this Sacrament exam is crazy...

yes, that is a lighter (accendino) in my right hand.

the Sacrament exam is on thursday. i have to read 3 books (yes, 3 italian books) for this exam. the books were written by the professor. after finishing one, which took me 3 days to read, i re-read my notes on it and concluded that i had no idea what the ^&%^ i was reading. when i started reading the second book (the one in the picture), i was completely lost, so lost that i am not going to bother reading it. i am going to read an english book on that topic and pray to god that it covers what he will ask.

i am at a point where if i fail this exam, i wouldnt care less, ill just redo the exam and tell the prof that i failed because his 3 books were total crap.

why couldnt this prof write as clear as the prof of the Liturgy course did?

one down

not one friar down, but one exam down, 3 to go.
the exam went well, but i really dont know what to make of it. if i had to bet, i would say i got an 8. next up, Sacraments on thursday, another written exam. for this one, there is so much reading to do, but my buddy freddie came to the rescue again. he already did the written exam and gave me the questions. he thinks that the questions will be the same. i hope so because i am going to read mostly the parts covering the questions.

exam tomorrow

how do i feel about the Liturgy exam tomorrow? a picture is worth a thousand words: how does my buddy federico feel about the exam tomorrow?
no, he didnt commit suicide. in his words, he is in "panic".

suicide. hmmm...

fell asleep in class

the first two hours of class today was absolute torture. the teacher spoke about a book in the old testament whichwe already read and knew. he added no insight to it at all. for about 20 minutes, i dozed off. the funny part: while i was dozing, i took notes of what i was dreaming about. iow, i was taking notes and dozing at the same time. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! i was dreaming about the movie, "back to the future". i have written in my notes, shorthanded, "w/ (with) what did MJF (michael j fox) leave w/ (with)?". when i snapped out of it, i remember just the fact that i dreamed about the movie but no particulars. do you ever doze, dream that you are walking on the sidewalk, slip of the curb and then wake up with a sudden jolt?

i handed in my paper for liturgy (1st part of the exam), thank god. for the past two days solid, i was studying/taking notes on the first part of liturgy, which is the historical aspect. i found out today that we dont have to know the first part, just the second (anthropological) and the third (theological). $#%^#^%$#!!). I JUST WASTED TWO FRIGGIN DAYS OF STUDYING. when i found this out, i wanted to scream. the liturgy exam (pt 2) is on friday, within 7 days. as a result, i wont be able to go out this weekend and its going to be a nice weekend too. ah well.

i have linked a fellow friar from new haven, charles. i just read his blog and he has an interesting post today about heresy. check it out.

a little dilemma...

i checked the weather on yahoo and i found that friday and saturday are going to be beautiful days. the high will be 17C. but i cant really go out because exams are coming fast and furious (my first one is in 7 days). i hate this! i say that exams should be banned. or at least, if you go to every lecture, you are exempted from exams. if i told this to the dean of theology, what do you think he'll say? exactly. but italians have a way that they can say something nasty in such a nice way that you would want them to say it to you again. i havent jogged in a few days now because of this annoying studying. ah well.

no school today...

... and im not sure why. i spent much of the morning sleeping and the afternoon studying Liturgy because its the first exam and i also have to hand in part of the exam this thursday morning. the dispense that i use to study is in italian and its a real pain to read. it takes me half an hour to take notes on one page, and there is over 70 pages to do. i hate these *%$#)%* exams.

'search for happyness', B-

i took a day off from studying and went shopping. yesterday, in italy, the 'boxing day' sale started. for some reason (i think it is law), a store cant have a post-christmas sale until mid-january (this year, jan 13th). i went out looking to see if there was anything good, but didnt find anything. the sales last for 2 weeks. i think i will find better+less expensive stuff at the end of the sale. after, i had a craving for a cigar so i bought a "romeo and juliet", sat on the spanish steps, lit it up and really enjoyed it. i thought of the time when my buddies came to italy two years ago, sat on the spanish steps and smoked a cigar at 10pm (hi frank / netta). while smoking, i also called up my cousin in milan, chatted, and when the cigar finished, i went to see 'search for happyness' with phil and peter. it was a very nice rags-to-riches story, but very slow. it stars will smith and the son in the movie is will's real son. the chemistry between the two was great.

thx freddie...

it turns out that the student who told me that the exam paper for the Liturgy course was due this thursday was really due the following thursday (thank a lot, freddie). so i pretty much busted my butt these past few days for nothing (thx again, freddie). but the good thing is that i have a week to improve it. i re-read the dispense (in italian) and i got much more out of it the second time around, so it actually turned out for the better (thanks freddie, this time i mean it). as i said, the Liturgy paper is due this coming thursday and the exam is the week after, on friday. i have 14 days left for the first exam. AAAARRRGGG!!! HEEEEELP!

exams started early...

yesterday, i found out that we are suppose to hand in a written part to an exam on thursday. apparently, the prof told us this before the breaks but i didnt understand well. on top of it all, he sent, via email, the question which was to be answered along with the dispense (teachers notes). i never got this email. chris forwarded me this email and i got started on it yesterday. i went at it yesterday and today, and after going at it for hours today, i stopped. i couldnt do anymore. i should, but reading italian is an absolute torture and energy-draining. it is days like this i wish i went to an english university. i have to complete it tomorrow night to hand in on thursday. #%*(&(%$.

i found out that the weather in toronto is very unseasonable. im sure everyone in toronto is loving it. here as well. i wore my winter coat once, and that was because i went to campobasso, which is 800 meters above sea level. is this good or no? does this mean the water levels in the world will rise?? is this the end of the world??? if the world is to end, i hope it happens before thursday so i dont have to hand in the *&%&$#(#(%) exam.

bye bye diet...

ever since i came back from campobasso, i have been afraid to weigh myself, afraid of what im going to see. i ate too much on new years and to top it off, i havent gone jogging in a week. tomorrow, ill go jogging and then the following day ill weigh myself. im pretty sure it will not be 100KG (220lbs) as i was hoping. i have to get back into the swing of things again, after these holidays.
tomorrow, i also hope to start studying for exams. they are coming fast and furious. i have 4 exams and my first exam is jan 25. will laziness set in tomorrow? i hope not.

2 days in Campobasso

i guess i picked a wrong time to go on a diet. the first day i arrived at campobasso, i ate pretty much the entire day. every cousin i visited offered me something and i couldnt (or wouldnt) refuse. the following day was the same. because im not at home, i get bummed out at christmas time but it usually passes. this year, even with the two days at campobasso, the blues remained until new years. the entire time in campobasso was great, but it didnt seem to snap me out of it. when i was there, i was also worried that i would forget to visit someone because i have so many cousins there. there are all very, very good to me when i go, but if i forget, they get very offended and will not forget it for a long time. guess what, it happened. i said to one cousin that i was going to return, but i forgot to go. i havent mustered up the courage to call yet.
all in all, it was a great trip, but would have enjoyed it more if i didnt have the blues.