Scottitude’s Neighborhood

While reading a message board the other day, I saw a thread about New Year's resolutions and rolled my eyes.  My first thought was that nearly everyone would resolve to "lose weight" in 2010, as that particular resolution is typical and ubiquitous.  There's absolutely no originality about it at all.

Sure enough, I was right.  Every person who had posted on the thread put weight loss on their list.  I seriously doubt that every person who posts on that large message board is in need of weight loss, hence my rolling of eyes.  But no one ever wants to gain weight or just doesn't care one way (weigh?) or the other how much they weigh.  No,everyone resolved to lose weight, even if they were underweight.

And what annoyed me most about this is not so much the desire to lose weight, but rather the ubiquity of this resolution and the total lack of originality in coming up with a list of resolutions, not to mention the ubiquity of New Years' resolutions themselves.

I got to thinking and I realized that it was ubiquity in general -- the ever-present, the predictable, and the typical -- that is at the heart of my annoyance.   It connotes a lack of original or creative thinking and reeks of a lemming-like ordinariness.  Thinking further, I thought of other examples of ubiquity that irritate me.

One example is the fact that nearly every rock band, without question, contains only two types of instruments: guitars and drums.  Why do we not see wind instruments on a more regular basis?  Why not pianos? There's nothing wrong with guitars and drums, per se, but the ubiquity of the guitar-and-drums-only bands annoys the crap out of me.  I can't help but think of how much more opportunity for creative music is lost because most rock musicians just stick to the same ol' thing, instrument wise.

One petty example of ubiquity is that whenever you see a couple sharing a motorcycle, the woman is always the one on the back.  What?  Is this a freaking law or something?  You think they'd want to switch up now and then for a little variety.  A funny example of ubiquity is that whenever you are driving behind construction workers in a pickup, they always have a yellow plastic water dispenser with a red lid on top.  Never any other colors.

Feel free to list other example of ubiquity in the comment box, particularly the kinds that irritate you..

White lights or colored lights? Blinking or non-blinking? Bonus points if you show us a photo of the lights you used to decorate for the holidays.

I prefer colored Christmas lights, as I think white lights are boring and kind of pretentious.  After all, we see white lamps in different forms of lighting 365 days a year; there's nothing special about them.  On the other hand, we only see the strings of colored lights at Christmas time and color is inherently more interesting than the lack of color.

But I prefer non-blinking lights, as the blinky kind are kind of distracting and annoying.

I can't show you a picture, because I don't decorate for Christmas.

Beautiful antique Christmas glass balls by Virginhoney.

These are so pretty! They remind me of my grandmother.

I was contacted last week about my nutcracker collection and was asked to write a short article about them. Check it out on the Etsy Storque!

www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/the-collectors-jelenes...

This morning, I read an interesting blog post by Paula Reed.  Her entry was based on a quote she'd received by email:

“The Left: People who demonize those with whom they disagree.”

My first thought was to think of how so many neocons today are masters at the art of projection: they take what is commonly done by neocons and turn it around saying it's really liberals doing it.

Personally attacking one's opponents, instead of coming up with reasoned rebuttals to their ideas is intellectually dishonest and is a symptom of the creeping anti-intellectualism in this country; an example of the dumbing-down of America.  It's much easier to blame liberals for everything that's wrong in our world today, than to come up with ideas on how to fix these problems together.

Gone are the days of erudite conservatives, such as William Buckley. Also largely gone are those conservatives, such as Barry Goldwater, who was able to often put ideological differences aside and work in a bi-partisan manner with his Democratic colleagues (now, I bet that is a word you don't hear too much in Washington nowadays) for the good of the country.

Now, it's neocon pundits, such as Limbaugh, Savage, and Coulter, among many others, who have brought the black and white, simplistic tactic of using ad hominems against their opponents in from the far right fringes of the tinfoil hat brigade into mainstream conservative thought.  Or what passes for thought.   This is not to say that the left is entirely free of such nonsense -- there are liberals, such as Rosie O'Donnell, who could hardly be called intellectual.  But those such as O'Donnell hardly have the reach or the influence tha those in the pantheon on the right wing do

I heard a prime example of this type of anti-intellectualism the other night while listening to the radio.  A man called the Dennis Miller show to express why he rejected intelligent design.  Miller didn't give him much of a chance to speak.  Instead he cut him off to say that he couldn't get on board with Darwinism because he just couldn't get into the idea of "worshipping a pile of amino acids" and that he liked the idea of an intelligent being creating life on Earth.

My jaw dropped when I heard this nonsense.  I could not believe that Miller, a former liberal and former cast member of Saturday Night Live -- in other words, someone who should know better -- was spouting off such simplistic ideas.   There was once a time when being a conservative did not mean one also had to accept intellectually bankrupt, fundamentalist Christian beliefs as well.

Instead of the Buckley types being the mainstream of conservatism, we now have the Archie Bunkers of the world running the Republican party, which is a sad thing for old-school Republicans and the party in general.

Thoughts?

Here is the old tinsel tree that I had up in 2006. For the last 3 years, I've just put up the little white tree. But now that I'm seeing this photo again and the one below of someone else's, it makes me want to get it out! Isn't it pretty? My mom wanted to throw this tree out! I'm glad I talked her into letting me have it!

Seeing this vintage tinsel tree by craftybeaver, makes me want to get out my mom's old tinsel tree that I had out a couple years ago. It's just so much trouble to put up!

Beautiful real Christmas tree and awesome light by Camilla Engman. I just can't stop looking at this light! It's amazing!!