Now that we live in the age of sincerity, I thought I would give it a shot. To be clear, however sincere this post may purport to be, it pales in comparison to Rob’s classic Easter post.
Due to a variety of recent life circumstances, I have found myself, on occasion, in the capable and caring hands of my family. Growing up in North America, family isn’t something a young man is overtly taught to value. Family, rather, is term homophobic politicians use to convey a baseless and dangerously vague set of values. Perhaps as a result of this, I have been surprised to find that I am genuinely grateful and appreciative of my family.
At a stage in life where freedom and independence are paramount, I am, perhaps in some part due to this very freedom, only now beginning to understand the value of family. For this, I am thankful.
I have been thinking about your posting over the weekend. About whether it is the particular or the general I should think about. Whether or not I am actually in the habit of being thankful at all. And whether there are actually things I could not be thankful for in my relatively happy life – relative to people in other places and relative to those that have gone before. Having lived a charmed life, I have my health and can still header a goal despite Daniel’s best efforts. I have watched a happy family form in the house that I live in over the last ten years and its number now stands at four humans and two mousers. I find myself in the era between pre-antibiotic urban plagues and the biological grey glob of the future described in the April 2000 article “why the future does not need us”. Despite a local drought, my garden still produces – and produces swiss chard inordinantly and well beyond my needs. Zymergy makes my ale and bread. Gravity is stable. Through no choice of my own, I find myself and all I know on the fortunate side of the balance of world power, as my family has been for the generations since the English and Scots stopped warring. I have avoided making the news. I am able to read and write. I can foresee a day that I will build a catapult and may own a sailboat for puttering about. The sun is not soon becoming red dwarf. Despite the alarming news of war, terrorism and fears for the future, it is possible to hope. Knowing these things, I should be thankful every day and be embarrassed when I realize I am not.
Thanks Al. Happy Thanksgiving. I challenge anyone to be so thankful!
I think, without question, as Canada stands at the pinnacle of fine arts, being the first of North America’s nations to embrace both the Backstreet Boys, and the Spice Girls, it is appropriate that we, as a nation, hold our day of thanks on the birthdate of one of the greatest contributor to the arts, that guy who sang for REO Speedwagon.
While our neighbours to the south give thanks because of some pilgrims and a dimwitted bird, we sit down with our loved ones in honour of the singer of such classics as Can’t Fight This Feeling, and all those other REO Speedwgon songs that have served as a soundtrack to life, for everyone, for so long.
We all give thanks for the Speedwagon in our own way, some remember by reliving the memories, through various montages and compilations, while many more remember in silence, their pain at the present lack of Speedwagon too great to put into words.
However you choose to remember, never forget this….God Bless REO Speedwagon.
i’m thankful for gobblefest.
fucking gobblefest.
Gobblefest indeed. Horton’s Choice, my ill-fated mid-tempo power-ballad band enjoyed playing Gobblefest in (i think) ’97. Good times. (btw, if anyone knows of how I could get a copy of the video of that performance, as I know it was recorded, I would be appreciative)
However, with all due respect to the people Sydney, it should be understood that while Northern Cape Breton is quite beautiful, Sydney is the worst place in the world. The tar ponds are as bad as they say.
oh shit, I completely forgot about horton’s choice.
didn’t you play queen charlotte with us? Any chance of still having that tape?
How could you forget Horton’s Choice? We were, after all, the only high-school band in Charlottetown who actually owned their own drum kit and amps.
Perhaps this will trivialize my original post, but I am thankful for brilliant design.
A few examples I’ve been admiring lately include the Nintendo GameCube logo, which is a great variation on the old N64 logo and the logo for a Toronto-based company called NextMove designed by logo-guru Tom Hughes (his logos include Lotus, ThinkPad, Macintosh, etc.). Enjoy:
there’s no argument that as a physical place, sydney is the worst place in the world.
but what it lacks in beauty it more than makes up for with the best music scene on the planet. i can’t imagine a festival like gobblefest anywhere else. i saw a ridiculous amount of bands this weekend, and there is not a single one of them that i was not impressed by.
but a music scene is not just about musicians. the hundreds of people who attended all the shows this weekend (and skipped out on dinner with their families to see windom earle do the thanksgiving remix of “beefchowmein” – “turkeychowmein”) were incredible. the only times i’ve seen a crowd as receptive and open minded (i doubt sydney’s answer to aphex twin, art damage, would go over well in charlottetown – but then again i don’t know how most people would react to a guy who’s last performance involved drawing his own blood on stage) was when i saw rock ranger play to an audience consisting of people who moved from sydney to halifax (because of jobs, and possibly the smell).
but again, sydney is not the best place in the world. it’s just fucking awesome for music.
I’m thankful I don’t live in a cave in Afghanistan.
Or in the United States, for that matter.
I am thankful for the term “angsty blog.” It rates somewhere above “cellar door,” but below “killah bees.”
I am with Steve on this one.
It has been about one year now since I got sick and finally realized all the little things I took for granted and imagined how thankful I would be if I would only get better. That year’s Thanksgiving meal was intravenous1. I also developed higher appreciation and love for my family and friends. Those are the massive powerful ones. I could subdivide and say I’m glad it was all free, the doctors nurses and facilities were clean, nobody stole my stuff, the food was tasty2, etc… but, I could ramble forever. I’m also happy to have Em.
Other important things I’m thankful for include: bass guitars, puppies, style sheets, music, eating, hiding secret messages in span tags, pancakes and shelter.
2. Really! It was good stuff, if you ever find yourself in the QEH, email me and I’ll let you know how to order the ‘good’ stuff not listed on the menu, like pankcakes… mmm.