So I'm reaching my critical mass for stupidity: both regarding the elections in the US and about certain news of a show I obsessively watch. I'm not sure what annoys me more: people who insist that Catholics can't vote any other way but Republican, or those who insist that Doctor Who jumped the shark when Christopher Eccleston left the show. So long as I don't get anyone telling me that Catholics can't possibly like any other companion besides Rose, it's all good. But if something interesting happens in blogdom at large, let me know. I'm still reading my regular blogs, but I'm shutting off the feeds for everything else until the batshit cools down a bit.

5 minute chocolate mug cake

Again putting this here so I remember it.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using)
and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3
minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but
don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if
desired.

It's tasty. I just made some, but I couldn't wait for it to cool. It definitely becomes more cake-like if you let it sit.

Where I stand

Hi. Sorry, I've been absent, but the Hoopy Frood and I have been playing World of Warcraft lately. The family that slays together...(level 61 gnome warlock, Misha, if you're interested.)

So I've been hearing people say how lonely they feel on the blogosphere, and how their opinions may not be shared. This is probably the only time I'm going to mention some of the topics, here, and I do so out of solidarity for those who're feeling kind of lonely right now. (As we approach election season in the US and those who think you can't be a good Catholic and vote a certain way start shrieking louder. As an aside, I heard a good term for those: they're the Catholic "barfosphere.")

1.) I've yet to hear a compelling reason why people of the same sex shouldn't marry. I've tried understanding the arguments, but at the end of the day, the fact that two men or two women love each other and want to make the same commitment the Frood and I do to each other doesn't impact us in any way, shape or form. If anything, I'd think other couples in a sacramental kind of love would strengthen us.

And while we're at it, I really hate the "sacramental" or "non-sacramental" designation of marriages. Unless the Frood gets baptized, ours won't ever be a sacramental marriage. You know what? After he flew out to help me with Phase 1 of the bedbug invasion, I'm convinced beyond belief that our relationship is a sacrament. Here I am, getting all filled up over it, but that's when I realized what we've got, when we were ass-deep in bedbugs, getting bitten every night, and literally going through hell. Nobody can convince me otherwise, either. (And the whole fairytale wedding BS pales in comparison to him cleaning under my desk, so I could've gone to Mass.) Bah, I'm all verklempt now.

2.) If you call yourself pro-life and think the death penalty is a good idea and think torture is ever acceptable, just go pound sand.

3.) In the same manner, if you protest or pray at abortion clinics and ignore people begging for spare change nearby, there's a big pile of sand for you to go pound, too. The 40 Days for Life people are active at praying at a local Planned Parenthood, but Nickelsville is a matter of blocks away from them. If they really thought all life was sacred, they'd be pissed as hell that people have to live in tents in the middle of our city. Not to mention that the same group of people has been harassed, intimidated, and threatened.

4.) I think ordaining women in the RCC right now would be a spectacularly bad idea. We need to get everyone on board with the idea that women can contribute to the Church, and all women need to be on the same parity. What do you think would happen to a woman in an area of the world that routinely kills women for "honor" would do, if she proclaimed the Gospel? In the wake of Theology of the Body, I don't see women being ordained in my lifetime.

5.) Along with that, I think that people putting women in their special place of motherhood is ghettoizing them. Yes, I think some are called to be mothers, but some aren't. (Although truth be told, this is something you find in mainstream society, as well.)

6.) Every time I hear the term "culture war," I want to be sick. Look, Albigensianism went out of fashion in the 13th century. Yeah, there's a lot of ugly stuff out there, but people are so obsessed with it, they're missing the beautiful things, as well.

I'm Jen, and I approve this message.

"Did they beat the drum slowly..."

So a post on Waylon Jennings on William's blog got me thinking about the link between folk music and older forms of country. I think it was the Lomaxes, who discovered that pure strains of European folk music can be found in Appalachia, possibly purer forms of the same songs sung in Europe. (it was in the Journal of Ethnomusicology...I had the article, but it's still packed away somewhere.)

Anyway, my nieces referenced a song done by Johnny Cash. Now, I'm not a huge fan of country, and my nieces don't care for older country. (They prefer the newer stuff, where I can actually listen to the older stuff.) So I took a listen to it:



And it sounded really familiar. The melodic contour is very similar to this one, a song done by the Dropkick Murphys:



Right before the chorus ("Did they beat the drum slowly"), you can hear how the melody still follows the contours of "Streets of Laredo." When "Streets of Laredo" has the same lyrics as "No Man's Land," the two are almost identical.

Here is a version of "Streets of Laredo" that's even closer melodically to "No Man's Land." This version is closer to "The Unfortunate Rake," an earlier ballad, than "Streets of Laredo."

"No Man's Land" was composed in 1976 by Eric Bogle. Here's another version of it, done by the Fureys.



Then I started doing a bit of research on the two songs. Turns out that "Streets of Laredo" is sung to the same tune as an early 18th century Irish ballad, "The Bard of Armagh."



It turns out that "The Bard of Armagh" got recycled into the 19th century song, "The Unfortunate Rake." Ta-da! Eventually it changed from ballad form to the verse-chorus-verse form and got a bit more complex melodically. And guess what? "The Unfortunate Rake" becomes "St. James Infirmary Blues," when it goes to New Orleans.

Very rare political post from me. First, Keith Olbermann on Sarah Palin:



Next up, McCain's racisim:



Don't believe one guy? Read it for yourself in McCain's own account here.

Chicken and stuffing scratch space

Crockpot recipe I'm making tonight. It's really good, but I'm putting it here, because I can never remember where I found it:

24 baby carrots, sliced lengthwise (Yeah, I don't bother, because they turn to mush. I like carrots with substance.)
24 tiny whole potatoes
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut bite size (Don't bother cutting up the chicken, because it only falls apart anyway)
10 ounces can cream of chicken soup
2 cups frozen peas (Gross. I don't do peas. Broccoli works well.)
1/2 cup hot water
2 tablespoons butter
6 1/4 ounces stove top stuffing package (I use the cornmeal one)

Directions:
Place carrots, then potatoes in bottom of crock. Layer chicken over potatoes.
Whisk soup in small bowl. add peas to soup. Stir gently. Spoon over chicken.
Stir hot water and butter in bowl to melt butter. Add stuffing. Stir; spoon over chicken mixture.
Cook on low 8-9 hours or high 4-4 1/2 hours.

This one goes out to Rev. Mommy:

And we're baaack!

I'm all moved in to the new place, and I'm liking it. If you'd like to see pictures, go here. (Think they're all captioned.) DSL got hooked up yesterday, so I'm back on the 'net.

On the one hand, I can't really do without internet. Too much of what I do requires email communication--emails are sent to my chair, my work communicates via email, and Steve and I use internet-based methods of communication a lot. (Plus we play games online with each other. I'm now playing a warlock in WoW.)

On the other hand, I think my internet fast was good for me. Now, I'm by no means a Carmelite in terms of asceticism. I'm attracted to the Trappists and Camaldolese, but I also realize that I (as a lay person) have different needs than they do. Knowing that I need certain things isn't pride. If anything, it can be a discipline in itself to use responsibly the things one has. (I believe this is a point Chittister makes in her commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, which is still packed up.) For instance, I could've done without a good computer desk, but the one I have makes life so much easier, with as much work on the computer as I do. (I could really use a better chair, though. Ergonomics aren't negotiable.)

But as the week without regular 'net access went on, it became obvious to me that I was using the internet at home to fill my life with noise. Suddenly I had to be more organized, so I'd have time to head to a coffee house to check email first thing in the morning. I had time for the Divine Office because I didn't have the 'net to distract me. And I recovered some of the silence that had been missing from my life over the summer.

But I'm glad I've got the 'net back. It's cheaper to make coffee in the new kitcheny area and surf, for one. For the other, the Hoopy Frood and I need some sort of online communication, otherwise the phone bills get onerous. (for instance, I had almost 800 minutes on my phone at the start of the Great Internet Fast. At the end of it, I have 200 left.)

I keep thinking, though: Do I really need a nice place to live and DSL that's at T1 speeds? Sure, I could--and did--make do with a place that wasn't the greatest and with slower broadband, but after upgrading both places, I wished I'd moved and gotten faster DSL sooner. I mean, now, I can watch a YouTube video without it stuttering or loading all the way. (YouTube videos aren't necessary for life, but they're relatively small--it should give you an example of how slow my old DSL was.) New furniture--a bed, a desk, and a chair--wasn't optional. One good way of bringing bedbugs with you is to move furniture. Plus, the stuff I had was stuff that was hand-me-downs or garbage picked. I've since learned that's a great way to get bedbugs, as well.

As an aside, I so wouldn't wish bedbugs on anyone. Cockroaches, if you have them and don't live somewhere tropical, it's generally something you did or didn't do. Bedbugs? They're just an act of God. You get them, it's nothing you did or didn't do. they're pure chaos.

Sure, I could make do with less--we all can--but the things I have are concessions to make life a bit easier. I think what separates Benedictines from other orders is the attention to the ordinary. Caring for the tools you have is as much a sacred thing as caring for things used in the Mass, for instance. Your everyday work is a form of prayer. But what I think differentiates this from other organizations (say Opus Dei) is that it should be "nothing harsh or burdeonsome." That is, it should be something to give the stronger something to strive for and the weaker nothing to run from. (Paraphrasing a line from the chapter on the qualities of the abbot, since my copy of the Rule of St. Benedict is also packed.)

The Benedictine notion of asceticism isn't asceticism for the sake of punishing one's self, but for making it so that a person appreciates the things he/she has. (Merton makes this point in New Seeds of Contemplation. That book is also still packed.) Right now, I could use some coffee.