Time once again for the timeless Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” as performed by James Taylor… “Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore. Precious friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more. I know that in a year we all will be together, if the Fates allow. Until then, we’ll just have to muddle through somehow. And have ourselves a merry little Christmas now…”
After mentioning last week that my semi-official last day at work would be yesterday, I realised that I still had holiday entitlement, which I will be taking over the Christmas/New Year’s period. I may hand in my notice after I get back, or perhaps ask if I can go part time (2-3 days a week only). Either way will be fine, but I need to get back on track and back in focus on the goals in my life. At work yesterday I played as the Techie Guy since the official ones were not in. This meant less effort than usual (sinec Techie guys just seem to surf the web and hang out in the break room most of the time) but despite this I got a lot of work done! We were experiencing more technical problems (not on our side) so we decided to call it a day early. Our team sat around a table and toasted to Christmas and the new year with Champagne. We were all going to go off to a pub, but I let them pilgrimage to the land of drunkeness on their own.
Instead, I went out to dinner with my dad (mum had to visit friends) at an Indian restaurant. It was nice because it had been such a long time since wehad been out to dinner together; just the 2 of us. I realised I didn’t know what his favourite cuisine was, and after asking him he said he didn’t know either. He asked me and I realised I couldn’t possibly choose one either (definitely something Asian though). Like father, like son. We spoke about Kev and about how my dad thought because of the way he was (introverted) he would not make many friends. I agreed with him, but isn’t it more important to have friends of quality than friends of quantity? I’ve had many friends in my lifetime and most of them have phased out with movements in house and education. The way I see it, I would only want to stay friends with people who want to stay friends with me; the ones that understand and appreciate who I am. The rest can and usually leave, even if it is because I have tried to stay in contact with them and they just removed themselves from my patience. Today, I phoned up everyone on my phone list and wished them well over Christmas. Spoke to a couple of friends (since high school) that I had stayed in contact with despite not having seen them since my birthday get-together much earlier this year. Some things never change. When I spoke to them, it was like nothing had changed. We were the same friends we used to be from the last time we saw each other. Some good things never change.
In my search for good Christmas presents, I wish I had come across these sooner: an assortment of websites that made me laugh uncontrollably at my computer screen for an embarrassing space of time. We’re talking bootleg toys!
Having grown up playing with the figures, I was in stitches browsing at the different bootlegs for Star Wars, from different countries and with varied quality. It’s amazing what possession of a plastic moulding machine can do to a person. Factories were churning out bargain-basement bootlegs that from the moment of leaving the factory were breaking what they were set out to do, which was be mistaken for the authentic product they were copying. It seems that the Eastern European market had been saturated at a point in time with Star Wars bootlegs, the most famous of which was the Turkish Uzay (as in one of the Turkish Arnie’s catchphrases, “Uzay nine-millaymeter“) “Stars War” range. Not surprising that Turkey had a stake in this popular market since they’d previously established themselves as being maelstroms of homage with their contributions to their domestic film industry.
Excellent collectors item pieces include all figures in the impressive Star Warrios range, a Mexican Darth Vader and a unique monotone green luminous Yoda with wide acid-flashback eyes and what looks like a serpent and a walking implement growing out of his body! “Get high on your own supply, you must.” Honourable mention goes to the Brazilian figures made of lead (effective as both projectile and poison)! They’re heavy enough to injure a bison let alone a human South American youngling! Straying from Star Wars, the most disturbing bootleg I’ve seen is one of Pokemon’s Pikachu, with eyesballs that protrude to the touch! Furthermore, it’s sold in a shop in London, so I will have to track down that bargain stoy store and see what other toxic goodies they have there.
I don’t believe I had any bootleg toys when I was younger, apart from Kev’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bootleg. I remember coming home one day to find him playing with it. Complacent in his youth, he called out to me, “Mum got us turdles.” Yes, that’s how he used to pronounce it (also used to pronounce “crisps” as “crips”). If that line of joy didn’t reduce me to my schoolboy sniggling, then the time it took for this uncostly figure to meet its demise would have seen to it. A few days later we dropped this thrifty Turdle figure and his head just dropped off. I thought Kev might have been upset with it, but he just laughed, which made me laugh. Ah, I still laugh thinking about it. Cheaps toys have brought me more laughter than any credible authentic product ever has!
As Christmas day closes in fast, I am left with a few thoughts; one of which is how this has felt like the least festive Christmas to date (if only because I can’t really remember the last few). When I was out this year shopping, there seemed to be a great deal of Christmas cheer absent. The Christmas lights this year were nice, but not as spectacular as those of prior years. Maybe it’s just me. I’ve got a few gifts sitting under he Christmas tree as well. I’m not a “shake the parcel” or “feel the grooves in the gift” kinda guy prior to opening them, but I am still hopeful for a plastic moulding machine.
Well, even though the Christmas spirit may be somewhat missing outside, it’s very much alive in this household. We’ve got the artificial Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and flare that would make waiters at Denny’s diner jealous. We’ve had the same Christmas tree for some years now, but this year my mum bought a real tree, a blue fir, which she’s planted in the back garden. The fridges are completely stocked up too, which would be more than sufficient to accomodate my uncle and cousins who are coming around, let alone everyone on my street! Oh well, “Goodbye button-up jeans… Hello button-less jeans,” for it is Christmas after all. Turkeys have been plumped up for Christmas and even though I will be doing the same to myself, there isn’t the same risk of being slaughtered. But then again, I haven’t arranged what I am doing for New Year’s, so getting slaughtered may still be on the cards. I think I’ve sent out greetings to all my friends now. Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone.
