On behalf of Orin and the rest of the Oddwalk family, I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that this season finds you spending time with friends and family.
This week is going to be especially great for me. Tuesday night, I am going out to dinner with my cousins. This is something we try and due over the holiday season, but it will be more special this year as we will be joined by my cousin, Heidi. Heidi is a lay missioner for the Maryknoll Missionaries. Currently she is working in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Because of the distance we don't see her very often, so Tuesday night should be a lot of fun.
On Thursday night, I'll be traveling to Belleville for the Youth Sing Praise Reunion. I have been involved in Youth Sing Praise (YSP)for a long time now, and I can tell you that it is an outstanding Catholic music camp for high school students. The participants of YSP form a tight knit family, and many of the friendships formed in this program last for many years. To learn more about Youth Sing Praise, visit the Shrine Youth Ministry website.
Please know that you are in our prayers during this holiday season.
-Shannon
Monday, December 26, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Christmas Music Quiz
Can you figure out the more common name for these familiar Christmas tunes? Answers in the comments!
CHRISTMAS SONG TRIVIA QUIZ
1. Have hither ward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their
belief.
2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.
3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness.
4. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the
terrestrial sphere.
5. Embellish the structural supports with botanical evergreens.
6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened.
7. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.
8. The Christmas preceding all others.
9. Small municipality in Judas southeast of Jerusalem.
10. Diminutive, masculine master of skin covered percussionist cylinders.
11. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished
males.
12. Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.
13. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute
crystals.
14. Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine
perennial gift giver.
15. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory
phenomenon for me.
16. The first person nominative plural of far eastern heads of state.
17. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulous in inverted, metallic .
18. In distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn
children's slumber furniture.
19. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.
20. Jovial yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.
CHRISTMAS SONG TRIVIA QUIZ
1. Have hither ward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their
belief.
2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.
3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness.
4. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the
terrestrial sphere.
5. Embellish the structural supports with botanical evergreens.
6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened.
7. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.
8. The Christmas preceding all others.
9. Small municipality in Judas southeast of Jerusalem.
10. Diminutive, masculine master of skin covered percussionist cylinders.
11. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished
males.
12. Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.
13. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute
crystals.
14. Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine
perennial gift giver.
15. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory
phenomenon for me.
16. The first person nominative plural of far eastern heads of state.
17. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulous in inverted, metallic .
18. In distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn
children's slumber furniture.
19. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.
20. Jovial yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.
A Clarifiation of Sorts
This is not me (Orin). Nor am I one of Toronto's most wanted.Weird what turns up when you do a Google image search for yourself. I'm also not a beekeeper nor a silent movie star. I know, hard to believe. I am the Assistant director of the St. Louis Chamber Chorus, which thankfully is the first picture and link to show up. I am also many other things: husband, mac/treo addict, egg-nog drinker, Oddwalker, haiku-writer, etc.
But I'm not this guy. The end.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
The Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas Debate
Hello!
Recently, my friend, Fr. Jamie Smith, weighed in on the touchy subject of how to greet people during the holiday season. For my money, he's right on. You can check out his entry here.
-Shannon
Recently, my friend, Fr. Jamie Smith, weighed in on the touchy subject of how to greet people during the holiday season. For my money, he's right on. You can check out his entry here.
-Shannon
Key-Sword-Tar
Strongbad has one. You have to wait for it, though.
Key-Sword-Tars are pure awesomeness.
PS - Don't forget to keep playing our Haiku Challenge!
Key-Sword-Tars are pure awesomeness.
PS - Don't forget to keep playing our Haiku Challenge!
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Haiku Challenge
Inspired by this blog, we present the Oddwalk Haiku Challenge.
Well, it's not really much of a challenge. If you read this blog (I'm looking at you Marianne), simply use the comments to add a Haiku of your own. The only rule, besides the 5-7-5 syllables, is that your haiku must begin with the last word of the one before it. For instance:
It is cold outside.
Minnesota is colder.
Orin misses home.
Your next Haiku would begin with the word "Home." You can play more than once!
Well, it's not really much of a challenge. If you read this blog (I'm looking at you Marianne), simply use the comments to add a Haiku of your own. The only rule, besides the 5-7-5 syllables, is that your haiku must begin with the last word of the one before it. For instance:
It is cold outside.
Minnesota is colder.
Orin misses home.
Your next Haiku would begin with the word "Home." You can play more than once!
Monday, December 5, 2005
Mike Patin's Traveling Roller Bag
Mike Patin is a friend of Oddwalk's, so we just had to point you in his direction for this funny story.
