Bfth's Boring Blog

Every convention/fan gathering has its stories.  Tales that will amaze and astound.  The best of them don't come from the "official" part of the show, but happen after hours.  I had heard stories as an attendee at the NYC area Beatles convention (the infamous Beatlefest Hell was penned by my husband before I knew him);  I knew of the videos (it would be years before I finally saw a "bootlegged" copy of "The Passion of the Pitt"), but I didn't experience it until I stayed overnight at the convention hotel and was part and party to the after-hours "show."  (Someday a full post will be dedicated to the now shuttered, long time Secaucus hotel, its broken elevators and eau de hot dog water.  It's an epic tale that deserves to be told!) To describe it as best as I can would be to say that the official convention is a show, but what goes on behind the scenes and after hours is an experience.  You may not drink or take drugs, but you might

Lectionary passages for this week:  Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Psalm 22:23-31, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38, Mark 9:2-9. Giving up something for Lent maybe be difficult, but it (generally) is a small sacrifice It is a   a symbolic gesture which reflects this passage from Mark:   " He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." We all carry our own personal crosses.  Our burdens might be physical, mental, spiritual or any number of other things.  Heavy or light, they can wear us down over time.  But whatever your cross might be, it's important to remember that you are not alone.  No one need carry their cross by themselves.  And I mean this in more than the metaphorical way.  Yes, God is always there for us as it says in Matthew 11:   . “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" and Isaiah 41:   For I, the Lord yo

(I would love for this to be an original idea, but I'm sure many others have the same thought, but I'm sharing it anyway.) Teachers need to be armed.  They spend the majority of the day with our children; with our future; and they need to be able to take care of them.  As of now, most of them do, but that is not enough.  Teachers have given their lives to protect their students.  So I state unequivocally; they NEED to be armed.  We have ignored them for far too long. They need to have resources to protect and care for the most precious resource this country (this world?) has. Teachers need to be armed with tissues, hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray to keep their classrooms safe from relentless invaders like influenza and rhinovirus.  Time and time again, I receive pleas asking for these items necessary for preventing disaster in the classroom.  These items are NOT just needed in homeroom, but in EVERY classroom which includes music rooms, art room, the library/me

(Note:  This is not a terribly serious post and as I edit it, I realize that we, as a human beings, might not have all that much to smile about, but sometimes we need to talk about things that are not so important just to get some normalcy into our lives.  So in that spirit I give you this...) Smile!  Give a big grin.  Or are you someone who doesn't because you don't have snow white teeth? Why are we obsessed with white teeth?  When did this become an obsession?  (Has this been going on all my life and I wasn't aware or is this a "thing" that's become a focus over the past 10-20 years? Teeth are NOT white.  Period.  Stealing directly from Luis Villazon, a writer for Science Focus:  " The strongest teeth are natural, healthy ones and these teeth are not white. At least, not white like the colour of paper, or even the colour of piano keys. They are a couple of shades darker than that. The enamel itself is a blueish white colour, but it is also s

The lectionary readings for the first Sunday in Lent are:   Genesis 9:8-17,  Psalm 25:1-10,  1 Peter 3:18-22,  Mark 1:9-15. Four days into Lent and the temptations are very tempting.  Temptation is part of Lent for me.  Lead us not into temptation?  I don't need to be led!  (Of course my husband has a different take on the phrase and suggests more punctuation:  Lead us, NOT into temptation, but deliver us from evil.) At the beginning of this "trial" (as it were), I seem to need more support and this passage spoke to me: " And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."  And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.   He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him ." During times of trial, who are your angels?  Do you (or I) even notice them as they wait upon us and lift us up?  As I hit bumps in the road this Lent, I wan

It's Ok... Because I live in a "nice" suburban neighborhood and not in some "shithole" country where the water is toxic or there is some crazed leader who could say or do whatever he wants and put my family into a prison for any reason or kill us because he didn't like us.  I don't have to sneak over any walls or mountains and risk my life or the life of my family to try and have a "better" life.  (Shouldn't you have tried to do it the "legal" way?) It's Ok... Because I have a "real" job and a salary that (almost) supports my family of three.  I'm not a lazy oaf who works the system and stays at home watching tv all day (or worse porn on the internet) while collecting those  "free" welfare dollars from the government and can get all the booze and cigarettes I need with my food stamps (oh, wait they call it SNAP now...SNAP!).  I don't wallow in filth (just dust bunnies) because I&#

