To be fair, it's not like she's going to be super angry or anything. But I wish I'd caught her on the phone when she'd called earlier. Le sigh.
2: Um, exactly! Do you want to call my mom for me? She's a pretty liberal Catholic and really quite nice.
My liberal Catholic mother has been texting me for days and days asking if I'd be home for Easter and if so what should she make me, her pain in the ass vegetarian daughter? I've been replying with a constant stream of dunno! dunno! dunno!
If it makes you feel any better, Stanley, my pagan mother was supposed to come to my house for Easter dinner and has since reneged.
Up here, Good Friday and Easter (following Monday) are business-closing official holidays.
7: I just learned that today. Easter Monday? Godless socialists, my foot.
6: I'm glad to hear that ()mom is not the only one, but I'm sorry hear of your plans getting mucked up.
Oh, it's not a problem, really - I was just amused that we were in the opposite situation. Now we're celebrating Easter Monday. Surely Jesus won't mind if we make him wait one more day to reveal himself.
10: Jesus can hit snooze on that whole resurrection thingy.
I've never really cared about Easter. Christmas Eve and its rituals on the other hand is something I observe quite closely. Probably a combination of parental influence and the elaborateness of the secular rituals associated with the two holidays. Lots of them for Christmas Eve; pisanki (elaborately decorated eggs) and a cold cut brunch on a fancy set table are about it for Easter.
7: In the UK, Easter Monday is a holiday, but a lot of retail-type places open up.
Meanwhile in the US, I don't have vacation days yet, so if I want to take Friday off for religious reasons, I have to do it unpaid.
Similarly, the goverment department, which funds and oversees my agency, set a major deadline for Friday.
I'm not a fan of Easter. Partly because I always forget about it (and other bank holidays) until just before it happens, so I never plan a decent holiday. And partly because Good Friday means we have to go to press a day early, which in turn means we have to work extra hard Monday to Wednesday.
From my residual Anglican background, I still tend to think of Easter as THE Christian festival, with Christmas as a Pagan/secular boozefest of no particular religious importance. But that said, I'm not sure the state ought to be giving holidays on Christian occasions especially.
If the state wants to accommodate celebrations of holy days, it should simply legislate that everybody has a right to three or four days a year for religious observance which they can stipulate to their employer. Employers ought to be cool with this, as they could stay open with non-Christian staff at Christmas, while the Jews and Moslems and Hindus (for example) slope off to celebrate their festivals at other times.
I shall however have Friday off, and glad of it.
16: Sure, that sounds fine enough. It's just that I don't accumulate any vacation until I've been working at my current job for 6 months. Then I get 5 days. The next year, I think that I get 15.
The problem is for things like schools, where say, 50% of the teachers are Jewish, it makes sense to close down for the high holy days.
Likewise, in MA supermarkets have to close on Christmas Day. (Thanksgiving too.) I support this, because most of the people do observe Christmas in some form, and there would be way too much pressure on people to work on the holidays if the stores weren't mandated to close.
Sure, that sounds fine enough. It's just that I don't accumulate any vacation until I've been working at my current job for 6 months
Presumably the replacement holiday days OFE envisages would be statutory - like bank holidays in the UK, but flexible - you wouldn't have to accumulate vacation to take them and they wouldn't count to your paid leave. There would be a huge uproar if people had their statutory holidays replaced with leave at the employer's discretion.
Returning to the OP, I was of the impression that it's not the best idea to text someone when they're sleeping because the phone will beep and might wake them up.
Well, yes. I'd envisage it being something you agreed when you took a new job:
HR: What statutory holidays do you want? the secular ones, New Year's Day, "May Day" and Late Summer are given.
Christian: Good Friday, Christmas or nearest Monday... Hmm, all the other important ones fall on Sundays. I'll have Easter Monday and New Year's Day, thank you.
Muslim: I'll take three days at Eid ul Fitr and one at Eid ul Adha, please.
Me: Good question. I'll go for Christmas because everybody does. And I'll have my birthday and my wife's, and, er... first Monday in October, to break up the long haul through the autumn. OK.
19. Some of us switch our phones off at night to save energy.
21: I'd never do that - if someone is trying to phone me at 2 in the morning, then it's presumably pretty urgent.
22. That would be an unassailable argument if i. everybody you knew had the same definition of "urgent" as yourself, and ii. drunks and people in other time zones always dialled the right number. If it's that important, they can phone my land line and wait for me to wake up and get down there.
16: I think Easter is most definitely THE Christian festival - Christmas just gets more attention because it's easier to sell people stuff. Not that much of a market for Easter crap beyond chocolate bunnies and eggs.
Christmas is a perfect example of the way that the market inserts itself into everything, gradually twisting the original thing so as to best serve the imperative to spend money. This is how the US came to the point where it's simply assumed that all interpersonal relationships of any significance will be mediated by crap from the mall.
what should she make me, her pain in the ass vegetarian daughter?
