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Friday, December 19, 2008

holiday hooplah

Woke up this morning with a song from Hair stuck in my head (stuck in my hair?). Times like that I realize what a murky soup my brain must be. It wasn't the Aquarius one, but the one about "especially people/who care about strangers/who care about evil/and social injustice!"
God only knows what I was dreaming about. Not to mention why I have the lyrics to the song memorized, apparently.
Nero hasn't seen his friends, AK and Fatty Rodriguez, in more than a week, so I surmised that their owner has been walking them super early and vowed to Nero we'd get out and try to catch them. 6 freaking a.m. Pitch black. Crunch crunch on the frozen tundra, um, field. Nero took the darkness as an opportunity to try to run off and be invisible, but he underestimated my ability to follow his dark shape and crunchy ice sounds.
We're wrapping up our final/double issue of the year, and then we're off the streets until Jan. 7. I, too, will be off the streets, as I'm going to Switzerland to see Sonya. It's sort of an odd place for me to be going ("I'm going to Switzerland" doesn't sound quite as natural/likely as "I'm going to the gym."). But, there you have it. Really I just want some decent hot chocolate, yo. And, of course, to see my dearest friend. And to spend 15 hours on an airplane, because that's a lot of uninterrupted reading time.
OK, speaking of reading...back to it.
I'm sure I'll blog again, but just in case:
Have a safe & merry whatever!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Worry Warting

I know, in theory, that I used to drive in the snow without a care in the world. I commuted three times a week to Albuquerque when I was in graduate school, regardless of the weather. I even sat on the side of I-25 one night in the midst of a white-out, pre-cell phone, calmly weighing my options (there actually were no options. And at one point, a knock on my driver's side window nearly sent me into a coma. It was a state police, informing me I'd pulled over into the middle of a lane and I better just try to make it home since they were about to close the highway).
I drove to Española every single day when I worked for the SUN, through plenty of treacherous storms.
So why am I now considering taking the bus until the snow desists? Is this just yet another tedious result of ageing: fear, fear with a side of fear? Or is this a wonderful sign of growing maturity: the ability to make reasoned and practical decisions?
Or (and?) do I need to break down and buy a honkin' SUV to carry me safely through winter storms?

Thursday, December 04, 2008

And what is a humbug anyway?

People always assume that I hate the holiday season. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe there's some kind of Aristotelian syllogism going on here.
Cynical people hate holidays
Julia is cynical
Julia hates holidays

I actually don't hate holidays and, in particular, I don't hate Christmas. Why should I? What does Christmas have to do with me? Am I Christian? No. Do I resent the pressure of consumerism? Not nearly as much as I resent having to spend thousands of dollars on my stupid teeth, which are bad solely due to genetics. If there was a holiday celebrating genetics, I might hate that. Unless that's my birthday, which I don't hate, although there is something sort of tedious about birthdays. Well, the date, obviously, is predictable. It would be much more interesting if one celebrated one's birthday on a different date each year. Although that might damage the idea of a birthday as an anniversary of one's birth, I suppose.
I don't hate Christmas. I actually rather like Christmas songs. They are so very insipid and silly. But catchy. Kind of like a Nelly song. Nelly should put out a Christmas song.

It's getting hot in here
Santa says take off all your clothes
Refrain: I am getting so hot Santa! I'm gonna take off all my clothes!

Maybe not. I also don't hate Christmas trees. I think hating a tree seems like a sign that you have too much time on your hands. Hating an evil dictator I can understand. And Christmas ornaments? Granted, I'm not a fan of stuff, especially little stuff that has no real purpose, so Christmas ornaments are not really for me, but I think they're pretty. I asked the boy the other day, as we passed a Christmas Tree lot, if he planned to buy one. He said he was considering buying a menorah, because they are "classy." The boy really likes candles. I do not like candles. They are too waxy and only useful on those rare occasions when the electricity goes out. The boy used to buy me candles as presents until I begged him to stop. I also put stuffed animals and plants on the list of No Buy options. I guess I am somewhat hard to buy presents for, although not if you have a lot of money. Then I'm very easy.
All this began because the one thing I don't like about this time of year is that people say the same things over and over again. Like "Bah Humbug!" It only just occurred to me that I don't have any idea what a humbug is. It turns out the word humbug basically means balderdash. So Bah humbug is the same as saying Bah Balderash, except less alliterative, and possibly kind of weird. Still, I think I may try it out this holiday season, if the occasion suits.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

College of Santa Fe Drama

continues to unfold at a rapid rate. Here's Zane's latest update.