V Day Invasion

Ladies, gentlemen and others, (You know who you are!) the day is nigh! The day when those of us who don't think to prepare make that mad dash and scramble for the perfect piece of paper. No, I'm not referring to taxes. (Though you might want to make a note of those too.) I'm talking about Valentines Day, and the card that expresses just how you feel about your significant other.

Last year, I was well prepared, and purchased a lovely card before the groundhog even poked his nose out of his burrow. This time, I've left it down to the wire. Now I have to go into the stores, find out what remains of the stock, and try to find something that can even come close to matching how much I love my wife.

A television character once said, "You can't spell inspiration without procrastination. Well, at least the 'ation' part." If necessity is the mother of invention, I think that procrastination is the mother of desperation. Let's face it, when you keep saying "tomorrow", one of these days it's going to turn out to be yesterday.

On the other hand, my wife and I have opted not to do gifts this year, in favor of a short vacation at the end of the month. This doesn't get me off the hook for the card, but at least I'm not wandering around the mall, like so many of us males, looking for something that says "romantic". Just wait until tomorrow morning. The sheep will inundate the stores with varying degrees of panic on their faces. It's the invasion of the last minute shoppers. Happens every holiday, like clockwork.

If you will excuse me, I have to get out and find a card.

St. Patrick's Day

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, the first holiday of spring. It seems to fall a little flat this year, with so much snow on the ground after that last major storm. Still, the days are getting longer and it has been warmer. With Easter coming early this year, a sign of seasonal change is long overdue.
St. Patrick's day doesn't really have the meaning that it should, I think. These days, if you ask the average person why we celebrate the 17th of March, they don't have a clue. To kids, it's just about good luck and wearing green. To most adults, the day is an excuse to drink a lot of beer and say, "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" (Which will get you slapped on certain university campuses, I feel obligated to point out.) The day has lost its original purpose.
St. Patrick was a catholic priest, who is attributed with bringing Christianity to the country of Ireland. Legend has it that he drove out all of the snakes, as a display of the power of God. That part, of course, is not verifiable, but makes for good press. (I understand that to this day, there are no snakes native to the emerald isles.) As most people do know, Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and a large percentage of male children are given his name.
I just thought I would sober up the party just a little bit by reminding everyone that they are drinking to the memory of a clergyman.
You may now return to your green beer.

The V-day invasion (of the mall)

Well, the big day is getting closer. It's V-day people, let's get into uniform and try to find intelligent ways to express our love this year. A Valentine's card and a quick peck on the cheek ain't gonna cut it guys.
And I am talking to my fellow males out there. We have earned a reputation for being pretty lame when it comes to the romance department anymore. The longer we are in a relationship, the faster that ability to woo the woman we chose starts to atrophy. It's like some kind of clinical disease that affects half of the population. There really ought to be a telethon to find a cure. Maybe if we got Julia Roberts and Kathryn-Zeta Jones to host it?
I'm partial to Meg Ryan myself.
But back to the topic at hand.
I'm trying to put together something nice for Sandra for Valentine's day. She has tournaments that she is hosting on a website that night, but I'm all for trying anyway. She puts up with so much from me. I'm lazy and a slob much of the time, and I don't spend enough time doing the things that I used to. Bubble baths and hour long massages, you get the idea. I used to do that for her all of the time.
At one time, we were regular visitors to an on-line chat room. She would tell the girls all about the things that I had done for her that night, and they would get jealous and ask how she got me so well trained. The guys used to yell at me to stop, that I was making them look bad.
It's high time I got back into the routine of doing little things like that again.
It is the smallest, daily things that mean the most too. Remember to say "I love you" before going out of the door. A quick shoulder massage while she's at the computer can go a long way too. Pulling out all of the stops on Valentine's Day, Christmas and her birthday (You do remember her birthday, don't you?) just doesn't cut it, bub. Women are like investments, it's for the long term, and if you want to see any kind of return, you have to check with them often.
I have just offended every female who reads this post. It's so hard comparing women to anything. If there is a way to put your foot in your mouth, a guy can find it just by opening his.
So, let's get ready to hit the romantic beaches gentlemen! Get your kit together, we launch at dawn of February 14th. There are no excuses this year, short of death or losing your job because you didn't take that business flight. Even then, get the gift and card now, just in case.

