12/4

I’m thankful that i’m sitting on the airport shuttle back to bloomington and though the feels like temperature is negative six degrees, the bus has a good heater. 

I’m thankful that d got us exit row seats for our flight and that it was one of the most comfortable (read: least uncomfortable) flights i’ve had in a while.

I’m thankful we went to the gas station across the street from the hotel yesterday to buy plane snacks. I’m thankful for tabasco flavored slim jim, which reminds me of being a child and the kind bar melted into its wrapper and bold & spicy chex mix (i’m thankful for breath mints).

I’m thankful that though the person behind me took off their shoes and stuck their sock feet so far under my seat that they came out the other side behind my feet, which was unpleasant for a number of reasons, i tried to imagine a person feeling very uncomfortable and wanting to grant themselves this little thing to try to make themselves less uncomfortable.

I’m thankful that the interior lights of the shuttle are off, even though that shows how it’s already night dark and it’s only 5:30 here. I’m thankful that though “losing” three hours sucks, at least we’ll get home at a decent hour. i’m thankful for how much i liked mountain time this trip, how i felt like i slept deeply and fully every night and would wake up in the morning feeling rested like I had slept really late and it would only be like 7:15.

i’m thankful for the hotel room d found for us, which was probably the nicest hotel room i’ve stayed in. i’m thankful that i think we did what we wanted to do with this vacation, which was to always be okay with just relaxing, to not use pressure to get every bit of potential enjoyment to make the vacation into another form of work, which is something we both really needed a break from. 

I’m thankful for the day we had walking through the casinos on the strip and am thankful that day was enough for the whole trip. I’m thankful to have had the experience of the casinos, which are profoundly strange spaces. 

I’m thankful for the interesting tension between the various design and architectural theming the casinos do to distinguish themselves from the others with the occupants of the majority of the space, which are huge colorful brightly lit slot machines that look identical to the machines in every other casino. I’m thankful for the strange undulating curve of the machines, which i’m sure is some kind of psychological manipulation.

I’m thankful for the way that fresh air tastes when you step out of these caverns of cigarette smoke and other scents designed to deodorize the smell of cigarette smoke but that seem to somehow just amplify them.

I’m thankful that our hotel had a movie theater attached to it and it was one of those movie theaters with leather recliners in place of the seats. I’m thankful we watched the last jedi twice and that it was wonderful and moving and exciting both times. I’m thankful for all the performances, but especially carrie fisher and mark hamill. I’m thankful we also watched jumanji, which was pleasant and had some funny moments.

I’m thankful that by chance our hotel was near the surprisingly large chinatown and we ate our fill of dim sum and sushi and ramen and pho and korean barbeque and shaved ice and boba tea. I’m thankful that i ate just fruit for breakfast everday re: that tip from glowing up i mentioned and that this was a successful strategy and that at no point during the trip did i feel that meatsweats horror of i have eaten too much rich food on vacation.

I’m thankful that i haven’t run in a week, which is the longest i’ve gone without running in i don’t even know, years and years. I’m thankful to miss it and to look forward to doing it again starting tomorrow, for how it makes me feel, but i’m glad that this was such a vacation i took a break even from something i never take a break from.