canadianfriar

happy new year from rome

2008-01-02T23:32:00.000+01:00

its been too long since ive done this.
well, now is a good time to restart. i am going to try to blog about 3 times a week.
here are a few pictures of st. peter's square and the 'presepio'.

absolute torture

2007-06-18T22:40:00.000+02:00

i did 2 exams today. i re-did the exam i got a six in and i think i did a little better, maybe 6.5-7.0. that wasnt the torture. next up was canon law. i thought i was ready, but he was asking things i dont even remember being on the dispense. it turns out i had to read a couple of encyclicals, which i didnt know. and to top it all off, it seems like every answer i gave, turned out to be wrong. when the exam was over, i think my t-shirt was all wet with sweat. that exam also went on and on. i think it was about 45 minutes long. when he wrote my mark down, it looked like he wrote 8.25. its over, so i really dont care about it right now. my problem now is the "Trinity" exam. im doing that on wednesday, but there is so much to study. i went into intense studying mode this afternoon. what is getting me thru is that it is the last exam. well, back to studying.

another exam bites the dust...

2007-06-17T00:40:00.000+02:00

as i was reading over my notes just before friday's exam, freddie asked me what book i read for the exam. i totally forgot about it and i nearly got a heart-attack! thank god freddie had a book with him, so i started reading that one. the exam went ok, but when he asked me questions about the book, i had the "deer-in-headlights" reaction. i looked something like this:
im not sure what happened after, the next thing i know the exam is over and we started chit-chatting. im 100% sure he didnt say to redo it, so another one bites the dust.
next up: "canon law" and the redo of "theological anthropology", both on monday.

ALLELUIA!!!

2007-06-13T21:43:00.000+02:00

the dreaded day is over. ever since that exam, i feel so much better, like a piano off my back. what i was hoping would happen in the exam happened: help from the Holy Spirit and mercy from the prof.
when i went in, he said i can do the exam in english rather than italian and also that i can look at my notes! no kidding! i started talking about the only chapter i knew and everything came to me, i didnt even have to look at the notes. that was the Holy Spirit's part. he then asked me a question about a chapter i knew nothing about and gave him a blank look for a reply. he ended the exam and then said, "how about a 9/10?". A NINE!!! i just wanted to pass it! he said that he takes a lot of things into consideration for the mark, not just the exam. that was the mercy i was hoping for.
words cant express the peace and relief i feel now. im noticing that im a bit more social now, more happy. but i have an exam coming this friday, "Historical Old Testament Books". im not too worried about that exam. i still have to study for it but there is no fear of failing it.
after friday's exam i have 2 exams on monday, the redo of "Theological Anthropology", and "Canon Law" and then the beautiful wednesday when i do the last exam, "Trinity". this one also worries me. there is a lot to know and memorize.
well, back to studying canon law.

the day has finally arrived.

2007-06-12T07:41:00.000+02:00

well, its 7:30 in the morning and im off to my doom. i actually got a good bit of studying done, so the chances of me failing is greatly reduced. on the list, i am one of the last ones to do the exam, so i can get some studying done at that time. but im sure when i see my classmates that i havent seen in a while, ill be yapping instead of studying. ah well.
the good news is that after the exam im going to lunch with some friends here in rome, something to look forward to.
well, off i go.

will the day ever come...

2007-06-10T18:45:00.000+02:00

...where i finally get the "Sacred Scripture" exam out of the way. i should see it positively, as two more days of studying, but now i see it as: when are these two days finally going to pass? it like knowing something bad is going to happen, and you just want the bad thing to happen just to get it out of the way, so i dont have to think about it anymore (at least until the redo exam). im skimming thru his dispense and im getting only bits and pieces. i have two hopes that i will pass this exam: the teacher is a good guy and i get along with him very well, and the Holy Spirit will come thru. did i mention that i cant wait for this f&$^%# exam to pass?

8.5 for "faith and theology". yahoo!

