Saints, Mangos and Cigars...........

Hey, how are you? Well I hope.

This morning I woke up very early and went to church. You see, as I had basically slept on my feet through my visit yesterday, I felt that I owed myself and the almighty another shot. Catholic churches have masses every day of the week, and so I was not alone in my visit. There were about 30 to 40 people present, which surprised me, as I wouldn't have thought that going to church was what people thought about first thing on a Monday morning.

Speaking of religion, I was watching TV recently as I sometimes do. I am not a huge Sean Hannity fan, but he had an interesting segment on his show about a cult that exists in Mexico. It is the cult of Santa Muerte, or Saint Death. Saint Death is depicted as a skeleton wearing a shawl and carrying a scythe (doesn't the word scythe look like a scythe?) Her followers are often practicing Catholics, and pray to her for help in departments that other Saints are not seen as being in favor of such as adultery, revenge, phallic enhancement and help with drug deals and other illegal ventures. Saint Death apparently has a very libertarian view on such things.. Many Saint Death followers have no religion, and see her as a favorable alternative to other belief systems on the market. I don't know.. But when there is nothing certain you can see in life, death is certain.. "Memento mori", or "remember you are going to die" was the Roman way of reminding Emperors that they were human, and that knowledge is really what separates us from the lesser species...ez. Thus, the most common prayer to Saint Death is one for a happy death. However, she does not give help for free, and will happily take offerings of apples, alcohol and cigars in exchange for favors.. I do not see myself joining this cult anytime soon.

Speaking of Cigars, my relationship with them is not a happy one. Today I had my first one in months, and it was quite a negative experience. I cut and lit it, but at my first puff I felt the unpleasant sensation of hot smoke rushing into by breathing tubes. This is not supposed to happen, as cigars are not inhaled but despite the first puff, I apprehensively took a second. It was a successful attempt, but not a pleasant one. My mouth was filled with the taste of stale coffee grounds and charcoal smoke. Despite the first two puffs, I took a third, only to discover that the wretched thing had gone out. Compared to this last and final puff, the first two were like ambrosia.. It was awful. This time, not only did the foul taste of semi burned tobacco come to reside in my mouth, but also a fair amount of hot ash... When I had thrown away the extinguished and completely unsatisfactory article, I washed my hands and gargled with Listerine for about 5 minutes. This happened around 4, and my hands still smell incredibly bad. My clothes will never be the same, and I applied so much cologne that I now smell like my family in New Jersey. Needless to say, I will probably not make a habit out of this habit. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but other times a cigar is just awful.

Have a good week..............