"The first picture I could grab from the ‘Ritual’ search on the Googles"

I was hoping to have another interview done for today, but it is running long due to hecticness on my part and, well, it will be up next week. We have been in the process of assembling a wardrobe from IKEA. We still need to get the hardware on the drawers and doors. There is now a long list of things that need to get done to the house. I guess it is time to get some of stuff taken care of so we can get the house back on the market. this time we are going to sell… for realsies!

So this week, I have settled on the idea of “Ritual.” Ah, “Ritual…” such a loaded word.

Thanks this week go to Lord Pithy, Chris Ring (of 20 Questions Tuesday fame), Capt. McArmypants, Dr B-Dawg, and some other guy. On to the questions!

1. When you perform a Black Sabbat, which comes first, the headless chicken or the live mouse?

Does the order change if it’s a Dark Charcoal Sabbat?
Let’s be clear, Dark Sabbat is waaaay better than Milk Sabbat, but with it being Easter-time, there are just way too many Milk Sabbats out there on the market. European Dark Sabbat is seriously the best, especially the Swiss Dark Sabbat.

2. Did you ever go through the blood brother routine with a friend?

Nope, I didn’t. You are referring to the ritual of draining the blood from a dark ancient and consuming it together to bind your souls together with the powers of the forgotten ones, right?

3. As a parent, what ritual with the kids do you most look forward to?

I tend to like the bed-time rituals pretty well… the kids are not that keen on them, because it means they are going to bed.

4. Is there ever a good reason for ritual scarring?

For yourself or for others? The context matters. I would be willing to brand some people as dumbasses, right on their dumbass foreheads.

5. Why is it more fun to pronounce it as “rishual”?

I think the voiceless postalveolar fricative is just a fun thing to add into a word. Like pronouncing the word schedule with an “sh” instead of a “sk.”

6. What’s the craziest ritual you’ve seen in professional sports?

I do not think we are privy to the pre-game rituals that professional athletes go through, and that, I imagine, is where most of the really bizarre rituals take place.

7. What’s the quirkiest ritual your pet has?

Well, we are petless due to animal allergies. But, when we had acts, we had 2 littermates that came from a farm. Lenny was sickly and Senor don Gato was a robust kitten. Anytime Lenny needed to sneeze, he would walk over to Senor don Gato and sneeze on his brother… it made him feel better.

8. What is your oldest ritual?

Hmmm… Doodling prior to drawing something.

9. Have you ever stopped a ritual because you thought “enough’s enough”?

Well, if you consider any of the Christian rituals that I used to to do… then the answer is “Yes.”

10. When does a ritual become spiritual?

When the ritual has to do with existential issues. Typically they have to do with communicating with a higher power or connecting into something more cosmic.

11. I mean how do you wanna define ritual? Do you see it as just habit or action consistently followed? Ornate habit? Habit where there is just the hint of superstition that this tiny thing has more meaning and influence over the world that it would logically appear? I mean if it does not have more meaning than the obvious than it is just a habit right?

I think a ritual is a set of actions that assist with generating some intangible result. For example, religious sacraments have an intangible result. You cannot see the result, therefore it is a ritual. Going through a set of exercises to calm your mind is another ritual. Again, it has intangible results. Going through a set of motions that result in a turkey sandwich is not a ritual… unless the actions are also followed to quiet one’s mind or bring some level of relaxation.

12.Which childhood rituals do you still personally engage in for the sake of comfort?

Hmmm… That is an interesting question, because I am not really all that ritualistic. When my mind is racing, I do some controlled breathing exercises that I learned reading an OMNI magazine coming up on 25 years ago, so I guess that counts.

13.Which childhood rituals do you still personally engage in for the sake of habit?

Hmmm… again, this is a bit of a stumper, since I am not too ritualistic. I have many habits from my childhood, but I cannot think of any of them being a ritual instead of a habit.

14.Any good luck rituals that you engage in?

Not really.

15. Do you have a doughnut eating ritual?

Bite, swallow like a duck, repeat until no more doughnuts.

16. What is your morning ritual?

I set my alarm for 5:40 AM, then for 6:00 AM, and then get up at 6:20 AM. Get out of bed, find some clothes (hopefully clean), go downstairs, get new podcasts on the iPhone, get my medicine, grab my Green Mistress (Mt. Dew), grab my bag, grab my keys, get in the car. From get up to leaving is 20 to 25 minutes.

17. What is the difference between routine and ritual?

Ritual has an intangible quality to it. One uses a ritual to calm, to excite, to prepare oneself, etc… One uses a routine to accomplish a task.

18. What is your favorite ritual?

The pizza and Mt Dew ritual of watching soccer games on the TV…. It is a calming ritual that I need to do more often.

19. You can’t spell ritual without “ultra” can you?

Well, you can’t spell it without the letters in “ultra,”but the spelling is completely different. I mean, come on, the “r” is at the beginning of “ritual” but it is penultimate in “ultra.” Let me throw this back at you then “ritual can be better broken down to “I, ultra” or “ultra I.” How do you like them apples?

20. Any taboo rituals that you take part in?

Umm… no, or they would not be considered taboo. duh

To recap:
TheMikeStand and I are at Round 53 of Draw Something
It is like we are in each other’s head
Get out of my head!
Mike, for the record, there was no bacon on that sandwich
Ham was taking the porcine place of honor
Mmmmm Ham
Little Man is digging the Angry Birds Space
Q just got done with a round of Orapred
Hopefully that means she will be in a better mood tonight
Wifey’s work is getting the better of her a little bit
But she is a Viking and will plunder her work
I am having a hard time shaking a “stuck” feeling
My dad just had the titanium knee removed for a sexier porcelain one
The docs think he is allergic to one of the metals in the titanium alloy
Just his luck
Comment me or email me if you want to be asked 20 Questions
Have a great weekend