2007-06-07T01:00:00.000+02:00

another exam down. this one went ok as expected. i just hope the others go this well. this afternoon and this evening i didnt study. i gave myself a break before the storm of studying for "sacred scripture". there is no way im going to read 150 pages of an italian dispense, so what im going to do is make a list of his chapter and headings and search books and the internet for an english version of it and pray to god that his material matches what i studied. if not, then im in trouble.

redo monday's exam

2007-06-05T19:35:00.000+02:00

i have to redo the exam i took on monday, "anthropology theological". i didnt fail, but the prof send me an email and said that i got a 6 and that he recommends that i redo it on the 18th. my new motto is: "if at first you dont succeed, make sure you succeed on the second try".
i thought it was 3 down, 5 to go, but now it is back to 2 down, 6 to go.
my next exam is tomorrow, "faith and theology". this one i am not worried about. after that, i have an exam next tuesday, "introduction to sacred scripture". this is the one i am worried about. the dispense is 150 pages AND in italian. there is no way i can read the dispense, so i am not sure what the hell im going to do. pray?

im alive!

2007-06-04T22:16:00.000+02:00

this blog has been a long time coming. also because i cant take freddie's wise-guy comments anymore :)

i cant believe it has been this long. that exam i was suppose to do a few months ago, i failed it. i re-did the exam a few weeks later and passed it. thank god. since then, i did the morals final exam and passed it. whew! thats out of the way. im going nuts over this exam on wednesday, "faith and theology". the dispense is actually interesting.

last week, we had special guests to our house, 2 of the 5 FRASCATI BOYS. they are student friars from the rome province who i have studied with for 3 years, since i arrived here in rome. one of the guys is a fellow blogger, freddie.

this is costantino branic stuffing his face.

this is luca di pietro with an after lunch espresso:

chris taking a picture of all of us at the lunch table:

all of us on the roof: chris, luca, alvin and costantino:

well, back to studying.

another exam on tuesday...

2007-03-22T19:08:00.000+01:00

this entire week, ive been studying for the morals mid-term exam which is on tuesday. eventhough he cut out alot of stuff, there still is tons of stuff to study for. this weekend i wanted to go to naples, but that went down the toilet because of this exam. ah well. as for my weight, i havent been able to keep up with the 1KG a week. this morning i weighed myself and was 101.8KG. i didnt go jogging this evening because of this friggin exam. i cant wait until its over.

102.2KG (-0.1)

2007-03-05T05:57:00.001+01:00

102.3KG (+0.3)

2007-03-02T07:10:00.000+01:00

took a step backwards. i did the same things i did the previous days (jog + eating habits), but my thyroid is down. i will really have to watch what i eat today and wait it out. by saturday evening the thyroid should be back up. DAMN! i was doing so good.

102.0KG (-0.3)

2007-03-01T05:57:00.001+01:00

102.3KG (-0.8) yahoo!

2007-02-28T06:27:00.000+01:00

gotta keep it up now.

florence again...

2007-02-27T23:12:00.000+01:00

this is a pic of phil on the train on our way home from florence. we did quite a bit of walking, naturally. when i got there, i realized that i forgot to recharge the rechargable batteries. i went to the store to buy batteries, but they were not powerful enuff for the camera, it showed battery low. i managed to muster just this picture. we went into the acadamy of fine arts where "DAVID" is, but didnt get a picture of it. ah well.

103.1 KG, the assault begins today (again)

2007-02-27T07:00:00.000+01:00

once again, new attempt at weight loss...

2007-02-24T21:22:00.000+01:00

i keep on doing this, but it never gets done. ive been wanting to lose weight all year and never get to it. now im going to try it again and hopefully ill lose something. my goal is to lose one KG (2.2lbs) a week. ill weigh myself tomorrow morning and start then.

tomorrow, im going to florence again. its a beautiful city and worth seeing once in a while. br phil is coming with me this time. he hasnt seen florence in years, so now i have an excuse to go. its amazing, he is 77 years old and i have a tough time keeping up with him. he is a bowl of energy. im bringing my camera, so ill post up pics either sunday nite, or monday.

picked up a couple of chickies at st. peters square...

