Curious Notions

Last week, in the spirit of my 2nd favorite holiday, I shared 10 things I was currently thankful for. Here I am a week later and thought I’d share ten more and then I’ll do it one more time NEXT week, which is aptly one day before Thanksgiving.

1. My mom.
   

   She’s been really excited about me coming home for Thanksgiving since I haven’t seen her since July. She’s calling me daily asking me what is it I want her to cook when I come home and what dishes I want to bring back to Austin. She likes to fill up coolers of food I can freeze and have when I want. She spoils me!

2. Google. I’m so connected through Google I bet you I could just have a Grateful Google List. First and foremost, Gmail. Gmail not only keeps me connected through Gchat, AIM, and email. It is also the best notebook ever. I don’t know how many times Mary Ellen and I dispute about whether we talked about something or other and the Gmail search has never failed us in mediating. When I’m applying to jobs and cannot remember which positions is which, I Gmail search. When I want to find out the date of an event or even gossip details, I GMAIL SEARCH! GMAIL SEARCH IS AWESOME.
3. Fine, I’m breaking up Google into GMAIL and all other Google applications. I have 5 different calendars under Google’s Calendar application. I have a social calendar, a “grown up/yucky” calendar, a health calendar, a cooking calendar (so I can keep track of when I made what), and a birthday calendar. All color coded. My social calendar text messages me my plans a day in advance. I also have a growing list of documents in Google Documents that range from old school work, to resumes, and to shared documents with friends. I have a private blog with Google’s Blogger. I have an Adsense and Analytics account through Google. I just recently signed up for Google Friendconnect (see sidebar and follow me!). I’m enamoured with Google.

   P.S. Orlando just so sweetly invited me to Google Wave. I haven’t quite figured Wave out yet.

4. Dad’s journals.
   
   A cellphone picture of a old picture. That is my dad, my mom, my half sister, half brothers, and some of his friends on the boat they used to escape Vietnam.

   A few years ago I bought my dad a leather bound journal so that he could put into writing the story of his life. He finally finished one and is starting another one. When I go home for Thanksgiving, I cannot wait to borrow the first filled journal to begin to transcribe. I had no idea my dad has such a knack for telling a great story. His life is so amazing to me. Fighting in a war, being on the losing side of a war, being detained in a reeducation camp, escaping a communist country, possibilities of pirates. It’s a hell of a story. All the crazy drama aside, there is romance and humor. He writes of his first experience of Kentucky Fried Chicken and his crazy passionate love for my mom. Sigh. I cannot wait to borrow the first volume.

5. Health. I’m thankful for my health, my family’s health, my friends’ health, Alan’s health. I’m happy to have everyone alive and well.
6. My camera. Have you read my blog? You can get by just scrolling and looking at pictures. Haha. That’s what Alan does anyway. I am very thankful for my camera. So it goes without saying, I’m also very thankful for my photos. I need to get on printing them out. I have about a year and a half worth of photos to print.
7. My part time job. Goodness, it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected to find a job. This also is why one of the reasons why I said I was thankful for Brittany in my first list, she was the one who referred me to this job. I’m happy I have at least this job. It slows down the dwindling of my savings by covering my rent. Whew.
8. Lunch date with Bing and Deesh yesterday.
   
   Deesh and Me, Halloween 2007

   I was on campus yesterday for a Psych research study that involved alcohol. Deesh was going to help make sure I made it home safe in case I was randomized into the alcohol group. Aww. So I met these two boys up at school for lunch. It was nice to be back on campus with Deesh. Deesh was a classmate in A LOT of my classes during college. I’m on campus often enough to use the gym with Nisreen but this was the first time I was on campus with Deesh since I graduated. Brought back a surge of memories of my younger self. I remember being worried we wouldn’t be friends after we graduated, but lookit! We’re still friends and I graduated 4 years ago.

9. Online Streaming and DVR. I remember one of the reasons Jessica, Brandi, and I started our weekly “Joy Luck Club” dinner club four years ago, was to be able to socialize and yet also catch our favorite show at the time, Grey’s Anatomy. This is before DVR and online streaming. I remember scheduling my life around Grey’s Anatomy. Now! Now, thanks to ABC.com and lovely DVR, we are not held hostage by our shows. I also remember working during business hours and never being able to catch my lovely, Oprah. The last couple of years I was able to catch her thanks to DVR. Ah :) such joy.
10. My Five Senses. My neighbor is blind and often times our apartment leaves fliers or notifications on his door and it just piles up. I remember he had a package notice left by the apartment and I left an awkward message at the office explaining that neighbor has left his notices on his door because he’s blind. I had another neighbor last year who was deaf and used to have me call their pizza orders in for them. I’m thankful for these neighbors because they remind me that I’m so blessed to have my five senses. I can eat and blog about the tasty foods I eat. I can hear the phone ring and the door knock and see my loved ones and treasure my photos. How lucky are we to have our senses?

Your turn! What are you thankful for these days?