Also near the top of the list is Thanksgiving. Origins in some Hollywood-version of American history aside, I like the post-modern version of a holiday with the sole purpose to get together with friends and family and enjoy a big meal together and the pleasure of each others' company. And express gratitude for what we have.
Leave it to a cable channel's commercial to express my thoughts succinctly:
I first heard about the song through xkcd. I can honestly say, with only a trace of sappiness, that I really love the planet (it's where I keep all my stuff!) The details of the whole shebang are infinitely fascinating. I wish I could see them all, but just have to accept books and the internet as the next best thing. The wonders of technology never cease to amaze me either. Infinite creativity! Much like art, which can always surprise me, even if the art turns out to be thousands of years old. Something someone did that long ago being relevant and new to me now. That's very way cool. Impressive complexity and creativity.
And there's the more directly, less esoteric thanks also. I'm grateful for the roof over my head and the food on the table and continued decent health. And the job I don't hate, with mostly cool people, that makes it possible, while providing me with a little extra for comic books, toys, TV, games, and movies, and other entertainments.
It's a holiday for family, who I share so much with, and have given me so much over the years. And for friends, the family I've made for myself, blissfully too numerous to list. You know who you are. Plus Kira, the wonder cat. And M. and Z., who are really everything to me. I have a charmed life.
Thanksgiving does a better job of being Valentine's Day for me than Valentine's Day ever does. So. Happy Thanksgiving, you jive turkeys.
Written before 6 am on the Z8 bus, packed with other early shift employees heading in to work, and with night shift employees heading home to be with their families.
