Some random things about today:

1. I had a dream this morning that was very long and complicated, but suffice to say that it ended up with my cat, Cleopatra, sitting next to somebody's severed head. There was also a great deal of mud. Really, it wasn't as nightmarish as it sounds.

2. Can somebody explain this to me?

Airmail to the UK is considerably less than either Global Priority Mail OR Slow Boat To China Mail. Go fig.

3. It was 46 degrees when I left for work this morning, and my office building still has the air conditioning on. I'm not asking for heat, people, just turn off the freaking AC!

4. I got most of my Christmas cards in the mail this morning, but I am perplexed by a turn of events I noticed this year. I don't get a lot of Christmas cards, as a general rule, but the ones I did get this year all came less than a week after Thanksgiving. Is this some unspoken rule I didn't know about? Did we somehow decide that since all the stores and malls and things have decided to move up Christmas, that the card mailing deadline has been moved up as well? Why didn't I get this memo?

To be perfectly honest, I'm not at all behind according to my own internal schedule, which maybe says something about me as a person...

I don't send Christmas cards every year. I do it when the mood strikes me, and this year I was struck. See, I'm from the camp that it isn't worth it -- to me -- to just send a card with our names signed at the bottom, because then all my energy went into addressing the envelope rather than making or writing the card. I can see by the quality of some of the cards this year that a lot of my family and friends feel the same way. By far, the top two we've gotten this year were AWESOME photo montages by both my great Uncle Duncan and my friend Charlsa. I can get behind those kinds of cards. Those show a lot of creativity and effort.

But I'm not looking down my nose at non-card-senders either. As I said above, my card sending comes down to mood most years. Some years I'm in a really festive mood and want to spend hours decorating and making cards and wrapping presents. Some years I just want to cocoon until spring. This year I'm somewhere in between, but wherever you are on that spectrum: I'm with you. Solidarity in the holiday spirit (or lack thereof), yo.

Some people object to cards on a moral basis, either because they find them trite, or because they use up too much paper, or because they're trying to stick it to the corporate man (Hallmark? I'm looking at you.). And I say awesome. More power to ya.

Some people just don't have time. And I say awesome. More power to ya. Spend the time doing something you enjoy, rather than something you feel obligated to do.

So don't freak out if you get a card from me this year, and don't get one next year. It's only a phase. You're just as likely to get a hand-glittered monstrocity from me the year after that.

5. I posted a whole new batch of my dad's drawings on my livejournal and decided not to cross post them here, because the format would be harder to see. If you'd like to take a look, just click the link, or you can see the full sized images at Wayne's deviant art gallery.