Up late talking games & writing? You're...

Call me an old fogey, but the inconvenience of having things closed and services delayed or suspended outweighs the benefit of having a couple days off... especially when you don't actually get the days off.  

It wasn't all bad, though. The wife scored this year and got me some pretty groovy stuff. Not that it was all big-ticket, high-cost items or anything, but they were gifts that she had put some thought into and they put a smile on my face when I unwrapped the paper. I appreciated the effort she put into the selections because my family's infamous for not having a friggin' clue as to what I ever wanted for my birthday or Christmas, and I gleaned two things from that experience: 

1: I learned to not look forward to ever getting cool stuff on those days.     

2: I learned that people who supposedly cared about me spent little to no time listening to me when I talked about things that I liked or interested me, i.e.- what better gift could there be than a wood-burning craft kit for someone who's been a rabid comic book fan for a decade?

Anyway, the point is that I eventually sort of grew to see these lame gifts as physical evidence that barely anybody gave a rip about me as a person (great for the self-esteem, let me tell you) and I quickly developed an aversion to any occasion where people were going to expect me to smile and say thanks for receiving proof wrapped in colorful paper and bows that I was a stranger to my own. 

This year, the smile and thanks were genuine, and that's a really good feeling.