Looks A Little Different Here at Blogger.com
December 13^th, 2003
12:35 A.M.

Well, if the folks at Blogger haven't outdone themselves! Well done, folks! I really like the new layout. I can reread an old post as I create a new one without having to open (and alternate with) a new window. I really like it. You will too, if your mind works anything like mine does (that is, I can't remember a thing I write within minutes of finishing it ... does that happen to you?)

Anyway, I know I'm a few minutes late, but I'm here to give you my Friday Five! So, without further adue ... ado? ... adieaux? ... well, without any more hestitation, here they are!

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
I do indeed love the cold weather for the holiday season. Had I been born in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm sure I would love to spend the holiday season on a beach somewhere.
Come to think of it, I've thought to myself that it's the middle of summer for my birthday down in Sydney ... I could go surfing!
Seeing as I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, I have had no real opportunity to practice surfing. So, it's no matter. I happen to be pretty good at sledding. (You'll not see me doing much snowboarding. If you do, it'll be mostly straight line stuff. Nothing fancy. I just like moving at speeds faster than running while not moving my feet.)

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
Perfection is so elusive that I won't even try to mention it. What, and whom, would I have at a celebration to make it thoroughly enjoyable? Well, I'll have to give you the super shortened version. I could go on for hours if I were to describe the thing even skipping to every tenth detail. But, here it is;
It would involve the following things;
A large, open field.

A tremendous tent (heated, of course ... we are talking about Christmas Time at 38 degrees north latitude, aren't we?)

Enough wood to keep a bonfire going until well into the night.

Every family member that I have, all my friends, all my family's friends, all my friends' families (and all their friends). Basically, everyone on the frickin' planet would be invited.

No one could so much as look at anyone cross eyed while the bonfire still burned, though. I know someone would have to be a jerk to someone else. But, for the day, that would have to wait.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?
Not really. My family didn't go out on a limb. We all stayed within the same city, up until recently, so no one was any more than a twenty minute drive from the farthest relative.
We have dinner on Christmas Eve, and lunch on Christmas Day followed immediately by the opening of presents (my favorite part of the whole holiday. Not so much that I'm getting things ... I just like the sound of paper being torn off boxes, all the gasps and laughs. I just like the sounds associated with people receiving their gifts).

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
Whenever I can, I do. In any way possible.
I've never volunteered at a soup kitchen. I've never worked at a homeless shelter. I drop a coin or two into the bell-ringers' pots whenever I switch from electronic to physical currency.
But, beyond that, I don't do much. But what I do, I do all year 'round. My personal favorite; saving aluminum cans, and giving them to whoever asks for them. That way, I know the money is going directly to whomever needs it. And don't give me this guff about how I don't know how the people are going to use the money I give them ... I know of many things they could do with it; they could buy drugs, alcohol ... or food. Have you thought of that?
Think of it this way ... one way or the other, these folks are going to get what they want. But, even through the charities, it's darn near impossible for them to get what they need.

All we have to do is ask them what they need.
But, we may find that their real needs demand far too much time and money, so all the organizations devoted to the needy can do is offer shelter when the weather turns bad, and hot meals whenever the food is available.

Give me a fish, and I shall eat for a day. Teach me to fish, and I will feed myself for a lifetime ... but, could you lend me a pole and line first?

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
What one gift would I give to myself? ... think think think, man.
Hmmm....
How about the ability to read people and situations such that I could find true love?
Yeah.
That would do for a start. That's the one thing that I lack that's kept me away from my dreams of marriage and parenthood.

But, I suppose I'll just have to blunder through life like everyone else. Maybe one day to get lucky and find someone who is looking for the same things I am. Someone with whom I have a lot in common. Or, maybe not a lot in common.

This could start a new post. Maybe I'll flesh this out at a later date.

So, for now, good night, everyone!

Good evening to my two readers (that I know of) in L.A.!