#NIght before thanksgiving

[1amby]

Everyone who went out the night before thanksgiving in their hometown is so brave. Couldn’t be me. I only like about two people here. Stay safe out there

[matt-disaster]

A happy and delicious Sandwich Night to all who observe

[thoughtsthatstray]

The Night Before Thanksgiving Part XI (11) written 11/22/23.

Where to start, where to end? This is more of a ritual than anything at this point. Eleven nights, I've sat here and let the soul bleed. Is it for the better? Who knows. To quote the great John Fox, "It is what it is.

I've mentioned the former Charlotte Observer writer Ron Green Sr. And reading his traditional Thanksgiving column. It ended a couple years ago but Scott Fowler has continued the tradition. I'll give it a read. It might take me back. It might not. We will see. I hope it does.

Sitting here IPO think to moments missed mentioned in previous installments and I ache. I can't do a damn thing about it, but I ache.

I started this at 40 years old; I've probably tamed that wild streak even more at this point but I can drift back in my mind. My pops passed at 52 and at 51, it's a bit hard to take day by day knowing I might surpass his days on earth. That will be eerie.

Happy Thanksgiving to all three of you.

Parts 1-10 can be found here:

I'll try to clean it up next week.

[gothamcity-official]

Annual Wayne Enterprises Thanksgiving Dinner

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we hope you all have a fantastic one.

Tonight, Wayne Enterprises is holding a Thanksgiving dinner for those who are unable to have their own tomorrow. Like usual, Nightwing is patrolling the event so there aren't interruptions.

Even if you do not celebrate Thanksgiving, free food is free food.

[fobnsfwdoodlesbackup]

Oops meant to post this last night and fell asleep!

[iscariotapologist]

yesterday my therapist suggested i become a nun or otherwise live in a religious community (again) after i was bitching about capitalism and i mentioned this to my friend (who sees the same therapist) and she was like "what really! i would never have put you and nun in the same sentence" darling if you only knew

[jukeboxofjellycat]

Owner/artist on Instagram: alexduran010/mundodejackmx1

Good night sleep tight! 😴🦃

[clonerightsagenda]

Getting a horrifying look at literary agent work schedules based on when they email me

[stardustedknuckles]

It's been so long since I've had to exist within a group of people consistently over many days and damn, I nearly forgot I was autistic. I found out yesterday that though I get along with almost everyone at work, most of my coworkers thought I was a huge bitch who hated everyone for a little bit (and one still does, which is how this whole thing came up at all). I was bewildered like. No I'm very often dizzy or in a bit of pain and I'm very focused on taking care of the dogs but I'm not - I don't dislike any of you? I've never been mad at you, you guys thought I was mad?? Just an alarming disconnect between the way I see myself and the way I come off to others. I have never once gotten the hang of behaving like a regular person, but it appears that time has taken me from "generally silly person with an offbeat sense of humor who doesn't take things seriously" to "stoic hardass who doesn't like you and thinks you're stupid also." I did not authorize this change. It's throwing me for a loop. I feel like I'm 6 again being told to stop talking over people's heads because I just learned a new big word and I wanted to use and share it. I like assholes with a heart of gold in media. I don't want to be one??

[umemiyan]

so tomorrow i'll be going to visit my friend for the rest of the week who lives a few hours away so i probably won't be around as much!!! you will be free of me inhabiting dash until probably sunday

[thoughtsthatstray]

The Night Before Thanksgiving Part 10

2022 Part 10 Written 11/23/22

This one will be rather short. Not even sure what to type. I’ve probably said that before here too, and it’s more out of a meaningless tradition that I’m sitting here punching this keyboard.

One thing of note, I sit here at 50 years (damn that sounds old), and I was carded today buying two six packs of beer at the grocery store. I told the clerk she must be looking for a tip... She asked why, I said this hasn’t happened in awhile. So I asked her to guess as I pulled the ID out of the wallet. She said. I don’t know.. 35-40... So I guess I’ll take it...

I can’t help but think of days of old and meeting up at the steakhouse, but that ship has sailed.  Many times over. I’ve had some strange dreams recently that I haven’t been able to document due to just having fragments when I wake up, which really sucks...

