Random thoughts for Christmas

I like Christmas. I like it for the spritual significance of recognizing a miraculous birth in a time of darkeness and uncertainty. I like Christmas for the family dinners of roask pork, drinking sorrel and nibbling black cake while listening to Parang music.
 I also see Christmas as time that people seem more gentler. At work, people exchange small trinkets between each other and enjoying the festivities of decorating our cubicles with cheap tinsel and greenery. I know that the bustle tends to turn people off but I sometimes wonder if people secrretly like the bustle. If they really despised the bustle, the would stop the gift giving and go into a hibernation until January 2. But they don't and they continue running the treadmill of buying gifts. I don't advocate the hustle but people should be a little more conscious of why they are partaking in the shopping. I try not to be taken up with the bustle by shopping early, keeping the recipient list small and keeping the gifts small as well.
I try not to leave out the people who don't celebrate Christmas. This is the sticking point in a multicultural society; how to you balance the desire to a large segment of society to celebrate a holiday without forcing those who don't share the religious/cultural impetus to celebrate. I guess the best compromise includes accepting the fact that some people don't want anything to do with Christmas while not putting down those who do chose to celebrate. It is a give and take that signifies a mature society.

Well, I must get back to decorating the tree and sipping some egg nog.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Ross Douthat Speaks Truth!

Ross Douthat, resident conservative of the New York Times summarizes the problems we have in electing politicians with this cutting sentence:

We confuse charisma with competence, rhetoric with results, celebrity with genuine achievement.

These people will stop at Nothing!

The plague of the OWS reached Toronto last week with the granola crowd occupying Bay street and chanting the tired slogans of solidarity. Just yesterday, protesters were banging on a TD Bank even chanting 'solidarity'. The finance minster Joe Flaherty said that Canada's system was not as bad as the US one with statements describing the Canadian financial system as, "very progressive tax system," a "generous social system" and strong regulations in the banking sector." He was saying to the protesters, " Why are you protesting our quasi-socialist system. We're doing everything that the bad Americans won't do: socialized health care and a larger welfare state." As a Canadian, I know we have a larger social welfare net but we also don't have the government that excessively meddles in the financial market ( see housing, cars).
The message of the OWS isn't entirely bad, since when large businesses become intertwined with large government becomes problematic. In the US, people saw the government bailout large corporations and these companies have yet to invest in the economy. I support markets but not necessarily big businesses. My problem with OWS is more of with the composition of the groups that make up the protesters. The granola crowd of communists, socialists, unions all demanding a larger role of the government makes me queasy. The true 99% really want a place to earn enough to support themselves and their families without the government standing in the way.

It's a gorilla juice head world

I just turned 31 yesterday and I am still recovering from the day. I found turning 30 difficult but now 31 is proving to be just as fraught with introspection. Every decision I make financially or career-wise has large repercussions and I've become more cautious. I even notice that dating and marriage is looming large with many friends becoming 'adults' and marrying. Being single at 25 is different that being single at 30; now people start hinting at marriage and friends become pickier at socializing. Where does gorilla juice head come into play? My sister and I watch Jersey Shore every Thursday. There is nothing morally uplifting about the show but its funny to see that when your early 20's, the mistakes are not permanent and painful. Last night I went to a club called Rehab. It's a younger clientele but with better music than our regular hang out Dirty Martini. The crowd looked like that they took their behavioural and style points from Jersey Shore. There were a lot of guys looking very buff and muscular, looking like Snookies' ideal male-the gorilla juice head. The guys also wore tight t-shirts and rosary beads while fist pumping to the latest mainstream dance music. Why was I attracted to this? The freedom of just dancing around to the latest dance music without thinking about my 5 career/personal life plan is a relaxing feeling.
PS-Please keep in your thoughts and prayers possible execution of Youcef Nadarkhani. The Iranian government is about to execute this pastor for deciding to live his life as a Christian. This situation highlights some troubling realities of religious minorities in Muslim-dominated countries.

Charges dropped in DSK case

The charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were dropped today with the urging of the NYC prosecutor. This is no surprise since the victim's actions undermined her credibility. We may never know what happened in that hotel room. The forensic evidence suggest that a sexual encounter did take place but not clear enough to suggest that it was forced.
This case was compelling on a number of levels; the wealthy european against the poor maid, the intersections of race and class were played out for everyone to convict DSK and canonize the maid, Nafissatou Diallo. This case has echoes of the Duke lacross case. These cases both have white perpetrators, a black victim, media spotlight and endless analysis. I made the classic mistake of assuming that a white perpetrator is always guilty with a black female victim without the benefit of a trial. The flaw in seeing the cultural groups as victims/perpetrators, we gloss over the foibles of the 'victim' class and ignore the possibility that the accused may not be guilty.

NDP Jack Layton dead at 61

Our opposition leader, Jack Layton, passed away this morning of complications from cancer at 61. I didn't subscribe to political philosophy of the NDP but I felt he deserved to become opposition leader due to his many years in public service. I also felt that his leadership would keep PM Harper on his toes. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

adventures on the 401

I just completed driving on the 401 for the past week to see if it is worth it to drive to work on a regular basis. After one week, I came to a couple of observations....

1. I prefer driving into work rather than driving home. I like the idea of pulling into the parking lot and staring work at 7:30 am.

2. I like leaving work early but not the traffic on the 401, one of the busiest highways in North America. Out of the 5 days I drove to work, two days had me stuck in traffic until 5: 30 and 5:50 respectively.

3. The traffic on Friday, even in the mornings, is the lightest. Even with a trip to Whole Foods at Square One, I got home at 2 pm.

I still thinking about the idea of driving to work on a more regular basis. My trip home on transit made me prefer being in traffic in my own space over standing on a bus, subjected to conversations I don't want to hear and odours I don't want to smell.