In Which Caroline Talks About Religious Holidays, Family, Religion, and Just Insults Everyone
Winter Solstice Stuff (the big holiday for the atheists in my house. That is, everyone but my grandfather):
iPhone (holy shit. I'm addicted to it already.. I've been trying to break the habit ever since because staring at a tiny screen 8 hours a day is not very family oriented). Mom and my sister also got iPhones. My dad didn't get one, though, which is sad because he can't, since he gets his phone through work (and doesn't work at a fancypants law firm like my mom). Mom did mention that she might buy him an HDTV later, though, for the basement.
Orange Box for PS3 from my sister. Which is amazing because I swear it's the only new game I wanted that I don't have and I don't make Christmas lists, generally.
Truffles from some fancy place in St Paul from my sister's fiance (trying to accept it..still. It's slightly easier this vacation because I've actually been able to see my sister apart from him some).
A stained glass Christmas Ornament from my grandfather. I really love that it looks like a Unitarian Universalist Chalice
Christmas Stuff:
Carmex (mm..always)
Some colored Hi-Tec pens. They are my dad's favorite, though like 7 years ago they stopped selling them in the US. Well, he found a vendor, so he got some for us.
Car charger for the iPhone.
$100 from my grandfather.
A T-shirt with an owl on it from my sister. I know that owls are popular these days, but it's slightly amusing that that has become my representative animal without really my input. Everyone in my family seems to get me owl-related stuff quite a bit. It's cute.
Some Ghiradelli chocolate squares.
I haven't gone down south to my extended relatives' party thing, which I guess is going to be at our place. Ugh. I'm kind of confused as to whether I even want to go. I figure I'll be bored if I go there, or bored if I come back. (But I do want to see the boyfriend..blah Oh well, a week or two won't hurt us.) It just sucks when you're stuck in the mountains and you want to go home.
I don't know. I guess it's weird to have all of your extended family live so far away. I feel like I don't know any of them very well, and I know I really do not feel comfortable with my other grandparents.
And after reading that Wikipedia article about Unitarian Universalism, I am amused. A couple of things:
1. UUs don't go to church regularly, particularly the atheist ones (touche).
2. UUs are very similar to liberal Quakers (yeah, though i feel like liberal Quakers are much more structured in their services. A little talking, a lot of meditation, boredom for futile)
3. "They sort of pick and choose from among wildly unrelated pieces of Buddhism: a little from Tibetan, a little from Chinese, a little from here, a little from there. This is offensive and presumptuous." <-- Dude obviously hasn't studied Chinese history. Universalism and these sorts of practices are *totally* in line with Chinese syncretism. But whatever. I guess you could argue that the preacher (or whatever you call him/her) does not know enough about Buddhism to preach it, but *come on*.
I don't know, I think after learning about Chinese syncretism, I, myself, have a renewed interest in Universalism. It's kind of a messed up idea, maybe, because I am an atheist, but I do think there are a number of values and important life-lessons in religion. But naturally it's not just one, because they're all mythology to me, but every one of them.
Perhaps it is the subjectiveness of being a Christian that makes them so bad at understanding how to be a good person, but I do agree with the whole Gandhi quote, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Perhaps once-upon-a-time, when religion was bigger and more associated with useful things, like increasing ones understanding about the world, it would have seemed more useful to me. Maybe it's the grand separation we have now between religion and understanding that makes it so distasteful to me.
I'm still bored. Can you tell?
Speaking of Elysianity*.. I mean, Christianity, I think I'm gonna go watch the last. episode. of Xena now (it's in Japan! How weird.)
* In Xena, Eli = Jesus. Like, seriously. He gets crucified and goes to heaven and gives Xena the power to kill gods. Or something. Somehow the Xena-fied version of the story is not nearly as sexist and misogynistic as the bible one. Hmm, I wonder why. Damned lesbians.
iPhone (holy shit. I'm addicted to it already.. I've been trying to break the habit ever since because staring at a tiny screen 8 hours a day is not very family oriented). Mom and my sister also got iPhones. My dad didn't get one, though, which is sad because he can't, since he gets his phone through work (and doesn't work at a fancypants law firm like my mom). Mom did mention that she might buy him an HDTV later, though, for the basement.
Orange Box for PS3 from my sister. Which is amazing because I swear it's the only new game I wanted that I don't have and I don't make Christmas lists, generally.
Truffles from some fancy place in St Paul from my sister's fiance (trying to accept it..still. It's slightly easier this vacation because I've actually been able to see my sister apart from him some).
A stained glass Christmas Ornament from my grandfather. I really love that it looks like a Unitarian Universalist Chalice
Christmas Stuff:
Carmex (mm..always)
Some colored Hi-Tec pens. They are my dad's favorite, though like 7 years ago they stopped selling them in the US. Well, he found a vendor, so he got some for us.
Car charger for the iPhone.
$100 from my grandfather.
A T-shirt with an owl on it from my sister. I know that owls are popular these days, but it's slightly amusing that that has become my representative animal without really my input. Everyone in my family seems to get me owl-related stuff quite a bit. It's cute.
Some Ghiradelli chocolate squares.
I haven't gone down south to my extended relatives' party thing, which I guess is going to be at our place. Ugh. I'm kind of confused as to whether I even want to go. I figure I'll be bored if I go there, or bored if I come back. (But I do want to see the boyfriend..blah Oh well, a week or two won't hurt us.) It just sucks when you're stuck in the mountains and you want to go home.
I don't know. I guess it's weird to have all of your extended family live so far away. I feel like I don't know any of them very well, and I know I really do not feel comfortable with my other grandparents.
And after reading that Wikipedia article about Unitarian Universalism, I am amused. A couple of things:
1. UUs don't go to church regularly, particularly the atheist ones (touche).
2. UUs are very similar to liberal Quakers (yeah, though i feel like liberal Quakers are much more structured in their services. A little talking, a lot of meditation, boredom for futile)
3. "They sort of pick and choose from among wildly unrelated pieces of Buddhism: a little from Tibetan, a little from Chinese, a little from here, a little from there. This is offensive and presumptuous." <-- Dude obviously hasn't studied Chinese history. Universalism and these sorts of practices are *totally* in line with Chinese syncretism. But whatever. I guess you could argue that the preacher (or whatever you call him/her) does not know enough about Buddhism to preach it, but *come on*.
I don't know, I think after learning about Chinese syncretism, I, myself, have a renewed interest in Universalism. It's kind of a messed up idea, maybe, because I am an atheist, but I do think there are a number of values and important life-lessons in religion. But naturally it's not just one, because they're all mythology to me, but every one of them.
Perhaps it is the subjectiveness of being a Christian that makes them so bad at understanding how to be a good person, but I do agree with the whole Gandhi quote, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Perhaps once-upon-a-time, when religion was bigger and more associated with useful things, like increasing ones understanding about the world, it would have seemed more useful to me. Maybe it's the grand separation we have now between religion and understanding that makes it so distasteful to me.
I'm still bored. Can you tell?
Speaking of Elysianity*.. I mean, Christianity, I think I'm gonna go watch the last. episode. of Xena now (it's in Japan! How weird.)
* In Xena, Eli = Jesus. Like, seriously. He gets crucified and goes to heaven and gives Xena the power to kill gods. Or something. Somehow the Xena-fied version of the story is not nearly as sexist and misogynistic as the bible one. Hmm, I wonder why. Damned lesbians.