I got to the mosque late today. I have a turkish exchange student staying with us until she finds a place and had to take her to see a prospective room mate. When I got to the mosque, I was wiping my brow continuously with a hankerchief I carry around specially to fill the august role of sweat-rag. The campus parking garage I have a permit for is about a quarter mile away, and mind you this is the South West.

First, the Good. I managed to hear the last 10 minutes, so my judgement is based only on that, and it scored a 6.5 /10. The preacher was an Arab guy dressed in the typical kufi and gallabiyya, but he spoke in flawless English, so kudos to him for actually caring to make himself understood. He was talking mostly about how futile it is to play political games, and that supplicating to God was the best remedy. I gave him big points when he said at the end that he wouldn't list the countries, for fear of marginalizing some Muslims' sufferings and that God alone knows who is suffering the most. That final supplication is often a litmus test I give to people to guage thier jihadi quotient. He then said that he appreciated the mu'adhdhin's voice and that it was good when younger people could do it. Good to go.

Now, the Bad (kind of; I mean, I have to find something). Of course, I gave him demerits for some things, like when he kept saying "ikhwan!" and once said 'Lebanon' in English but stopped, and corrected himself by saying 'Lubnan'. I noted it down as odd, but wouldn't let it get in the way of hearing his overall message. The other odd thing he did was that after everyone stood up to pray, he made a man go to the end of the first row because he had his child with him. Why, you ask? Because he said outright that he assumed the child did not have wudu because he was too young (He looked to be 6 or 7 years old). Apparently, he believed that a young child would break the steadfast row of God's warriors since leaving no gaps was something that he gave a mini-sermon on while we were waiting to start, and while I was still wiping off some more sweat.

WARNING: EXTREMELY FOUL LANGUAGE FOLLOWS (I will probably edit it out soon…)
Now the ugly, but get this! I was walking to a local cafe after eating lunch (alone today, since my lunch companions are in San Diego for vacation). There were two hijabi hotties walking in front of me, and I was convinced I was getting a reward for coming to Friday Prayer. Anyway, just as I walked into the cafe I heard a shout, "Women aren't oppressed in the United States of AMERICA!" Who do YOU think it was meant for?! I did a double take, turned around and laid on thick: "Mother fucker, who do you think you are! I was a Marine for 10 years and my pinky has done for more America than your entire dumb ass self has done in your entire fucking life! So, don't play that kind of bullshit on people walking down MY street, you little shit, cause I'll break your smart ass clean in half and shit down your broken fuck-ass neck!"

Well, god damn didn't that bring the crickets out! You'd think the hijabi-hotties would have given me a little peck on the cheek for it, but they were long gone, sadly used to it I suppose. I skipped coffee this afternoon, needless to say. I think I gave myself an artificial caffeine jolt from my tirade.