Merry and happy? Not this fellow
I don’t do well during the holidays. Whatever joy there is to be found in the season is overwhelmed by the foul weather, financial stress and forced bonhomie that accompanies it. For me, the holidays are something to be endured. I haven’t enjoyed them since I was a child, and long ago gave up trying.
Sorry to be such a downer. I don’t resent people who revel in Christmas. In fact, I envy them. This loathing of the holidays is a flaw in my genetic makeup, as much a deformation of the soul as a withered leg is that of the body. Like the fellow with the bum leg, I wish it wasn’t that way — but it is.
I’ll be back in a few days. As always, I appreciate your visits.
December 25th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Man you need to drink more. than things will look better. have a good holiday dano.
December 25th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Buck up Dan. You’ve become a valued component of my daily life - sometimes to the chagrin of my employer. While I don’t understand a lot of the stuff you write about and I don’t give a flying fig about the news biz, you have a gift that others enjoy.
You also have a great group of regular posters (please come back Debrah) and Brunette (who I think writes porn on the side) who may have developed an affection for you too. That was presumptuous - the affection part - not Brunette writing porn. She does - well, she should, I’ll say that.
I’ll leave you with the words of a great man, one W.C. Fields. “Don’t be a fuddy-duddy. Don’t be a moon-calf. Don’t be a jabbernow. You’re not those things are you?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” you might ask. Beats hell outta me.
I love you Gearino, in a wholesome and manly kind of way. Can I borrow five thousand bucks?
December 25th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I need to clarify the loan request. It’s actually more like a gift being as how I assumed you wouldn’t charge me interest and I probably won’t be able to pay you back.
In all seriousness Gearino, the holidays can be emotionally taxing for us all. We’ve all got our reasons. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I didn’t intend to get mushy with this, but it’s Christmas morning (OK afternoon) and Silent Night by The Temptations is playin’ in the background.
December 26th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I’m in Gearino’s boat regarding the holidays. Good for you for having the courage to bring it up.
December 27th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I thought I was the only one! Bah Humbug…it’ll be over in a few days!
December 27th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Oh for god’s sake. “Courage?” Geezus, Dan wasn’t claiming “courage,” for posting a sentiment so widely shared, nor should one suggest that “courage” played any part in doing so.
How limited is one’s world that one would think it takes courage to say that for some people, the holidays are kind of depressing? Are we not inundated with news items, essays and articles in virtually every available forum that acknowledge this obvious and entirely natural reaction to the “season to be jolly?”
COURAGE?
The blessing is that Dan is gifted enough in his expression that he doesn’t come across like the average whiner — whether affected by the lack of light or the unrelenting pressure of the jingle bell cheerleading section or the ghastly commercial crush that accompany this winter solstice/mithra’s sacrifice/Jesus’ birth/Santa’s sackful etc WTF you wanna call it season. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a danged gloomy gus this time of year. It isn’t COURAGEOUS to note the obvious.
What takes COURAGE is fighting down the demons that make this season so miserable. THAT takes some danged fortitude.
Out of seasonal kindness, I will share what I consider one of my most important strategic counters to this season’s ever-so-potent slings and arrows: Keep the television off for the second half of October through the first half of January.
Just sayin’.
Happy New Year.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:06 am
No worries, Dan. Take care!
January 1st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Three months without TV? Three months? How the hell am I supposed to burn my allotted 900 hours of spare time between Columbus Day and the MLK holiday without my one true friend, basic cable? What of HGTV, ESPN, A&E, TNT, MTV, VH1, ESPN2 and Spike (where ROADHOUSE plays on a continuous cycle)?
I’m lost! Are you suggesting I read, volunteer at a food bank, talk to my wife and kids? Strike up a relationship with my next door neighbor? Rake my yard, clean my gutters, contemplate my navel?
Are you aware that the reality series A SHOT OF LOVE III, THE IKKI TWINS is currently in progress on VH1? Bisexual, identical twins Rikki and Vikki Ikki are lookin’ for love. They have an eager pool of dudes and dudettes to choose from. It’s quite compelling. Each week, the twins force their ardent suitors through a gauntlet of contrived trials and tribulations. Those who fail are scorned by the Ikkis. Those who succeed? To the victor go the spoils - usually in the hottub.
You expect me to miss that to avoid a bout of the holiday blues?