Adventures in Hedonism

With all the rush and traveling of the holidays, it’s nice this morning to have a little quiet time to myself.  I got a text this morning saying that I have no appointments at work, so I’m on call.

The house is quiet, the only sound is the traffic going by outside.  I had forgotten how good it is for the soul to experience a little quiet time now and then.

As a lover of music, I always have some hot, rockin tune playing in the car.  Usually some obscure band that I like and no one else does…But lately I’ve been riding in the car with the music turned off.

Does that make me old?

I don’t know.  I truly appreciate music.  Maybe I’m just now beginning to appreciate the quiet a little more.

My friend was home for Christmas this week and we took a long bike ride yesterday.  All around the downtown area…looking at the old hang outs and even going inside one or two that were broken down.   It did wonders for my soul.  I simply needed to look and listen. That’s what new beginnings are all about.

How does a non-religious family celebrate the holidays?  By clapping like crazy and watching the Christmas Tree blink on and off.

As a family, we are geeks and nerds.  My finance gave my son a Clapper for Christmas this year.  He laughed and choked and was generally excited. We spent Christmas Eve opening presents and attaching the clapper to anything we could think of.

For 3 days now, it has been attached to the Christmas tree.  Unfortunately, there was a thunder storm last night, causing the tree to go on and off like a gay disco.  It was pretty random.

We like the clapper.  We have devolped a love affair bordering on obsession.  I honestly didn’t think they even made these any more.  But there it was, on the shelf in Walgreens, calling out to all nerd families…buy me, buy me!

Who knows what the new year will bring now that we have the excitement of the clapper.  The clapper + Obama? Well, anything could happen.  World peace?  No problem.

The Raging Rev has a post a few days ago about morality and God.  Does all morality come from religion?  What kind of morality would society have if religion didn’t exist?  There’s a pretty good debate going on over at his blog and I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

Not only do I believe that morality exsits outside of religion, I beleive that morality and all humankind would be better off without religion.  Religious extremests certainly cause more problems than they solve.  Does this mean that I’m not against all religion, just those who take it overboard?  No.  It does not.

I don’t believe in childhood indoctrination.  The definition of brainwashing is:

Intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person’s basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs.

I don’t believe that brainwashing is moral and brainwashing is the basis  of most religions.  Get people to believe in something that defies logic and tell them that their disbelief (that thing that the brain naturally does) is going to send them to eternal damnation.

Scaring a child by way of indoctrination is not moral.  Neither is putting their health in jeopardy because of your religious beliefs (abstinence only education ). For those who believe this is the only way to have moral teens, check your statistics.

You might be surprised.

I’ve been working really hard lately on creating a passive income stream.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I would write an eBook to publish on Lulu.

I am happy to say that I finished uploading the eBook last night!  Now, on to marketing!

As a thank you to my readers at the green ninja , I have decided to give away two of my eBooks to readers who participate in my contest.

But what is the eBook about, you ask? Well, a few of your know that my day job is massage therapy.  I decided to write an instructional eBook called How to Give a Relaxation Massage.    The book includes basic massage techniques as well as stress relief tips and even detailed instructions on how to give a one hour full body massage!

If you want to participate in the contest, you can head on over to The Green Ninja and read all about it!   I encourage all of my today. com readers to browse around that blog, because I have posted a lot of ways to make money online by freelance writing.

This Christmas is going to be extremely difficult for many people.  Those who were living from paycheck to paycheck (as over half of Americans do) are finding it hard to pay the bills, let alone buy junior that toy that he asked Santa for.

We, like so many other families this year, are struggling.  We are eating in and enjoying the warmth of the house and the company of friends.

It’s easy to focus on the negatives.  I won’t be able to buy my family presents.  Rent is going to be late.  My paycheck has been cut in half and things are not looking good.  I want to die.

Focusing on these things does not accomplish one damn thing.  Instead, we are trying to make the most of our situation and be very grateful for the nice things that do come our way.

