500 Words a Day

24 December, 2007; 505 Words

It's two days until christmas and I don't believe that I could possibly care less.  Even when I was a child (and teenager) Christmas never held very much importance to me.  I don't know what's wrong with me sometimes, but the whole 'exchange of gift' thing is irritating and pointless to me.  I do know, though, that I would enjoy the season a lot more if everybody just got together and threw parties.  That's what it should be, a celebration.  Let's celebrate the birthday that we *should* be acknowledging, and forego the futile battle over gifts and what to get each other.  As a society, we've accepted that nobody gets what it is that they really want, and exchange gift cards.  I don't understand that, either.  If you don't want to buy someone a gift, don't buckle under the pressure of necessity and make that last minute move in the direction of stupidity.  Give them cash.  That's all anyone wants anyway.  Wait, what if we did this: nothing.

It works.  Instead of two people buying each other something they didn't want for, lets say twenty dollars in the event that there is a secret santa, they don't do anything and end up with a whole twenty dollars to spend on something that they wanted!  Isn't that novel?

Moreso, what I don't understand is that individuals need some sort of recognition of favor; they need love and think that they are required by some stupid ideas that the only way to get it is by buying their friends gifts for christmas.  Let's set the record straight, the way I see it.  Christmas was created as a means to make a *childs* Christmas meaningful.  It's a childhood-type tradition.  As with all children, I was excited for that big day; I wanted to see what kind of toys I would have to play with for the rest of the year.  Keep in mind that my only source of entertainment was provided by the same people--that's right, santa doesn't exist--who had all the money.  I couldn't go to the store and buy what I wanted.

Now, it's different.  I, and all the people I know, are quite capable and willing to go to the store and purchase what it is that they want.  Why should we keep ourselves imprisoned by the obviously ubsurd practices of our past?

My roommate finally got here today.  He's planning on becoming a chef, which is kinda wierd for two single males.  With all this cooking stuff going on--pots and pans spewing grease and oil everywhere--some onlooking bystandard might get an incorrect impression.  I guess this means I have to go to the trouble of getting a girlfriend.  Son-of-a-bitch, and I was just starting to enjoy being single again.  Maybe I'll get lucky and she won't be the sort of girl that forcefully holds a man emotionally prisoner. One would think, by now, that I would be immune to that sort of mind fuck.

And this sentence puts me over five-hundred for the day.