What I'm thankful for:

1. My wife and my daughter. Spent 30 years without them in my life. Now I can't imagine life without them. Amazing. (also included in this is the rest of my family.)

2. Friends. I have some friends who ARE family. I don't know why some people can't see that.

3. A great job. Everyone complains about their jobs, even me. Heck, expecially me. But every single day is different, and I have 80 different kids I see every couple of days. In a way, they get to be my extended family. I rejoice in their successes and grieve in their losses and failures. I'm blessed to be in a good district at a good job with a great faculty and staff. I will never make the $$ that some folks do.....but at least I won't ever do anything as soulless as staring at financial records all day or work on the line.

4. My home. Perfect location. Perfect for my growing family. Our cat Sydney gets to poop on school property. Heh heh.

5. My Xbox 360 and my home theater projection screen. Seriously. I love them.

6. The Kansas City Chiefs. Because even though it costs a lot of money, season tickets allow Natalie and I to do OUR THING together.....and trust me, unmarried guys, you need to find that thing with your wife.

7. The Pittsburg State Gorillas. I am a fan of many different sports, but I truly ADORE, with great PASSION, the Pittsburg State Gorilla football team.

8. Living in the USA where I can worship how I choose, say what I want, and live freely. I'm thankful for the people fighting overseas to ensure that possibility, following orders even when they don't agree with them. They deserve our thanks.

9. Comic books. I will always love them, and I will NEVER apologize for it. NEVER. People make fun of them....but how many different high-grossing moves are the result of comics? TONS.

10. The creators of South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the Family Guy, LOST, and Smallville. Visual cocaine, man. I can't get enough of them. Most of them are rude and crude.....but in the end, I end up agreeing with about 90% of what they are saying. Plus, Master Shake and Eric Cartman are my heroes. They are morally and ethically bankrupt, but they are able to say what they truly think, and that is something I wish I could do sometimes. And even though they are the most selfish characters in television history, they are both victims of HORRIBLE upbringing, and I can't help but wonder what they'd be like in different surroundings.

Finally, let me say this about the movie BORAT:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Oh man, I laughed until I about threw up.

What most people (kids) who watched this movie and thought it was stupid did not realize was the fact that the people he was talking to were all caught completely unawares and the 99 percent of the flick was unscripted. Yes it was disgusting, vile, sexist, and racist, but that was the point Sash Cohen was trying to make. He is Jewish, and anti-semitism still runs rampant in the world today. People are sexist, racist, and horribly caught up in their images and pre-conceived, ethnocentric notions of what is right and what is wrong. The old guy at the rodeo, the crowd of rodeo who applauded at Borat's hideously offensive and bloodthirsty statement of what should happen in Iraq.....the group of frat guys saying that slavery is good while they were completely drunk......wow. They are now suing him because "that's not really how they are."

BULLCRAP.

Michael Richards and his N-word rant at an LA Comedy Club last week. Mel Gibson's "The Jews are the Cause of all the Wars in the World" drunken performance for an audience of his arresting officers back in August. The frat guys here. All of them claiming that what they said "wasn't really them." I tend to think the opposite. How a person behaves in calm, when all is going well can be a front. When people are scared, frightened, placed in great stress, angered, or intoxicated, that reveals the true THEM.

You go, BORAT. Asking the question why is female nudity okay but male nudity not? (not that I'm condoning nudity in films- it's not needed 99% of the time.) Why do we believe the way we do? The film didn't answer those questions, but it sure did make me think. I would not recommend this movie to anyone who is easily offended or is younger than 17/18. Seriously.

But then again, maybe they are the ones who need to see it the most.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! And Happy Holidays!

I'll make up my Christmas list for you all to plan my gifts soon!