Christ is risen!

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:

Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.
It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be glory and dominion Unto ages of ages.

Amen.

- from the Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom

Happy Easter to all! Xristos Anesti!* Al Maseeh Qam!** Harisutosu Fukkatsu!*** And 'Christ is Risen' in whatever other languages you happen to speak!

* Greek (of course ;)
**Arabic
***Japanese

mark your calendars

It's getting to be that time of year: florists are having sales on their dozen-rose bouquets. Stores are putting out those chalky candy hearts with cheesy sayings on them. There are decorations everywhere involving hearts and little cherubs with bows and arrows. No silly, I'm not talking about Valentine's Day. To think that all that commercialism and depressed/nervous/apathetic apprehension culminates with just a single day? Pish tosh. No, I'm talking about Singles Awareness Week. SAW, if you will.

Now, I don't have anything against those of you who actually have someone to spend a romantic evening with on the approaching holiday. (Of course I'm not bitter. Why would I ever be bitter?) In actuality, I've never spent a Valentine's Day with a significant other, so I can't justly comment positively or negatively on the virtue of using the day to declare your affection for someone special. It just seems somehow strange that there be one specific day set aside for this purpose...what about the other 364 days of the year? Aren't those just as acceptable for telling someone you love them, or buying them a present? I can't help but feel a little bad for the thousands of young men in America shaking in their boots as we speak, trying to come up with a Valentine's Day date that will be especially "magical" or "romantic."

It just seems to me that in America at least, Valentine's Day has become just as much about the sterotypical depressed single who becomes painfully aware that they lack a significant other at this time of year. But what about those of us who are (maybe blissfully) single? There's nothing wrong with waiting for the right person to come along; maybe you've decided that dating isn't the right thing to be doing at this point. It seems that this holiday advocates those who are in relationships and assumes that those of us who aren't must be feeling dejected and miserable (an article on depression.com listed 'related topics' to Valentine's Day depression including 'Disability Rights', 'Grief and Loss' and 'Suicide and Self-Injury'.)

So, if you're a single, the upcoming Singles Awareness Week could be a time to wallow in said depression, or it could be a chance to realise how many options there are besides going on a date. I think a group of people from my dorm are going to go ice skating or bowling - something like that. I'm not saying I don't think it would be great to spend Valentine's Day with someone I could look forward to spending the rest of my life with. I am saying there are a lot of other fun things going on out there for those of us who have decided it's not the right time to find a partner. For some of us, it still might be a little disheartening to know we don't have someone who wants to spend the day just with us. And for those, there is the slightest bit of comfort...at least chocolate is on sale.

resolutions

Winter break: T- seven days and counting. It's been nice - I've been able to hang out with family and friends returned home for Christmas; I've also been able to put some of my Christmas gifts to good use. Money spent at Barnes and Noble yielded some books to hold my interest; a guide to kanji and kana writing is helping me gear up for Japanese I next fall, and a copy of Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman by Alice Steinbach has been a very entertaining travelogue.

New Year's Eve was a low-key but highly enjoyable day. I spent the morning at church, then hung out with my cousins in the afternoon, reading, playing board games and making messy poster-paint pictures. A Harry Potter marathon at another friend's house brought in the new year, followed by noisy yelling of 'Happy New Year' and ringing bells outside. I usually don't make any rigid resolutions, but here are a few I want to keep in mind over the next year and try to do better at:
1. I want to take better care of my body - exercising more, eating better food, and trying to eliminate more sweets. Yeah, yeah, easy enough to say...
2. Develop better study habits and learn to focus.
3. Get more involved at school, if just by attending more lectures and exhibits, or discovering new stores and activities in the area.
4. Do more photography.
5. Spend more time reading my Bible and spiritual books.
6. Be more consistent at blogging.
We'll see how that goes...

christmas shopping and finals mania, part i

Yesterday was my first official outing expressly in the name of Christmas shopping. I got a few cards, a present for a friend, and some random items for a white elephant party I'll be going to next weekend for Yosakoi. I went with my cousin; it was actually a pretty fun trip considering the biting cold outside. It was also fun to see some of the more "interesting" items that some of the stores carried. Some of my favourites were:

