Read books.
Which books? Good ones?
How do you figure out which one's are good? Read enough books and you'll start to get a sense about the whole thing - or maybe you don't figure it out so much, but it doesn't really matter. Just read.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
My Reason for Treason This Season and What I Would Like For the Holidays 2010
I have always had a really hard time dealing with the gift giving and getting part of the December American holiday season. Every year I get these very strange feelings about the whole thing. The gifts we get each other aren’t really gifts more like responsibilities, obligations and debts; I don’t want some materialistic thing; I’m not worthy of this gift when there are so many more needy people in the world; I can’t possibly succeed in getting you the right gift; why do we need to weigh down a holiday’s beauty with needing to get a gift for everyone you know? Those are the kind of things running through my mind.
The height of my disillusion was sharing a Christmas morning with my ex-girfriend’s family. I was raised in a Jewish home –certainly not the den of materialism you’d expect from a person writing this – my views on the ills of the season were formulated from the outside (a new watch and a puzzle wrapped in newspaper counted as overdoing it for any night of Chanukah.) So when I saw these 2 adult children blazing through box after box, bag after bag, parents looking on with baited breath waiting for approval, it freaked me out. The 15 foot tree lined with presents turned into a 15 tree and a 4 foot pile of wrapping paper and packaging hour of steady-paced tarring, smiling, and thanking. And yes, it was fun, I do understand the joy of a new toy – studying it, marveling at it, figuring out how to use it. But happened at such an excelerated speed! Junkies getting their fix – shooting up again and again within the hour not so much for pleasure but for the sake of the routine. Oh God what a mountain of wrapping paper!
(To be fair, that family was nothing but nice to me and I really appreciated being included in their celebration. They are not what I make them out to be – it’s just very easy to write negatively about one’s ex-girlfriend.)
I’ve (half-heartedly) done the protest thing before. Don’t buy me anything. I don’t want anything besides world peace. Send a gift to a charity instead. And in the early stages: I don’t want stuff, I just want money. Some years I can’t tell if I honestly don’t want anything or I’ve just forced material desires out of my head… and then I slap myself for getting all self righteous. Boy, airs of superiority complex waft around me like during this season like…well… like… the way this season wafts around me in coffee shops selling eggnog, gingerbread-spice lattes.
And the thing I keep noticing is that the biggest effect I have is causing a headache for the people determined to get me something. No, I am not changing the big System, just kinda being a pain to the people in my life. So I have decided to compile a list of stuff I would actually want and/or need. Out of my comfort zone, but I guess its normal for lots of people so here goes. If you would like to get me something this holiday season, here are some of my thoughts. I will be sure to be grateful for anything I receive
Things you probably have to buy:
Size 11 Converse-All Stars Low (color undecided)
Size 36 Black Calvin Kline briefs with white elastic band and black lettering (sold at Costco)
Light Resistence (Purple) Jump-Stretch Band (link)
New Laptop
Windows 7
Laptop Tune up/ reformat
Sports watch
Skins tights
iPhone 4
External Hard drive
Black, high density foam roller
1.5 or 2 pood (25 or 30 lb) Kettle ball
Money
Weight vest
Things you could find, make or do without spending money:
Fix my car door, window
Fix my battery, remote key, lights, computer,
Milk crates
Lacross balls
Let me train you in the gym
Great books you’ve already read
2009 college nationals disc (Ohio)
Let me stay in your cabin in tahoe sometime this winter (or hook it up with a friend’s)
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