I can tell it’s nesting season because I was minding my own business walking to work last week when a crow dive-bombed me, then proceeded to perch on a telephone wire and stare down at me with an expression of both smugness and cruelty. Wounded, I retaliated by telling the crow that I didn’t do anything to it, and that I had no interest in its ugly babies. It then huffed off in a flurry of feathers, apparently satisfied that I wasn’t going to snatch its offspring from its nest. That’s a crow for ya. I recall some years ago, one of my co-workers had what everyone thought was an irrational fear of crows, and they spent years trying to get him to come around by plying him with books and articles about how smart crows are, and by giving him little crow gifts. The aversion therapy had the opposite of its intended effect, in my opinion. He seemed to get even worse the more they dangled crow-related paraphernalia in front of him. I kind of understand his point. After all, this is the very bird who, according to many Native-American myths, stole the sun. Obviously, they can’t be trusted.
As I am wont to do, I was browsing Steam the other day, and almost hyperventilated when I saw that a new-ish studio had released a remastered version of the first three original Tomb Raider games from the late nineties. I’ve talked at length on this blog about how much Tomb Raider has meant to me throughout my life, and how passionate I am about it. Awash with nostalgia, I immediately downloaded it, then was immediately disappointed recalling how maddening it actually is, with its uber-twitchy jumps and terrible controls. After 72 attempts to make the same jump, I finally gave up on this ill-fated trip down gaming memory lane. I was never a twitch gamer to begin with—my reflexes were a bit sluggish even in my younger days, and now that I’m an old, I’m totally out of both dexterity and patience. Besides, as it turns out, they really hadn’t done much “remastering” at all. They smoothed out some pixels, added a little music, and brightened some colors, but that’s about it. I would have been better off just playing the original and saving thirty bucks.
One of the many interesting things about returning to the Catholic church after a 30-some year absence is that the internet and smart phones happened while I was gone, and there is a veritable cornucopia of education and resources available on demand that simply didn’t exist in my childhood and teen years. If I wanted to learn something back then, I had to find a book—not that I was particularly inclined to seek out extra-curricular education on the Catechism as a twelve-year old. Now there are numerous YouTube videos, podcasts, online classes and apps. It’s been incredibly helpful, and, like anything else, has also required some discernment to avoid the pitfalls of consumption-ism and just straight up bad information.
One thing that I have found surprisingly useful is the apps. During this time of Lent, I resolved to pray a rosary every day. The rosary was always a solitary endeavor for me, but I saw that one of my apps offered a daily rosary and reflection, and I decided to try it. It was so strange at first that I couldn’t get used to it and kept shutting it off, but eventually I got over the awkwardness, and now I find it a really lovely and enriching experience to say the prayers along with the recording. From the context of their conversations, this one seems to be led by a father-daughter team, and it’s nice to hear both a sonorous, older male voice, and a young, female voice in contrast. At the beginning and after each decade (set of ten beads), they present a reflection on a particular theme, saint, or teaching. I’m learning a lot from it--for example, I was surprised to learn that it took until 2017 for the Church to canonize the children from the miracle at Fatima. I find that the learning and reflections deepen the meaning of the prayers. Also, it’s nice to simply to have company on the journey.
That’s all for now. Until next week, avoid angering crows and ordering vintage videos games on impulse. Solid advice!
--Kristen McHenry
Such stimulating topics and fabulous reviews! 🙂