Daryl Pediford...

I absolutely despise Christmas! I'm sure that I don't need to keep repeating myself, but I will. There are very few things I look forward to around this time of year. The first thing I look forward to is The Trans Siberian Orchestra Concert, which I attend annually since 2001. I NEVER tire of it. The only thing that will be different this year, as it was last year, is that Daryl Pediford will not be singing, as he passed away October 10, 2004. It breaks my heart really. He was an amazing presence and an unnatural talent. His raspy voice just cannot be duplicated, and that somehow takes away from Daryl's songs. Daryl is, and will always be sorely missed by his countless fans.

The second thing I look forward to, is our annual 'Pound Party.' We will get together again this year to exchange gifts, drink, and be merry. But this year, we will be a much smaller group. Our party used to consist of 13-15 people, crammed into Mother Mitchell's house. This year, there's only going to be 5, and out of those 5, three of us are original Pound Partiers! The best thing about our party is, of course, getting drunk and stupid. Yippee!!!

The last thing I look forward to is a day off with pay! What else needs to be said about that?

Christmas hasn't been a very big deal for me since my Grampa passed in 1988, I've said this before, I know. There's no excitement that should go with it. And there is very little Christmas Spirit, as far as I'm concerned. My usual routine...get us when I feel like it, head over to Mom's when I feel like it, eat breakfast, open some gifts, act excited, eat dinner, watch TV with Dad, go home and screw off, head down to my landlords for mass hysteria, drink, go upstairs, sleep! WOW! Can we say incredibly boring??? This year should prove to be no different.

What really pisses me off about Christmas and the season the most is people's god damned attitude. You know, I went to the mall last Saturday. I HATE the mall, let alone at Christmas time when everyone and their brother is out with major attitudes and pissy-ness. Anyway, I live about 20 minutes from the mall, no big deal, right? WRONG! I got stuck in traffic for about an hour. To me, sitting in traffic is NOT a huge inconvenience. I mean, let's face it...If you wait until 2 weeks before Christmas to get your ass to the mall then EXPECT traffic. That's it! It's simple! So I'm sitting in traffic, window rolled down, smoking my cigarette, bopping along to some major tunage, smiling away, not upset in the least that I'm stuck in traffic. I looked around me, and suddenly became quite aware that everyone was absolutely miserable. No one was smiling, no one was laughing, every had a puss a mile long! The two guys in the car in back of me didn't even say one word to each other the whole 2 miles they were behind me. What the fuck is with that? Isn't Christmas supposed to bring out the best in people? Why all the unhappiness? Granted, I'm nasty around Christmas, and I just plain hate it...but I think I realize more around this time of year, that life just isn't that bad! And it makes me happy to know that I am far better off than a lot of people. Maybe that's why I get bi-polar this time of year...who knows...who cares??? Right???

Bah Humbug! And Merry Christmas...and shit!