Forty Days/Forty Nights - What I Will Give Up For Lent

One of the oldest traditions in the Catholic Church is to participate in a preparatory period before Easter known as Lent. During this time, Catholics are encouraged to rededicate themselves to the Church by withdrawing from secular distractions. Today is known as Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the last day of indulgence before entering into Lent. A common tradition of the Church is to abstain from meat during Lent, which is why the celebration known as Mardi Gras is often called Carnival(Latin for farewell to meat). In other words tonight we binge the body, tomorrow we purge the soul. Over time, fasting from just meat lead to refraining of other vices plaguing one's life. In accordance with my faith, I have decided to 'give up' the following items. These are my vices and I intend to renounce them for the next 40 days!

1. My center of balance
2. Chocolate covered homework (this one is for all our junior readers)
3. Step #3 of "7 Habits of Highly Effective People"
4. My cones & rods (this one will most surely suck)
5. My ability to fight off infectious diseases
6. My flu shot cache
7. My Purpose Driven Life
8. My legal citizenship to Papua New Guinea
9. Status as First Ensign
10. Listening to Lionel Richie whilst drinking cold beer(hah, yeah right!)

Please pray for me during this time, it will be very difficult to manage without the aforementioned items. Thank you for your support!

P.S. to all our Catholic readers - please don't confuse my irreverence with blasphemy. Thanks MGMT.