Pocket Lent
So I'm two weeks into Lent and have yet to decide on what to give up (or to do, as a priest said). Even after having a little fit about giving up meat for a day, I still think I should do something during this Catholic season. My most successful Lent to date was giving up fast food. After Easter that year, I celebrated my achievement by sinking my teeth into an In-N-Out cheeseburger, eating it with Burger King fries, and sucking down a Jack in the Box milkshake. Surprisingly, the pounds I lost came back after that one meal.
But I've been unsure if I could be as successful with something else during Lent. I scanned around to see what others give up.
My father's given up sweets and alcohol for the last few years.
My mother gave up carbs, but I'm not sure if that was for Lent.
My sister-in-law gave up being Catholic last year and was blessed with a pooping machine of a dog and my niece.
So what should i do? I've ran through many different ideas and either failed miserably or just gave up, and I'm already 2 weeks in.
I wonder what other ideas there could be out there.
But I've been unsure if I could be as successful with something else during Lent. I scanned around to see what others give up.
My father's given up sweets and alcohol for the last few years.
My mother gave up carbs, but I'm not sure if that was for Lent.
My sister-in-law gave up being Catholic last year and was blessed with a pooping machine of a dog and my niece.
So what should i do? I've ran through many different ideas and either failed miserably or just gave up, and I'm already 2 weeks in.
- Give up saying "shut *p" to my students. result: Carlos and Amando changed that the next day in Period 5, of course.
- Not drink alcohol. A friend suggested this idea to me. result: My friend suggested this to me while I was in the middle of a half-yard of brown ale and my mother taught me not to let things go to waste.
- Give up using expletives. result: Similar to number 1, sort of impossible when considering the Lord may be multilingual and could interpret the meaning of a muttered "Pinche cabron."
- Do a good turn daily (taken straight from the Boy Scout playbook) result: You still get cut off if you let others merge in on the freeway.
- Not masturbate. result: I'm not depressed and my roommate's pillow's been looking awfully spotless lately. Not gonna happen.
- Stop being crude. result: Not while my other roommate watches all of C.S.I. and still cringes at the sight of animated Mr. Hankey.
- Stop being a pseudo-Catholic. Stop choosing which parts of the religion I think are worth carrying around in my wallet. Be Catholic or not. result: It's hard to give up the guilt, but I think I'll try.
I wonder what other ideas there could be out there.
posted by matty at 5:42 PM
4 Comments:
Hell... you've already had to give up hockey. What more does Jesus want?
I was starting to worry you'd given up blogging.
One of my friends (another recovering Catholic) had a sign in college that said "I gave up beer for Lent. Pass the Jack Daniels." Or something like that.
You could always give up something you don't actually like or like to do. Like giving up racecar driving when you only own a moped. It might not be the good or right thing to do, but....well....
Found you through a link on Jess's blog (Jess' blog? Good Lord, girl, can't you just call yourself Jessica and make it easy for me?) and spent a very enjoyable half hour reading - will definitely have to come back when I have some more time.
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