christmas eve and i barely noticed

(i'm out of "english on korean t-shirts" titles. at least of the time being.

i guess i'll opt to title my blogs on any recent happenings.)

i think the reason i hardly noticed today's significance is because of my lack of short-term future plans.

i'm not going to beat around the bush.

the holidays are quickly become depressing.

i'm now that guy who is single, yet capable, and griping about it.

granted, my solitude is not completely based on my marital/relationship status.

i guess i could meet up with (platonic) friends here in korea, but i still fall short when it comes to (close) family.

meeting up friends is still an entirely viable option, just to clarify.

so, for the record, the holidays and associated holiday will be spent with the maximum possibility of friends.

no other friends.

no family.

awesome.

psych.

i'm sure you've figured this out by now, judging by my blog history and the tone already set, but this blog is certainly created with the intention of my venting/realizing my words/coping with my current situation.

i'll admit: i'm a scrooge, and it only worsens with each passing year.

in the states, i love bitching about the completely corporate national day-off that is now known as christmas.

i like to whine about how people get all shop happy, spending next year's money on this year's gifts, battling the traffic jams on the roads, calming the road rage with the self-reminder of the season, camping out to get THE gift, battling the human jams in the stores, soothing the bruises received with the self-reminder of the bruises dealt.

(shockingly, this laundry list flowed almost directly from brain to fingers to keyboard to blog)

i like to gripe about people putting up too many lawn decorations or exterior house decorations or interior house decorations or any combination of the three.

i enjoy moaning about holiday-specific wardrobes, that only see daylight for a combined of maybe 3.6974 hours, given the shorter days of the season. just mothball 'em, box 'em up and remember we got 'em for next year.

that may be wrong though; i'm sure just as many people make the impulse purchase as he or she shops for gifts and get that corny ass t-shirt/sweater/sweater vest/jacket with santa driving his reindeer (including rudolph and his battery-lighted nose) across his or her belly, scaling the muffin tops, lifting off into the heavens of the garment on said wearer's back.

don't worry: all of this applies to my own family and friends as well.

i hold them possibly to a higher standard, because they're my family and friends and they should know better in order to maintain that status.

i digress.

don't accept this as an exhuastive soapbox of sorts.

being here, i've lacked much fuel to this fire.

maybe that's bad, a kind of double-edged sword.

maybe it only reminds me more of the christmas memories i hold so near and dear, however negative many of they may objectively be.

maybe that's good.

maybe, in time, that will be the tiny tim to my scrooge.

maybe i need this.

maybe i need self-inspection and reflection to comprehend the failure i've become in the realm of holidays (something i just thought as i typed it).

i haven't been the greatest christian, more or less gifter, in many a holiday.

i'm going to blame that second half on my lack of a girlfriend for many a christmas, thus permitting me to buy whatever the hell i want for my family or friends and be comfortable, because they're my family and friends and they'll pretty much accept it anyway if i gave it a sliver of shred of a thought.

i think that's enough mental jerky for me right now.

how delicious it is!

and how refreshing it feels to peel these words and thoughts off my chest!

merry christmas eve if you read this on the 24th.

merry christmas if you catch it later.

happy new year's (eve) for those behind the times.

i'd like to think i'm going to post on christmas day, new year's eve and new year's day, though we'll see how that actually goes.

lots of love,

jo