Ow, My Hangover, Or How We Became Catholic: An MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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On Saturday Mr. Lissar and I were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. This was a wonderful, wonderful excuse for our Best Friends to come up from Philly to visit us and be made godparents, and also to throw a big party with very much alcohol and tonnes of food. And so we are now Catholic, and our houseguests have gone home, and I spent yesterday nursing a hangover, in spite of only drinking a little tiny amount Saturday night. Probably not more than five drinks. I don’t actually remember. Maybe six.

Apparently hangovers are extremely Catholic. So saith my godmother, who was even more drunk than I was.

And Lent is over, so I am back online. W00t! It’s lovely to be back.

We had an amazing time with Best Friends, although Mr. Lissar was pretty sick for most of the visit, with one of those bad, cough-until you throw up colds. Actually, he’s still got it, and just threw up half an hour ago, poor lamb.

We hung out, the guys played poker, Girl Best Friend and I went to the art gallery (she got us in for free! Shh, don’t tell anyone. She sweet-talked a volunteer) and saw the Emily Carr exhibit, we talked endlessly, and went to church a lot. On Thursday Mr. Lissar and I did our First Confessions, which were exhilarating. At Mass got our feet washed and kissed by Father Henry, who is seventy, very fierce-looking, and East Indian. It was perfectly beautiful. He looks so cute when he’s throwing holy water at the congregation.

On Friday the RCIA people got to hold the crosses for veneration. It was fascinating watching people’s reactions. Some people sort of sidled up, embarrassed, some people were shy, a lot of people looked wholly fervent. About three-quarters kissed the cross. Before Mass we lay around whining about being hungry and planning all the things we were going to eat on Saturday, which might not have been strictly in the spirit of the fast.
Saturday we went to the St. Lawrence Market with QD, and ate peameal bacon sandwiches, and Guy Best Friend got stuck carrying QD’s enormous bunch of pussywillows around, which means about ten people came up and told him he looked stupid. He was not too pleased. We did buy lots of good food, though.

Then we came home and everyone ran around frantically cleaning things and making food and fretting about where to put coats. Driving Husband came over for dinner, we got dressed up, and DH and QD went home while the four of us went to the total confusion which was the church just before Easter Vigil. We were given many instructions, none of which I remembered. I just followed Mr. Lissar. He seemed to know what was going on.

There were lit candles and lots of readings and the other RCIA guy was baptised, we were received, and all of us were confirmed, with our godparents and sponsors behind us.

We received the Eucharist.

After Mass there was a blessing of the newly renovated church hall, and we were introduced again, and DH made a beeline for the food even though there was a massive amount of food back home and he knew it, we chatted a bit, and then everyone who’d come with us came back home for a party.
There was a lot of stuff to drink. Boy, was there a lot of stuff to drink. My parents and our sponsors came back with us, and we all ate a lot. There were dips and cinnamon buns and DH mysteriously brought three bags of tortilla chips plus someone else bought sushi and we’ve still got about half of of the food, although the sushi all got eaten, which is good because day-old sushi would be appalling. Champagne and Framboise and cider and Driving Husband made the punch, which was a very bad idea, and he made Attacks Husband’s girlfriend his patented five-drinks-in-one-and-it-tastes-like-fruit-juice concoction, which was exciting.

he older people checked out early, and then we drank and chatted until two, told stories, and suddenly I discovered that the floor was really, really slanty. It was excellent in every way, and I am so happy.

The four of us went to our sponsors’ house for an elaborate and beautiful brunch Sunday morning and met all their kids, and had a great time, and I pretended not to be feeling a little delicate.

We spent the rest of Sunday clearing up the detritus and lying around staring off into space. Five days of houseguests will do that to us. We do now know that we can fit fourteen mostly drunk people into our very small livingroom if we try hard and they’re all friendly.

Today I can go to Mass, and take communion.

I think we now own 2000000000 rosaries, and yet have not found an inoffensive Mary statue to buy.

Happy Easter, everyone.

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W00t! First post! Welcome to the church. Hangovers are indeed Catholic. When we moved from Wilmington to Durham N.C., we gave the priests 5 cases of beer from our supply. There was much rejoicing. :smiley: And I’m back to work today.

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Lucky bastard! We atheists don’t have such convenient excuses for drunkenness. We have to make stuff up, or (worse) just get drunk for no reason, which makes people think we are worthless boozehounds. Harumph!

