![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Dec. 16th, 2010 10:17 amDear Yuletide Writer,
*Big Christian Holiday I Don't Celebrate* falls on Shabbat this year, so I won't get to read your surely delightful story until at least sundown on the 25th and probably not until later.
I'll be hosting a Jewmas party again this year, having a bunch of Jewish friends over to uh... do nothing in particular. I've written before and I'll write again about how confusing I find being a Jew on Christmas, in terms of it being a day when nearly everyone around me has programmed plans for what they're supposed to be doing, culturally speaking, and all I have for guidance is a couple of tired old jokes. I don't particularly like Chinese Food and a Movie as the de facto Jewish Christmas tradition; I do it because I'm not sure what else I should be doing. I should clarify that it's not that I don't enjoy eating Chinese food or watching a movie with friends. I just don't find it a particularly fulfilling tradition.
What I do like about Jewmas is the space it provides to spend time with friends. It's a day off, a pause, that isn't designated for family. I like taking that time to be grateful for the friends I have, for the joy they give me, for the memories we've created. For having friends who tolerate my puns and my unreliability.
Also, checking the last two years, we're coming up on the time I post a list of things I accomplished in the past year.
This Year I
1) Got Fired. I have to list that first, since it was pretty much the first thing that happened to me this year. It was unpleasant and I don't think I handled it the best way possible, but I did get through it and that's something.
2) Hunted. Mystery Hunt for the fifth time and Scav Hunt for the first time. Both were amazing experiences. I probably won't go to Scav next year unless I'm fired again and I'm missing Mystery Hunt this year, so I'm glad I had such fulfilling experiences this year.
3)Ficced. I wrote some stories this year I'm really proud of, especially "If We Were All Wise Men", my Pirate Rabbi Easter story. I'm glad I've made writing fiction a part of my life these last few years. Storytelling fills me with joy.
4)NaNoed. For the second straight year, I wrote 50,000 words in November. For the second straight year, it's a glorious mess I'm afraid to try to edit. For the second straight year, I had a local social life for the month of November.
5)Got Rehired. Yes, the circumstances were weird, but I've been holding down a job since May and I'm grateful. Work is challenging, busy, and often frustrating, but it can also be satisfying.
6)Won Trivia. Repeatedly. As part of the Periodic Table Dancers and its successors, I did quite well this year. It was good to have competitive trivia back in my life in a way it hasn't really been since high school.
7)Roleplayed. Another thing that's been largely absent in my life since high school, I joined two D&D games this year and had a lot of fun playing with my new characters and meeting new people.
8)Read. I finished Infinite Jest, probably the literary highlight of my year. I'm at 47 on the 50books_POC challenge that I started in March '09, so it's probably going to be 2 full years before I hit 50, but that's okay. I'm in the middle of Rushdie's "Midnight's Children", among other things.
9)Got culture. Operas I've seen in the past year include: Ariadne auf Naxos, Turandot, The Nose, A Quiet Place, Tea: A Mirror of Soul, and Intermezzo. Um... I somehow haven't seen any other theater that I can think of, which seems odd. More pop/rock-ish concerts I've been to include Norah Jones, Doveman, the Arcade Fire, Ivri Lider, and probably one or two others.
10)Kept on living. I don't take that for granted. Thank you all for living through the year with me.
*Big Christian Holiday I Don't Celebrate* falls on Shabbat this year, so I won't get to read your surely delightful story until at least sundown on the 25th and probably not until later.
I'll be hosting a Jewmas party again this year, having a bunch of Jewish friends over to uh... do nothing in particular. I've written before and I'll write again about how confusing I find being a Jew on Christmas, in terms of it being a day when nearly everyone around me has programmed plans for what they're supposed to be doing, culturally speaking, and all I have for guidance is a couple of tired old jokes. I don't particularly like Chinese Food and a Movie as the de facto Jewish Christmas tradition; I do it because I'm not sure what else I should be doing. I should clarify that it's not that I don't enjoy eating Chinese food or watching a movie with friends. I just don't find it a particularly fulfilling tradition.
What I do like about Jewmas is the space it provides to spend time with friends. It's a day off, a pause, that isn't designated for family. I like taking that time to be grateful for the friends I have, for the joy they give me, for the memories we've created. For having friends who tolerate my puns and my unreliability.
Also, checking the last two years, we're coming up on the time I post a list of things I accomplished in the past year.
This Year I
1) Got Fired. I have to list that first, since it was pretty much the first thing that happened to me this year. It was unpleasant and I don't think I handled it the best way possible, but I did get through it and that's something.
2) Hunted. Mystery Hunt for the fifth time and Scav Hunt for the first time. Both were amazing experiences. I probably won't go to Scav next year unless I'm fired again and I'm missing Mystery Hunt this year, so I'm glad I had such fulfilling experiences this year.
3)Ficced. I wrote some stories this year I'm really proud of, especially "If We Were All Wise Men", my Pirate Rabbi Easter story. I'm glad I've made writing fiction a part of my life these last few years. Storytelling fills me with joy.
4)NaNoed. For the second straight year, I wrote 50,000 words in November. For the second straight year, it's a glorious mess I'm afraid to try to edit. For the second straight year, I had a local social life for the month of November.
5)Got Rehired. Yes, the circumstances were weird, but I've been holding down a job since May and I'm grateful. Work is challenging, busy, and often frustrating, but it can also be satisfying.
6)Won Trivia. Repeatedly. As part of the Periodic Table Dancers and its successors, I did quite well this year. It was good to have competitive trivia back in my life in a way it hasn't really been since high school.
7)Roleplayed. Another thing that's been largely absent in my life since high school, I joined two D&D games this year and had a lot of fun playing with my new characters and meeting new people.
8)Read. I finished Infinite Jest, probably the literary highlight of my year. I'm at 47 on the 50books_POC challenge that I started in March '09, so it's probably going to be 2 full years before I hit 50, but that's okay. I'm in the middle of Rushdie's "Midnight's Children", among other things.
9)Got culture. Operas I've seen in the past year include: Ariadne auf Naxos, Turandot, The Nose, A Quiet Place, Tea: A Mirror of Soul, and Intermezzo. Um... I somehow haven't seen any other theater that I can think of, which seems odd. More pop/rock-ish concerts I've been to include Norah Jones, Doveman, the Arcade Fire, Ivri Lider, and probably one or two others.
10)Kept on living. I don't take that for granted. Thank you all for living through the year with me.
