Dude.  I was standing for like five hours straight cooking.  Slaving away in the kitchen.  And I didn't even finish all the stuff that we need for the practical exam (we were given class time to try our recipes). 

But I apparently now know how to fabricate a chicken.  Fabricate means to cut up into the proper pieces.  It is not cool at all.  This is why I do not aspire to be a culinary chef... I want to be a baker (we get called chefs too; so I had to make a distinction with 'chef').  I can't handle the dead animals.  Like really though.  I felt so sick just watching it be done.  All I can say is that thankfully, knowing how to do it properly is less disturbing.  Deifnitely less cracking of bones and all.  :D  Always good.

Anyway... enough blogging.  I'm tired (as I have been for these past few weeks).  Good night.

Okay, one last William Shatner song because it needs to be done.  This next song really amuses me.  <3 for Has Been.

Okay, so I was at school sitting at a table by myself just writing.  I had some time to kill before class and all.  These two girls come up to me and ask if they can talk for a bit.  I was thinking, why?  But I was like okay, whatever, maybe they need to do a survey for class or something (because I remember when I had to do that one semester.  Not cool, btw). 

First rule when a stranger comes up to you and asks (vaguely) if they can talk to you for a moment, the answer is always NO.  Always. No.  Wait wait.  First rule when a /pair/ of strangers come up to you and asks if they can talk to you for a moment, the answer is always NO.

So, first mistake.  I said yeah sure.  (Always. No.)  So, then they (an asian chick and a white girl) ask if I believe in God.  At this point, I'm thinking, "Shit. Why didn't I say no?" 

So, what else do I think about?  I'm trying to figure out the quickest way for them to leave.  I say, yes.  I'm Catholic; have been my entire life.  Do they leave?  Why would they?  I already told them to talk to me.  *hangs head in shame And, why not?  It's always interesting to listen to missionaries. *eye roll.  This is why I hate answering my door when a stranger knocks.  I didn't want to tell them to get lost; more like, I didn't quite know how to do so without seeming ungodly rude (haha, pun). 

So, they start talking about God, God's love, sin, death, &c. They were really fixated on the death part.  You'd think for a religion about cherishing life and all that jazz, they'd focus less on the death part, but I guess they did have a reason.  They were going for the "accept God so your soul doesn't go to hell when you die" bit.  I always hated that approach when trying to talk other people into believing in your God.  That's not really the point of being good.  Fear of punishment (although quite effective at times) is like one of those mental stages that children go through before actually coming into morals and doing good for the sake of doing good, you know?  I don't remember where I learned that.

But really, sending Christians to try and save a Catholic's soul?  Come on.  And non-denominational Christians, too?  I made a comment about purgatory (at which point they asked if they could sit down, and in my head, I was yelling No bitches.  But I just said go ahead.  I was two feet into this conversation already, saying no would've only been rude) and then I had to explain how purgatory works - I do completely understand that there's no reason why they should know about purgatory since it's not even a part of their belief system but still, if you're going to talk about death so damn much, you should at least have an idea what other Christians might say in response. 

Have you ever tried to explain purgatory to a person who insists that since Jesus took away all our sins when he died on the cross, the only place good Christians go is straight to heaven?  Not to mention the fact that the asian chick was all like, Religion's been twisted and all other religions are wrong and they're all going to hell if they don't convert - loosely translated and probably not as harsh as I just put it there, but basically what she was saying.  She did say that she wouldn't tell those people to their faces that their religions were wrong (although she believes they are) because that wouldn't be 'love'.  I nearly laughed in her face at that comment, but I let it slide.  Telling her that 'love' isn't talking behind someone's back would've opened up another can of worms.  So, she couldn't grasp purgatory and kept saying that since God forgives and you accept that God forgives that you should immediately go to heaven.  I personally think otherwise, which made her try to explain it to me several times (all basically the same exact way, btw).  But why would you even argue a point like that with someone?  Why?  I already said, heaven's after purgatory.  What's wrong with getting purified in order to reach that step?

And you know how after a conversation you realize the perfect way to explain something?  Well, yeah, that was me.

