And so that was the festering season™

Ah, thank God that’s over and done with. Only another 300ish shopping days ’til the next one. I wonder if I’ll be any more prepared for it in ’04?

There’s a lot to be said about this festering season™ just passed, and also one hell of a lot that I want to change before the next one. I’m not wanting to lay myself down targets of what to do, but there’s a definite feel for things I don’t want to do, so we’ll just have to see how it all works out.

I’m undecided about what to do for the festering season itself next year – three options really raise their heads for consideration.

1. Go somewhere sunny – and possibly non-christian.
   Now this one appeals, knowing my need for sun, and my desire to avoid as much of Christmas and it’s traditions as possible.
2. Go somewhere snowy
   Prague still really appeals, and the entire thing of going somewhere that’s capable of a “proper” christmas
3. Stay home, and work a soup kitchen or similar
   Done it before, and I’m pretty sure I’ll end up doing it again. Maybe not in ’04, but definitely before long. We’ll see though.

So – that’s the choices so far. As yet I’m not sure which I’ll go for, but first thing on my list is to take about a week off and just collapse and die. Definitely a good idea.

NYD

Over and done with. As always, a sense of let-down, of being annoyed with myself for hoping that this one will be different. No matter how much I try to expect absolutely nothing from December 31st, and all the hype and bullshit surrounding it, there’s still always a way for me to have been expecting too much.

I don’t know why – but yeah, in some way I buy into NYE each year, the entire “people getting in touch with those they care about to say ‘Happy New Year'” and so on. And it never really works out at all. I think that at the end of ’04, I’m going to leave my phone alone, and see who actually bothers to send anything. Yeah, it’ll be an acid test – and that’s why I’m going to leave this as a reminder, both for me and for others, so that I can refer back to it in a year’s time.

Maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but I fully expect to receive nothing, if I leave it to other people to make the first move. Happy New Year.