Going Places.

I was just thinking about traveling. Not really all that much, I read something that reminded me of somewhere I went and decided I'd write about it, so I did think about it a little, mostly recently I've been thinking of all sorts of things, the strange things people say, and do, and how they respond to you when you're out and about, like, when you try to do right by a complete strange and somehow that causes you to annoy another complete strange who makes their annoyance known. Or people and their weird ideologies, like robbing big chain pharmacies because capitalism, or something.. toilet line overhear that was btw... as well as people who feel so strongly about their ideologies that they make 2.4 hour long movies about them talking about it, whatever it is, interspersed with clips of stuff.. done well it can be good, done averagely it can be.. let's just say long. Oh and Jesus, cos of the  movie, wondering if he was a kind of plot to get more people into the Jewish god by making him more human or something, like everyone else's gods but not as much as an asshole, as either their gods, or their own god god, the king god rather than the dude god they allegedly made up.

But yeah, going places. Haven't done that for a while. Hopefully will next year, possibly even still this year, that would be nice. A warm place for January.. *picture blurs and goes into dream mode*

Just stop for a second.

And think about what happened on this day in, well not this day particularly, the same day of the week (Friday which it is) after whatever it is, the phase of the moon or whatever after the vernal equinox or whatever the thing it's based on is.. of year.. 1..0.. whenever.

Anyway think about what happened. Jesus was (after having to schlep it himself, no less) was thrust up onto a cross to.. well suffer and stuff. It was horrible, and he did it for you! Yes, you! He chose to suffer like this to save your from you own dastardly, nasty, icky sins. Well, that is if you've received him into your heart etc etc.. and me.. well not me because actually I haven't done that really, but you know what I mean.. anyway, think about it for a second.

Ok that's about a second. When is it that we get the chocolate. oh and it's a long weekend.. cool, I hope it gets warm enough to sit outside for a bit with the heavy jacket and have a beer. You really should be able to do at least that by Easter.

Merry Christmas..

and may God bless you all ;)

Just a pic

Cos I don't have anything to say.

The True Meaning of Breakfast.

Eggshells
Originally uploaded by Ms Kat.

Easter is coming up. In fact tomorrow is Good Friday, the day we commemorate the suffering of Jesus on the cross. And indeed, the whole holiday, from Friday through Tuesday is entirely for the purpose of thinking long and hard about the pain and agony our Saviour went through in His final moments. Entirely. Absolutely with no deviation from the story. We go to church, we think about God and the Pope says important stuff. That's what it is.

And we eat eggs. Well mostly chocolate manufactured to look like eggs but there's significance about eggs in there. Now.. some people *sniffs haughtily* think it's to do with some alleged "Pagan" origins of this exclusively from it's very beginning Christian holiday.. about spring and fertility and other obscene stuff like that, but you and I know it's utterly ridiculous and has no bearing on reality no we won't waste time on nonsense like that, *rolls eyes* but this brings up the question of where the egg custom comes from. It doesn't seem to make sense in the light of what we've decided we know.

Oh and that bit about how I used to believe in more complex histories of our current customs and didn't really believe in god and that everything that's written in the bible is exactly how it says it was and all that.. well I changed my mind.

Anyway, back to the main point. Eggs. What do they have to do with our Lord and Saviour dying for our souls in a particularly horrific manner? It's quite simple really.. for his last meal.. (this is a custom that goes way back to the Romans, did you know that?) which was breakfast, he ordered eggs. Fried eggs. No bacon, for obvious reasons and a few fried onions and mushrooms on the side. And that's it. Seems like a bit of a letdown after all that really.

Now the bunnies on the other hand, are a different story.

What's so good about it then?

Today is "Good" Friday. So called because on this day* 2000 and something years ago** the son of God, our Lord and Saviour, the nicest, sweetest, goodest guy ever, who could do awesome shit like cure blindness was run up a cross and executed in a particularly gruesome manner by some goons, er Jews. Romans. Somebody, for some reason. And believe me we're pissed off at these people.

Then after 3 days he rose from the dead and went up to heaven, which is a bit of a ripoff after all the crying and wailing that went on, and which we're still expected to do to this day even though we know how the story ends. I'm reckoning that's where the "good" comes in, seeing that not only was the event understandably a quite happy one, but saved humanity at the same time, so not a bad couple of days work. Of course on Friday we're not supposed to know this yet, and still be in the weeping and carrying on stage so I don't think it's entirely accurate. Or it's just good because it's got something to do with Jesus and that's good enough for me. Them that is, whoever cares about stuff like this.

It actually is a pretty good Friday for me, here, now. I'm having a day off from doing what I usually do*** and it's sunny and warm and I'm looking forward to a pleasant day. Beergardens may be involved.

*I know, I know it's not the calendar day but the first Friday after the fourth full moon or some jazz like that.. I'm just sayin.

**Actually if Jesus died when he was 33, and this is 2009 then that would make it 1976 years, that's if Jesus' official birth wasn't made up later by some emperor according to what was convenient and has no bearing on how anything was, and if any of it actually ever happened, which as far as I'm concerned is pretty unlikely.

**Not a whole lot as it happens, but still...

The real meaning of xmas.

It's been a while since I've heard someone bemoan to me that the "real meaning" of Christmas has been lost. I do come across it online though, and was recently invited to join the cause to "keep the Christ in Christmas" on a social networking site. I politely declined.

It reminded me of those people, back when I lived in a more Christian country than this one, who assumed I would agree with them that the focus on non Jesus elements was wrong for Christmas. I always found it annoying, though I never said anything.

I know that those people meant well, and were on the whole good people, not usually the type to push their religious ways on people, but nevertheless, they were wrong. They weren't wrong that Jesus is the meaning of Christmas for them and for people who think like them. What they were wrong about, is assuming that it's that way (or should be) for anyone else.