Candle salad?
Better late texting than my behavior at some distant time in the past century (I think I was 22*). After an ill-timed night of debauch I managed to make a quick phone call on my way to bed informing my Mom that I would not be joining them at church as originally planned but I'd certainly be there for Easter dinner. I managed to make it to the house a bit late, but one glance at the spread caused me to quickly retire upstairs to bathroom and bed for the duration of the meal. Suspected pagan bumhood spectacularly confirmed.
*A mere 5 years earlier I had personally destroyed Easter Sunday services (through negligence rather than malice) in the opinion of the assistant pastor at our church. The day of celebration of the alleged resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is not my favorite holiday.
Question is, does her pain in the ass vegetarian daughter do eggs or dairy? If so, much easier. Also, for me, although I'm not vegetarian, the important part of a chicken dinner is the accompanying vegetables, garnished with a bit of chicken for optional flavour. If the veggies are good and varied, then give me a bit of extra stuffing cooked outside the bird and some onion gravy, and I'd probably not trouble the chicken myself.
24.last: gradually twisting the original thing so as to best serve the imperative to spend money
But in the process creating a holiday ritual which when correctly viewed is a great object lesson in the inability of material goods to salve the soul. Important to point that out to your kids on Dec 26th or 27th or whenever.
28: Actually kind of boring. I annoyingly have to attend to some work at the moment, but will spill in a bit.
When we were in college, I went to a friend's seder and he hid the matzoh in the VCR. It took his family forever to find it, and then they were predictably furious. I thought it was really funny though.
In the Antipodes, they call Easter weekend "four days of fun," in what I think the fathers of the church could be forgiven for calling missing the point by a mile and a half.
32: I don't know about that. From what I understand, the early Roman Church viewed the Crufixion as a joyous event. See The Dream Of The Rood for a literary example.
Last night at work a woman stopped in to check the place out, as she had never been there. She noticed we have a kielbasa & pint special and exclaimed "Oh! Kielbasa! But I couldn't, because it's Passover, except I could just not have the bun, and I suppose the sausage might have pork in it, but I grew up eating pork, so that's not really a problem..." She seemed like a nice person, but she really needs to make up her mind about the observance of her religious dietary restrictions.
I've always liked Easter for the food, and my mother always went a little overboard on the Easter baskets, so that was cool. (All hand selected -- I think I only got one of the plasticky pre-collated ones from the store once)
But it is kinda boring religion-wise.
I've always hated Easter for the food. Except for the Reese's peanut butter eggs. And black jelly beans.
From what I understand, the early Roman Church viewed the Crufixion as a joyous event
Whatever floats your boat, I gugess. Better than kiddie fiddling.
Greek Easter is where you want to head for good food.
In the Antipodes, they call Easter weekend "four days of fun,"
"Sobriety, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they did last night.
Today you will be with me in Club Paradise.
37 is encouraging, as I am invited to Easter with my brother's Greek in-laws this year!
"No man cometh unto the Father if their name isn't on the list."
Speaking of pagans, via Facebook I've learned that a Reagan-loving high school acquaintance, who joined the Army after graduation and who I always imagined going on to lead a life of happy wing-nut bliss, is instead a Goddess-worshiping Wiccan.
I've always liked Easter, but more for the weather, which is usually perfect, than for the holiday itself.
37: Greek Easter is where you want to head for good food.
Huh, I would have guessed French Easter for where you'd want to head, and Greek Easter for something you could really get behind.
Is French Easter pronounced Frooster?
I love Easter in Richmond. We have a big event called the Monument Easter Parade. A large street near my house closes down and bands playing everywhere. People essentially just walk up and down the street with their dogs.
My daughter loves it.
I see from the calendar of saints that today is John Donne's day. I'm taking the day off. Any man's work diminishes me.
I saw that. What the hell is this concession for? Just the joy of concessions?
(Although I do agree with the anti-NIMBYism of drilling right here. If we want the oil, let's ruin our own ecology.) But wasn't it an argument that these offshore drilling things would take like 20 years to produce negligible amounts?
49 -- Looking at the map, my first thought isn't concession, but wedge.
What the hell is this concession for?
That's this administration's MO, isn't it?
I don't understand this at all. Increased coastal drilling would be a small price to pay in exchange for actual congressional votes for an overall energy package that shifts us to a low-carbon economy over time. But any price is too high a price to pay in exchange for nothing at all. This isn't the greatest environmental crime in human history, but it sure does seem like poor legislative strategy.
Same bargaining strategy they used for health insurance reform as well.
21/22: this is the real role of the PSTN now, isn't it? It's the public end-point for communications from the police, telemarketers, things involving your mother that happen at 2am - basically anything dire.
Calls you want to receive come in on the mobile.
