Celebrations

So, my family and the in laws all went out to a new Indian restaurant that has opened local to us. The Mangrove in Westhoughton has no alcohol license, but you can take your own liquor, which helps reduce the cost of the night. My birthday is tomorrow (16th), which was the stated purpose of our night out. Really, though, we've been wanting to try it for some time.

Really nice food, friendly waiters and nice decor all helped us toward a really enjoyable evening. It is at times like these that I feel more heathen. Despite my wider family not being heathen. Despite no mention of gods, wights, norns or the like. Just celebrating family stuff together in a simple way like this feels closer to the original arch-heathens and their way of life than any forced shoehorning of my thought patterns into an older, archaic mindset and worldview just for the sake of it.

You can work 'hail', 'skol' and other norse buzzwords into your daily conversation as much as you like, but all that does is confirm you as a live roleplayer. Heathen values and practices are what matter more.

So, I hit 43 tomorrow, and I am celebrating with a day off work and thinking about my future. How I can make improve it for myself and my family. How I can make my career more rewarding for me and more secure and valuable for my family.