share the confusion

Profound reflections on the nature of the seasons of Advent and Christmas from Benjamin

Advent, on the other hand, is spent investigating the modal nature of sugar (it was fudge, it is cookies, it will be almond rocca, world without end amen) , writing letters to Santa, and demanding the head of any cashier or clerk who dares to wish you “Happy Holidays� instead of a “Merry Christmas�, like the Bible says they should. This is all capped by said holiday, wherein you exchange gifts with people who already have everything that they want, if not more than they actually need.

The only thing you get for Easter is chocolate eggs and salvation, and where on earth are you going to exchange that for something in your color?

There’s a lot to be said for sharply observed sarcasm.

A reminder from Halley as to what blogging should be about -

 Sometimes, with all the hype that’s grown up around blogging, you really have to remember how we all started and why we came here at all.

It was just a way to have fun and hack around. Nothing more mysterious.

Definitely a preferable mindset to beating yourself up to find something interesting/topical/funny every day.

Today is the start of Advent, despite what your chocolate advent calendar might say to the contrary.

It’s also the start of me using “A light blazes in the darkness” throughout this season of the calendar.

It’s a book that’s clearly not going to mess about, disarmingly getting straight to the point. From today’s entry -

Advent is about peeling away all of those layers of knowledge and protection that keep you status-quo-bound. Advent is about allowing yourself to be completely vulnerable so that you can be swept up and away by the Word Made Flesh. Peeling away hurt that protects you from more hurt. Peeling away calluses built up from experience, telling you that this year won’t be any different. Peeling away the persona you put on to face the world, covering the child God created you to be. What do you need to peel away to reconnect with what is beneath?

What do you need to peel away to reconnect with what is beneath? What indeed.

My bloglines list has gone wonky and isn’t updating any feeds. I feel like part of my brain is missing.

It’s Friday night, I wanna sit in, chill out and read some blog posts, but I can’t.

Hmmm, I don’t come out of that too well do I? It’s Friday night and I’m in reading blogs. Or not, which is even sadder.

I found this in my local supermarket and snapped it on my camera phone. I’m not entirely sure I was meant to see it, but it makes interesting reading nonetheless!

Checkout Ten Point Plan

1. Make eye contact, smile and say (at least) “Hello”

2. If the customer has been delayed in the queue, smile and thank them for their patience

3. Offer to help the customer pack their shopping

4. Don’t chat to anyone else or complain in front of the customer

5. Chat to the customer (If appropriate) and ensure that they feel at ease and not rushed

6. As for the payment ONLY when all the shopping has been packed away

7. Offer cashback if the customer is paying with a debit card (even with Chip & Pin)

8. Ask the customer to initial the till docket to confirm receipt of cashback – but only when they have actually received the cash. Retain docket in the till

9 Make eye contactr and smile whilst handing back receipt, card(s) change. Count change\cash, back into the customers hand and explain about any voids etc

10. Close with a friendly parting comment – at least “Thank you”

Could I do the job of a checkout operator and deal with the waves of hate that come my way from customers because I have dared to hold up their oh so very important lives? Nope. Do I still find the 10 point plan ironically amusing? You betcha.

It’s Friday afternoon. Can you be bothered starting something new? I know I can’t, which is why I’m glad I’ve found this today – Make your own ultimate paper aeroplane.

Speaking as someone whose own designs have won awards (furthest distance travelled, at my 1992 church olympics, an event supposedly equivalent to the javelin) I can safely say this is an impressive and effective design.

Beats working anyway.

Today is 1 month – only 30 days – to Christmas day.

It’s time for one of my favourite bits of confusion of the year -  wrapping paper street sellers.

Wrapping paper street sellers round my way always advertise their wares in the same form – “Ten sheets a pound your wrapping paper. Your wrapping paper, ten sheets a pound.”

What is it with flipping the sentence round like that? Are they on some sort of tape loop?

A friend pointed out these quotes about books in “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon to me last night -

Every book, every volume you see here has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.

and

In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been someone’s best friend. 

Hmmmm, me likey! Sounds like an endorsement for Book Crossing to me……