xxxmas…again

i guess it’s a generational thing…

yesterday when i was leaving work one off my co-workers was talking to me in the parking lot. he’s a slightly older guy, and he could tell i was not all about the holidays. he came up to me and said…

“sean, when i was around your age, and still single, with no kids or woman or anything, and my parents were dead, i was like you…feeling really down on myself, and really down about life, and it was the holidays. you know what i did to feel better? i went down to the salvation army and fed the homeless people. just volunteered on their line. really helped me. what are your plans for the evening?”

i replied, “i’m gonna go buy a bottle of really good tequila, go home, and get obliterated…” he admitted that that was an option i could explore as well…

i had to run to get my glasses worked on…again. turns out they drilled one of the lenses wrong. then from 4:00 to 4:45 i did all my xmas shopping. times like this being single is a good thing…no gifts to buy for a significant other, no debating whose family to hang out with. once the fam was covered, time to do the “big three for me”.

certain holiday “traditions” have gone by the way side the last couple of years. like the john hughes film fest that used to be an annual xmas eve thang. no more. or heading over to one of my friend’s family’s houses. no more. haven’t been invited the last couple of years. not bitter about it or anything…it’s not their job to make sure i’m entertained. or NOT alone. that’s my job. problem is, the last few years i have been to busy doing my job to do THAT job.

but never mind all that now…

the “big three” i refer to is the three gifts i buy myself every year. growing up mom always dropped $50 on a gift or two for us for xmas. my sister would usually kill around $20 on me. so now i buy a $50 gift from mom, a $20 gift from my sister (who is still alive, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just a lot easier these days for us to buy our own gifts lately) and then to make it an even c note i drop $30 on a gift to me from me.

this year i went the irony route…mom, who was always a good, christian woman, bought me a bobble head statue. of the devil. that’s 20″ high. limited edition from tower records. and at tower records, i had no line. from my sister, who has criticized my every addiction from tattoos on down, i decided to support one of my addictions by having the teri gift be a new cigar ashtray made of cobalt blue glass. and at THAT store, there was no line.

when i went to get MY gift i had to deal with a line. i’ll spare you the reason, but my gift to myself was that good bottle of tequila. and the liquor store was SLAMMED. all guys. you know why? because if you have to spend the holidays alone, you have to drink to cushion that. and if you have to spend it with family, most guys have to drink to put up with the family. so it all balances, i suppose.

it is also probably one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” things about guys that make women wonder about us…like they make any more sense or something. but again, never mind that now…

so xmas eve was supposed to be all about getting wasted, and so it went…although the venue changed from my house to bum’s billiards and shane and i picked up the pool & booze tradition where josh and i had left off. but while most know when to say when, i said “again!” when i should have said, “when”, and so xmas morning was a hurting thing.

god damn this noise inside my head

it’s a nin lyric that repeats about twenty times down the front of the shirt i woke up in this morning…and DAMN it fit. the half empty bottle of sauza commimrativo tequila, etc, etc, etc, all hinted that xmas eve had been handled the way i needed it to be…in a cloud. but DAMN did it hurt this morning. no worries. tonight i’m off to hang with my cousins in smithville before rolling back to l-town and passing out. mañana kicks in at 5:00 am when i’m off to the gym and the off to dell…do i know how to party or what?

Replies: 3 Comments

yeah, but a slight wine after taste combined with a full-blown allergy snot fest AND a wake up time of around 5:00 am and this morning just plain ol’ SUCKED!

but at least i get to go to the spurs game tonight…

sean said @ 12/26/2003 02:27 PM CST

you think you were hungover? i found that $50 i misplaced in my truck and decided to keep my buzz going. do you have any idea how much guinness you can buy with 50 bucks? to be honest neither do i, but i settled for 2 4packs of pub droughts. went home and(as my grandmother used to say) got my irish on. christmas day was painful for more than the usual reasons this year…

Shane said @ 12/26/2003 11:02 AM CST

WHEN DAYS SUCK….I COME TA READ YA…. AND LAUGH A LOT…. THANKS, MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY….KRISTA

krista said @ 12/25/2003 09:19 PM CST