Smell Your Christmas

The sights and sounds of Christmas are often the most noted and initially recognized of the five senses. They are the stimuli that stir the excitement. The catalyst that triggers the little kid in us, and it makes sense (no pun intended). But one sense that flies under the radar is smell.

Malls and department stores are decked out in red and silver garland, large wreaths with equally large red bows and snowflakes hanging, reindeer and elves on display and the classic clear, red, blue, green and yellow lights are lining everything.

Santa Clauses chanting “HO-HO-HO” are set up, with a line of parents waiting to take their children's picture, while the children hold Christmas lists in their eager hands.

Though they are for a good cause, the annoying bell jingling of Salvation Army volunteers, “Santa Baby”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, and the myriad of Christmas songs play in the background.

The Christmas movie classics that flood the television stations throughout the season. (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is my personal favorite)

Those are just some of the visual and audio signs that Christmas is here. It is impossible not to notice them. It slaps you in the face. They are what get people's attention and get them excited about the holiday season.

The glamour and abundance of Christmas decorations and music are why they are the most notable of the “holiday senses” as I will call them. They detract from the other senses because of their lack of subtly.

Let me be clear, I love the glitz of the decorations as much as anyone, if not more, and I am not putting them down in any way, shape or form.

Okay now that that is established, the sense that gets overshadowed and sets off my inner Clark Griswold is smell. The smells, or better yet the scents of Christmas, smell gives a smelly connotation, really do it for me.

The number one smell that signals the start of the Christmas season is the tree. My family bought the tree today and the first whiff I inhaled as it sat in our living room sent my mind into Christmas mode.

Because of their efficiency and eventual cost savings, the fake Christmas trees have become the norm for most families. Every time I hear about a family switching to the fake trees my heart breaks a little.

Going to a tree lot and finding the Christmas tree that will grace ones house that Christmas is a special tradition for those who do it. Hanging ornaments, untangling the lights and putting the star on the top of the tree falls into the “special tradition” category as well.

All of that is lost, or undiscovered if fake trees takeover. I’m going a little off topic, and becoming a little glum, with this whole fake Christmas tree talk; so, to bring it back to the scents of Christmas, the fake trees do not smell. Enough said.

The smell of chimney smoke for some reason adds to the holiday cheer for me. It is probably something from childhood that is hidden in the corners of my mind.

What will fill every corner of my stomach, and is the most potent scent of the Christmas season for me is my mom’s cookies. They are objectively delectable, and I have complete confidence stating that.

Every year she makes about five different types of cookies. Her signature classics are her chocolate chips. It is the always consistent cookie that everyone enjoys. Old reliable it is known as. She also makes more gourmet cookies and adds a new cookie every year.

The smell these cookies give off is second to one when it comes to Christmas, and that is the tree.

Whether it is the sights and sounds, or the scents that puts people in the Christmas spirit, I hope it gets to everyone.

Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving dilemmas

Thanksgiving makes for numerous dilemmas. Do I eat breakfast, or do I starve myself all day until the monumental feast? From some, do we go to my parents’ house, or my in-laws’ house for dinner? Dilemmas.

Truth be told, these dilemmas are not so problematic, as routines, or better yet, traditions are formed over the years. For instance, you learn after years and years to snack lightly for breakfast and lunch, then stuff your face at dinner. Or at least I have. And for deciding which parent’s house to go to, tradition usually decides.

However, even though my immediate family’s (my mom, dad and me) tradition is to go to my mom’s brother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, there is still a little bit of a dilemma with my dad’s side of the family.

My mom, dad and I are very close with both sides of the family, and that is where the dilemma presents itself. Every year my dad likes to visit his side of the family. Their dinner takes place at my dad’s sister’s house.

He likes to stop by and just say “hi” for a few minutes before heading over to our dinner at my mom’s brother. This sounds innocent enough. Not a big deal.

But it is.

We always seem to get to my aunt’s just as they are sitting down to eat dinner. My dad’s side of the family is like the old retirees in Florida who do the whole “early bird special” thing eating at before 4:30.

What is awkward about this is that we are obviously not eating with them since our dinner is only about an hour or so away. So we sit there watching them eat. They can see us salivating, staring at their delicious spread. They offer to get us a plate knowing we will decline.

We feel like the uninvited house guests who make everyone feel uncomfortable because they feel awkward eating in front of us, and we feel awkward when we see they are not eating and are just looking at us.

The spotlight is all on us. They know we will not be staying long so feel they should engage us s much as they can while they have us. Meanwhile their food is getting cold on their plates.

Just imagine sitting at a table watching people eat. Weird right?

Now imagine sitting at a table with three people watching you eat. Equally weird?

