happy merry

being that my current job requires that i communicate with various technical support services i am exposed to plenty of elevator music while on hold. today was the first day that i had the privilege of waiting to the sweet sounds of kenny g instrumental xmas carols.

why i hate the holiday season: for the same reason i hate birthdays -- raised expectations. this whole month-and-a-half is supposed to be a magical, happy time full of revelry and generosity, family and friends.

but what happens when it isn't a happy time? if you personally aren't exactly holly-jolly and, like me and many others, experience bouts of random depression, then the lights, decorations, cosbysweaters, songs and xmas trees are daggers. then the increased availability of sweets and junk food compounds the depression by providing additional cyclical self-deprecation means (i.e. we're sad so we eat, so we get sad, so we eat...).

and the music, my god, the music. it's terribly saddening in a nostalgic kind of way. not just the melodies or the lyrics but also the lame attempts by modern artists at putting out their own xmas albums. it angers and depresses me that, let's say, garth brooks puts out albums in the first place, but when he puts out an xmas cd the futility of it is twofold.

so i'm prepping my mind for the dreaded season. i'm in a state of commando-like vigilance, aggressively avoiding holiday harbingers for the sake of my own sanity. i'll take the vacation time, but beyond that xmas is dead to me.

i may join in bill o'reilly's war on christmas though.