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Up early, getting ready to go to work - happy MMP and welcome back to the Internet, LiLi. Most excellent post, btw even if it was a bit TMIly about Mr. Lissar being sick :eek: . You still need to fill us all in on what all you did during Lent, when you weren’t on the 'net! :wink:

Will be back later on today for a more comprehensive post. And congratulations on becoming a Catholic, LiLi.

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Excellent OP, LiLi and congrats on becoming a properly hungover Catholic! Sorry to hear Mr Lissar has been ill though, hope he gets better soon.

I (of the unburned head) just don’t do religion so I’m with Soph et Illus in the worthless boozehound camp. In my defense, I’m very good at being a boozehound and I’m sure my liver will be grateful for the rest when I die.

It’s another lovely day today, I managed not to set fire to anything untoward (hair, garden, fences, cats etc) last night so that was a success. One of my friends came round for a while so we had a perfect excuse for a spot of fire-breathing practice as well.

It’s going to be another lazy day today catching up with letters and stuff, and this afternoon we’re going to the cinema to see “300” which probably means there will be ice cream too.

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It’s so nice to see you posting again, LiLi! So now you can answer my questions from last week’s MMP: What did you do instead of surfing/posting during Lent? (On preview I see I’m not the only one who wants to know.) How’s the belly dancing coming? How’s work? (Have all annoying co-workers left yet?) Other husband updates? Sorry Mr. Lissar is sick; tell him we say to get better (the MMP has medicinal value, ya know).

BooFae, we want pictures!!! Where did you learn all those scary skills? Are they the reason for your name?

Need to clean. Happy Monday!!!

GT (Feeling very exclamatory this morning!!!)

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For those of you commenting on the pictures of Freya, rest assured that a sad face on a Boxer is an illusion bordering on camoflage. EVERY Boxer I’ve known to possess those brown, mournful eyes uses them to hide a piss’n’vinegar attitude, and she’s no exception.

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Now, see, I read this lovely little snippet of BooFae’s post and it read like a perfectly normal MMP Cool Kid post. :smiley: Just one more reason to love it up in here.

LiLi congrats on becoming Catholic. Just so ya knows, you Catholics don’t own drunken debauchery outright. We Whiskypalians are known for tyin’ one on also. Of course there’s the rule that states if you party with the Priest on Saturday night, you best show up for church on Sunday morning. He/She will take note of who is and who is not there. :eek:

Last night I attended a perfectly wonderful Easter feast. The food was faboo and wine flowed freely. Thus, I have a bit of a fuzzy haid this mornin’, but not too bad. The dinner conversation ran the gauntlet from NASCAR, opera, cemetaries, how refinishing antiques sometimes dimishes their value, to playing tug-of-war with the hostess’s miniature dachshund. It was like havin’ dinner with a bunch of MMPers. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: Seriously that thought crossed my mind.

Since you’re back, we can now send MMP Cool Kid medicinal healing powers to Mr. Lissar. He will now begin to get better.

Happy Monday Y’all!

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“Sponsors”? I thought they were a 12-step phenomenon. Maybe it took you 12 (different) steps to become fully Catholic?
Jews drink only in celebration. Fortunately, there are a lot of holidays, and a weekly Sabbath, to celebrate :wink: Actually, most, if not all, Jewish holidays can be summed up in three sentances:
They attacked us. We won. Let’s eat (and drink).
Off to work. I don’wanna, but I gotta.

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Welcome to the Family, LiLi. Despite being Catholic, I don’t drink. And I know you must love your husband when “he was vomitting” is followed up by “Poor thing” instead of “EEEWWWW!”. My parish priest is Indian, too. A lovely man with a very thick accent.

StG

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Swampus, did they hire you yet? :wink:

While on the road to Pittsburgh, we went through Quantico VA. One of the exits off I-95 was labeled ‘Dumfries’. In true MMP fashion, VWife and I referred to it as ‘StupidTaters’, but I didn’t add the N. O. T. 'cuz she’s not a Doper/MMPer and the reference would be a big whoosh.

LiLi, I say you should have become a Brewtheran instead. All of the liturgy and none of the guilt of a full-fledged Catholic…

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Thank you for all the congratulations. We just found out last night that our college philosophy professor and his wife joined the Church on Saturday, too. I can’t even imagine their catechism classes. Wow.
Father Henry tells awful, awful jokes that Mr. Lissar thinks are just hilarious. Aagh.

I thought TMI was required. Should I retell the story about a couple of months ago, when Mr. Lissar puked all over the livingroom floor from choking on a pill? Oh, wiat, I already have! It was disgusting!
I am given to understand that Anglican heavy drinking served as a wonderful prep for Catholic heavy drinking.
BooFae and all other atheists/agnostics, I declare today the Feast of Maximum Occupancy. Get smashed! :smiley:
Goodness, what else did I do during Lent? Dance class, housework, a lot of reading-I just read The 100-mile Diet, by a couple who decided to eat only food from within one hundred miles of their home for a year (very good book), and a lot of Richard John Neuhaus and some Lynn Flewelling.

