Box of Coal?

Today the mail-woman came late.  Normally it’s a mail-man named Wayne, but today a woman delivered the mail.  That’s probably why it was late.  She did come bearing gifts however, the treasure of a package you see above.

It was a surprise.  Not because I didn’t know it was coming or what was in it, but becasue I didn’t know it’d be arriving today.  It was sent from my dearest friend Nicole.  You see, Nicole has caught the ‘my life could be even more amazing than it currently is’ bug over the last year or two and has decided to leave NYC behind her and travel the world for a while.  She will work on her knowledge of languages, her love of people, and finding herself.  I don’t know why she would want to do that last part, cause I’ve found her and she’s not so great, but I guess it’s something she has to figure out for herself.

One of the great things about Nicole is that she is my friend, and cares about me and my love for music. This knowledge coupled with her need to minimize her worldly possessions (storage is a hassle/drain-on-money), and her enjoyment from purging her life of excess (something we share), has made for Christmas in March for me.

See in those boxes is a very nice set of speakers, something which I am lacking in my life.  Believe it or not over the last year and a half I’ve been listening to music (my lifeblood) through the speakers on my MacBook or through headphones.  It’s almost unfathomable for me to consider now that I have opened up this package and plugged those bad boys in, but I guess I took deferred gratification to a whole new (unreasonable) level in which it serves to hurt instead of help me. Lesson learned.

The purpose of this post is not for you to be happy for me or my ears, or to be excited for Nicole and her conquests/generosity, but to inspire you to give gifts.  Don’t go out and buy anything, and don’t think too hard.  Look around your apartment/house/beach-hut and find something that fits these three criteria:

1) You don’t really need it (almost everything fits this one).

2) You know someone who needs it (or at least thinks they do, or even better doesn’t know that they do).

3) Fits in a box.

Grab it, wrap it up, and mail it to them.  You can tell them before hand, or check with them first if you must.  It can be a loan for a month, an annual lease, or a diamond that will last forever.  But it’s a great way to get rid of some of your excess, reduce the clutter, make a friend pleasantly surprised, or hate you for sending them more shit.

There are two rules you must follow though. One is post a comment about it here (or atleast send me a txt/IM/email to let me know you did this), and two, you may not send anything to me.  If you are reading this, and not leaving your current location for a worldwide adventure anytime soon, expect a package in the mail.

It’s 2009 for those of you who haven’t been keeping track of time, and I am in Hawaii for those of you who haven’t been keeping track of space.  After a few days of reflecting on what my first post of the new year should be about, I found it only appropriate that the post be centered around what it is that moved me to first begin this blog 81 posts ago. In the last few weeks, I’ve been up to a quite a lot, and it doesn’t look like things are going to change anytime in the near future.  I’ve gotten to hop over to Maui twice, both times to visit some of the oldest (in terms of how long I’ve known them, not their ages) friends that I still keep in touch with.  My brother came out for a visit, and left last night to head back to the misery that is winter time in Manhattan. My cousin came out for a visit, and left today to head back to her South Carolinian college experience. Great times were had by all.

What is just as exciting as all of that, is what is yet to come (some of which will be happening, or is already happening, in 2009).  Just a taste:

• Matt and Grace Ann got engaged
• Jeff is back on Facebook
• Paul is considering investing even more of his time and energy into his music (even more then he already does)
• Cat and Alex are getting married
• Ashley is chasing her dreams down in ‘bama
• Amanda is launching DailyWorth.com and her second child
• Nicole launched her photo-a-night project
• Barack starts his new job
• VoiceStream drops Acapocalypse
• Bryant has a beautiful new baby

It’s kind of amazing that so much good is happening at a time where life for so many is so shitty.  I am certain you can chalk it up to ambition and perseverance.  None of these things are going to just happen to these people, and none of these people are just sitting back watching these things happen to them.  My friends get shit done, and my friends care about what shit they get done.  That is why they are my friends. It is what draws me to them, and I’m guessing, them to me.  So what do I have to offer them in 2009?  It’s yet to be determined, but stay tuned, and stay pants-less.

P.S. If I forgot anything that any of you would like to share, or to have on my blogdar (borrowed from the gays and modified for the ‘blog’ frequency), please share in the comments. (I can say this with confidence because I know you wont).

Time for another episode of ‘Pimp Your Friends’ here on SYP.   If you are an avid Polaroid user (who isn’t?), it will be old news to you that the company announced earlier this year that they were discontinuing the production of film for their cameras.  This was pretty sad news for the small community of photographers (and hipsters that felt the need for ironic accessories) that still use Polaroid cameras, as the price of Polaroid film on places like eBay and private sellers got pretty expensive (for those of you don’t know why google Supply and Demand).

My dearest friend Nicole Cordier is both a photographer and tries-not-to-be-but-she-is-just-not-cool-enough-not-to-be-a hipster, and this has resulted in her buying up half the remaining supply of Polaroid film on the market for one of her projects.  She is a kick-ass photographer (and mutant).  If you’ve ever seen that picture of the Navy sailor who just returned from World War II and is kissing some broad in the middle of the street in Times Square, then you’ve seen her work.  If perchance you haven’t, you can check it out at her website, you won’t be disappointed (unless you believed me when I said she took that picture of the sailor and chica in the 40’s).

On my most recent visit to the city that never sleeps I got to spend some time catching up with Nicole talking about how stale the IMF and World Bank have become, Eastern Europe as an emerging Albino Sheep breeding ground and it’s impact on the Canadian wig market prices, etc. (We really just got some greasy-ass food and pointed/laughed at people who looked like all they do was eat greasy-ass food).  We also made some home-brew Orangina with some Tropicana Orange Juice and San Pelegrino in the park, but I digress.

Those things were all a gas.  We really did have a ball.  Which is important, but what is more important is that Nicole had been working on putting her computer hacking skills to work in creating a new blog for herself called Cake For Dinner.  It had just about launched and we did some bantering back and forth about Tumblr and Wordpress and why we were/weren’t going to use each platform, and all that geek-cheek (I might have just made that term up, I’ll do a search after posting it). She also gave me a present which she had seen down in Florida that reminded her of me (cause it’s so much fun it makes you pee a little), and when I say ‘gave’ me, I mean we had to walk to Urban Outfitters twenty minutes away so she could buy it and then give it to me.

She knows me well, because it was a book.  But it’s a good book (I used to think that was an oxymoron until I was in my early twenties), and it will be fodder for a series of posts here on SYP in the near future, as well as some existing posts on Cake For Dinner.  So thanks Nicole, for the book, for the bootleg Orangina moonshine in the park, for getting your blog up-and-running (‘If Nicole can do it, then I should be able to do it in half the time with none of the effort!’) and for always being down for some Cake For Dinner (or cupcakes for lunch as it were). I hope this post finds you with your pants…off.