What's Up Wednesdays: A Festivus Miracle

Christmas is just a couple of days away and Hanukkah has come and gone, but do you know what today is? If the Feats of the Strength, the Airing of Grievances, and the tinsel-free aluminum pole are any indication, it’s Festivus! This week’s speedlink doesn’t have all too much to do with the “holiday” made famous by Seinfeld in the 90s, just as Frank Costanza would have wanted it.

We kick things off with Kerry Sauriol who shares some memories of Christmas from her own childhood. Because she and her mom were viewed as the “poor relations,” this time of year doesn’t exactly evoke positive feelings. Even so, she understands that building a tradition is important for a lot of families and it’s something she is trying to do with her own family now. These are memories that hopefully her three kids will cherish for years to come and, as an added bonus, the Christmas lights hide the furniture stains.

Continuing with our journey into the past, Buzz Bishop recently went rummaging through some of his old stuff and it turns out that being a pack rat has its benefits. He discovered that he actually wrote eight episodes of Star Wars fan fiction when he was just 9 years old, expanding on that famed galaxy far, far away. These extra episodes are understandably quite short, but they are very illustrated, complete with a new space station called the Killer Star and a new ship for Darth Vader called the 45D7. He also had a Blood Jet.

Both Christmas and Star Wars elicit a strong emotional response in people (Festivus too!) and, as Bonnie Sainsbury points out, if you want your blog posts and articles to be successful, then your content should evoke emotion out of your readers too. The articles that are shared the most online are those that invoke laughter, awe and amusement. The content should have some personality to it, engaging the reader with entertainment and value.

They say that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. That could be true for women too, as is the case with Jamie Dunlop Khau and her love affair with the pizza at Lombardo’s. The pizza joint has been a Commercial Drive mainstay for a very long time and I certainly had a positive experience when I ate there several years ago (I really should go back). The restaurant is family run with great service and delicious food.

And finally, we end with an important life lesson from Aaron Yavelberg. While he may have felt confident and smooth at the time, watching his first dance at his wedding with his new bride provided an utterly different perspective. He looked “stiff and controlled.” Aaron inevitably compared himself to other dancing couples in the years that followed and felt he came up short… but that doesn’t matter. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and stop worrying how we look. Instead, we should just enjoy the moment and be happy.