The Lent List

Today is Ash Wednesday. It's the first day of Lent and also the day that Catholics walk around and constantly have people point out that they've got something on their foreheads. Lent is meant to represent the time that Jesus was in the desert for 40 days being tempted by the Devil. Catholics honor his time by not eating meat on Fridays... unless you are old, young, have dietary restrictions or you just forget. Then it's ok - just try not to forget next week. As a Catholic you're also supposed to give something up for the forty days. I'm not sure what I'm going with yet, but here are my nominees:

1. Donuts. Now, I've done this before and it's not very fun. It's worth it come Easter though, because I turn around and get a half a dozen to myself. However, it wouldn't be that hard this year, because I typically would grab a donut on my way to work and with no commute they'd be pretty easy to avoid.
   
2. Diet Pepsi. Yeah, not gonna happen. I think my record for not drinking soda is three days.
   
3. Paying Bills. Probably not legal, but wouldn't it be awesome when Capital One called to simply say "Sorry, I've given up paying bills for Lent. And you can't sue me, otherwise it's religious discrimination." Oh, to dream.
   
4. Peppers. I could have gone with coconut or olives as well, as I don't like eating any of those. In fact, I would contend that I could go months without eating any of that stuff and it would make me an uber-Catholic. But, considering you're supposed to give up something you would actually miss, I guess these don't work.
   
5. Socks. Bear with me, I'll explain. I love wearing socks. I can't stand not having socks on when I put shoes on, probably the main reason I'm not big on sandals. So, I think it would be a challenge for me to not wear socks for 40 days. My main opponents would be nasty odor and blisters. Also, it's still not that warm around here. I think it's enough of a challenge to be interesting. Plus, I've never heard of anyone giving up a piece of clothing for Lent before.

Of course, there is another alternative that the nuns taught us back in grade school, which would be to do a good deed for someone every day for 40 days. Sounds like a great idea, as long as you don't make the mistake that I did and tell my sisters. Then it was "Did you do you're good deed yet today? No? Make me a CD. And get a jump on tomorrow, bring me a glass of water." That was a long 40 days. Also, do you think I would get credit for things like "not saying 'poker is based entirely on luck' in front of Josh", considering I know how much it annoys him?

In the end, I will most likely go with what I always do: forgetting what I gave up after a week and when I remember much later, simply shrugging and moving on.