Not too long ago I was looking in two different mirrors and one I guess had more natural lighting and in it my hair had a lot more salt added to the pepper. It reminded me of the Don Henley line:

Ever since I was 26 years old I’ve felt like I was on the backend of my life. Maybe I’m wrong and I hit that mid point a few years ago, or if it is a few years from now, then I guess that means I’ll be a cranky 104 curmudgeon at some point. I guess I’ll wear it like a crown if it comes to pass.

Happy Thanksgiving to anyone that actually reads this or any of the previous installments.

Previous installments below:

2013 Part 1

thoughtsthatstray: Written 11/27/13

The night before Thanksgiving used to be one of my favorite nights of the year. Back in my hometown, it was a night when friends would gather at one of the few watering holes where said friends could share some adult beverages.

We’d usually start off at one place with dinner and beers. Note there was an s on the end of the word beer, but then we’d cross the street to a new place that had karaoke, more BEER, and more old friends. Well, truth be told a few old enemies would pop in here and there.

We’d share some memories, stretch some truths, tell some lies, and it was fun seeing old friends. Of course it was fun seeing old flames too. We’d have a ball, signing each other up for the previously mentioned karaoke and trying to find the most fucked up song or funniest song for them to sing. Oh how I wish it were modern day where every cell phone had a video, because watching an ole ball coach singing “Funky Cold Medina” or “Brickhouse” as his long hair swayed and his hairy little nubby feet attempted a bit of a drunken dance. Oh I’d pay good money to have footage of that, but of course if that were modern day, seeing a coach/teacher slightly intoxicated on youtube or some other form of social media would be grounds for his dismissal which is bullshit, since he was simply an adult having some fun with other adults. Like I said I would pay good money (if I had good money) to see that footage once again.

You’d see faces pop in of people you hadn’t seen since high school, or hadn’t seen in quite some time You’d see a bombshell walk through the door and you are like well I could always see some cuteness in that awkward teen from years ago. Of course at the end of the night you’d have the same two or three guys trying to sneak out on a bar bill. At times you’d have a group of them trying to bribe someone into trying to get on top of the bull in the corral. Yes, an actual bull in an actual corral out in front of the steakhouse. He wasn’t there long, but he was there.

An ex would walk up and whisper in your ear, “I’ve got something to show you”, and you simply respond what’s that? While she says come out here and you walk to the back side of the building and she takes your hand and slides it down her pants and you feel her freshly shaved pussy, which was definitely new. You make plans for Black Friday to spend the day fucking like you used to.

As I said, you hear some old stories, that 55 yard touchdown was up to about 63. You argue about beating a rival 43-34 when some former teammate is swearing on his Momma that it was 43-30. You simply say, look, I know what it was. That is my pin # and has been ever since. You flag down another teammate and he confirms that it was 43-34, and then he gives the other guy a hard time for forgetting it.

At this point you are 15-20 beers into the night and you know you could very well drink another dozen or so if the bar wasn’t closing. You crawl into a minivan which was basically a shuttle service. You drop the old ball coach off at his miniature mansion and tell him to cut his hair. He flips the group off with that stumpy middle finger and then he waves.

You come home, crawl into bed and think about the night. You think about the memories, you think about that freshly shaved pussy.

Oh I sure miss those days.

2014 Part 2

thoughtsthatstray: Written 11/26/2014

It’s still one of the things I miss about my hometown. I don’t miss much, but I miss my friends, the old haunts, the stories that stretch the truth from time to time.  Someone bringing up a time at party and someone trying to deny it ever happened.   As I said in the original post it was a time for friends to see friends. That is/was one of the beauties about a small town. A part of it you didn’t really respect or understand completely when you were there.

I no longer have ties to my home town other than a few friends, with my parents being gone, and having moved away quite some time ago. A small part of me regrets leaving, but the majority of me is glad that I did.

Memories don’t die, but they sure can fade away.

2015 part 3

thoughtsthatstray: Written 11/25/2015

I wouldn’t call it writer’s block, I’d call it just not in the mood to reminisce. With that said, I’ll give it a shot, since this become some annual ritual. I do know I’ll be tracking down the Ron Green(former Charlotte Observer columnist) annual Thanksgiving article tomorrow.

