Category Archives: Lifestyle

Lent: Not Just For Catholics, Not Only About Saying Sorry

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Countdown calendar

So today, on St. Patrick’s Day – a day of parades, parties, and green beer in North America – I’ve decided to write about Lent.

I’m not Catholic, or even especially religious. Yet Lent is a ritual I practice regularly.

For those even less religious than I, Lent is the 40-day period preceding Easter and running roughshod right over St. Paddy’s Day during which, among other things, it’s customary for people to temporarily give up on indulgent habits.

It’s a period of penitence, self-denial, and reflection corresponding with the 40 days Jesus Christ spent alone in the desert prior to the start of his ministry, fasting and enduring temptation from the Devil.

The purpose of Lent is to prepare Christians to rejoice at the resurrection of Jesus at Easter.

As I mentioned above, I’m not especially religious.

And yet, in recent years, for Lent I’ve given up,

  • Bagels
  • Chocolate
  • All desserts
  • Needless complaining

And this year, movies and Netflix.

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How to Read 12 Books in a Year (with minimal change to your regular reading habits)

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Cat readingThere are people out there who read like fifty books a year.

This post is not for them.

(Indeed, I wish one of them would write their own post to teach me to read more.)

Reading is my oldest pastime, yet the older I get, the less time I seem to have for it.

I don’t ever want to stop reading books.  But life is busy and full of countless distractions, not the least of which include writing, socializing, finally watching Homeland on Netflix (seriously, have you seen that show?!), and of course working – by far the biggest occupier of my time.

Last year for New Year’s, I resolved to read 12 books for the year. A book a month-ish, as I took to calling it given the overlap of some calendar months that occurred.

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You Can’t Choose Your Family (Or Your Upstairs Apartment Neighbours)

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In some ways, living in an apartment is worse than living at home with your family.

Not exactly movin' on up.

Not exactly movin’ on up.

Admittedly, apartment living isn’t all bad: it makes it possible for those not blessed with boatloads of money to live in urban areas.

As well, as an environmentalist, I’m definitely in favour of the densification that results from apartment living, as well as the concentration of resources like transit and amenities like shops and cafés that tend to spring up around apartment buildings.

However, when you live in an apartment (or condo, or university residence, or any other such non-detached living space), compared to living with your family, you can’t tell the people living among you what to do.

Correction: you can, but your family is far less likely to tell you to go f*ck yourself.

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