Christmas is over.

Christmas is over. And yet, i still don't find the relief I wish would come.

Christmas is at once both the greatest holiday and the worst rolled into one. The absolute joy of children and the spending time together of families in the celebration of Christ's birth, along with stress disappointment and crowds.I used to like Christmas, and in fact, I still try to. It has become harder and harder for me to truly enjoy this time of year.

Music:
As a self proclaimed music lover, the music of the season drives me nuts.... Maybe it comes from my years of working retail and listening to the same 12 songs over and over again. I know there are artists that have made wonderful original holiday related songs,(I was sent a great one by the Sick Puppies on their email list this year) but they get 0 airplay. It is all the same Jingle Bells, Oh Holy Night, Rudolph the Congested Reindeer, over and over and over again. Growing up the radio station 97RockI listened to played a selection of rock Christmas songs, many of them originals. I don't know why no one else has the balls to play something out of the ordinary.

Gifting
"'Tis better to give than receive." I have heard this quote thousands of times since i was a child and for the most part it rings true. I do enjoy picking out a thoughtful gift for someone that they will truly enjoy, or even better, NEED. I hate how we are pressured to exchange gifts. I went out of my way this year so that someone I bought gifts for would not have the time to feel obligated to give me a gift in return. My gift is a token of friendship and thanks, and I need/want nothing but continued friendship in return. Friendship means more than the paltry amount I can spend on a gift. (Even if they did think it was too much when opened). On a slightly selfish note, I have rarely gotten anything I actually wanted as a gift. I'm easy to please, give me an iTunes or Home Depot gift card. (On a slight tangent: this goes the same for Thank You cards (birthday, wedding, etc. in my book. If you want a card from me because you give me something, save your money and just buy your own damn card. If you want to make sure I like the gift you should have taken the time to get something I really wanted.)

Family Drama
Forced family gatherings can be wonderful, or they can be a disaster. Some people take what should be a great time of sharing and enjoying each other's company as a time to 'air the dirty laundry' so to speak. If you have a problem with a family member deal with it privately, don't include it in your pre-desert toast. My family life is complicated, partially due to my own indiscretions, partially to my family's. I have 1 phone call I make every year, and for the second year in a row it went un-answered/unreturned. I tried not to show it, but that ruined the rest of my day with the family I had around. It gets really hard to have a relationshp when only 1 person make any effort.

I had many other thoughts about this, but I guess I can leave that for next year's post-holiday rant. I hope everyone has a great new year.

I Hate Thieves

Grrr... As if I wasn't having a frustrating enough day; with the kids fighting all day long, and my new printer not deciding to network, Someone decided to steal my laundry soap from the laundry room. We have had stuff stolen from public laundromats before, and now refuse to use them. (I know you should not leave your stuff unattended, but try telling that to my kids). This however was in our LOCKED on-complex laundry room. There is a total of 12 apartments that have access to it. 1 of which is vacant. While I was waiting for my wash loads to finish, I was doing dishes in the kitchen. This points me right out the window . No one walked by in the entire time I was away. This means that the person responsible had to come from the other side. This leaves 2 potential apartments. So I peaked at what was running in the other machines. kids clothes. One of the 2 apartments in questions doesn't have kids. SO I went and knocked on the other door. I asked if they had picked up my laundry soap, thinking that possibly it was a mistake. 'We didn't take your stuff, i'm positive' was her reply. RIGGGHHHT. It just magically disappeared. I realize that a full bottle of detergent only costs 6 or 7 bucks, but still, this ruined our whole timing of cleaning, bedtime routine etc... all because people can't leave other people's stuff alone.....

New Blog

I set high hopes formy other blog,and not wanting to put sub-par entries in,I have negelcted to do almost any. So this will serve as my regular venting , get it off mychest page.

I have been thinking of starting this one for awhile, and I keep coming back to the recurring theme of stupid people annoy me. My days tend to be rather non-descript for the most part until I run into someone who missed the brain line, or their handywork.

Today it was at work. I had a simple task. Test a fire alarm system in a small alternative school and fill out the paperwork for the yearly test to appease the fire-marshal. I do this all the time. This one started easy, (once I found the right building, the facility is deceptively large from the street.) Everything was going smooth, smoke detectors were responding to the fake smoke nicely, pull stations working, panel operated on back-up power properly. I was about to see the light at the end of the tunnel on my short Friday, when I had a pull station that didn't respond. Then, another, and another. 3 of them. Since I knew all the smoke detectors operated on the same loop, I made the assumption that it would be an easy fix,with just a lose wire connection somewhere. Boy was I wrong. I took apart all 3 ,along with the nearest operational device. Whoever originally set it up did not follow typical industry accepted wiring practices. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS I said to myself. (along with many other non G-rated thoughts) Normal practice is pretty logical red goes to red black goes to black etc. I understand that some wire manufacturers use different combinations of colors in multi-conductor, which is fine,but at least keep all that are the same consistent. (if blue=red at point 1, blue should= red at point 2) it was completely random. So, what should have been a simple test turned into a fiasco and a return trip to finish solving the problem for me. THANKS PRIOR IDIOT.

On the bright side, I got home and got ready to go help the wife babysit 4 children for some good friends of ours, They were very good, went to bed with no problems and I had a peaceful evening as the wife fell asleep on the couch. :)