We are sushi lovers.  We are lovers of steaks and wine.  We treat ourselves when things are going well.  Lately, we have been eating  a lot of peanut butter sandwiches.  This week, though, we decided we would eat out one night.  Cracker Barrel.  It was the best meal we had eaten in a while.  Not because the food was inexplicably delightful, but because we appreciated it more.

We could not believe that both of us had eaten biscuits, bacon, grits and more and had only a $13.00 bill.  For both of us! We brought home a plate of biscuits that were left over and had them for breakfast the next morning.  They were still good and we were still happy.

We will have sushi again one day.  After Christmas and the bills are caught up. But until then: yay, biscuits!!

My unhappiness at my day job is increasing by the minute.  Today, the doctor was in.

A little background…

I do not work for the doctor.

The doctor is a guest in our business and is allowed to see patients there once a month.

The doctor is arrogant beyond belief.

My morning began when I walked into work and the doctor looked at me and ordered me to put a new ink cartridge in the printer.  OooooKKKkkkkk….

Um..I’m not a secretary.  Especially not your secretary.  I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind wanting to be your secretary.  Do NOT order me around.

The fact that the above statement is written in italics should clue you in to the fact that I did not say that out loud.  I should have.  He later interruped me while I was with a client to tell me that he needed a chair.  HE NEEDED A CHAIR.  I calmly looked at him and said, “Then go up front and get a chair.”

Arrogant or just plain helpless? You decide.

son of a bitch!

Let’s begin by saying that this week of experimenting was not quite as scientific as I would have liked.  Due to excessive drinking, I did not take my Advil PM two nights.  So the experiment is only valid for 5/7ths of the total time accrued. (Is that even a real fraction?!)

Anyway, for those of you who haven’t been following this experiment,  I decided to find out if improved sleep really does promote weight loss.  I have been taking Advil PM (almost) every night for a week and the result is:…………………………………..

I’ve lost one pound.

Not amazing, I know.  But, hey, I’m a pound lighter than I was last week.  I’m going to keep it up through the month of December and report back to you guys weekly.

Wish me luck!!!

It’s day 5 of my weight loss/sleep experiment and I can tell you already that I am liking the results. Though I have not yet weighed, I can tell you that I have been feeling better than I have in a long, long time.

I missed my Advil PM last night because I was out late with friends and thought it would be too late to take them when I got home.  I paid for it, too.  I didn’t sleep well and I woke up feeling yucky today.

All the other days though, I have had energy all day and have felt nice and ready to wake up in the mornings.  I won’t forget to take the Advil tonight! I’m exhausted! 

The weigh in comes Sunday.  Check back to see the results!

Today is the third day of my December Sleep/Weight Loss Experiment.   I have to say that I’m feeling pretty good, too.  If you want to read the details of the experiment, you can click on the link above.

I can tell that I’m getting deeper sleep and more sleep, which is awesome.  I’ve been feeling super refreshed when I wake up in the mornings and am better able to start my day off in  the right way instead of feeling grouchy like I usually do.   I have more energy during the day and have been able to fall asleep a little quicker at night.

I have not weighed myself yet.  I intend to do that 7 days into the experiment.  That’s when we’ll find out if all this new energy = a better metabolism and therefore a little weight loss.

Anyone care to join me in trying this?

2008 has left many of us broke and yearning for a new year and a new beginning.  Finances have collapsed and there is no end in sight.

Personally, my washing machine is broken and cannot be fixed, my 17 year old son totaled our car (he’s fine, thank goodness!) and we only have liability insurance, my grocery bill has doubled even though I’m still buying the same things and since I work in the hospitality industry, my income has been cut in half.  No one else has any money either.

I had a complete breakdown after the car accident and I was left wondering what advice I would give to others to handle this kind of situation.  I’m great at giving advice, but horrible at following my own.

I’ve been in tougher spots than this.  I’ve lived without heat or hot water and barely scraped by.  I am in a much better place and I know that this, too, shall pass.

I wrote down the advice I thought that I would give to others and have decided to follow it myself.  I will not have a pity party.  I will be thankful that I have hot water, a warm home and bike that I can ride to work.  I will work hard to pull myself out of this pit and I will become a better person because of it.