2007-02-17T11:53:00.000+01:00

actually, the one to my left is my cousin from campobasso, Vittoria. her friend, Mariella, is to my right. we got together yesterday afternoon and i gave them a tour of st peters. unfortunately, i had to be back by 6 so we only spend a few hours together. she gets back to campobasso tomorrow at 5 and i leave campobasso tomorrow at 7:30. its kind of funny that she comes to rome the same time i go to campobasso.

funny thing just happened writing this blog, i got a message on my phone saying that a cousin in campobasso gave birth to her first-born, Luigi. so congratulations to Michele + Antonella di Bartolomeo. i hope i get to see them when i go tomorrow.

my marks are in!!!

2007-02-14T23:45:00.000+01:00

first my marks.

as i already knew:
Christology = 8.5
History of the Church = 8.5

the shocker?
Liturgy = 9.5!!!!
i actually got a 9.5 in something! i knew i did good, but my "good" is 8.5, not 9.5.

Sacraments: 8.0
i actually did a little better than i expected, which was a 7-7.5

after i handed in the marks, i asked if i could go to campobasso on sunday. he said YES!! yahoo. im going to take the 6:15AM train which means i will arrive in campobasso at 9:30AM. the train back to rome is 7:46PM, which means i can spend 10 hours there. with all the cousins i have there, 10 hours is not much at all. the funny thing is that a cousin just called me today and said she was coming to rome tomorrow for a few days and will return on sunday. we will get together on friday and maybe saturday. im not sure what she wants to see in rome, but ill probably give her a tour of st peters and the sistine chapel.

my first year i had to take latin. last year was greek. this year? hebrew, which started today. he started with the alphabet, which has absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the english letters. how the hell am i going to remember the alphabet, let alone read it when june comes along? this is not going to be fun at all. at the start of class, we sang a jewish song. i swear, for one second, it felt like i was in grade 1.

LUCA DI PIETRO, if you are reading this, BLOG! you promised me something on your blog for a week now, still nothing.

the horror is over...

2007-02-11T00:27:00.000+01:00

i did my last exam on thursday. my god, it felt like it would never finish. i was literally in my room about 18-20 hours a day each day for 3 weeks. man, i couldnt wait to get out of the house.
the Sacraments exam did not go very well. after i finished writing, i looked at my notes and noticed i missed quite a bit. im hoping i get a 7 in that one.
the other two went pretty well. they told me the mark i got, which was 8.5 for both of them. no, not 8.5 TOTAL, but 8.5 for each one.
not that its over, i went for a nice long walk thursday, friday and saturday. my back is feeling it right now.
these next few sundays, i would like to go to:
- naples for the first time, which is 2 hours away,
- perugia which will take 4 hours because of the connecting trains,
- florence again. it only takes an hour and a half,
- and finally campobasso again to see my family. they are having a get-together soon so ill see if they will let me go.

this Sacrament exam is crazy...

2007-01-31T01:19:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-26T12:32:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-25T23:52:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-20T00:31:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-01-18T22:01:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-01-16T23:39:00.000+01:00

... 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-

2007-01-14T23:27:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-01-12T00:44:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-01-09T22:47:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-01-03T00:46:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-01T22:49:00.000+01:00

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.

sanna gave me just what i wanted...

2006-12-27T21:25:00.000+01:00

i must have been a very good boy. look what sanna gave me:

it an upright scale. the scales here really stink to high heaven, they are very inconsistent. this one, on the other hand isnt. now, i have declared war on my weight. im planning on losing 1-2KG a week. the timing really stinks because i got permission to go see my family in campobasso for two days. im leaving tomorrow. they are a typical italian family: manga, manga, manga (eat, eat, eat). to add to the problem, the food is awesome there. im looking forward to the two days there.

my weight this morning is 101.0 KG, or 222 LBS. hopefully by jan 3, ill be at least 100 KG.

