Today, I resigned completely from USMA, thus completely ending all of my active-duty engagements with online political simulations.  That, combined with my ending of online social engagements, means that yours truly has a lot of free time to fill.

The days ahead aren’t all that packed:

• Tonight … Dinner at Becca’s with Jen (and maybe a few others).
• Saturday … Prison ministry, church, and drinks in the evening with Charlie and/or Andrew.
• Sunday … Nothing.

It would be difficult to overstate the significance of my abandonment of my various online entertainments — these sucked up soooo much time, that I might even be able to get my work done in my office without too much distraction.

A few updates/comments:

• Had drinks with Charlie on Thursday night.  It was a nice time — he’s a great guy, and I really enjoy his company.  As luck would have it, I ran into Edmund there; surprisingly, he wasn’t all that drunk. 
• Thursday also featured my first formal visit to the new diocesan offices at Cathedral Square.  I met with the diocesan director of the Office for Worship, and another lay woman, to discuss our program — we are going to co-present in late October and early November a series on liturgical art and environment.  I get to discuss the theology of liturgy, questions of “prudence” in the liturgical setting, sacristy management, and effective seasonal planning with the pastor and across other lay ministries.  Should be fun; we’re doing this just for the Advent/Christmas seasons, and we’re being hosted in Big Rapids and Caledonia.  Might do another round, on Lent/Easter, in the late winter.  In any case, the new diocesan digs are nice, and it’s always nice to be recognized by the vicar general when you run into him.
• Wednesday featured a depressing blow-up with Brian, a fellow with whom I had been previously chatting.  I actually have a lengthy post on the subject written, but it’s still set to “private” depending on whether he chooses to re-engage with me early next week.
• Tuesday was fun.  Tony’s teaching at Davenport again, so we’re back on track with our Tuesday night dinner/drinks routine at Applebees again.  This week, we were joined by Jen and Becca, which was pleasant.

Time to go.