Everyday Stupidities

Hello, friends and strangers. You will be relieved to know that I had a pretty nice little Christmas. I spent Christmas Day at home with my wife, and we woke up around 1 p.m. (we don't have any kids beside Cheddar Meatloaf to demand we get up any earlier) to open our gifts sloooowly one by one taking turns. Then we spent the day on the couch watching a lot of HGTV, played Scrabble™ [I got a 7-letter word on the first round, she never caught up] and Boggle™ [she wiped the floors with me, as always], and occasionally answering the phone when her family would call to say hello. We both got the one item we asked for, and this year we were either frugal or just hadn't thought about what we wanted: she wanted an emerald 'journey' necklace, I wanted a polarizing filter for my camera. (Unfortunately when the note said "linear, not circular" and she showed it to the guy at the camera shop so he could read for himself that it said "linear, nor circular", the douchebag still handed her a circular filter. It's being exchanged tomorrow.) We surprised each other as well: I gave her a photo album of pictures I've taken over the years and have mostly lived in digital format; she gave me a ticket to the Blue Man Group show on January 24. Beyond that, it was how things usually looked (all is calm, all is mild, and my mother gave me a sweater and my wife some dishtowels As Usual) and that's something I'm thankful about. We already have a theme picked out for next year's tree.

I think I expended all the tip-top stupid things last time, thought there's no actual shortage of them. I suppose now we should be thinking about the New Year, and all the standard auld lang syne nonsense associated with resolutions. I don't make resolutions, as you know, but I do intend to become more fit because desk jobs are starting to show on my physique. I don't want to do the fourty year sprawl which I seem to be actively engaged in, it's avoidable! (the sprawl part, not the fourty year part... sigh) 2007 hasn't been that bad to me; both of the jobs I've had have paid pretty well and been tolerable, without a bothersome gap other than the two months of silence at the beginning of the year, I think I've accomplished a few things and gotten to know myself better, and I accepted turning a round number divisible by ten with some grace (to my surprise). People from the past that I've longed to reconnect with for a decade or two have reappeared (some more briefly than others) and I think I've said what I've needed to say to them. There's plenty to be thankful for. And there'll be more once that kitchen renovation ever gets completed.

I hope everyone else had a decent Christmas, or whatever you celebrate...