All Work and No Play

I have been working my ass off. Even for a workaholic like me, it has been too much. December is always a good time of year for picking up overtime as people with real lives want time off to prepare the house for arriving relatives, to shop, and do other miscellaneous things. I had already picked up a good amount anyway, but then I got mandated to work more. 70 hour work weeks have been the norm the past couple of weeks. Not fun. The extra money is definitely a plus, but I have hit the limits of my overtime whorishness.

So it is now early Wednesday morning and I have two more nights of work ahead of me before I finally get some consecutive days off. I am tired and irritable and I feel even more tired, irritable, and guilty because I have not blogged lately. I would love to be happier for you, the blogosphere, in this wonderful holiday season, but you are going to have to deal with some rants and anger from me. The world is a cold, dark place.

1. First off, some good news. Target is now carrying Tim Tams! Do you believe it? Tim Tams are the Oreos of Australia. They are these rich thick chocolate cookies that are really tasty. (Some Aussie friends of mine in London used to always bitch about the unavailability of Tim Tams in England.) If you have not tried them, make sure you do. Make sure you do not get fooled into buying the caramel ones! The chocolate flavored ones are the original.

2. Is anyone else annoyed by the stickers that breeding people have been outfitting their minivans and SUVs with as of late?

I am not trying to be a total dick. I have had the urge to blog about this for a while, but have refrained while trying to be realistic and sensitive to other people's feelings. What are people trying to accomplish by putting this on their car? It feels very "In your face!" to me, a gay man who is not planning to have children. (For the record, let me state that I do not have any kind of bumper sticker or decal on my car. The peaceniks of Northern California who cover their vehicles in "No on 8!" and "Celebrate Diversity!" bumper stickers irritate me too.) It feels like the person that is driving that vehicle is celebrating their ability and choice to breed; not only breed, but breed multiple times and they want to brag about it to the rest of society. Is this a good thing? The same vehicles inevitably have the My Child was Student of the Month at St Mary's Preschool bumper sticker. Again, I really could care less that your child was student of the month. My life does not need to revolve around your child. Yours does because you gave birth to it or adopted it. I also could care less that your child plays soccer or golfs or that you have a dog. If I choose to get to know you on a personal level, then I might care at a certain point. But I do not feel that I should be subject to your family's life story simply because I get stuck behind you on the freeway while I am in traffic. It is a pollution of public space. (I warned you all I was bitter!)

The other issue here is that I subconsciously associate the people who have vehicles with these stickers with the people who voted Yes on Prop 8. It is not necessarily a reasonable assumption, but I am honest about the fact that I make the correlation and it does not endear me anymore to the breeding families. Alright, rant done on that topic.

3. I get irritated around this time of year when people start asking me what my holiday plans are. When I tell them I am going to work or stay home, they act as if I am insane. My family lives in the east and I prefer to visit them at other times of the year. For example, I am likely heading out to see my brother on the East Coast after New Years when the flight loads taper off and I can get some time off. It is not that strange of an idea that one might want to spend their holidays in a non-stressful environment with friends and then choose to visit family at other times of the year. Welcome to 2008, soon to be 2009 people. The less stress, the better.

4. One other cool thing is that I got 2 A's in my classes this semester. It is unthinkable to me that I have a 4.0 average. I know it will not last through my entire degree process, but it is nice to have for now.

Alright, enough from me. Hope you are all safe and warm this Christmas Eve and somewhere you want to be. Cuidate and Merry Christmas!