The Loot: 40 Jahre

The title 40 Jahre is inspired by the film Good Bye, Lenin!, which made me aware that Communist East Germany, the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, D.D.R.), celebrated its fortieth anniversary of (puppet) statehood in 1989, mere weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall. I also considered the titles The 40-Year-Old Virgin or This Is 40, referencing the motion pictures of the same names, but there is something in the desperate, in fact already defeated boast of 40 Jahre D.D.R. that makes my black heart sing. Am I as doomed as East Germany? Probably, but aren't we all?

My closest kin were, as ever, overly generous.

Apollo 11 Anniversary
Flown Apollo 11 Kapton foil from the Columbia (1969)
First Lunar Landing 5th Anniversary envelope (1974)

Books
Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit! (Christ Is Alive!)
Christopher Carstens, A Devotional Journey into the Mass: How Mass Can Become a Time of Grace, Nourishment, and Devotion
Sam Guzman, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today
Ulrich L. Lehner, God Is Not Nice: Rejecting Pop Culture Theology and Discovering the God Worth Living For

Commentary: Carstens is one of the hosts of the podcast The Liturgy Guys, which your humble narrator enjoys immensely.

Motion Pictures
Congo (1995)

Commentary: I have an absurd fondness for Congo; objectively, I know it's a terrible film, but I prefer it to many other, "better" films all the same.

Haberdashery
"Fe Sharpens Fe" T-shirt
"Moses was the first person with a tablet downloading data from the cloud" T-shirt

Commentary: "Fe Sharpens Fe" references Proverbs, 27:17:

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.

The use of the symbol Fe, including iron's atomic number twenty-six, makes this not just a funny Christian T-shirt, but also a funny science T-shirt.

Unlike "Fe Sharpens Fe," the "Moses" T-shirt, which includes a graphic of the tablets of the Ten Commandments, wasn't on my list, but is a quality gift all the same. I wore it yesterday, because the First Reading at daily Mass was the Ten Commandments from the Book of Exodus, though at both Masses I attended (a birthday week treat to myself), the readings for the Memorial of Ss. Joachim & Anne were read instead, with the First Reading from the Book of Sirach.

Eaglemoss Star Trek Starships
№ 57: Romulan Bird-of-Prey (2260s)
№ 123: Romulan Science Vessel

Commentary: To the best of my knowledge, I now have every Romulan vessel in the Eaglemoss line.

Miscellany
Star Trek: The Next Generation P.A.D.D. journal
Star Trek stickers
Fountains of Wayne sticker