Ten silly things for which I'm thankful
Ten silly things for which I'm thankful
At the bottom: three things that really matter.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States. This was pre-scheduled Wednesday night, so barring something unforeseen, Stephanie and I traveled eastward to catch up with various family members, watch the Dallas Cowboys lose and consume way too many calories before a regret-filled drive back home. Anything less than that was a disappointment.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because it’s basically Christmas without the wrapping paper. Even my Thanksgivings away from family have been awesome; your mileage may vary depending on how much you like cinema-going or drinking craft beer, but a Thanksgiving spent alone isn’t the worst.
In honor of the holiday, here are ten (silly) things for which I’m thankful.
1. McDonald’s. The aesthetic. The Happy Meal toys. The Coke. Mock it all you want, but sometimes you just need a Quarter Pounder. There’s better chance than not, depending on our nearest location’s willingness to piss off its workers, that our Thanksgiving road trip started with a pit stop under the Golden Arches. (I promise this isn’t a paid advertisement, but if you’re reading this Ronald, HMU.)
2. Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. It might be that my expectations just aren’t super high when it comes to Pokémon games, but I don’t get much of the criticism levied at the latest critter-filled cartridges. Graphical glitches aside, I’ve had a blast playing Scarlet in tandem with Stephanie’s Violet.
3. The Cleveland Cavaliers. Their ascendance back into the Eastern Conference contender conversation is about two years too early, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’ve been a fan since the first LeBron reign and have seen a lot of high ands lows; this is different. It’s fun following the franchise with it both in a healthy and Kingless position.
4. Judy’s Pasta Salad. IYKYK.
5. My library card. I use it infrequently to check out a lot of books at one time that take me months to read, and it astonishes me that such a service can still exist in 2022. It’s beautiful, and I hope to someday be in position to funnel frivolous funds into our local system. Visit yours!!!
6. Whose Line Is It Anyway? Both versions, but especially the relaunched edition with Alicia Tyler. Stephanie and I powered through every season on HBO Max earlier this year and couldn’t stop laughing. A imagine it won’t take long for us to start a rewatch.
7. Water. Several years ago, I gave up pop and hadn’t started drinking craft beer (never developed a taste for crappy beer, thankfully). I was all in on water. I love water, and need to drink more of it and less of everything else; this is as much an accountability exercise as it is a genuine profession of thanks.
8. Metazoo. It’s a trading card game akin to Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering, except far less concerned with the gameplay than it is collectability. I’m about three months removed from learning about it (first exposed during a trip to Point Pleasant, W.Va., for the Mothman Festival) and still don’t really understand how releases work or why there’s such a secondary-market fervor. It all feels artificially created to capitalize on the renewed card-collecting craze during COVID-19 lockdowns, so that part’s kind of icky, but the art is cool and the opening of packs contributed to a delightful evening in Athens, Ohio.
9. LexLive. I was a vocal doubter about the viability of LexLive — a local entertainment complex housing a movie theater, a bowling alley, arcade and a sportsbar — to succeed. It just seemed like such a massive investment in an area that, outside of when the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team is playing, has little going on. I didn’t anticipate that LexLive would be as fun a destination as it has been. It’s a regular fixture in our date-night rotation, so consider me a hypocrite.
10. Puppet History. It’s like The Muppets, except more educational, raunchier and with an internal lore that may or not actually matter all that much. It’s a hoot, and The Professor is the cutest host that’s ever hosted anything ever. Here’s a link to the first episode.
Three more (serious) thanks
1. Stephanie. She is simply the sweetest person I’ve ever known. I don’t want to get too mushy here, but I couldn’t have a better partner in life. She’s got my back in a way that no one ever has, and I hope to someday come close to matching her effort.
2. Steamboat and Maple. I mean, look at ’em! For every instance they rattle me throughout the day (including unsolicited 4 a.m. wake-up calls), there are 10 where they melt my heart. Cats are the freakin’ best, y’all.
3. The Power Rangers fandom. This week has been tough, to say the least, for anyone who cares about Power Rangers. Actively participating in most online fandoms is an exercise in tolerability more than anything, and I’ve tried to scale back my own involvement in recent months. But the way it came together to celebrate the life of the late Jason David Frank? That deserves a standing ovation from Aquitar to Zentor.