Earlier tonight on the back deck while grilling some burgers I thought of some old friends, some old times. That  made me remember that I have really neglected my YD&B side blog, but that happens.

Thoughts drift back 18-20-22 years. Thoughts drift to better times, happier times. Maybe it was being more carefree, not fully understanding responsibilities. Then it reminded me of a quote from a book I read this year year. “This is Where I Leave You” by Jonathan Tropper, it was made into a movie which was decent, but the book was better as books often are.  I know I shared the quote, but here it is again.

The last time I saw most of my old friends was the summer of 2014 at the funeral of one their father’s. While I sit here typing this, half thankful that I’m not there at the moment, I know it would be like that July night. Wouldn’t miss a beat and it would be like old times. Telling stories, sharing memories, laughing till you are about to choke on a beer. So I’m torn. Part of me wishes I was there instead of typing this, but another part is glad that I’m not.  The dreadfully sad part of it is that is one a handful of times that I’ve actually enjoyed myself.  Past > Present, with the future yet to be in the equation. Really sucks.

It really sucks knowing that the next time I’ll likely see most of them will be at another funeral. But that is how the cookie crumbles at times.  

2016 Part 4

thoughtsthatstray: Written 11/23/2016

This is the 4th time I’ve sat here on Thanksgiving Eve slapping these keys trying to make sense. 2013, 2014, and 2015 can be found below.

Tonight, I had the opportunity to go back to my home town and hang out with some old friends, but I had to pass. I didn’t trust my car to drive the 30-35 minutes to Statesville to ride the rest of the way with another friend. I don’t trust it to go much further than the short trips that I generally take. It has two issues on it’s to-fix-list. One was quoted out at about 1k(and hopefully will be addressed shortly) the other yet to be determined. I’ve already thrown about 400 at that particular problem and that didn’t fix it. It’s frustrating. But, to be brutally honest, I could have had a 2017 whatever with 17 miles sitting in the drive way and I can’t promise that I would have gone. Well, maybe I wouldn’t be in the same mindset if the 2017 whatever was sitting outside.

This is where I could easily insert that Jonathan Tropper quote. Maybe it should just be my mantra, but it fits. If I didn’t mention it last year, I would quote it again, but if you read this whole jumbled cluster of letters you’ll see it, or you can click here.

It would have been nice to see them. In this little snippet from last year, I also wrote about the last time I saw them. I could quote that again since that hasn’t changed either. But it would have been nice to sit around with a cold beer or four and catch up, and spend some time with them.

Maybe I’ll wake up one day soon and shake myself out of this funk. I’m picturing a 75lb puppy coming out of a river and drying himself off. Maybe that would work.

I guess when I finish this I’ll sit down and read back through the previous 3 entries and I wish I could say I feel like I’m in a better place, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc, but that would be spitting lies.  

I think at one point I made a post about being thankful for having an imagination but in the end, it might be negative thing. Hard to tell.

The night before Thanksgiving used to be a part of the Holiday festivities. Now it’s just a Wednesday.

2017 Part 5

thoughtsthatstray: Written 11/22/2017

I’m sitting here typing this, mostly forcing myself to get something down, and It will be shorter than the others. I just have a haunted feeling engulfing my mind after reading through the previous 4 installments. Sitting back with last year’s installment knowing had I made that journey I would have had at least one more night with a good friend who took his life over the summer. That is hard to reconcile. I’m not thinking that the one night would have changed anything. There were a number of other friends at the get together, but selfishly it would have been a night where stories would have been shared. Memories rekindled and shared. …..A moment that is gone, that never was…. kinda reminds me of the Springsteen line:

Again,hard to reconcile and process.

Oh and those Jonathan Tropper quotes still ring true:

2018 Part 6

thoughtsthatstray: Written  11/21/18

Sitting here beating on this keyboard. Trying to add something to this collection of whatever you call it. It’s hard for my mind not to drift to friends and family that have been lost and that are no longer with us.