Drilling takes one issue off the table for the 2010 elections. If Obama will just preemptively concede on abortion and rights for homosexuals the GOP will have a hard time gaining seats. Look for an attack on Iran a few days before the election, too.
We will destroy the right by turning Democrats into Republicans, and then, using the Democrat's innate ability to fuck up everything they touch, implement right wing policies in a way that gives liberals everything they want. It's brilliant at a level most mere mortals simply cannot grasp.
54. Well, I get internet access over it, mainly. YMMV.
48 - Hey, I have Cesar Chavez Day off too! It was a trifle strange to realize late yesterday afternoon that I have today off. I really don't pay attention to administrative things.
I want to cook something for Easter, but there don't seem to be any traditional Easter dishes in my family. What do you all eat for Easter?
When we were in college, I went to a friend's seder and he hid the matzoh in the VCR. It took his family forever to find it, and then they were predictably furious.
That seems cruel. Admittedly, funny, if I wasn't the person who was up until midnight searching for the Matzoh in the VCR. But I may be biased since the seders that I have attended usually run late anyway, and that's with a perfunctory search for the afikomen.
58: Lamb. Gotta be lamb. If you're not feeding a big family, get some nice little chops and hardly cook them -- lamb chops want to be rare.
lamb chops want to be rare.
Yet safe and legal.
Hm, lamb could be excellent. Thanks, LB! (Now I must dash off.)
#59. Love to eat them Jesusies / Jesusies what I love to eat / Bite they little heads off / nibble on they tiny feet.
I like those old time hymns.
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me.
Seriously, though, lamb is rather the obvious option.
Why not go for a proverbial spring chicken? They're harder to find than ordinary spring chickens and somewhat tough (because of all the work they're put to), but properly prepared are divine.
Agnus! I have a leg of lamb in the freezer, which I've been eagerly anticipating since I gave up meat for Lent.
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Hey, oudemia, remember that fabulous house that you liked, the one I grew up in? For $388k, it's yours.
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Hardest search was the time my grandfather hid the matzoh under the matzoh plate.
70: Can't you just give it to me, Jesus?
(I just dug a hole in the ground here, so that the fruit could hang extra low.)
Mm, I think I'll just let that hang there and ripen. Anyway, $388k buys you a lot of house on a huge lot. You'd be in Waverly, which doesn't offer much, but think of how much space you'd have to create your own reality. The same realtor is listing this 1858 Italianate where a friend of mine used to live. 4400 square feet, 4.7 wooded acres, $280k. Not North Dakota prices, but a pretty sweet deal.
19/21/22/54: My mom cuts her cell phone off whenever she's unable to take a call. So, for instance, she'll have it off in the car. Turn it on for the walk into a building, then cut it off again. It's odd, compared to the way most people I know use cell phones, but I can't really find fault with it.
If I dialed her land line, on the other hand, the ringing phone next to her sleeping head would have most likely woken her up. And that's just rude.
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Since Stanley threads are the eternal repository for All Things Hobo, allow me to announce that I just today learned about the contest-winning Grindhouse fan trailer Hobo with a Shotgun.
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Easter as THE Christian festival
I had a professor who was fond of saying that "Christmas was the birth of Christ, but Easter was the birth of Christianity." The class had little to do with religion, so it was kind of odd that he said it more than once.
hid the matzoh in the VCR.
Somewhere there is a great Afikoman/movie/Betamax/something pun lurking--but I can't find it. Anyone?
58: Traditional in my family has been an Easter supper of Cadbury Creme Eggs. Now we put a little embryonic peep inside in acknowledgment of the Filipino component of the household.
Mmmm. Creme Eggs. Together with Mini-Eggs, they are the best thing about Easter. But I usually wait until after the holiday when they cut the prices.
79: But at that point though they're no longer fresh, and only fit to eat hardboiled.
Soft boiled, surely. Unless it were boiling nitrogen.
26, 28: My not-so-interesting story of at age 17 nearly personally destroying Easter Sunday services at my fairly big, "solemn pageant"-oriented UMC Protestant church.
The short version is that first I delayed the Easter Sunrise service (I was Jesus) thanks to my tardiness due to several nights of mild debauch, an unexpected late snow and a car in a locked garage to which I did not have a key. Then just as I got back home and was settling into a, "Thank God that nightmare's over" sleep, the phone rang with someone frantically saying that people were pouring into the church for the regular service and yet no ushers were there (It was an April 2nd Easter and the usher crews were on monthly rotation and I was the new "head" usher that month [insert explanation of actual extenuating circumstances here].) So I broke out a pane of glass in the garage, and drove over there in time to recruit enough friends to man the collection plates and separate the marks from their shekels at the appropriate time. Glitches in both ceremonies noted and blame assigned.
I thought maybe the Cadbury egg had turned into blue cheese, but apparently not.
31: he hid the matzoh in the VCR
NOT A EUPHEMISM! HAVE ALL TRADITIONS DIED!?!!?!?