If you’ve been paying attention, and there’s no reason why you should, you may have noticed that I haven’t been around for a couple of months. I didn’t get tired. I have plenty of things to say. Rather, I suffered a shoulder injury. Throughout the entire month of November, it was unbearable to sit at a terminal and whack away at the keyboard. That’s a problem since my profession requires I do just that.

Since then, it’s been trying to regain my balance and catch up on work. So, of course, I wasn’t happy when the holidays rolled around starting with Thanksgiving. Who wants to fool around with a turkey when you can barely lift it? That passed quickly and my partner wanted to have our Christmas tree up that weekend. Sheesh! That did NOT pass quickly. It took a week.

After that, it’s been the unbearable, incessant running around to get prepared for the Christmas holiday. I had gifts to find, gifts to purchase, gifts to wrap, gifts to ship, and gifts to hide. Who needs it? Bah! Humbug!!

Does anybody really like this time of the year? I’m getting so that I hate it. The stores, the crowds, the cars… yuck!

Finally, though, in the last two days, we got to the part of the holiday I tend to like. You know. The part where we get together with the people we work with and realize they’re not SO bad, after all. The part where we contact long-lost buddies and renew friendships from time immortal. It’s the part of Christmas I like most. The gifts are great, but good friends are better. If we have a loving family to spend it with, that makes it all the more worthwhile.

So, I’m not such a Scrooge — even if I am ill-tempered. I’ll call my family back East and say “Hi! Merry Christmas!!”. I’ll make contact with my friends and acquaintances before the big day. My partner, Dave, and I will spend the day together quietly playing with our new boy toys. And, somewhere along the way, I’ll pray for the proverbial peace on earth, etc. etc.

I’m sorry. Pain makes me grumpy.
Has anyone seen my Kwanzaa candles??

Ciao for now!
Mike