Grumpy Back Seat Driver Syndrome
16.12.07, 7:01 pm

Aha. Just listened to a voicemail message from my gran that said, �Hello love. Just to let you know that I�ve spoken to your dad, and we�re on for next Sunday, and Amanda is now coming. So that�s, erm� well, yes. Anyway, speak to you soon. Byeee!� God, but what about all that Christmas cooking?!

Thankyou for all of your lovely messages. I�m still feeling pretty sad about it all, not least because the best part about going home was to see the cats. Relationships with pets are so very different from anything else, because they�re so uncomplicated. All you do is simply love them, and so when they die all you feel is sadness. In that way, it�s very simple. My black cat was a truly wonderful friend, and I shall miss having a warm ball of purring fur sitting on my feet a lot. I hope he's having fun in cat heaven.

Anyway, on to less sad news. Thursday was mine and James�s one-year anniversary, which I am incredibly proud of. I can�t believe someone as emotionally stunted as myself has managed to have a functional relationship with a boy for so long, with no arguments or disagreements whatsoever. As I mushed months ago, we just fit.

We decided ages ago to not bother buying each other presents, as Christmas and his birthday were very soon, and just went out for a meal to celebrate instead. I decided to get him a card at the last minute, but due to working late couldn�t get one from the good card shop. Instead I had to get one from the crappy newsagent on the way home. It was the worst card ever, proclaiming �Happy Anniversary!� with two bears on the front (and only cost a pound - a clear warning sign), and then became infinitely worse when I got it home and opened it to find it said, ��to the both of you!� inside. Thus I had to write a small �This wasn�t supposed to be here� note and attach it with an arrow. If anyone is in a nosy/mushy mood, then I just wrote, �Thankyou for the most fantastic year of my life. Here�s hoping the next one�s as good. Love you so much.� Anyway, the meal was fantastic, and when we went home again put on an REM CD, in a nod to nostalgia, as one of the first conversations we had on our first date was about our love for REM. After about fifteen minutes we�d both dozed off. So we went to bed. And that was the anniversary.

Yesterday I battled into town and finally bought some more Christmas presents. Had a bash at wrapping some of them this afternoon, which wasn�t too successful. Although I don�t know what I was expecting, seeing as I can�t wrap and my paper was 3-rolls-for-a-pound from the Pound Shop. I also used some of my mini bows that I purchased from WH Smiths and the boy, after initially dismissing them as �girly rubbish�, suddenly started eyeing them up and trying to sneak some out of the bag. He�s awful at wrapping too; the living room currently looks like the Sellotape monster�s just vomited all over a load of gold boxes. It can only get worse when I arrive home, as my sister is the queen of wrapping and will hand out presents beautifully wrapped and dripping with matching tags, bows and bits of curly string.

Man, and he was telling me yesterday that he has to get his mum, dad, sister and grandad individual Christmas cards, all with specific greetings on them, i.e. "Happy Christmas, Mum" etc. It's so very, very strange. Ended up sharing my opinion of those types of cards ("Well, erm, I just find them a bit, erm, lame..."), which didn't go down too well, as he decided to try and shove his cold hands down the back of my jeans. Harrumph.

Last week at work, thank Christ. I have two work Christmas parties to go to as well � the technical staff�s one on Tuesday afternoon, and then the department�s one on Thursday. Indie Chick�s camping out on my floor Thursday night, so I guess I should be nice and let her have the bed. And then Friday I�m off to New Mills and the House of Horrors. Everyone�s very tense at the moment, as Sproglet Son won�t come home.

I bought James Diablo II as an early Christmas present, and am consequently paying for it as we have spent the whole weekend playing it. I inevitably get Grumpy Back Seat Driver Syndrome, and he get annoyed when he dies or when he has to fork out 8000 bits of gold to resurrect his mercenary. It�s still the best bloody computer gave EVER though.

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