The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2016

[Alicia88]

I just made myself cry.  I was sitting here messing around online and listening to music.  I have a lot of stuff downloaded and I just put it on shuffle.  "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry started playing and I thought, "if I die before I hit 40, I want that song played at my funeral" and then I thought of all the young kids we lost recently and started bawling.  I'm blaming hormones.  I hate shark week.

 

[margd]

 
I'm a Christian.  I don't care what people say.  However, when I'm working, I'm NEVER allowed to say Merry Christmas.  I can only say Happy Holidays.  Even if someone says Merry Christmas to me, I have to say Happy Holidays back.  Which has resulted in nasty things being said to me.

Your employer sure is big on ridiculous rules, aren't they?   If someone wishes you a Merry Christmas, it makes them happy if you say the same in return.  And isn't making the customer happy the name of the game?  I'm not suggesting that a non-Christian be forced to say Merry Christmas if it offends them, but if you, the rep, have no problem with returning the greeting, what's the big deal?  [emoji]127876[/emoji]

 
I just made myself cry.  I was sitting here messing around online and listening to music.  I have a lot of stuff downloaded and I just put it on shuffle.  "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry started playing and I thought, "if I die before I hit 40, I want that song played at my funeral" and then I thought of all the young kids we lost recently and started bawling.  I'm blaming hormones.  I hate shark week.

And here I thought I was the only one who noticed if a song was funeral-worthy!  Maybe it's hormones or maybe it's just the combination of beautiful music and the sad memories.  Certain songs can cause me to tear up at the drop of a hat.  

 

 

[Alicia88]

Yeah, they're a bit on the ridiculous side.

There are a lot of songs that make me bawl like crazy.  "Love, Me" by Colin Raye kills me.  Especially when my grandpa died.  I heard that song and I cried for hours.  I listen to so many different genres.  I love putting my music on shuffle because it's such a mix.  It's not uncommon for a sappy country song to be followed by something by Eminem.  Haha

 

[raina21]

I am about to leave for a weekend trip to my aunt's house to celebrate Christmas early with my dad's side of the family.

I don't think Tesla wants me to leave (and I don't want to go).

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• raina21
• Dec 16, 2016

 

[bootse]

It's 5:03am and everyone is asleep. My husband Our dog Kira and Our new CAt Mia. It's a New Day. My younger sister who lives far from us visited and brought me to Cat Mugs and just Loved Mia and Mia took to her too. Here is a pic of inside and out because there's a cat inside

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• bootse
• Dec 16, 2016

 

[bootse]

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• bootse
• Dec 16, 2016

. And that's the front with my Mia Farrow posing next to it. Lol

 

[tallyollyopia]

It looks like she's saying; I dare  you to try to move me. 

Well, I was talking with AWM about Christmas, and I remembered something that happened a few years ago that I thought I'd share, but I have to give a little background first. It was back when I was in college, and I have this fur lined (not sure what  fur, but it's white and sparkly even all these years later) Santa hat. Not only is it a seasonal hat, but it's the  warmest hat I have, so when the weather starts getting cold I tend to start wearing it. Well, one day, about a week after I started wearing the hat to school, one of my classmates came to me and said, "I am not Christian, and your hat offends me."

Without batting an eye (or looking up from my textbook--we had a test that day), I said, "Don't worry. It offends Christians too."

Well, he started getting upset and red in the face. He slammed his hands down and barked, "I demand you remove that offensive hat!"

So I looked him right in the eye and said, "As soon as you remove that offensive neck tattoo." (I find almost all neck tattoos offensive, not sure why.) Well, no one at school complained about my hat again, and when my relatives on DD's side of the family tried to call it "Unchristian and heathen" I told them that they had a lot of behaviors I was very tolerant of and they could just suck it up. For the love of all that's good in the world, it's a hat. A warm hat, true, and a pretty (in my opinion) hat, but it's still just a hat. I think if the hat offends someone it says a lot more about that person than it does me.

 

[margd]

Well, I was talking with AWM about Christmas, and I remembered something that happened a few years ago that I thought I'd share, but I have to give a little background first. It was back when I was in college, and I have this fur lined (not sure what  fur, but it's white and sparkly even all these years later) Santa hat. Not only is it a seasonal hat, but it's the  warmest hat I have, so when the weather starts getting cold I tend to start wearing it. Well, one day, about a week after I started wearing the hat to school, one of my classmates came to me and said, "I am not Christian, and your hat offends me."

Without batting an eye (or looking up from my textbook--we had a test that day), I said, "Don't worry. It offends Christians too."

Well, he started getting upset and red in the face. He slammed his hands down and barked, "I demand you remove that offensive hat!"

So I looked him right in the eye and said, "As soon as you remove that offensive neck tattoo." (I find almost all neck tattoos offensive, not sure why.) Well, no one at school complained about my hat again, and when my relatives on DD's side of the family tried to call it "Unchristian and heathen" I told them that they had a lot of behaviors I was very tolerant of and they could just suck it up. For the love of all that's good in the world, it's a hat. A warm hat, true, and a pretty (in my opinion) hat, but it's still just a hat. I think if the hat offends someone it says a lot more about that person than it does me.

Some people are just looking for an opportunity to be offended.  Being offended by someone's hat is just about as petty as it gets.  To really give them something to complain about, perhaps you should start wearing something like this.  To be extra offensive, be sure to wear it when going to the movies. 

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• margd
• Dec 16, 2016

 

[Primula]

How ridiculously touchy some people are!  I am not Christian and I don't like when people say "Merry Christmas" to me, because I do not celebrate it and I never know how to respond.

I'm confused. Aren't you being touchy about people wishing you Merry Christmas?

