Holiday

I wish today was a holiday, unfortunately it's not. And until my employer starts celebrating Jean Genet's birthday I'll just have to expect to work every December 19th. I don't know who Jean Genet is either in case you're wondering. I've got a calendar from Half Price Books and it gives you birth dates of famous and semi-famous (or all together not famous) author's birthdays. It's pretty cool, although it is annoying that my calendar is clearly more well read than I am. It is pretty sweet when someone pisses me off though and I can, for instance, say that they just ruined Oliver LaFarge's birthday party. And no, I don't know who Ollie is either.
This is the week that we've all been waiting for. People start mailing it in at work, it's completely acceptable to eat sugar cookies in the shapes of trees and chocolates all day and chex mix is a valid lunchtime meal. It must be holiday time right? And, being that this is America and we're mostly Christian we like to celebrate the ol' Christmas. Everybody has their own way of doing it. My dad likes to have his family around, a turkey nearby and plenty of port wine for his Christmas experience. I'm totally on board with this idea. Other folks like to go out on the town and dress up and stuff. Or is that New Year's? Sometimes I get confused. Anywho, drinking copious amounts of wine and getting stuff from people is always a good time. True there is a movement to stop saying "Merry Christmas" and start saying "Happy Holidays". I'm mostly indifferent to this sort of thing. I don't think it's offensive to say "Merry Christmas" to someone who isn't Christian. And I sure as hell don't care if someone told me to have a happy Kwanzaa or Chanukah. In fact I think I would think it's pretty cool. No one has ever told me to have a happy Kwanzaa and to this point in my life I have not HAD a happy Kwanzaa. Are the two items related? Only time will tell.
I guess there was some questioning about whether Chanukah would be overshadowed by Christmas this year as they are (or begin) on the same day. No one has asked if Kwanzaa feels overshadowed by Boxing Day yet but I'm sure it's coming around for our northern neighbors. No one's ever wished me a happy Boxing Day either so I can't say I care who wins that fight. I don't know much about the two of them other than they generally include people who are not me and who do not look like me and I've never been invited to join in the fun. If anyone has an invite, I'm free. So this is the beginning of this great holy time. And yes, any time that I have off from work is considered holy. I will be celebrating Charles Sainte-Beuve's birthday this Friday for instance and taking the day off. I consider it very holy. And no, I don't know what Chuck has done to merit a spot on the coveted Half Price Books poster either.

New Feature!
There are many things in life that are so stupid and/or useless that I consider them 100% awesome. These sorts of things can't be hidden from the public viewing and I just have to talk about them when I think of it. So here you.

100% Awesome!
1. Here's an excerpt on the life of Jean Genet "He subsequently escaped the criminal world to become a writer, who glorified the underworld and homosexual love."
2. Why are there ladders on range rovers and some vans? How often are they used? Can you imagine a LandRover owner daring to get mud on their ladder? Wouldn't they have a fit?
3. While getting into Mule's truck the other day after work (he was giving me a lift to my car parked elsewhere in the lot) Eddie Money blasted out "Take me home tonight, I don't want to let you go til I see the light" as I got into the vehicle.
4. The look on our coworker's faces as they realized that Mule was giving me a ride roughly one level down on the ramp and I was too lazy to walk it and that we were happily listening to Eddie Money.
5. 4 day work week.