The Price of Christmas

Each year this company figures out the "Price of Christmas," based on how much it would cost to buy all the items gifted in the 12 days of Christmas.  This year the grand total is $23,439.38.  That's quite a bit of money, that could be put to much better use in my opinion than buying me 13 birds and other various items.


Here are the gifts of the 12 days:

• 12 Drummers Drumming
• 11 Pipers Piping
• 10 Lords a leaping
• 9 Ladies Dancing
• 8 Maids a Milking
• 7 Swans a Swimming
• 6 Geese a Laying
• 5 Gold Rings
• 4 Calling Birds
• 3 French Hens
• 2 Turtle doves
• 1 Partridge in a Pear Tree

Personally, I wouldn't want most of that stuff anyway,  I am not a fan of birds, and I live in a 740 square foot apartment, 1 cat, 1 tree, 13 birds, 8 cows, and 50 people would not fit in here very well, especially not with instruments or dancing room.


Some of these gifts wouldn't be so bad, but if someone wants to give me just one lord a leaping, I'll take Conner Walsh in a heartbeat.

Connor Walsh -- Principal Dancer
Houston Ballet

I also wouldn't mind the 5 gold rings, but if they could be white gold, that would be better.  Better yet, one platinum and diamond ring (or two) is the only ring I would want from my "true love." You know, something like this would be nice:

I can do without any of the birds, but if I had a yard, I would take the pear tree. 


According to snopes.com it isn't true, but I have heard that the items in the 12 days of Christmas refer to tenets of the Catholic Church. 

• Partridge in a Pear Tree - Jesus Christ the Son of God
• 2 turtle doves - The Old and New Testament
• 3 French hens - Faith, hope, and charity, the 3 theological virtues
• 4 calling birds - the 4 Gospels/Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
• 5 gold rings - the Pentateuch the 1st 5 books of the Old testament: Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers
• 6 geese a laying - the six days of creation
• 7 swans a swimming - the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit or the 7 Sacraments
• 8 Maids a milking - the eight Beatitudes
• 9 ladies dancing - the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
• 10 lords a leaping - the 10 Commandments
• 11 pipers piping - the 11 faithful apostles
• 12 drummers drumming - the 12 doctrines in the Apostles' Creed

But really people, I won't object to finding Connor Walsh under my tree in a few weeks. ;)

Lyrics (Part I)

Here are some of my favorite song lyrics.  I wouldn't be surprised if I do this more often. :)

"It's not that you're attractive/ but, oh, my heart grew active/ When you came into view" -I've Got a Crush on You

"I'd even be glad, just to be sad, thinking of you." - It Had to be You

"I get a kick though it's clear to see you obviously do not adore me." -I Get a Kick Out of You

"Did I say that I need you?/ Did I say that I want you?/ Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see/ No one knows this more than me/ As I come clean" -Just Breathe by Pearl Jam
"And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life. It's like I just stepped outside when everything was going right . . . this was not your dream, but you always believed in me." -Home

"What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you,/ And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up that you're ok" - Break Even by The Script

Can a lie ever show Virtue?

When I was little, probably, 4 or 5, my mom put me into a swim lessons class.  I was in the advanced swimmers class because I was practically born in the pool and learned to swim very young.  Anyway, in this advanced class, the teacher wanted us to swim the length of the pool, this pool went from 3' 6" to 12'.  I was able to do this, no problem, but another little girl in the class was afraid of the water.  She was the only one in the class who was.  I felt really bad for her, so in all of my 4 or 5 year old wisdom, I told the teacher that I was scared of the water too.  This meant she was not the only one not doing what we were asked to do.  But the teacher ratted me out.  He told my mother that she had me in the wrong class, that I needed to be in the beginners class because I was scared of the water.  My mom laughed at him, and said, "No, that one is my daughter," and pointed me out. He told her that was who he was speaking of.  Needless too say, I got in trouble for lying in my swim class.

