Changes in attitude, changes in gratitude...

(With apologies to Jimmy Buffett for the title of this post.)

So the great American tradition of Thanksgiving is upon us. And while I will accept your greetings on this day, my dear American friends, please do not ask me what I'll be doing for Thanksgiving. It is a North American holiday. And restricted this Thursday to the United States. No one else gets the day (or week) off.

That's not to say that taking some time off from my busy schedule (ha-ha, I wish, but that's another matter) and expressing thanks for what I have is a bad idea. A spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving should permeate all our lives all the time. Preferably with moderate doses of pie.

This year, I'm extremely grateful for having read the following passage in "Night Watch", part of the sublimely lunatic Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

Background: Samuel Vimes has been transported back in time and met his 20 year old self. The temptation to improve his past is great, until he has an epiphany:
"That was always the dream, wasn't it? 'I wish I'd known then what I know now'? But when you got older you found out that you now wasn't you then. You then was a twerp. You then was what you had to be to start out on the rocky road of becoming you now, and one of the rocky patches on that road was being a twerp."

In short, I'm thankful for having been a twerp in the past...and for continuing to be a twerp today in some aspects of life. It will lead to a better me in the future.

Pun of the weak #22

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her. She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.
The next school day, the neighbour and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbour boy he knew. She did this for the whole week. As the boys walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week. Finally he said to Timmy, "Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?"
Timmy nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, I know who she is."
The friend said, "Well, who is she?"
"That's just Shirley Goodnest," Timmy replied, "and her daughter Marcie. Every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, and as it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcie shall follow me all the days of my life', I guess I'll just have to get used to it!"

100th Post: Shankar's Laws of Existence

Woo-hoo! 100 posts on my blog, in just over six months. Yay, me! Of course, it's not that big of a deal considering I've pinched a good deal of them from other sources. Then again, I neither have kids whose photos I can plaster on the blog every other day and let everyone know just how cute they are, nor am I writing posts about how being in a new place is so exciting/strange. So perhaps it all evens out.
At this momentous point in human history, I have decided to make a major announcement. It is clear that it is a chaotic and anarchic world out there on the Internet, and in order to bring some order and method, I am establishing (fanfare, please)...

Shankar's Laws of Existence:
1. If it's not in Wikipedia, it's not true.
2. If you don't post it on your blog with accompanying photos, it didn't happen to you.
3. If you are not my friend on Facebook, you are merely an acquaintance.
4. If it's not posted on Youtube, it never happened.
5. If you can't find it on Google Maps, the place doesn't exist.
6. If Matt didn't dance there, it isn't inhabited.
7. What speling misteaks?
8. And what are apostrophe's? Your not making any sense.
9. If you don't leave comments on my blog post, you haven't read it.

This list is by no means exhaustive, so please feel free to add others in the Comments section.

A little toilet humour...

The Law of the Garbage Truck

Got this in my e-mail the other day.

"One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes,skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
"My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.
"So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
"This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
"The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right and pray for the ones who don't."