tinhuvielartanis: (Spork)

marevaporum.png

So here am I, spooning tiny bites of Stove Top Stuffing into my piehole, and trying to watch Boogie Nights for the umpteenth time around Smidgen’s wide, hairy butt.  Another Thanksgiving winding down.

After Halloween, Thanksgiving was always my favourite.  It seemed less stressful than Christmas.  I still feel that way, even though I really don’t do anything, and haven’t since 2011.  But I do want to send some shoutouts of gratitude into the aether, so here goes.


  • I’m thankful for my friends. ff.pngYou all know who you are, both old and new Tribespeople.  Those of you who have been with me for a while  have stuck by me when even some family chose not to.  You’ve been with me longer than anyone else in my life now.  And my new friends, though thin on the ground, have opened up new avenues to experience, exhibited goodness and decency that threaten to prove my theories about our species dead wrong.  All of you:  Despite my dedicated misanthropy, you still love me just as I am, and I am happy to reciprocate.  When we are facing the Alpaca Lips, I hope we get to do it together.


  • I’m thankful for the Earth. It has been quite a year, as far as space exploration has gone, but I find it incredible that we still have so much about our home planet that needs to be discovered, explored, and possibly explained.  With every dim twinkle of light far beyond our comprehension of just how really fucking large the multiverse is, there is an equal twinkle far beneath the churning seas, something we’ve never been able to see, something even the angler fish, who can twinkle themselves, would be afraid to examine too extensively.The Earth is where we open our eyes each day.  Instead of casting those eyes to your feet as you go through the motions that are expected of you, cast them outward.  Not upward, but around you.  Everything that you are is star stuff, yes, but that stuff chose to touch down on a world that both nurtures and destroys us.  We owe it to ourselves, to one another, and to our home planet to try to find out why, before it’s too late.  Even if it’s all a hologram and we are not truly physical entities on the surface of a planet, it’s all we currently have, and it is a wondrous construct, so full of mystery and music.  I’m glad to have been able to see what I have of this world.


  • I am thankful for the music.jlshriek.png  It has been a truly resplendent year in music for me.  I got to see Jeff Lynne get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and watch him perform live (on TV) for the first time in over a decade.  I’m foaming at the mouth to get my ears on the new ELO album.  Then there’s Shriekback, who has dominated my musical choices for yet another year, giving fans both old and new, the triumph that is Without Real String or Fish, not to mention all the rarities, reissues, and side-project material.  I have long contended that, as long as the Shrieks make music, I will be “doomed” to write, and my friends will be doomed to read, or say they did!  Even earlier today, I was constructing a possible chapter in the WIP, based on a Shriek rarity, ‘Shake the Big Tree’.






  • I am thankful for laughter. As all my older friends know, I’ve been a bit of a laughter junkie since 2011.  Laughter is the human purr.  It’s present when we’re happy, and it can heal when we’re sad.  daffyporky.gifBeing a devout believer in Jessica Rabbit Syndrome, I would have to say that laughter is the most important thing in this reality, especially when you are more than underwhelmed about trudging forth, but trudge nonetheless because you have responsibilities.  If something makes me laugh, its therapeutic qualities are far from lost on me.  So, to all the things and people that have gotten me through 2015 by making me laugh like a demented Vizzini, I am quite grateful for it all.



And there you have it.  Short and simple.  I tried to be as upbeat and uncomplicated as possible.  I gotta go outside for a few minutes, ‘cos it’s raining, and that shit’s rare here.  Happy T-Day, freaks.  May the Dark Side of the Force Be with you.

tinhuvielartanis: (Crone)
I am finding it pretty impossible to observe Thanksgiving this year.

How do you celebrate a day of thanks when you can't find anything to be thankful for, and you don't know whom or what you'd be thanking for it anyway? I dunno. It seems pretty futile to me.
tinhuvielartanis: (Dr. Who Boogie)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
tinhuvielartanis: (Cadmus Priest)
Of all the horribledays, Thanksgiving is by far my favourite. There are no expectations on Thanksgiving, just that warm snuggly feeling of gratitude for all the good things in your life. And no matter how bad it is, there are good things for which to be thankful. I'm thankful for friends and family. I'm thankful that I'm not published. I'm thankful for sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. I'm thankful for the Internet and the friends I've made there. And I'm thankful for finally getting over the pain of betrayal after so much work and faithfulness. I'm working on it truly. I'm thankful for Aunt Tudi and my Mother Unit, who has helped me so much this past year. I'm thankful for the doctors who will see me and treat me for my various health issues. And I'm thankful for still being able to walk despite my knee problems. So yeah, this is my Thanksgiving post. Tomorrow, I'll be too busy stuffing myself silly with good food to write a Thanksgiving post, so I'm doing it early.
tinhuvielartanis: (Ornate Triskele)
I come across as not very thankful or friendly at times. Today is the day to at least rectify the thankful portion of my transgressions. This is a tad late, but I've been a tad busy, so better late than never, eh wot?

Things for which I am thankful:

  • Food and Shelter

  • The menagerie, even though they drive me crazy sometimes

  • Cheerwine!

  • My computer and the Internet

  • My vast collection of notes and art

  • The books on my bookshelves

  • The ION, which is still running without problems (knock on wood)

  • My health, now that it's back!

  • Live Journal and all my physical journals

  • My movie collection and Netflix, without which I would go mad


People for which I am thankful:

  • Aunt Tudi

  • The Mother Unit

  • My Friend Todd

  • Steph

  • Travis

  • Little Michael

  • Barry Andrews

  • [livejournal.com profile] gunslingaaahhh

  • [livejournal.com profile] luvthyjoker

  • Scott

  • Barack Obama

  • The Joker Blogs crew

  • Timothy

  • The Writers' Cabal

  • Everyone in my Tribe, and you know who you are

  • All my online friends, especially here on LJ ~ you're my cyber-family and I love you.



