Friends

For those getting my last batch of cards, if you happen to notice the stamp, I'm hoping you're going to laugh. I ran out of stamps, so when I asked at the post office for some more, the woman asked, "Holiday stamps?" I shrugged and said, "I don't care." Of all the stamps to give me, she gave me the Virgin Mary stamps.

On the one hand, one can easily throw a fit over this. Why give blatantly religious stamps at a federal office? Even if you argue it's holiday, there are plenty of secular stamps that go well with the holidays and the separation of church and state.

I'm not going to do that, though. I'm just going to giggle at the thought of the first stamps she pulled out to give an atheist was the of the Virgin Mary and think about how pretty they are...and how Mary wouldn't have been white, anyway.

ETA: No, I was not offended, nor was I even tempted to complain. I took the stamps and thought it was funny to be given those stamps out of all the holiday stamps available. Most of the above was me thinking too much, not an actual complaint.

I'm constantly getting interrogated about this whenever the subject comes up: why are you so interested in religion if you're an atheist? There tend to be heavy implications of denial on my part surrounding these questions. I try to explain, but I don't think many people get it.

( Of course, when I explain these reasons, I get yelled at. )

Stuff like that? That's why I love religion. :)

Eta: LJ? Why do you keep eating my editing? It's beginning to piss me off.

Well, I just posted a rant about Christmas on MySpace. I'll admit, my reasons were a little shallow, a.k.a., trying to drive a point through my dad's thick skull. I think he's still waiting for the day I come home and decide I want to marry and give him three grandchildren. *shudders* I just read a friend's blog on the concept of children and I'm still shivering. ( Military rant went longer than expected... )

Just submitted the grad school ap.
wish me luck, yo!

Thank you, Supernatural. Now I giggle whenever I pass any place selling rock salt.

Thank you, Yu-Gi-Oh. Now I feel sorry for the pharaoh in Exodus.

Thank you, Naruto. I still crave ramen.

I'm trying very, very hard not to rant about Christmas as I feel there is enough negativity floating around without me adding to it. Feel free to just insert a rant here and add "fuck" or "fucking" every other word. And...I'm going to quit on that note, because I feel myself starting just from that.

All my plans for this weekend are dead. Thank you, snow. Funny thing is I never have plans for the weekend. Ever. I had a back-up plan, even, and the snow killed that, too. Whee. I'm still getting bitched at for not visiting anyone on Christmas. My uncle is going nuts because he's going to go to Florida on Christmas and was apparently under the impression that if he didn't, I was obviously going to spend it with him. My dad is trying to figure out a way for me to come visit when I've already told him that I was going to visit New Years and not before.

Honestly, the only reason I like Christmas is that I have an excuse to give people stuff, even if it's just fic. That's it. Maybe I would be annoyed less if people acted more cheerful and optimistic, but that's not the case. Instead, I can mail people cards and fics and buy small presents for my family and friends. And I'm cutting that off before the rant I cut off earlier tries to resume.

I...am not as smooth as I believed. *coughs* When mailing out cards/fics, envelopes help. I thought I had more, but for all I know, they fell victim to the cats' love of paper. Yeah. They're smooth like that. *glares at cats*

*perks up* I did get some cards, though. *kisses militsa and arin_rowan * Thanks for the cards! *tucks Cal's portion of the gift away* Unfortunately, it's a tad useless at the moment. *sighs* You have no idea how much I would like to use it, though...no idea. *snugs arin_rowan *

And I need to stop checking out other people's recs. *steps slowly away from hadesphoenix * Stupid YGO.

I was putting up my little fiber optic Christmas/Yule tree, hanging the ornaments folks have sent me over the past year, and I got embarrassingly teary eyed. Hanging ornaments is a big deal in my family. They go up with much ceremony. There may be some pomp involved.

Hanging my young collection, I got to smile as I remembered where they came from, how this one came with a Christmas card, handmade by someone I had never met but had gotten to know well on livejournal. How this one is a fantastic inside joke. How this one was hand sewn by a good friend. There wasn't pomp, but there was definitely a sense of purpose while I was hanging them. A sense of recognition.

You folks are the best sprawling family a kid could ask for. I know I am not around much as of late, but I am working on that (and the meds are working on that. actually working this time) and I wanted to take a sappy moment to say I love you all. Have a fucking brilliant Christmas. Yule. Hanukkah. Solstice.

This is what goes on behind me whenever I sit down to work at the computer. And now I have it caught in pictures so His Lordship cannot deny it. The cats...they were...canoodling!



( Including one Mildmay )

The worst thing about Naruto fics: I'm dying for ramen right now. *pouts*

Okay, first off, this rec is artimusdin's fault. I can't even remember the last Naruto fic I read, but this is some awesome crack. It's also made me consider catching up on the Naruto manga...kinda like I need to catch up on the fma manga. *coughs*

Since I'm sharing fun stuff, I also want to spread the trauma. Calypso is back in heat, and she and Angel have tried to get it on every time they were both conscious enough and energetic enough to do so. Cal is an eight pound feline, while Angel is a fifty pound bitch. I'm pretty sure Angel considers herself a cat, and it explains why she snaps at all the male dogs when they try anything at the dog park.

Oh, and sharing some more humor, too: there was some nasty freezing rain/sleet this morning, and it froze the sidewalks and roads. I learned this before I took Angel for her walk but didn't think it was that bad. I was wrong. Angel bolted out the door at her usual breakneck speed...and ate cement. Twice. *still chortling*

breathing thing solved. bronchitis and such a stress on my asthma i got steroids with my inhaler refill. so. rocking 4 meds at once, with no ability to take time off. damn you, pre-christmas retail! damn yoooouuuu!

that bit of weirdness brought to you by the prednisone.

passing out with my electric blanket (best impulse buy ever) and His Lordship (who also really approves of the electric blanket. Mildmay is undecided as to which is better, the heated blanket or the bathrobe on the floor). working hell shifts from now until christmas. will try to pop on now and then and let folks know i have not, in fact, expired.

christmas/yule/winter holiday cards are going out this week. last chance to get me your addy here.