1. Origami paper. Who knew they sold it in a gift shop several blocks from my dorm? I looked all over at Hobby Lobby and settled for decorative scrapbooking paper instead.
2. Incense sticks. I hadn't realised how much I missed incense until I walked into a little shop that had an entire wall of incense sticks. I could have stood there smelling them for a loooong time.
3. Scarves and hats. There were lots of cute ones in stores I visited: Fuzzy scarves, soft scarves, downy hats and felt-lined stocking caps. So cute, and so warm.

...and here are some of the items we saw that won't end up in anyone's Christmas gifts this year.
1. Leopard-print rubber duckies. Who knew the classical bath toy could be so hip. Or so weird. The facial features were all wrong, too, and the ducks just looked creepy.
2. Marijuana smoking accessories. Or so I'm told. It's whatever they sell in the partitioned section in the back of those Third Planet-like stores...even though I'm old enough to enter the curtained area, I did not feel the need, or the desire.
3. Books of Bushisms. Don't get me wrong. I'm going to laugh when I hear anybody say "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family" or "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?". But give the guy a break - who hasn't screwed up what they wanted to say when the pressure is on, at one time or another? I'll have to admit these quotes are definitely more fun to read than the newspaper...but I digress.

Later in the evening I went to a coffee shop to study with some friends, in preparation for finals. I had an iced green tea and read my Mass Communications book, and later some fruity chai while studying in my friend's room. It was a good way to ease into studying for the week ahead and wind down for the night.

Now it's early afternoon and time to organise my tasks for the day. Which are, at the moment:
1. Write Christmas cards
2. Finish tweaking final English paper
3. Organise my University Experience and English portfolios
4. Watch a documentary and take notes for anthropology.

I guess I've got my work cut out for me...

cost of christmas

I'm not much of a macroeconomics person, but this chart on my MSN homepage caught my eye this morning. It's the cost of everything mentioned in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", measured at today's price, and compared to last year's price. You can see the breakdown and read the rest of the article here.

PNC Christmas Price Index
Item 2005 2006 % change
One partridge $15 $15 flat
Pear tree $89.99 $129.99 44.40%
Two turtle doves $40 $40 flat
Three French hens $45 $45 flat
Four calling birds $399.96 $479.96 20.00%
Five gold rings $325 $325 flat
Six geese a-laying $300 $300 flat
Seven swans a-swimming $4,200 $4,200 flat
Eight maids a-milking $41.20 $41.20 flat
Nine ladies dancing $4,576.14 $4,759.19 4.00%
10 lords a-leaping $4,039.08 $4,160.25 3.00%
11 pipers piping $2,053.20 $2,124 3.40%
12 drummers drumming $2,224.30 $2,301 3.40%
Total Christmas Price Index $18,348.87 $18,920 59 3.10%

it's beginning to look a lot like...wait a minute...

It seems strange to be back after slacking at this particular pursuit for awhile. Although slacking might not be the best word for it...a death in the family and a mad push to study for end-of-the-semester projects might actually merit a break from blogging. But I'm home for Thanksgiving, which gives me a few days to relax before plunging back into the frantic stretch toward finals, and Christmas shopping and decorating...

Which makes me realise it actually is only about a month until Christmas. Where did the time go? I'm one of those people who likes to wait until just before Christmas to decorate so it seems more special...but lately I've caught myself humming a few Christmas carols and wondering when to decorate my dorm room. It's almost as if I've mentally skipped Thanksgiving and am heading straight on towards Christmas and New Years'. I'm sure that will all change when we have our Thanksgiving dinner here on Thursday, complete with my mom's awesome cranberry-walnut salad, bread-and-butter pickles and sour cream country potatoes.

What is everyone else doing for Thanksgiving? I love to hear family traditions, especially ones centered around the holidays. Hope it's a great day for everyone!