When I die, just scribble the word "author" beside my name, thanks.
But anyway, I allude to school events a lot but I don't really talk about them like I did last year, which is strange because just as many interesting events are happening. Let's start with my room mate.
Codename: Catholic
I've taken to just calling her "Catholic" around friends or "Red". In the past I've referred to her as some things I'm not proud of so I'm trying to keep it clean for the kids. Anyway this girl goes between being the bane of my life and my new favorite person.
Now, don't get it twisted, I'm officially in "hate you wish you'd die" mode with her about 80% of the time but she's fascinating to me. As you may imagine she is a red head & she is Catholic and seemingly happy about it. I think it's fair to say that with the exception of some areas the South is generally pretty Protestant...? But it's pretty accurate at least to say Tennessee is rather Protestant with some Catholic areas hanging out.
I tell you that so you understand why her being Catholic does (not) make her such a ~special butterfly~ in the wild. Right. Whatever. She's about as Catholic as I am atheist and I'll probably never tell her about my atheism because it's none of her business, just as I hoped her Catholicism was none of mine... whatever.
Anyway, her religious indoctrination is another story but like most of my previous room mates we're an odd couple situation. We occasionally gel on some things but I think existence would continue on without her. She's a music student and it drives her up a wall but I reckon it wouldn't do to major in anything else, just like English majoring is the bane of my life. But I wouldn't switch.
She's very sheltered and freely admits it without doing much about it. She has said she is very pro-life and is probably a bigot in some other ways too. Gay rights alludes her & I don't even want to get started on race conversation. She's not an Obama fan and reckons its okay to tell me so even if I expressly note I don't care. She has a boyfriend who is also Catholic and red-haired whom she met in a fraternity and he doesn't seem like the brightest crayon in the box either.
She would also apparently rather be ultra-domestic, taking care of a bunch of babies and cooking and cleaning, rather than do things for herself. She's also an anti-feminist which I just found total lulz. I was discussing choice feminism a few weeks ago and I guess I shouldn't judge other people's life decisions...
So. In other words she's about on the left side of useless. A complete tool in every sense of the word. I cringe whenever she starts laughing because I know it's bound to be something offensive to me. Why don't I tell her? I don't know...because I find it pointless. She also knits. I bitch about her a lot on Twitter but she's moving after this semester anyway. Strangely though she still blows my previous room mate out of the water.
Saintly Indoctrination
She's also good to satisfy my curiosities about Catholicism. I find it funny--Catholicism. Again I'm an atheist, and I generally don't go hunting down religion unless it's extremely heinous or it comes to me first. I have other shit to do in the day to worry about what someone else believes in.
In any case, I usually end up needling Catholic about the most mundane things just because she's there and she's pretty docile.
I had this conversation with a mutual friend. She wished she hadn't taken a religion class because now it's made her question her faith because the events in the Bible may not be real.
I've laughed this semester at people's assumptions, not because I'm superior but because they're just wrong. I told her that the Bible was probably never meant to be taken literally anyway--a collection of stories. ESPECIALLY the Old Testament. As Lewis Black said, "It's not your book!"
Literal bible interpretation annoys me. Indoctrination does as well. I realized how fully Catholic's mind had be religio-blown when I ended up having to give her impromptu sex-ed. I didn't think anyone actually believed still that sex wasn't enjoyable and for baby-making only, but I suppose they do. It was then that I started wishing people would just think for themselves more often.
Today one of my kid's told me that because she's a Jesus freak if she didn't apologize after insulting someone she'd go to hell. I said, "Well good thing I'm not a Jesus freak!" a little out of line and spontaneously. She insisted that I was because I was so nice.
You have no idea.