Without fail, every year after we leave we look at each other and say, “Wow, that was awkward, again. Why do we do this every year?”
But, without fail, every year we go back for the torturous awkwardness.

Thanksgiving is, for most, the second biggest holiday of the year after Christmas. So why is this not an issue on Christmas, the biggest holiday of the year?

Simple, Thanksgiving is all about the Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the yams, the cranberries (the only time when the canned version is equally as good as the real deal) and the pumpkin pie...oh, and being thankful of course.

If you lost count, that is one meal. One.

For Christmas, it is not all about the dinner. Quality time with both sides of the family is possible. Brunch with one, and dinner with the other in my case.

This year was no different, we put ourselves through the awkwardness, left saying we will not do it again next year. But next year the dilemma will present itself, and I am sure we will do it all over again. Because we are thankful to have two options for dinner.

The Guilty Pleasure that is "Glee"

Jocks, goths, “Cheerios” (a/k/a cheerleaders), geeks, freaks and the popular kids are cliques in most high schools. None of which however, are as exaggerated as the television show “Glee” makes them out to be...hopefully.

High school can be tough, but it is rarely as tough as it is portrayed on FOX’s “Glee”, which is about, among other things, a group of students from various cliques coping with the ridicule that goes with being in such an “uncool” club as glee club is.

Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison, is a Spanish teacher turned glee club coach/teacher. Schuester is a former glee club member of the fictitious McKinley High School, and wants to return the club to its glory days when he was a part of it.

“Glee’s” antagonist, and Schuester’s nemesis, is Sue Sylvester, played by the always hilarious Jane Lynch (“40-yr-old Virgin”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Role Models”). Sylvester is a type-A, no nonsense, my way or the highway personality. The words “feelings” and “sensitive” are not in her vocabulary.

Sylvester is the coach of the high schools golden nugget of sorts, the national champion cheerleading squad, whose team members are called “Cheerios”. The Cheerios house all the popular kids, even though they are mostly illiterate. To use an SAT reference, the Cheerios are to glee club what motorcycles are to scooters. This comparison works perfectly because scooters, or Vespas have been becoming increasingly popular, just as glee club and “Glee” has.

Sylvester does whatever she can to make glee club suffer and/or disappear, even by sending some of her precious Cheerios to infiltrate.

Among the students, there is an interesting slew to say the least, with every stereotype imaginable. The quarterback jock who is also one of the key members of glee club, the most hated and unpopular girl who finds solace in glee, the popular shallow cheerleader who is pregnant, a fashion forward gay kid that at first look (and second, third and forth look for that matter)is hard to distinguish as a male or female, a wheelchair bound kid, a stuttering asian girl, and a portly black girl with tons of glam and attitude among others.

The characters and stereotypes are sensationalized for entertainment purposes, and to shed light on what some kids go through. “Glee” is a smart, funny, entertaining show that teaches lessons at the same time. It exploits stereotypes in an attempt to break them down.

On the most recent episode entitled “Wheels”, the glee club cannot afford to get a wheelchair accessible bus to nationals for Artie, the wheelchair bound member. After a lack of empathy for Artie by the rest of his glee-mates, Schuester tells them they need to raise the money for the appropriate bus or no one is going. To add to that, Schuester makes them ride around in wheelchairs at school and informs them a wheelchair number is being added to their performance.
A show famous, or infamous depending on how you look at it, for breaking out randomly into song and dance numbers like a musical, it never seems forced. After the lack of support from his glee-mates, Artie has a solo song and dance number singing “Dancing With Myself”.

“Glee” has multiple story lines going on and arching throughout the season, and touching on each would make this review twice as long.

It is an interesting show loaded with laughs and entertainment. Be warned, some of the laughs and topics can be offensive to the sensitive and politically correct. And if you like music, this show provides plenty. It is a little corny, but good fun and exposes stereotypes in an inventive way.

The Dreaded Graduation Application

Exams, term papers and finals. Oh my! The last few weeks of the semester for a college student are some of the most stressful weeks every year.

All of the work a student did during the beginning portion of the semester is almost irrelevant in comparison. If a student had a bad semester, it can all be washed away with a strong finish; however, if a student had a good semester, it can too all be washed away, but because of a bad showing in the end.

Colleges house some of the most highly stressed people in the world because of its competitive atmosphere and the importance of having a college education for the professional world.

There is also pressure to pass classes because no one wants to have to take a class over again. And with tuition increasing more and more every second it seems, it is not always an option to take classes over and over. Taking classes until one passes, obviously will prolong the amount of time one will have to be in school, and, therefore, keep the bank account dwindling away.

Something else I have recently discovered as a new form stress, well not necessarily a new form of stress, but another reason to stress, is the graduation application.

