Wishes.

[tablesaw]

I'm approaching this Christmas weird. Moving, and moving in with ojouchan made me realize how much damn stuff I have. I'm trying to avoid accumulating more of it while I still have to exhaust what I already have. That's difficult sometimes, since I often want to keep up with the new, but I feel like I've been doing pretty good.

But since a lot of the easiest gifts for me are media-based (books, games, DVDs), I'm having a hard time making me usual gift suggestions. I almost want to turn off my Amazon wishlist, I certainly don't feel like updating it.

In general, I feel like if you're going to get me media, you should be encouraged to get something used. Obviously, there are always things that can only be easily found new, but if you're at a store, and you have the choice between a used CD and a new CD, I ask that you get me the used CD. In fact, if you just want to give me your old stuff, that's okay too. Obviously, I won't get that happy cherished feeling if you just give me trash, but if it's something you think would make a good gift, I'd be happier if it'd been used before.

Anyway.

This holiday wishlist thing went around a few weeks, and quickly dropped off my radar. It was too early, you see. But now that Thanksgiving is past, I'm starting to get this started. It turns out, I don't really want a lot this Christmas, so coming up with even ten things are pretty hard. I dont expect to be showered with gifts from the internet, especially not with many of the things I'm mentioning here, but it's a way for me to organize everything. Also, if you have already filled out this meme, or if you do so in the future, let me know, so I can keep your list in mind.

Anyway, here are the "rules of the meme":

Step One

• Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
  
• If you wish for real-life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
  
• Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two

• Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
  
• If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use—or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.
  
• You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not — it's your call.
  
• There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

My wishes for the holidays:

1. Running shoes. ojouchan wants to run with me. I want to run with her. But I'm spoiled on running in good shoes, even though my old ones bit the dust a while ago. Ojou just picked up a nice new pair from DSW, so I need to match her so that we can exercise together.
   
2. Bikes. For Ojou and I. Like running, this is something we'd like to be able to do more of together. We'd probably be looking for decent used stuff. Lower priority than running shoes, though.
   
3. Donations to Child's Play. It may seem a silly thing, but Child's Play is a charity that moves a lot of goodwill very efficiently, because it's a volunteer organization that doesn't try to sustain itself outside of the holiday season. It donates videogames and other resources to children's hospitals across the world. And it's a very fun organization. Sadly, Desert Bus for Hope has finished, otherwise I would recommend it as a way to donate.
   
4. Super Mario Galaxy. Like I said, I'm trying not to ask for much media, whether it's DVD, books, or videogames. With the move, it became very apparent that I have too much of them. I'll probably pick up a few of these kinds of things as gifts, because I do love them, but in terms of specifically asking for things, I'm limiting it to just this one, because it's the only thing that makes me sad that I'm not buying as many new games.
   
5. Geocache containers. I do want to hide some caches, but I don't want to just go out with a tupperware container, and I feel self-conscious about creating or camouflaging on by myself. If I had one, I'd go hide it. So it's in that perfect gift-giving zone, something I really want, but barely not enough to get or make it myself.
   
6. Art. ojouchan has been leading the charge to decorate the walls of the house, and she's gotten us some really great stuff. But I still kind of feel like I'm missing something that's quintessentially me. When we moved, I got rid of a framed MC Escher print, but as we were leaving, I felt like its time was over. I haven't really found something to replace it. There've been a few times where I tried to get Penny Arcade or Venture Brothers art, but was either outbid or missed the slim window of opportunity. I'm looking for something is unique and awesome, but I don't really know what it is.
   
7. Frames. Ojou points out that there are things we have that need good frames, which we often have a hard time getting our hands on. So empty frames are good too.
   
8. Something that I can use to transfer my audio cassettes and vinyl to MP3. I'm not really sure what this would be, but I've got tons of tapes and records. Some are relatively rare, and I don't want to lose them. What I want to do is collect them all onto a hard drive so that I can get rid of some of the ones that are just taking up space. In terms of being a packrat, this is an easy way for me to keep my collection without actually having to part with things.
   
9. A really good quilt/comforter. Something big and wonderful and plush that can keep the two of us warm snuggled together all night long and into a wet, rainy day.
   
10. Surprises. (Totally not a cop out.)

Comments

[duchez.livejournal.com]

Isn't #8 essentially a cable to plug a tape recorder/record player's headphone jack to your computer's line-in jack? A normal audio cable? And a good audio software?

That's how I transfer my tapes and records, unless you mean some kind of a gizmo that does this?

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

Re #6: I have a small framed photo of a naked white couple jumping into a lake or gorge. It was the cover of Mother Jones back in the 80s when there was a lead article about, iirc, people having sex without protection, and prints were available for purchase from the photographer. You can't see their faces as the woman has her legs wrapped around his waist and her face buried in his neck, and his head is buried in her long hair. You can see a bit of his genitalia, but not hers. If I had weighed about 50 pounds less and if my husband could swim, the couple looked a little like the two of us at the time when we were dating. It used to hang in our bedroom and I would sometimes tell people it was a picture from our honeymoon. Right now it is in a pile of "stuff" in our basement; if this, to you, constitutes art, I would be happy to mail it to you. If you are coming to the MIT Hunt, I could give it to you then.