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Thursday 21 July 2011

THE GIFT


Gift buying is an art. I’m serious; some people make an actual living buying gifts for people. Okay, for somewhat lazy people or people with far too much money on their hands, but the other reason is this – gift buying is not always such an easy task, and it can often induce one large Texas sized headache.

Recently I was faced with this very problem. I had to buy a gift with a group of people for someone who essentially has everything. This of course is an added complexity to the whole searching for a gift conundrum, because in short, when someone has everything, the average something suddenly seems like nothing. See what I mean? Then again, perhaps the person that has everything has always wanted just the average something cause most people overlook it and think they’ll think it’s nothing, when it’s really something.

Confused yet? :-)

So you find yourself either thinking way outside the box – an adopted camel from Mongolia, a robot that brings your tea to you (I have no idea where to get such a thing, but it sounds good), gravity boots, a weekend of chanting with a monk that promises enlightenment, etc.. Or you start opening other doors hoping that an idea falls into your lap. And fast!

Behind door number two for instance you will find the homemade gift. As I am long past the days of making a pretty little picture with pasta shells (I’ll leave that task to the King) or a mixed tape – god I used to love getting a good mixed tape - you rack your brain for the homemade gift that says, 'we went the sentimental route without appearing like we didn’t want to make much effort.' In fact, often you’ll find that it is the homemade gift that takes the most effort, time and thought and the person is bowled over by your sentimental undertaking. Which in the world of gift giving is a big fat SCORE. So if you’re buying for someone impossible, I’d suggest giving this a whirl.

Then there is the more mundane path to take. The tie, their favorite bath gel they just ran out of, a lifetime supply of their favorite cookie, a great bottle of wine…it won’t score in the flashy department but it’s a safe bet at least the person will use it. The thing is, often when you are buying a gift it is hard to separate yourself from the process. You find yourself getting people what you want them to have instead of what they may want. Or even better, what you think they need, i.e. new additions to their hideous wardrobe to improve their bad sartorial decisions, or a gym membership (not subtle and you may see repercussions from this that aren't so good), or a new wallet; cause if they whip out that tired velcro number from high school with a palm tree on it one more time, you’re going to kill them.  

You see, finding the perfect gift is indeed an art. Maybe a piece of paper with pasta stuck to it isn’t such a bad idea after all. 

Monday 18 July 2011

CARMAGEDDON


“Carmageddon” was supposed to happen this weekend. For those of you not in Southern California, the 405 freeway – which is one of the nation’s busiest freeways - was shut down for what was supposed to be three days of extensive work on a ten-mile stretch of the freeway. Work was expected to keep it closed for 53 hours, opening at 5a.m Monday morning. Just in time for rush hour. Happy Monday everyone!

As you can imagine, news of this closure sent Los Angeles into a tailspin – and as expected the media followed suit. Who am I kidding, the media lead the charge waving banners, inventing catchphrases and inciting fear! Essentially, a normal news day in good ol’ US of A. Hence the term ‘carmageddon.’ Yes, the ever dramatic end of the world as we know it was supposed to happen this past weekend due to a freeway closure and the cessation of car use. The media also termed a portion of the freeway as ‘Ground Zero,’ just to raise the lunacy quotient that much more

They also went around and interviewed people of the city to see how they were going to cope with this impending event. Some people laughed, suggesting that Los Angeles is always an extensive pit of car congestion, hence, what’s one weekend going to do in the grand scheme of things? Other people treated it as the media hoped they would, with ample amounts of fear, frustration and outright panic. Some left town, others stocked up on food, whined, moaned and ran for shelter screaming that the proverbial sky was falling. 

Then there were those individuals that simply looked at it as a chance to stay home, BBQ, see friends, and stay off the roads for one solitary day. On a good note, the number of cars on the road this past weekend dropped by two thirds. A staggering thought in a city defined by its car use. In my opinion I actually think this would be a nice trend for the future – an anti car day. I know the environment would appreciate it, as would all those people out there suffering from road rage. 

As for the King and I, we were celebrating his first birthday in stationary style and the only cars my son was concerned with were the new hot wheels his cousins bought him. The kid loves a fast car. Vroom vroom.


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