Kwanzaa

An interesting 34-year-old festival I read about. Kwanzaa is a celebration which links African traditions with American customs.

Read about Kwanzaa here

That's the shizzle.

Failed Christmas, Bring on the Next One!

The family was all in favour of 7.30pm mass on the Eve instead of the usual midnight shindig. Bugger. Since I hadn't the time to get a Christmas outfit, I opted for something which looked like it came straight out of the clubbing scene. For the first time in ages, we sat outside church for Christmas mass. How sad was that!

After mass, we hopped over to my house, where we had pie-less dinner and watched TV. Note to self: Do NOT watch The Christmas Shoes on Christmas Eve. Someone dies at the end. Bah!

Midnight came along, and by that time, I had already polished off half a bottle of red. Lovely! My niggarette Jada spent her first Christmas asleep on her Gran's lap. What a cutie.

After the greeting / yelling, I was one shower gel, one lippy gloss and one pink t-shirt richer. Then of course I decided that I just HAD to go clubbing with Reyhan, so off we went to Bojangles to meet up Saini. A few tequilas and whiskey-cokes later, things got mighty emotional. All was settled by 7.30am, or so I thought.

I was forced to wake up 4 hours later for lunch at Aunty Kim's place. Uncle Gordon, hardly as subtle as the Christ-child hugged me with a joyous "Merry Christmas... You smell of booze!" and proceeded to offer me wine and beer.

A while later, he offered the hap-happiest advice of all: "Hey Sonia, you know what's the best way to get rid of a hangover? Have one shot! Fight Fire With Fire!!!"

"Er.. no thanks, Uncle. No more fire."

I spent 2 agonizing hours trying as much as possible not to move before Fiona finally decided it was ok leave, with packed food in hand. I've no idea how I drove back home in the awful heat.

One Euphamol and 4 hours later, I attacked some leftover chicken and awesome brinjal and was entertained by Christopher Walken.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Don't bug my life. I'm still hanging over.

It's just not Christmas without the Turkey

Weeks of planning, cleaning the house, and getting yelled at by Mum had ended. It was time for our yearly Christmas party! I had planned to get a turkey from Cold Storage on Keith's advice, but I cleverly thought that ordering it the day before the party would guarantee delivery in under 24 hours. I found out they need 5 days. Lesson learnt.

The party was a huge success. Our 'special event' this year was a gift exchange and participation was great (because we threatened the guests). It's a good thing some people looked high and low for a unisex gift, because I had started to worry that there'd be too many gifts in the 'female' basket and none in the 'male' or 'child' one.

The catered food was awesome, as was the food some relatives brought. Thank god for the roast chicken! We dressed it in drag so it would pass off as turkey and most people were fooled. Mark stood religiously in front of the barbecue all night. Poor thing must've lost a couple of KGs from the heat, but all for a good cause. The food off the grill was superb (I do love my lamb and cheesy sausage).

After it all ended, Dalveen and Fiona helped clean up because they were dying for Sharara. I stayed back and did some major cleaning and table-dismantling. Reyhan stayed back (sweet man) and accompanied me while I washed at least 40 plates and cleaned people's leftovers from the sink - eugh.

With my feet practically disintegrating into a pile of dust, we headed to Sharara where I just sat down, grabbed a drink, and waited for my legs to feel normal again.

Drink Responsibly

A few months ago, I got bored of clubbing. The late nights, wasted cash and mother-effing hangovers just weren't doing it for me anymore. I also hated the fact that on almost every occasion, my mum would just be disappointed and pissed off the next day because I had yet again shirked my responsibilities at home (going to the market, cleaning my room, laundry etc)

As I was hanging over today (a friend's engagement. It's a valid reason, thank you) an advertisement for Johnnie Walker floated into my head. Specifically, it was the tagline at the bottom of the ad - 'Drink Responsibly'

I can say, after a few years of thinking "what the heck does that mean" that I now understand. Johnnie is a deep thinker. He doesn't just say 'Don't drink and drive' - that just gives a single message. 'Drink Responsibly', on the other hand, covers a huge base. It can mean 'Don't drink and drive' and a host of other stuff including 'If you're hanging over tomorrow, your Mum will be pissed off because your room is a pig sty'

The power of copywriting huh? That's why I love it.

Here's another line from Johnnie which I love toying with when I'm drinking... er, I mean Thinking:
Johnnie Walker. Keep Walking.

My alternatives:
Johnnie Walker. Keep Drinking.
Johnnie Walker. Stop Searching.

Point to Ponder

What do you call a person who doesn't follow every rule their religion sets, but would never give up their religion for anyone or anything?

The word 'devout' came to mind, but the synonym I saw was 'pious', so that's out of topic.

Any suggestions?