Disease, the Devil, and Rock 'n Roll: An Unholy Trinity

I've fallen ill again! There's definitely something weird in the Wolfville air. Besides the "Christmas spirit". This week I missed two days of work because my throat was all swollen up and covered in icky looking bumpy things and I felt unable to raise the energy necessary to put on a pair of pants. I went to see a doctor after the fourth day of these symptoms, and she told me that there was nothing she could give me, so I "might as well ignore it." I said I was concerned that I keep getting sick since moving here, as it rarely happened when we lived in Halifax. But she assured me, "That's not something to worry about." After such expert medical advice, I felt better already.

Anyway, it gave me time to read large chunks of Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Just in time for Christmas. And Chanukkah, and Eid al Adha, Bodhi Day, Zarathosht Diso, Scientology Freedom Day... Krista gave it to me for my birthday. In some ways it's kind of more relevant than Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, in that Dawkins can easily be written off as a poor old reductionist scientist, incapable of understanding the higher human virtues that lie outside of his Spocklike domain. Hitchins, by contrast, is a literary scholar with a keen taste for such unscientific values as beauty, dignity, love, and justice. He's also actively participated in many different religions over his life, so when he comes down hard against all organized belief in a supernatural power it holds maybe a little more weight.

In between being sick, rallying for Satan, and making plans for Christmas, I've been doing some recording for an upcoming Super Friendz tribute album. I think it's going OK, but I've picked a weird song and it could easily turn sour at the drop of a hi-hat. I feel like I'm playing with fire, and have to be very careful. Or else I need to just throw caution to the wind and let the notes fall where they may. I can't decide. I guess I know what Neil would do.

This weekend I'm going into Halifax again (Alison's already there. Did she ever come back? I seem to remember a day or two in there somewhere...) to see Dog Day at the Marquee and Matt Reid at Ginger's. The Lodge were supposed to be playing at both those shows, but we had to bail when Mike got called away on business. I'll also be visiting with my old friend Alain and doing some shopping for you-know-what. Everyone likes Acadia t-shirts, right? Then on Monday we're going over to Ken and Heidi's for dinner. I tell ya, the calendar's filling up awfully fast. If you want to see either of us before January, you might have to miss out on some of that blinking you had planned.

- Andrew