Mariachis and Turkeys

This year Thanksgiving has fallen on the 22nd of November, which for me is like Pulaski Day falling on Easter Sunday, which by the way I have no idea if that is possible, but whatever. Maybe not that drastic, I suppose, but in truth I'm grumpy because T-day is on the same day as la Dia de Santa Cecilia, who happens to be MY patron saint, well and all those musicians out there, and I would rather be out singing and dancing to random mariachi music than stuck in a house with my pa and this overbearing girlfriend. She asked me how to save her perpetually dry birds from dessication this year, and then does not listen to my advice, which is really Alton Brown's advice.

You do not diss the food god.

I mean everyone stuffs their bird in this country, which is probably the stupidest thing to do, all that extra mass means it takes forever for the insides to get up to safe temperature, and by that time the breast meat is overcooked and dry!!!!! It is sensible, it seems to me, that you do not stuff yer bird with bread stuffing, but maybe with onions and garlic like the French or leave it open, or cut it open and flay it out, ala AB. If you want gross sloppy bread stuffing, I don't know, cover the whole casserole with fatback or something!

Okay, that's not really important, I'm not a chef, or even a great cook, these days I make mostly odd vegetarian food, I live in a vegetarian coop house, whats important is the fact that I will be missing the mariachi band playing at my church, if there even are going to be any. Last year they didn't have any, which makes me grumpy. My church is a big mix of Anglo, Hispanic, and Filipino catholics, so we get some really fun holidays, like Simbangabi, which I cant spell, or Marianitas, along with yer normal holidays...

I should explain myself, I could have easily become one of those post catholics that like to call themselves 'recovered' and in fact I don't often go to mass, maybe I could be called, not a 'Sunday catholic', but a 'holiday catholic'. I have re-embraced this religion of my raising more because my girlfriend hates it, and it is comfortable like an old boot, than because I feel the need for some religiosity, some theism, in my life. It is odd, I suppose because being bisexual I'm not particularly loved by my Church, in the bigger sense, although my church, my community, and my family welcomes me, with all my perceived flaws, including my piercings and my tattoos, never mind the fact that I love a woman. I think it is ironic, and I snicker to myself, but I do feel an affection for the ritual, for the words, for the people, for the holidays, no matter how I am viewed.

Now that I ruminate more, I wonder if I can even be viewed anymore as being catholic, my own personal religious beliefs have morphed, alack the Power Rangers strike again, to include a lot of different religious tenets, and although the core of my belief is still catholic, I would probably be termed agnostic. I do not like that term, it seems so wishy-washy, neither believing nor disbelieving in a god. Buddha tells us to follow our own lamp, to seek our own truth, that does not mean to be perpetually unable to answer the simple question, 'do you believe?'

Chris Carter eat your hear out.

I seem to talk about religion here quite often, I am sorry, it is only when I sit down to write that I realize I have many thoughts about the whole affair, and things I want to say. I don't often talk about it with other people, because who wants to talk about religion these days when religion is the basis for so much strife, and misconception? So I sit on my thoughts, and only verbalize them here, where I hope the only negative results are just flames and denigration, if anyone even deigns to read what I write.

So now I depart with both Paul's message in his first letter to the Thessalonians, 5:17 Betet unablässig, orad sin cesar, pray unceasingly, and the Bab, who urges us to make every action a prayer.