 

[Willowy]

I'm confused. Aren't you being touchy about people wishing you Merry Christmas?

Nope. Feeling awkward about what to say is not being "touchy" unless the person is rude about it. LOL, I feel awkward about what to say just about all the time and I sure hope nobody thinks I'm being touchy! :lol3:

Anyway, I don't care what people say as long as they don't go spewing their intolerance on innocent (and captive) service employees.

I feel I need that flamingo hat. I especially like that the flamingos are wearing hats of their own.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Maybe! For those of us who aren't in that religion, it can be pretty overwhelming.  We just want it to be over!

 

[Willowy]

Maybe! For those of us who aren't in that religion, it can be pretty overwhelming.  We just want it to be over!

Haha, yes! It's like a 2-month-long avalanche of Christmas, all fallen on top of you :lol3:. And then people talk about "a war on Christmas" and get mad if you laugh. . .I suppose they can't see how very ubiquitous it is.

 

[Primula]

Maybe! For those of us who aren't in that religion, it can be pretty overwhelming.  We just want it to be over!

I'm Roman Catholic & I want it to be over too. The religious aspect for me (obviously) is lovely and I am focused on that only. But the rest of it is horrible IMO.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

 
Maybe! For those of us who aren't in that religion, it can be pretty overwhelming.  We just want it to be over!

Huh...and, see, that's just how different we all are!  I am definitely not Christian, but I love the whole season, with the FEW exceptions of people trying to push THEIR religious views on me.  Yule is my holiday, but I love it all!  I even like carols.  For the most part they are sweet songs of hope, and a few are downright Pagan, which definitely recommends them to me.  There is a child-like simplicity and wonder in singing the old carols that appeals to me, even it the specific message is not mine.

 

[artiemom]

To me Christmas is a Spirit time... a time of hope--a time of wishing good will towards men.. a time to be happy and be happy in joy of just being happy...

I guess you could say I am naive.. I am.. I am also Catholic, so I get the religious meaning of Christmas.. but it is a sprit of happiness and anticipation of something..something that could be good and wonderful if all of mankind just felt in the spirit of the season.. not getting religious on you, but just thinning of hope for mankind...

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year.. I love the Christmas Carols, the generic songs from my childhood and also the songs I discovered from my Polish heritage.. I do not understand them, but I do understand the meanings of them.. I love the melodies.. 

I try to stay away from the commercialism of Christmas.. I stay very low and really out of the gift giving craziness of the times.. I do give sparingly, but extravagant to my friends and family.. it is from the heart..

Yes, there has been a ton of bad things which happen during this Christmas time.. I try to always retain my Christmas spirit.. it is hard to do.. some years are easier than others.. this year is one of the hard ones.. but I still try.. I have my routines, my ritual Christmas songs, CDs and DVD which I watch and listen to.. I really do try...If more people would really try to get in the true spirt of Christmas--that is of goodness, then this world would be a much better place...

ok, off my soapbox..

 

[tarasgirl06]

Those are good thoughts! For everyone, holy days should be holy days, not consumerist days! Oh well.  It is good to hear some hold those good thoughts.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I like those kinds of music, too, of any culture.  Something from the heart, and from the spirit, can be shared by all, even if our beliefs may be very different.

 

[Margret]

---SNIP---
Well, I was talking with AWM about Christmas, and I remembered something that happened a few years ago that I thought I'd share, but I have to give a little background first. It was back when I was in college, and I have this fur lined (not sure what  fur, but it's white and sparkly even all these years later) Santa hat. Not only is it a seasonal hat, but it's the  warmest hat I have, so when the weather starts getting cold I tend to start wearing it. Well, one day, about a week after I started wearing the hat to school, one of my classmates came to me and said, "I am not Christian, and your hat offends me."

Without batting an eye (or looking up from my textbook--we had a test that day), I said, "Don't worry. It offends Christians too."

Well, he started getting upset and red in the face. He slammed his hands down and barked, "I demand you remove that offensive hat!"

So I looked him right in the eye and said, "As soon as you remove that offensive neck tattoo." (I find almost all neck tattoos offensive, not sure why.) Well, no one at school complained about my hat again, and when my relatives on DD's side of the family tried to call it "Unchristian and heathen" I told them that they had a lot of behaviors I was very tolerant of and they could just suck it up. For the love of all that's good in the world, it's a hat. A warm hat, true, and a pretty (in my opinion) hat, but it's still just a hat. I think if the hat offends someone it says a lot more about that person than it does me.

Maybe three or so decades ago, we were visiting my mother in Florence, Oregon for Christmas.  Florence is on the coast, about halfway between Washington and California.  The nearest city is Eugene, so my mother subscribed to the Eugene newspaper.

I was astonished to see an article in the paper saying that a local pagan group was suing the city of Eugene because of their Christmas tree, on the grounds that it was a symbol of Christianity and therefore offensive to non-Christians.  I could have understood it (though not condoned it) if a Christian fundamentalist group had sued, over this blatant pagan symbol, but the pagans?!  That's just weird.

Margret

 

[tarasgirl06]

*Yes.* 

 

[Alicia88]

People are crazy.

There was a guy in town who would complain to anyone in earshot about how hard it was to get disability and how he really needed the help because he couldn't work.  What was his disability?  A huge, ugly skull tattoo covering his neck.  No one would hire him.

I have a neck tattoo, but mine is on the back of my neck and can easily be covered by my hair if I am in a situation where (I feel) tattoos are inappropriate, such as a job interview.  I actually have 3 tattoos and they are in areas that can easily be covered.

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• Alicia88
• Dec 16, 2016

Neck

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• Alicia88
• Dec 16, 2016

Ankle

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• Alicia88
• Dec 16, 2016

Waist