Lent it hard.  Or at least it is in my mind.  But Lent is SUPPOSED to be difficult.  It is supposed to be a challenge.  It is a time where we give up something that we have a fondness for (which explains why I give up chocolate and alcohol and NOT Lima beans or hot tea) or we give OF ourselves and do so unselfishly. (  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/giving-up-or-giving.html ) To me, Lent starting off on Ash Wednesday is particularly hard and unfair in my book!  How can this be?  I mean Valentine's Day practically screams for wine and (boxes of) chocolate. But perhaps I can make this a more meaningful Valentine's Day, by NOT indulging.  By doing something different.  I can show my love with a cross of ash and not sweet treats.  For love, like Lent, is NOT easy.  It is not hearts and flowers, but day to day life which can be beautiful, but also ugly.  Life is sweet, but also bitter. And so on this Ash Wednesday, I will go into Lent with this in mind: &q

Yes, I'm serious!  It's "Fat Tuesday" or as it's known in NOLA, Mardi Gras.   For many (some?), it's the day to celebrate/indulge before the solemnness of Lent sets in the next day.  (And who arranged for Lent to begin on Valentine's day?  Certainly not me! Talk about your dueling holidays!  How unfair is that??) If you read my last post ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/an-early-lenta-cheating-lent.html ) you know that I started my Lent early this year (last Wednesday), but I WILL be indulging today.  I don't like to "break" Lent once I'm in the midst of it, but I felt like this would be a good time to have a fun evening meal with the family, perhaps celebrate Valentine's Day a little early and who knows, maybe get into a discussion about Lent with my son (as he is in the midst of confirmation class). (Being a typical teen boy, he's not one for talk so any time I can get a discussion going I TRY!) Of course &

Lent officially begins next Wednesday.  Yes, Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday are one in the same this year.  (Which doesn't make me happy and there WILL be a blog post about it!)  I'm planning on blogging my way through the season with weekly reflections (and daily ones during Holy Week), so keep an eye out.  (Or be warned, whatever the case may be.) Actively participating in the season of Lent is something I've been doing for at least two decades and I take it seriously.  I am of the opinion that Lent SHOULD be taken seriously and thoughtfully. When it comes to Lent, I don't know of any "official" rules.  (Who would make the official rules anyway?)  I do have my own "rules" as it were and that is to stick to it from 12:01 AM on Ash Wednesday to 12:01 AM on Easter Sunday.  (And there were times, when I was younger, when I would stay up to take advantage of the end of the Lenten Season.  Now I'm too old to even consider stayin

Let me be completely blunt:  last week was crappy.  Nothing major happened to ruin my life (no life-threatening illnesses, accidents or traumas), but so many little things.  I wrote about it a bit last Monday  (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/just-trying-to-breath-on-monday.html)  and unfortunately things did not seem to get better.  I had lots of ups and downs.  I'll admit it; emotionally I was a wreck.  "Stuff" was getting to me and I was crying one minute and lashing out the next.  Stress, hormones, life was getting to me and it was clearly taking its toll.  I didn't like what was happening to me and I wasn't sure what to do. Then on Sunday morning, as I was heading out to church with my son, he began to argue with me over wearing a winter coat.  (Folks, it was below freezing out...I think I had a point in asking him to wear one, but...)  In the car, I could feel my blood boil and anger just welled up in me.  Logically I realized that this

On my drive to work today there was a roadway sign that warned me:  Winter Weather Today.  Seriously?!  It's February 2nd in the northeast, what else might I be expecting?  (I know what the sign was trying to tell drivers is that there will be mix of snow/rain/ice during the day, but...) Today in the United States we "celebrate" Groundhog Day (which if you don't live in the US or Canada you probably know about because of the Bill Murray classic movie).  It's not a national holiday, so I don't know how much celebrating is actually done.  (Of course it also falls on a Friday this year, which is as good an excuse as any for a 3 day weekend in my book).  I mean all the rodent has to do is poke his head out and see his shadow (or not) so that we may determine the length of winter.  How a rodent became the predictor of weather is beyond me.  (Yes, I know it's based on Dutch/German superstition.)  And what does the rodent think?  "Why the hell are th

The first month of the year is over!  Woo Hoo! I'm not sure why I'm so excited about that.  It wasn't that January was such a horrible month or that I think 2018 is going to be the worst year on record (for me or anyone else).  But for some reason (and I can't quite put my finger on it), this January has just been...for lack of a better word: BLECH!  (And that's not even officially a word!) There were extremely cold days.  There were unseasonably warm days.  There was snow.  (One snow day and one delayed opening for my son.)  There was ice.  (A fifty pound bag of ice melt was purchased and as of yet has not been used.)  There was illness. (Three days for my son which was highly unusual and warranted a trip to the doctor's office where we saw a PA who said it was most likely the flu; a diagnosis that I disagree with and a bill that hurt my pocketbook, but that's more about insurance than medicine.) It was the month where I decided I would need