Complex Numbers

December's Eve

Well, I guess this is it for November.

PROMPT November 30th

Congratulations on making it to the last day of the competition! What was your favorite prompt from the last month? What was the most rewarding aspect of participating in the competition?

I gotta say the clear winner, for me, of Favorite Prompt was the Thanksgiving one where we talked about indigenous peoples. Not for my own entry; I kind of strayed off topic, but seeing everyone else's responses was enlightening and illuminating.

I'm actually not irritated about going into December this year, for once. My biggest gripe about December is all the shitty decorations and lame music and faux merriment forced upon us by the Consumer Gods. You know why people get stabby this time of year? It's from having to hear "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime" or "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" on repeat at the stores.

But this year? This year, there is one beautiful, shiny gold nugget in the shitstorm that is 2020, to wit: I don't have to go anywhere. I mean, I usually don't have to go anywhere, but this year it is expected of me to not go anywhere. I can continue to get groceries delivered and other needs met by internet ordering. No dealing with holiday traffic in potential ice storms. No visual assaults by crappy blinking colored lights. No overload of angry red and bloated green. No tacky displays in the shops because I won't be going to any shops. And most importantly of all: no Damnation Army bell-ringalingalingalinging.

Look, I get that a lot of people are actually into that stuff. I'm not asking you to dislike what I dislike. If it makes you happy, great. It makes me grumpy, agitated, depressed, irritated (I know I already used that word) and antisocial. I'm also not ragging on Christmas itself, or any of the other holidays around this time of year; hell, I love the solstice with its promise of renewal and rebirth. It's just the incessant, unyielding hammering of it all, the constant reminder that We Have To Be Merry Or Else! (And Don't Forget To BUY GIFTS!!!)

What I need is cheer in February, not December. February sucks ass.

But like I said, we're all different and while I'm not about to change, I don't expect anyone to agree with me, either. Which brings me to the second part of today's prompt: the most rewarding aspect of this challenge, a thing that keeps me coming back to participate, is finding out what other people like, dislike, and do. Discovering our differences and also illuminating our commonalities.

It's been fun doing that. Stick around -- I hope to have made a blog entry every day this year, and there's only 31 days left to go.