December 31, 2005 (Saturday)
Woke up early at the cave and ate breakfast there. After breakfast we got our gear together and headed out of the cave. I thought the trip was very good, but the guide was pretty unprofessional. He never waitied for those at the back and at one part we got very spread out. In other caves I have done the guide has cared more about those with him. We got back to Notre Dame at 2:30 and I went home to clean up cause I was very nasty. I returned to the church a bit after 4pm for the 5pm Mass. I sat with the twins and Father Casey was the celebrant. Not for sure what happend to Father Jim. Tonight I have no plans, so I will bring in the new year with my family for once.
December 30, 2005 (Friday)
Woke up in time for the 8:30am Mass at Saint Patricks and I was asked to serve the Mass. After Mass I ate with the priests of the parish at the local IHOP and then headed back to Greeneville to get ready for the cave trip. We left Notre Dame at 2pm with an awesome group. In the van with me was the twins, Kelly, Blaine, James, Carrie, and my mother. First thing at the cave we took their Commercial tour and then we got off the trail and into the cave for some tight crawling. If I gain anymore wait I can forget about doing a trip in the future. After the tour they opened up the consession stand and they told a few ghost stories before letting us sleep in the cave.
December 29, 2005 (Thursday)
Went to Saint Patricks Church at 2pm to meet up with the priests and sems to head to the Bishop's Christmas party at his house in Knoxville. The turnout at the party was good and it is good to hear the the Diocese has around 19 people interested in the seminary. Hopefully they will head down for the Ecounter with God's Call Weekend at Conception later this year. After the party I stayed the night at St Patricks and had some time to talk to one of our sems named Pat.
December 28, 2005 (Wednesday)
I had a bust day today with the high school youth group. It all started at 11am in the morning when we go together at the church to head to a local assisted living to serve them soup. While we were serving them food we also conversed with them Victoria, who has a fear of old people came with me. At 6:30pm we got back together for a social where we played a few board games to pass the time. I will probably not journal again until Saturday night cause tommorrow I will be at the Bishop's house for his annual Christmas party and on Friday night I will be gone caving.
December 27, 2005 (Tuesday)
Nothing went on today, but I did catch word of a Spanish Mass at the church to remember the horrible fire that killed some of our hispanic parishoners. I went and served, so I could assist the visiting priest from Johnson City. After the Mass was over I retuned home to eat some pork chops and watch the rest of my Family Guy DVD.
December 26, 2005 (Monday)
Today is the feast day of Saint Stephen who was the first marter for the faith. Notre Dame will not be having any daily Masses this week, so I will not be attending Mass again until Saturday evening. Went out today and got Family Guy Volume 3 and have already watched all of the episodes, but 2. After eating supper I played some Rook with the family, and my team won all three games that were played.
December 25, 2005 (Christmas)
I was very busy around the church today with two more masses for Christmas to help with. I was the server, lector, and ExtraOrdinary Minister of the Eucharist for the 8am Mass. I know that it is wrong to do so many jobs at mass, but most people where guests and no one wanted to do anything. I returned for the 11am Mass where I got to sit with my family for once and be a EME. The count for the masses are 266 at the 5pm, 155 at the midnight, 51 at the 8am, and 97 at the 11am. I have not heard of how many were at the 3pm Spanish Mass, but I am sure it will be high seeing they have a party following Mass. After finally getting done with church I returned home and got to open some presents. By 2pm everyone was over and we started our Christmas meal.
December 24, 2005 (Saturday)
I was at the church by 4pm to get everything ready for Christmas Vigil Mass. I got the honor of serving with Sarah and Victoria at the Mass and the celebrant was Father Casey. After Mass was over I gave them their gifts of icons, and they returned the favor by giving me a South Park calender following the Midnight Mass. After the 5pm youth Mass was over I spent some time at home and my uncle came over to visit for a bit. At 11pm it was time to get back to church to get everything ready for the 12am Mass. This Mass was great and I really enjoyed Father Jim's homily.
December 23, 2005 (Friday)
Mass this morning was for the repose of the soul of Courtney Hensley and after Mass I took off with all the Notre Dame staff to go get some breakfast. After breakfast I took off to with Father Jim to go to JC to pick up a few items. I picked up a case for my ipod and a battery charger for my ipod.
December 22, 2005 (Thursday)
Attended morning Mass, and after that stuck around to help with changing the bullitin boards in the church. Got away from the church a bit after noon and took off dropping off Christmas cards from the church to all the nursing homes in Greeneville. Tommorrow morning Mass will be offered for the repose of the soul of Courtney Hensley who I mentioned in earlier journals about her tragic death.
December 21, 2005 (Wednesday)
No Mass at Notre Dame today, so I got to sleep in a bit. After I woke up I went to St. Patrick's in Morristown with my mom to visit Father Joe who had some of his liver removed about 2 weeks ago. The high school met today at 6:30pm to decreate the church for Christmas. Due to the Christmas coming up attendence was very low.