Merry Christmas again

2006-12-25T23:55:00.000+01:00

i hope you had a good christmas. i heard the weather in toronto was beautiful, but not beautiful for you who wanted a white christmas.
we had quite a meal here, again. this is the first plate, the anti-pasta: my incredible "artistic" skills were put to use putting that plate together. it took me half an hour to do it.

the second plate was lasagna made by our cook on saturday:

it tastes as good as it looks. the next plate was the main course, which was smoked ham. here is a shot of the cook fr primo butchering... em, slicing it.and then was dessert, also prepared by the cook:

on top of the cake is the nativity scene. the cave is made from delicious chocolate.

last night while sleeping, santa left me a nice gift. ill blog it tomorrow.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2006-12-24T23:26:00.000+01:00

merry christmas to all! was santa good to you?

this evening we had one hell of a meal. we normally eat at 1:15, but because it was xmas eve, we decided to have a dinner, so we ate at 5:00. i didnt have lunch so i came to the table with one hell of an appetite. the first course, done by frank, was spaghetti with clams and clam sauce. the clams were whole ones, still in the shell. man it was good! the five of us polished off two pounds of spaghetti, and that was just the first course. the second course, done by primo, was shrimp-kabob, whole shrimp (with the head and all) on wooden skewer fried in a secret sauce. i dont know how many there were, but there were alot, and that was polished off too. for dessert, we had what was left over. we were all stuffed, so few of us had dessert. after we cleaned up, we celebrated the christmas vigil mass at 8, went to the rec room after, got our gifts, chatted and then went to bed. i got a scarf.
merry christmas to you all!!!

second tree up, and crib too

2006-12-22T23:58:00.000+01:00

well, the second tree is completed and this one is in our dining room:

i was very good this year, that is why there is a present so early (blue wrapper). the lights on this tree are very small and are not visible. ah well.

here is a shot of the crib that is in our chapel in front of the altar:

there is no baby Jesus yet or the maji, but they are coming soon...

up goes the tree...

2006-12-21T00:18:00.000+01:00

it a little late to put up a tree, but its up! this is phil with the 'before' picture...

and phil with the 'after' picture. it tooks us a few hours to do it, but its done. we started on our second tree when the decorations ran out. tomorrow ill buy more decorations.

it looks nice with the lights flashing. ill take a shot of it in the dark with the lights on, maybe it will look better.

florence pt3

2006-12-16T23:55:00.000+01:00

Next stop, PONTE VECCHIO (old bridge). it is very unique because there are stores (mostly jewelry) on both edges/sides of the bridge. the first ponte vecchio was built by wood in ancient roman times but was destroyed by a flood in 1333. it was re-built in 1345 from stone this time. in the middle of the bridge is 3 arches where you can look out from. all the bridges in florence were destroyed by the germans except for this one, allegedly hitler's orders. here is a couple of shots of it:

and this is a shot from the bridge. jewelry stores are on either side

final stop, BASILICA DI SANTA CROCE. its huge, but you cant tell from this pic. it houses many pieces of art as well as tombs of galileo galilei, dante alighieri, enrico fermi, machiavelli and many more. i didnt go in so no pix of the inside.

santa croce seen from the tower: i hope you enjoyed the tour of florence. if you did, please leave a tip.

we wuz robbed!!!

2006-12-16T00:20:00.000+01:00

i didnt blog yesterday because there was a robbery in our house last night. thank god no one was hurt. 3 of the six rooms were ransacked. one of the rooms wasnt mine. frank had is money stolen and phil had both his money and his laptop stolen. when the robber was done, he locked phil's door and climbed out of his window. from what we gathered (with the help of watching many many CSI episodes), he sneaked in when the door was open (because of the workers that afternoon), went in an empty room and waited hours until the coast was clear. needless to say, frank and phil didnt sleep that night. co-incidently, our university was also robbed last night. i guess it was "rob a friary" night.

