Ann-ecdotes

My ‘Bucket List’

abernklau — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:15:07 +0000

In no particular order, these are things I’d like to try in my lifetime. Mind you, these are not serious things, like falling in love or having a family, etc. Just fun little things I’d like to do.

Learn how to snowboard
Watch Les Miserables live
Be a movie extra
Learn how to do a back handspring
Learn how to speak (or at least understand) Tagalog
Make a quilt
Design my own wedding dress
Go to Ireland
Go to Australia

I can’t think of anything else right now. On a more realistic note, my current priorities are as follows:

Finish my Master’s in Book Publishing
Get a job in the graphic design field
Move out
Um… meet someone, get married, have kids… the usual.

I’m not in Kansas (Steubenville) anymore

abernklau — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:10:44 +0000

Okay, so I have to confess… I keep expecting my new professors to cross themselves and start class with a prayer. I keep having to remember that I’m in new territory and that … I’m not in “Kansas” anymore. Here is a sampling of the compare/contrast study I’m unofficially conducting.

The first thing I noticed in the common everyday campus conversations was the amount of swearing. Whereas in my undergrad experience, one would expect his peers to shun (or at least shush) him should he utter a curse word in mixed company, here it seems abnormal if you don’t throw in some colorful language here and there. Even professors do it. I guess when I’m not used to it, it really jumps out at me.

The second thing I noticed was on a powerpoint slide. There was a Rolling Stones cover depicting the nude profile of a man and another, clothed figure. I almost felt silly at my initial reaction of cringing inside after the split-second it took me to realize I was the only one reacting this way, or reacting at all. But I’m fighting the urge to say I felt nothing… this is just an honest observation. The slide was just depicting magazines as publications; nonetheless, a professor at FUS would probably not choose to display this image in a classroom setting.

The third thing I noticed that would never happen at Steubenville was an invitation (unofficial/informal though it was) by a professor to an event which included drinking/stripping/nudity/burlesque performances. To be fair, the event is actually a booklaunch party and therefore relevant to the class. The author just happens to be a stripper and therefore the whole thing is going to be like a burlesque show/entertainment mixed with book signing/buying.. and alcohol. So, lots of important people will be there. The professor did feel weird about inviting us (so I’ll give him credit for that) but it was weird. He asked for a show of hands of who was interested (thankfully no extra credit was offered) and just about the whole class raised their hands enthusiastically. I looked around and quite possibly could have been the only one whose hand wasn’t up.

The other thing I noticed was that out of the very few people I had met this first week, at least 2 of them were living with their boyfriends.

As a side note.. I had wanted to check out the CSA booth that was set up earlier outside, but they were gone after my afternoon class. (CSA- Catholic Student Association) Maybe I’ll still check them out… I’m pretty sure they’re one of the smaller student groups on campus. I’ll probably need some sort of support if I’m going to spend the good part of 2 years on this campus…

Grad school

abernklau — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:40:41 +0000

So the first week of graduate school has come and gone. Yes, I’m going to grad school. I’m attempting to earn a Master’s in Book Publishing. Tuesday was the first day of class for me. Naturally I stayed up late because I was getting ready and getting nervous. Naturally I had to wake up at 5:20 so I could get up ten minutes later, shower, get ready, and leave by 6:30 (which means I left between 6:45 and 7). It was the first day of school; I couldn’t be late!

When I got to school, I found parking just fine. Surprise, I couldn’t find my class! It didn’t say on my schedule which I checked. Fortunately I found a faculty member in the English department who directed me to the right person/place. I rushed to that room, expecting to see a full classroom and professor just starting. It was an office with comfy couches. I ended up speaking to my advisor and getting caught up on a meeting that I had missed the previous day. Great! First day of class and I’m already a day behind. Fortunately, everyone was very understanding, and I met someone who was in the same boat as me. The problem was that I had failed to check my new email and therefore was not informed about the meeting.

