Everyday Systems

Is it cheating to take an S Day on a holiday which you generally acknowledge but are not exactly celebrating?

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. To me, it is one of those holidays that don't have much meaning to me (I'm not Irish, and I don't care if some guy christianized Ireland a long time ago - sorry, no offense to anyone who takes this holiday seriously) and I'm not exactly going to celebrate it (no parties or anything), but I still like to acknowledge it (saying Happy St. Patrick's Day, picking a shamrock and carrying it around, dumb fun stuff like that). I'm just not sure whether to call it an S-Day or not. Thoughts?

If you don't usually celebrate it, yes, it's cheating.

I've had an Irish coffee on St. Patrick's day for years, but made properly, it's hardly an S.

Alas, treating St. Patrick's Day as an S day, if it has no particular significance to you, is probably on the slippery slope to Cousin's Hamster's Birthday S days.

What days start with "s"?
Saturday, Sunday and "Special" days. Special days include (your) national and (your) religious and (your) close family's and friend's birthdays.

From the No S website page. You decide

DaveMc wrote:Alas, treating St. Patrick's Day as an S day, if it has no particular significance to you, is probably on the slippery slope to Cousin's Hamster's Birthday S days.

hahaha i always loved that part of Reinhard's essay

DaveMc wrote:Alas, treating St. Patrick's Day as an S day, if it has no particular significance to you, is probably on the slippery slope to Cousin's Hamster's Birthday S days.

LOL!


Bah... Alright, I guess I won't call it an S-Day. I think the sweets addict in me wants to look for any excuse to take an S-Day, but I'll keep fighting her. Thanks everyone for your help!

I'm eating things I rarely eat tomorrow (colcannon and corned beef), but nothing in excess or that would make it an S day. I don't like beer much, so that won't be a part of it, but it wouldn't make it an S anyway.

I had a similar question about birthday S days, when I first started NoS (a year and a half ago) -- I wanted to know if I could shift my birthday S day, since it was on a Saturday, which I felt was unfair. The answer was along the lines of, "You're free to do whatever you want. But no."

I remember saying, "Tough crowd!" And, sheesh, now I'm one of 'em.

imprisonedbeauty wrote:

DaveMc wrote:Alas, treating St. Patrick's Day as an S day, if it has no particular significance to you, is probably on the slippery slope to Cousin's Hamster's Birthday S days.

LOL!


Bah... Alright, I guess I won't call it an S-Day. I think the sweets addict in me wants to look for any excuse to take an S-Day, but I'll keep fighting her. Thanks everyone for your help!

I might be having a brain fart here, but what sweets are associated with St. Patrick's Day? I can't think of any.

DaveMc wrote:I had a similar question about birthday S days, when I first started NoS (a year and a half ago) -- I wanted to know if I could shift my birthday S day, since it was on a Saturday, which I felt was unfair. The answer was along the lines of, "You're free to do whatever you want. But no."

I remember saying, "Tough crowd!" And, sheesh, now I'm one of 'em.

LOL! I remember that!

I might be having a brain fart here, but what sweets are associated with St. Patrick's Day? I can't think of any.

Shamrock shakes, grasshoppers, anything made with midori sour....

So mostly beverages come to mind. I may have St. Patrick's Day party/night out tomorrow (it's been and on and off thing since before the start of March...). I don't plan on taking a full S day, or even a full S event - but if there is a party (and it really still is up in the air), I do plan to be a little looser with allowing sweet celebratory beverages that I wouldn't normally drink on an N day. I'm not a beer drinker, and green cocktails just seem more appropriate than wine for the holiday. But no celebratory event will mean no sweet cocktails.

For me in examining S holidays, I like to look at in terms of S celebrations, and I don't plan on necessarily being consistent from year to year. Because its not about the particular day, but the event or celebration. So if my actual birthday was on a Saturday, but for scheduling reasons I was planning a party on Tuesday (lets face it, that is highly unlikely!), I'd take Tuesday as an NWS. But if I was celebrating on Saturday or not celebrating at all? No extra S day.

St. Patrick's day party? S! St. Patrick's day party not on St. Patrick's day for some reason? S (but only St. P party exemption per year...). St. Patrick's day with no party? No extra S day.

I suppose it could still get out of hand if my cousins decide to start hosting parties for their hamsters, but fortunately for me, none of my cousins own hamsters Plus parties/events tend to be on the weekends more often than not.

wosnes wrote:

imprisonedbeauty wrote:

DaveMc wrote:Alas, treating St. Patrick's Day as an S day, if it has no particular significance to you, is probably on the slippery slope to Cousin's Hamster's Birthday S days.

LOL!


Bah... Alright, I guess I won't call it an S-Day. I think the sweets addict in me wants to look for any excuse to take an S-Day, but I'll keep fighting her. Thanks everyone for your help!

I might be having a brain fart here, but what sweets are associated with St. Patrick's Day? I can't think of any.

Ahh... chocolate-mint sweets, sweets with Bailey's Irish Cream in them, green colored sweets, sweets in the shape of a shamrock or with shamrock decorations... That's all I can come up with off the top of my head.

I'm wearing a green scarf and hearing about others in my office planning thier sweet drinks, but I'm happy to be NoS-ing and just remembering the last corned beef meal I ate, while munching on my tofu stirr-fry because that was all I could manage to cook today. Happy St Patty's day everyone!!

KCCC wrote:

DaveMc wrote:I remember saying, "Tough crowd!" And, sheesh, now I'm one of 'em.

LOL! I remember that!

One point that this brings to mind: I'm guessing that you're relatively new to NoS, imprisoned? If so, you'll probably find it easier to be part of the "tough crowd", after a while. When you've been doing NoS for a year or two, it really does get easier to turn down opportunities for extra S days, because you'll start to find that two per week is plenty. (At least, that's what many of us have found, your mileage may vary, etc.) I actually feel a bit odd when I have extra S days in a week -- I do take 'em for statutory holidays, don't get me wrong, but it now feels a bit peculiar to be eating dessert on, say, a Monday. (And later this year, I'll have my very first birthday that won't fall on a weekend, and I'm darned well taking it as an S day!)

So that's one reason why it's easy for (relative) old-timers to sound tough about this: we often don't think of not having an extra S day as a big deal. When you're just starting out, though, every potential S day is huge.

Basically anything that they can make in green or decorate with a shamrock. Damn them. ;)

imprisonedbeauty wrote: Ahh... chocolate-mint sweets, sweets with Bailey's Irish Cream in them, green colored sweets, sweets in the shape of a shamrock or with shamrock decorations... That's all I can come up with off the top of my head.

Made my soda breads today and have had 2 pieces slathered in butter (and real butter too!) already! But then all of my grandparents were from Ireland and I knew them all and we have always celebrated! Luckily the Irish are not a big "food culture" - can you imagine if it was an Italian holiday!! (Of course a "drink culture" yes - but then Guinness is good for you!)

I hate you (well, envy you, really). I haven't had good soda bread since my Gran' passed twenty-some years ago.

librarylady wrote:Made my soda breads today and have had 2 pieces slathered in butter (and real butter too!) already! But then all of my grandparents were from Ireland and I knew them all and we have always celebrated! Luckily the Irish are not a big "food culture" - can you imagine if it was an Italian holiday!! (Of course a "drink culture" yes - but then Guinness is good for you!)