gifts

i hate giving gifts.

rather, i love giving gifts but the stress drives me nuts. i'm a thoughtful giver. i really don't want to pick some generic piece of crap off the shelf of a store and give it to you. and if i do pick some piece of crap off a store shelf and give it to you, you can rest assured that there's some special reason i picked that particular piece of crap for you. i heard you 3 months ago mention in passing that you'd like it. i wrote a poem for you (lame but works well for mom). it's a reference to an inside joke. it's special, and it's unique.

W gave me a birthday present this year. it wasn't what i asked for. it was better than what i asked for. i asked for some pieces of crap off a store shelf, and, while i would have been plenty happy with said pieces of crap, what i got from W was a real gift: a personal creation. a unique item. one of a kind. nobody else has one and nobody else will. she worried that i would like it, she didn't leave it up to WalMart or Sony or David Brin to worry whether I'd like it.

last year i was thrilled by her gift to me. it was a piece of crap off the shelf, but what made the gift special was the thought and the ceremony and the effort that went into it (that is to say: the lies and deceit :)

she also gave me some candles last year, which, i'm afraid, i didn't love quite so much as this years' gift. but that's okay: you win some and you lose some. the candles may have cost more than what she gave me this year. almost certainly the video game did. but when i show off this years' gift, i won't say, "some dude in indonesia made this and my girlfriend bought it." i'll say, "my girlfriend made this. you'll never find another one like it, just like i'll never find anyone like her. isn't that cool?"

yes, that's way cool.

:x