As a college student, you finally get to the point of realistically thinking about graduation and graduating, and this blasted application comes along to put this egg shell around you for the next, and your last, year.

You are suddenly asked to say what classes you have left to take before you are able to graduate. This may not sound like as big of a deal as I am making it out to be, but think about it. When you look at the remaining classes you have left before graduating, you are also looking at the classes you cannot screw up in. Because if you do not pass one of them, then it is another semester stuck in college.

That is another semester of tuition, a parking permit, not to mention the fee for pushing back graduation another semester. But worst of all, having to retake a class you just failed.

Then you try to see the silver lining: “I am only taking this one class, so I can focus solely on it, and everything will all be fine. Think of all the free time I’ll have too.”

Then the stress seeps in: “If I don’t pass this class when it’s the only one I’m taking, I’m really screwed.”

That is another semester of tuition, another parking permit and another fee for not graduating.

All because of the damn graduation application.

Now your stress is stressing. The stress as a college student becomes the stress as an athlete in the last seconds of the championship game. Passing those final classes is like being down by a point and shooting two free throws with no time left on the clock.

In terms of ways to manage the stress, I don’t know. Do yoga, go for a jog, take some vitamin-B.

I am not, and have never been, a person who others envy, but the one thing I have been frequently told is a desirable characteristic that I possess, is the ability to remain calm in every situation and not let things get to me.

So being a, for the most part, stress free person, my advice is to just know that everything is going to be alright. It sounds cheesy, but there are a lot more important things in life, and that school is only a small part of it.

But if my advice just sounds ridiculous to you, then going back to the free throw reference, don’t miss.

Column on a columnist

Jon Carroll...

The most interesting man in the world? Maybe.

A somewhat self-effacing and satirical man, who started the Unitarian Jihad, was assistant editor of Rolling Stone magazine, editor of the Playboy spinoff magazine Oui, and now writes five weekday columns for the San Francisco Chronicle, all of this, and more, without a college degree.

Maybe not the most interesting man in the world, but interesting nonetheless.

Carroll was born and raised in southern California on an unspecified date. According to his biography on sfgate.com, he is “pre-baby boom by 1.3 years”. He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley where he did not graduate, but was the editor of the UC Berkeley’s humor magazine the California Pelican.

After leaving Berkeley, for unspecified reasons, though intriguing innuendoes were offered as to why, he got a job for the San Francisco Chronicle editing the crossword puzzle, writing summaries for television movies and interviewing minor celebrities.

In 1970, he left the Chronicle and became assistant editor of Rolling Stone magazine where he did not stay long. Throughout the 1970s Carroll stayed in the magazine world, but was somewhat of a nomad. When he became editor of New West magazine in 1978 he won a National Magazine Award.

Carroll was forced into retirement (again, for reasons unknown) until 1982 when he landed the job that he currently has as a column writer for the newspaper that gave him his start in the journalism industry, the San Francisco Chronicle.

He has become known for his columns about his cats, his creative wit involving the minutia of everyday situations and for starting the Unitarian Jihad.

Unlike the Dos Equis’ “most interesting man in the world”, Carroll is not fond of social gatherings. Carroll’s diagnosis of the awkward situations in his recent two-part columns “The bad party guest” is reminiscent of famed writer and actor Larry David’s.

“Sometimes there are no private rooms available - perhaps they are all upstairs, and the staircase is in plain view of the living room, and if I start upstairs someone will yell, "There's a bathroom down here," and then it will get awkward. I'll have to go to the bathroom even if I don't want to. I can't stay in the bathroom, for obvious reasons, so there goes that private space.


I have spent a lot of time on back porches too, which in San Francisco at holiday time is often uncomfortable, because of course I am not wearing my overcoat because then it would look as though I were preparing to leave and people would say goodbye and then what? If only I smoked! I may have to take it up again just to explain my abrupt disappearances.”

The Unitarian Jihad is a tongue-and-cheek movement which uses peaceful means to oppose religious extremists. This sort of satirical writing and way of thinking make Carroll’s writing so enjoyable.

While reading his columns for research I began to notice I would be at the end of the article without realizing it. Though he uses “I”, “me” and “my” quite frequently, it does not interfere or alienate the reader.

Jon Carroll...

The most interesting column writer for the Chronicle it the world? I’d say so.

Roma's II Review

Pizza is almost always tossed around as a possibility when trying to figure out what to eat for dinner. Think about it, it is easy, can be made to fit anyones taste, is filling, plates and utensils are optional and it is always an option for the following morning’s breakfast. Roma’s Pizzeria II makes pizza that easily satisfies each of these categories.