Florence, pt2

2006-12-13T23:01:00.000+01:00

After a 10 minute walk from the DUOMO, i arrived at the PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA. this is only part of the piazza.
there is a lot to see in this piazza. the main attraction is the PALAZZO VECCHIO, originally called PALAZZO DELLA SIGNORIA. i took this shot standing on a side street. i absolutely love the bell tower.
adjacent to it is the LOGGIA DEI LANZI gallery, built between 1376-1382. there are about 10 famous sculptures there.

the most famous sculpture here, and the most famous bronze sculpture is the PERSEUS. he is holding a sword on his right hand, medusa's head on the left and he is standing on medusa's body.

between the palazzo and the gallery is the PIAZZALE DEGLI UFFIZI. the entrance to the world famous GALLERY DEGHI UFFIZI is to the left. to the right and the left of this very narrow piazza is sculptures of famous florentine residents, (picture taken facing the river with back to the piazza)

(picture taken facing the piazza with back to the river)including Donatello, Galileo, Da Vinci, Dante Alighieri, etc.this is not the end of things to see in florence. more tomorrow.

day-trip to Firenze

2006-12-12T23:49:00.000+01:00

i have neglected my blog, but no longer.
on sunday, i took a day trip to florence. from rome, with the fast train, it takes just over an hour and a half. i left 9:45 and got there before 11:30.

the first stop was the DUOMO (the cathedral). building started 1296 and completed in 1432 with the completion of the dome (barely visible between the church and the bell tower). next to the duomo in milan, externally, it is the most beautiful church, followed by st. peters in my opinion.

in front of this church is the BATTISTERO DI SAN GIOVANNI (baptistery). until the 19th century, all florentines were baptized there.

beside the church is GIOTTO'S BELL TOWER, 84 meters high. you can go up the bell tower, but there are 414 steps and no elevator. i decided to go up the tower. tons of sweat later, i arrived but the view was worth it

on the top left is PALAZZO VECCHIO, a massive gothic fortress/castle. i love its tower. it is in PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA, which is the center and heart of florence. just to the right of it (with 3 arches) is LOGGIA DEI LANZI gallery. its an open gallery that has famous sculptures. to the right of the palazzo (cant see it in that picture) is the world famous GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI. next to the louvre, it is the most important art museum in the world. piazza della signoria is a short walk away from the duomo. in the center of the above picture is the main street (nicely lit up by xmas lights) and it connects the duomo and the piazza. pictures the beautiful piazza tomorrow.

blaise pascal...

2006-12-05T21:52:00.000+01:00

... he is a philosopher, which, for some reason, i thought of, and his collection of random thoughts, called 'pensee', which means 'thoughts' in french (published 1660). he had a very negative view of man, as you will read. here are some of his interesting thoughts (#172 is a famous one, sobering one too):

#44 - "Do you wish people to believe good of you? Don't speak." (but he didnt say 'dont type')

#80 - "How comes it that a cripple does not offend us, but that a fool does? Because a cripple recognises that we walk straight, whereas a fool declares that it is we who are silly; if it were not so, we should feel pity and not anger."

#100 - "...Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognise them...". (this doesnt pertain to me, im perfect)

#130 - "Restlessness.--If a soldier, or labourer, complain of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing." (i wish my formators would do this for me)

#153 - "Pride, ...we even lose our life with joy, provided people talk of it."

