Been busy but here's some xmas thoughts among other things

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.