Instead of braving the mall madness, this boxing day was spent as an honourary 2nd Christmas reserved for friends. This was the first time I'd done it and I hope it wasn't the last. It unfolded essentially how I always imagined Christmas should be. I had the morning to wake up slowly, with no expectations of any sort. Then once I was showered, make-uped and ready to go, my husband and I went to go to our friend's house. We hung out, joked around and played some Samba de Amigo on Wii while snacking on treats. Gifts were exchanged and pets were played with. Then we gathered round to watch a hockey game, which may have been the first time I'd sat through an entire hockey game from start to finish. After the game, we ate one of the greatest holiday meals I've had, followed by watching numerous episodes of The Big Bang Theory while eating pie and ice cream. We talked until 10:30 at which point the boys decided to battle it out in NHL 2K11 while the girls all said their goodbyes and went home, realising that it just wasn't worth putting up with an hour or two of video gaming since we'd all had to put up with it in our own homes where we can't escape.
Ok, so maybe not exactly what I always imagined, but it was pleasant, far less awkward than anticipated and actually fun from beginning to end. I didn't actually feel the need to come up with an excuse to leave early. Usually I like to have an excuse ready so I don't get stuck because I'm weird like that. In fact, I often joke about developing agoraphobia due to how much time I spend studying alone and how little time I spend talking to anyone but my husband and only now am I realising how the need for an escape is yet another check for agoraphobia.
Point being, I had fun and realised that holidays don't have to be awkward, or full of expectations or silly traditions. What's important is having fun in good company that lifts your spirits for at least a little while. So, I hope that this year everyone out there was able to have some fun and get their spirits lifted.
And in closing, I would like to direct people to this awesome song by Garfunkel and Oates which is about something that I can only assume is why Boxing Day exists.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Happy Holidays
I've never been entirely comfortable with any religion. I was raised as a sceptical Christian, if anything. Never went to church, never read the bible. Perhaps I simply lacked the proper upbringing to fully appreciate Christianity. However, from my perspective, a bunch of ancient people took the life of an amazing person and used it to exert power over others. As a result, there are many things that the church stands for that I don't believe Jesus would have ever condoned. From what I gathered, his message was that of love.
I think I believe in Jesus, and some sort of God if that's what we're calling it, but all the peripheral stuff I just couldn't go for. So I happened upon pagan and neopagan religions and though I didn't believe in the underlying gods and goddesses necessarily, the religions seemed better. Any sort of Wicca-like magick religions believe above all else that you can do what you like so long as no one or no thing is hurt in the process. 'An it harm none, do what ye will.' I liked that because that seemed to be a great parallel to Jesus's teachings. I'm all for that feel-good happy stuff.
Anyways, I experimented with paganism and neopaganism primarily from grade 5-11. Part way through that time I stopped wearing a pentacle and stopped identifying myself as such just because of the incredible harrassment from it all. Not as bad as I'm sure most others go through, but I was a sensitive kid. I never stopped being interested though. Then when I moved into residence in my firstyear of university, I couldn't light candles and I had a roommate who had nightmares from listening to Tom Waits let alone coming home to a full on circle of lit candles on the floor. Sure I suppose I could have explained it all to her, but I'm sure that she'd spread the word throughout the house and suddenyl I'd be the outcast. I was a bit of an outcast anyway, but that's my own doing and a story for another day.
What I'm getting to in a very roundabout way is that praying by candle light, and not even really praying so much as reflecting and imagining, was all very important to me, yet I hadn't done it in years. So when the solstice came around this year, and the lunar eclipse happened to be the same day, I just couldn't help but break out the candles and cast a safe circle. Now casting a circle is when you light a circle of candles that surround you. No, it's not meant to be a scary portal to hell. It's meant to make you feel, and be, safe. It's a protective circle made of light and positive emotions. It's a wonderful feeling to be encircled with light, by the way. So on the night of the solstice, I reflected upon the past year in the dark and then lit all the candles and basked in the light as I focused on how to 'bring light' to the coming year. It's quite a nice little ritual, with no actual religious connotations, but positive nonetheless.
I've since left the LED Christmas lights on non-stop as a replacement Yule log/candle since leaving a fire lit all night seems like a poor idea, but I still like the tradition of keeping a light constantly glowing for days.
Today is Christmas Eve and I think I just love holidays so I want to celebrate as many as I can get away with celebrating. I plan on watching the old Christmas special Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and snuggling up with some hot chocolate and my husband. This year we decided not to do gifts because we're poor and stressed out, so we didn't want to add to it all. We wanted a good holiday. Instead, we're Skyping with family in the morning and having a fancy dinner at night and I imagine Christmas specials will be watched.
