Archive for December 2009
Happy Winter!
What if they held a winter, and nobody came? Today marks the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. The daylight doesn’t get any shorter than this. Kind of inspires a reason to hold a celebration, doesn’t it? If you aren’t ready for that yet, don’t fret, in four days it will be Christmas. You can celebrate then.
The best part of Christmas is the giving of gifts, and the best part of giving is surprise. The person receiving and the person giving both get fueled by it. Yet, we have this natural tendency to seek the information that spoils the surprise. People will go to great lengths to hide and greater lengths to seek the packages brought home this time of year. I know someone who claimed he hid his wife’s gifts in the oven because it is one place she would never look. I tend to try the obvious and hide things in plain sight. If it doesn’t look hidden, it must not be something that needs to be hidden. Why investigate something left out in the open? This technique benefits by having a lot of clutter around in the first place, in order to make the new additions blend in.
My brother-in-law and I long ago discarded the surprise aspect of gift exchange in the family name-draw routine and deviously scheme ways to end up with each other’s name. Then, we ask what the other wants and get that very item. No muss, no fuss. But both have always found a way to doctor it up a bit, because even as we are busy navigating around the whole ‘what-gift-to-surprise-them-with’ dilemma, we still can’t overcome that connection to the surprise aspect of gift exchange.
I am also quite fond of anonymous gift giving. There’s nothing like inventing a fat man that inexplicably navigates a chimney to deliver gifts to cover up that it was you. Good luck with that one.
Happy Winter everyone! Enjoy the celebrations.
Just Below the Surface
There are plenty of aspects of our lives, of society and its variety of traditions available to be unwrapped at this time of year. More than I can do justice to explore in the limited time I can reserve to actually compose in words the wide variety of thoughts I experience. It is much easier to just go with the flow; to play the superficial role of a smiling, happy consumer, member of my community and member of my family.
I truly believe there is a wealth of valuable raw material available in the thoughts and feelings that exist just below the surface of our activities and experiences when November and December events and holidays arrive. Choosing to actually recognize them and even take conscious action to mine them for purposeful application is one step further than I think most people feel they have signed up for.
But the reality is that we tend to find we are dealing with life challenges whether we want to or not. Some are simple. It’s not that everything needs to be at a level that determines life-long commitments or vows of loyalty or questions of spiritual faith and moral value. Some involve choosing to be less wasteful.
For most of my life, I have been inclined to want to wrap presents in old Sunday newspaper comics pages. It was born more out of a contrarian attitude to be counter to the culture that produced and marketed wrapping paper. Now it is becoming more renowned as a “green” choice. Whatever. Save the planet, or avoid contributing to the over-commercialization of the season. Consider wrapping your gifts in something that you didn’t purchase to wrap a gift with this year. I think it’s fun.
Something Curious
There is something about child-produced art that can capture both rudiment and preeminence. Every day, I walk past paintings that my children created when they were in school and I hardly ever notice them. It is a curious happening that I can suddenly become fascinated by something that is always visible, yet primarily neglected, as I pass by multiple times a day.
This image is of a painting that my son, Julian, signed his name to. One of the primary things that appeals to me in this painting is how well he captured the background, of all things. It is not just that I am happy with the colors present; it is that he captured an image I know so well. That is the base of an old Zenith radio and record turntable that had been around my life for as long as I can remember. There were volumes of 78 rpm records kept in the colored bindings slid into the slots on either side of the speaker. Even the double X of the wood grate in front of the fabric that covered the speaker seems spot-on with deep memories I hold about this classic antique piece.
The cat sprawled on her back with feet pointing in odd angles, seems to be one of the features that looks both a bit primitive, yet at the same time, very appropriately depicts the strange positions she actually assumes at any given opportunity. Last night, I suddenly found myself so enthralled with looking at this painting in the hallway that I had to get the camera so I could share the image with others. Then, in a day or two, it will fade out of sight and return to almost invisible in the hall as I pass by multiple times a day.