New Years

It has been pointed out to me that I missed the whole holiday of New Years. My apologies. That one kinda snuck up on me too. That is the problem with me these days, I lose track of what day it is, and what important event is coming up.
If this "event amnesia" ever extends to my wedding anniversary, I am a dead man!
New Years isn't the big deal with me that it once was. Just another turn of the calendar. I might watch one of the shows on television, but only because I tend to be up that late anyway. Neither Sandra nor I are big on parties. Most parties around this time of year are regular booze fests anyway, and we just don't drink. (On the other hand, it can be funny to watch others get plastered. Five women dancing on a coffee table is amusing for a few seconds.)
I think, as I get older, maybe the changing of the years will regain their importance. When I was a boy, it meant that I had another year of life behind me and, presumably, I was that much more mature (or as mature as guys get) and wiser. Approaching mid life, time has gotten somewhat irrelevant to me lately. So a new year is just more time. As I get older, it will be a question of looking back and deciding what I should have done, and what will have to be done tomorrow, if I am to make the world a better place. There won't be enough time to procrastinate.
And there it lies in black and white. I have put off so much that I really needed to do. When the time comes that the time behind is greater than the potential time ahead, I will regret all of those things I didn't do.
All of that being said, I refuse to make new years resolutions. The promises we make simply because of the time of year don't really mean much. Look at all of the people who are still smoking after years of saying that they were going to quit. No, the promises that matter are the ones we make to ourselves, and that we don't necessarily tell anyone about. They tend to be far more binding.
People also tend to do a lot of predicting at this time of year. I can't do that, the world is just too full of crackpots, malcontents and simple coincidences to accurately say something will happen. Which of course, leaves only hope, not unlike the tale of Pandora's box. I have hope that in the coming years we will finally shake ourselves out of our sleep and do something about the mess we have made of our world. I have hope that people will finally realize that only together can we keep the world a place we want to live.
Most of all, I hope that each of you will have a good year, filled with wonderful experiences and new things learned.

The holidays

The Christmas season is starting to wind down now, even if the kids are still high on the sugar, and the rest of us are still a little weighted down with turkey. That is, if you aren't one of those insane people who frequent the boxing day sales.
All things being equal, things worked out okay for my wife and I. Neither of us is overly tired out, and we didn't eat anything that didn't' agree with us. I am a little concerned that my brother and his girlfriend will be somewhat hurt by the fact that we didn't stay for Christmas supper with them. Two meals in two days is enough for us though.
Sandra is still feeling a little odd about the whole holiday this year. Nothing has been according to tradition, due to all of the moving around in the last four months. As I have noted before, my wife does have problems coping with change. The most I could really do was try to keep her rooted in what was really important, letting family know that we love them.
Somehow, Christmas kind of snuck up on us this year. Sure, we had all of our shopping done in plenty of time. Still, we were lying down one night after being out doing something, and realized that Christmas was less than a week off. It's like we blinked, and several days disappeared.
Duck everyone, Valentine's Day is on its way!

More decorations

Well, the tree is up. Sandra got it out of the storage room this afternoon, and we spent some time getting the branches together. We took our time getting the branches nicely spread out. We even decided where it would look best to set it up.
All of this just brings to mind how close it is now to the holiday. Sandra and I have been working at figuring out what to get everyone for Christmas. Naturally, I can't get into that here. My family reads this, after all. The most I can say is that we have opted to go with the practical for the most part.
We actually discussed what each of us would like most, within a set budget. Some things are traditional now. For example, Sandra always gets a cat calendar. It's just a given. Myself, I really need a new pair of moccasins. Or perhaps a book from the For Better or For Worse collection.
But, back to the tree. It is a very full tree, as artificial ones go. Tomorrow, Sandra and I will probably spend the evening getting lights all checked out and put on. Then it's on to the decorations. Being in the window, we will have to make certain that the lights and balls go all the way around, at least at the top. It will add to the decorations visible from the outside of the apartment.
I'm looking forward to seeing the tree all lit up, with the rest of the lights in the apartment turned out. It'll save a lot of power, when you think about it. I can't imagine that the decorations take much more power than the lamps that we use each night.
When the pictures come out, I'll post a few.