. . . didn't feel Christmas-y

although in 21 days I will need to have gifts ready for everyone and the house decorated. It just makes me tired to think about putting up the tree and slogging around looking for presents that really no one needs. My siblings and I have decided that even though we drew names, we aren't buying anything for each other this year. My son wants either (a) a king-size mattress and box springs or (b) a computer. And souls in hell want ice water. The babies already have every toy known to man and still prefer to play with my oven or my plastic storage containers and lids.


I made an effort yesterday, though. . . I downloaded a few Christmas songs to the Ipod. I love Kenny Loggins's "Please Celebrate Me Home" but I don't know why it's considered a Christmas song. And Dan Fogelberg's "Another Auld Lang Syne" almost makes me cry sometimes. Almost. And Pachelbel's Canon in D is beautiful.


I read in Douglas Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" about the "strange loops" exhibited in each man's work. Escher's "Ascending and Descending" contains an example, as do canons and fugues, and various obscure mathematic/logic theories. The Escher is understandable, I can see what Hofstradter is talking about. Canons and fugues are understandable, I can hear what he means. Even some of the logic is seeping through the fog: the Epimenides paradox is another example of a "strange loop". . . for instance, the statement "I am lying" or "This sentence is false." But the mathematics is just outside my range of comprehension. . . Godel remains incomprehensible. Actually a lot of the book is pretty incomprehensible, and I'm only on something like Chapter 2.


Just consider this blog posting another strange loop. . .