My Christmas Gifts

I mentioned before that the best gifts for me for Christmas is cash/money/moolah/bucks/dineros...
etc.

Since no one knows what to get for me because I'm "so hard to shop for" I wanted
money so I could get things I wanted and needed rather than spend another
Christmas saying, "Oh.  A green sweater.  Thanks."  Or "oh, you
bought me a Canadian Tire toy truck.  I wasn't expecting that."

Enough.

This Christmas was a little different.  Yes, I got some money, but
otherwise I got some gifts that I most likely won't find a use for.  So,
a-shopping I did go.

I wanted to get a leather jacket and Sears had some before Christmas that had
caught my eye (and out of all my gift-givers.. ONLY my eye). 
Unfortunately, they were all sold out and they only had ones left that were
around $300.  $300 for a jacket is $300 worth of misery from my wife that I
could do without, so no jacket for me.  Fortunately, while I was in Sears I
did find a pair of shoes that were a big improvement on the last new pair I
bought for work back in 1998.  Those ones were, obviously, falling apart
now and as this is My Year, I felt obligated to buy them. 

So I did.

My next stop was the bookstore where I bought the next couple of books in the
series I'm reading.  I'd noticed them for sale (they can be hard to find at
times) at the store in November and was quick to add them to my wish list. 
So, now that Christmas was over.  I bought them.  At the counter, I
ended up shelling out another $30 for a signed first edition book that is the
beginning of a second series I enjoyed reading a few years back.  It's a
500+ page hardcover book, so I'm sure to catch Hell for buying it.

And I did.

My third stop was the electronics store where I bought the CDs and DVDs I'd
asked for.  Well, not all of them (that would be the store's inventory) but
the ones that really caught my eye.  I picked up the new Peter Gabriel 2-CD
set and his newest DVD concert 'Growing Up.'  Also, I saw that one of my
favorite TV series from the early 1990s had been released on DVD, so I had to
get it.  The Ben Stiller show only lasted 12 episodes and the DVD has
the13th unaired show.  I first saw the series with episode #12 and then saw
the repeats of earlier ones.  The cast included Stiller, Janeane Garofalo,
Andy Dick, and Bob Odenkirk and was co-written by Judd Apatow (who went on to
create 2 other shows I liked Freaks and Geeks & Undeclared). 
The show's hilarious and I'd watched the first episode and started the second
when my wife started to complain about it.  "Ah," I said, "So the reason I
don't get gifts I like is so that you don't have to tolerate them?"

Nice.  My Year is not going to be a tactful year...

Amazingly, my last stop was not as expensive as I thought it was going to be and
I only bought about $30 worth of collectibles.  I usually spend a couple
hundred, so I'm sure the owner knew something's changed.

So, the complaining has continued with my Christmas gifts.  I only watch my
DVDs on the computer now and have the headphones on.  This is an issue too
as I'm ignoring everyone else.  I tried to share my gifts, but couldn't
stand the comments.  Now with new books to read I'm sneaking into the staff
lounge at lunch instead of going to a restaurant to eat.  I'm saving money
and taking a sandwich with me, but the money I spent on the books is a major
issue.  It's "a waste."  Thanks.