12/11/15
i'm thankful for the squirrel who i came upon while he dug into the dirt at the base of a dogwood tree outside the art museum. i'm thankful for his industrious clawing and then his self-conscious glance back at me. i'm thankful that rooting my feet to the ground and holding my arms tight against my sides convinced him that i was not a threat and that he could continue digging while i watched. i'm thankful i got the chance to watch him digging there for a few minutes before he ran off to dig somewhere else. i'm thankful for theodore robert bowie, in whose memory the tree was planted. i'm thankful for the subtle dedication marker that i learned that from, as well as for the way the marker taught me that the tree is, more specifically, a chinese dogwood (cornus kousa (i'm thankful for things that have latin names)).
i'm thankful that a failed omelette is just the larval stage of a successful scramble. i'm thankful for caramelized mushrooms and onions. i'm thankful for extra sharp cheddar cheese (i'm thankful, even if maybe i couldn't pass a blind test with regular sharp, for what the extra implies) and i'm thankful for the way it melts. i'm thankful for what sweetness sliced red grapes add to a simple dinner salad. i'm thankful for beer and i'm thankful for more beer. i'm thankful for how peaceful a night at home feels after a night out. i'm thankful for d putting her legs up on my lap on the couch while she works. i'm thankful for listening to music on good speakers with the sound muted on our video games. i'm thankful for the chromecast audio that d gave me as an early christmas present, which allows me to listen to music on good speakers while also reading twitter and googling things and making notes for these emails and other important activities.
i'm thankful for a tweet that reminded me of magic mike xxl, which was my favorite movie of the year by far. i'm thankful for the overwhelming sense of joy in that movie, for the incredible cinematography; i'm thankful that it is the first time i have truly appreciated dance as an art form; i'm thankful for the way that each set piece is better than the last. i'm thankful for "pony." i'm thankful that another tweet, which mentioned do you like prince movies, hyperlinked in my brain to the first one to remind me that i never listened to the episode where they talk about magic mike xxl because i wanted to avoid spoilers. i'm thankful for the times when you realize, after something you loved has ended, that you missed a little part of it and can go back to it again. i'm thankful for the sense of wonder of alex and wesley's conversation about the movie, for the affection they always have for each other, for their thoughtfulness and spirit of inquiry, for the way they encourage each other and support each others' ideas. i'm thankful for wesley's great analogy about the movie, that magic mike xxl wrings out the question marks of magic mike and then dips what's left in a bucket of exclamation points. i'm thankful that the podcast was so great for so long, and i'm thankful for the opportunity to miss it and to hope for it to return in some form or another.
i'm thankful for the error message soundcloud gave me when i tried to like the song "soap" by melanie martinez. i'm thankful for the way it said "unable to like—try again later" and the way that seemed so human of it. i'm thankful for open mike eagle's ep "a special episode of." i'm thankful for his voice on an early verse rapping, "you can watch us on the newsfeeds / fucking y'all's mornings up / until America admits that it likes dogs more than us / and i can see the super bowls of the future: / the ferguson blacks vs. missouri state troopers / the privacy rights vs. the personal computers / concussion researchers vs. university boosters / i graduated college, i purchased all the extra books / i'm supposed to be living in a house with a breakfast nook." i'm thankful for polysyllabic rhymes and i'm thankful when someone can use them to say something.