Driving up to Roma’s was a little shocking because of the strip-mall like exterior. Because of its reputation the images I conjured up in my head were a little less modern. Being the first of my group to arrive, and looking lost, the three employees behind the counter, all at once, came to my aid asking if assistance was needed.

The seat yourself restaurant has a rather open and spacious dining room that looks designed to cater to large families, groups of friends or as a post-game dining spot for sports teams like the girls youth soccer team that arrived shortly after us. However, being in a group of three was completely comfortable.

As soon as one is seated, the classic leather lined clear plastic menus are handed out, and water is promptly distributed with the waitress asking if anything other than water is wanted.

The menu is simple and to the point. A few appetizer and salad options, entrees that are mainly pasta dishes and finally the pizza choices. The selection of pizzas, by far, provides the most options taking up an entire page and a half of the menu.

Having a vegetarian in the group was not a problem as there were several options for her, and the “choose your own toppings” option allowed for more possibilities.

Each of us ordered a side salad that was a perfect single serving portion of lettuce, fresh tomatoes and a few slices of salami. The bleu cheese dressing was mild, but had big chunks of bleu cheese.

We decided to split a large pizza between the three of us, half being pesto, which was just pesto and cheese, and the other half was pepperoni and black olives. Though there were some communication problems with our server because of her accent, it was no problem ordering half and half.

Shortly after the salads were eaten, the pizza arrived. As our server was setting the pizza down on the table, she almost had one of my group members wearing the pesto, pepperoni and olives as the pizza slid partially off the pan. She was very apologetic, and it was really a non-issue.

The pizza was delicious, with a more than generous amount of pepperoni and olives. The pesto was not overpowered by garlic, which can sometimes be the case. The cheese was perfectly stringy and the crust was just right. Not too soft and not too hard. The only gripe about the pizza was that a few stray pepperonis made their way onto the pesto side, which would have only been a problem for the vegetarian in the group, but she did not complain.

The large pizza was more than enough for the three of us. There were four pieces left over and they were put into a to go box by our waitress. Her technique, or strategy, for putting the pieces in the box made me a little apprehensive as I was sure they were going to end up on the floor.

Overall, the dining experience was quite pleasant. For a small salad and four to five pieces of pizza, it was a little over ten dollars each. The food was excellent, the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable, the service was good, and, at times, entertaining. The company, which can set the tone for any experience, was just as good as the food.

Mute the Silence

Twenty six miles to run and nothing but the sound of your feet on the ground, your own breathing and the voice in your head telling you to keep running. For some, these are not the sounds they want to hear when running.

On October 4th, minutes before the Cowtown Marathon was to begin, a man was desperately asking people for help with his iPod to no avail. Knowing how music can inspire, hype up and motivate people during exercise, I went after the gentleman to offer my help. When my idea worked, and his iPod was fixed, the relieved look on his face was so telling. A look of gratitude. That if he did not have his iPod, he would not make it through the run.

I then began to notice that the majority of runners participating in the Cowtown had iPods, or some form of mp3 players. Not using an iPod or mp3 player myself, because I was running with someone, I wondered how everyone would do without their music.

Some people find it impossible to, not only run, but exercise in general, without some kind of music. Whether that music is from a personal iPod or mp3 player or a stereo system at the gym you workout at, people need it.

Is it the emotional response music elicits, or is it simply the need for background noise that provides a distraction from ones own thoughts? Either way people need it to get through a workout.

As for it being just a distraction from ones own thoughts, I would equate that to driving in a car alone without music playing, or the radio playing. That silence is deafening.

In exercise however, ones own thoughts could be saying how much pain one is in and that he or she should stop. It is easy to listen to that voice in your head and stop running because your legs hurt, or to stop lifting weights because your muscles are too tired. Music can mute those thoughts. It has that power.

While running in the Cowtown, I realized that the power music has, is almost common knowledge, and not just by people who exercise, but by everyone. This may sound like an obvious statement, but when there are people (musicians) playing on the streets for the runners it really hits you.

Musicians taking time out of their own days, waking up early (the Cowtown, and most charitable runs for that matter, all start around 7:30 am) to play for thousands of complete strangers because they know it motivates them, really drives it home.

I began to think about the other runs I have participated in, the Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving and the Miners Ravine Fun Run in Roseville; they both had music playing on a PA system or bands set up playing for the runners.

Music inspires, motivates and connects with people. Most musicians get into writing and playing music for that exact purpose, not for the possibility of fame and fortune. As an aspiring musician, who wants to make music that inspires, motivates and connects with people, witnessing its power first hand, inspires and motivates me even more to write music that connects with people.

I hope someday I can be one of the musicians runners want to listen to for twenty six miles. Who can block out that voice in their heads and mute the silence.