Giving Up

Lent begins tomorrow. This got me thinking about how people feel the need to give stuff up in order to be considered "good". In my quest for self-improvement, I have given up 2 things that were part of my daily, if not weekly, life - Starbucks and Booze. And it's not even as if I had a horrible drink at Starbucks, like a venti mocha with whipped cream or something. For me, it was always a decaf tall non-fat no-whip no-foam hate the foam, think it's just one more way for a big company to scrimp on milk mocha. But nonetheless, drinking water is better than any kind of coffee and thus it's better just to not have it. I've also caught an exaggerated amount of flack for not drinking anymore. It's insanely hard to avoid the booze and everyone from best friends to waitresses give me a sideways glance when I order a club soda with lime. You don't need booze to have a good time.

BUT. The thing is that I feel like I've been "good" to give up "bad" things. I wish I could moderate myself and allow a skinny mocha every now and again and perhaps one or two glasses of wine. I suppose I just have a taste for "bad" stuff - which is problem thinking in itself. A mocha or a cooler on occasion isn't "bad", it's ensuring quality of life. Just like sometimes a girl has to go and spend some money on clothes or shoes or bags or a haircut in order to make life a bit more exciting. So I'm going to try to stop thinking of myself as "bad", but rather will work on moderation.

And why is there so much "bad" stuff out there? At what point in our history did we suddenly become OK with shitty food and drink and other assorted nasty consumables? Where did the change come? Has there been a cultural shift towards sloth and gluttony? I thought those kind of changes took centuries, not decades. Humans spent literally EONS being healthy, living without cheeseburgers and crap fried in oils and ice cream with added fat. This makes no sense to me.

But you know what? People who celebrate Lent know that God knows that they're not perfect. I just found out today that even though you may give up chocolate, alcohol, sex, shopping or other "bad" stuff in the hopes that you'll break the habit, God says you can be fat, filthy, well-dressed and satisfied on Sundays. God teaches moderation. Good for him.

The West Wing taught me that it's bad luck to toast with water. So with my club soda, I heartily toast a happy, moderate, no-self-deprecating Lenten season to all who celebrate. And I wish for all of us to be just a little more in love with ourselves.

In other news...
How ridiculous was the Supreme Court of Canada nominee-questioning exercise? The guy used all the key phrases:"not an activist", "courts don't make the law", "I'll interpret the law"... for crying out loud, we're being put on the path to Americanism. As far as I'm concerned, that's all this little experiment served to do. There hasn't been much uptake of the story and that's because nobody cares. We don't have the same problem with the SPC that the 'Murricans have with SCOTUS. Bah.

If you're politically inclined and don't read The Hill Times, you should. Google it.

Tralalalala, that's it.