12/2

i'm thankful to be hopeful on that front, since his first great song, "through the wire," was also born from trauma. i'm thankful for his voice on that song, which he pushes through a wired-shut jaw, past pain, and for how it dances over the sped-up soul singing and warm bass. i'm thankful for the ecstatic conga roll that brings in the chorus. i'm thankful that the line from "bound 2" where he raps "hey, ayo, we made the thanksgiving / so hey, maybe we can make it to christmas" takes on a kind of new significance—not just about the life of a relationship but about life, about the value of holding on until the next milestone and the next one, to use them as handholds for survival. i'm thankful to watch the "bound 2" video, for the silly transcendent happiness that's pictured there, and am thankful to hope that even in the depths of his sadness kanye understands and appreciates how much kim loves him. 

i'm thankful, in another early christmas gift, that it seems like scott and kourtney are back together. i'm thankful to hope that he's worked as hard as he can to make himself deserving of her affection and am thankful to hope that his efforts are meaningful to her, that they re-lit a candle that had gone out. i'm thankful to hope kim and kourtney are able to support each other and talk about what it's like to have husbands with mental illness. i'm thankful for how kourtney is constantly wearing yeezy tour gear, for how proud she seems that kanye is part of her family. i'm thankful to hope that means something to kanye, that it makes him feel more like a part of her family.

i'm thankful for the new game from jason rohrer, which sounds fascinating. i'm thankful for the trailers for the new kojima and the new zelda. i'm thankful i downloaded cool boarders 3, a game we had for the original playstation, to my vita. i'm thankful it has not aged so well, but am thankful for the memories of sitting on the living room carpet with my brother and my mom it brings back. i'm thankful to look forward to our bus trip to chicago, which will provide lots of time for video games and/or reading. i'm thankful for d's love of the minigame/activity in pokemon sun where you clean and pet your pokemon. i'm thankful for how happy cute things make her and thankful to help try to fill her life with as many cute things as i can.

i'm thankful that though work has been busy, i've felt a lot better about it. i'm thankful that i taught my coworker, who i think sometimes worries about her technical skill level, to do something for a customer with javascript and i'm thankful for her glee when the console returned the indication that it worked. i'm thankful for a customer, who i had been having a difficult frustrating time trying to get to understand something but who i finally got there, and am thankful for the all caps "YOU MADE MY WEEK" and litany of thank yous she sent me once the thing she wanted to do was finally working. i'm thankful to hope that i can make other customers feel that happy today, but i'm thankful to accept that all i can do is my best. i'm thankful that it's friday now and that d and i are on vacation next monday and tuesday.

i'm thankful to have uploaded some christmas songs i recorded over the years to a soundcloud playlist, which you can listen to here if you'd like. i'm thankful for sweaters and scarves, for long socks and boots, for thick blankets. i'm thankful for mugs of hot tea.