December 20, 2005 (Tuesday)
I attended morning Mass this morning and we had a turnout of about 11. After Mass I went to Wal-Mart to pick up photos that where dropped off at the 1 hour yesterday. After this I went back to the church and went out to eat with the church staff. After lunch I got ready for a family party at 6pm. Right now I am losing my voice, so please pray that I will be OK by this Saturday cause I got a lot of work to do.
December 19, 2005 (Monday)
Was out the door at 10am to get some Christmas shopping out of the way. At 5pm I hung out with my family at the Optimist Club Tree lot and helped with selling Christmas trees.
December 18, 2005 (Sunday)
It was a very busy morning at my home parish. I had to serve the 8am Mass along with the 11am Mass. In between the masses I stayed for Relegious Education which was a breakfast for the holidays. I return to the church at 5pm to attend the Christmas play and a supper for the parish family. My OT grade was sent to me and I pulled a C off for my final grade. Also I must add the Colts have lost they will not make the perfect season.
December 17, 2005 (Saturday)
Was up early this morning to do some shopping for tommorrow's meal at church. I attended to 5pm Mass and got to sit with Victoria and Sarah. My prayers will be with them and their family because they will be traveling to Indiana tommorrow to attend the funeral of their grandmother. After Mass I went to eat at Phats with my family.
December 16, 2005 (Friday)
Before I left COnception for break I got the grades for two of my classes. I pulled off a B- in Realism and a B+ in SBS. Mass was held out 7:30 in the morning and we had the blessing of those leaving us. Those leaving this year are Brody and Bobby and our class's own Chris. I ended up getting into Knoxville about an hour late, but I still had my huge welcoming crew waiting for me.
December 15, 2005 (Thursday)
Got my grade for Biology today and it turned out to be a B- also the OT test was OK, so all should go well when my grades come in over break. We had our end of the year banquet today and we gave Sister Christina a nice send off. After being with us for 3 1/2 years she will be returning to Korea. After we got out of the banquet the bad news hit that while we were gone someone ransacked St. Mike's hall and pretty much took everything. DVDs, laptops, mp3 players, money, and more all taken out of rooms. Luckly my room was not hit by these theifs. Everyone's money that they were going to use to get back home is now gone. I feel the worse for Ian because his laptop case was stolen and inside it he had a rosary which was given to him by his dying gradfather. The school acted very fast all rooms were searched, we had a roll call to make sure we were at the events, and the cops came out to be of assistance. After all this madness was over I went with Anton & Jamie to Applebees and then to Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart we bought ice cream and Jamie found a guitar to play into the wee hours of the night. So much for a cirfude.
December 14, 2005 (Wednesday)
Only one more class day left and I am out of here. Realsim was real short we came in, he said our exams were not graded, and then let us go. My second class for the day was SBS were I took an Exam that I beleive I will at least make a B on. I excused myself from Western Civ and spent the free time writting my Christmas cards. We held our end of the semester pizza party tonight in the Union and I had my fill on pizza. Tommorrow I have a OT Exam and a Presentation to do for Biology and then I can offically call this semester over.
December 13, 2005 (Tuesday)
Turned in my Biology Take Home Final today which only leaves me with 2 Exams and 1 presentation until I am offically done with school work. After biology we went out for the new Tuesday tradition of Chinese where we sang Happy Birthday for Greg. Tonight I will make my powerpoint presentation for Bio and prepare a bit for the upcoming SBS Exam. I also must note that I passed the 3,000 vistor mark yesterday!
December 12, 2005 (Monday)
Today the seminary and the monastic community celebrated Our Lady of Guadalope. We started off praying morning prayer together in Spanish, and then we brought in a group of Mexican singers for Mass, and closed the day of with the Los Pasadas. This year it was rather warm, so it was not as miserable as it was last year. This morning I finsihed Realsim up by taking a Exam which I think I should at least get a C on. Tommorrow I will turn in my Biology Final which will put me one step closer to getting out of here.
December 11, 2005 (Sunday)
I figured today would be brunch, but of course we had ham. After lunch was over I went straight to the tv lounge to watch the Colts vs. Jags and of course the Colts have now moved on to 13-0. After the game was over I went off to study Realsim for a few hours because the final is tommorrow morning. I am not on the Lion, the witch, and the Wardrobe so I will spend the rest of my day reading it and also studying for my upcoming exam.
December 10, 2005 (Saturday)
Took off for apostolics today with a rather light load cause the KC-St Joe guys where off for an ordination. Chris who is our driver decided he did not want to go so he instead pulled us into the St Joe Mall and we spent our apostolic time wandering around the mall. I for one think we should have went to the psych-ward seeing how they asspect us to come every weekend to play cards with them. On the way home I became more upset with the group because they started mooning people as we went down the road. Come on guys we are seminarians and we should live up to that calling. Is this something we would do if our bishop was in the vehicle with us? This is not the first time this has happend and I am wondering if I should bring this up to Brother Elias. I think I will talk with my Spiritual Director to see if brinnging this issue up with him would be the right direction to take. Other than apostolics I spent my day doing nothing except for a little bit of biology work.
