Big 'ol Sappy Me

I'm a big 'ol softy. Really. I am.

...oh, you want proof? Okay.

I need to preface this a bit. I hate little yappy dogs, or "punt" dogs, as I've heard them called. They're usually simpering, annoying little things that belong to older people, who treat them like children. I've only had one dog in my life, and her name was Prissy. (No one, including me, seems to know how or why we named her that, so don't ask.) I had her for most of my life, and I loved her, and then when I hit my teenage years, I became more interested in girls than the faithful little lady who'd stuck with me, and loved me unconditionally. I didn't realize what I had until she was gone.

She got cancer, and we had her put down. I didn't even go. I never said goodbye, and it haunts me to this day.

Now, I'm getting a puppy. I'm getting a ten week old Pekingese puppy. I'm getting a ten week old blind Pekingese puppy.

...and I'm so excited it hurts.

I've already bought him a little spiked collar. I'm addicted and pathetic, and I don't even have the little guy yet.

His name is Poe. If anyone has seen the movie Wonderboys, they would know why. (It's a great movie, if you haven't seen it.) He has a gray head, and then his middle is white, and his end is black.

He's freakin' adorable, and the blindness just makes him irresistable. Apparently, one eye didn't form right, and the other has some sort of problem/infection/painful condition where he can't see. They're going to take the eyes out, and sew his eyelids shut.

My poor little puppy. He has a pedigree, though. That's pretty spifty.

See, my sister raises puppies as a business, (though she gets darn attached to most of them too, I think). She's ethical, and loves the little things. She's not some scuzzy puppy mill runner. So, with Poe's problems, she can't sell him anyway, and so when we were there on Christmas, I was playing with the Pekingese puppies she was keeping in a pen in the house.

(They were in the house because they're small, and have had to be hand-fed, I think...or something like that.)

She showed me Poe, my heart melted, and then my puppy dog looks combined with the real puppy's sad looks made my wife's heart melt.

Now we're getting a puppy.

Heck, I don't even know if puppies are allowed in this apartment, but honestly, I don't care right now. If we have to move, then we will. We want to get a house, even as a rental, anyway, so maybe it'll push us to do so.

See? Told you I'm a big softy.

The Creepy Christmas Blues

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Christmas. I always have. I don't know exactly what it is that makes me love it so, but I do.

I'm one of ~those~ people. I start listening to Christmas music in the summer. I put up my tree as soon as possible, sometimes before Thanksgiving. I'm usually the first on the block with Christmas lights outside. I have a string of Christmas lights in my office all year long.

I think one of the reasons I love Christmas is the creepy quality behind it. The season itself is either incredibly happy, or incredibly depressing. I haven't seen a lot of in between. It's usually one or the other.

Stories like "A Christmas Carol" play up the underlying creepy factor of the season beautifully. There's a sweet sadness behind the festivities, as people think about the past, and how things used to be. That nostalgia gives the season a natural sadness underneath the more joyful aspects.

If you want to really be creeped out, just go outside on Christmas Day at two or three in the morning. The world only truly rests on Christmas night, and even if you aren't a religious person, you can feel a sort of holiness in the crisp cold, and blanket of quiet that fills the darkness around the twinkling lights.

It's beautiful.

I have to admit, though, I've been more sad than happy the last few years on Christmas. I'm wrapped up in the nostalgia, but I don't have much of a joyful Christmas. With work and school always hovering around, it's hard to just enjoy yourself, and the season.

Before the next paragraph, I need you to know that I don't care about getting a lot of presents. It's not a materialistic thing.

...now that I've said that, I've been sad about something else, too. In my family, we do the "drawing names" thing, and exchange gifts that way, with a money limit that no one really stays within. So we basically get one present. Most people would get presents from both sides of their family, or from their spouse's family, but we're a ways away from my wife's family, and my "close" family only extends to my siblings and my parents.

So there just aren't a lot of presents. Usually my parents get everyone something, even though they are part of the drawing like the rest of us. So, in a normal year since I stopped being a "kid" and started joining in on the drawing, I get a present from my wife, and one from my parents, and one from whoever draws my name.

I guess I'm just not accustomed to the change from everyone getting me toys to getting only a few "grown up" presents, like beard trimmers and sweaters. Part of that is because I still love video games and things, and those are my favorite things, but everyone thinks I'm too old for them. Well, everyone except my lovely wife, who always gets me exactly the perfect gift, whether what I get her is what she wanted or not.

It might even help if I worked at a place where the company gave us gifts or something, but all my work is giving me is a ham. I'd rather have the money they paid for the ham, to spend on something I'd like.

