I spoke on the phone with my mom yesterday, and she reminded me that I need to update my gift list.
We're a Christmas list family. I know that there are many families where you have to guess what presents your friends and relatives might want. My wife's family, for instance. However, in my family the tradition is that everyone makes a list of all the gifts they might like, and that list is then secretly discussed by all the relatives and various gift ideas are staked out. It is entirely possible - in fact, likely - that one will receive gifts not on one's list, but most of the presents under the tree will be stuff you actually want. There are other advantages to this method as well; first off, especially for children, just making the list can be fun. Secondly, it really eases the task of the gift-giver. And it prevents, via the secret collaboration method, needless duplication of gifts.
With the dawning of the World Wide Web I opted to maintain a single gift list for both birthday and Christmas (and whenever else anyone opts to get me something.) I did go through after my birthday and cull the list of items which I received, but now that the holiday season is upon us it is incumbent upon me to bulk the list back out with more goodies that would go well in my house. Or car. Or mouth.
So, in the interest of killing two birds with one stone, I'm gonna come up with my gift ideas here, and then tack them onto my list.
First up: an iPod. Yes, I am certainly not on the bleeding edge of this particular fad - more like somewhere on the fading scar tissue edge. But we purchased a car recently, radio in our Metro area sucks monkey scrote, and I spend two and a half hours a day in the car commuting to and from work. I received an MP3 player for my birthday some years ago; it is in fact sitting on my desk right now. I find that it is exceedingly useful to perk me up and get me working. However, it was $50 when it was purchased and, frankly, downloading MP3s has become more annoying than it was back in the day. So although I've waffled for some time about buying an iPod, it seems like a fantastic gift idea. And I will also need the car iPod player, that sort that broadcasts on a radio frequency over a very short range.
So, there's my one good idea. What else.
Well, there is always media. I have an amazon gift list, and although I'm not fully enthused by amazon.com's politics these days they are still the best one-stop online media shop. So I'll hop over there in a bit and tack on some additional books, DVDs, and CDs. No, wait - the iPod would rather obviate the need for those CDs, won't it? Excellent.
Of course, many of the items on my gift list can simply stay there, pleading with my benefactors to perhaps, this year, buy me? I need workout clothes, I always do. I am wearing some tank tops to the gym that date from 1994. No shit. So workout clothes - shorts, sweats, tank tops - are needed, and can hardly be oversupplied. Especially workout clothes from my alma mater. Either of them.
I don't really need more tools this year, I don't think. I don't generally ask for work or casual clothes because, frankly, I have my own tastes. We're having a baby just before Christmas, so I expect lots of baby-related stuff, but frankly I don't want it. If it's for the kid, don't put my name on it. And I don't need more books telling me how to raise my child. If I want advice, I'll seek it. It's not something I appreciate as a gift.
I do appreciate quirky stuff which smacks of individuality and non-corporate shilling - t-shirts from webcomics, stuff from Steve Jackson games... gifts should be, IMO, cool things that the recipient would enjoy possessing that they would not buy for themselves, either because the gift is too frivolous or they don't know about it.
The electronics that I could use aren't generally the sort of things one places on a gift list - we need a new answering machine, and a new cordless phone would also not go awry. I can always use computer bits such as hard drives. Yeah, sexy.
Boy, it's a good thing "media" covers such a range of gift options. That's the problem with being a grown-up... if you want something, you buy it. No waiting. Guess I'll hop on over to amazon and point at things there.
- Sun Ra