It is curious.
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Think
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think about a reason not to think about
the things that for whatever silly reason
remain easier not to talk about
with the people who really matter most
as if the things that transpired
some time in the long ago past
deserve to hold sway
in a negative way
right now today
at the critical time of now
which matters more than any other
regardless how we allow
our silly trepidations
to carry so much weight
when things that did do harm
on a scale far beyond
our ability to comprehend
continue to come back around
and diminish each individual’s worth
for every time hurt befalls one other
all people of the world ultimately suffer
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Sing About It
I couldn’t stay away from all the relative somethings for very long, but my available time is measured in mere minutes of late. The amount of unavailable time is measured in a consecutive series of hours and is being filled with non-stop action at the day-job, wonderfully secretive holiday projects, obvious chores, as well as unplanned ones like snow shoveling, errand running and a variety of elfish duties while my lovely bride is on the road. Meanwhile, the guitars rest neglected in their cases and the creative writing is reduced to an almost imperceptible amount.
Regardless the hectic pace occupying my extremely limited time, it has not escaped my notice that one of the popular trends moving through current culture just happens to be one that my mother would have really enjoyed. Glee clubs appear to be all the rage of late. Mom was a Sweet Adeline and I saw that a current vocal competition being broadcast on NBC included a Sweet Adeline barbershop quartet as one of the final five groups competing. FOX Broadcasting has a series called “Glee” and a I’ve noticed features on the CBS Sunday Morning program and in the local newspaper highlighting the renewed interest in high school glee clubs. Could standing around the piano singing at house parties be far behind? I’m not sure I ever witnessed it actually happen, back in the good ol’ days, but I’ve seen it done in pictures. I wonder if anyone will know the words to obvious sing-along songs if the opportunity presents itself. Pass the eggnog.
Guest Post
John couldn’t be here today because he was working too hard on his secret December projects to get around to writing, so me and Silent Bob is here to tell you all that we’ve got everything under control. Our take on things involves a lot more profanity than is probably welcome here so we won’t go ranting about what bugs us most, except for people who take candy from babies. We hate it when that happens. All we really know is that things are rarely as bad as they seem, even when we are acting as if it is just the opposite. We hate when that happens, too. Anyway, don’t you think you should get back to work or whatever it is you are supposed to be doing right now? Dude!
When It Snows
I may be wrong about this, but it sure seems to me that people today have come to expect that snowstorms shouldn’t alter their regular routines one bit. To a certain extent, I am as guilty as anyone else, but I have always been one to venture out in snow events. I have almost always driven 4-wheel drive vehicles. But in the past, I was one of a small number of people who were out before the plows. Now I find all sorts of vehicles forging their way, devising arbitrary routes and pathways, and parking in vague proximity to normally expected spots. The poor snow-plow drivers must execute their maneuvers with the added challenge of navigating traffic.
Yesterday, I guess the snow didn’t accumulate early enough for the plows to get ahead of the regular morning traffic. As I crested a small rise at the approach to my health club driveway, I found two county plows stopped, the back one with the driver’s side door open. A car ahead of me went around them and turned right in front of them to enter the club parking lot. I chose to follow, thinking the plows weren’t headed anywhere with that door open. A couple of vehicles approaching were waiting to make their left turns into the same lot, so I felt I shouldn’t dawdle there and leave them waiting.
I made the turn as I cleared the first plow, only to find the pickup that was trying to clean the parking lot, in my lane, in what appeared to be a standoff with the county trucks. To get by him, my only option was to enter in the wrong lane, and of course there was someone trying to leave at the same time, so we were now face to face. I had very quickly made myself the center of the multi-faceted problem. I was very happy not to be trying to plow snow while cars continue to move about as if it was just another day. It’s gotta be frustrating.
