domo arigato

This year I am thankful for (I am bypassing the usual family & friends stuff cuz those are givens that I am thankful for always and not in any particular year, and besides, I've got nothing new or interesting, or newly interesting anyway, to write about them):

- Japan. What a nice place to have visited. Another treasured stamp in my passport.
- End of Bush era. Phew. We made it thru without the world blowing up into smithereens. But then again, regular folks living in Iraq or Afghanistan might not agree with me on this last statement...
- My job. Okay, I freaking know I complain all the time about what a pain-in-the-ass job I have, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the money that gets regularly deposited into my bank account every two weeks. These are hard times...
- iPhone. Gives me a warm feeling in my pants every morning.
- Iron Man and Dark Knight. I love movies and the craft of movie-making. My favorite films of all time are the LOTR trilogy and Before Sunrise/Sunset. So you see, I like 'em both big and small, just like my women (not really). I love it when big Hollywood blockbusters get it right, because it's cinematic magic when that happens. This summer we got two of them that got it right, real right.
- Madonna tour and cd. Okay, I don't looove Hard Candy; I like it alright. But anytime she puts out something and goes on tour, it's exciting for me. And my life needs that kind of excitement to keep it from being what it always verges on being - nothing.
- Coldplay tour and cd. I do love the new Coldplay cd. Viva La Vida indeed. The part where he sings about the Osaka sun in Lovers In Japan. Well, I was thinking about that that morning when I woke up in Osaka and looked out the hotel window at the hazy sun.
- Tom McRae. I am so honored to have shaken the hand, twice, of the guy whose songs are like musical transcripts to my dark, cynical but curiously hopeful heart.
- My new kitchen, new windows, new furnace. Costed me a pretty penny (and a new BMW went into the sacrifice too) but now that they are done, I am happy to be living with them. I am painting my dining room next and then maybe next year, got to do something with the front driveway and then paint the exterior the following year...
- These lyrics from Leonard Cohen which I first blogged about here: Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in.

Here's Coldplay doing Lovers In Japan. Soldiers, solider on: