The Vent and Rant Thread

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Grrrr! Today is Monday, 11/3/08. It's my birthday. Yes, I'm another year older, wanna make something of it? These decrepit middle-aged hands still got some slapping left in them!

Down in the lobby here at work, they are unpacking the Christmas trees and decking the friggin' halls. It is just too early. All of the tinsel and fa-la-la-la-la makes me want to gag. I've got to look at that junk for 2 months.

Apparently it will be a Caucasion Santa year also. Last year was African-American Santa year. They use the same junk every year, but re-paint everything, because it stays out in the sun and heat for 2 months and gets pretty badly weathered. How freakin' hard is it to use different colors of paint, so that there is a Santa diversity? I'm hoping for gray or green Alien Santas next year.

And there is a large animated Disney display every year. Behind a white picket fence. Behind velvet ropes. Behind the "Do Not Touch" sign. Is it just me, or doesn't it seem cruel to put something like that at tabletop level - INSIDE A CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - and then forbid the sick kiddies from touching it? I've seen - many times - seen kiddies take off running, hit the ground and slide under the rope like they are sliding into second base. They just want to touch the magic, but instead they get into trouble.

The annual giant gingerbread house decorating day will be coming soon. It's made witih real gingerbread, icing, and candy. The kiddies can eat all they want while they are making this big construction project, but after that, it is also put behind velvet signs and ropes. Of course, by the time the holiday arrives, it's been pretty much picked clean by interns on night shift. Again, seems needlessly cruel to forbid the kiddies from touching.

Outside, it is sunny, 75 degrees, and a beautiful autumn day. Inside, it's the friggin' North Pole.

First, happy birthday!!

Next .... I had my "moment" at Walmart on Saturday. I realized they were playing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" on the PA system .... and just stood there and had myself a hissy fit right there in the store.

As I recall, I shouted something to the effect of:

"OK ... SO, WHO'S THE COMPLETE NIMROD WHO DOESN'T REALIZE THAT HALLOWEEN WAS LAST NIGHT!!"

You know .... if this trend keeps up (and there is no reason to believe it won't) then they'll start putting the Santa displays up around Valentine's Day each year.

And .... right around then, you will all hear a loud BANG. That will be me, blowing my brains out.

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

is that a hint ? is it your birthday today too ? (i would probably be willing to lie about my birthday, for a cake like that.)

Nah. I just know what would make me happy.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Nah. I just know what would make me happy.

and that's a good thing.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I had my "moment" at Walmart on Saturday. I realized they were playing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" on the PA system .... and just stood there and had myself a hissy fit right there in the store.

Um...

Actually, I was appalled to catch myself humming along before I knew what I was humming to.

But that whole business with the no-touch displays in a children's hospital is absurd.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Um...

Actually, I was appalled to catch myself humming along before I knew what I was humming to.

But that whole business with the no-touch displays in a children's hospital is absurd.

Well, sure .... there are Christmas Carols I enjoy, and sometimes I'll find myself humming one in May. But, it drives me NUTS to have any religious holiday forced down my throat for two full months out of every year. Especially when it is a religious holiday that has been perverted beyond recognition into a commercial cluster****.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

[slayda]

DixieGal, here's you a birthday present or two.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

First, happy birthday!!

Next .... I had my "moment" at Walmart on Saturday. I realized they were playing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" on the PA system .... and just stood there and had myself a hissy fit right there in the store.

As I recall, I shouted something to the effect of:

"OK ... SO, WHO'S THE COMPLETE NIMROD WHO DOESN'T REALIZE THAT HALLOWEEN WAS LAST NIGHT!!"

You know .... if this trend keeps up (and there is no reason to believe it won't) then they'll start putting the Santa displays up around Valentine's Day each year.

And .... right around then, you will all hear a loud BANG. That will be me, blowing my brains out.

Do it Texas style - shoot up the PA first!!!!

[desertgrandma]

DixieGal, Happy Birthday. Hope you had lots of cake and ice cream, and got just what you wanted.

Here in Arizona, the stores start putting up Christmas BEFORE Halloween.....and the day after, this year, I started hearing Christmas music. Earliest ever. Sucks balloons. By Christmas I'll be the biggest humbug in town.

[Slite]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Yeah, green Santas with big hollow black eyes - all 3 of them. In a flying saucer pulled by 8 tiny Uranuses... tiny Uraniae.... sphincter saucer people. What's the plural of small natives of the planet Uranus?

sphincter saucer people???!!??! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, what wouldnt I give to see THAT in a movie But yeah, way to early for x-mas decorations. But we'll be seeing them come up here soon enough as well.

Oh, and happy (belated) b-day! Here, have some chocolate cheesecake!

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

DixieGal, Happy Birthday. Hope you had lots of cake and ice cream, and got just what you wanted.

Here in Arizona, the stores start putting up Christmas BEFORE Halloween.....and the day after, this year, I started hearing Christmas music. Earliest ever. Sucks balloons. By Christmas I'll be the biggest humbug in town.

