formerly-annual xmas rant

[post-dated to protect the guilty]

🎶 it’s the most terrible time of the year 🎶

It’s been a long time since I posted an xmas rant; there hasn’t been a need.

Over the years, we have scaled xmas way, way, way back:

• We don’t do gifts….for anyone, even each other. (We even give annual appreciation envelopes to the building staff in February or March.)
• We don’t decorate; we haven’t owned any decor in years.
• We don’t go to any parties between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
• We don’t go to hardly any events. (The free drone show was about 13 minutes long. The free xmas market was tiny and underwhelming at best, so that was quick, too.)

For the day itself, I am cooking. We are having one friend over, so it will just be the three of us.

Every day for the last week has been a multitude of errands….at the very worst time of year to be trying to run errands. Yesterday, we ran four errands (including the liquor store) and got groceries delivered. And then today, we went back to the liquor store and to two more grocery stores. And now, we need to run another errand tomorrow. What the hell? Some of that was in our control, but most wasn’t. It’s too much with all the parking lot assholes. Every ride in the Jeep feels like being on a trail rather than pavement because we have to drive so defensively.

I have a set of smaller projects that are about half way done. They don’t have a real deadline, but I had a loose goal to get them done by xmas. And now they won’t be done until into the new year.

We are still finishing a small project (new laundry machine, paint, and shelves). The space is almost put back together well enough for our friend to come over. But it’s also spilling over into other areas of our home so we are trying to do that while it makes sense.

Technology is failing me right and left, which is mind-numbingly annoying considering what I have: new MacBook, really nice phone, smart watch, tablet, “robots,” etc.. This morning, the band on my watch broke, so with all this running around, I don’t even know how many steps I made.

I really need to be prepping for a meeting; I think that’s mostly done, but I want to have it buttoned up and off my plate. Between texts, and phone calls, and other nonsense, I can’t catch enough quiet time to do that.

Last night, I had to deal with a jerk we used to know from a childfree group who was a tiny bit doxxing of our info wrapped in his usual sexism. I literally sent him a Cease and Desist to make him fix it and to put him back under his slimy rock. I was promised by a mutual friend that he meant no malice, but his ineptitude is staggering. He didn’t doxx any of his IRL friends, mostly just former acquaintances. He fixed it swiftly, but as is typical with him, it came with no apology for his incompetence and lack of consideration for others. I kinda can’t wait until one of the women sees her full name listed. She will be more angry than I was, that’s for sure. To further prove my point, he left off her partner. I doubt her self-proclaimed asshole of a husband did any real work, but who lists half a couple? He knew better on that one.

Today, I had more of the same in the form of some online jerks–like u/Frankelini who had this to say about a months-old comment. They are all blocked, of course. But if you’re on reddit, feel free to go downvote some of his drivel.
I guess xmas riled them all up.

And now that I’ve used an em-dash, let me just point out how fucked up it is that AI uses them excessively. Now my normal writing style looks like a bot, so I have to use “- -” instead of the actual “—” punctuation.

—

My feet hurt. My back aches. I keep getting headaches.

I can’t keep up with my water. I get hungry, but then don’t want food because I’ve been thinking about and prepping food, and I’m too tired to heat up something. (Thanks be to meal replacement shakes.)

Our building had two leaks, so our water was off all day today. That’s “just perfect” timing.

—

Even with so little to do, I’m overextended.

• I need people to stay in their lane (especially literally but also figuratively).
• I need people to leave me TF alone and forget I was ever part of their lives. If we’re not still in touch, there are reasons.
• I need people to be responsible for their own shit and own up to their mistakes and errors.
• I keep thinking I need a personal assistant, but other than errands, I don’t know what I could really delegate.

A bright spot in this dark time is my Hurricanes. ✋🤚 I’m thrilled that we a) made it to the playoffs, and b) made it past the first round. But we had to out score his Aggies to do it. ☹️ Our two schools playing each other first was just mean. Every pundit claimed we were “the most evenly matched teams.” So why didn’t either one of us get to play Tulane or James Madison (who do not deserve to be in the playoffs but won their dinky, low-ranked conferences)?

Now that we have to play O-How-I Hate, so of course it’s on New Year’s Eve–one of my favorite holidays–and at night. So, we probably can’t go to any parties. 😠

I haven’t been this stressed since before we left the hell that I call Texass. How does anyone think this is a “wonderful’ time of year? Just two more days until everyone considers it over–even if it’s only the second day of xmas.

And then, hopefully, things can go back to normal, whatever that is.