#172. "We do not rest satisfied with the present... For the present is generally painful to us...Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end...as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so. (what am i having for breakfast tomorrow...?)

any thoughts? (yes, you!)

lunch at frascate

2006-12-04T23:45:00.000+01:00

me, alvin and chris were invited for lunch at a friary of the Rome province at frascate. 4 of the students there started their studies the same time we did, and all of us were/are in pretty much in every class together for the past 3 years. very good group of guys.

this is FEDERICO, one of the 4, (his blog is linked) serving espresso after lunch

this is RICCARDO, another of the 4, chilling out in the same room,

ALVIN, SIMONE (first year philosophy), MAURO (first theology), and FRANCESCO (also first philosophy).

we had pasta with pesto sauce, rabbit and asparagus. it was a very good lunch.

on my way home, i saw this christmas tree at termini, the main train station in rome:

no #$%^ english movies

2006-12-03T20:41:00.000+01:00

i wanted to watch a movie today but this is one of those rare weeks where there are no movies in "lingua originale", or "original language". that one theatre that did have english movies was, for some reason, closed. i hope it is not permanent. i was hoping 'nativity' was in english. ah well. i spent most of the day on the phone with family and friends and did other errands. a quiet sunday, all in all.

happy onomastico to me...

2006-11-29T23:36:00.000+01:00

yesterday was my 'onomastico' or name day. this year, we are celebrating our name day rather than our birthday, something different. st. james of the marches is a franciscan saint, which is why i picked that one over st. james the apostle. after evening prayer, we went to our recreation room and had pizza and champagne for dinner.

man, i look really fat in this picture. maybe because i have a couple of slices in my mouth, or maybe its the fat that makes me look fat. thats alvin with me.

caught a bug,...

2006-11-26T00:03:00.000+01:00

...i guess with the cold mornings and warm afternoons, it was inevitable. dont feel too bad, but not too good either. november in rome is usually rainy and a bit chilly, but this november has been absolutely beautiful and it rained i think only 4 times this month. im telling everybody here that it means its gonna snow here. it hasnt been significant snowfall in rome in 20 years.

i tried to make pancakes this morning (take 2), but there wasnt enough mix, so i made french toast and this time, i remembered to lubricate the surface. it came out good.

Happy thxgiving

2006-11-23T22:50:00.000+01:00

thats me, stalking the thanksgiving turkey, and 5 minutes later,...

...daniela, our cook, with whatever was left of it...

...chris with our desserts, pecan and apple pie,...

... and thats the table with all of us, minus two people, who are chris in the background and alvin, taking the picture.

i sowed on buttons all by myself!!!

2006-11-22T23:56:00.000+01:00

everytime i hear the christmas song, 'i saw mommy kissing santa claus', i always think, 'hey kid, your mommy is a ----'. do i need psychiatric help? if yes, do you know of a good shrink in rome?

i am so proud of myself. my raincoat had a button off and two loose. this afternoon, i took the two loose ones off and sowed on all three buttons all by myself. it took almost all afternoon, but i did it, and really good too. if you are thinking, "you're proud of that? thats sad", im with you

got the christmas spirit...

2006-11-20T23:09:00.000+01:00

eventhough the weather here is great, i found myself listening to christmas music. yup, christmas is coming fast. about another 36 days, right? i always get excited before christmas but it usually comes after the american thanksgiving. some parts in rome already have christmas decorations and they are starting to build the crib at st peters square. i know i may sound psychotic, but i miss snow, especially near christmas. but with 15-20 degree weather everyday, i dont think im gonna get much sympathy from anyone, especially anyone in toronto.

'flags of our fathers', A-

2006-11-19T21:01:00.000+01:00

being my free day (sunday), me and phil went to porto portese, where there is a huge outdoor market. there one can find many bargains for clothes, shoes and other items. we walked about 2 hours and didnt go thru all of the booths. after, we went and watched "flags of our fathers". i first read about this story on "snopes.com". snopes looks/researches into urban legends to see if they are true. this is the link: http://www.snopes.com/military/sixboys.asp . the story is a little long, but very moving. it pretty much sums up the movie. ryan phillipe plays john 'doc' bradley. one of the better movies ive seen all year. A-

an eventful saturday

2006-11-18T23:27:00.000+01:00

i tried to make pancakes this morning, being saturday. i mixed everything perfectly, but when i put them on the burner, i realized seconds later that i forgot to lubricate the surface, all the pancakes were stuck. none of them were salvagable. maybe next saturday ill get it right.

