Something I'm not a big fan of are "Forced Present Buying Situations." This has nothing to do with friends and family or what not, but those situations like "Secret Santa" where you have to buy a gift for someone you don't care about. You can buy things like candles, which is always good, after all, who doesn't want a candle? In fact, the Candle may be the perfect gift for someone you don't care about. And while I'm at it, don't buy your significant other kitchen appliances, that's really not too good.
What I found out this past time I was put into a situation was like this, is that there's a perfect place to find thoughtless presents. No, it's not that reject island from the Rudolph claymation. Go to a mall, and enter a department store. You know how you never go to the 3rd floor of a department store because it's all useless crap up there, or electronics or kitchen appliances? Well, no one buys their new TV at Sears anymore, so that part of the department store is usually quite empty, so why go up there?
Here's why ... because that useless crap is the perfect gift for that unspecial person you don't care about at all. You wouldn't believe the things you could find up there. Nick-knacks, things you can put on your shelf that serve no purpose at all, a set of sporks, candles (of course), ornaments ... just about anything that reflects no thoughtfulness whatsoever. I now have the perfect out for this situation as long as department stores exists. My previous out was hoping I drew my own name so I didn't have to buy a gift at all. This is almost as good.
Now for how wonderful life can be and the definition of the Avalanche High.
Avalanche highs occur when you've reached the complete bliss of life going perfectly. As the state of bliss is attained, you tend to get so unintentionally arrogant about being removed from real life, that something awful happens. It's almost as if there's a force that's saying, you forgot bad things can happen, so here's the worst. Whammy!
This movie has the perfect definition of this, when James Stewart is giving his whole, "I'd pull the moon right out of the sky" shtick, and the girl accidentally loses her clothes and hides in the bushes. Things are going so great for him, and it appears he's finally about to turn a corner in his life and become happier, then boom, he gets the bad news of his dad. It's just an awful thing to go through. Maybe when something awful happens, no matter what you're doing, whether your watching a commercial for Uncle Ben's rice, or swimming the English channel, that's a natural high compared to the awful news, which debunks my theory a bit, but aside from my own personal experience, and with this movie depicting it to perfection, I saw the Avalanche High again this weekend.
Tampa had their "Great Urban Race" this weekend. It's kind of like that show "Amazing Race" but more scavenger hunty. Friends of mine entered and performed well. They met up with another team, whom they teamed up with, and ended up in 19th and 20th place. When I met up with them, they had the beautiful high on all their faces. Not sparkling Northern Lights, but an exercise high combined with that feeling of competition and doing something unique that you've never done before. As we were all having a beer, and the racers were reliving all the encounters they had along the journey, one of the girls got a call. It was bad news, and I witnessed the Avalanche High again.
In essence, the Avalance High makes you go from being able to pull the moon out of the sky to impress someone you're falling in love with, to ordering plane tickets so you can go back to the ones whom already love you, so you can all be together in your times of despair.
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