Anyway, the great part of this conversation was that I was listening to POTO while they were talking and there were moments when I had to fight my damned hardest not to smile or laugh inappropriately as Carlotta or the managers were singing.  It wasn't as though I wasn't listening.  I'm pretty good at blocking things out (like music), but for the most part, I indulged in their need to 'witness.'  It's good for them really and sometimes seeing people do that makes me feel inadequate in my job as a disciple.  But still, I mean it was all kind of repetitive.  Do you know God loves us?  Do you know that when others may think poorly of us, God will still love us?  Do you know God is everywhere?  Fuck.  13 years of fucking Catholic school.  I know this shit.  And all I could think was "preaching to the choir" and stop telling me things I already know as though they're revelations.  I know God is everywhere.  I know God=love.  I know Jesus died for us. 

I understand.  I really do they were trying to be all witness-y and proclaiming the good news and all.  But shit, up the conversation when you're talking to someone who knows this shit already.  Do you think I'm not going to zone out when you go over the basic tenets of a religion that's been part of my life since I was born?  It wasn't like they didn't know.  I told them.  I've been Catholic since forever, went to Catholic school, and I do know what I believe in.  Did that change anything?  No.  Why would it?  And you know, I was being very generous about the whole thing.  I humored them because they really wanted to talk and the white girl converted to Christianity like only a few years ago, and the perspective of everything being so damn revelatory is refreshing and I almost, /almost/ wish I was that so fucking awed and gung ho about facts like, Did you know God is with you wherever you are?  Did you know you could speak to Him?  Did you know that he's like our Father?

Why?  Because I wasn't awed by that fact, I was like, Uh. No shit. For the hundredth time, God is everywhere.  God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Sound familiar?  Have you ever heard of the 'Our Father'?  That is definitely one prayer they should know (Jesus taught us that prayer, right?).

And what's sad about me is that I don't know what they /should/ know.  You know, as non-denominational Christians what facts should they know about our religion that I basically take as fact already?  They didn't know about the sacraments (and I definitely should have known that one, right?).  They didn't know about purgatory and you'd think that they'd really take some of those things that they kept asking me as fact.  Of course, it wouldn't be so convincing to a non-Christian if they were so blase about stuff like that, but still.  Not everything is freaking 'brand new information'. 

What's worse is when they start throwing Bible quotes.  I hate that.  I understand you read the text.  I do.  And I'm glad it's supplementing your faith, but could you be less arrogant about it/  Like, don't just blurt out Bible passages and then explain them because it doesn't make you seem as though you're supporting beliefs so much as you're an ass who remembered certain quotes to throw in other people's faces.  Who quote simply /to quote/ instead of saying straightforward what they want to say.

I don't remember Bible passages.  I know pretty big stuff.  I know what I believe in and when people use Bible quotes to try and disprove things I take as fact simply because that's how I learned it in religion class (I take those as fact since they're basically Vatican approved stuff), it doesn't convince me.  It just makes me wonder what they're taking out of context and where some other quote could possibly be used to disprove them or whether or not they're just interpreting it however they want (and that's more of a complaint for Jehovah's witnesses who knock on my damn door - fucking "Jesus had literal brothers and sisters (a lot of them too)").  Yeah, just a pet peeve.

So, in the end, they asked if I had any questions or comments, and I was like, "No questions, but I do have a suggestion."  I'm being very helpful at this point, having already analyzed their witnessing.  "You need to be a little more focused in your approach when having a conversation.  I understand you want to talk about God, but it all sounded a little rambly to me.  You should have a goal and work towards it."  I even did hand motions, and all in a perfectly reasonable tone.  "And you should try to adjust what that goal is when you find out a person's level of understanding."

LOL.  Definitely not what they were expecting.  It /was/ kind of condescending as though I'd just belittled their whole witnessing effort down to judging their public speaking technique.  Subtle, right?  :D  I was a little annoyed by that point because, guess how long they were talking to me about God?  A whole fucking hour.  An hour.  I don't talk to people I like for that long.  And, I could've been spending that time writing.  It's NaNoWriMo month, too.  I guess I can be a little passive-aggressive at times.

But really, do I have a freaking sign that says, "Talk to me about God" because this isn't the first time this has happened. 

Last words: Always. No.

--Long post is done.--