This blog thing. Will it become a habit?

 So weird to be doing this again after so many years.

Anyway, a new poem. That's also weird, after so many years.

I have

a degree in zoology

that part's real, btw

BSc zool spec

the spec is specialisation, in that

I couldn't be bothered with

the extra effort that meant oral defence

of

an honours degree

even though I took the honours courses

and was on the Dean's list

I thought it was stupid.

Yes

Hello, blog

 It's been a long time, obviously.

My life has gone in a lot of ways. This might be the way to place it. And yeah, I have a topic in mind. Christianity, believe it or not.

I feel like I can tell, finally, why I am not a Christian.

Here we go.

As a Child, I was. No question. My mother was an English Church person who had relocated to the United Church because of some local... thing. I still don't know what.

I grew up, 70s, in a church that believed in (the inevitable) folk music. I was also in choir, by a teacher in a similar church, and sang in many theatrical things. "It's Cool In The Furnace" is one of the weirder ones. Look it up.

My mother switched back to the Anglican church when whatever offended her stopped. Should have been a sign.

By a little over 12, I was told I was going to catechism classes. I went.

By 12, however, I had READ. Had asked why, so many times.

And now you will make excuses, but I only asked why.

My faith was depending on it, and I got the answer, Because.

Because.

Because; that's all.

Because was the perfect answer. 

Hello, blog.

 I had moved on to what is now called social media. I'd even managed accounts for it. Now, Twitter is imploding because a billionaire isn't immune to fallout. Idiot is idiot, in internet speak.

Sooo... here's the thing. It actually makes me consider blogging again. Should I invest, or do I just move on to accounts on other platforms (Instagram and Facebook are current. Tumblr is new. And yes, I have a relatively new Tumblr accout. It's 2000 what, exactly?)?

I haven't decided yet, but at any rate here's a new post fwiw.

And blogging is what, again?

Seems like I do most of my blogging-type rambling on social media these days, but just for old times sake here's a couple of Christmas pictures. First, our tree, and second, how you can recognise my Dad's car in a parking lot.

And, erm, that's it. See you on Instagram or wherever else for the rest.

Well, hi, blog. Long time no see.

To be honest, I don't see the point of having a blog anymore. I don't use it; my job doesn't use its blog... why am I still bothering to type here?

Well, here's the thing. Anthony Bourdain died bt his own hand. I'm sad, but I refuse to judge despite what the idiots would like to tell you. He left behind a lot of people who loved him, and I can't explain why. I don't know.

I do know what it's like to feel like the whole world around you is empty and that there's no point. I do know what it feels like to feel nothing. Literally. I do know what it feels like to decide that the only way out is to be gone.

And I've tried.

Yep.

I ended up in a panic and stopped what I started (sorry, I'm not going to say because I don't want to trigger or suggest. Ever), but it would have been easy to just say DONE.

Turns out that I'm not done. Who knew? A lot of people right now are sending out suicide hotline numbers and they mean well. In my personal experience, though, in the middle of depression your loved one won't be giving an eff about hotlines. Talk to them. Please.

Yeah

So, here's a thing.

Shortly after Christmas, I ordered a few things from a Canadian charity's Boxing Day sale. For my American readers who don't know Boxing Day... well, look it up. Sorry, but I get tired of explaining when the info's already out there.

Anyway.

There's a complicated story behind the arrival of the package, involving a missing delivery notice and a cab trip at -30C, but that's not what this is about.

It's about what happened afterwards.

Now, I'll admit that I didn't have a lot of ideas about what I'd do with the order until I opened the set of made-in-Kenya bracelets. If, by the way, you're still wondering about which charity I'm talking about, just enlarge the photo. That's the bracelet I'm talking about. Just don't want to give a complete endorsement because that's not my thing.

Anyway, again.

I opened the bracelet set thinking that I'd be keeping them, but for whatever reason my brain decided that I should be passing them on to people that I liked instead. The charity calls them Rafiki, which means friend. Maybe that's why they needed to be shared.

I took them in to work today and gave them out to a few people. As is usual for me I'd already planned for what I'd do if someone didn't want one... but it wasn't needed. People seemed happy.

I don't know if anyone realised how happy it made me that people liked my little gift. It wasn't anything big, but it meant something to me and I'm glad that it was received kindly.

Big lift, in other words, and so much better than having bracelets in multiple colours just because. I don't even care if I never see one worn again. Um, not much, anyway.

The take-away's so obvious that I'm not going to state it, but today was a good day that also included helping others. Doubly good day. We should all have more of those.

So, about the Christmas photos...

I brought my camera -- actual camera -- to Dad's place for Christmas. It hasn't been out of its bag, I'm afraid. There's a couple of reasons for that, really. The biggest was that it's been very, very cold (right now my phone says that it's -30C. Yes, that's a minus. That's -22F, for those who find that measurement easier to comprehend. I don't, but that's what Google's for. Needless to say, it hasn't made me especially enthusiastic to wander around taking yard pictures.

The second reason for the lack of real camera is that it's too damned easy to pick up the phone, and yes, that makes me lazy. Ah well, here's a few random phone camera shots from the past week, at least.

Christmas for cats

Do I really need to caption this?

Looking at this, you'd think that the Turkey Brothers get along.

One of the two pictures I took outside, a few steps from the back door. I needed a photo for a work post. This is wild Purple Clematis, even if it is growing in the yard.

Random photo of my ear, to show my uncle what his studs look like. Nothing like wearing someone else's cast-offs. When they're diamond studs, at least.

Let's end the blog's year with a tea photo, since it was a bit of a theme.

Well, that's it for the year, I guess. I'm going to scan a couple of doodles for the other blog since I've been pretty lax at that, go upstairs to find some lunch, and then... well, probably make more tea. Did I mention that baby, it's cold outside?

Good luck with the new year,everyone.