What's keeping me up at night?

Happy Holidays!

Yup... I am going to use the generic, much maligned, Happy Holidays because it is not yet Chanukah (12/15), Kwanzaa (12/26), Christmas (12/25), Winter Solstice (12/22) or any other holiday yet. I don't wish anyone "Happy Independence Day" the week prior to the 4th of July. I don't call friends and family to wish them Happy Birthday during the weeks leading up to their date of birth. I don't hide eggs starting in February so they will be ready to hunt by Easter. I do those things on dates that correspond to the events being acknowledged. So why would I say "Merry Christmas" to anyone when it ISN'T YET! I will wish you a Merry Christmas when the calendar says it is, MAYBE the day before.

That's one of the nuggets that have been running through my brain this week... I think that its the pressure to keep things organized this time of year. There are lots of dates to remember: parties, end of the year deadlines, a surprising number of meetings at work for some reason, the holidays themselves, three family birthdays. I can't think of any other reason that I have been keeping a list of the random worries and non sequiturs in my noggin. Mostly I am freaking out about gifts... I suck at picking out gifts and I hate to give gift cards. Luckily my list of recipients is fairly low and there is still lots of time, but it's definitely starting to press on me a little that I have only bought ONE gift, and it's a secondary thing, a stocking stuffer. I still have to come up with the "under the tree" gift.

So while that nagging issue is playing the loudest electric guitar version of Deck the Halls on the mainstage in my brian, there are several other acts that are also trying to draw a crowd to hear their acoustic carols on the smaller stages. The variety of stuff is pretty interesting:

- I want to go back to school and study architecture, or creative writing, or marketing.
- My laundry and closet doors are ugly.
- What will I make my guy for his present?
- "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" by Rufus Wainwright - on headphones: slightly slurred, melancholy, off key, layered, lush, awesome, awesome... why don't I like more of his stuff?
- Why can't I have two key cards to my building?
- Do subway designers have to take into account the wind pushed out of the tunnel ahead of a train coming into an underground station?
- Getting Christmas cards from friends and family makes me feel guilty that I don't send them.

It also dawned on me today that I have not turned on my TV in over 48 hours. Since Monday night I think. Not like me at all. I have been discovering and reading a lot of blogs though... a couple of them are blogs written by guys who are moving, or have recently moved or are just dealing with condo living and got me to thinking that the reason for this blog is to chronicle the experience of my first home ownership. Write about all the little stuff no one warned me about. Thing is I missed a lot of that good stuff by waiting till AFTER I moved in to start blogging... so starting tomorrow I'm going to take a look back at the process (trust me, it's WELL documented, you've never seen so much paperwork) before it gets too foggy.

Tomorrow: Flashback Friday - A tragic lot