Thursday, December 30, 2010
Vast land, small world
Australia is a continent of vast distances, but through the magic of Facebook, this week is a small world moment. A good friend of mine who normally resides in Melbourne, and who I have been trying to arrange to catch up with for months, is holidaying just down the road (in country Australia terms anyway). So I've sucked up to the folks, and tomorrow I'm taking the car for a jaunt to Townsville to catch up! Whats a few hours in the car after all?
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
My baby
This is my baby.
He hasn't been very well lately. There is a real chance that he wont be around next time I come home. He may look like a puppy, but he's 9 years old, so a distinctly aging mutt.
In the meantime, I'm making a huge fuss of him. He's loves it!
He hasn't been very well lately. There is a real chance that he wont be around next time I come home. He may look like a puppy, but he's 9 years old, so a distinctly aging mutt.
In the meantime, I'm making a huge fuss of him. He's loves it!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Is it nap time yet?
Holidays have a terrible effect on me. It doesn't matter how much I sleep, I still want to have a nap. It usually starts about an hour after I get up in the morning and lasts for the rest of the day. Even actually having a nap doesn't help, as soon as I am on my feet again I want to go back to bed. Le sigh. And I have to go back to work next week........
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas, faith, questions and frogs
Tonight I participated in what has become something of a tradition in my family. My father (a much lapsed Anglican) and I took my quietly, but of very strong faith, catholic Mum to midnight mass. This year - for the first time in many years, it was actually held at midnight (the elderly Catholic priest who presided for many years over a 7:30 mass having retired and been replaced by a surprisingly young man who is fully capable of making it to midnight!).
Its rather an awkward experience. Going along with the bits that I find relatively unoffensive to my sensibilities and standing mute for the bits I just cannot agree with (which is frankly just about everything bar the carols). It's particularly interesting at a true midnight mass because pretty much everyone else is there because they actually believe. But it is an important show of solidarity, my father honouring a promise her made when he married her to take her to church whenever she wanted to go (which in the past has meant long bush pilgrimages and facing disapproval and contempt from 'the church'), and me, showing my mother that while I cannot believe as she does I respect her faith.
Tonight was particularly interesting. The new priest has brought back certain old traditions that have been allowed to lapse under his aged and enfeebled predecessors tenure. There were 'alter boys' (girls actually in a heartening show of progressiveness), the priest sang the benediction over the bread and wine (and the man can SING! He has a wonderful tenor - though at times he struggled to compete with the frogs taking advantage of the rain), and there were other things that my unfamiliarity with the traditions mean I missed but my mother appreciated.
I am currently reading 'Infidel - my life' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali which describes her life growing up in Islamic Somali during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. It details the authors personal journey of faith, disillusionment with Islam and ultimately religion and her exile from her homeland and the constant threat of assassination she faces for her public repudiation of Islam and in particular its treatment of women.
The juxtaposition of the ritual Christian Christmas rites and the struggle of the Somali teenager to find meaning in the rituals of Islam brought many considerations to mind. As a teenager myself, attending an Anglican school, I found the rituals very seductive, but the church (through its priests, brothers and deacons) failed to offer any real context and their inability to offer any explanation of the questions I had - it was a school after all, they should have had the capacity to offer more than 'it is not your place to question' and because that is the way of god' to offer inquiring young minds. My questions were in many ways the same questions Ayaan was asking in Somalia, questions that I found myself tonight wondering if those seated around me had ever bothered to ask, even of themselves. Catholics of course seem often to be the worst of the timecard Christians - clocking in on Sunday, taking absolution as guaranteed while acting in very unchristian ways for the rest of the week.
My mother has always had faith. She questioned, and found her answers. She has been disillusioned with 'the church', but has always lived a very Christian life - which cannot have been easy with our the less than faithful (to god, not her) family. I have never heard her swear, she offers friendship, kindness, compassion and charity within her means with no expectation of personal gain. But once a year she visits her god in his house, celebrating his birthday and taking something that I cannot fathom, but to her is very real, home with her to sustain her faith. I know that others judge her for not being in regular attendance. But I know that she lives a far more Christian life than many of them. That is the great lesson that I have learned from observing my mother's faith - what is important (in God's eyes or the worlds) is what you DO, not what you say or are seen to do. The Christian all knowing, all seeing God will surely know the difference between a faithful servant who worships quietly but does his wishes faithfully and true and one who ritually stamps the timesheet while living a less than Christian life.
It's a thought that even comforts me - who has no faith - that for my mother, should she turn out to be right, there will be just recognition of her life.
For myself, I refuse to even pay lip service. I do not participate in prayer, I barely pay attention to he readings or the sermon. But in respect to those who care, I sit and stand quietly with them, accept and return their offers of peace and goodwill, and offer my voice to the traditional carols. Their God isn't mine, but I am a polite visitor in his house.
And so Christmas is here. And the Grinch is in abeyance for the moment. I will take advantage of the opportunity to spend time with family I see nowhere near enough. I will indulge in a few glasses of wine, rather too much food, and an orgy of reading (yay for my father's library!).
Enjoy your holidays folks. May it be everything that you wish it to be.
Its rather an awkward experience. Going along with the bits that I find relatively unoffensive to my sensibilities and standing mute for the bits I just cannot agree with (which is frankly just about everything bar the carols). It's particularly interesting at a true midnight mass because pretty much everyone else is there because they actually believe. But it is an important show of solidarity, my father honouring a promise her made when he married her to take her to church whenever she wanted to go (which in the past has meant long bush pilgrimages and facing disapproval and contempt from 'the church'), and me, showing my mother that while I cannot believe as she does I respect her faith.
Tonight was particularly interesting. The new priest has brought back certain old traditions that have been allowed to lapse under his aged and enfeebled predecessors tenure. There were 'alter boys' (girls actually in a heartening show of progressiveness), the priest sang the benediction over the bread and wine (and the man can SING! He has a wonderful tenor - though at times he struggled to compete with the frogs taking advantage of the rain), and there were other things that my unfamiliarity with the traditions mean I missed but my mother appreciated.
I am currently reading 'Infidel - my life' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali which describes her life growing up in Islamic Somali during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. It details the authors personal journey of faith, disillusionment with Islam and ultimately religion and her exile from her homeland and the constant threat of assassination she faces for her public repudiation of Islam and in particular its treatment of women.
The juxtaposition of the ritual Christian Christmas rites and the struggle of the Somali teenager to find meaning in the rituals of Islam brought many considerations to mind. As a teenager myself, attending an Anglican school, I found the rituals very seductive, but the church (through its priests, brothers and deacons) failed to offer any real context and their inability to offer any explanation of the questions I had - it was a school after all, they should have had the capacity to offer more than 'it is not your place to question' and because that is the way of god' to offer inquiring young minds. My questions were in many ways the same questions Ayaan was asking in Somalia, questions that I found myself tonight wondering if those seated around me had ever bothered to ask, even of themselves. Catholics of course seem often to be the worst of the timecard Christians - clocking in on Sunday, taking absolution as guaranteed while acting in very unchristian ways for the rest of the week.
My mother has always had faith. She questioned, and found her answers. She has been disillusioned with 'the church', but has always lived a very Christian life - which cannot have been easy with our the less than faithful (to god, not her) family. I have never heard her swear, she offers friendship, kindness, compassion and charity within her means with no expectation of personal gain. But once a year she visits her god in his house, celebrating his birthday and taking something that I cannot fathom, but to her is very real, home with her to sustain her faith. I know that others judge her for not being in regular attendance. But I know that she lives a far more Christian life than many of them. That is the great lesson that I have learned from observing my mother's faith - what is important (in God's eyes or the worlds) is what you DO, not what you say or are seen to do. The Christian all knowing, all seeing God will surely know the difference between a faithful servant who worships quietly but does his wishes faithfully and true and one who ritually stamps the timesheet while living a less than Christian life.
It's a thought that even comforts me - who has no faith - that for my mother, should she turn out to be right, there will be just recognition of her life.
For myself, I refuse to even pay lip service. I do not participate in prayer, I barely pay attention to he readings or the sermon. But in respect to those who care, I sit and stand quietly with them, accept and return their offers of peace and goodwill, and offer my voice to the traditional carols. Their God isn't mine, but I am a polite visitor in his house.
And so Christmas is here. And the Grinch is in abeyance for the moment. I will take advantage of the opportunity to spend time with family I see nowhere near enough. I will indulge in a few glasses of wine, rather too much food, and an orgy of reading (yay for my father's library!).
Enjoy your holidays folks. May it be everything that you wish it to be.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas lights
This being the week before Christmas, the annual tradition of traipsing round town looking at lights should have been accomplished. For us, this is really an event focused on doing the 'family thing' and taking an extremely elderly Aunt out for a drive. At 97, its something of a treat and she clearly looks forward to it.
This year it has proven to be more difficult than we anticipated. The Aunt is starting to get a little vague, and had forgotten which day we were coming to get her. Then on the second attempt it decided to rain (so no-one turned their lights on - remember electricity and water do not mix) and, the time set was actually too early, it wasn't yet dark. Tomorrow we will attempt for the third time. Or at least, the folks will. I have been relegated to cooking dinner while they play chauffeur.
This year it has proven to be more difficult than we anticipated. The Aunt is starting to get a little vague, and had forgotten which day we were coming to get her. Then on the second attempt it decided to rain (so no-one turned their lights on - remember electricity and water do not mix) and, the time set was actually too early, it wasn't yet dark. Tomorrow we will attempt for the third time. Or at least, the folks will. I have been relegated to cooking dinner while they play chauffeur.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Interesting conversation
Last night I went out to dinner with friends of my parents. It was interesting crowd, largely made up of a peculiarly 'country' sort of folk. In their late middle age through to the not long retired, mostly off property, rough and crude in many respects but also insightful and knowledgeable and very entertaining.
Most were raised on property - be it as the owners daughter, a managers or labourers kid. The 'townies' are the kind you only find in small town Australia. Not quite the same as 'off property' but from a time when every small town kid grew up with guns and firecrackers as a staple part of childhood, who had no indoor plumbing, a kerosene fridge and no tv. Snakes, spiders, possums and all sorts of other animals featured large in their childhoods - often as target for the air-rifle or the 'bunger gun' (a bicycle pump tube adapted to fire marbles using a 'penny bunger' as the charge). Now, city kids of the era certainly weren't as cocooned from the realities of life as todays are, but they certainly aren't quite the same as their country compatriots.
Last night I sat across from a former state Labor Party member of parliament. And clearly they were a Labor crowd (not too common in the conservative heartland of the bush). Politics was certainly discussed, but much more heavily featured were reminiscences of the good old days. School boy antics, animal stories, the hilarious bluntness of the 'call a spade a spade' elderly 'bushies' who linger on today.
Most city folk today (certainly those under 40) would struggle to believe the stories - but to one who grew up in the bush, you dont doubt it (of course, you make room for exaggeration, no snake/crocodile/dog is ever REALLY as big as the legend). In the absence of fireworks, my generation substituted pilfered explosives from the mines, cartridge powder from parents gunsafes, and petrol to blow things up or power projectiles. We discovered all manner of animal cruelty (visited on ferals only - toads in particular but feral cats, dogs, peacocks and mice also featured, and were quickly dispatched after the initial ill-considered attack), attempted to kill ourselves weekly through the use of implements including bicycles, shopping carts, firearms (usually homemade) and fire.
Childhood in the 80's and early 90's in small town Australia was truely a wonderful thing. When the whole town knows who you are and where your mum works, there is no need for parents to keep tabs on their kids all the time - someone is always watching and some cranky old biddy is always ready to ring your mum to report your shortcomings. It was a world where doors were seldom locked, children safely roamed the streets and crime was pretty low.
Today, its very different. And I blame those that took away all the fun. Try making homemade projectile launchers out of a bicycle pump today and see how many charges the cops will lay - regardless of how non-existent the damage to person or property. All the old bike tracks we used to try and break our necks on in the name of good clean fun have been bulldozed because of safety concerns. The gun laws now make it impossible to take the kids out for weekend target practice at the range, let alone out hunting for feral's or shooting up tin cans in the back paddock. They also seriously hamper the use of gunpowder for its other fun childhood purposes.
So all the fun, slightly naughty/dangerous things we used to do as children have been quashed. So instead, today's batch of bored kids drink, do drugs, steal, damage property and generally make nuisances out of themselves. A lack of harmless destructive outlets leads to harmful destructive behaviour - who would have predicted that!
When you consider how many of the past generations have successfully made it to adulthood without major accident or injury, regardless of the dangerous behaviour they enjoyed, you have to wonder just how dangerous it was......
Bring back childhood fun I say!!!!!
Most were raised on property - be it as the owners daughter, a managers or labourers kid. The 'townies' are the kind you only find in small town Australia. Not quite the same as 'off property' but from a time when every small town kid grew up with guns and firecrackers as a staple part of childhood, who had no indoor plumbing, a kerosene fridge and no tv. Snakes, spiders, possums and all sorts of other animals featured large in their childhoods - often as target for the air-rifle or the 'bunger gun' (a bicycle pump tube adapted to fire marbles using a 'penny bunger' as the charge). Now, city kids of the era certainly weren't as cocooned from the realities of life as todays are, but they certainly aren't quite the same as their country compatriots.
Last night I sat across from a former state Labor Party member of parliament. And clearly they were a Labor crowd (not too common in the conservative heartland of the bush). Politics was certainly discussed, but much more heavily featured were reminiscences of the good old days. School boy antics, animal stories, the hilarious bluntness of the 'call a spade a spade' elderly 'bushies' who linger on today.
Most city folk today (certainly those under 40) would struggle to believe the stories - but to one who grew up in the bush, you dont doubt it (of course, you make room for exaggeration, no snake/crocodile/dog is ever REALLY as big as the legend). In the absence of fireworks, my generation substituted pilfered explosives from the mines, cartridge powder from parents gunsafes, and petrol to blow things up or power projectiles. We discovered all manner of animal cruelty (visited on ferals only - toads in particular but feral cats, dogs, peacocks and mice also featured, and were quickly dispatched after the initial ill-considered attack), attempted to kill ourselves weekly through the use of implements including bicycles, shopping carts, firearms (usually homemade) and fire.
Childhood in the 80's and early 90's in small town Australia was truely a wonderful thing. When the whole town knows who you are and where your mum works, there is no need for parents to keep tabs on their kids all the time - someone is always watching and some cranky old biddy is always ready to ring your mum to report your shortcomings. It was a world where doors were seldom locked, children safely roamed the streets and crime was pretty low.
Today, its very different. And I blame those that took away all the fun. Try making homemade projectile launchers out of a bicycle pump today and see how many charges the cops will lay - regardless of how non-existent the damage to person or property. All the old bike tracks we used to try and break our necks on in the name of good clean fun have been bulldozed because of safety concerns. The gun laws now make it impossible to take the kids out for weekend target practice at the range, let alone out hunting for feral's or shooting up tin cans in the back paddock. They also seriously hamper the use of gunpowder for its other fun childhood purposes.
So all the fun, slightly naughty/dangerous things we used to do as children have been quashed. So instead, today's batch of bored kids drink, do drugs, steal, damage property and generally make nuisances out of themselves. A lack of harmless destructive outlets leads to harmful destructive behaviour - who would have predicted that!
When you consider how many of the past generations have successfully made it to adulthood without major accident or injury, regardless of the dangerous behaviour they enjoyed, you have to wonder just how dangerous it was......
Bring back childhood fun I say!!!!!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The final frontier
Recently it has been made particularly apparent to me that there is a massive divide between family and friends. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but it is surprising just how often the two really don't mix.
Whether its trying to relate to your parents as an adult, or maintaining a relationship with an in-law who would never have been part of your social circle under other circumstances, the chasm between those you choose to have as part of your life, and those you are obliged to be kind and considerate to can be very deep and the leap very risky.
This year, the family circus seems to have successfully avoided a disaster. The acrobats didn't break anything, the trapeze artists made every catch (just) and the clowns managed to push everything along until the end leaving the audience relatively unaware of the undercurrents of fear. And then I escaped. Fled back to the nest of my home town, avoiding the truly awful circus of a family Christmas by hiding out with similarly Grinch-like individuals who like me, prefer to spend Christmas quietly, without any religious fanfare or commercial excess. Just some nice food, a few bottles of alcohol (eeked out over the whole period so that there are merely evenings of pleasant tipsyness) and some time off work to sit around and make the most of the air-conditioning on a hot, humid day.
I just bought my last Christmas present - a hand held electric mixer tp replace the 20 year old one that my mother has finally managed to kill. A nice functional gift that will be truly appreciated.
The internet here is somewhat unreliable, so I may not post too often before the new year. Also, nothing much happens in the backwoods, particularly when the aim is to spend as much time as possible sleeping and reading. I can recommend 'Rainbow Pie - a Redneck Memoir' by Joe Baigent, an insiders perspective on the American white underclass (ie. rednecks and trailer trash and the ignored and exploited minimum wage battlers that make up a large proportion of the American people).
Anyway - I'm off to do the chores for the day - ie wash the dog (a huge burden, I know). I love holidays!
Whether its trying to relate to your parents as an adult, or maintaining a relationship with an in-law who would never have been part of your social circle under other circumstances, the chasm between those you choose to have as part of your life, and those you are obliged to be kind and considerate to can be very deep and the leap very risky.
This year, the family circus seems to have successfully avoided a disaster. The acrobats didn't break anything, the trapeze artists made every catch (just) and the clowns managed to push everything along until the end leaving the audience relatively unaware of the undercurrents of fear. And then I escaped. Fled back to the nest of my home town, avoiding the truly awful circus of a family Christmas by hiding out with similarly Grinch-like individuals who like me, prefer to spend Christmas quietly, without any religious fanfare or commercial excess. Just some nice food, a few bottles of alcohol (eeked out over the whole period so that there are merely evenings of pleasant tipsyness) and some time off work to sit around and make the most of the air-conditioning on a hot, humid day.
I just bought my last Christmas present - a hand held electric mixer tp replace the 20 year old one that my mother has finally managed to kill. A nice functional gift that will be truly appreciated.
The internet here is somewhat unreliable, so I may not post too often before the new year. Also, nothing much happens in the backwoods, particularly when the aim is to spend as much time as possible sleeping and reading. I can recommend 'Rainbow Pie - a Redneck Memoir' by Joe Baigent, an insiders perspective on the American white underclass (ie. rednecks and trailer trash and the ignored and exploited minimum wage battlers that make up a large proportion of the American people).
Anyway - I'm off to do the chores for the day - ie wash the dog (a huge burden, I know). I love holidays!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Welcome the Grinch
I am feeling particularly grinch-like today. I haven't been out today - exposed to the madness - but the season is definitely upon us, and it weighs heavy.
I have reached the point that the mere thought of it makes me want to hide under the blankets until its over. The countdown has begun - it is only 14 days until its over.......
I have reached the point that the mere thought of it makes me want to hide under the blankets until its over. The countdown has begun - it is only 14 days until its over.......
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Splitsville
Well, that takes care of that. I didn't even get to have the intended conversation, instead, he took the initiative and told me that 'he can't committ to the time and attention I deserve'. Nice sentiment, but still amounts to being dumped. But I've kind of been anticipating it, so its not such a blow. Pity. But I'm moving forward - and going out for a drink with the girls tomorrow night to commiserate!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
All is well - or is it?
I have the kind of personality that tends towards the melancholic. When I'm happy, I'm happy, but when I'm not so happy, I tend to be a glass half empty sort of person. I quite like have a whinge, and I can be very grumpy.
So while i have a lot to be happy about at the moment, I'm also currently in a massive case of the grumps. I am waiting with baited to breath to here if I am going to get the job I currently do permanently, or if in a few weeks time I'll lose $200 a fortnight and someone else will come in and 'do my job' (only they wont, I'll still do everything I currently do, because they wont find someone who has the skills or wants to do it, I'll just be paid less).
So I'm stressing - my budget is pretty tight, and $200 a fortnight will see me hiding out in my flat never going out, with no spare cash. And when I stress, I grump. Add to this, the fact that I actually think that doing a job properly is a virtue and that competence should be rewarded and incompetence shoved out the door, working in the public sector can be somewhat disheartening, so I tend to rant and grump a bit about that too.
I suspect that this state of grump is starting to wear on the boy. He's very much a happy person - doesn't let things get to him... I think he sees the world in economic terms - so its not worth the energy to care, whereas I have a more social bent, and rage against injustice and ignorance...... It may be interesting to see how this pans out - but it could also be quite painful....
So while i have a lot to be happy about at the moment, I'm also currently in a massive case of the grumps. I am waiting with baited to breath to here if I am going to get the job I currently do permanently, or if in a few weeks time I'll lose $200 a fortnight and someone else will come in and 'do my job' (only they wont, I'll still do everything I currently do, because they wont find someone who has the skills or wants to do it, I'll just be paid less).
So I'm stressing - my budget is pretty tight, and $200 a fortnight will see me hiding out in my flat never going out, with no spare cash. And when I stress, I grump. Add to this, the fact that I actually think that doing a job properly is a virtue and that competence should be rewarded and incompetence shoved out the door, working in the public sector can be somewhat disheartening, so I tend to rant and grump a bit about that too.
I suspect that this state of grump is starting to wear on the boy. He's very much a happy person - doesn't let things get to him... I think he sees the world in economic terms - so its not worth the energy to care, whereas I have a more social bent, and rage against injustice and ignorance...... It may be interesting to see how this pans out - but it could also be quite painful....
Friday, December 3, 2010
Another Christmas rant
I went to the shops today. I had no choice, the cupboard was bare. The madness of the christmas season has already begun. Its at this time of year that what little courtesy is left in normal society is completely lost. People lie cheat and steal - they take parking spaces when they know someone else was there first, they push you out of the way in their rush to get to whatever store it is that might just sell out of whatever it is that they want. They forget the basic rules of movement in crowds (KEEP LEFT PEOPLE!!!!).
They line up like lemmings at the checkouts and whine about all the other people who have dared to venture out shopping on the same day as them. (although it isn't helpful that the stores only have 3 operational checkouts - remember folks, it is only 3-ish weeks till christmas!) They suddenly realise that they have forgotten something that cant possibly wait till the next time they are out, and dash off into the bowels of the shop when there are only 3 items left to be scanned.
I have even seen them take items out of other peoples trolleys when other shoppers aren't paying attention because they see something the like, or its run out on the shelf.
There is something about christmas that brings out the very worst of society......
They line up like lemmings at the checkouts and whine about all the other people who have dared to venture out shopping on the same day as them. (although it isn't helpful that the stores only have 3 operational checkouts - remember folks, it is only 3-ish weeks till christmas!) They suddenly realise that they have forgotten something that cant possibly wait till the next time they are out, and dash off into the bowels of the shop when there are only 3 items left to be scanned.
I have even seen them take items out of other peoples trolleys when other shoppers aren't paying attention because they see something the like, or its run out on the shelf.
There is something about christmas that brings out the very worst of society......
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Commercialisation - the scourge of Christmas
I'm not much of a fan of Christmas really. I'm not big on the religious aspects, and the hype gets old very quickly. In fact, I find Christmas to be a very expensive exercise in trying not to offend. Whether its the non-christian traditions that don't celebrate Christmas, the atheists, or the minority that don't support the Santa myth - there is always someone that you can inadvertently offend.
Its reached the point that I have no idea what the real message of Christmas is any more. You would certainly be hard put to find it in any shopping centre or Myer window.
I hate that the shops start putting up decorations in August.
I hate the carols that bombard you from the beginning of November.
I hate workplace decorations (particularly the overtly religious ones - the office just doesn't feel right for a nativity scene), Kris Kringle, and the seemingly endless string of Christmas parties..
I hate trying to get to the shops before Christmas - the crowds, the fight for parking, the endless lines at the checkouts....
and I hate the after Christmas sales.
My favourite way to spend Christmas is to not participate. I buy the necessary family gifts, cook and eat some good food, but I like to stay home, read a good book, ignore the crowds, the shops, the cricket.....
So what about the rest of you? What don't you like about Christmas? and what do you like?
Its reached the point that I have no idea what the real message of Christmas is any more. You would certainly be hard put to find it in any shopping centre or Myer window.
I hate that the shops start putting up decorations in August.
I hate the carols that bombard you from the beginning of November.
I hate workplace decorations (particularly the overtly religious ones - the office just doesn't feel right for a nativity scene), Kris Kringle, and the seemingly endless string of Christmas parties..
I hate trying to get to the shops before Christmas - the crowds, the fight for parking, the endless lines at the checkouts....
and I hate the after Christmas sales.
My favourite way to spend Christmas is to not participate. I buy the necessary family gifts, cook and eat some good food, but I like to stay home, read a good book, ignore the crowds, the shops, the cricket.....
So what about the rest of you? What don't you like about Christmas? and what do you like?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Feeling sorry for myself
So it turns out that my stowaway is not just a mere head cold, but is instead a rather nasty gastro virus. So I get to spend the week holed up at home with no contact with the outside world because its highly contagious and no-one else wants to get it.
While I agree that I wouldn't really want to be at work feeling like I do, I'm bored already. There is only so much bad daytime tv, internet surfing and reading (well, re-reading, I have no new material) that I can do.
On the plus side, the weather is horrible, so I'm less miserable than I would be if I had to look out the window at a bright sunny day.
In other news today, there is an interesting commentary on religious extremism here: http://donmilleris.com/2010/11/30/the-war-on-extremism/ which makes the key point that its not any one religious belief that is the problem, but extremism. And extremism is fairly obviously evident all over the place, including being preached from the pulpits of christian churches, by secular political leaders and from the mouths of the average man.
While I agree that I wouldn't really want to be at work feeling like I do, I'm bored already. There is only so much bad daytime tv, internet surfing and reading (well, re-reading, I have no new material) that I can do.
On the plus side, the weather is horrible, so I'm less miserable than I would be if I had to look out the window at a bright sunny day.
In other news today, there is an interesting commentary on religious extremism here: http://donmilleris.com/2010/11/30/the-war-on-extremism/ which makes the key point that its not any one religious belief that is the problem, but extremism. And extremism is fairly obviously evident all over the place, including being preached from the pulpits of christian churches, by secular political leaders and from the mouths of the average man.
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