Things to be Thankful For

Kathy read the last entry in this Journal and barked a response to me: "Quit sniveling, Rhianon! No one wants to hear about your typist's day at the office, or your mood swings. This is supposed to be about happenings in and around Caledon, and gossip, wacky stories, and pretty pictures, and...well, whatever it is supposed to be about, your mood isn't it. And I think you committed some sort of copyright violation in the process. Besides, it's nearly Thanksgiving. Why don't you list some things you're thankful for?"

There's nothing like one's kin to give one a swift kick in the derriere in order to set one back on the correct path. Indeed, my dear sister is correct. I hereby declare this Journal to be whine-free (at least for the rest of the week), and offer you, Dear Reader, the following list of things for which I give thanks:

1. A new podcast of Voices in the Machine, as soon as I can return to my personal Difference Engine, which has iTunes loaded
2. Not having to travel over the holiday, when the roads are filled with angry drivers, enraged by the delays and suicidal over having to spend the next four days in the bosoms of their extended families
3. Issue #3 of The Primgraph, which is displayed before me even as I type this, with a lovely article on Steelhead, among other goodies
4. People who love me, even on days when they do not like me
5. Podcasts of The Clockwork Cabaret
6. Airships to pilot (or, if you're Miss Munro, in which to send your typist aloft)
7. Modern appliances, including, but not limited to, washing machines, microwave ovens, and dual-core Engines with powerful graphics cards
8. Having a Guv as cool as our Guv (or, as he put it, "I may be an evil land baron, but I'm your evil land baron")
9. Having wonderful virtual neighbors
10. New bands to enjoy, including Abney Park, In Tenebris, Unextraordinary Gentlemen, and Vernian Process

It took a few minutes, but I managed to get to my goal of ten items! I can almost hear the sarcastic sisterly "Yay!"