So Happy Holidays to everyone out there. May you be surrounded by friends and family, good food and drink and good old fashioned holiday cheer.
I think I believe in Jesus, and some sort of God if that's what we're calling it, but all the peripheral stuff I just couldn't go for. So I happened upon pagan and neopagan religions and though I didn't believe in the underlying gods and goddesses necessarily, the religions seemed better. Any sort of Wicca-like magick religions believe above all else that you can do what you like so long as no one or no thing is hurt in the process. 'An it harm none, do what ye will.' I liked that because that seemed to be a great parallel to Jesus's teachings. I'm all for that feel-good happy stuff.
Anyways, I experimented with paganism and neopaganism primarily from grade 5-11. Part way through that time I stopped wearing a pentacle and stopped identifying myself as such just because of the incredible harrassment from it all. Not as bad as I'm sure most others go through, but I was a sensitive kid. I never stopped being interested though. Then when I moved into residence in my firstyear of university, I couldn't light candles and I had a roommate who had nightmares from listening to Tom Waits let alone coming home to a full on circle of lit candles on the floor. Sure I suppose I could have explained it all to her, but I'm sure that she'd spread the word throughout the house and suddenyl I'd be the outcast. I was a bit of an outcast anyway, but that's my own doing and a story for another day.
What I'm getting to in a very roundabout way is that praying by candle light, and not even really praying so much as reflecting and imagining, was all very important to me, yet I hadn't done it in years. So when the solstice came around this year, and the lunar eclipse happened to be the same day, I just couldn't help but break out the candles and cast a safe circle. Now casting a circle is when you light a circle of candles that surround you. No, it's not meant to be a scary portal to hell. It's meant to make you feel, and be, safe. It's a protective circle made of light and positive emotions. It's a wonderful feeling to be encircled with light, by the way. So on the night of the solstice, I reflected upon the past year in the dark and then lit all the candles and basked in the light as I focused on how to 'bring light' to the coming year. It's quite a nice little ritual, with no actual religious connotations, but positive nonetheless.
I've since left the LED Christmas lights on non-stop as a replacement Yule log/candle since leaving a fire lit all night seems like a poor idea, but I still like the tradition of keeping a light constantly glowing for days.
Today is Christmas Eve and I think I just love holidays so I want to celebrate as many as I can get away with celebrating. I plan on watching the old Christmas special Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and snuggling up with some hot chocolate and my husband. This year we decided not to do gifts because we're poor and stressed out, so we didn't want to add to it all. We wanted a good holiday. Instead, we're Skyping with family in the morning and having a fancy dinner at night and I imagine Christmas specials will be watched.
So Happy Holidays to everyone out there. May you be surrounded by friends and family, good food and drink and good old fashioned holiday cheer.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Total Eclipse of the....Moon
It's 2:24am and I'm all bundled up and ready to step outside in...wait I just checked the update online and I think I should go outside now.
****
It is now 2:51am and I'm awfully cold. Mind you, it was pretty warm for a Canadian winter night, but that's still pretty cold.
I recall trying to see eclipses before and either not being able to be awake at the right time, or just having too much cloud cover typically prevented me from ever seeing one in real life. It's pretty cool. Apparently it's not peaking for a little while yet, but damned if I'm getting back out there. I saw it go from being totally bright to being partially and then completely covered and when I left, it was totally covered and reddishly tinged.
I may go back out, but not likely. Instead I think I'll settle for having seen this much and just having the knowledge that it's happening and I saw at least part of it. I'll watch the lunar eclipse in the summer next time.
As for the rest of the day, I plan to sleep for a few hours of it, and then I intend to read up on solstice celebrations and see what if anything I'd like to appropriate. I was already on Wikipedia reading up on solstice holidays and let me tell you, there are a lot of crazy holidays this time of year. Troll hunting, blood-face-splattering, lighting fires in cemeteries. However, they all follow the same theme: the triumph of lightness over darkness, happiness over despair. So, I too would like to follow this theme in whatever I do.
It also happens that it's a full moon, and eclipsed at that. The full moon generally signifies things coming to fruition and a time to celebrate and be happy. It's the time when anything can happen, and immediately following the full moon, one looks introspectively and reflects. It's all very timely, what with Christmas parties followed by setting New Years resolutions. Maybe that's why I like lunar-based religious practices. You basically get the holidays cycled over and over 12 or 13 times a year.
As for the eclipse. I have no idea what the significance of that may be traditionally. I'll look that up, too. But whatever it means, I intend to watch my dreams closely, as apparently tonight's dreams will reflect what's to come in the next year (Mother's Night).
