Ash Wednesday

It's Lent-O-Rama today! If you see anybody with a dirty forehead today, please give them a hug, or at least don't kick them.

I have to admit that I'm always a bit stressed by this time of year. Masses that take place in the middle of the week are always a pain to attend. In fact, I've missed going to Ash Wednesday several times, but at least I'm not as bad as missing this yearly mass as some other masses. On a couple occasions, my dad and I have had to attend a Spanish mass.

The thing that annoys me about Ash Wednesday is how crowded the mass is. It seems like more Catholics attend this mass then any other mass, including Christmas and Easter. I've always found this so weird. Maybe people just like to show off their foreheads. Anyway, masses are always packed and it last far longer then an hour.

Anyway, I get to have the double fun of fasting (only one meal) and abstaining from meat. This usually means that my family has a cheese pizza or macaroni and cheese. We also have to abstain from meat on Fridays, and I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten and broke that. I'm not the world's best Catholic.

Lent is a time of repentance. It's also a time of sacrificing something you like. Our teacher in the third or fourth grade explained this, and we actually made paper footprints with what we were giving up for Lent (Sunday excluded, Thank God.) I was the only one to give up video games, and I even drew an Atari 800 on my footprint. Up until high school I traditional gave up video games, and would spend most of my time waiting for Sunday to come. One of the most memorable Lents was where my parents told me that we wouldn't be able to play video games during Easter. They decided to give me a new NES game (I can't remember why they bought it) and told me to enjoy it on either the Friday or Saturday before Easter.

Since high school or even around that time, I stopped giving up video games for Lent. I'd like to say there's something else I've done that has made up for this, but I'll just admit it's a moral weakness. I just can't justify it because I play way too many video games in the first place. I could give up something like snacking, but that's something I should already not do.

We'll see how this Lent goes. Maybe I'll have something to add later on.