Winter Travels and Travails

So it looks like I'll be travelling for the holidays afterall. Not much else to report. Three of my apps are in, two more will be finished before I leave next week. Aubi snuck outside and got beat up again; no stitches this time, but he'll be boarding at the vet while I'm away. Once I get back we can figure something better out for keeping him as an indoor kitty.

It's been nice these last few days not having the weight of deadlines looming so close. Nice, though things have still been a little rough. Not just for me, but it seems for most of my friends. A friend raced around in the middle of the night last night to keep a friend of hers from throwing himself off a bridge. Other discomfitures have been less dramatic, but no less real.

I'm sure you've all heard this before, but the holidays are emotional times and not always for the best. When you're out and about your holiday festivities, take a moment and think about the people who don't have families or friends to turn to. Maybe it's the quiet guy at the bar you're carousing, or the homeless man you pass on the street, or the friend who's prone to melancholy. And thinking, be kind to them. Offer a smile if nothing else instead of the usual unseeing indifference. Invite a friend over you haven't talked to in a while. Don't flaunt your glee or your purchases to all and sundry. In these times of mirth it is often the exuberant merriment which bites cold for all its insincerity. Be kind, but more importantly be sincere.