1/16
i'm thankful that it snowed more yesterday, a fresh coat of paint on the world. i'm thankful that i was able to go on a run in the afternoon once it slowed down; i'm thankful that the snow was deep, which made it feel like more of a workout and more of an adventure, but not so deep i couldn't run. i'm thankful for the way that snow makes visible the paths that people take through the world. i'm thankful, on the back half of my run, to have been running back over the tracks i had made in the front half. i'm thankful for the two deer who suddenly appeared on the trail in front of me in the woods. i'm thankful that it is -2 outside, even though that is way too cold, because it means the snow won't melt today.
i'm thankful for "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."
i'm thankful for dolores o'riordan and for "dreams," which is a perfect love song. i'm thankful for the reverb, for the bass drum, for the glittering guitar. i'm thankful for the kaleidoscope of moods, how it can be wistful and exuberant and explosive at the same time. i'm thankful for the strangeness of the wordless chant, which is such a particular choice that makes the song not feel like others, a birth mark that distinguishes it and makes it sepcial. i'm thankful for the lyrics of the first bridge, which capture so beautifully the feeling of being in love with a specific person, how that person's love for you can seem to open a new kind of self inside of you, a new window you can climb through to something else:
"I know I felt like this before
But now I'm feeling it even more
Because it came from you
Then I open up and see
The person falling here is me
A different way to be"
i'm thankful for this appreciation of frank ocean's 2017. i'm thankful for slowdive's 2017 album, which is impossibly lush. i'm thankful for this list of favorite words. i'm thankful for this, which is the best horoscope i have ever gotten, including not one but two mentions of me eating cake. i'm thankful that though i have been struggling with some negative thought patterns the past few days at work, i've been feeling a bit better physically than i was before, which is good, because i feel that if i work hard enough i can try counter the thought patterns, push back, reframe, but getting through the physical feelings of badness they're intertwined with is harder.
i'm thankful that during the holidays, i changed my daily alarm from 6:37 am to 7:00 am, which feels like a small amount of time but one that i think makes a big difference, and i'm thankful i've kept that. i'm thankful for this dog who is overwhelmed with the joy of his new bed. i'm thankful for this theory why palm trees are weird. i'm thankful for this new etsy shop from weird art genius julia carusillo which "merges the temporality of celebrity instagram stories and paparazzi shots with the gradual, soothing permanence of the art of embroidery." i'm thankful for the surprises embedded in this book of cross sections.
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