Roger Answers Your Questions, Sherry, Jay, Autumn Belle, magiceye

Answers, we got 'em for our contestants, all newbies:

Sherry asked:
I must know, "What will you do in 2010? Will you still play in the ABC Meme. Is there life on Mars?"
Maybe a nice glass of Eggnog will help you get into the spirit of the season and a cookie.

What I'll do in 2010? I never know what tomorrow will bring. That said, if the ABC Wednesday meme continues, I'll still participate; already have an A, B and V(!) in mind. Do you know if it'll stick around?
Of course there's life on Mars. I'm a David Bowie fan.
While trimming the tree on December 23 had eggnog with Amaretto. Thanks for the suggestion.

Jay got excited:
Hmmm. Ask you anything? *Rubs hands together* Well then...

Uh.

OK, why do I think you're an ordained minister?

Well, I think it's because when I was about 11 or 12, I thought I would be an ordained minister. Just about everyone at church thought I'd be an ordained minister. I had my "saved" experience when I was nine, watching Billy Graham on television. I was very pious; I say that without irony. I went to Bible study every Friday night (except in the summer) for about seven years.

The problem I developed in my mid teens were twofold: 1) the notion that everyone who didn't follow Jesus, such as a pious Hindu in India, was going to hell conflicted with my belief in a just God; and 2) sex. OK, that's an oversimplification, but not incorrect.

So, I fell away from church and Christianity for over a decade, though I would dabble in all sorts of things from the Unitarians to the Moonies. Finally, in 1982, my grandmother died. I sang in the choir at her funeral, and it moved me, slowly and cautiously, back to church and Christianity, in that order.

So now I am actively involved with Bible study. The certainty of my youth has been replaced by, I hope, a more broad understanding of my faith. And I am always looking at other faith traditions to see what seems consistent with my evolving beliefs. You may have read that Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study that said that nearly six in 10 Americans blend their faith with New Age beliefs. This is unsurprising to me. The one good thing I got from the Unitarians is the idea that we create our own religion. Whether it's American Catholics who ignore the Pope on birth control or my rejection of the "literal" interpretation of Genesis 1 (the "six days" creation), I recognize that God has given us reason for a purpose.

http://mymalaysiadailyphoto.blogspot.com/ asked:
Did you have a White Christmas?

Yes. we got a dusting a couple days before Christmas, and it stuck around, to clean the extant stuff.

magiceye wants to know: why the stress during holidays meant for destressing? it is distressing!

Well, I can't speak globally, but for me, this year in particular was tricky. Days I was going to take off to do Roger things I ended up watching the sick daughter, who was ill three separate times. As a result, I violated my own tradition, which was to take off from work a weekday 7 to 10 days before Christmas and do all my hands-on shopping. I deluded myself into thinking that since I did so much purchasing online, I didn't need the carve-out time; false. I needed it even to go to the library and shop online - my home computer is increasingly as cranky as I was becoming. So next year, I'm taking off Thursday, December 16 to shop; someone hold me to that.


ROG