Dia de los Inocentes

We're in the midst of the Día de los Muertos holiday. The Day of the Dead holiday, as Wikipedia puts it: "focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. ... People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages as well as photos and memorabilia of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them." In most regions of Mexico, November 1 (today) honors children and infants, calling that day mainly as Día de los Inocentes ("Day of the Innocents"), while November 2, referred to as Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos honors deceased adults.

So I was wondering, what about deceased animals?  Maybe the ancient indigenous cultures that first practiced the Day of the Dead traditions did not believe that animals had souls.  Besides, people don't typically pray about and discuss dead animals that much. (Except pets.  We all have stories about our dead pets.  Prayers for their souls though... that's another story.)  Or maybe they thought that the souls of dead animals might be wrathful because of how humans treated and used them.  

Or maybe there is there some Dia de los Vacas y Bueys I don't know about?

TV brain suck

In my web perusal, I checked my weekly horoscope on the Onion website today (I'm a Leo).  Here's what it said for the week of September 20th: "You'll undergo a crisis of conscience when you realize that, despite being a faithful American, you don't really want to watch anything that's on TV right now." While I'm not sure that I'm experiencing any "conscience of crisis" per se, I thought this was a timely horoscope given the start of the new television season and my impending month without TV, Hulu, and Netflix.

I chose October for my no TV month specifically to coincide somewhat with the network TV premiere season.  My thought was that if I could avoid all those programs for a month early in the season, maybe I would never bother to start watching the American version of "Prime Suspect" or "Ringer."  And maybe I would never bother to get caught up on all the episodes I'll miss of "Glee" (which I've been SO OVER for the last season and a half...but yet, I'm still watching).  After all: I have no DVR, nor do I use a VCR (who does?); the first episodes of the season may no longer be available on Hulu or the network's websites come November 1; and I really dislike watching things out of sequence.  When conceiving this month's OCL goal, I really thought to myself, "I will finally free myself from TV brain suck."

I will exact revenge on ABC for creating this piece of crap by not watching ABC for 31 days.

Of course, most shows actually premiere in September.  So I've been doing my best not to watch any new programming this month.  Instead, I've been re-watching on Netflix all four seasons of "Mad Men" (this show is so smart and well done--the artistry really reveals itself best with a second viewing) and sporadic episodes of "Family Ties" (IMHO, Michael Gross has never gotten the acclaim he deserves for his fantastic comedic performance as Steven Keaton). I also watched the entire first, and thus far only, seasons of the BBC's "The Hour" ("Mad Men" style plus British plus mystery=happy Jess) and ABC Family's "The Nine Lives of Chloe King" (it's like old-school Buffy, but without vampires!).   And I've streamed a movie or two as well. (I watched "Charade" with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn last week--such incredible witty dialogue and so much fun!)

Michael Gross, comic genius.

Blame it on the alcohol.

Welcome to Operation Consumption Liberation March MADNESS.  The cr-a-a-a-zy Monthly Mission?  To consume no alcohol!  The guidelines?  Here they are:

1. Don't drink any alcohol this month, and
2. Don't drink any alcohol this month.

Yup, it is that simple. But for all you contrary people in the cyber-verse:
 
     3. Yes, I can have red wine vinaigrette and use wine in food recipes, and if I'm inclined to gargle
         Listerine, so be it.  And cold syrup. But not as a beverage.  Kapeesh?  

So that's it.  I have to tell you, the amount of apprehension I'm getting from friends and family members about this month's challenge is amusing me.  One family member suggested maybe we wait to get together until next month when hearing I wouldn't be chugging the alcohol (in jest, to be fair).  Most friends have reacted with a mixture of shock and awe.  And I'm hear to tell you: this is not a big deal.  For me.  But I'm starting to be a little concerned about all of you...

Like about everyone I know, there is alcoholism in my family history.  Not a ton, but there have been family members who spent time in rehab and family members who made the decision to switch to O'Doul's at some point in their lives.  And I confess, I love me a glass of red wine, or a vodka tonic, or a nice pale ale or crisp chardonnay in the summer time.  If I had to put a number on my average weekly alcohol consumption over the past few months, I'd guess around four. That number is up from my typical average last year of two--what can I say, I've been spending too much time with other red wine drinkers and hosting too many dinners.