After the initial shock of not having class, I walked around with aforementioned new friend and got a little more familiarized with the campus. We found out we had exactly the same schedule, which was cool. At least now I know someone. I got signed up with the design work group of the student-run publishing house, and promptly was asked to design a book cover in two days. Talk about jumping right in! I ended up having to redesign my original idea because when I started it I had no internet connection and couldn’t look at the right themes. So, it was maybe an hour after the suggested deadline that I uploaded the design (which needs a lot of improvement).

I had class at 2pm, then a long break before the evening class at 6:40pm. Did I mention I dislike my schedule? However, I’m very happy that I no longer have an 8am class! Intro to Publishing was good; we were all assigned reading work to prepare for the next class discussion, plus a one-page basic self intro. Book Marketing & Promotion was interesting. So far all my professors are good. And both classes gave reading/writing homework. I’m not even ready for fall weather, much less schoolwork!

All in all, it was a very busy week (other than those extra-long naps– but I was getting over something!) I think this grad experience is going to be very interesting… Lord, help me!

Two more days in Belize

abernklau — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:36:51 +0000

So it’s 2:12am. I’m waiting for an email attachment to upload so I thought I’d just give a quick update. Middle of the night is the best time to blog, right?

My time in Belize has gone by surprisingly quickly. When I first arrived, I was a little overwhelmed by the tropical climate and atmosphere. My hostess, Ms. Thomasita is very generous and kind, and an excellent cook. She made me feel as at home as possible.

I came here not knowing exactly what to expect. I knew that I was here to help design a religious articles catalog for a Rosary mission. After a few days, I realized that this project is going to need a lot more time, skills, and people to finish. A lot of my time was spent adding items to the inventory list and data entry. When another volunteer arrived, we worked together to count all the books actually in stock and photograph them. Neither one of us is a professional photographer, but we did the best we could. We photographed well over 500 books in 3 days. We also entered each title, quantity, ISBN, etc., in an Excel spreadsheet. It was a lot of work.

Next Manuela had to whittle down the list of things she wanted in the catalog. This is still in the process, as many of the items she has are now on closeout at the manufacturers and she has to sort out the ones that can still be reordered.

The past few days I have been working on the layout of the mission newsletter, “El Rosario.” I asked what the official name of the Rosary mission was; Manuela told me that “El Rosario” was the name of the newsletter, “Mary’s Little Jewel” was the name of the mission bank account, and “Catholica Bookstore” was the unofficial name of the bookstore. She specified Mary’s Little Jewel as the name of the mission–the best one out of the three, in my opinion.

Yesterday I had my first opportunity to see first hand what Mary’s Little Jewel does. I went with Manuela and Thomasita to St. John’s College and watched them give a presentation to the boys in 4th form (I think.. 4th form is like 17-year-olds). I stood in the back and took pictures. The class was a very rowdy bunch, probably because it was almost the end of the day for them. Add to that their age and the fact that they’re all boys… you can imagine

Thomasita and Manuela had a little trouble keeping the class quiet and attentive; fortunately there was a staff member present to help keep them in line. Some students kept turning around to look at me. I think the boys really enjoyed receiving the Rosaries and leaflets. I know this is a tough age group to reach, but even if only one of them prays one Rosary, this is all worth it.

Manuela asked if I could give a short 5-minute testimony tomorrow for the boys in 6th form. These guys are like 19 and 20, so I’m really not much older than they. So I’ll probably be nervous. But God will give me the grace to say what I need to say. I think I’ll tell them about how I grew up Catholic but really embraced my faith in college. And now I’m graduated but praying the Rosary has helped me keep my faith alive even though I’ve lost the constant support and presence of my friends at school and the practically 24/7 availability of adoration and the sacraments. Okay, got it… we’ll see how this goes!!!

Song in head. stuck. intermittently.

abernklau — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:53:18 +0000

So every time I go to the bathroom here I turn on this little portable fan on full blast just to feel some moving air and cool down. This fan reads “Kool Operator.” Consequently, my mind makes a beeline from “Kool Operator” to Sade’s “Smooth Operator.” So now everytime I leave the bathroom I’m humming the darn song to myself. Except tweaking the words. As in “He’s a Kool Operatorrr…Koool Operatorrr…” (Repeat indefinitely).