When we saw him at NCYC this year, his roller bag didn't make it to Atlanta with him - it decided instead to visit South Africa without him. You can read about that incident on his blog too.
Well, guess what - the bag did it again, this time going to New Jersey while he was returning to Louisiana.
As Mike says, the bag is racking up a lot of frequent flyer miles!
Reminds me a bit of the Travelocity Roaming Gnome (video clip).
Check out the full stories on Mike's blog here.
When we saw him at NCYC this year, his roller bag didn't make it to Atlanta with him - it decided instead to visit South Africa without him. You can read about that incident on his blog too.
Well, guess what - the bag did it again, this time going to New Jersey while he was returning to Louisiana.
As Mike says, the bag is racking up a lot of frequent flyer miles!
Reminds me a bit of the Travelocity Roaming Gnome (video clip).
Check out the full stories on Mike's blog here.
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Fundraiser at Wash U.
Oddwalk is excited to be heading to Washington University in St. Louis to be a part of a fundraising concert for their Campus Ministry's Social Justice trip to Bangladesh next year.
Shannon's cousin Pete (find him on this page) is organizing it, and asked us to open for Javier Mendoza, who is active at their student center along with his other performance schedule.
Please support this trip if you can: by coming to the concert tonight (saturday) or by contacting Pete at
Pete Cerneka
Service and Social Justice Coordinator
Catholic Student Center, Washington University
6352 Forsyth Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63105-2269
cerneka@washucsc.org
314-935-9191, x209
Shannon's cousin Pete (find him on this page) is organizing it, and asked us to open for Javier Mendoza, who is active at their student center along with his other performance schedule.
Please support this trip if you can: by coming to the concert tonight (saturday) or by contacting Pete at
Pete Cerneka
Service and Social Justice Coordinator
Catholic Student Center, Washington University
6352 Forsyth Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63105-2269
cerneka@washucsc.org
314-935-9191, x209
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Harvard Graduate
Hey All,
For those that don't know this already, I, Orin, am a Harvard graduate - BA, 1996. I don't tell you this to boast or to make you bow down to me in homage or anything -- really, if you knew what my degree was in, you'd probably just burst out laughing -- but that's a post for another time.
I tell you this so that you understand why I empathize so much with the following tale.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is a recent Hararvd graduate too, and was it seems a great player in the Ivy League. I don't follow football too closely, but know that in last sunday's game, the Rams' usual starter, Bulger, was out with injury, and the backup, Martin, got hit in the head a few too many times during the game. So Fitzpatrick came in and rallied the team from behind to win the game (in overtime I think).
Anyway, he's all the buzz around St. Louis now, and will probably even start the next game.
But check out this quote from yesterday's Rams press conference - I heard it on the radio driving in today, and thought to myself, "Ah, so I'm not entirely alone."
Fitzpatrick, answering some sort of reporter's question about his academic history, says:
“I’ve heard just about everything. The best is [that] everybody expects me to know every answer to every question. During training camp some guys were in a big, heated discussion, so I walked over to see what they were talking about. They said, ‘Fitz, you can answer this question; you’re from Harvard.’ I said, okay, maybe it’s some trivial question, some history, something. They said, ‘What do you think would hurt more, getting hit in the face by the trunk of an elephant or being kicked in the face by a donkey?’ So that is one of the stranger questions I’ve been asked.”
Amen, brother, Amen.
For those that don't know this already, I, Orin, am a Harvard graduate - BA, 1996. I don't tell you this to boast or to make you bow down to me in homage or anything -- really, if you knew what my degree was in, you'd probably just burst out laughing -- but that's a post for another time.
I tell you this so that you understand why I empathize so much with the following tale.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is a recent Hararvd graduate too, and was it seems a great player in the Ivy League. I don't follow football too closely, but know that in last sunday's game, the Rams' usual starter, Bulger, was out with injury, and the backup, Martin, got hit in the head a few too many times during the game. So Fitzpatrick came in and rallied the team from behind to win the game (in overtime I think).
Anyway, he's all the buzz around St. Louis now, and will probably even start the next game.
But check out this quote from yesterday's Rams press conference - I heard it on the radio driving in today, and thought to myself, "Ah, so I'm not entirely alone."
Fitzpatrick, answering some sort of reporter's question about his academic history, says:
“I’ve heard just about everything. The best is [that] everybody expects me to know every answer to every question. During training camp some guys were in a big, heated discussion, so I walked over to see what they were talking about. They said, ‘Fitz, you can answer this question; you’re from Harvard.’ I said, okay, maybe it’s some trivial question, some history, something. They said, ‘What do you think would hurt more, getting hit in the face by the trunk of an elephant or being kicked in the face by a donkey?’ So that is one of the stranger questions I’ve been asked.”