Yes, it's (in English anyway) named after Christ, and has a Christian history, that is after they took the festival from the Pagans and altered it to suit them, but now it's a Western cultural tradition, which is still Christian for some people, but not at all for others.

I grew up in a family which celebrated Christmas, though we were never religious. I grew up with the trees and presents and Santa Claus, the food, the family... and that's what it is about. That's all it is about. Since I've grown up, I still celebrate Christmas, though I've become an official atheist, because I like it. Some atheists see it as a Christian holiday and don't celebrate it which is all fine.. I can see a lot more reasons to not like Christmas than just the religious one, I'm a sucker though, I like all that festive jazz.. I'm quite suited to a bit of sparkly tree and Santa worship.. much more than I am to worshiping the baby Jesus.

Ironic of course, that in this adopted, not very Christian country of mine, it's the baby Jesus who gives children presents. Traditionally there isn't a Santa Claus, and his new presence is none too welcome by some of the local folk, which I got to overhear from many passer's by last year during my stint as Santa's photographer. I can understand it, he is to some, the symbol of creeping American culture, Coca Cola, the worst excesses of xmas materialism.. but.. I still like the jolly fella. And the trees and the sparkly shit and the (these days very modest) pressies.

And it's another excuse to booze it up. Perhaps that's what I like about it most of all :)

Merry Christmas all, have a happy one.

The night I almost turned Christian.

I went to the Prague Playhouse's "Holiday" party last night. It was a chance to see all the acting pals I've hardly seen all year due to being a lazy fat ass and doing next to nothing all year, except for the little I've done which isn't much. It was fun, drank beer, chatted, introduced Erik to some weird people. We had to leave to get our night tram on time, so unfortunately missed out on that promised "smoke" which took too long to get organized.. a slightly surprising fact considering later incidents.

We got home hungry and made some grilled cheese sandwiches with hermelín.. chatting all the while. It was well liked, and our conversation turned, as it often does, to cheese. The greatness of cheese, the gloriousness of cheese, the sheer yumminess of cheese.. all round cheese worship.. "blessed are the cheesemakers" I recited, which I arrived upon I know not how, apart from the fact that we were discussing cheese at the time. I,knew it from somewhere. it sounded like a bible verse to me, all that "blessed" shit.. and I started to think. "Did Jesus say that?" Fuck! Well if He did, He had the right idea... could.. could.. there be something in it?

It hit me like a.. something that's not physically hard but makes you think.. I might be able to.. believe. I could become.. a Christian!

Now luckily, the word christian can interpreted loosely, and there are so many different kinds of Christians, so many different sects so that I considered it even possible.. like others I could d to pick and choose what bits I'd follow, I would follow.. more the pro-cheese parts and less the wifely submission parts, and if I had to make up my own church I was more than ready to do it.

First I needed to be sure, so I rushed to google to verify what I thought might maybe be sorta true. I typed in "blessed are the cheesemakers" and got.. some Life of Brian links and other random stuff that didn't make any sense to me. I knew now, where I had heard it.

I was gutted. Ok, I was perhaps mildly disappointed, but mostly relieved. I mean, I know myself pretty well and I'm more suited to Python worship than baby Jesus worship, and I got over it pretty quick.

It's all very silly, the very mild beer buzz I was experiencing is hardly an excuse, and it really seems like more the domain of stoned people, which is what I was referring to up there when I said it was mildly surprising.... and it doesn't even end there.. don't even get me started on the Secondary Fraggles incident.

Oh and Happy Chanukah. It's due to start today at dusk, which around here is about 4pm.
We're gonna light the candle, spin the dreidel, eat latkes.. you know, the usual stuff.

No ideas whatsoever..

Headquarters
Originally uploaded by Ms Kat.

I'm going through one of my quite frequent and rather lengthy writer's blocks, and have no idea at all what to write about so I thought I'd look back a year and see what I was doing. Interestingly enough April the 14th last year was a Friday and a good one at that.. or rather it was a particular religious holiday that's already been and gone this year. And I was celebrating the occasion by writing about the man at the centre of it.. Jesus himself...

And on this day many years ago...Jesus died.

He was dragged from his house in his pajamas, strung up onto a cross, (after he dragged it into town himself after going out into the woods and chopping down the trees and then cutting up the planks of wood and nailing them together) his hands and feet were NAILED into the wood and he was left up there.....

And it goes on. I took some photos as well that day. Including this one of a rather unusual building on the street I lived at the time.

I know which bit I want.

Chocolate Jesus.. mmm.

A New York gallery has angered a US Catholic group with its decision to exhibit a milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ.

The six-foot (1.8m) sculpture, entitled "My Sweet Lord", depicts Jesus
Christ naked on the cross.

I thought Catholics were into eating Jesus?

Catholic League head Bill Donohue called it "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever".

You're being a bit dramatic there aren't you? Ever is a long time.. they used to throw you in the Collosseum with lions remember. I fail to see how this compares.

The Catholic League, which describes itself as the nation's largest
Catholic civil rights organisation, also criticised the timing of the
exhibition. "The fact that they chose Holy Week shows this is calculated,
and the timing is deliberate," Mr Donohue said.

Well, you know, Easter/eating body of Christ, it works. How would you have liked it if they just had a giant bunny on "Holy Week" huh? I bet you'd be complaining about that too.

Mr Cavallaro, the Canadian-born artist, is known for using food ingredients in his art, .... he used 200 pounds (90 kg) of chocolate to make the sculpture which, unusually, depicts Jesus without a loincloth.

He he. Nude chocolate Jesus.

Uh oh

Jesus has been at the soy again.