Note: I was told I should write more to get myself back into practice. So I might actually blog a bit more in the future.

Atychiphobia or Not

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." Marianne Williamson


I think this quote sums me up rather well.  Atychiphobia is the fear of failure, except I am not sure that I am really afraid of failure, I am actually more afraid of success.  Only there isn't an name for that particular phobia or fear.


I have all these aspirations, goals, and things I want to accomplish, but there is always some reason that I cannot do these things. I think this is part of my procrastination problem.  It took me forever to write 2 little pages to say why I want to study theology at UND, and now I am mostly done with it.  Going to look at it tomorrow and fix it, then hopefully a former professor I am planning to meet with can help me with it some.  


I am not sure though which outcome is really scaring me the most.  Am I more worried about getting in and actually moving far away and not knowing anyone, or am I afraid I won't get in and I'll have to figure out some other path for my life.  


Either way, I am determined to try.  I really want to do this, but you know, there is only so much school I can go do, eventually I will have to get a real job.  I think it's just easier to be a slacker, then no one expects anything from you, and you don't have to expect much from yourself.  Whereas if you actually do stuff, people will expect you to do more stuff.  I am just hoping that Homer Simpson was wrong when he said, "Trying is the first step to failure," and fairly more accurate when he said, "Stupid risks make life worth living."


All in all, I am very hopeful that the need for a real winter wardrobe is in my not so distant future. 

Hitler and Humanity

OK, So I wrote this way back in 2002, but I just came across it (looking for a writing sample for grad. school, and I think it is interesting.)

After reading Hawking’s article, “A Brief History of Relativity” it is not surprising that in a society like ours, Time Magazine would choose Einstien as “Person of the Century.”  The choice of a scientist as person of the century is logical, especially for Americans.  The American society is so heavily dependent on technology and technological advances that the choice of a man who revolutionized the science world with his theory of relativity was chosen as the person of the century, as science is the background of all technology.  But I think the “person of the century” should have been someone that had an effect on our perception of humanity.  Someone who taught us the infinite worth and value of the human person, which at first glance would point to Pope John Paul II, but that is not exactly what I had in mind, although he too would make a wonderful choice, but I believe the one man who truly showed the world the value of humanity would be Hitler.  I recall when they were choosing the person of the century, Hitler was highly considered, not because what he did was good, but its effect taught the world a valuable lesson about humanity.  The holocaust was an awful thing, but the genocide made many people realize that there is value in life, all human life.  I think that the choice of the person of the century should have had more of a focus on the uplifting of humanity.  Science is fine, but it does very little to establish worth and value in humanity, if anything science suppresses humanity.  Hawking tells us, that with his new theory, “Einstein had overthrown two of the Absolutes . . . Did this imply, people asked, that there were no absolute moral standards, that everything was relative?”  This is a huge detriment to an already fragile humanity, to put doubt in the minds of people living in a morally corrupt society that there is an absolute morality, only leads to the down fall of man.  It is precisely this quote, which makes me doubt the choice of Einstein as person of the century.  I am not denying that he was a brilliant man, and he is deserving of much praise, but to be chosen as person of the century I am not to sure about.  I was surprised to learn that is was not Einstein who built the Atomic bomb; I had always been taught it he had designed the atomic bomb.  I admire that “He urged the Allies to set up a world government to control the atom bomb,” this does show concern for humanity I do not deny that, but the majority of Einstein’s work did not have anything to do with the improvement of humanity.  I agree with Hawking “The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history.  The reason is not political or economic, but technological—technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science.  .  .  .  No scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein.”  While I think Einstein was a nice choice for person of the century, and I can see why he was chosen.  I feel that the person of the century should have been someone who taught us something about humanity.  Because it is not just the world that has changed in the past hundred years, but man has changed in the past hundred years, and technology and science effect man and humanity, and I believe that humanity is far more important than any scientific or technological advance.

ETA: I did have a link to the Hawking article in my paper, but of course it is no longer active.