giving, Thanks

Thanksgiving is two days away and I wanna get my 2012 thanks and "no thanks" out of the way now. Since it's on the 22nd of November this year, I'll make a list of 22 items:

1. I'm thankful for the opportunity my employers gave me to do my job in a whole new wonderful city but 
2. I'm not thankful that the sacrifice is leaving behind so many wonderful coworkers, friends, and family in Seattle and the whole Washington vacinity.
3. I'm thankful that I live in such a peaceful town not so far from San Francisco but
4. I'm not thankful that it can sometimes be time consuming commuting into work all the way from Walnut Creek.
5. I'm thankful that my longer than usual commute affords me the opportunity to write blogs, enjoy music/podcast, and/or read but 
6. I'm not thankful that I still have a problem with motion sickness and can read only so much before I feel like I'm going to blehhhhh.
7. I'm thankful that I'll be spending Thanksgiving in Anaheim having a good ol' time at Disneyland but
8. I'm not thankful that I won't, instead, be with family eating turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, stuffing, and all the other great Thanksgiving traditions.
9. I'm thankful that I finally realized, after five years, that I could change the voice on the GPS to an awesomely cool British accented female voice but
10. I'm not thankful that I'm addicted to hearing it and, in fact, will use the GPS to drive to Safeway just three blocks away
11. I'm thankful that I finally tied the knot to with my bff,  my soulmate, my forever evah back in January but
12. I'm not thankful that we didn't have a big ol' party to celebrate it with everyone (maybe one day).
13. I'm thankful that all the hard work I put into my job was recognized this year with a promotion but 
14. I'm not thankful that I stooped to injuring myself in order to make management feel sorry for me. ;)
15. I'm thankful that my accident (smashing my mouth into the pavement) wasn't worster than it coulda been but
16. I'm not thankful that I was such a klutz and could have easily avoided crashing (I replay it in my head all the time).
17. I'm thankful that we've already had some guests in our little abode after less than three months but
18. I'm not thankful that their visits are so short.
19. I'm thankful for making some quick friends in our new home... and already have had a board game night with a few of them but
20. I'm not thankful every night isn't board game night.
21. I'm especially thankful for the ability to virtually keep in touch with all the long distance people in my life but
22. I'm not thankful for the non-invention of teleportation. So, you know, visiting each other would be so much quicker (I stole that from the sis-in-law).

Anyway, it's not much but there you go. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

After all, it's a small world

I'm tired. A busy weekend followed by this busy week has made me so tired that I"m tard. I really really really really (x infinity) can't wait for this week (tomorrow/Friday) to come to an end.

The week being over means I'm that much closer to seeing my sister, bro-in-law, niece, neph, and dog neph this weekend. They'll be our third set of visitors to stay/sleep here in our little Walnut Creek apartment. Too bad my bro couldn't stay here more than the six hours he was here for today. I mean, check this out, yo. Around 1:30pm today, I decided it was time to fill my belly with some food. Just as I was about to get up from my cubicle area, my bro texts me, "Where do you work?"

I'm like, whaaaaaat? I quickly type, "Razprgish" but then realize it's a typo so I correct it to, "Razorfish. Why?"

He responds with, "Going to Hard Rock Cafe."

Having not seen him since September, I suddenly remember [pause to admire rhyming] that my brother was going to be in Japan for three weeks. Ah. Makes sense. He must be in SF on his way back to Washington. But it's crazy that he and his buddy decide to go Hard Rock Cafe since it's literally RIGHT ACROSS the street from my work.

So that was coo. We met for only half an hour but it was seriously awesome to see him. It was a nice ending to a week of "small world" happenings. Last Friday, we went to the UW-Cal game at Berkeley and, while getting in line for a bus, ran into a couple I had just met two days prior at the SF Giants World Series parade. They were pals of my friend Carmen. But then AFTER that game, when we got in line to take the bus back to our car, guess who ended up being behind us?  The SAME couple. Ummmm.... stalk much folks? Just joshin... I kid new friends.

The next day, we met with G & A visiting from Washington. They were in town for a wedding and staying at a hotel in Mill Valley in the North Bay (north of SF). We met them at their hotel, had lunch, hung around for a couple of hours, then parted ways. But we weren't done with that hotel.

Later in the evening, we went back to the very same hotel to visit another friend who was also staying there. She was celebrating her birthday by getting away from her house and staying in one of her favorite SF Bay areas. We had made plans with her earlier in the week not knowing that she would be in the same place as G & A!  Isn't that crazy? One obscure hotel in a random small town serving as the meeting point for two different sets of friends who don't know each other [cue Twilight Zone music].

Of course, those who know me KNOW that I love this small world stuff. It's so intriguing to me when events like this prove how intimately connected we are...