The Thankslisting

I'll keep this short:

1) I'm thankful for having a decent steady job this holiday season, unlike some in recent years. I don't think of myself as particularly materialistic (then again who does?) but money in the bank sure does make things run more smoothly.

2) I'm thankful for having kids that are pretty good and pretty smart and are not embarrassed about liking some of the same things that their dad likes too. It's easy to pull off when they're 5 or 6, trickier when they're 12 or 15.

3) I'm thankful for having a wife that at a minimum tolerates (without venom) and quite a bit of the time shares or joins in my interests and hobbies. It's a huge win to go through life with a partner that doesn't require you to lock away a part of yourself to keep them happy, and that's what I have. I've had it the other way too, so this is the voice of experience: that experience sucked, it's much better this way.

4) I'm thankful for having friends that are low-maintenance, long-term, and solid. We can go for months without talking, caught up in the routines of life, and have a brief chat out of the blue and be caught up just like that.

5) I'm thankful for this whole internet RP community thing. When I started playing these things the "community" was pretty much the few other kids at school that played and the letters section of Dragon. Now we have so many, many, ways to run into each other, swap stories, gang up on each other, bore each other, and generally get in each other's hair - it's awesome! See a game you like or hear about it from someone,  look up the company, find a discussion board, download a podcast, find some local players ... these are remarkable things! Can't find one you like on a subject you like then make your own!  Then publish it online and see if anyone else likes it! When I stop and think about this whole thing it's just amazing how it all works now. I still prefer to play in person with local friends but the level of support out there now is just amazing and something I almost take for granted now, but it's still incredible when I think back to how we did things in prior decades.

So let's all party like the pilgrims ... violent, occultist-hunting pilgrims ...

... or maybe we could just watch football.

... and let's not forget the fuzzies.