The Graduate

The Happy Graduate - June 24,  2013

Richard graduated from William H. Hall High School on Monday June 24, 2013 at 5 p.m.  It was something of a brutal ceremony because it was held outside where there was virtually no shade and the temperature was in in the 90s. The ceremony lasted about 2 hours.

Sr. Pat, Lynn, and I attended. Fortunately, we brought water-we needed it! At least one man fainted and was taken away by the EMTs. Then, to make things more interesting, a huge thunderstorm threatened. Fortunately, the only thing that did was to cool the temperature. It never did rain.

Cover of Graduation Program.

There were the usual speeches by the School System administrators, teachers, & class leaders. My favorite turned out the one by the Chinese language teacher. She explained how her path in life significantly and unexpectedly changed when she decided to chat with the Chinese teacher during college orientation. She ended up majoring in Chinese and that became her career path. She shocked most of us by describing cultural differences and comparing western toilets with eastern squat toilets. I admired her subversiveness. Fortunately, she did not linger on the subject.

I believe there were 365 graduates. Took about a half hour to get through all the names and distribute diplomas (actually, just the covers. Richard had to go back into the building after the ceremony to actually get his diploma).  The boys wore blue gowns and the girls wore white (the school colors).

The cover of the program is at the left. It is an excerpt from a larger painting (see below) done by one of the seniors. Of course there was music by the band and choir.

Richard chose not to attend the school sponsored all night graduation party held in the cafeteria. He wanted to get home to watch what turned out to be the final game of the Stanley Cup (Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Blackhawks). Also the Tribe was playing.

So we retired back to Lynn's apartment for "refreshments". I picked up some Chinese food from our favorite takeout place down the street. Sr. Pat brought some cup cakes that her neighbor sent. We had some Cookies and Creme ice cream with that.

Next step is getting ready for college. Richard plan to to attend a local state college: CCSU and major in Technical Theater.

(L-R) Richard, Lynn, Rick, Sr. Pat.

4 in 4th (too)

I just received in the mail Richard's "Student Report Card" for the 4th Quarter of this academic year, his last quarter in high school. He achieved another 4.0 GPA (grade point average) for this quarter, essentially duplicating his success last quarter.  For this GPA he is awarded "Maximum Honors" (you can't do better). This also means that for the semester he also earned all As:

• Conceptual Physics - w/Lab
• Discrete Math
• Engineering/Architectural Design
• Journalism
• Physical Education
• Stagecraft/Technical Theater

His cumulative GPA is 3.308.

Wow! Way to go Richard!

Politics and the Bible

Cover of the book.

One of the organizations I support is Alliance Defending Freedom. In one of their recent magazine issues, I spotted a picture that showed a book with a title that intrigued me: Politics-According To The Bible by Wayne Grudem.  When I started to research it, I found a website containing MP3 files of a series of lectures (classes) that he did while he was preparing the book and shortly after its publication. The lectures apparently correspond with the chapters of the book - so it's something like a rough draft of an audio version of the book (I suppose).

Wayne is something a conservative Republican Christian so while I tend to agree with his position on many things, there are quite I few that I see differently. Still, it has been interesting to listen to these. I think I am about 2/3 finished. I saved the MP3 files to my computer and burned them to a CD so I could listen while driving to/from work.  They are generally 40-60 minutes long.

If you are interested in a Christian perspective of politics, this is a rewarding place to start.

RC Folk Mass History

Recently, I got involved with an exchange about the Roman Catholic Mass on a blog that promotes the traditional Latin mass rite. Now, while I like the Latin Mass I also have fond memories of the folk mass we attended during the 70s at St. Columbkille RC Church as well as my time with the CSU Newman Center at nearby St. Peter's Church. I observed that most of the Latin Mass supporters look with EXTREME disdain on the Folk Mass.

I found a website that had a lot of the folk mass songs I remember. These were tracks I never heard before (because they were performed by the original composer).

I found this website containing podcasts to complement a book about the history of the Folk Mass. The podcasts largely contain generous excerpts of the original recordings but also have short narratives by the author to explain background and context. I learned a lot about the evolution from the Latin mass to the English (vernacular) mass.

I am sure that many past and present RCs will recognize many of the songs in the podcasts. I downloaded them and listened to them while driving to/from work. They are generally short (~20 minutes max). Check it out and let me know what you think.

Finally...!

After about 6 years of roller hockey (4 sessions per year), Richard's team (the Blue Devils) finally won the Championship for the Spring 2013 session.  They won the first two games of a best of three series. Last Sunday, they won 9-5. Today, they won 6-4. Both were very close games that could have gone either way until the closing moments.

Sr. Pat with Richard after the game.

Me with Richard after the game.

Sr. Pat, Lynn, and me were at today's game to root for Richard and his team.  And it paid off. He finally won a trophy (see above).  Richard has one more session (this Summer) before he ages out of the "Junior" league and goes on to the adult league.

2013 Spring Season Champions: Blue Devils.

Richard has played with the Blue Devils for several sessions. They have been blessed with some very talented players and two well versed coaches, Mark and Dean. They also have a very good goalie, Nick, who was the top goalie in the league. Team mates were also league leaders for Most Goals (Kyle), Most Points (Austin), and Most Assists (Austin).  There were four teams in Junior this year.  Many of the kids have, like Richard, played for years.  The Blue Devils record for the regular Spring Season was 8 wins and 2 losses.

This Summer session starts in two weeks and consists of 10 regular games plus playoff/championship.

T-Rex in the sun

Lately, I have found that listening to T-Rex while driving in the summer-like sun has a magical effect. The music is SO appropriate for some reason.

Somehow I found myself listening a lot from the "first" T-Rex album (T-Rex/Electric Warrior) plus some singles. This is the basic play list for driving around in the sun:

• 20th Century Boy
• Ride a White Swan (see clip below)
• Hot Love
• Raw Ramp/Electric Boogie
• Jeepster
• T-Rex/Electric Warrior album

My affair with T-Rex goes back quite a while. Not sure how it started. Probably Ringo Starr's interest in "T-Rexstasy" and his filming the "Born to Boogie" documentary film as well as Ringo's photo credit for the cover of the 2nd T-Rex album, "The Slider."

If you looked at my record collection (as in vinyl LPs) from back in the days (now stored in boxes), you'd be surprised at the number of T-Rex albums.

Wings & Wheels Sunday

Today was an "eventful day." Started with Richard's roller hockey: Championship game at 9 a.m. His team won 9-5. This was the first of the best of three games for the Spring Season Championship.  Richard has been on several teams that came close to winning the Championship but never got there. Maybe this time....

After the game, Richard and I went to the Plainville "Wings and Wheels" show at the nearby Robertson Airport. We went last year and had a pretty good time. So we decided to return. This year the layout was different and the cars were parked more out in the open than last year. Many of the cars were leaving as we arrived. We saw a lot of the cars as we walked past the line waiting to get out of the lot.  I imagine many left due to the heat (hot last year too).  Since the weather was sunny, hot & humid, we did not last long either.

 This year's food selection was another disappointment: basically only one food stand which served hot dogs, burgers, & fries.  We picked up some hot dogs and water for fuel at the start.  They also were selling plane and helicopter rides and had some exhibits.

Like last year, after the show we ended up having lunch in an air conditioned Burger King.