Maybe it's all just me being greedy, but I don't think so. It's just...not the same old Christmas, where it feels like the presents just keep coming the whole season, even if they're something simple like a box of chocolates.

It'll all fade away, though, as I help my sister wrap presents for the kids, and (gasp!) take Santa's job of putting them under the tree.

...and then at two or three AM, I'll head outside, and feel the crisp perfection of the world at rest, and my faith in the inherent holiness of Christmas will be renewed for another year.

Four Things That Bug Me Beyond Belief

A short list of things. None of these are really worth a whole post, but together, they form Captain Annoyance! No...wait. Er, nevermind.

1.) The word "Fiance." I don't know why, but it annoys me. I hated being called one during the engagement period, so you will never hear me call anyone that. It's just...ugh.

2.) Also wedding related. When someone's getting married, don't make the obligatory jokes. Please. We've all heard the cold feet, how the old ball and chain is getting hooked on, how life is over, how she's the last one you'll ever have.

Let it go. It's not funny.

3.) People who whistle incessantly while at work. There is a woman who does this constantly where I work, and she drives me batty. At least now she's whistling Christmas songs instead of "The Song That Never Ends," or "Henry the Eighth I am."

4.) The assumption people make that if you work with them, you should be chummy and smile at each other. Really, I have nothing in common with those I work with. I'm there to pick up their trash and sweep their floors.

I'm not that friendly, wisdom spouting janitor from the holiday movies. If I wanted to talk to you, I would. Leave me alone. I'm not a recluse, I just like to think while I'm at work, about story ideas and such, and you might make me forget something important.

...and after all that negativity, I just want to say, Merry Christmas and such.

A Whole New Breed of Idiocy: Lesson 4

Bob and his stupid driving habits are going to be the death of the human race as we know it.

On his way to see "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," he was way ahead of time. An hour ahead, actually, but he didn't want to wait to get there. He liked to watch the previews up on the big screen they had above the snackbar.

Also, he'd left home early because he wanted to catch the rush hour show at five pm, which meant he'd save a whole dollar on his ticket.

(He was already saving seven dollars by not having a date, the poor schmuck.)

At the same time, completely by coincidence, I was on my way to work.

(It's funny how we're always on the road at the same time, isn't it?"

Bob, being impatient to see the trailer for "Closer," threw his tiny Escort into drive, and began to blast his way through traffic, weaving like a mad man. A truck was turning, so he flung his car into the left lane. It wouldn't do to have to slow down for two seconds.

No, it was much better to almost hit that minivan with the Illinois plates, and the Grateful Dead sticker in the back window.

Then someone else, (who rivals Bob in driving judgement), came out into the left lane, going nice and slow. Bob slammed on his gas, and sped over into the right lane again, losing a hubcap, which eventually, a man in overalls would sell for five dollars at his roadside stand.

The madness continued, and I watched as Bob neared my position in the left lane, where I had sped up ever so slightly to get past a big rig, that according to the name painted on the hood, was named "Gracie."

People like Bob make me insane, and mad, and so, as he flies up behind me, I'm almost past Gracie, but I start to slow down.

I hate him. I want to make him drive slow.

In an effort to make me move, Bob tailgates me, and I grin and laugh evilly as he is trapped behind Gracie and I, as I keep up our intricate dance to keep him behind,

It's beautiful.

The Lesson: Weavers never prosper. You may make it for a while, and seem to be making progress, but eventually, someone's going to stop you just for principle.

...and I hope it's me.

A Few Chunks o' Happiness

Now that Blogger's being nice again, here's a post!

A few really good things have happened, and here they are, in no particular order:

1.) Got my car, Bob, back. I never thought I'd be so glad to be back in the old roller-skate on wheels. Of course, after driving a gas-guzzling truck for a while, I've come to understand the beauty of a tiny car.

The downside is that it cost almost a thousand bucks to get him fixed. At least I have a radio again, which is something the truck was lacking.

There's a lot of silence between here and work without a radio.

2.) School is almost over for this semester, and I'm already registered for next semester. I registered late, and had to really work to find classes, but heck, at least I've got them.

I have finals next week, and have to write a paper, and a poem still, but that's okay. I can sleep in now! Woot!

3.) The comic is at 20 strips! In my mind, that counts as a halfway decent archive, for being as new as it is. Also, getting lots and lots of hits, which make me happy.

...and I figured out something I should have realized a long time ago, that will make the lines darker and sharper when I scan. It's called scanning in black and white.

(Slaps himself.)

4.) Two words: NaNoWriMo winner.

5.) It's almost Christmas. Which means KGBX plays nothing but Christmas music all day, every day from now until New Years.

Yep. Lots of happy things.