I Can’t Belize It

abernklau — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:42:54 +0000

So right now I’m in Belize..sorry no pics this time.

To make a long story short… well I can’t really put it in a nutshell…maybe a watermelon shell. Anyway, I somehow got in contact with a lady down here who is heading up a mission called The Rosary Project. The mission of the mission (redundant?) is to spread the rosary all over Belize by giving out free rosaries to schools and doing presentations to teach kids how to pray the rosary. It really is a beautiful ministry and I was told it has been very well-received in all the schools they have visited.

The Rosary Project is run by Thomasita and Manuela, her niece. It is funded by a religious articles bookstore they run out of their home in Belize City. Manuela got in contact with me because she was looking for graphic design help to develop a catalog for the bookstore/gift shop. So basically, I’m helping make a catalog which will then (hopefully) be distributed to various parishes, schools, friends, etc. to increase sales at the bookstore and therefore allow for more free rosaries for the people! *whew* That was me sweating because of the heat/humidity here.

So today I’m trying to enter items into the inventory spreadsheet. Most, if not all the merchandise comes from the US, either when Manuela comes to conferences, or orders items online. So most of the stuff in this shop is not found anywhere else in Belize. They really do have a huge selection. What they really need is a real store, a separate building, so they can get organized and won’t have to share their home with the store merchandise. That’s what they’re working for eventually, but for now we are working on the catalog.
Belize is really nice, albeit hot and humid. I’m never in need of moisturizer here! I’m doing pretty well despite my left leg looking like it has chickenpox for all the bug bites. Miss Thomasita is a very good cook!
I’m still praying to keep on doing God’s will. I’ve discovered that sometimes you don’t have to know what God’s will is in order to accept it. That’s real trust. Jesus, I trust in you!

The Fair

abernklau — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:55:57 +0000

So last night I went to the Clackamas County Fair. While my sister volunteered at the Right to Life booth, I walked around with a friend to look at all they had to offer. First we went to the art room where I had entered several art pieces to see if I had won anything. I wasn’t expecting any great prizes, but I ended up getting a blue ribbon for my drawing of Mother Teresa! I think I get like $20, which is pretty cool.

My winning drawing!

One of my favorite exhibits at the fair is the 4-H exhibit. I always wish I was in 4-H when I was younger because they get to do all these fun projects and learn how to make things and sew. These kids are in middle school and high school and they put me to shame with all their skills. Example:

Red dress and jacket made by a high school sophomore

This is something I would totally wear. Very cute. Here is a photo from an 11th grader:

For some reason I really liked this photo of bananas.

As I walked past the glass display case where they always show huge photos of the rodeo queen and princess, I had to stop and look twice because I realized I knew the rodeo queen! It was a dear friend from my early childhood. I remember playing dolls with her and we even took ballet lessons together. Once I switched schools for 4th grade on, we lost contact, but she always loved horses, that I do remember. I’m so happy for her that she won rodeo queen! That is so awesome.

Modesty– making a comeback?

abernklau — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 02:04:13 +0000

Right now I’m in the middle of Wendy Shalit’s A Return to Modesty, which I recommend very highly. It is a study on how our over-sexualized culture has impacted young women today. It is very interesting and hard to put down. I also find it very impressive that the author wrote it a) at approx. 23 years old, b) from a secular, non-religious viewpoint, and c) with such convincing details and research. The book was published in 1999, but the information is still (if not more) pertinent to today.

Me, shocked at the state of things today.

In a nutshell, the “essay is divided into three parts: the first concerns our culture’s view of sexual modesty and some of the problems that this view has created; the second is a survey of the intellectual battle which preceded this state of affairs, and an immodest attempt to reconstruct the lost philosophical case for modesty; and the final third is about women who are ignoring their culture’s messages and, for new reasons, returning to a very old ideal.” (p 10)

When I read about what young women are being subjected to on college campuses, I knew it would be worse than my experience attending Franciscan University (where there was no sexual pressure to speak of), but I was surprised at how bad it really was at other schools. Forget about being pressured by your boyfriend, now it’s coming from not only your girlfriends but also your mom!? I couldn’t believe that there are mothers out there who are advising their daughters to get physical with their boyfriends and dress less conservatively.

