This has become a bit of a ritual. Or maybe it hasn’t and I’m pretending it is. One way or another, I enjoy it, so I’m doing it anyway.

I remain thankful for Asperger’s Syndrome. There is a reason it is not called a disorder.

I am thankful for computers. I’m fascinated on a daily basis by their complexity and the level of detail and evolution involved in everything they do. For example: as a programmer I’ve always believed or assumed that programs are entirely sequential in nature - that is, a computer does everything in order. It has a list of instructions that it executes one at a time. This is not true; a modern computer has two or four “brains”, more officially processors, that execute instructions simultaneously. Programs can be written in threads - where each thread is a piece that can be executed at the same time as other threads. My computer is running 927 threads, as I type this. I’ve seen it run tens of thousands.

I am thankful for Pokemon. This may  sound a bit silly, but it is very, very serious. Pokemon is responsible for most of my life. Pokemon is the reason I want to be a game designer, and my aspiration as a game designer is to make some child out there have the same experiences I had with Pokemon. Maybe that’s good and maybe that’s bad, but all I know is, it was so. much. fun. Pokemon has given me a collector’s attitude; it has taught me how to approach something with a competitive mindset, and that in turn has proven to be valuable in far more than just games. Pokemon has given me inspiration for stories that have in turn given me the inspiration to be a writer at all. Pokemon has given me friends and a social life. Pokemon is probably one of the biggest reasons I am with Shelby.

Pokemon is a big deal.

I am thankful for mechanical pencils. I just can’t get enough of them.

I am not sure if I am thankful for contacts yet, but I probably will be in the future.

I am thankful for Andrew Hussie. The man is… just… amazing. He is the master of a whole new media. He has invented something powerful and demonstrated its full potential. But further than that - he has shown the power of open source and the internet, in a roundabout way. He has shown the connections that the Internet can forge between talents and powers that would otherwise have never met - but can together create something extraordinary.

Andrew’s going to be a movie director someday. Shelby and I (and likely several others I know) will probably follow his movies religiously.

…Okay, I am kind of thankful for Facebook. I joined it because there are people that I did not keep in contact with, that I wanted to keep in contact with. It is serving that purpose very well!

Let’s just throw J’Neil in here haphazardly, because she loves it. I love J’Neil. She is my little sister. Mine. My own. She is smarter than I am, she is cuter than I am (okay, given), she is sillier than I am, she is more charismatic than I am, she is more charming than I am, she is just significantly more awesome than me. Why are you reading this? Go ogle my amazing sister. Actually… Actually please don’t. Please.

…Frogs.

I am thankful for the Johansons. They are just cool. It’s so interesting, what a different take on the world I get when I visit their family - the different atmosphere and attitude. They are fun to be around and their family possesses an infectious energy that pervades the things they do and the things that they drag you into. (I am thankful also for their cabin, and the fact that they are consistently willing to invite me there!)

I am thankful for Marie Raney and the WWU Web Help office. Marie is a wonderful, care-free employer that gives us work to do, offers us advice when we have questions, rants about her superiors that don’t understand that we know what we’re talking about, and likes to smile and laugh whenever given the opportunity. I’ve always liked my school employers - Laura was a bit of an experience, from the Tri-City Herald, but Gabriella Whitemarsh at CBC, and now Marie and Katrina at WWU, have provided a helpful, enjoyable and comfortable environment. More importantly, Marie has full-time work for me over the summer, and that is very, very welcome!

I am thankful for Noir!!! <3Noir!

I am also thankful for my Chingling and my Glaceon plush and really just all of my plushes. They are so cute.

I am thankful for sleep. I adore it. Is that bad?

I am thankful for my phone! It is awesome. It is a flashlight. It can tell me where it is if I lose it. It can look up recipes for me. It can investigate the weather in various places of interest worldwide. It will tell me the base stats and typing of any Pokemon I feel inclined to research. It is currently functioning as my music player. It’s just awesome.

Speaking of music players, I’m really thankful for them, and for the long, arduous life that my previous player endured in my service. What a champ. It’s got a badly cracked screen and everything.

In discussing my music-listening habits and style with Shelby, I’ve found that it’s a little hard for me to explain why my music player is such a big deal. Shelby can at least sympathize in the necessity for music - if either of us leave the house and find we’re missing our music, odds are much higher than normal that we’d go back to get it. But for me, there’s more to it than just a soundtrack to go with my actions. I’ve only recently had a good comparison: visit http://www.thequietplaceproject.com/. (Which I am also thankful for.) I’ve observed that, in response to their little prompt at the end, I don’t have a proper quiet place - I am too busy thinking and calculating and observing pretty much all the time. I should take up meditation.

But I do have a quiet place per se. That quiet place is listening to music. Lots of music. If I can’t get it, I get overloaded - no stress relief. It’s a basic necessity of my life now.

It’s… very weird to explain. And I would feel very silly if other people often felt like this!

We just had a siren-thing go off, and it sounded like a fire alarm, though, it wasn’t. Nevertheless I feel compelled to say I am thankful for fire alarms. And the people who answer them. And the people who answer any such emergency or tragedy. Where would we be, without you? Shelby will tell you that I whimper or pout whenever I hear a siren. That is real people having bad days and it is sad! But fortunately, we have some brave souls out there whose job it is to make their days and lives better.

I am thankful for Guitar Pro! It has given me the ability to create music. Music that sounds like maybe a mediocre band might have played it. Having that song in your head, that you wished existed, so that you could listen to it? Bring on water torture compared to that. Thank you so much GuitarPro for curing me of that torture!

More stuff tomorrow…