St. Patrick's Day

Yeah, I'm celebrating a little bit late because I spent that whole evening throwing up in a toilet. What's that you say? You did that on good old St. Patty's day as well? Before I go too far afield, I feel it's important to give a brief history lesson on Saint Patrick's Day for the uninitiated who think it's entirely about getting drunk. In fact, St. Patrick was a Catholic Priest who, against the wishes of the Roman government, married young people in secret. Or, was that Saint Valentine? It's hard to explain all of these holidays at once.

I think the actual story is that St. Patrick liked dancing with snakes or something, but he managed to Christianize Ireland by beating the whole country in a drinking game. My Christian Missions teacher would be so proud of how much I've retained.

Somehow, despite my only mildly advanced years, (this is a bone that I'm throwing to my reading audience, hi mom and dad! who are about twice as old as I am)I managed to spend the evening vomiting. Granted, it was because I had the stomach flu, but I'd still consider it a wildly successful night worthy of praise from people of the collegial age. I'm intending it to mean two things.

So, despite the fact that I saw no one, forgot to wear green, (I remember this being a big deal when I was a child, and I would try to remember to wear something very small to avoid other kids pinches. However, I seem to remember that I forgot on a number of occasions, and I'm wondering now if it was intentional. Who can know the mind of a child? Certainly not that same child all growed's up. Woops. I got a little sidetracked and started watching Swingers.

Almost entirely unrelated brought on by looking at a picture of a Leprechaun: Is there some small part of you that still wonders if a pot of gold lies at the end of a rainbow. Even though you know that it's entirely implausible, and that rainbows don't really hit the ground at all. But maybe, just maybe, in that small part of your brain that still vaguely remembers being a child, the tiniest little sliver of you would like to one day see the end of the rainbow, and know, once and for all that the rumor is false.

Me neither. But imagine what a crazy person you'd be if you still thought that. Whew! Obligatory youtube video tangentially related, probably more, to the leprechaun fantasy.

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I guess at the end of the day the strange fascination with St. Patrick's Day will always remain a mystery. I simply don't get it. Aren't Thursday through Saturday nights enough? Do we really need an extra day? Is it some last vestige of community that we're valuing?

Here's an extremely long and interesting article in the Atlantic that you likely won't read

Here is a picture of a puppy. No. Actually. You don't get a picture of the puppy because you didn't read the article. Please feel free to let me know if you read the article because I will then furnish you with a picture of a cute puppy. It seems like a small price to pay.

In the end, if this seems rather odd and disjointed that's because it is. I'm not sure what project to take on next. I'm still waiting for the wisdom of this new decade to sink in.