Interestingly, as a result of the sex-education being taught in public schools across the nation, sexual harassment in schools has increased dramatically. Yet the authorities don’t make this connection. Reading about what is being taught in public schools really made me think seriously about homeschooling my kids (if I ever have any). It’s quite scary.

The mindset that is shared by so many people today is that there is no difference between men and women. They are the same. I am pretty much baffled by this. How can people say this when clear, scientific, biological evidence proves the opposite? It’s crazy talk, I tell you, crazy talk.

Albeit at times depressing, the book does get better. I love that young women today are going against what society throws at them. More and more, girls are going against the flow and giving real modesty a try. I have always valued modesty and fortunately haven’t been too pressured in the other direction, but I have a deep respect for those who are really swimming upstream in the middle of the raging river called society.

Also, I believe dressing modestly calls men on to be REAL men, not just “boys who will be boys.” Besides, if you show off everything you’ve got, where’s the mystery, the challenge of getting to know you? Ooh, this sounds like a topic for another entry… toodles for now!

p.s. Here is a forum called Modestly Yours, which discusses the above and related topics– good stuff!

SOLT Assembly

abernklau — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:41:17 +0000

So I just got back 2 days ago from my week in Corpus Christi! I had a wonderful time. The main reason my family was there was for my sister Joy’s entrance into the novitiate of SOLT (Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity). She is in formation to become a SOLT sister. We are all very proud of her. It was really nice to meet a lot of people within the SOLT community and to “build graced friendships” (as the schedule said).

One of the highlights of my week was attending the ordination Mass of 6 new priests. The choir was amazing and sounded like angels. The whole liturgy was probably the most beautiful I have experienced. This was my first time to attend an ordination. Everything was so meaningful and reverent. My sister whispered to me “This is my favorite part!” probably three different times. I liked the part when the newly ordained priests lay prostrate as a sign of laying down their lives for the Church while the choir sang the Litany of the Saints. There were about 65 other priests present and each of them laid hands on and blessed the 6 new priests individually and congratulated them with a brotherly hug. The whole thing took about 3 hours but the time seemed to pass quickly to me.

Us with Fr. John McHugh, the co-founder of SOLT

Thursday we attended a Mass after which was the Entrance into Novitiate ceremony which included my sister. We watched the 6 postulants dressed in white blouses and long gray skirts transform into novices wearing the gray habit and white veil. It was a little emotional as they processed in from the back of the chapel wearing their habits for the first time and carrying their candles. My sister Joy became Sister Mary Joy. At least I won’t have to stop calling her Sis!

All in all, it was a great trip and I’m very glad I went. Now Sr. Joy is home with us (yay!) and will be here until she enters the convent in Seattle in the beginning of September for the next step in her formation process.

My blog

abernklau — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:43:49 +0000

Okay so I don’t know exactly where I’m going with this blog. I think it will be a mix of my spiritual musings and random thoughts and comments on my life and the events that occur within. Take what you want from it; that’s what I’m doing. I make no promises. However, I am going to try to update it once a week-ish.

Saturday was Independence Day. I didn’t do too much to celebrate, just watched some fireworks. The highlight was seeing the pictures of fireworks that I took. Some of them turned out pretty awesome. See for yourself.

Awesome fireworks shot

Right now I am concentrating on physical therapy (post ACL reconstruction and meniscectomy- it’s been 3 weeks) as well as cleaning my room before we fly out to Texas.

My parents and I will be in Corpus Christi for a week starting next Sunday. We’re going down for the General Assembly of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, or SOLT, for short . This religious community is the one my sister will be joining as a religious sister. She enters the novitiate on July 16th, and we are all super excited for her. My brother will be coming from Virginia for part of the event as well. It’ll be very hot there, which I’m not looking forward to, but thank God for air-conditioning!