Fresh Dose of Culture Today 7/24/16

    I took a very long shower today. Not the kind where you sing loudly or cleanse methodically, but rather you let the heat build as you sit down on a clean hand-towel and let the water pound on the lids of your closed eyes. My phone was notched under a container of shower moisturizer and book-ended by shampoo and conditioner. At full volume in the cloudy plastic box, somber records echoed down to me in between the water droplets. The skylight overhead shot a square beam of dull grey onto the earthy bathroom tile and I sat very still. Catching water on my lips and around my gums as the lyrics guided my tongue quietly and prayer rose with the steam. I've always been diligent in showering daily but it is only when I bathe like this that I truly feel clean. Showers are especially important to me these days.

    Beginning around noon, the rubber found road. The service began with the tradition and ritual landing their habits somewhere between Catholic and baptist. While priests were not robed, the different young men working the communion and prayer portion followed very calculated, synchronized patterns. Waving their hands and kneeling at different times to procure the materials to offer the bread and water, representative of Christ and his sacrifice. Hymns I never heard rose all around and afterward a few youths spoke, including my close friend who was their to be sent off. His speech went very well. Not only did he offer in-depth insight on scripture from outside sources not given to him, but he also got the crowd involved with well delivered jokes. My protestant friend and I who joined for the ceremony at our buddies mother's request stuck out like sore thumbs. Luckily though, nobody tried to convert us. Yes they gave us the look when we didn't quite mimic certain rituals correctly, but it didn't bother me in the least. This also because the brothers of our buddy being sent off are known black sheep of the congregation, given being a black sheep as a Mormon typically isn't saying much in my experience. Overall it was a pretty solid ordeal. I even had the confidence boost of a young woman here or there giving me the "come talk to me" eyes. Bummer for them-- I'm 2-3 years their senior and in love. 

    We took pictures right outside the church and booked it back to Mormon homie's house to kill time before the feast. Sitting in the youngest brothers room, we took turns blowing through every classic r&b, rap and Molly Ringwald-movie-theme-song until the time came. At the new location I received more attention that I didn't quite want, and before the sensory overload could compound with the general lack of desire to socialize, crock-pots and Tupperware's opened wide for gluttonous mouths to devour. Holy mess that food was so good. And so plentiful. I had 4 full plates of food in 30 minutes. I repeat, I had 4 whole plates. Once the food was nearly gone the night picked back up in chatter. Somewhere mixed in I got to hold a tropical tree frog, riffed on some people at the dinner table, and spoke with folks I'd never meet again about my personal life. Upon arrival back in my city, us non Mormons went to visit another friend of ours. All we did was binge on YouTube videos, myself splitting from the others at one point to laugh for a few moments with Mel on the phone. Then I dropped off my passenger to enjoy a window-down cruise. Now I'm home, lying on my bed that sits in the center of my room on the floor and typing away this post in the note section of my phone because my laptop died on me. I'm very, very tired. But today was a good day. 

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