Quitting Christmas Consumerism

I have decided this year to give up the consumerism of christmas. by this I mean NO presents giving or receiving. This was a decision I had made a couple of months ago but was an idea I had entertained last year. I just feel that as I get older christmas loses mroe and more of its magic and the reason for this is because people get wrapped up in the consumerism. I love chritmas. I love hanging out with friends and family and drinking and eating and just being in one anothers company. What takes away from this more and more each year is the pressure to buy buy BUY!

The reasons for me to quit christmas consumerism are a few. Teh first I think is a test for myself to see if I can infact do it and that I truly want to do it and I am not trying to convince myself of some society challenging idea that I am not behind.

the second reason for this is to save money. In years past I have spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on gifts. Many of which I wanted to buy but there were certainly many along the way that I felt I had to buy. gift exchanges or gifts to reciprocate when I knew some were coming my way. Let's stop the waste of cash.

The third is to challenge other people's way of thinking. This is an idea I have had simmering on my mental back burners for a few years and am now putting into action. If I am thinking this and willing to make it happen there have got to be some others who feel the same way or at least have the thought somewhere in their brain as well. In my early claims of telling people my plans I have received mixed reviews. from "good idea" and "I agree" to flat out "why?" and my partner even saying about others "they won't be challenged, they will think your stupid."

So from now until christmas I am sure I will put up a few posts about this challenge of giving up christmas consumerism. If I am feeling the pressure, my responses from others, and the journey from now untill the end of December. Should be interesting.

identification

I noticed something the other day. the only jobs that require you have i.d. are the really low end jobs (fast food, grocery store, mall cop etc.) and really high end and dangerous jobs (surgeons, pro athletes, cops, military). Interesting how the mid range jobs do not have name tags or the name sewn right in. In fact, its not only name tags but the notion of wearing a uniform as well. so the next time you find yourself wearing a name tag ask yourself: are you working a well respected and high paying job? or not so much?

the scooter wave

I got a scooter a few months ago. I was so thrilled to get it as I have wanted one for years. One of the appeals of the scooter life was (albeit a small one) was the scooter community. I would watch scooterers wave at each other the way bikers do and bus drivers do and boaters do. you don't have to know these people to be friendly, it is simply sharing a passion, or at least a hobby, and the wave is a friendly gesture. who doesn't like when others are friendly. I got my first scooter wave about a month after getting my scooter and it felt amazing. like I was in some sort of club that before I could only watch from afar as they did their secret handshakes. Since receiving my first scooter wave I have since given out many and received many as well. lately there seems to be a lull in the kamloops scooter community. I've been dishing out the waves, the smiles, and the head nods and the response seems to have decreased. I seldom get the wave and one gentleman didn't even acknowledge the scooter wave... In any way! (the catalyst for this particular blogging). I'm not sure what forces are at work but I know I don't like it. I liked getting the wave. the smile is nice but it's no wave. My latest scooter acknowledgments seem to be a far cry form the early stages of the scootering which included waves and even on one occasion (from the passenger of a red vespa) a cheer of approval... which I reciprocated with a fist pump. Nothing like a good fist pump.
Anyways, I would like if more scooterers gave the wave. Although I did get a couple of high school kids encouraging me to "spill" today. I chose to disapoint them.

he makes lots of money

alright, so I can't help to talk about something I have noticed in the past couple months. A number of girl friends of mine have been in relationships for some time and whenever it comes up in conversation with old friends and new ones his income enters the conversation. What is interesting is that the conversation doesn't really progress to that direction, it seems to be brought up out of the blue. I understand that there is alot of pressure on men in this society to make lots of money and be the bread winner and take care of his woman but I find it interesting that the woman is bringing it up. It is not something I particularly care about hearing but for whatever reason this is a common topic that is being shared. interesting.

the urinal stand

I enjoy being a guy. One of the best traits of being male is the ability to pee anywhere (was great at camp), specifically to stand up. One specific time this is nice is at crowded events such as sporting events and concerts where there is a break in the entertainment and the people go flooding into the washroom and the line for the boys is short and moving quickly while the line for the women is long and slow moving.
As nice as this is I still find the setting in the male washroom interesting. For some reason a lot of guys stand at the urinal far after the liquid has drained. Many times I step up the the porcelain after a guy next to me has already been there for a a little bit and I finish and walk away and the guy is still there. I know he is done peeing for 2 reasons: 1) I don't think anybody can pee for a full minute mid-day (even first thing in the morning its a stretch) 2) if you stand behind them you can tell that no fluid is coming down..... ya, sometimes I look (but never from the side). So I am left wondering why guys do this.
Are they simply enjoying the quiet moment in the large noisy event or are they trying to silently brag? is there some sort of ego posturing where nobody talks and for some reason everyone stands a little bit too long showing everyone else that they have a large bladder? I don't know why this is but the guys standing too long at the urinal is a strange situation.

the return of the blog 2

so I started blogging again. this is my first entry in months because I was busy with school ending and going back to summer camp after three years off (I started this blog a long time ago)

In reading my past few entries I realized that my theme of late has been things that annoy me so I will depart from that today before I go on a rant on my next blog about guys in the washroom. today I deliver good news to my readers.

With school now over for me I wasn't sure where I would be living in the coming months whether it was going to be kamloops or edmonton. I am happy to report that I was able to land a couple of jobs and thus allowing me to live in kamloops for at least another year (dance season). stay tuned for interesting stories, the things that I find annoying, and whatever else I think to write of.