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Black ice is such a danger...sorry about your friend.
Yesterday I made several dozen sandwiches and joined our local Feed Our Friends group, serving meals to homeless in our city. I like this grp, as it is all local folks, no agencies etc....each person buys the stuff and prepares, then serves.
Signed up for each Friday for the next few weeks....hopefully helps someone out and gets me to do something positive, other than hang out with my cats during the holidays.
jasper12..Good that you treated yourself to some sturdy new boots...It will seem weird to write 2013. The number 13 has always been considered "unlucky." But maybe it will bring us all "better luck" compared to the past few years. That would be nice!
I don't like that I feel so grouchy & cross, but it is so. There's no use in denying it, pretending is not one of my superpowers.
Thanks for this thread , in which I'm not pressured to be delighted by a time of year that brings unhappiness of many flavors for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasper12
It is really weird, all these folks saying how hectic the holidays are, and "are you ready?". Ready for what? My kids are all grown. I have no other family, aside from a Mother who has never been normal.
Friday the clerk at grocery store asked me exactly that, and I wasn't prepared with an answer, so I spoke my truth, which is that I don't like holidays & can't wait for it all to be over with.
Had she just greeted me farewell (at the end of the transaction) with "happy holidays" or whatever, no problem, I'd say something generic & noncommittal like "and to you, too"-but she deployed the topic while scanning in my purchases, and that took far more time than I was equipped to discuss the matter. A conversation of even 2 minutes about these holidays & my attitude towards them, with a stranger in public (who assumes I share her sentiment of excited anticipation about holidays)-while I'm trying to get exact change out of my wallet & ignore the approaching holiday-equals more than I can pull off successfully.
It rapidly devolved into awkwardness (it was like "apples & oranges", how we each viewed Xmas)-thank goodness my friend was with me, and she tidied up the exchange with her more socially acceptable responses. Afterwards, as we were walking out to the car, she said that had she been asked same thing by clerk, she would've lied. As usual, such a thing hadn't even occurred to me to do, but I was grateful for my friend's quick social skills (and I thanked her for "rescuing" me).
Have no nearby family, I don't spend time with what family remains (parents are deceased), and my friends' plans aren't of the sort that I would want to join in anyway-that's just not how it is for me.
While I am lonely, I'm *not* longing to be in company of a group/crowd/gathering-I'm an introvert & prefer to have only one person around at a time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasper12
Part of my "possession reduction plan". Getting all possessions down to what will fit in my cubby at the nursing home some day.
Same here-I'm in "divestment" (tackling clutter, bit by bit) mode, so the last thing I would want is to have more stuff foisted on me, esp. "gift" type items (which would be the opposite of useful for me).
I am happier this year than last year. Still don't have any Christmas decorations up--it seems like such an effort, and no one visits me anyway. I had nothing at all last year because my only kid was in China at school. This year she's still in school, but upstate New York, which isn't quite as far as Chengdu!
She has a job and is taking advantage of winter break and a coworker's maternity leave to rack up some hours, but she did get a few days off, so I'll see her from the 24th to the 26th. So, I guess I'll go get a little tree, but I'm waiting until next weekend. My mom is still around and about an hour away, so we'll go up there for dinner on Christmas Day. I am one of seven sibs, six still living, so we and our five collective children get together a couple of weeks after Christmas and do a $5 goofy-gift grab bag thing, eat a lot, and play games. I'll buy a few things for my daughter to open on Christmas and give her some $$, and that's really all the shopping I have to do. Maybe a sweater for Mom, but she doesn't want or need anything.
Like you, Jasper, I just work, work, work, and I always work the week between Christmas and New Year's. My Jewish manager flies to Florida before Christmas every year and doesn't come back until after the New Year, so I can't take off the same time as he does anyway, but I actually like to work that week because so many people are out. Traffic's light, too.
But I do know people much worse off than I am, which in turn, makes me feel guilt about being depressed.
I am working on doing things for my health. Eating fresh fruit, going to bed early, getting exercise each day. Taking iron. Planning on cleaning the house, but I have been so tired lately.
Oh, this is a bad sign, I think that going out to a bar would be fun, and cheer me up. You meet people. Make friends. Great fun. No. Not going to think that way.
I guess that the world is ending on Friday. Sort of wondering about that, do I have to get up early and go to work? Or can I sleep in? Does anyone have a time that the world ends?
I don't think that the world will end. My life will continue to go on, like that movie, "Ground Hog Day". Just another day in Puxatawny.
I'm starting to count the days until the holidays are over too...Maybe the holiday season will be better next year for all of us....Hard to imagine that the world will really end on Friday...I remember the movie "Ground Hog Day!" It was good!...We always talked about the movie "50 First Dates" in our family. (No retention of knowledge!)
Okay. My life right now is like a seriously bad Country Western song. My daughter is moving in with her BF. Her plan is to live on student loans now. Okay. My SO and I finally had the "talk", and we want very different things. Okay. Good information.
Okay. Whatever.
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, in which I'm not pressured to be delighted by a time of year that brings unhappiness of many flavors for me.
