As I sit here on the
Dart (Dublin Area Rapid Transit for those non Irish reading) as it
transports me to the city centre I am left musing about the festive
season. Clearly it has no religious connotations for me as I am an
Atheist and a Skeptic ( the two are not mutually exclusive). So what
does it mean to me? Well there is the traditional gift giving and
family gathering, but what if those were eliminated (not that I'm not
grateful for the gifts I received, more on those later)? Would I
still regard the holiday so fondly? Well of course there is that, a
holiday! It varies in length from profession to profession and myself
as a student I probably get a lot more than most. But on the flip
side of that, my end of semester exams are to be taken towards the
end of my holidays (and I happen to be smack in the middle of them) which taints
the thrill of having time off somewhat.
Now onto gift giving
and receiving, mostly at this stage in life I receive cash as no-one
wants to risk being presumptuous as to my current desires for gifts
so cash is an easy way of saying (buy whatever, on us). This also is
respectful of my young adulthood and the fact that I'm capable of
making my own decisions. I, of course, reciprocated in similar
fashion unless I knew of an appropriate gift. It only happened once,
with my Dad. I gave him the first two disk world books as I know he's
an avid reader and I made a judgement that he'd enjoy the
particularly light hearted and humorous take on fantasy. Also
because they are the perfect introduction to the disk world series
because not only are they the first two books but they are also the
only books that are tied (ie one is a sequel to the other) the others
are pretty much self contained pick up and read stories (all within
the disk world universe of course).
I'm taking intermediary
breaks from the study to socialise (as it's exam season) both on the
social media and in real life, face to face, interaction. There's an
Atheist's in the pub meeting 2 days after I finish so hopefully I'll
be able to attend that, though there is talk of the class going out
after the final exam so it'll depend on my fanatical resources if I
attend both, either or neither. I quite enjoy the little Atheists in
the pub sojourns so that has a big draw for me but on the other hand
it's important to socialise with my fellow class mates even if going
out clubbing isn't really my idea of a good night out any more My
preference would be to go to the Atheists in the pub as it typically
has intellectually stimulating conversation over a few pints but if I
have the ability to attend both I will.
I'll most likely post
this when I get home as I don't have a 3G modem in my Laptop.
