Last post of the year! I wasn't even
sure I was going to do this today, I've got so much on my mind, I
wasn't sure how it'd come out. But, I decided instead of just
sitting around mulling over everything, I would take the time I have
to bust out a few words. It is, after all, the last post of the
year. A year I wasn't always sure would get here. But, alas, it did
get here, and now it's over. I must have been having fun, because it
sure seemed to fly by. In the past year, I lost my job, and got a
new one. My car died, but I got a new one. My ex-wife died. Stella
Mae was in two musicals, and got invited to join the Advanced Choir
to travel Europe. We raised the money to have that happen, and all
the while, during the busiest Holiday Season of my life. I feel like
I've been going non stop since Thanksgiving. Which is probably a
very fair assessment. I can't remember the last time I did this.
Furthermore, I can no longer remember all of the cool things I wanted
to tell you in the meantime. I had a lot of stuff going on, things I
thought would be so interesting to share, but now as I sit here, none
of that comes to mind. I am really looking forward to getting back
to a decent schedule. Although, I will tell you, I'm going to miss
the paychecks. Working a lot sure makes a difference in the
paycheck, as I'm sure you already know. As far as mental health goes
though, I think working less is a better payoff. I patiently wait
for the day when I can make a substantial amount of income with a
relaxed schedule.
I suppose if my schedule was busy doing
my own thing, I wouldn't mind so much. I'd like to be able to have
dinner with my family. I miss cooking. I miss time off during the
Holiday. This was the first Holiday Season I've ever had with no
time off. This is my 5th day off in the month of
December. Retail is a wicked beast. I really got soured this year.
I had issues with commercialism before, but now I am even worse. Why
can't people be polite?! It's supposed to be the Season of Joy and
Giving, but instead it's become the Season of brutal spending. I
can't stand it. Why aren't these people with all of this time off,
and with all of this money, enjoying themselves?! Walking around the
store acting like *ssholes, trying to get a last minute purchase to
make some one else “happy,” seems like a stupid waste of time.
Christmas is the same day every year, why do the majority of people
do their shopping during the last week?! Complaining about lines
that They are causing! Complaining about not having enough of the
right stuff. How can you expect the best stuff to be there on the
last shopping day?! I almost met no smiley happy people. The
majority were a bunch of piss poor planners on a mission. A mission,
by the way, that they wanted no help in achieving. Plus, the worst
part to me, was the two questions I kept hearing over and over again:
1) “If they don't like it, they can just come in and get the right
size, color, or style right?” 2) “If they don't want it, can
they just return it for cash?”
Isn't it supposed to be the thought
that counts? If that's true the thought seems to be “I don't
really know you very well,” and “I didn't really think of you at
all until the last minute.” Boy those are some uplifting thoughts.
The clincher of the whole thing is that it seems to be known that
people are getting a bunch of crappy gifts, because everyone seems to
know that the next few days after Christmas the stores are packed
with returners. Ungrateful little sh*ts. We used to have to keep
our crappy gifts. Not that it made things any better, but there was
at least the possibility that learning would occur, and the person
would become a better gift giver, or the recipient would become a
better hint dropper. Now it's all f*cked up. The businesses are
playing right along, staying open later, opening longer, slashing
prices. I'm afraid it will eventually become known as Buymas. A
whole Holiday centered around the idea of just buying stuff. It
doesn't even seem to be about the gift anymore, just that something
was bought. People don't even seem to care, because they can just
take it back and get what they really want. Boy do the stores love
that! “Buy me something, buy me something, buy me something from a
store, Buy me something special that I don't want anymore.”
That'll be a new Holiday Carol. (Imagine it to the tune of Jingle
Bells) I don't mean to sound like a Hum-Bug, and I don't feel like a
Hum-Bug, I just feel that we're so far away from any real meaning
that the Season is losing context.
Daughn
