already failed

so my intention was to quit christmas consumerism and I have already failed in the essence of completely quitting. without my knowledge I was put into one of my jobs "seceret pals" it is the equivalent to secret santa and goes every week until christmas break. so I have already had to make purchases in the spirit of christmas. This is even before Halloween. Oh well, I'm still sticking to it the best I can.

don't lie

in chatting with a coworker and friend the other day we came to the conclusion that adults are really just a bunch of hypocrites. This all started how we were talking about how wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all as honest as children. Kids just say thing without any ego, any worry of how it is interpreted, and any worry of sparing feelings.

How wonderful would it be if we all were so bluntly honest. People would express their true feelings and call other people on their shit much more often.

as good as that would be I thought about how we lie and are hypocrites. One lesson fed to kids over and over and over again is the importance of honesty. I am one of the most honest people I know but I certainly lie from time to time like anyone else. So here we have a situation where the adults and grown-ups of the world are spouting the importance of honesty and punishing dishonesty when we ourselves go through the world lying frequently.

teen challenge

the other day I had a conversation with a teenage high school student. she was telling me that she wanted to try out for her school cheer leading team but was hesitant because was worried it would be full of nerds. long story short the conversation boiled down to me challenging her as to what exactly constitutes a nerd. I give her credit for being able to honestly answer me despite some hesitation. I love challenging people on their thoughts. Many times I challenge others on their beliefs they tend to tell me to shut up, or ask me why I'm asking, or tell me I'm being weird. When I hear these replies it typically translates to "your making me uncomfortable or I'm ashamed of my answer or I don't want to tell you" This particular young lady was able to verbalize what she thought even though she was not too pleased with her answer. So I thought to myself: if someone asked you a challenging question about your beliefs would you be able to answer it out loud? A question about our personnel prejudice would be a good example.
It's worth thinking about and I'm not sure many of us are able to answer the tough questions. could you?

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.