Happy Birthday to me!

Earlier today, my darling wife told me to do whatever I wanted to do, and to enjoy my birthday. So, I did a lot of nothing this morning...dozed on the couch with a book in one hand and a remote in the other. I was watching a DVD on various attacks that can be done from the half-guard, but I don't really remember any of them at the moment. Next time, I'll stay awake...honest!

So, I ran a quick errand and then buzzed on over to my favorite noodle house for lunch. The sky was blue, the clouds were white and fluffy, and I had the radio up loud. It was absolutely grand. I sat at my table, ordered a HUGE lunch and proceeded to eat and peruse a handful of martial arts mags that I had just purchased for the occasion. That was a fairly blissful hour, save that I happened to be there right at lunchtime, so it was more noisy than usual. Otherwise, it was just great.

I spent the rest of the afternoon installing a DVD burner on my computer and then trying to clean off the hard drive so that I could actually use the thing. Seems we had pictures on there from a long time ago, and those things were taking up a ton of space. All's well now, and I'm hoping to be able to produce some cool stuff in the future.

The highlight of my day was the short message I received from my father. He left me a voicemail, and sang Happy Birthday to me. That was way cool. I plan to find a way to send that to myself so that I can put it on a disk somewhere. Of all the well-wishes that have come in today, that one is my favorite.

You know, I realize that there are folks out there who turn up their nose at Halloween. I know that many of them feel that the holiday is a reflection of some kind of devil worship, and that it's evil to celebrate it. Well, I've spent 37 years of having parties on this day, so it has always been a fun day for me. I mean, what kid wouldn't enjoy having costumed sack races with their classmates in the front yard every year? Let's not even talk about the candy...too much of that makes me sick nowadays, but all in all, it was always my favorite holiday.

In many old cultures, this day was the beginning of the cold months, and marked the time when farmers would start to prepare for the long winter ahead. The last harvests were brought in, and it was common for folks to get together and have Harvest Festivals before the winter rolled in. It was a halfway point beween the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, and was recognised in old Celtic cultures as a time for remembering their dead loved ones. Things were different back then, and folks believed that on this night, the 'veil' that separated the physical world from the spirit world was pretty thin, so they figured that they could more easily communicate with those who had passed. That was part of their religion, and part of their daily lives. That's just how they rolled.

Today, the huge majority of us observe the holiday by dressing up our kids in costumes, taking tons of pictures, doing the T and T thing, and maybe having parties here and there where we get to dress up and have some fun. There's nothing wrong with that. Of course, there are those who have more sinister ways of observing the day, but that's their problem. It bugs me that their antics ruin it for the rest of us. Leave our cats alone, and stop vandalising our property! I have many friends who celebrate this holiday with much more reverence and positive energy than the average bear, and they don't bother anyone.

I always celebrate this day. I see it, as the Celts did, as the start of a new year. It's my birthday, so it is a new year for me! So after enjoying a birthday cake tonight, and dressing up as a Scottish Highlander (complete with sword, dirk, and sghean dhu in my stocking), I'm going to get to work on my resolutions for the year.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Happy Samhain (properly pronounced Sow-wen) to you! Happy All Saint's Day tomorrow! Whatever, just have a happy day!