Happy Whatever You Call It.

The holidays have finally come and gone. Well, sort of. We still need to exchange gifts with Tom's family, but I'm hoping we'll finish that tomorrow. As Tom says, his family can't organize their way out of a wet paper sack. I'm just sayin'. The holidays are mostly over and I'm actually good with that.

I like this time of year, but I hate crowded places even more. I had to go to Target on Saturday. Just a brief trip to pick up one last gift. I learned the hard way there is no such thing as a quick trip to Target on Dec. 23rd. I'm just sayin'. I thought some lady was going to poke my eye out while I was browsing in the yoga section, and that's just wrong. "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men," doesn't apply in December in the retail world.

As usual, I was utterly spoiled by my husband for Christmas. He cooked a fabulous meal for my family Saturday night, set up the Wii and entertained my father with Golf, helped wrap presents and gave me a fabulous present - a TomTom! I'm super excited about having the navigation system in my car because I have no sense of direction and really, really hate being lost. We gave the TomTom a snooty British voice so it has the added bonus of making me feel like I'm accompanied by a bossy English woman at all times. :)

It was a good holiday and I'm happy to bid it adieu.

GET. ME. OUT. OF. HERE.

There are currently a host of packages at my home, at least one of which (I'm convinced) is singing a siren song audible from 8 miles away through office building windows and walls.

It's just sad that I am, at 31 years of age, no better at containing my excitement than I was at, say, 3 years of age. That being said, I don't care! I must go home to experience Wii!!! Now, now, now, now, now :)

Work is so booooooring and the prospect of a Wii is so fun....

Finding My Zen.

Late this summer, as a part of my focus on losing weight, I started taking up yoga. My employer made this shamefully easy by offering Monday and Friday 1-hour classes in the auditorium literally steps away from my desk.

I absolutely LOVE my yoga classes. We don't have class this week or next due to the holidays, and I'm feeling an urge to stretch almost constantly! I miss stretching, I miss being sore after the hardcore Monday sessions, I miss relaxing after the Friday sessions - I just miss it! Our YMCA offers sessions on Tuesday and Thursday - I'm going to have to make sure to attend at least one per week or I'll be dying over here.

If you haven't tried yoga before, I highly recommend it. You can make your sessions as easy or hard as you want to by changing up your poses to match your ability. A good yoga instructor will inspire you to focus and do your best at each pose, but will not push you into doing anything that hurts or doesn't feel good. And while some poses might be challenging at first, it feels SO GOOD when you get to the end of your practice.

Now if I could just get my coworkers to stop giving me funny looks when I do forward folds in my cube....

Deeply Disturbing

I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I am deeply disturbed by many things happening in the US these days. I just read an article interviewing a career military man about the rise of Evangelicals in the military. It's a fairly shocking read - right down to the part where his children (3rd generation military) had to take insults to their Jewish faith from higher ranking officers.
The officer being interviewed runs a foundation to oppose religious intimidation in the military. He mentions that 96% (96%!!!!) of the reports regarding religious intimidation the foundation receives are from Christians being told by Evangelicals that they aren't Christian enough (and are going to hell as a result.) The officer talks a bit about history and pulls out a quote that really struck me:

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” - Sinclair Lewis (1930s after visiting Germany)

I often wonder why a religion needs to hang threats (like hell) over the heads of both followers and non-followers. What's the purpose? (I should say 1. I fully understand and acknowledge that not all religions use threats. Some do. I'm just sayin'. 2. I don't understand the concept of eternal damnation. I don't accept that good people who don't follow a certain path are to be punished while positively horrid people who do follow a given path are "redeemed." Makes zero sense to me.) If your faith offers such a wonderful life to people, shouldn't that be enough? I don't understand trying to beat people, in a variety of ways, into believing what you believe. Just accept that some people don't want your version of salvation and get on with it already, wouldjya...

Which is where things are going horribly, horribly wrong in this country. Religion is a powder keg you don't want to mess with, and I'm tired of the controlling agendas pushed into the public realm based purely on the Evangelical picture of a perfect world. Here's a concept: let's try using logic and not faith to govern. A land where decisions are made based on science and research, not ideological whimsy. A place where institutions are not used as weapons against people who think differently. A country where people are treated with respect REGARDLESS of their religious beliefs, orientation, family status, skin color or pretty much anything else for that matter. Novel.

Enough ranting for today. I must go as Christmahanukwanzica is almost here and I am not yet shopped out. :)