Around here it's usually September when it starts...
Mind you we've been in a southern England seaside resort (yonks ago), on a hot august day, and seen santa arrive at a store in the town ......

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by slayda

DixieGal, here's you a birthday present or two.

Awright Buddy, if that's the way you want to play: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=oFVzYnXBIU8

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Well, sure .... there are Christmas Carols I enjoy, and sometimes I'll find myself humming one in May. But, it drives me NUTS to have any religious holiday forced down my throat for two full months out of every year. Especially when it is a religious holiday that has been perverted beyond recognition into a commercial cluster****.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

I'm with you there.

You should have seen me trying to explain Christmas to our Chinese kids. Their first impression was about the presents, naturally, but once we had enough language in common, I felt that they really should have a sense of what this holiday is supposed to be about. (And much as I like the Charlie Brown special, I think kids usually glaze over when Linus does his quotation bit.)

So I read and explained the relevant bits of Luke, but the version they really like is a retelling about the innkeeper who keeps getting waked up in the middle of the night by this couple who arrive late, need a place to stay, need blankets, need another small blanket, have a bunch of people looking for them... and finally, he's roused completely out of any hope of a night's sleep by glaring lights and these angels singing overhead. (That's the bit my kids like, because I sing the first few measures of the Hallelujah Chorus at that point.)

I don't ask that my kids believe any part of this story (though I think the historical record does offer evidence of the existence of the central figure as a real person). I just think they ought to know what the holiday is supposed to be about. (We've also discussed how there have been and still are other holidays at that time of year in many other cultures as well.) My younger daughter was culturally a Buddhist when she came to live with us, though she didn't have much of a sense of what that meant (she was about 6 years old). She's still working through her beliefs, with a tendency toward universalism. My older daughter was raised as a communist atheist until she came to live with us at age 11, and while she's occasionally expressed some interest in religion (more as a "belonging" kind of thing), currently she's back to being pretty anti-religious. So asking them to believe the Christmas story is probably asking too much, but I still think they should know the basics of the story and respect others who do hold those beliefs, and I do ask them to consider this a time of year of thinking of others, and that seems to be working reasonably well.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I'm with you there.

You should have seen me trying to explain Christmas to our Chinese kids. Their first impression was about the presents, naturally, but once we had enough language in common, I felt that they really should have a sense of what this holiday is supposed to be about. (And much as I like the Charlie Brown special, I think kids usually glaze over when Linus does his quotation bit.)

So I read and explained the relevant bits of Luke, but the version they really like is a retelling about the innkeeper who keeps getting waked up in the middle of the night by this couple who arrive late, need a place to stay, need blankets, need another small blanket, have a bunch of people looking for them... and finally, he's roused completely out of any hope of a night's sleep by glaring lights and these angels singing overhead. (That's the bit my kids like, because I sing the first few measures of the Hallelujah Chorus at that point.)

I don't ask that my kids believe any part of this story (though I think the historical record does offer evidence of the existence of the central figure as a real person). I just think they ought to know what the holiday is supposed to be about. (We've also discussed how there have been and still are other holidays at that time of year in many other cultures as well.) My younger daughter was culturally a Buddhist when she came to live with us, though she didn't have much of a sense of what that meant (she was about 6 years old). She's still working through her beliefs, with a tendency toward universalism. My older daughter was raised as a communist atheist until she came to live with us at age 11, and while she's occasionally expressed some interest in religion (more as a "belonging" kind of thing), currently she's back to being pretty anti-religious. So asking them to believe the Christmas story is probably asking too much, but I still think they should know the basics of the story and respect others who do hold those beliefs, and I do ask them to consider this a time of year of thinking of others, and that seems to be working reasonably well.

That sounds like a good approach. As a Buddhist, I don't happen to believe in a creator deity, and therefore ... in my view .... Jesus of Nazareth could not have been a "son" of such a deity.

However, I do firmly believe that the man himself (1) existed and (2) was a wonderful human being and teacher. Most of everything that he said (that was documented that he said), I think were wonderful ideas, and many of them can be incorporated into a Buddhist belief system.

As such, I certainly have no problem with Christians celebrating the birth of the person they consider to be their "savior." No problem at all ... never had a problem with it ... never will. (I just had to put a stop to my mother dragging me to Christmas services with her, because it just seemed like the highest form of hypocrisy.)

But the crass commercialism ... the endless mention of the number of shopping days left ... and the hype that occurs earlier and earlier every year. It honestly makes me want to puke. I mean .... why don't they just go back to a simple celebration in church (where it belongs) and then create "National Greed Month" ... and channel all the commercialism into that??

[pshrynk]

While we're at it, could we move "National greed Month" to July, so we can travel more safely?

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

While we're at it, could we move "National greed Month" to July, so we can travel more safely?

Hey .... as long as I'm running the world .... you got it!