So Jen and Dusty came over and got me around 4:30 or 5 and we headed downtown to go see the whole fire in the sky thing. She parked at the top of the parking ramp and we headed out to find food for Dusty and Jen, who were a bit hungry. So we found some vendors, and got something (I got water, dusty got a hot dog, Jen got chips and a hot chocolate), and headed off to find our vantage point for the parade.
The Parade, if you could call it that, was very short. I was amazed that their were no more floats/bands/etc. During such time Jen and I had a "discussion" and I was a bit to blunt in my statement of facts (pagan origins of christmas traditions/timing) and beliefs (commercialization of christmas) about Christmas. I think we both got a little too caught up in it. I know that I didn't mean to offend her, or her religious traditions as she sees them, which I accept as part of the person she is, who I respect as a whole.
One of the things I wasn't aware of is that the whole birthday cake for Jesus thing was something that was actually done and done in the past. When my mom started doing it a few years ago, I thought it was more in relation to the Angel Food Cake that my mom started preparing on the birthday of John Andrew (younger brother that lived for a few days and died) rather then someone else's tradition that my mom may have picked up on. I didn't know that. It's not that I have spent christmas time with anyone other then my own family, so those are the only experiences that I have had.
Anyways, I did apoligize and after that, the mood settled into being more happy.
The fireworks were really cool. It was nice to be able to see them at more then a time then just the fourth, and as I chatted earlier in the day, I do think they should have them every friday...just to celebrate the work week being over. It was probably the biggest display I've seen in person. There were a few things that I did find to be kinda annoying. First being people still driving around (leaving or getting there) when the fireworks going off, making the crowd have to move around them. The second being people using thier camera phones to take pictures of the fireworks. Like pictures w/ a camera phone in the dark of fireworks are gonna turn out great. sometimes people should just experience the event, instead of trying to take pictures of it.
Afterwards, instead of fighting traffic and all that, we decided to go get some real food and headed to the Royal Mile and ate dinner. I had the Shepherd's pie and a Scotch egg, dusty had Duck and a Scotch egg, and Jen had mozzarella sticks, a dinner salad and Steak and Guiness Stew. It was very yummy and I think I have made more converts to the joys of the Royal Mile.
After they dropped me off, I headed over to Josh's and played some video games, watched some comedy and just shoot the breeze for a few hours.
Other then a bit of unplesantness, the night as a whole turned out to be pretty good. And Fire in the Sky is, yet another thing, that I should've gone to earlier.