Catholic Nerddom is a cozy place. Since I've been at Christendom, I've run into so many freakish coincidences that I've stopped being suprised by them. A few examples:

- I was in DC the other week praying in front of an abortion clinic with Christendom's pro-life group, Shield of Roses. There were also people from CUA, as well three priests who mostly spoke Spanish. One of these priests started talking to me, and I thought his accent seemed familiar... then he said, "I am in the Institute of the Incarnate Word." I blinked, mentally translated it into Spanish, and cried, "Oh! The IVE! My parish is run by priests of your order! Fr. Mallo..." His face lit up. "You know Father Mallo? You from California?" Me: "Yes! From Our Lady of Peace!" Sigh... now I'm missing Fr. Mallo and his quirky jokes about the Argentinian mafia... but I have the Mexican mafia and the even more fearsome Irish Mafia to worry about.

- After lunch I was walking down the path in front of the chapel, talking with a girl I had met on the way. Eventually I asked her what her name was... and she said, "Kari." Me: "Do you have a blog?" Kari: "Yeah!" Me: "BlurryFlurry?" Kari: "You read my blog?!"

- Robert and I were reading old issues of Latin Mass Magazine in the library. In one of them we found an article written by our theology professor. Guess we know his allegiance now...

- One of my friends came over just now to look at my blog. She read Cacciaguida's comment and said, "I know Cacciaguida's son. He went to the summer program with me."

- My new friend Sheila and I were having lunch. She said something about Hopkin's translation of Adoro Te Devote, and I chirped, "I love that translation!" We both started rhapsodizing about Hopkins, our beloved poet-priest, whilst the other diners looked on in bewilderment. Sheila: "I love the "th-" sounds in 'Mid-numbered He in three of the thunder-throne!' Amazing..." Me: "I love the same thing in 'How far from then forthought of, all thy more boisterous years.' It has this weight to it..." We ended up reciting "The Windhover" in sync.

- When we came out of Mass last Sunday at St. Mary's, Robert nudged me: "Look over there. It's Pat Buchanan!" Sure enough, there he was at the top of the steps, chatting away.