Giving, walking, and those nasty earworms

Some random post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s thoughts:

            Everyone asks before Christmas, “Are you ready for Christmas?”  I’m never sure how to respond to this.  There are a number of answers I could provide, but never do.  Am I ready physically?  “Yes, I’ve been exercising regularly and ready to gorge!”  Am I ready psychologically?  “Yes, my wild mood swings are much milder now that Christmas is here, thank-you.”  Am I ready to give rather than receive?  “Hmm… I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”

                                                                                        

            An interesting statistic on giving:  In North America, churchgoers donate approximately 2.5% of their pre-tax income to charity/church, with only 2% of this amount going to international aid.  While churchgoers are quite good at paying for their church programs, not much seems to seep out to the rest of the world.  Churchgoers still donate more of their income to charity than non-churchgoers, but is it enough?  The president of World Vision US thinks not.  In his book, The Hole in the Gospel, he points out that Christians in North American hold more wealth than ever before, but have only shared a fraction of it with the world’s destitute.  Apparently, the Prosperity Gospel wins more souls.

            If there’s anything that points to our affluence, it’s a recent report on drunk shopping.  Supposedly, it’s become so common that online retailers are now targeting shoppers at times when they are more likely to have a few drinks in them.  Yeesh.

            I'm finding that walking to work is much more dangerous than biking.  Drivers are oblivious to pedestrians, even when the pedestrian has the right of way.  I’ve had a few close calls this month and am consequently developing a mild case of pedestrian rage.  So far I’ve resisted any obscene gestures – rather, I give a strong dose of the Froese stare (trust me, it’s nasty).

            While walking to work this morning, I passed a nice 1926 two-storey house that had just sold.  The house is on a busy street in a trendy neighbourhood.  It turns out they were asking a modest $390,000 for the place.  I recall a cousin of mine trying to sell a similar looking house just seven years ago on the same street for $125,000.  Am I missing something here?  This is Regina, no?   How can people afford this?  No one would have dreamed the “boom” would have this kind of effect on housing prices.  Some call it the Saskatchewan Advantage (an unoriginal, borrowed term) – for those looking for a home, it’s quite the opposite.

I’ve got worms, by the way… earworms.  My daughter’s music has been going through my head since Christmas.

Everyone knows that a New Year's resolution has a 90% chance of only lasting until February.  But even a month-long effort has merits.  You can burn off a lot of Christmas with a vigorous one-month fitness program (although I'm really not the person to advise on weight loss or gain).  Smokers are also encouraged to try to quit as many times as possible.  According to one report, it takes on average seven attempts to kick the habit…. and five long years.  So take heart, my smoking friends!

Happy New Year!