Later, on the freeway, cars whizzed past me as if the pavement were clear and dry. But evidence to the contrary was visible in the tracks of the spinouts that must have bounced against the concrete center barrier and from the paths blazed into the ditches on the right. People expect to be able to drive the posted limit, regardless the snow event. It is expected that the Department of Transportation should remove the snow and salt the roadway and that cars should be able to move about the roads just the same as any other day. My workplaces have never designated a “snow-day” and the schools in town rarely ever do anymore… it’s as if it has come to pass that a snow event should no longer even be an event after all! Just carry on as if nothing’s wrong; that is, unless you are a snow-plow driver. Then you’ll need all the luck you can get to accomplish your chore, uninterrupted.
Mmm Mmm Holiday Good!
Sometimes, when Monday arrives before it is really welcome, it helps to go back and look at what Sunday was all about. Especially when it was the Sunday in December when Cyndie gets busy makin’ oodles of Christmas cookies!
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Any ideas I had about being disciplined with what I choose to eat have been rendered useless this year against the onslaught of sights and smells which rendered me helpless against the irresistible power inherent in fresh-baked, love-filled holiday baking. Honestly, I give up. Sweeeeeeet!
Teach or Do?
Have you noticed a trend? There is a commercial where automobiles being driven by teens are actually being carried by groups of parents to keep them safe. The groups of adults hold the car up in the air and lift it over another car to avoid a collision. In another shot, the adults are bringing a car to a stop at a railroad crossing. If I recall correctly, the ad is for an insurance company and they make reference to having cameras in the car so parents can see how their children are behaving as drivers on their own. How ‘on their own’ is that? The next thing you know, parents will ‘helicopter’ over kids that have left home to be in college. Of course, that is exactly what some parents are doing.
In a way, it seems logical to look at something tragic that happened and react with a plan to prevent the possibility for that tragedy to ever happen again. But I think it always runs a risk of punishment not fitting the crime. It is very sad that children die. I ask, is it logical that we should devise a way to live that will prevent any childhood death, or near-death and the resulting disabilities? I think it is an over-reaction. At what point do we actually become the problem we want to solve? We want our kids safe, but if we get so busy over-stepping our bounds to protect by doing for them, we rob them of the actual, valuable lessons that teach them to make responsible, intelligent decisions that lead to outcomes ultimately desired.
It makes sense to control the urge to over-protect our children and instead, teach them the lessons to discern the right course of action in unexpected situations. Instill confidence in their abilities to best face life’s risks. Risks not dissimilar to the ones that we successfully survived to ultimately become their parents.
Life is lived, it is not controlled.
Being Grateful
It seems a shame that I should need to muster the resources to be grateful. It ought to just rise up over me to overflowing for all that I have. I should be thankful to be gainfully employed, and to have the chance to work extra hours, when others can’t even find a job. But I don’t want to be at work on Saturday morning. I don’t want to work so many hours in a day that I never see daylight and by the time I get home, it is after my dinner hour and I don’t want to eat. I arrive home so exhausted that I just want to lay down and sleep. Then I get up early the next morning to hustle back into the workplace. It feels like I just left, and I’m back for more.
We are experiencing a boom in business. I should be grateful.
I do appreciate the opportunity, to a certain degree, to rise to the challenge and give the extra effort and energy in response to the bounty of orders placed with our company. It reflects a confidence our customers have in us. We are proud to respond rapidly to the demands made on us and to provide the short turn-around sought by both our loyal businesses and the newer companies that hold potential for becoming regulars. Too bad that all of a sudden, everyone is wanting our services at the very same, short time.
There is a small level of adrenaline in response to the heavy pace of business and all the challenges that come with it, and it can be exciting. But in my case, it comes at the expense of other aspects of my life that I value more highly. I just don’t have the reserves to accomplish the tasks and passions of my non-work related life. So at this time of year when non-work life activity is peaking, this year I am finding my work load at the day job is also at a peak. At least, we think it is a peak. There has been no indication when and if it might let up. Very soon we will be faced with making a decision as to whether we are being forced to grow the company, or not.
I should be grateful.
Is there a difference between feeling grateful and being grateful?
Relative Something 