People will say Axial Tilt [Saturn/Mithras/Jesus/Santa] is the Reason for the Season.
One thing is certain, and eternal; in the northern hemisphere, these are dark days with little sunlight. Celebrating the waning of the year by lighting strings of lights and candles, decorating with shiny objects, spending time with people close to you, and eating special rich foods is something to cherish, a way to foster good will and create lovely memories. It's a way to launch ourselves into the cold days of winter with the satisfying sense that our lives follow the cyclical pattern of the sun, moon, and rotation of our earth.
Adding personal components of religion and mythology can be satisfying for many people. I admit that when some of those people insist that those components are the one true way to do things, I am put off and put out. The most we may owe them is a perpetuation of some of the pagan decorating traditions that might have otherwise been forgotten if not for their co-opting by the Catholic Church. But the seasons are important to me personally. It's impossible to imagine living my life without taking joy in the astronomical phenomena that produce the seasons of varying warmth and light in their turn. I take comfort in the pattern, and would still do so if I lived somewhere that never got cold in winter, or if I lived in the southern hemisphere and watched the pattern played out in reverse.
This is not the time to discuss biblical stories of creation, how the bible was put together by a fickle emperor and then later massaged into different forms by different religious leaders who used it for political agenda, or how those stories are parallels to stories told thousands of years earlier by fearful people who needed ways to explain astronomical, meteorological and geological conditions they did not yet understand, to explain the wonders and terrors of life and death, and to band together against groups with more powerful leaders than theirs.
This is not the time for that because a lasting truth is that people like to believe in stuff bigger than they are, they like it to be mysteriously powerful, and they like to put a familiar human face on it. They like the notion of strength from vulnerability, and the little guy championing over the big guy. They like an eternal father figure, in some cases an eternal mother figure, and the symbolism of those figures is far more important to most people than concrete explanations for how the world actually works. Unexplainably wondrous and mysterious works by someone who's looking out for us are way more palatable to a lot of people than the still being uncovered scientific wonders of neutrons and amino acids.
And people like to have parties. Coming up with an excuse for a party is harder for some people than others. For many of us, the opportunity to look forward to something shiny and fun is enough. Throw in the luxury of giving people gifts wrapped in pretty paper, and it's a big winner. No wonder Christmas is a continuing hit. For most people, the only slightly off-kilter aspect of it is the name, invented by people who could not appreciate a celebration unless it was attended (or better yet, replaced) by the solemnity of religious ritual.
I enjoy thinking (heretically to many,) that we really are all celebrating the exact same thing, just with different faces on the various rituals we perform each year.
If you believe a God with human characteristics set the Earth on its axial tilt, and later caused a young girl to give birth to his corporeal son as a reminder that no matter how much anyone's life sucks, he's still out there in ultimate control, and that all this is the true or only "reason for the season," I hope you have a really great one this year, and this song's for you.
If you just really dig having end of year fun, or like to groove on seasonal changes as I do, this song's for you.
Hey, first some good news, have you tried going to vox.com to check out recent comments and updates? For well over a year it's barely loaded, but lately I'd say the page loads 90% of the time without having to reload. Ok, maybe that's an overly optimistic percentage, but the success rate has far exceeded the failure rate. I used to use the recent activity page to stay on top of comments but haven't really tried that in a while since all I ever got was a blank page. While typing this I just tried it and it worked the first time! Woah, folks, might Vox be making a comeback??? Is it possible to restore the greatness that was once our little community?
I went out in yesterday's butt-cold to have lunch with co-worker, S, who has been holding down the fort at the office. I also made it up to a great little gift shop in Lake George I've wanted to go for a while. Got some stuff for my former co-workers who I'm meeting tonight for our Christmas get together. We used to meet monthly - and maintained it for five years after we stopped working together but since moving up North it's been harder for me to get together with them, and you know how these things eventually go. We're such an oddball group. There are only four of us...I'm in my 20's, and we have one each in her 30's, 40's and 50's. It's funny how different we all are, but our shared history brought us together and we still have fun going out. Sadly, D won't be with us, her partner's brother died this week and they have to drive to Chitown for the funeral. Very sad. :-( Not only is it crappy because it's the holiday's, but D's birthday is also on the 25th and it's hard to get happy and celebrate those otherwise fun times when someone has passed away.
While I've got you down here in sad city, remember HJ? He died on Monday. So much for those six months, not that they would've been great anyway...there are some people who don't stick around for the suffering and more power to them...he's been through enough already. Sister is going to the funeral this morning. Keep her in your thoughts, it will be a tough day.
Enough of the sad talk, let's go for the stupid Val talk. Why is it that I over-research the majority of purchases I make for myself and others, making sure it's the absolute perfect thing for me or the gift recipient, but occasionally I'll buy something with no thought whatsoever? Like with certain Christmas gifts, I'll look everywhere online for that perfect something to give someone, make sure it has great product reviews and will be something really useful for the other person. But then I'll go to Target for something that I need for myself and buy something because it's shiny, not because it works. In all fairness, it's not like there are product reviewers hiding behind the shelves at Target to warn you that a product might suck and so you make the best decision you can based on what's on the box.
