Sunday 15 December 2002

Pic of the day: Some people just love a challenge, I guess. (Screenshot from The Sims. It may still not be too late to wish for The Sims for Xmas, for those who belong to that culture.)

A season for love?

Actually, Christmas and the other midwinter holidays are often traumatic. It is a time when family members are squeezed tightly together, and feel forced to observe traditions that have lost their meaning. Expectations are high, based on outdated memories (and memories that are often massaged to fit the mold). "Holiday hell" was the title used by Psychology Today a couple years ago. (Actually 1998 ... I looked it up.) This is doubly ironic when you think of the religious background for most holidays ... The very word holiday obviously comes from "holy day".

But for me, it looks brighter. Yes, there will be some pointless stupid ritual things to do. My religion does not recognize Christmas as valid. But neither does it recognize ticking friends off as a great service to God. As long as they don't actually start to worship the trees and stuff, I'm mostly OK with it. It's just stupid and pointless; but when you're a hermit with genius IQ, you get used to the fact that people spend their time doing stupid pointless things. It is the human condition.

But a week from now, unless some disaster strikes, I should be with the woman I love like myself, give or take a little. It's been a long long time, and I'm not sure I can remember exactly why she felt like more than just any random friend. But I am sure I will remember when we meet, because that's what has happened every time. I know it's not a physical thing, because we don't even hold hands. (Don't blame me. I don't mind holding hands, except it's probably very boring. I don't really know.) We're just friends. And yet she is closer to me than the family I was born into. That is so strange.

Of course, not all relationships in the world are as platonic as this. There is a spike in births about three quarters of a year after Christmas. I guess it isn't all holiday hell. Or perhaps people are just easily bored.

You all understand, I hope, that if I ever found True Love, it would mean the end of my journal. I don't mind revealing myself as much as I do, but I couldn't do that to someone else. Well, unless she was the same sort, in which case she'd probably have her own journal ... And our lives would be much too intertwined for me to write about one of them and make sense. I guess I could still do the game journal and the occasional commentary on the world economy, but I doubt I would have time even for that. Well, perhaps I am overly optimistic here, given how little I know about True Love. But if it is anything like the books ... Yeah, right.

Luckily for the faithful (and very silent) readers, we'll never know.