Blink a bright red and green

[austin_dern]

I hate making half of everything I write by volume a description of how different things are from when I was living in Singapore and happy, but sometimes it just comes up that way. This weekend, particularly, I figured I'd start in on Christmas shopping. I only mean to buy for my parents, siblings, and such in-laws are applicable, and maybe one or two loose ends in case one of my mother's college friends is over near enough Christmas to make giving a present rather than a card appropriate.

What this has taught me is that I've been completely spoiled by five Decembers in Singapore. Doing Christmas shopping overseas has its drawbacks, particularly in that I can't get anything too bulky because it has to fit in my luggage, and it can't be too heavy for about the same reason, and it's got to fit along with the surplus of things that I don't think I can live without for a whole week or two. And because of the distance involved it's not convenient to call up or meet with any of the people I mean to give gifts to and find out what they might possibly want.

But the counter to that is: it didn't matter what I got. As long as it had the word ``Singapore'' written on it somewhere, it was strange and novel and appealing. And I could always get a round of these odd Japanese kitsch solar-powered trinkets where a large-headed, very round figure would simply nod its head -- or turn it side to side -- or rock it back and forth -- or so on without limit. They're goofy but strangely hypnotic and always a hit. Add to that my ability to grab odd junk like curiously formed dolls that look vaguely like old Kellogg's cereal cartoon characters but can't be identified and you have incredibly easy Christmas shopping.

Now I'm forced to think of things that actually show some awareness of the personality of whoever I'm giving it to, and that's not easy since my mother just buys anything she particular wants when she wants it, my sister wants horse stuff that can't be explained to people who aren't horse people, one of my brothers mostly wants White Castle gift certificates, and my sister-in-law probably bought the Casper the Friendly Ghost collection now that I mentioned its existence to her; I had no idea she'd want such a thing, and I told her about it too far away from Christmas for it to be reasonably excluded from her own purchases.

Trivia: Blaise Pascal's father Étienne, aware of the talent of his son, forbade teaching him mathematics lest Blaise overstrain his head. Blaise Pascal finally insisted on learning geometry at age twelve. Source: Men of Mathematics, E T Bell.

Currently Reading: The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and The Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time, Jason Socrates Bardi.

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

my sister wants horse stuff that can't be explained to people who aren't horse people

If you know what it is that she wants, I can prolly explain what you're looking for.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've only got it in little pieces. What I did get sent out with was a list of books that apparently have never been in print, ever, and that she hopes to get. Allegedly there's a wish list somewhere but I haven't been blessed with where it is.

Her boyfriend similarly has a wish list, but it's more focused on his car.

[oliver-otter.livejournal.com]

Get your sister a DVD of Equus. O:-)

[xolo.livejournal.com]

A masterstroke! It's going to be a really good choice, or a really bad choice, but either way it'll make for a memorable Christmas!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Don't people over there still need what you're teachin'?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I think so, but terribly few people bother even e-mailing a rejection, so who knows what they're rejecting me on.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I sympathize, with both you and the givees. One of the strange complications of my being out of debt is that everything I want under $50I am likely to have bought, and most things over that as well. My Father can be counted on to buy me expensive gadgetry each year and birthday, but that leaves my Mom and sister in tricky positions, and there just isn't that much mongoose-related merchandise out there. Even if Mom could figure out eBay.

This is also why I haven't bought Ratatouille yet, because I know it will be desperately seized upon as "It's a cartoon with a cooking cartoon animal!" and bought by approximately 2.3 relatives.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, you are going to have a heavy Ratatouille year. At least there's enough peripheral merchandise you'll probably get something you didn't expect and will turn out to be cute, like the video game or the oven mitts.

I personally haven't bought any of the Complete Peanuts volumes for myself, accepting a couple-months delay on getting the fall book in trade for giving my parents at least one present they know with confidence I'll want. Makes up somewhat for them not ever believing me ever that I want the Peanuts strip-a-day calendar, fifteen years running.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I received a Pez Dispenser and a pull-back-and-zoom-across-desk Remy at Anthrocon, so, it's started already. More peripheral merchandise would be quite good indeed.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

You know, a bit of model paint and a Remy could probably be made into a passable mongoose. I mean, at the level of a Pez dispenser there aren't many subtleties of character design.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Well, if I were inclined to do that I'd be starting with the Timon Pez dispenser sitting next to Remy.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, that would work too, wouldn't it?