in support of peripateticism. say what? yeah, i had no clue what peripatetic meant either. but with the help of online dictionaries, now i know. twas not the dj, but rather the dictionary that saved my life. and that aristotle fellow, smart guy. probably ugly and unsocial, but smart guy. basically peripatetics walk and travel. i wonder why this never made it into the vernacular. what do you do? i'm a peripatetic doctor. oh that's nice, i love children.



it's that time of year again. the holidays. when the celebration of christmas brings thoughts of god and religion into our lives. i know some people who avoid church on all days save the twenty fifth, which must mean it's an awfully religious day. and as we welcome christmas, we welcome the cold weather. did you know that the holidays are the time of year when the most couples break up? counterintuitive isn't it? why are people breaking up around "family time" and "man it's really cold sleeping alone" time? it makes no sense to me. but maybe it has something to do with celebrating the new year. each new calender year we must strive to change something in our lives. we have to evaluate the previous twelve months and get all reflective and thinky. and i guess what is most likely to go is our good for nothing bitchass boy/girl friend. comforting isn't it? i love the holidays.



i have recently decided that not only am i great and perfect, i am also religious and idealistic. i know, self flattery will get me everywhere. for many moons i thought that i was not very religious. i was "interested in religion", "curious about the social/psychological impacts of religion on the layman", and somewhat "inclined toward spirituality" but the word "religion" just kind of put me off. however. i've realized that being religious is really just believing in something. an organized something. some would refute me and say that to be religious would be having some sort of god, power or institution to follow. but i disagree. because i think that religion (as defined by the good book) is "a cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion." (on a side note, look at how different the two definitions for "religion" are. wow.) and i think i have a cause, principle or activity pursued with zeal and/or conscientious devotion. sure it's not set in stone and sure it's not done right or very consistently but i'm following it just as much as any priest or monk or rabbi. actually no. i can't really equate what i'm doing to what a priest, rabbi or monk is doing. that would be conceited. and i'm not that yet. although i hope to be this time next year.



and now on to idealism. i'm giving you the two cent tour about this whole religion/ideal bit. i don't have the space to go into everything. anyway. once, also many moons ago, i thought that idealism was a particular something. an "ideal relationship" looked like such and such. love was ideal if it looked like this. ideal was perfection as we -- the society in sum -- had unwittingly conformed it to be. and since i often rejected most things that this "ideal" stood for, i sided apart from those proclaiming themselves "idealists." but again i have seen that being an idealist has nothing to do with what one particular "ideal" is supposed to look like. just because i don't believe that love is the answer doesn't mean that i'm not idealistic, i just believe in another ideal. an idealist is simply someone who happens to believe in something very strongly and can envision that conception as "the ultimate."



ideals are also often represented as abstract and somewhat unattainable. a popular parlour question is "will i achieve my ideals? do my ideals have any basis in reality? is he/she/it my ideal?" in fact, the dictionary definition of "ideal" pretty much says this. check out 4a and 4b under adj. it says an ideal is "existing only in the mind; imaginary" and "lacking practicality or the possibilty of realization." i have decided that these two particular definitions are bullshit. i am against the dictionary. i have just said the dictionary is wrong. wow, i am great.



as much thought as i've given to religion, to ideals, to whatever else, i've decided that despite the fact that i am not religious or idealistic in the traditional (which i've proven wrong) sense of the word, i am comfortable calling myself both. or thinking of myself as both. i am woman too. hear me roar. happy thursday.