****
It is now 2:51am and I'm awfully cold. Mind you, it was pretty warm for a Canadian winter night, but that's still pretty cold.
I recall trying to see eclipses before and either not being able to be awake at the right time, or just having too much cloud cover typically prevented me from ever seeing one in real life. It's pretty cool. Apparently it's not peaking for a little while yet, but damned if I'm getting back out there. I saw it go from being totally bright to being partially and then completely covered and when I left, it was totally covered and reddishly tinged.
I may go back out, but not likely. Instead I think I'll settle for having seen this much and just having the knowledge that it's happening and I saw at least part of it. I'll watch the lunar eclipse in the summer next time.
As for the rest of the day, I plan to sleep for a few hours of it, and then I intend to read up on solstice celebrations and see what if anything I'd like to appropriate. I was already on Wikipedia reading up on solstice holidays and let me tell you, there are a lot of crazy holidays this time of year. Troll hunting, blood-face-splattering, lighting fires in cemeteries. However, they all follow the same theme: the triumph of lightness over darkness, happiness over despair. So, I too would like to follow this theme in whatever I do.
It also happens that it's a full moon, and eclipsed at that. The full moon generally signifies things coming to fruition and a time to celebrate and be happy. It's the time when anything can happen, and immediately following the full moon, one looks introspectively and reflects. It's all very timely, what with Christmas parties followed by setting New Years resolutions. Maybe that's why I like lunar-based religious practices. You basically get the holidays cycled over and over 12 or 13 times a year.
As for the eclipse. I have no idea what the significance of that may be traditionally. I'll look that up, too. But whatever it means, I intend to watch my dreams closely, as apparently tonight's dreams will reflect what's to come in the next year (Mother's Night).
Monday, December 20, 2010
Olé!
I had the misfortune the other day to be caught on a downtown bus on the last day of exams at about 11:30pm. For those of you who are not familiar with the city of Guelph, it's a relatively small city and at least half the population is comprised of university students. Maybe not half, but that's what it feels like. Regardless of the exact proportion, the city is literally taken over by students, especially at night.
Now, I myself am a student so you would think I'd join in and enjoy it. However, you'd be wrong. I find it difficult if not impossible to simply shrug my shoulders and join in the madness. My pride, dignity and self-respect is too valuable to throw it away just for the sake of the 'university experience'. For example, regardless of how fun it may be in the moment, I'd never let myself forgive and forget if I was swinging from the bars of a bus, possibly singing Lady Gaga, while others watched, laughed and recorded it on their iPhones.
Yes, that exact incident happened. Except it wasn't me, it was some poor drunk student gone half crazy from the peer pressure. She swung from the handle bars, danced on the seats and I'm sure she exposed herself a number of times as she was wearing an incredibly short skirt despite the frigidly cold weather.
About two minutes after she'd had her fill of dancing, the bus stopped somewhere (I was unfamiliar with the route and the windows were impossible to see out of) and suddenly the bus went from holding about 15 people to suddenly being so packed that I was squished between the window and a very skinny, less annoying girl who at least had the decency to apologize for the inconvenience. The bus smelled like alcohol, in fact, I saw at least one person drinking an open bottle of some sort of hard liquor, not even attempting to hide it. The mob sang a number of indecipherable Christmas carols then perhaps realized they were indecipherable and switched to singing "Oléééééé! Olé! Olé! Olééé!."
The girls were wearing dresses so short you could almost see their asses, but oh wait, they were also tight enough you could essentially see them anyway, so what does it matter? Don't get me wrong, I like to look hot, too, but there's a better way. Especially when the body/skin you're showing off isn't exactly in mint condition. Hide your flaws and accentuate your assets. I think they all misheard that tidbit of advice and thought 'Oh, I need to accentuate my ass! Maybe I should accentuate everything I can...or just, ya know, wear less clothes than a lingerie model.' Yeah, that must be it. The guys were slightly better, but only slightly. They at least were likely to be warm. However, their pants were pulled down so far and the belt was tightened just so, so that they essentially framed the bulge in their very visible underwear. There's no way that's comfortable.
I don't know if this is a familiar scene in cities with a smaller proportion of students, but it is one aspect of university that I will not miss a bit. I long to ride the bus in relative peace.
Now, I myself am a student so you would think I'd join in and enjoy it. However, you'd be wrong. I find it difficult if not impossible to simply shrug my shoulders and join in the madness. My pride, dignity and self-respect is too valuable to throw it away just for the sake of the 'university experience'. For example, regardless of how fun it may be in the moment, I'd never let myself forgive and forget if I was swinging from the bars of a bus, possibly singing Lady Gaga, while others watched, laughed and recorded it on their iPhones.
Yes, that exact incident happened. Except it wasn't me, it was some poor drunk student gone half crazy from the peer pressure. She swung from the handle bars, danced on the seats and I'm sure she exposed herself a number of times as she was wearing an incredibly short skirt despite the frigidly cold weather.
About two minutes after she'd had her fill of dancing, the bus stopped somewhere (I was unfamiliar with the route and the windows were impossible to see out of) and suddenly the bus went from holding about 15 people to suddenly being so packed that I was squished between the window and a very skinny, less annoying girl who at least had the decency to apologize for the inconvenience. The bus smelled like alcohol, in fact, I saw at least one person drinking an open bottle of some sort of hard liquor, not even attempting to hide it. The mob sang a number of indecipherable Christmas carols then perhaps realized they were indecipherable and switched to singing "Oléééééé! Olé! Olé! Olééé!."
The girls were wearing dresses so short you could almost see their asses, but oh wait, they were also tight enough you could essentially see them anyway, so what does it matter? Don't get me wrong, I like to look hot, too, but there's a better way. Especially when the body/skin you're showing off isn't exactly in mint condition. Hide your flaws and accentuate your assets. I think they all misheard that tidbit of advice and thought 'Oh, I need to accentuate my ass! Maybe I should accentuate everything I can...or just, ya know, wear less clothes than a lingerie model.' Yeah, that must be it. The guys were slightly better, but only slightly. They at least were likely to be warm. However, their pants were pulled down so far and the belt was tightened just so, so that they essentially framed the bulge in their very visible underwear. There's no way that's comfortable.
I don't know if this is a familiar scene in cities with a smaller proportion of students, but it is one aspect of university that I will not miss a bit. I long to ride the bus in relative peace.
Friday, December 10, 2010
So This Is Christmas
First off, I apologize for the distinct lack of blogging recently. I am a student and therefore I've been cramming an entire course into my brain over the past few days. The exam is today. Also, there is another exam on Tuesday, therefore I probably won't post much if at all until then.
So the holiday season is upon us. Snow is constantly streaming from the sky, twinkle lights dot the city and Christmas music is running rampant. I am not particularly religious, but I love Christmas. Nearly as much as I love Halloween...nearly. I feel like these holidays are no longer religious in nature, and I'm ok with that. In fact, I think that the un-religiousification of holidays enhances its ability to unify humanity. We're no longer saying "we're proud of our religion, so everyone else who is or wants to be on our side is welcome to celebrate it too" and instead we're saying "spend lots of money and everyone will be happy". Still not a super fantastic message, but at least people are facing poverty as opposed to religious persecution. Plus, it's great for the economy.
Now, I'm certainly not in favour of spending money like a drunken sailor, however I do like that no one is excluded. As a former loner, I can attest to how much it sucks being excluded. Perhaps that's it. Maybe that is why people like Christmas so much, aside from the fantastic food and treats, the idea that we're all doing the same stuff, going through the same things for more or less the same reasons.
As much as I would love to continue babbling about the holidays, I really ought to get going and finish my last-minute cramming. Perhaps later I'll ramble about the pagan roots of Christmas. I do enjoy pointing out that Christian holidays were mostly appropriated from pagan holidays in order to convert pagans.
So the holiday season is upon us. Snow is constantly streaming from the sky, twinkle lights dot the city and Christmas music is running rampant. I am not particularly religious, but I love Christmas. Nearly as much as I love Halloween...nearly. I feel like these holidays are no longer religious in nature, and I'm ok with that. In fact, I think that the un-religiousification of holidays enhances its ability to unify humanity. We're no longer saying "we're proud of our religion, so everyone else who is or wants to be on our side is welcome to celebrate it too" and instead we're saying "spend lots of money and everyone will be happy". Still not a super fantastic message, but at least people are facing poverty as opposed to religious persecution. Plus, it's great for the economy.
Now, I'm certainly not in favour of spending money like a drunken sailor, however I do like that no one is excluded. As a former loner, I can attest to how much it sucks being excluded. Perhaps that's it. Maybe that is why people like Christmas so much, aside from the fantastic food and treats, the idea that we're all doing the same stuff, going through the same things for more or less the same reasons.
As much as I would love to continue babbling about the holidays, I really ought to get going and finish my last-minute cramming. Perhaps later I'll ramble about the pagan roots of Christmas. I do enjoy pointing out that Christian holidays were mostly appropriated from pagan holidays in order to convert pagans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)