I still have some regret about not taking that trip in 2016. Maybe it would have made a difference in the events that happened the following June 1st, but I doubt it. I’m sure we would have told some stories, some lies and stretched the truth like it was an old Stretch Armstrong toy. That is par for the course. The 138 yards rushing against a rival football team stretches to 171. The 51-8 ass beating of the 5th ranked team in the state will stay 51-8 since that is stamped deep in the brain.

I’ll wake up, fix some coffee and locate the annual article of retired Columnist of the Charlotte Observer Ron Green Sr. It’s a bit of a tradition. I’ll try to remember to come back and link it here. Not that anyone will read it.

I still pay to see some of that Karaoke action mentioned in a previous installment. It was better suited for “America’s Funniest Home Videos”, than “Star Search” at least all of that is stamped on the brain too.

The Springsteen line still hits home:

I guess it always will.  

I’ll definitely have to fall asleep to a mindless sitcom tonight. Might have to have some Kenny Powers action.

2019 Part 7

thoughtsthatstray: Written  11/27/19

I woke up this morning with a lyric in my head. I couldn’t place it to start with. One of those things that pisses you off because it is on the tip of your tongue but it won’t come to you.  I fixed some coffee, turned the computer on and called on my old friend, Goo-gle, she’s still French and typed it in trying to knock that nugget loose from the back of my mind.

Not placing a lyric from one of my favorite songs. I need to be slapped.

The last few years, I’ve read through the previous entries, this year I simply copied and pasted, then put the images back in, so that everything is complete. I don’t want to read it. If there isn’t a storm hovering, that could easily cause one. It might storm anyway. I’m not even sure why I’m even typing this. Maybe a ritual. Forcing myself to spit something out. Nothing of any worth that is for sure.

Yeah those days are gone forever. That is for sure. At least, well hopefully, I’ll get to search for a Ron Green article (it appears this will be his final one, which simply sucks). Just another thing that will be gone forever.

2020 Part 8

thoughtsthatstray: Written  11/26/20

This 2020 edition should be fun. 2020 sucks. That’s not news to anyone. It’s much worse for some than it is for me, and I’m sure I’m dealing with worse things than others. That takes me back to the fine line of “It could be better, but it could be worse”. It could always be both.

A friend mentioned that this night use to be “the biggest party night of the year”. It was. Better than New Year’s Eve more times than not. Back when you are in your 20′s, friends are home from school, or back in town to see the family, and a lot of the popular places were packed. You’d have an old football coach belting out some Bob Seger on a karaoke machine with that long hair flowing and flopping around. You see faces you haven’t seen in years Just a fun night. If you scroll past the “keep reading”, you’ll see I’ve touched on some of this before.

Seeing her say that reminded me of when it was closing time and there wasn’t much of a cab service in my hometown, there wasn’t Uber at that point, so you either drove home a bit drunk (and some did), or you got carted home after someone that was sober went and picked up a parents minivan. Unfortunately there were a few nights that I was the dumbass that was sober and having to pretend I was the school bus driver. Even so, it was still good times.

Earlier I was listening to a Longmire novel and Craig Johnson as Walt Longmire said the following:

It hit home.I have memories. Everyone has memories but with time some fade. Are the facts 100% crystal clear? No. Did x/y/z happen? I think so. Maybe. No way. Yes it did. Hell if I know. Somewhere in a blended blur of that is the truth.

I’m sitting here beating on the keyboard trying to make this one a bit longer than last year and half wondering whether tomorrow’s Charlotte Observer is going to have a Thanksgiving column from Ron Green Jr. Last year his father, announced that 2019 would be his last installment, and it was one thing I looked forward to each Thanksgiving. The old man would wax poetically about things he was thankful for, whether it was a rocking chair on the porch with his wife, golfing with old friends, his grandkids,a favorite food or spirit, or a Carolina Panther star like a Christian McCaffrey. Maybe since 2020 is a bit special in the grand scheme of things with everything that is going on, just maybe he backtracks and gives us one more. I hope so.

