So onward with another holiday season. Although our calendar is filled with holidays all year long, no where else do we cram in so many in such a short period of time. The "holidays" really start about a month before now with Thanksgiving, which is the first American feast holiday of the season commemorating... what exactly? I mean, there's the imagery of the Pilgrims (religious nut-bags) sharing a feast with the Native Americans who came to their rescue, and showed them how to survive in the land they occupied, and then were pretty promptly betrayed by the Pilgrims. So what if we call it the holiday of the Pilgrims' Betrayal, and Gluttony? Unless you have an issue with honesty in history, and our holidays? A lot of what we celebrate has pretty nefarious beginnings, and meanings. We're just coming around to not celebrating Columbus Day, and finally recognizing the European side of revisionist history, which is completely inaccurate. As we were taught, Columbus "Discovered" the "New World" which was actually lands occupied already by millions of people already, and had regularly been visited by other peoples long before Columbus begged his way to illegitimate fame in the name of colonialism.
Maybe you do have issues with honesty in our history, and holidays. Especially if you're still saying there's a war on Christmas, and we need to put Christ Back in Christmas, or he is the "reason for the season." Completely dishonest. Let's put aside the fact Christ possibly never even existed for a minute, and simply recognize Christmas as a christian holiday didn't begin until the late 5th century, and wasn't adopted popularly world wide until centuries later. Christmas originated with Pope Julius I who wanted to coordinate a Christian holiday with other popular Winter Solstice holidays such as Saturnalia, the Norse celebration of Yule, and the raucous party-hearty festivals held by the Pagans during the solstice. Honestly, the story of Christ's birth makes little sense in itself. Never mind the bullshit part about a woman who never had sex with a man becoming pregnant through some supernatural divination, but who the hell even had babies at the BEGINNING of winter back then, when survival rates would be at their worst for both mother, and baby? And the shepherds out herding in winter? Why?
By the way, the Pilgrims who are romanticized for their harrowing escape from religious persecution in England (*cough cough bullshit*) hated the Christmas tradition, and when the Puritans took control of England in 1645, they cancelled the Christmas celebration until the throne was reclaimed by Charles II. In the new land, Puritans forced Boston to cancel Christmas from 1659 to 1681, and made Christmas celebrations illegal.
So much for that whole freedom of religion ideal we were taught the Puritans were fighting for.
After the American revolution, the new nation wanted to cut ties with anything resembling English traditions. Christmas wasn't widely celebrated in the United States for almost 100 years, until it was made a national holiday in 1870.
Meanwhile, there are dozens of cultures in America that celebrate holidays that aren't Christmas this time of year. Not to mention the multiple holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year that Christians celebrate. Which brings me to my next point, so if you're one of those "War On Christmas" types, read very slowly, and carefully so you don't miss this.
THERE IS NO WAR ON CHRISTMAS!
NO ONE SAID YOU CAN'T SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
The people who post these stupid, "Want to trigger a liberal? Wish them a Merry Christmas" crap, it makes you look pretty damn uneducated. Say Merry Christmas - celebrate Christmas. Hell, we won't even force you to grow a brain, and learn the true history of the holiday. All anyone ever said is, other people celebrate holidays BESIDES Christmas, so when someone says "Happy Holidays" in return, because, there are multiple holidays to celebrate this time of year, even in your own little narrow minded world, don't get so butt hurt about it.
Christians in this nation are the most quickly, and easily offended people going, but seem to think if they don't get their way they're immediately being persecuted, and everyone else is offended by them. We're not offended - we just find you to be ridiculous, and stupid. Fucking grow up, and learn how to exist in a world where other people have different perspectives. We're going on probably over 1500 years of this bullshit from every sect of your cult, and you still haven't learned how to do that, even though the book you use as a guide explicitly says you're supposed to.
Not to mention how these days all these so-called Christians seem to be bigoted against everyone from Latin Americans (also Christian, almost exclusively), to African Americans (do we need to see another video of a white Christian calling the cops on black people just living their lives?) to anyone who doesn't worship their imaginary friends, or their flag in the same way they do. Your religion condones this? I think you're doing religion wrong.
I've seen this for so many years. Even from my days in college, working in retail, wishing people "Happy Holidays," and receiving a snotty or outright self-righteous comment back of, "It's supposed to be Merry Christmas!"
No, it's not "supposed to be" anything. That's the part you fail to comprehend, and why we have this issue. It's whatever celebration you want to celebrate this time of year, so take your "my beliefs are they only ones that matter" attitude, and shove it up your elf-hole.
Moving On To 2020
Someone posted that when That '70s Show was made, about life in 1976, if you made a That TwentyYears Ago Show with the same relative distance from it's time period, it would be a show about life in 1998, the year That '70s Show premiered. That fact made me feel personally attacked. Mila Kunis will be 37 this year. Topher Grace will be 42. Laura Prepon will be 40. They played high-school students in this show that does not feel far removed from my adulthood at all.
My gawd, Amy Lee from Evenescence just turned 38.
Mind. Blown.
2020 should be the culmination of the last half of the teens decade being a complete shit show. Like, a world-wide shit show. We move forward with a horrible President who really has yet to be a President under impeachment, a Senate that only passes their own agendas, and fails to even look at anything bipartisan, and a world that look at partisan politics without acknowledging there was only one side that created the partisan environment we now live in. Domestic terrorists are our largest threat, but are coddled by the very people that claim we're safer because of those coddling the terrorists.
They would be gravely mistaken, given the statistics.
Economically we're headed for collapse, which absolutely makes this the perfect time for me to be out of work. Yay!
We'll see how this all shapes up.
I'm looking forward to some time without a 9 to 5; I can use the time to regather my creative projects, and get more work done. It will give me more time to work around the house, too. With major electrical projects on my plate, and several floors that still need to be refinished, I have plenty to do to take this 1915 build, and make it a 1915 style with 2020 conveniences, and a more contemporary feel.
Hitting the Gym
Now with TWO gym memberships in my pocket, and no job, I will have no excuse come January to not get back into a gym routine. The plan is to go every morning, Monday through Friday, and spend about an hour. Since I won't be working, no more lavish eating. I will need to reduce for cost savings; less eating out, less special meals. More salads, more meal replacement. Less cost, and less calories, so hopefully I can actually start impacting this number.
Which is: 220.6
Way too much.
The New Years needs to be a focus on fixing... me.
Music Videos
Not that I want everyone to feel I'm all bah-humbug this time of year. I got together with some of my favorite people to record some festive holiday songs, and made some sweet videos. Check them out!