Miscellaneous Monday

This is my free-thought post. I originally thought of calling it my personal kvetching board, but it certainly won't have the same amount of venom as that I sometimes see at The Daily Tar Heel. And besides, I really only have one complaint in mind.

I was driving back from the post office, and I was driving behind one of the Duke University Transit buses. I was on Main Street, on the southern border of East Campus, and approaching the Campus Drive entrance. I noticed the bus slowing down, and I figured the driver would take that left turn onto Campus Drive. But did he give a signal? No! Not until he was in the process of turning did he finally put his turn signal on! That I found exceedingly irritating.

Okay, kvetch over. I had the interesting opportunity to watch a pair of podcasts being created this morning. Fr Roderick Vonhögen was uStreaming today whilst recording his podcasts. I came in as he was recording a podcast in Dutch. I never heard Dutch being spoken before, and I was fascinated. It's always neat to listen to other languages being spoken. Fr Roderick doesn't have an accent when he speaks English, or rather, he has a very slight accent that you'll have to listen hard for, and according to his website, he is fluent in six languages. It was fascinating to listen and watch him at work, and there was also real-time chat going on in the side as well with a very interesting group of people. One fellow was in the Netherlands, where Fr Roderick is based, then there was the "displaced Floridian" currently living in Northern Japan, whingeing on about the cold ... we were privy to the technical problems Fr Roderick was experiencing whilst uploading his Dutch podcast ... and then I watched him record his Daily Breakfast podcast. It was so cool that we helped him title his podcast, which he eventually called "Holy Snow, Batman!" (Barb in Nebraska gave the initial idea.) It was the coolest thing.

I first heard of Fr Roderick because of his Secrets of Harry Potter podcasts. So for me it was a special treat to be able to see him at work. He stopped the live stream after he successfully uploaded the Daily Breakfast podcast and announced he was going to figure out what he wanted for dinner.

Here's an Only in the South observation: I admit I had a craving for a Cook Out Tray this afternoon. What did I notice on the cup? "God Bless America" and a bible verse, Proverbs 1:7 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise." I've not seen anything like it before.

In the meantime ... I was happy to receive a parcel in my mailbox - ten copies of a lovely Christmas piece called "How Sweet is Love", with words taken from a ca. 16th century Dutch carol, and set to music by Michael Paget. I'm working my choir through this piece, which I believe we'll do for both the Christmas Eve service, as well as for Lessons and Carols, which we'll have for the First Sunday after Christmas (28 December).

I'm getting more involved with the Filipino community here. A Filipino Franciscan priest, Fr Julian, arrived in the Triangle during the summer, having been assigned his first parish (he was recently ordained a priest), and he is injecting a lot of new energy and ideas into the minds of the Filipino community here. We've been meeting regularly to plan the Simbang Gabi Mass that will be celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church at 7.00 pm, December 19. In the past, we've had this Mass early in the morning, 5.30 am, but this year, we decided on an evening Mass, so it will truly be Simbang Gabi (literally, "Night Mass"). As in the past, I was asked to plan the music and the liturgy for this Mass. I'll post the line-up we'll use for this Mass when the time gets closer, but I am hoping that the choir will be able to pick up the new pieces. Well, maybe not so new; I'm proposing the Hontiveros setting of the Magnificat for Offertory, mainly because the Gospel appointed for that day will be the Angel Gabriel delivering his message to Mary that she will deliver a child.

Oh, oops. I just nipped over to the USCCB website for the Readings/Psalms/etc. and just realised Gabriel was delivering a different message to Zechariah, husband of Elizabeth (who is Mary's cousin), with that message being Elizabeth, who was barren for a long time, would be carrying a son (John the Baptist). Oops.

Oh well. I admit that I imposed my will here. In the past, the choir had sung "O tahimik na daigdig" (Silent Night in Tagalog) for Offertory, and my feeling was, we really should not be singing Christmas carols whilst still in Advent. Well, I still think the Magnificat would be a good choice for Offertory. Of course, some of my Liturgical Music snob friends might disagree with me. Such is life.

So I'm going to sit here and finish up the minutes from our last Simbang Gabi planning meeting so I can upload it to our group page ... and then answer some of the questions that popped up in my mailbox. Yes, my voice is still not completely back, but at least it is getting better. So thanks to my Facebook friends for all your get-well wishes. I am hoping to get my singing voice back soon. I really miss singing Compline.

Peace and love to all ...