etiquette notes

Continuing in my series of etiquette notes.

1. People with Ph.D.'s are not addressed as "Dr". That title is generally only used for medical doctors and, sometimes, if they insist loudly, D.Div.'s, but they really shouldn't be indulged, since the only point of getting that degree is to be called "Dr" when your tradition doesn't let you be called "the Rev. Fr".
2. Never inquire about or discuss somebody else's diet/fast [EDIT: or your own, especially your own]. The first rule of fasting club is not to talk about fasting club. And it simply isn't polite to ask if somebody is reducing.
3. Quite fortunately, you're not really obligated to get anybody a Christmas gift. But don't go cold turkey: gradually alienate your friends and family first.
4. Don't take off your jacket when, for example, wearing evening attire unless you absolutely must [say, if you have to assist a woman giving birth, though if you're qualified to do that, you should've gotten a jacket with cuffs that actually unbutton: it's what they were originally there for]. You're supposed to keep it on.
5. Don't throw up on the train. Try to at least make it to the next stop and jump out to the platform.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: Added "Contraception and Chastity" to the links and created a facebook group about the immorality of contraception.
EDIT: Revised the first point.

good times

First, I finished The Hobbit. Then I went back to where I live, got a little lucrative project, had a great day at work that'll tide me over for the rest of the week, and am now contemplating eating a delicious sandwich. RESOLVED: life is good.

What is not good: sleeping in instead of going to church today. That it's going to be horribly cold. That's pretty much it.

trilogy: finished

Again. Now the problem is that I really can't talk of anything other than heroism and bizarre details of Tolkien's mythology. Or about how inadequate the movies were in comparison to the book, despite the occasional ham-handedness of Tolkien. They were decent enough movies, if you ignore all that blasted computer-generated drek and the occasionally poor acting, but they simply fail to catch all that can be portrayed in the book. All movies must be selective, true, and I think they made some very fine selections, but I'm just going to say that the books really can't be adequately captured on film. I digress! But seriously: I hope I don't wake up enlisted in the Navy accidentally or something worse as a result of this influx of bold and chivalrous thinking. I'm not sure what could be worse than the Navy, though, since you can't, say, suddenly wake up married or monkish these days from a sudden burst of chivalry.