Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!
It’s 6:30 a.m., and I have kicked off the Eating as a Competitive Sport festitivies by downing a bowl of Cheerios followed by pie. (I had to “even up” the edges. What? Hey, don’t look at me that way…)
I’m just back from NCTE/ALAN (National Council for Teachers of English/Assembly for Adolescent Literature at NCTE) which was tres groovy. I got to meet a lot of very cool teachers and librarians and other people who are huge promoters of teen literature, and anyone who champions teenagers is a hero. So, you know, hug your school librarian. Tell your English teachers they rock. I also got to ogle many wonderful YA writers whom I admire. But mostly, I was starstruck and felt shy and had to admire them from afar. ‘Cause sometimes, when I’m feeling starstruck, I smile like a moron and nod a lot and occasionally snort while laughing. Not pretty.
But it’s Thanksgiving! Huzzah! Let the gorging begin!
Here is a list of things I am thankful for:
My family and friends, who are kind to put up with me
My freakish cat, who is probably plotting against me
The way my kid makes me laugh with pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth
The way the Russian ladies at my favorite pedicure place call me “Luba” which is Russian for love and which makes me feel sort of loved when they say it so that I never correct them
My favorite time-wasting website: www.icanhascheezburger.com
Guacamole
Birthdays
Really awesome, life-changing books
Really fun, not-trying-to-change-your-life books
Pants-wettingly funny books
Really awful books that make me feel better about my own crappy prose (Just being honest here…)
Coffee!
The Dallas Cowboys having a good year
Monty Python reruns
All the cool people I’ve been lucky to meet this year, including many of you. Live long and prosper
Livejournal
The people who leave me wonderful music suggestions on LJ. My iPod now boasts Tilly and the Wall, Sigur Ros, Goldfrapp, and countless other new tunes, thanks to you
iTunes
Finishing The Sweet Far Thing without completely losing my mind and my hair!
That starred review in Publishers Weekly for TSFT
Writing
Dr. Who (though not thankful I have to wait for the new season)
My health (corny, but true)
My favorite reality show: “Librarians: The Amazing Race Against the Patriot Act!” (Okay, that’s not really a reality show, but it IS a reality. They fight the good fight. Please see previous reference to Hugging Your Librarian.)
My favorite secret t-shirt, the one I rarely get to wear but enjoy owning, which says, in small lettering: READ A F**KING BOOK
Laughing till your stomach aches
People you can be totally goofy with
Fart jokes
The way the light looks as it’s waking up, all pink and new and full of possibility
The way the sky looks when a storm is coming in, all gray and heavy and threatening and exciting
That I’m not as screwed up as I was when I was twenty, but that I have all new screw-ups to experience. Being Fully Human 101
That, as it turns out, everybody’s sorta screwed up
Snow days
Drinking out of a garden hose on a hot day
Long walks past autumn-glazed leaves
Dogs
Teenagers (they keep us all honest)
People who are comfortable with themselves
Really good socks
Dark movie theatres, a flickering screen, sharing the cathartic experience with strangers, all with popcorn and a Coke
Brooklyn (fuhgeddaboutit!)
Faure’s Requiem, particularly the Sanctus part
The Widor Toccata, played on a really amazing, really loud organ
Blade Runner
That my job wardrobe consists of jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers
Crazy news stories like the one I just read on cnn.com about the woman who had been eating her hair for years and ended up with a giant, ten-pound hairball in her intestines. You cannot make this stuff up.
Anything that makes me think, that changes my perspective, so that it’s like going to the eye doctor and having her slip new lenses before your eyes, “Better here…or here?” so that you finally see that the letter you thought was an F is, in fact, a V, and now you are grateful that you can see the V.
Snuggling
People with accents, doesn’t matter what kind
Art
The almost-spiritual beauty of physics
Truth-tellers
Whistle-blowers
Aid-givers
Civil rights-demanders
Compassion
Love
Peace–still a good idea
What are you thankful for?
Wishing everyone a good day.