fearlesstemp: (lionel)
[personal profile] fearlesstemp
I've been having very vivid dreams lately, which I realize upon further examination have actually been low-grade nightmares.

Dream One: I was driving a car full of people and took us all into a head-on collision at an intersection because I wasn't paying proper attention! I assumed a car was going to turn left or something and then it didn't, and I rammed into it. I completely forgot about the dream until the middle of the next day, when I was in the middle of driving my family all around Cape Cod. I was positive it was a premonition and terrified the whole time.

Dream Two: In this dream, I ran into this guy I had three awkward dates with and then blew off last year. We exchanged pleasantries and then I went into this cafe alone, where I ran into this other random guy who I'd never met before but instantly developed a crush on. And so I'm sitting there, talking with him about the awkward interaction with this other guy, about why I didn't like him, etc etc, and then Guy No. 1 comes in and sits down with Guy No. 2 and clearly they're best friends. It was so incredibly awkward, I wanted to DIE.

So apparently my greatest fears are car accidents and awkward social interaction. Sounds about right.

Speaking of the latter: My mother is trying to set me up with this guy. She has been for ages. "He's great!" she says. "Maureen -- not your aunt Maureen, my coworker Maureen, who was your aunt Kelly's best friend in high school? Well, her sister Margie works with this guy who's supposedly really great, and she thinks you and he would really get along!"

"But I've never met Margie," I said.

"I know," she says. "But Maureen told her all about you!"

"But I haven't talked to Maureen in years," I said. "I mean, I like her, but --"

"Oh, you're both single carbon-based life forms," my mother said. "It'll be fine! Also, he likes cats."

Why is it so weird for men to like cats? I must have seen some movie or TV show as a kid where a really weird guy had cats, because even though intellectually I know it shouldn't mean anything, it still puts me off a bit when a guy lists felines as a main interest.

And he does do this. Do you want to know how I know this? He wrote me an e-mail and said so, though he doesn't have any pets outside of one fish. Also, he's very devoted to the Catholic faith. Does he know I'm a heathen Catholic who hasn't gone to Confession in ages? Who hasn't gone to mass at all in forever? He might have gotten some inaccurate intel on me in that department.

Speaking of Catholicism: I keep feeling like I should reexamine my faith, or my belief system, or whatever, but it seems like the kind of endeavor that would take so much energy. And time. And also, once you figure out for sure what you think is right and wrong, you don't have nearly as much leeway with your own life choices, which isn't all that appealing. Right now I know that I believe certain things are right and certain things are wrong, and then there's that whole mess that the jury's out on. Maybe it's because I'm a Gemini that I'm so indecisive -- and speaking of the Zodiac, how strict is the church about the zodiac thing? If I really dig into the whole Catholic thing, am I allowed to read my horoscope and attribute my flakiness to my sign? Or would that be a thing of the past? Would I have to blame it on original sin or something?

It's kind of stunning how little I know about my religious background. People ask me questions about Catholicism -- like, what's up with all the saints? Or, explain that whole marriage/divorce/annulment thing again? I always end up sitting there, desperate, trying to stammer out some kind of answer, usually a mish-mash of stuff I've picked up from my years and years of religious ed and listening to my grandfather. And then I go home and ask my mom, who will give a smiliar answer to the one I gave, followed by, "I don't know, ask your father," who will give me a similar answer followed by, "I don't know, ask your mother."

One time my friend Anna asked if we were allowed to marry non-Christians in the church, and I double-checked with my Dad when I got home. He got all over-eager, saying things like, "Oh, you can marry ANYONE you like, Honeybunch, a Muslim even! We'll work it out!"

And then I had to explain, no, really, my friend asked me -- no, REALLY, a friend! No marriage on the horizon! Just want the official church policy!

Also, I didn't know whether to bestow or dock points for the Muslim comment. My father can occasionally sound like a modern-day, slightly-more-liberal Archie Bunker. He becomes less and less PC with age.

And before I go on and say something horridly un-PC myself about my Dad's crazy beliefs, I will end this entry here, and go back to watching X-Files reruns.

Date: 2004-08-24 05:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] evilprettykitty.livejournal.com
I don't know what it is about men and cats. One of my best friends asked for a cat for christmas (i.e. for his parents to pay the few when he p[ickedo n out at the shelter) and so many people thought it was odd. He just wanted a pet, lives in an apartment and likes that they don't have to be taken outside to pee.

Date: 2004-08-25 11:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fearlesstemp.livejournal.com
I don't know what it is either! I mean, my brother likes cats, and I definitely don't think he's a freak at all. It's weird. I hate it when I discover these thoughtless judgmental streaks in me (and oh, there are so many, it's scary and disheartening).

Also: Your kitty icon is so cute. She looks a little like my recently departed Molly! Will use her icon here as evidence.

Date: 2004-08-26 05:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] evilprettykitty.livejournal.com
They DO look alike! That is my Smidgen. I did not name her as I would have chocen something thta may look dumb when she's 15 pounds. Luckily, she is looking to stay tiny. She's also vaugely evil. We also have Dixie who is white and princessy. She only tolerates people.

Date: 2004-08-24 07:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lawgeekgurl.livejournal.com
Ah, you must have been spared the atrocity that is catechism class. I didn't attend Catholic school, but both my parents did and as my brother and I were in public school we had to go to CCD classes every Saturday and have doctrine implanted in our pscyhes. :)

I am a firm believer that you don't want to dig too much into church doctrine, because so much of it is just stupid and wrong and makes people want to quit the faith. For example, that little girl who can't receive first communion, because she is deathly allergic to wheat gluten - the archdiocese over her local church refuses to make an exception and allow her non-wheat hosts, even though if she ingests wheat it will kill her. That just is stupid to me.

As for non-Catholics - yes you can marry one in a Catholic church, but you have to agree to raise your kids Catholic. It's a whole big thing.

lawgeekgurl, recovering Catholic. (whose middle name is also Maureen - what's with Irish Catholic moms and the name "Maureen" anyway?)

Date: 2004-08-25 11:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fearlesstemp.livejournal.com
Maureen and Margaret -- you can't walk into an Irish Catholic family without tripping over two or three, it seems. :)

I am totally with you on the not digging into church doctrine thing, I think. That way lies madness! In a lot of ways, Catholicism looks best at a distance, where it's all about Christ's love and being socially conscious and not judging people, etc etc. Especially if you turn a blind eye to the many and varied scandals.

You know what's really sad? I totally took religious ed! But maybe that was different from catechism? Because we didn't call it that. But I did go every Sunday as a kid, until I transferred into a Catholic high school. We did go to a relativly laid back church, though, one that was affiliated with a local college so all of our instructors were college students. I think in a lot of cases it was the blind leading the blind -- most of the time it came down to knowing your sacraments (still got that) and learning how to say a rosary (don't have that any more).

Date: 2004-08-28 11:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meinnim.livejournal.com
As for non-Catholics - yes you can marry one in a Catholic church, but you have to agree to raise your kids Catholic. It's a whole big thing.

I'm a lapsed Catholic so I completely forgot about that. Thanks for clearing that up. Obviously, all my years in Catholic school weren't enough to let that 'rule' sink in. *g*

I kept racking my brain for the answer and realized most of my Catholic friends only married fellow Catholics. Strange.

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