I needed a new coffee grinder. Normally I'd shop it on Amazon, but I had brand new beans from my Trader Joe's visit with Cranky and I *needed* that new grinder now. I recently used up the last of what I had the coffeehouse grind for me and only had some pre-ground autodrip crap that doesn't work well in a press. My old coffee grinder lasted me over 7 years and it was the crappy little proctor silex $13 thing. The grinder button broke on it years ago but I could still make it work with a paperclip (because I'm MacGuyver). So I went to Target yesterday and their cheapest grinders were all around $20. They had a very fancy looking one on SALE for $20, and I thought, "gee, if it's fancier and on sale for the same price as the average ones I must be getting a good deal" - also it was shiny. Of course, I came home to find that it had a 2 star rating on Amazon. Out of 41 customer reviews 27 were one star. Go fucking figure. At least in the reviews, someone who is more MacGuyver-y than me has come up with a solution to make a more even grind using a business card...yes, a business card. I had already ground my coffee this morning, and truthfully, it wasn't too bad. If you're using a French press, you want a more coarse grind anyway, and apparently that is the one thing this grinder can sort of grind evenly...even during my first cup here I haven't noticed that sometimes grittiness that can come from French Press coffee, so that's a good sign. We'll see how it holds up. It sure looks pretty on the counter top if nothing else.
And an important aside, the TJ's Sumatra is excellent.
Who knew that Jimmy Fallon was funny? I sure didn't, until I saw this:
Here's the last of disc one of Live at Leeds. Track 11, Shakin' All Over, was loaded to the library a few days ago. Make sure you set aside a bit of time, that My Generation track is over 15 minutes of Roger stuttering. Ok, that's not true, there's a lot of cool Tommy-esq jamming. Enjoy!
Have a good day, it's time for me to go get a Twin Peaks fix to go with my damn good coffee.
It's cold out. Butt ass cold out. It's 6 degrees with a -12 windchill. Hello Adirondack winter! I also seem to have a cold. It's pretty mild so far. Not one of those painful sore throat and nose scab sort of deals...just a slight sore throat with a bit of congestion. I'm drinking my Yogi tea but will have to hit up the liquor store soon because I'm out of brandy. I'm all about the natural remedies. I believe my grandmother's was rum, but me and rum had a falling out a few years ago. So now it's all about the brandy. I'm not particularly fond of brandy, but you don't really want to use a liquor that you love or you'll associate it with being sick...Sort of why Campbell's chicken noodle soup makes me want to ralph just from smelling it.
I'll use any excuse to put up a guilty pleasure song like Brandy. Look at all those mustaches...and that lovely neckerchief for the lady.
I have to finish up my shopping today. I dreamed last night that I was out and about getting it done, but all the stores turned off their lights at 5:30 so I was hunting around for fancy soaps in the dark. It was a little weird.
Just about finished with my Reservoir Dogs dvd. My favorite special feature was a hilarious tribute to Lawrence Tierney. Just a few weeks ago, Wil Wheaton, on his Memories of the Futurecast podcast, was talking about how scared EVERYONE was in the cast when Larry Tierney came on for a guest spot on TNG. Apparently they weren't alone.
And according to his Wiki page, he apparently scared the cast of Seinfeld too:
When he guest-starred on Seinfeld (1990) in "The Jacket" episode as Elaine's father, Alton Benes, he scared the cast so badly that they never had him back on. He stole a butcher knife from the set and hid it under his jacket. When Jerry Seinfeld confronted him about it (much to the dismay of the entire cast), Tierney made a stabbing motion towards him as in reference to the movie Psycho (1960).
I'll wrap this up with a little more of Leeds for all the Whos in Who-ville.
I was supposed to be a secret...
But Santa blogged about me....
What is the difference between soup and stew? Anyone know? I made a chicken barley soup/stew yesterday that was a variation on my chicken noodle soup and it was souper (oy) yummy.
First I chopped some carrots and onions and minced a couple of cloves of garlic.
The other night I made really awesome restaurant quality garlic mashed potatoes. I toasted the garlic in its skin for about 20 minutes over low heat while the potatoes were boiling. Then I removed it from heat, covered it and let it sit for ten minutes. It got really soft and I minced it and added it to the potatoes when I added the melted butter (butter before half & half). I added a ton of salt and pepper and a bit of rosemary. I wish I had fresh rosemary, that would have been perfect. They were amazing. I ate way too much, but they were really good.
Here's a bit more from Live at Leeds for the Who "fans" in the hood.
Alrighty then....
Where's my ride ??
Your foods are good...
But I don't understand...
How's come no Golden Apple??
I am so freakin' sad and depressed.
That's all.
Thanks for looking.
Pig determined Squirrelio's snarky comment could not go unanswered, so he asked Cousin Patsy Pig to help him with the Pig Plan.
Squirrelio said, "Oh, my," when she saw Golden Apple tied so tight and high.
She knew no matter how tall she stood, she could not reach Golden Apple.
Squirrelio was so frustrated she even asked the photographer for help.
Then she angrily told Pig, "I'll bite your bacon if I can't have Golden Apple!"
Not to be outdone by Pig, Squirrelio's frustration soon turned to determination. She stretched and stretched and inched and inched ever closer to Golden Apple.
She chewed through the first restraining rope...
Then deftly chewed through the remaining rope...
And with a dash of flash and frenetic frenzy...
Squirrelio pilfered Golden Apple...without even stopping to tell Pig, "I told you so!!"
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