life where it's completely up to me whether I want to be religious or not, and that has forced me to think about it more. The idea of going a little deeper has always intrigued and frightened me. I wonder about how much of myself I would have to change or give up and whether I could really find the sort of fulfillment and direction I've heard it's possible to achieve. In the spirit of my academic upbringing, I feel the need to investigate. Heck, maybe I'll even read the Bible a bit. ;)
(Note: I know tons of people get to feeling somewhere between uncomfortable, indignant, and outraged when religion is brought up in any kind of serious light. To paraphrase Jim Gaffigan, you go up to the Pope and say "I'd like to talk to you about Jesus," and he responds with "Easy freak, I keep work at work." On the other hand this is my blog, so there it is.)

Hmm... I've more to say, but this post is disjointed enough as is. Perhaps this will be a two-blog night. The next may or may not have a central theme. Keep your fingers crossed.