Looking past commercials to find what you really want

As we have just passed our Thanksgiving holiday, I am starting to see Christmas items on the shelves and advertisements on the television for the biggest holiday of all in the USA: the period between their Thanksgiving (Nov. 24 this year) and Christmas — the time of year when we are hit with more advertising than any other time in our lives. Some of it is downright in your face, and some of it subliminal but its all sickening.

Marketing is a magical beast. Watch the TV entertainment shows and read those great trashy weekly tabloids about Tomkat, or Brangelina or about Paris and Paris (or whatever new Greek shipping heir she is after this week — gotta top that 24 karat sparkler!) and you become envious of their lives, or more importantly, what they are wearing. Martha leaves court with a $6000 Birkin Bag; sure, you cannot afford it, but you can afford a rip-off facsimile and you gotta have it NOW. No waiting until Dec. 25th. And I have yet to recover from the student in the bathroom in “B” building showing off her new breast implants like they were a new pair of shoes, along with her tummy tuck scar — her age? Maybe 20.

Guys? Gotta get those six pack abs like Usher, wear the right clothes and get the right amount of bling. The pants have to hang low enough so that the girls can see the waistband of the cool underwear of the week, and the hat you wear has to be the right brand so she knows you're the one for her.

And little kids? It's all about the toys. They want all of them and they want them NOW. Once the sugar highs of Halloween turn into the sugar grumpiness the famous line, “If you don't behave RIGHT NOW I am going to tell Santa to skip our house!” comes out of storage. But does any parent ever go through with it? No, because THEY would be the ones to suffer through their children's rotten behaviour on December 25th if there were no gifts under the tree.

The key to all of this craziness and commercialism is that the advertisements all started after Thanksgiving. Do we ever sit down and really, truly think what we are thankful for? I know many a family who think about it right before carving the turkey. But how many people truly think day in and day out what they are truly thankful for? (And I do not mean, “Gee, I am so thankful that my ass looks so hot in these new jeans I bought!”) It can be simple, it can be complicated and it can be completely private to you.

I recently was given two books that I never, ever in a million years thought that I would ever pick up and read, much less enjoy. One was A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and the other is Everyday Positive Thinking by Louise L. Hay.

Everyday Positive Thinking is a good book that makes you think about your life in general and helps you see the positivity in it. A Purpose Driven Life is heavy on religion, yet I, Miss Non-Churchgoer, am learning a lot from it about life in general and what I can be thankful for. What am I thankful for? You would be surprised. Every day I have started to write a list of what I am thankful for, small things, big things, and things that may seem crazy to others. The point is that I sit down every day and think of what I am truly thankful for and can reflect upon in days to come when I feel low, depressed and unable to be thankful for anything.

For example, I am thankful for:
Having this disease as it is showing me what is and is not important in life.

For getting confirmation that my classmate Shannyn Power, who is working in Cancun Mexico is alive and well. And that I can stop fretting, worrying and weeping about the fact that I could not get any confirmation over the fact that she may have been dead as a result of Hurricane Wilma.

That I was not here when my bathroom ceiling collapsed for the fourth time this year … and that I can find humour in having to use the toilet underneath a golf umbrella (It is just too absurd!)

That I have a friend (locally) who is just crazy enough to celebrate my cat's Sweet 16 birthday party.

That I have perfected the art of getting rid of telemarketers. (Getting that answer out of me would cost you money!)

That I was well enough to go away for the week on my parent's 50th wedding anniversary trip with the rest of the family. Yes, I barely left my room (except to sabotage the doors by tying them shut one morning and decorating them all at 3 am!) And I had to pass by on some of the best food in Canada, as they brought me a bowl of Campbell's soup for every single meal. But I made it and was with them on this monumental occasion.

I am beyond thankful for the love of my parents, especially after all I have put them through this summer with my illness — they are excellent chauffeurs, waiters and maids. They also worked as a clean up crew for both my cat and me and every day brought me breakfast in bed; even if it was just a glass of water, is an unheard luxury.

I am thankful for my parents, my friend Brechje, and heck, even my Chiropractor, Dr. Pispidikis, for not laughing too hard at me when I told them how I broke my tailbone.

I am thankful for a wonderful person, Elaine Browning, for taking a depressed, sad old looking chick and sending her home with a platinum pageboy that has men turning their heads when I walk by. (In that respect, blondes do have more fun!)

I am thankful for finding a refuge at the Landon Public Library and its wonderful service, books and staff: they make me feel like family, which is so important when everyone in my family lives 100+ km away.

An easy list? Yes and no. I could be happy that I can now eat some solid food, but tomorrow I may not be able to —- and tomorrow I may be thankful that Desperate Housewives makes me laugh and Nip/Tuck is fascinating. As Wordsworth wrote, “Smile and be thankful.” As I say, be thankful, you never know what's coming around the corner.

Janet is a second year student in the hospitality department on an extended sick leave. When she sends her editor an e-mail it means one of two things: a) Stephanie really needs something longer than 200 words b) Janet has been doing the E-Bay addiction again looking for the PERFECT Djembe or c) Janet is thinking she might try to eat some solid food. Janet's goal in life is to find Colm Feore someday in downtown Stratford, jump him, kiss him and tell him her life is now complete WITHOUT the police arresting her. She can be reached at djembejanet@hotmail.com

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.