Sunday dinner alone with my book and wine.

As much I like the wine, I went alcohol-less from Friday to Friday last week.  And then I drank 2 glasses every night for the last four nights.  (I was bulking up for March.)  But during that alcohol-less week, I hardly noticed its absence, and I certainly didn't miss it one bit.  In fact, I've been feeling a little crummy and sluggish the last few days, and perpetually dehydrated.  What's that?  You say alcohol dehydrates a person?  Seems like I could use a little detox, and a little hydration right about  now.

So for the month of March, I would like to set a parallel goal to drink more water every day.  Because dehydration causes migraines, and kidney stones.  And because it's nice to drink water.  If you want to join me, either in giving up the hooch, or picking up some agua, please do!  It will be easy, and your liver will thank you.

Mission: Consume Less

con∙sume: verb \kən-΄süm\

 -transitive verb

"Too Much Catnip" Shirt.Woot t-shirt by Spiritgreen

1 : to do away with completely: DESTROY

2 a: to spend wastefully: SQUANDER

   b: USE UP

3 a: to eat or drink especially in great quantity

   b: to enjoy avidly: DEVOUR

4 : to engage fully: ENGROSS

5 : to utilize as a customer

 -intransitive verb

1 : to waste or burn away: PERISH

2 : to utilize economic goods

“The proximity of a desirable thing tempts one to overindulgence. On that path lies danger.” 

–Frank Herbert, Dune.

There is a butt-load of human consumption transpiring at any given second on planet Earth . No, I can't exactly quantify "butt-load;" I'm no statistician. But think about it: we’re consuming oxygen, we’re consuming energy, we’re consuming calories, and we’re consuming alcohol. We’re engaged in all-consuming TV shows, all-consuming jobs, all-consuming arguments, and, if we’re lucky, all-consuming sex. We’re using our consumer power for new shoes at Nordstrom’s, new apps for our iPhones, and trash cans at Home Depot to transport the waste of our consumption to the curb, where it will be picked up by a gas-consuming truck and toted to a space- and natural resource- consuming landfill. Yep, there is a whole lotta consumption going on.

Now there’s nothing wrong with consumption.  In moderation, that is.  But the American culture isn’t much for moderation.  You don’t have to look very hard to find evidence of this society’s penchant for overindulgence.  Alcoholism, early onset obesity and childhood obesity, credit card debt, overfilled landfills, smog alerts, our over-consumption leads to so many negative outcomes.  There IS such thing as too much of a good thing.

For the year of 2011, I’m resolving to consume less.  I'm breaking free of the manacles of Too Much.  Call it Operation Consumption Liberation.  

Every month, I will abstain from or minimize my partaking of some thing or practice in which I feel my overindulgence has a negative impact, be it on my personal well-being, or on the well-being of the human race and planet Earth. My mission is NOT to permanently eliminate any of these habits and dependencies, but rather, in eliminating/reducing my consumption of them for a month, to lessen their overall prevalence in my life.  I like wine, but it wouldn’t hurt my liver to drink less.

Below is a rough monthly schedule of the twelve reduction/elimination challenges I will take on over the course of the year. The order of the challenges is subject to change, but not the content. Each month on this blog, I will clearly define the monthly challenge’s rules and stipulations, explore the impacts of overindulging in the identified item or behavior, and write about what I experience and learn as I leave it behind.

 Operation Consumption Liberation: Monthly Challenges

• January: Sugar (processed & added)
• February: Frivolous spending (the Eating/Drinking Out edition)
• March: Alcohol
• April: Gasoline (planes, trains, and automobiles)
• May: Frivolous spending (the Goods and Services edition)
• June: Caffeine 
• July: Electricity/water
• August: Superfluous web browsing (Facebook, etc.)
• September: Food & goods from outside 300 miles of my person
• October: Watching TV, Hulu, Netflix, etc.
• November: Meat
• December: Paper and other waste (packaging, etc.) 

Please follow me on Operation Consumption Liberation! AND if you recognize anything on this list that you feel your life would benefit from going without, feel free to join me on that challenge of this journey.  I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments section.  Likewise, if you are planning any similar challenges for the year or for a month, let me know, and I'll link to you.

Wish me luck as I kick off the mission with a well-needed sugar cleanse in the Christmas cookie aftermath!