Bahbye Schtuffs.

Sometimes this funk of schtuff just plops right on me.  Makes me wanna eat sugar straight from the bowl and sleep like a hibernating bear.  That has been the case for the last month or so.....mebbe longer.  Yunno how schtuffs control the perception of time and all.  I have tried the usual things to bust me out, but no luck.  In fact one of the usual things, hiking, actually caused me to injure myself (not once, not twice, but three times!)and, therefore, encouraged the piling on of even more schtuffunk.  Unlike the NFL, there are no penalties in real life for this action.  (How cool would it be to be able to whistle and throw a flag when the schtuff piles on, make the schtuff incur a penalty that is somehow beneficial to me?)


Anyway - here's a useless but cool photo of the
Diwali lights in India from a NASA satellite.
Pretty cool eh?

That is until today at work where they had a big Diwali celebration attended by about 500 people! Diwali is an Indian festival - one of the big ones - that celebrates the triumph of good over evil, celebrates light and enlightenment, celebrates by lighting lamps.  Just celebrates.  And there is no Indian celebration that is complete without food - lots of food.  Quite a few Indians where I work, but also a lot of other ethnicities too.  And people didn't just eat and run, but stayed for the talking part.  WTH - right?  No one does that!  I credit the immense joy the facilitators encouraged. 

  Lots of delish food for free (including this girl's fave saag paneer), dancing and fun facts about India.  Yunno the girl is a hooker for useless factoids.  It is a bit late for Diwali which was celebrated around October 26 this year, but better late than never!  Somewhere during the history of Diwali part of the presentation, I felt the schtuffs kinda crack and fall away.  No  surprise there - Diwali is about bringing in the light.  How awesome are the Indians to celebrate light even as the sun is decreasing everyday?  (Oh wait - isn't it just becoming summer where they are?  Doesn't matter.  My Indian colleagues here rocked it hard.)  It made me feel light and full of hope.  So next year you're all invited to Diwali with me.