Religion, snow and cannibals.
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Stacey's Mom
I just started to make this entry, but my internet explorer spazzed out. Silly computers. This has been another strange day, waiting for the snow, thinking of someone I used to be friends with in high school and wondering how things might have turned out otherwise. Splitting migraine headache that has now mostly subsided thanks to my trusty imitrex... It's looking more and more like snow is in the forecast for the next few days, so that most likely is going to put a damper on my Ocean City trip that was supposed to take place on Saturday. I hate to be such a big wimp about driving in the snow, but I just don't trust my car enough and not to mention my freaking nerves. By the time I got across the bay bridge, I'd probably pull over and go into a catatonic state! It's not even the snow that bothers me that much, it's more of the freezing rain that makes me uneasy. Snow provides much more traction than ice! Right now they're calling for 2-4" for tomorrow morning, but we're supposed to have a mix of nasty stuff through saturday night. People freak out when they find out that we're getting snow, too.. they could predict flurries and people will be running to the store for milk, bread and toilet paper. I'm avoiding food lion tonight! I've been checking my "Oddly Enough" news from Reuters and there is another story about that cannibal in Germany who ate a willing victim. You can read about it here: News story about the cannibal guy There was also an article about a weeping statue of Padre Pio, a monk who was made a saint last year who was also a stigmatic... I find the stigmata phenomena quite interesting and spent some time today reading about it. A gift from God? Or is this just a fascinating example of how powerful the mind is? I found this passage out of an article entitled "psychologist studies mystery of stigmata": "The stigmatics' wounds do not get infected, a condition Martinez calls a ''superimmunity.'' This occurs, Martinez said, because a person's belief is so strong that it may change the body's biology. The mind and what a person knows about Christ are integral to stigmata, and changes in those beliefs are reflected in its occurrences. For example, Padre Pio's wounds were in his palms, where traditional belief has held that the nails were driven into Christ's hands, Martinez said. However, newer archaeological research shows that nails were more likely driven into the wrists of the crucified, where the arms' bone structure would better support the weight of the body, Martinez said. More recent stigmatics have had wounds in their wrists instead of in their hands, Martinez said." Perhaps while I'm snowed in, I'll explore this subject more thoroughly. In the past several months I've become more interested in religion and religious artifacts. I think that since I didn't attend church growing up (at least not regularly or of any specific denomination) it gives me a non-biased view of all religions when some people (particularly Catholics) appear to be somewhat jaded.