Amen, brother, Amen.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Happy Advent
Orin and Erin light their baptismal candles from an advent wreath created by Orin's sister at their wedding last year, on the First Sunday of Advent.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Preaching in Missouri last weekend
This past weekend, the bishops of the Missouri Catholic Conference decided to ask all of their priests and deacons to direct their homilies toward educating the faithful about Church teaching with regards to stem cell research. This means that, in theory, anyone who attended Mass in Missouri this weekend was presented with a homily on this subject.
A reporter from the Associated Press was at the 10am Mass at St. Peter Church in Jefferson City (where I work) this past Sunday to listen to a homily by Fr. Jamie Smith and interview him after Mass. That information was then turned into an article that has been circulating regionally and nationally for the last few days. A version of that article can be found by clicking here.
I bring this to your attention because, in some news reports, Fr. Jamie's words have been taken out of context, and in other places his words have supposedly implied that the Catholic Church opposes all forms of stem cell research. This is not true. I would refer you to Fr. Jamie's complete homily text which can be found by clicking here.
If you've gotten to this point in the blog, thanks for your concern. Please pass this along to others who might not fully understand this issue and what the Catholic Church has to say about it.
-Shannon
A reporter from the Associated Press was at the 10am Mass at St. Peter Church in Jefferson City (where I work) this past Sunday to listen to a homily by Fr. Jamie Smith and interview him after Mass. That information was then turned into an article that has been circulating regionally and nationally for the last few days. A version of that article can be found by clicking here.
I bring this to your attention because, in some news reports, Fr. Jamie's words have been taken out of context, and in other places his words have supposedly implied that the Catholic Church opposes all forms of stem cell research. This is not true. I would refer you to Fr. Jamie's complete homily text which can be found by clicking here.
If you've gotten to this point in the blog, thanks for your concern. Please pass this along to others who might not fully understand this issue and what the Catholic Church has to say about it.
-Shannon
Monday, November 28, 2005
Orin & Erin's 1st Anniversary
We have been married one year and one day as I (Orin) write this... Seems like not that long, honestly, which I guess is better than it feeling more like 10 years!
We celebrated with a night at the Renaissance Grand downtown and dinner where we had our reception a year ago. ANd presents and stuff. Flowers, cards, etc.
I'm not sure anyone truly appreciates the marriage vocation going into it - I'm not sure if I had any pre-coceived notions, but if I did, I'm sure they weren't what the last year actually was.
Here's to going forward on the journey together, both looking forward at what we can't exactly see!
We celebrated with a night at the Renaissance Grand downtown and dinner where we had our reception a year ago. ANd presents and stuff. Flowers, cards, etc.
I'm not sure anyone truly appreciates the marriage vocation going into it - I'm not sure if I had any pre-coceived notions, but if I did, I'm sure they weren't what the last year actually was.
Here's to going forward on the journey together, both looking forward at what we can't exactly see!
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Minor Earthquake!
So, Erin and I (Orin) were up watching TV (The Colbert Report) on our new DVR (yay!) about 11pm last night, and suddenly, there's a bump that lasts about a second or less. I felt the whole house move, so did Erin, probably like 1/32 of an inch or something. It felt as if a really slow moving really heavy truck had come to a stop by bumping our house. I looked at her, she looked at me. She used to live next to a small airport and wondered if a little sonic boom had happened... We shrugged, and kept watching TV, and eventually went to bed.
So, this morning I'm driving to the Shrine, and hear on KMOX news that about 11pm last night there was a mild (2.x on the Richter Scale) earthquake in Cahokia, right across the river from STL and where Erin grew up. No damage, injuries, most slepping probably didn't even know about it. Of course, I can't find a link to prove it to you, but I'll be back when one turns up.
I experienced a similar earthquake when I was about 9 years old as my family was visiting friends in South Dakota. It was a little stronger and longer, felt like a large truck (again) was driving along the bumpy road outside (which didn't exist). You just don't expect happenings like this in this part of the country, and when those moments occur, earthquakes aren't first on the list of things you think about...
-Orin
Update: Ah, here we go: rumble rumble
So, this morning I'm driving to the Shrine, and hear on KMOX news that about 11pm last night there was a mild (2.x on the Richter Scale) earthquake in Cahokia, right across the river from STL and where Erin grew up. No damage, injuries, most slepping probably didn't even know about it. Of course, I can't find a link to prove it to you, but I'll be back when one turns up.