So there you go. Thank you, Mighty Ones, for everything and everyone. I hope I someday live up to the bounty you've bestowed up on me.
tinhuvielartanis: (Cadmus)
I never go through a Thanksgiving without thinking of the return letter Todd and I got in the mail while still working for the Readers Digest division of BMG. It was written phonetically by an obviously non-native English speaker. I remember it perfectly and transcribe it here for you.

I do not laik musick in mai laif. I hef beth laif in trable. -- Teng You

We were working overtime that night and spent a good thirty minutes of BMG's precious time slumped on the desk in literal hysterics. Yes, we had to wipe out eyes. Or..yes, we hed to waip owr ai's. That was in 1991 I think because I recall working a lot of overtime to help Todd with returns letters during the time "Walk on the Ocean" was popular. Oh, and speaking of "Walk on the Ocean," it was also during working overtime that I called the radio station to request that song, not knowing a contest was going on. I ended up being the correct caller and winning two tickets to a male strip show. All I wanted was my freakin' song. I gave the tickets to a coworker and ended up buying the Toad the Wet Sprocket album.

Another odd memory of those days was the BMG open house in 1988. Todd and I were grabbed by this person in an elephant costume and we had a picture taken. We never found out who was in the costume and, years later, still got a little freaked out by it. "Attacked by Furries!" on Fox News at 10!

Why do these memories flood forth now? Perhaps it's because I'm high on coffee. Perhaps it's because I got a good night's sleep for once in forever. Perhaps it's because I miss Todd and miss happier days. Perhaps it's all of the above combined with the fact it's Tengsgiving. I often wonder about the person who wrote that letter. How can you not laik musick in your laif? I cannot imagine.


On a wholly different matter, [livejournal.com profile] luvthyjoker showed me the trailer to the upcoming film Daybreakers. While I'm excited about seeing this (Sam Neill as a Vampire, hello?), I'm also a little ticked off because they're using a concept that I use in The Vampire Relics: the idea of humans as blood herds for Vampires (or at least for Cadmus). Just last night I touched upon this again as I wrote furiously for NaNo:

Someday, though…someday, he would be strong enough to overcome her and feed her to her own chalice. And then he would take the Great Hive and make it his personal herd, feeding on the Vampires one after the other until the vermin were removed from the planet forever. And then he would start on the humans, feeding them to the chalice, transforming their blood and drinking his fill. The Earth would be his hunting ground and woe would be uttered by every living thing at his behest.
Now, I've got tons of notes that pre-date this movie by a good twenty years, so I'm not changing a damned thing, they can't make me! Besides, it's not like the world is full of Vampires. It's just this one lone black hole of a Vampire who plans to devour the entire planet someday. Same basic concept, different direction. And that's only his aim, anyway. We still aren't sure if he'll ever succeed.
tinhuvielartanis: (Yay....)
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends here on LJ! To those who aren't American, I hope you have a wonderful day nonetheless and you can at least be thankful you're not a turkey in America today. Because...that would suck for you. Seriously. *mwah*
tinhuvielartanis: (Large Marge)
I think this is pretty much my favourite picture of Todd and me.

snok and gak )

I didn't hear from him today, but that's understandable, considering it's a holiday. I'm hoping that we'll be able to hang out some tomorrow, though. He should let me know what the day looks like tomorrow morning.

Here's a picture of our Thanksgiving turkey. It's a purdy burd.

gobble )

Aunt Tudi has felt horrible all day. I hope she's not coming down with the Slobovian Death Plague.
tinhuvielartanis: (Toothy)
This is, by far, my favourite of the modern holidays. It's the most relaxed of them all and it focuses on all the neato things in one's life. I've been struggling for two hours and have written only 500 words, so I thought I'd take a break from my utter pathetic-ness and focus on some things for which I am grateful.

I'm grateful for Aunt Tudi, Chester, Riley, Smidgen, Shmoop, and Sheba. I'm grateful for Llew, even though this year hasn't been our best to say the least. I'm grateful to have a reasonably sturdy home and a reliable vehicle. I'm thankful to no longer be a slave in The Pit. I'm grateful to still be reaping the benefits of my surgery and to be able to walk without pain now. I'm thankful to all the folks who've inspired and encouraged me over the years to get me to the point where I'm finally writing my book: Todd, Tim, Karen Almond, Danny Elfman, Barry Andrews, Aunt Tudi, Granny, Steph, Trav, Diane, Cathy, Tallis, Me'Shel'le, Leonard Wolf, and Jeff Lynne. I'm thankful to Barry Andrews for persisting and providing more wonderful music and I'm thankful to Andy Partridge for reuniting with Barry. It's like seeing the Jedi and the Sith bury the proverbial hatchet and party all the time, party all the time! I'm thankful to Todd for being my friend through it all. And I'm thankful to Steph and Trav for their much-needed presence in my life. I'm thankful for this big marshmallow couch that is so damned comfy it makes me bibble with gratitude. I'm grateful for the digital camera that has taken so many interesting and unusual pictures over the past year and I'm grateful to Photobucket for bearing the brunt of my rampant photography. I'm thankful to have met so many lovely souls here on LJ. I'm thankful for my friends at RCA.

There's tons more I'm thankful for, but I can't think of anything else right now. Suffice to say, I'm one grateful motherfucker, let there be no doubt about it. Now.....I'm gonna try to write some more. I must get at least 1500 today.

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