Fractionals

1. If you have to go out to get a burger and fries (pretty much the least inspiring meal in Western culture right now) and you're in Southern Ontario, you pretty much have to go to Lick's. At least if you have any self-respect. I mean, among other things, it's the only place I go to where I get the vegetarian burger because it tastes even better than the beef one. I had one last night and it was incredible. I keep going there and expecting to get an average one, but it never happens. Also, any burger joint that lets you get spicy sauce, two kind of onions, two kind of hot peppers and whatever else you want on a burger is worthwhile.

2. While at Lick's, I heard a pretty lovely choral version of a religious Christmas song - not sure which one. "Angels We Have Heard on High," maybe? It's one of those versions that sounds like it's being recorded in a cathedral in England or something. And for just a moment, I think about how nightmarish this would be to someone from the medieval period, that this sacred music meant to be performed by humans is being played in the bathroom of a fast food establishment without even any visible speakers.

3. Which made me think, because I'm standing there contemplating the music, and I realise I want to say something about how the idea briefly offends even me, and I was raised secular. And then I start thinking about things I've read where people in Israel, for example, are described as "ethnically Jewish" or how plenty of people I know are or could be described as "culturally Catholic" - that is, in each case, they may or may not respect the religion, but they don't practice it. And yet, in at least some way, those sorts of groups are still bound by a common background, a set of shared values etc etc etc. And I start to wonder if the proper way to describe myself isn't "ethnically secular" or "culturally humanist" or something like that. And I wonder how many people these days that could apply to.