I experienced a similar earthquake when I was about 9 years old as my family was visiting friends in South Dakota. It was a little stronger and longer, felt like a large truck (again) was driving along the bumpy road outside (which didn't exist). You just don't expect happenings like this in this part of the country, and when those moments occur, earthquakes aren't first on the list of things you think about...
-Orin
Update: Ah, here we go: rumble rumble
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Darryl Strawberry, Jesse Manibusan, and the Diocese of Ogdensburg
Hello-
What a great time we had in Watertown, NY this weekend! On Saturday, Orin and I had the opportunity to present at the first ever Jr. High Youth Alive. About 120 youth and adults filed into a high school auditorium for three hours of stories, music, and fun. We were very impressed with the young people, especially. While they were certainly packed with energy, the teens also showed a tremendous amount of focus. Thank you to all who attended, and especially to Bishop Cunningham for capping the day by presiding at the closing liturgy.
The strangest part of our trip, however, involved our travel. On Friday, we were waiting at the gate for our flight when a gentleman nearby got our attention and asked us if we liked baseball. After we said we did, he pointed out the fact that Darryl Strawberry, former New York Mets/Yankees outfielder, was also waiting for the same flight. It's not everyday that you see someone like Darryl, so we were a little caught off guard. If you are a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and attended games at Busch Stadium in the 80's, you undoubtedly remember taunting Darryl by chanting his name (Daaarrrryyyllll....Daaarrrryyyylll....) I don't ever remember giving that treatment to any other visiting ballplayer.
Then, on our way home, it happened again. As we were waiting (at 5am EST) to check in at the Syracuse Airport (a very small regional airport), we saw someone else we knew. Jesse Manibusan! It turns out that Jesse had a booking somewhere else in New York state that weekend and was on his way home. Not only were we at the same airport at the same ridiculously early time in the morning on the same day, but we ended up on the same flight to Chicago. You would think that would be strange enough, but by some twist of fate, we were also booked into the same row on the plane. It was a small airplane that, in each row, has one seat, an aisle, and then two seats. There were only three seats in the row and Orin, Jesse, and I filled them. Very strange! It gave us a great opportunity, though, to catch up with Jesse and talk a little business. There is a lot that Orin and I can learn from Jesse, so we were grateful for the chance to spend some time with him.
All in all, it was a great weekend. We look forward to Thanksgiving Day, when Orin and I have the opportunity to play music for an annual dinner provided for the needy in the Belleville, IL area. It should be a lot of fun.
-Shannon
What a great time we had in Watertown, NY this weekend! On Saturday, Orin and I had the opportunity to present at the first ever Jr. High Youth Alive. About 120 youth and adults filed into a high school auditorium for three hours of stories, music, and fun. We were very impressed with the young people, especially. While they were certainly packed with energy, the teens also showed a tremendous amount of focus. Thank you to all who attended, and especially to Bishop Cunningham for capping the day by presiding at the closing liturgy.
The strangest part of our trip, however, involved our travel. On Friday, we were waiting at the gate for our flight when a gentleman nearby got our attention and asked us if we liked baseball. After we said we did, he pointed out the fact that Darryl Strawberry, former New York Mets/Yankees outfielder, was also waiting for the same flight. It's not everyday that you see someone like Darryl, so we were a little caught off guard. If you are a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and attended games at Busch Stadium in the 80's, you undoubtedly remember taunting Darryl by chanting his name (Daaarrrryyyllll....Daaarrrryyyylll....) I don't ever remember giving that treatment to any other visiting ballplayer.
Then, on our way home, it happened again. As we were waiting (at 5am EST) to check in at the Syracuse Airport (a very small regional airport), we saw someone else we knew. Jesse Manibusan! It turns out that Jesse had a booking somewhere else in New York state that weekend and was on his way home. Not only were we at the same airport at the same ridiculously early time in the morning on the same day, but we ended up on the same flight to Chicago. You would think that would be strange enough, but by some twist of fate, we were also booked into the same row on the plane. It was a small airplane that, in each row, has one seat, an aisle, and then two seats. There were only three seats in the row and Orin, Jesse, and I filled them. Very strange! It gave us a great opportunity, though, to catch up with Jesse and talk a little business. There is a lot that Orin and I can learn from Jesse, so we were grateful for the chance to spend some time with him.
All in all, it was a great weekend. We look forward to Thanksgiving Day, when Orin and I have the opportunity to play music for an annual dinner provided for the needy in the Belleville, IL area. It should be a lot of fun.
-Shannon
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