The last couple of weeks were frantic preparations for having houseguests with very specific dietary needs (no beef, lamb, dairy, or beans, and a very high-protein diet) plus the big party, because I inisisted on doing all the baked goods personally, because I’m dumb.
I think I’m going to avoid alcohol for a few days.

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Oh, sure, declare it on a school night. Fat lot of good that does us! :wink:

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Welcome back to the Interweb Tubes, LiLi! I’ve been meaning to ask you: Is this weather your doing? Because I distinctly ordered a nice warm spring, and mine is cold.

And see, you may have had maybe, what, 5 drinks? 6? But if it was Attacks Husband’s fruity concoction, then in reality, you had 25 to 30 drinks. I commend and admire your alcoholic fortitude, but do not envy the aftermath. :smiley:

I’m not catholic, nor have I been to a church more than a small handful of time throughout my life. MindWife is catholic, but not devout and isn’t a churchgoer, either, so that aspect of life just doesn’t really enter into things. (She’s gone trough the whole Catholic gamut of confirmation and such, but since reaching adulthood she’s more or less a private catholic)

Well, Monday is here, and with it comes work. I’m a little surprised more businesses don’t give today off as a deferred Easter Sunday holiday. With all the religiously sanctified inebriation, you’d think it would be common practice to give the day after off in order that employees can nurse their hangovers in peace and quiet. At least, that’s the way it should be.

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Congrats, LiLi! I’ve never been Catholic, so I don’t know how much fun it is, but I am pagan, and I’m bettin’ my circle could outdrink your congregation. :slight_smile:

Off to a second interview. I think this job is way more responsibility than I’m used to, but that’s okay. I can handle responsibility, as long as the pay goes along with it. The only downside I see is that this office appears to have a corporate dress code, which means I’ll have to hit up Mom and Dad for money for new clothes. But Mom is always happy to buy me clothes, so that should work out.

I shall report back after the Inquisition. :slight_smile:

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Welcome back LiLi!!

I avoided hangovers all weekend, having not drunk too much either of the days. Well, more Friday than Saturday, and none at all yesterday. And I completely missed fire breathing practice, though I did catch up on my sword swallowing homework…

:stuck_out_tongue:

Two pre-bid meetings today with contractors, a conference call/unemployment hearing, and then tonight a school board meeting until probably 9:30-ish.

Who wants to be me for a day? Trades are available.

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Mr. Bus Guy - How about we trade for the week? I’ll take your meetings, you can take my gallbladder removal on Friday?

StG

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Congratulations on becoming a Catholic, LiLi!

I’m not religious, and neither is most of my family. Icelanders in general aren’t very religious; however, we tend to celebrate just about any holiday with lots of drinking and eating. To give an example: my mother’s birthday is also a saint’s day (St. Porlakur-- December 23rd). My experience of celebrating this in Iceland was to have a good meal, head downtown, wander about, and get drunk. Then again, every day between the 23rd of December and the 6th of January appears to be a good day for a party and drinking. Surprisingly enough, I am not much of a drinker these days; it’s mostly because I’m too cheap to drink away what little “fun money” I have at the moment.
This weekend, instead of doing the yummy Easter foods on just Sunday, we had them on Saturday and Sunday. Mmmmm. (Roast lamb, caramelized potatoes, and green pole beans. Seriously yummy food and plenty of leftovers!) Also during this weekend, Acid Lamp discovered episodes of LazyTown in Icelandic. I ended up spending several hours watching the show with subtitles on and explaining to him the meanings of the stuff that I understood. However, it was a good review on why the Icelandic my mother speaks (1950s time period) is different from what’s spoken there now (throw in a lot of English borrowing words and some slang). After all of this, I went on a cleaning and organizing spree in my room. All my paperwork is now labeled and filed away, there’s no dust anywhere within reach, my laundry is done, and the wood furniture has a nice “I’ve been freshly oiled and polished!” glow.

BooFae: Gotta see photos of this fire blowing stuff. I haven’t seen that in years; strangely enough, last time I saw it was at a Beltaine party. :eek: Good thing the fire and the nekkid drunk people were well-separated.

Swampy: Hear back on the job yet?

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::MBG hustles off to his first meeting::

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I GOTTA get me a new religion… :smiley: