Home for the holidaaaaaaaaays....

Home visiting with my loving parents and grandparents, after a particularly grueling two and a half hour drive (it SHOULD take an hour; holiday traffic in Atlanta was rather horrid today).

Almost witnessed an accident on the way up when two idiots ahead of me in lanes on each side both attempted to move into the empty space in front of me (without signaling, naturally).

I noted the "Bush for President" stickers on both cars and for a brief moment contemplated allowing them to slam into each other, but my conscience bit me and I blipped the horn instead. They both swerved back into their own lanes without further incident....and then shot me the bird as I passed between them. Nice.

I intend to make a Thanksgiving Day post tomorrow (today? oops, yes, "today", hadn't realized it was that late) detailing the many things I am grateful for. If you have a sap allergy, I would recommend staying the hell away from here for at least another day.

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Currently playing: Vivaldi -- The Four Seasons (Marriner, Loveday, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields). There's a reason this recording is in the Decca Legends series.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for a family that I can be with this holiday season, a family that's always been supportive and loving, a family where I am privileged to still have two grandparents with me (married sixty-five years plus) and two parents who love each other more every day (married thirty-five years plus).

I'm grateful for my health. I don't have any life-threatening or even -inconveniencing illnesses. My eyes are clear and my hearing is good. I'm able to do all the things I love so much without difficulty.

I give thanks for the blessing of music. Vivaldi, Metallica, Yanni, Jimmy Buffett, Symphony X, Phil Collins, Fates Warning, Craig Chaquico, all these and more ring out from my stereo or computer daily. Music really does wash away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

I'm thankful I live in a country where I'm free to come and go as I please, to work where I want, to drive from state to state without armed guards and rubble-choked streets being a common sight.

I'm eternally thankful for my friends. I don't have many, but the ones I do have are the best in the world, some of them having put up with me for more than a decade. I don't know how you do it, but I'm not going to question. Thanks to those who've held me together when I was breaking and laughed with me during some of the best times of my life.

I'm grateful for the fact that there are so many excellent writers out there, providing me with hours of escape and entertainment and occasionally inspiring me on my own wordsmithing quests. I'm likewise grateful to my mother for instilling in me the voracious love of reading that's stood me in such good stead over the years.

I give lots of thanks for my new job. Having money isn't the be-all and end-all of existence, but it damned sure does make things easier.

I'm thankful for the people at ARTC who've made me so much at home over the past five years.

I'm glad for my friends who've found the loves of their life in recent years. They all deserve happiness and I'm delighted to see them having found it.

I give thanks and endless respect to our troops who are stationed overseas and in troubled places in the world, giving of themselves to ensure peace and security for the rest of us.

I'm grateful for my endlessly racing mind, which keeps me from going to sleep at nights but also keeps me striving to grow and change and learn more about the world at all times.

I'm thankful, in short, for living.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and I hope you have a great holiday.

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Currently playing: Bob Culbertson -- The Touch. Chapman Stick music from a master of the instrument.

Grr. Arrgh.

I am NOT thankful, however, for Bellsouth, whose continued inability to keep my home telephone line up and running is beginning to *REALLY* *PISS* *ME* *OFF*.

Idiots.

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Currently playing: Craig Chaquico -- Once in a Blue Universe. The one good thing I got out of a bad relationship several years ago -- the discovery of this guy.