Reasons to Be Thankful

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How Do I Thank Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

When it comes to Thanksgiving 2006, to paraphrase the immortal Chick Hearn — the turkey's in the refrigerator, the door is closed, the light are out, the gravy is cooling, the pie's getting hard, and the cranberry sauce is jigglin'. For those poor deprived souls out there who didn't grow up falling asleep in the car to the sound of Chick's voice on the radio, that basically means it's over. For most of us Isla Vistans, that means it's time to start fretting about finals, worrying about winter break, and generally stressing about stuff again.

Before the bemoaning begins, I propose a moment of reflection. I know I'm not the only one whose mother made everyone go around the table at Thanksgiving and say what they were thankful for — and I know I'm not the only one who rolled my eyes at the exercise. But, as last week's column showed, my mom is not always entirely wrong or entirely crazy. And, in this case, she might have just been right. Just don't tell her I said that. But seriously, at this point in time — with one of the year's most stressful seasons around the corner and a quarter of the school year almost past — perhaps it is a good idea to take a moment and be thankful.

So, you may ask, what am I grateful for this year? Well, of course, there's the stock greeting-card stuff: I'm thankful for my parents, my brothers, my family, my friends, my job, etc. But let's face it, that stuff is boring. True, but boring. So, in the interests of keeping this column interesting, let's go a little deeper than that. It's my third year at UCSB, my second-to-last year of pre-graduation freedom and my 20th year on Earth — so again, what am I thankful for? Well, now that I think about it, it turns out I'm thankful for quite a bit. So, loyal readers, here it is: my laundry list of things I'm thankful for. And, in the interest of satisfying my interest, I encourage all of you to put that cute little comments section at the bottom of my column to use and let me know what you're thankful for as well. After all, it can't hurt to take a second and say thanks — even when there's no turkey involved.

I'm thankful for my roommates, who are great friends, copious cleaners — thank god — and the only people I know who can maintain their dignity while plastering our walls with tiny turkey decals before Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for Deja Vu for making the only French fries that are still fantastic no matter how cold they get. I'm thankful for Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel) and Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) for continuing to make innovative and provocative films, no matter how much the studios, critics, and audiences balk at them. I'm thankful for Emerald Video, for continuing to provide a well-rounded roster of oh-so-adorable film geek guys for us film geek girls to drool over while we pretend to peruse the foreign films.

I'm thankful for the UCSB men's soccer team for once again giving us students something to cheer about — and for making knee socks look so good. I'm thankful for Al Gore, for inventing the Internet, and to Myspace, You Tube, Facebook, and independent.com for providing me with plenty of ways to procrastinate on paper-writing.

I'm thankful for Netflix, for providing DVDs of Police Squad — the short-lived but sensational series my parents introduced me to over the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm thankful for Andy at CompUSA, for going above and beyond the call of duty and taking all my late-night calls when my computer broke. I'm thankful for the UCSB Film Studies Department becoming the UCSB Film and Media Studies Department and giving me an extra two words on my future diploma. I'm thankful for Airborne, because right now it's the only thing standing between me and my roommate's horrible hacking cough. I'm thankful that I have a relatively safe driveway in which to park my car, and I really hope whoever stole my side-view mirror last week is thankful that they managed to pull it off — literally.

When it comes to things I'm thankful for, that's just the beginning. But I don't want to bore you, the fantastic folks who actually take the time to read my weekly columns, with the rest of the lengthy list. Which brings me to the last — but by no means least important — thing I'm thankful for, this column and the readers who make it worth writing. Thank you for taking the time to check out Eye on Isla Vista each week and here's to this column lasting much longer than that leftover turkey chilling in your fridge.

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