Entry 12: Gift Giving

Today is my birthday, well sort of. Here in Australia, it’s the date of my birth, but not in the States where I was born, so I’m not sure if it qualifies as my birthday or not. (It’s a pretty moot distinction.) If today is my birthday, then it’s been a good one. I did many loads of laundry, went to the gym, listened to a variety of podcasts, played a little online Scrabble, and later I’m going to get some takeout. You might think I’m being facetious when I say it’s been a good day, but I’m not. I’ve enjoyed it. I think once you past the age of, say, twelve, you can treat your birthday as any other day. That’s not to say I’m anti-birthday or anti-celebration, because I’m not. It’s just that my birthday isn’t really more special than any other day of the year.

I feel this way about holidays in general. I like holidays, because they are usually a time when people don’t have to work, and I often get to spend time with family and friends I don’t get to see on a regular basis, but there is nothing magical to me about a certain holiday, per se. As an example, one Christmas, when I was living in Maryland I was supposed to visit family in New York, however, snow storms made the roads very bad, so I wasn’t able to go. Instead, I spent Christmas lounging around my house (all my roommates where gone which was great) watching football and eating junk food. A few days later when the roads were a little better I got to see my family. I didn’t really miss out on anything important, but when I would tell people what happened the usual response was, “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry you had to spend to Christmas alone! That’s terrible!” I didn’t think it was terrible. I was slightly irritated that my plans to see my family were postponed, but that was it. Eventually when people asked me how my Christmas was I just said, “Good.”

Another thing about holidays is the gift giving. I am sort of anti-gift giving, at least I’m anti-obligatory gift giving. In a way, obligation defeats the purpose. S got me a very nice gift before she left when I wasn’t expecting anything. I really appreciated it. That’s how it should be – no expectations, just a genuine, heartfelt gesture. Also, I’m a terrible gift giver. I never know what to get people, especially S. I actually find it very stressful to come up with gift ideas. Some years ago I told S that her birthday gift to me would be that I didn’t have to get her a gift when it was her birthday. I thought this was an ingenious idea, but it turned out to completely backfire, because by the time her birthday came along (some nine months later) the sentiment of my birthday was long forgotten, so the obligation was still there. I could have stuck to the letter of law, but it didn’t feel right. I think I bought her a handbag.*

Anyway... I’m hungry now (that earlier talk of takeout has really whetted my appetite) so I’m going to end this entry. I was going to say something about multi-tasking and how science has validated my long held disdain for it, but I think I’ll save that for another entry. That is, if it’s still on my mind when I write my next entry. Sometimes I think of something to write about, but then when I actually get a chance to sit down and write I've changed my mind.

*It was a nice bag, but it was subsequently disposed of a few months later, when we broke up (before getting back together and getting married, of course). Hey, all’s well that ends well.