xmas 2021 diary entry

It’s Boxing Day. This has been a nice but strange holiday season so I want to document it. Here goes.

Festivus was a real rollercoaster. We were pumped to host a big party again so we spent a lot of time organizing and decorating, and then the government said “no house parties due to covid” the week before Festivus was to occur. We were so choked, and had to decide what to do. After some deliberation we officially cancelled Festivus as a big party but decided we’d still have a small group of close friends over, and were content with that. But on the day of, attendees started dropping like flies and we had to decide once again if it was worth doing if only two or three people were going to come — there’s nothing sadder than a fully decorated house and a table full of food, music playing, but no guests. We figured out who was still coming and decided to go for it, and we were really glad we did. It was a small but dandy group (14 of us in total, call the cops), and it was lovely to see good friends, socialize like normal, watch people do “sambuca snorkels,” etc. After all the ups and downs, it was such a relief for it to turn out so well.

Xmas eve day was a lazy one. We were up late with Festivus so we slept in, then had to do a bunch of party cleanup once we had finally dragged our corpses out of bed. In the evening we did some covert xmas gift deliveries and headed to Duncan for a xmas laser light display thing at the Cow Ex that Jenn bought tickets to a while back. On the way through Duncan at 6:30 pm we saw the biggest lineup for the Wendy’s drive-thru that we’ve ever seen. Like out of the parking lot big. Why were so many people getting Wendy’s fast food on xmas eve? It was bizarre, hilarious, and sad all at once. The xmas laser light thing was really cool though, it was kind of psychedelic and strange. By the time we got out of there it was getting late and we hadn’t had dinner so we decided to eat out, but it was xmas eve so we ended up going to…Boston Pizza! You thought I was going to say Wendy’s but no, that coveted ship had already sailed by then, plus we wanted to sit and relax, not race back to a lonely bachelor pad with a greasy burger and fries. Anyway, normally I have no time for Boston Pizza, it’s so boring in the most ‘hockey-loving white Canadian family in a medium-sized town’ way, but for some reason on xmas even that made it a really funny choice — similar to the Wendy’s thing, but I guess not so legitimately sad? More funny-sad, I think. We kept laughing about making xmas eve dinner at BP an annual tradition. Only time will tell if that occurs but one can hope. We watched the best sports bloopers of the year on the BP tv and most were actually pretty funny. Got home, did some last minute gift wrapping, and hit the sack.

Yesterday was really nice. I made blueberry waffles with bacon for breakfast and it was dang good. The bacon was from a local farmer and Jenn commented she thought it may be the best bacon she’d ever had. Neither of us are bacon maniacs so I had never thought about that title, and once I did, I had to agree. The bacon was that good. Then we opened our gifts and that was great too, there were some real hits. Then we took Stella for a hike in an area we don’t usually go. It was snowing lightly and chilly out but also sunny — very pretty, and Stella loved it. Alex and her sister Morgan wound up joining us halfway through and that was swell because Jenn and I had never met Morgan before. She was a real sweetheart. After that we headed to Jenn’s folk’s place for brunch and presents, and that was also nice…until we started talking about her dad’s grim health condition and I said some things that weren’t cruel or rude but in hindsight I just shouldn’t have opened my yap at all. I texted Jenn’s mom afterward and apologized and she said no biggie but I still feel like puking over it. Dealing with a dying relative is an unforgiving learning curve.

We came home, still stuffed from brunch, and watched Matrix Revolutions. It wasn’t good but it was ok, and we’ve been enjoying watching fun dystopian flicks this holiday season so it scratched that itch.

Today it’s snowy and cold. -4. I took the dog for a hike with Michael and Matt and the weather was brilliant for it. The dogs loved it. I loved it. This weather is some of my fave. But we had to cancel our trip up island for the next several days and that sucks but what can you do. Now I’m going to do some house plant stuff, re-pot a few things, toss a few others, maybe move some of the cacti around.

And that’s the riveting tale of my 2021 holiday season thus far. I guess it wasn’t really that up-and-down, it was just the double “do we or don’t we” pre-Festivus stuff, and the bad feelings after speaking thoughtlessly with Jenn’s folks that made it seem like that. Oh well. Overall it’s still been a really nice time.

what is this annoying script-writing technique called?

Jenn and I started watching Nine Perfect Strangers tonight. We’re two episodes in and so far I quite like it — except for this one thing that has already happened a lot, where characters launch into a personal attack on another character in a way that people in real life only wish they would tell someone else off. “It’s always so easy for you, isn’t it? It’s easy to be so dismissive and cold when you’re just so perfect. Well, I’ve got news for you, Geraldine. You’re not perfect. You’re not even close to it. You’re actually just a sad, insecure, mean old woman who hides her true self behind that mask, but I see right through that mask.” That kind of crap. Oooooh wow, that character really told that other character off.

It doesn’t end there though. Now the character who just stood by with a bewildered look on their face and took the verbal assault launches a volley of their own back. “You’re right, Gus. I’m not perfect. Most people don’t notice it but you, you’ve always been particularly observant. All those nights I spent slamming yet another bottle of sambuca, struggling to keep this family together — you saw me then. But you never came rushing to take the sambuca out of my fists and ask me how I was doing, did you? No, despite being more observant than your brothers, despite seeing exactly what was going on, you never tried to help me stop guzzling that delicious, enchanting sambuca. So it’s true, I’m not perfect, and I do wear a mask, but I think that’s better than being a fucking coward, don’t you?” WWHHOOAAAHHH, she told him off even better!! This show is HOT, it’s got all the tension I crave. That sambuca bit felt a bit like an ad but the rest of that was sick.

^{Listen, we all love a good mug of sambuca now and then. Jeez, I could really go for one right now actually.}

This isn’t a new technique, I’ve been noticing it for years now, but usually I avoid shows that employ it because the ‘big tell-off/responding big tell-off’ bugs me so much. Those kinds of conversations are utterly absurd yet they’re delivered as if they are realistic, and I find that insulting.

If anyone knows what this technique is called, please let me know so I can hate on it more succinctly to all the poor unfortunate souls who are doomed to watch modern tv with me. For now I guess I’ll go with ‘the big tell-off/responding big tell-off.’ It’s a bit clunky but it gets the gist across, I think.

I still like Nine Perfect Strangers so far, despite this. We’ll see how it goes though.