Evil Stick Blog

So while I’ve been quiet, I’ve still been slowly working at improving myself. I’m still on the revamped 100 pushups program (now with less speed and better form!) and am currently on week 3. I actually finished week 3 last week, but I didn’t feel confident in my results. As such, I’ll be doing week 3 again during this holiday week to ensure I meet with success. This way around is definitely harder (especially due to my addition of crunches to the program, being done concurrently with the pushups), but I think I’m making some progress.

Wish the same could be said about my running. I haven’t hit a treadmill since the twinge in my knee made me step off for a bit, thinking i needed to rest. Now I notice that my knee starts to hurt after snowblowing the driveway for an hour or so. I’ve probably done some damage to something in my leg, so I should probably see a doctor at some point. At the moment, though, that requires both finding a clinic nearby and finding a reputable doctor at said clinic, as my last physician is no longer with the clinic I used to go to, and that’s a lot of effort I’m not too keen on putting out. As it is, I can now understand how people can go months with medical issues before seeking help, as if it’s something that just doesn’t affect one’s life too heavily they’re easy to ignore. My main concern, though, is insurance-based, as in “What is actually going to be covered if I need physical therapy?” Never mind where I’m going to find the time.

Anyway, I was watching Christmas with the Kranks the other day, and even getting past the “performance” of Tim Allen as one of the titular kranks, I was struck by just how hard the movie was pushing the “Saving money is for suckers, spend to show your love” dynamic. As one who does not necessarily take joy in this season because of the crass overcommercialization of what should be essentially a religious holiday, I may be a bit hypersensitive to these kinds of things, but they still strike me as doing a disservice to youth. Tell me that movies like Christmas with the Kranks, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas, don’t indoctrinate youth into thinking that attempts at thriftitude over the holidays represent something vile to be frowned upon! Seriously, in nearly ever tale of Christmas cheer, the central message of love and togetherness is replaced with love and retail. Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” was noticeably thrifty, the Grinch lamented the propensity of the Whos to purchase needless things that they’d just throw away, and even the Martians demanded toys of the man in the red pimp suit.

Now I don’t have a problem with Christmas itself. If it was more like Thanksgiving, focused on a gathering of family and a meal, then I would have no complaint whatsoever. However, as it exists now all that Christmas stands for for most people is mindless spending. People buying people gifts not necessarily because it makes them happy, but almost out of a sense of obligation that’s been pounded into us from our innocent youths all the way up to yesterday’s jewelry commercial. Why can’t gathering as a family be enough? Why must we constantly be inundated with demands that we fork over our hard-earned cash to fulfill the wishes of someone else? Do we really serve their needs by perpetuating their desires for stuff that they may not actually need? Is the basis of capitalism so weak that it needs a yearly shine to continue honest function?

Christmas = woohoo! Gifts and the advertising and retail blitz = bah humbug.