Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and today was one of those rare days I was awake before noon. This is different from last year. Appropriate enough, I suppose, since everything feels different than it did last year. Last year, I gave up pizza for Lent. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza, and it was hard to go without it for 40 days, but looking back it wasn't a very meaningful sacrifice. For various reasons, I'm kind of ashamed of that now. This year will be different, though.