Gloomyguses

Today we made the rounds of the neighborhood to drop off jars of hot cocoa mix, cookies and Christmas cards, and about half of the neighbors acted as though they were right on the verge of playing the most intensely bad-assed Scrabble words in the history of civilization and we were merely getting in the way of their triumph. I didn't expect them to tumble from their houses and do handstands and cartwheels out of sheer joy just because we had shown up on their doorsteps. But I didn't think so many of them would have acted quite so pained about the whole thing either.

One guy in particular wouldn't even accept the gift. There's common decency for you. Oh, I'm sure he'd like to cite "difficult circumstances" as the reason for his assholititis, but I remember spending the summer being unemployed and recovering from a heart attack and coping with open heart surgery and paying for medical insurance out of my own pocket, all of which add up to pretty goddamned difficult circumstances, and I don't remember being nasty to anyone. Not on purpose, anyway. I'm sure I was depressed a lot, but not nasty.

I don't know. I just found the outing kind of disappointing. Last year was better. I guess we know which houses not to visit next year.