December 9, 2005 (Friday)
Last night when I was at Wal-Mart I bought the Chronicles of Narnia which contain all 7 books. I am currently reading the first book "The Magician's Nephew." Right before heading off I gave my mom a call and asked her how Mass back home went yesterday. She said around 20 people attended and none of them where from the high school group. I am so disapointed in this turnout; I really thought the high school would have came out. I guess this shows where God stands these days. Right under band and sports can we not give our creator a bit of time in our lives or is that just to much to ask for. Same, John, and Chad went with me to see the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I must say this movie is aweome and is a must see. I really blows the old European version away!
December 8, 2005 (Immaculate Conception)
I did not get to journal yesterday cause I was out real late due to Cosmic Bowling. My day started off great with Mass with the ArchBishop of Saint Louis. After Mass we had a sit down luch and the Archbishop came to talk to us. At 6pm I took off with a group of guys to eat at Applebees, buy tickets for the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, go to Wal-Mart, and spend the night Cosmic Bowling. Last time we went I got the winning ticket for the chance to bowl for $25 and this time Sam got the chance. He threw the ball from behind his back, went into the gutter, popped out, looked as if it would at least hit one, and back into the other gutter.
December 7, 2005 (Wednesday)
Took my final Western Civ quiz today and made 100 on it, so it is official that I will get a A in the class. I cannot beleive I had a F in the class at midterm and have went up so much. We had no team sports today because we had to attend 5pm Evening Prayer with the monks seeing how its Immaculate Conception.The ArchBishop of St. Louis is here with us and will preside over Mass tommorrow morning. Their is quite the snow going on right now. They say it should end up being around 6inches by the time it is done falling.
December 6, 2005 (Tuesday)
Woke up to a lot of snow this morning, but it was not enough for any of my teachers to cancel class. Biology remained a pain in my side because today we learned about power point. We did get our tests back and I made a 77, which gives me a B- in the course as of right now. For lunch it was off to what seems to be a Tuesday Tradition of Chinese in Maryville seeing how the buffet is a dollar off every Tues. Today after supper the canidates for president and vice president gave their speaches. I will be voting for Adam Johnson and Jamie Lynch in this year's election.
December 5, 2005 (Monday)
Its amazing that it will not much longer and I will be back home in Tennessee. The day went well espically Abnormal Behaviors cause our test on the final day of the semester has been pushed up to the Wed of next week. Brother Thomas has cancelled the last two quizzes in his class, so I only have one quiz left this Wed. Right now my grade looks like it will end up being a A. I have yet to miss a day of Team Sports and I am allowed to miss 2 days and also a third one which gives me a verbal warning. I will be using all three of these days up, so I can make it 5 weeks without Team Sports.
December 4, 2005 (Sunday)
Mass today was awesome because Father Chistopher who is from Europe celebrated. Father Chris was here at the start of the year and will be leaving us to reaturn to Europe this Friday. My day was filled with much of nothin. I watched Sam create Saint Mike's 4th Floor on the Sims 2. We even added fallen member of the class Brian. Tonight I think I will check out the Pope John Paul II movie on CBS. I here the current pope liked the movie, so this should be good. I have also uploaded pictures from the Dodgeball tournament onto my pics page. You can find the pictures in the folder called Dodgeball 2005.
December 3, 2005 (Saturday)
Started my day off with apostolics where I had a great ride down cause I now have my ipod. We had our second annual Dodgeball tournament today and my team placed 3rd. The winning team for this year was the monks of Conception Abbey their team was very impresive and put on a good show. They had many plays which they executed on the teams they placed.
December 2, 2005 (Friday)
Yes the weekend is here and I went into Maryville to eat at its newest location "Bubba's." Bubba's is a great BBQ resturant with quick service. After eating I went to Wal-Mart where I finally purchased my ipod and wow is it awesome. I will now be flying in style when I return home in two weeks.
December 1, 2005 (Thursday)
The snow did not stop any of my teachers from coming. I spent 2nd period taking my Biology test which I beleive I will do fairly descent on. After class it was off to the usual Thursday spot of Gambino's Pizza where they kept warm pizza coming our way. When I got back to school it was off to Bio Lab where we discussed the Take Home Fianl Exam that I will roughly have 12 days to do. At our 5pm Mass Father Jerome threw in some Latin which makes the first time I have ever heard it used at this abbey. News and Views was short and to the point all we had to do was vote for president and the vice president. Now that the votes have been counted it is Andy Syring vs. Adam Johnson for president and Jamie Lynch vs. Gerrald Curren for Vice. I am backing the Johnson/Lynch ticket. Today was also the day Craig collected his Fear Factor prize of a meal cooked by Dr. McGrath (I am not sure what he had). I must close off with a note of a site I just found on the web which alllows you to take control of your own country. Click here to see this site or click here to see the country that I have created.