i taught CCD to 10 year old kids today. i couldnt believe how smart one of the kids was. he said, "when adam and eve sinned, they gave everyone original sin and the gates of heaven closed. when jesus died, he went to where the dead people were, open the gates of heaven and let them in". i couldnt believe it! i wouldve been happy if they could say the our father and the hail mary.

on my way home, there was a communist party rally blocking all traffic. as you know, communism is against any religion, but here in italy, people joke and say that they: 1 - dont believe in god, and 2)mary is his mother. not hard-line commies, i guess.

we had a guest over for lunch from the canadian college, fr. peter from london. i had to re-show him the house because the last time he was here, it was under renovations.

a long day...

2006-11-16T23:36:00.000+01:00

i had to do a translation, from italian to english. man, it was torturous! italians like to say things in the most flowery way, they dont get right to the point. the problem is that there are phrases where it does not mean what it means word for word, so i got a really funny translation. There was one sentence that went on and on and on. i did a quick count and i got 95 words. yes, 95 words without a period. dear lord! and then i had to type out my assignment for the 'historical old testament' course that is due tomorrow. tomorrow is friday, yahoo!!!

It came!

2006-11-15T19:51:00.000+01:00

it finally came! i managed to get a relic of St. Anthony online and i waited nervously for 10 days before it came in this morning. now i have to find out if its authentic. one thing for sure is that it is old, very old.
the first pic is of the relic on top of the document,
and the second pic is of just the relic
i bought it for our convent because the few relics that we had are now inside the altar.

does anyone know where i can go in rome to find out its authenticity? if you do, please leave a comment, if you dont, leave a comment anyways :)

'The wind that shakes the barley' B+

2006-11-14T22:17:00.000+01:00

'i watched "the wind that shakes the barley" in the theatres in english. its one of three movies in english that is out this week. its a movie that hasnt opened in the US yet but was showed in canadian theatres as part of the film festival. it won many awards in other film festivals. its not what we call a "feel good movie". its about the irish fighting for independence in the 1920's. some torture scenes i cant get out my head. but overall, it was an excellent movie, well worth the 7Euros. i give it a B+ (im using the Yahoo! system).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460989/maindetails

Pictures from Assisi

2006-11-12T21:31:00.000+01:00

these are a couple of pictures i took in assisi. above is a shot of a beautiful sunset. unfortunately, it didnt capture all the colors, it was much more beautiful in person.

take a guess who the seven foot friar from sudan is? he looks mean in this picture, but he is a very nice guy, always smiling and friendly. the friar on the right with the poncho is fr. horta from chile. he was the guy in charge of our bus and also my canon law professor. great guy, great teacher, an excellent combo.

Day-trip to assisi

2006-11-11T23:03:00.000+01:00

just got back from assisi on a daytrip. it was excellent. on the way there, i pretty much slept the entire 2 hours. we arrived at about 10am at the portiuncola, which is a basillica built around a little chapel built by st. francis. then we went to assisi itself. it was my 5th time there and i never get sick of seeing it. its a quaint town with alot of history to it.
we had a SEVEN FOOT friar from sudan come with us. we walked about 30 feet behind him and it was hillarious seeing the people's reaction when they pass him. alot of "mama mia!!", jaws were dropping and eyes were wide open. he was really cool about it. he stopped alot of times and answered people's questions with a smile. he had alot of pictures taken of him throughout the day.
coming back, i read (yes, i actually read a book!) "breakfast at tiffany's". i watched the movie and was curious to read the book. i realized later, was i reading a "chick-book" (book's version of chick-flick")? i'm scared now.
ill post up pictures tomorrow.

welcome...

2006-11-09T22:11:00.000+01:00

welcome to my blog. i hope you dont mind the lack of capital letters and punctuation, much simpler this way. i have a lot of friends who have blogs and after visiting a fellow friars site [federico, "a friar style?"], i decided to get one myself. ill post as often as possible. take care.