November 2012

Wishes.

Back when I was a kid there would be much excitement with the arrival of the Sears “Wish Book”. It was fun for the whole family.

I would flip through the Wish Book and come up with ideas for my Christmas list that Santa apparently wanted to see. Then magical people would run off with the magical list and on Christmas morning there’d be one or two items from the Wish Book under the tree, though I think Santa went to J.M. Fields instead of Sears, now that I think about it. Sears was kind of fancy for us.

Anyways, as I mentioned yesterday, I have been asked by a couple relatives as to what I want for Christmas and though I always answer, “nothing, really”, that’s not the answer one expects, so today I went and made myself an Amazon Wish List.

Now, I think that composing an Amazon Wish List is kind of crass. Truth be known, I find it wicked crass, but it appeals to my organized/OCD side. It’s functional. It runs way too close to that whole “gift registry” thing that people do when they’re getting married and I’ve never been really comfortable with that whole thing either (though the software that runs gift registries is kind of nifty). So I have an Amazon Wish List and I’ve even posted it right here in the right hand column of the blog. Not because I want people to buy me things, I REALLY don’t want that, but I thought it’d be very 21st century to share my Amazon Wish List so that one could get a different perspective on my personality. Well, at least the parts of my personality that I want to be public. I

If one really wanted to buy me a meaningful Christmas gift, it would be a donation to the Ali Forney Center. That would make me really happy and be more in the true spirit of the holidays as far as I’m concerned.

It was much easier flipping through the Sears Wish Book.

Leftovers.

So Earl is not working today. Like many companies of the U.S. persuasion, his office is closed today. On the other hand, I am working from home today because today is Friday and there is no rest in the world of telecommunications. Your landline might be obsolete but by god we’re going to do everything we can to make sure you can still use it.

Because Earl is home today he was very kind and made me lunch. The highlight was a turkey sandwich made with cranberry sauce on multi-grain bread. Instead of deli-sliced turkey, my sandwich was made with leftovers from yesterday. Surprise! There’s probably a few people eating leftovers today. I hope they find them as enjoyable as I do.

Gifts.

So with a couple of glasses of wine and a most excellent Thanksgiving dinner in my stomach (and affecting my brain), I am wistfully thinking about the holiday season which is now apparently upon us. People are already asking me what I want for Christmas and quite frankly I don’t know that I can answer that question. I mentioned to my mother that I would submit a list for her perusal on Amazon (in wish-list form), but I don’t think that was well received. To tell you the truth, I feel funny building a wish list on Amazon because I don’t really want anything for Christmas.

Truth be known (I seem to be full of truth as I type this blog entry under the influence of wine, which I never really drink), I want the holidays to be spent with family and friends. I want to meet people that read this blog on a daily basis. I want to meet the people that I see in so many photos in Instagram and I want to actually touch those that I am friends with on Facebook (the level of touching is negotiable, calm down Mom).

Earl and I were in San Francisco earlier this year and we did not have the chance to meet people that we wanted to meet because quite frankly there was just too much going on and too little time. Honestly, that sucked. I mean, we enjoyed ourselves in San Francisco and all that but we weren’t there nearly long enough and we didn’t get to meet Moby nor did we get to meet Jay, who was visiting from St. Louis at the time. What’s up with that? I want to meet people. Contrary to my ranting on this blog, I actually do like the human species for the most part and I’m usually quite adept at avoiding those that are dumbing down the gene pool.

Now, I have had the honor of meeting quite a few people that are mentioned in the blog roll that runs along the right side of this page. I’ve had a lovely evening or two with Arnie. Sean and I go waaaaay back. I’ve terrorized Joe. My. God. on more than one occasion (and he was tolerant), Brett was stunning when our paths crossed and I had the pleasure of speaking with Jon in Atlanta on the phone when he was kind enough to call me during a rough spot in our lives. But there’s other fellow bloggers that I want to meet and come hell or high water (and the hopefully the absence of the Mayan Prophecy), we are going east to Kevin and south to meet Jon and west to Erik and Moby and Jay and everyone else that we trade photos, quips and experiences with online.

That’s what I want for the holidays. Communication. Connection. The meeting of like minds.

And I guess that’s another gift that I’ll give myself and quite frankly, I am perfectly content with that.

Giving Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow US citizens. To others from around the world, I hope you’re enjoying your day.

I was asked this morning as to what I’m thankful for. My response was simple: I am thankful for my family and friends, my life and my exciting future. Enjoy the moment.