Various & Sundry

Had to smile at the first reading at the Byzantine church today - it was my latest favorite verse, from St. Paul on how "affliction leads to endurance which leads to tested virtue which leads to hope." Then too the homily mentioned "Seek first his kingship over you," which has been particularly in my mind lately. Fr. Terry said the way we do that is through morning and evening prayer. Morning prayer especially because God owns the mornings because Christ rose on a morning. Was warmed by the way Deacon Jeff said, "Thomas" as I received the Eucharist. I love the personal aspect of receiving Communion by name. It's a small thing, but at the same time not really that small. It's also nice to be called a "servant of God" given how lackluster my service generally is. (FYI: with the Eastern rite you hear, "The servant of God, [name] receives the precious Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...".)
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A fun recent activity involves scavenging for musical CDs in my home for use on the Ipod. Out of nowhere an old '80s song came to me: "Welcome to the Boomtown" by David David. It came out in '86, it's mood suitably tracking my own "shock-in-trade", my 2nd year of work. Though I didn't make much money just out of college, it did feel like a lot of money compared to working at Long John Silvers. It seemed a boomtown at the time.

Found an old recording of Beethoven's Ninth, ripped it to iPod and was blown away again by the crispness and richness of sound. Here was an ode to joy even as the composer had little external cause for joy given his deafness.
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Ran through the drunken heat Friday around Goodale Park downtown, where stylishly if lightly appareled young women run by. They are Platonic forms of woman and my mind wanders. Never feels too far afield to appreciate the female form as the pinnacle of God's creation. Naysayers will say that because I'm a guy I look at a girl as the pluperfect figure and there's probably something to that. It's difficult to separate the purely erotic from the purely aesthetic. No doubt some of what I'm attributing to aestheticism is actually a veiled eroticism.
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Lion Stout is simply amazing, but expensive enough to warrant only on special occasions, such as the end of a work-week.

Other up & comers: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is very likable, a crisp hoppy "hello!" flavor. And finally for a sweeter beer, I've grown surprisingly fond of Samuel Adams' Blackberry Witbier.

Bad haikus for youse:

Sam's Blackberry beer
Amber as a Budweiser
But fresh as the fruit.

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Tall glass, Lion Stout
Succulence in a dark wood
Flavor to the max.