I do wonder what the 2020 version would be like. I know the now 58 year old longhaired ball coach who is now bald with a long beard, would likely be at home. No Seger, or “Funky Cold Medina” for him. I know some faces would be missing since they are no longer with us. I’m guessing I would need to be a fly on the wall, because I doubt my many of my friends, or people I know would be there. It would be a younger group.

I’m sorry for sharing some of those boring stories Springsteen pondered in “Glory Days”, but I guess the Boss was right, but so was Henley. “Those days are gone forever”

thoughtsthatstray written 11/24/21

2021 Part 9

I guess the cool kids call it Thanksgiving Eve, nah, that sounds older than The Night Before Thanksgiving. I guess it’s a bit of a tradition so I force myself to do it even when I’m really not feeling it.

Earlier today a friend asked “Do y'all remember going out on night before Thanksgiving in your 20s? Crazy times… “ Yes, I sure do. I responded with “ One of the most fun nights of the year in a small town… “  It really was, as you can see by some of the previous entries to this annual event where I beat up the keyboard for a bit. While I’m experience a weird DeJa'Vu vibe,  I’m glad I’m not the only one to experience it, or miss it. I can quote/mimic Johnny Cougar, he goes by John Mellencamp these days and sit back, collects my thoughts for the moment, scratch my  head and do my best James Dean. Well, I don’t know about all that, but I can sit back and see the waitress bringing a tray full of beer, hearing someone murder Garth Brooks or the previously mentioned Mellencamp with various renditions of drunken karaoke, I don’t really recall, two drunk girls belting out” I Got You Babe”, by Sonny & Cher, but I’m sure it happened at some point. That little fucker Kenny Chesney, sings a few songs like he was sitting right there with us. If he was, I’m sure he would have been in a booster seat, but some of that flakes songs really hit home.

Then I think back to the friend that is no loner with us, and I can’t help to hear Chesney’s “I Go Back” stopping me in my tracks, and how the 2016 version of this still haunts me. It sucks, that it does, but it does. See, there is that little fuckwad Kenny right there again. The Robert Earl Keen song “Feeling Good Again” (I’ll post it after this), reminds me of those nights from back then. He sings of going to an old haunt, seeing old face, friends, etc.

I don’t know an old man Perkins, but I know an old man or two sitting on a stool, and I’m sure I know a Butch and a Jimmy John, and sadly I’ve seen a group of my friends trying to hit the opening notes of “Seven Bridges Road”, hell I’ve been on of them, and I’m no Don Henley, but it really didn’t matter.

Springsteen wrote of the Glory Days, and it likely is my favorite song of his.

I guess for one night’s safe to say that time has slipped away and left me with nothing but boring stories, Well, not entirely boring, but I get what he’s saying.

Oh and I still miss Ron Green Sr. annual Thanksgiving Day article.

[sunnimint]

i am COOKING with this new metonic fic.

it's an adventure styled fic inspired by BotW and Frontiers 👀 I'm not finished with the outline yet but I see the vision for it.

there will be lots of angst. because a certain blue hedgehog has amnesia in this fic. that is all I will reveal

[looselipssinkships-x]

Lmao guys it's been almost a year since i had to break up with someone I didn't realize i was dating

[chrispypapas]

persona playing machine

[fncreature]

hey uh. people who drive around to look at christmas lights and get out to check out displays and stuff. please do not blare music with your windows down or talk so loud you’re yelling. with all due respect, it’s nine pm and we didn’t agree to this, our neighbor is just like that.

again. I cannot stress this enough. DO NOT drive down residential streets fucking blasting music at night. Try not to yell. I don’t care if you’re having the time of your life and feel festive. people do actually live there. and we want to sleep.

thanks for coming to my ted talk

[alltheangstmygifttoyou]

I wonder if ill ever get to the point where I won't stress for weeks about violence happening at family gatherings again? Its been years since the last incident at a gathering... though this year has had violent outbursts from multiple family members towards each other in their own time. A knife was drawn in one instance i was told.

Maybe it'll begin to fade if the physical altercation stories i hear stop. I mean, all those involved are older than me, they really shouldn't be making their body deal with being pushed down stairs over and over again. Or covered in bleach.

Maybe it will never fade. Maybe it's something I will just carry with me for the rest of my life.

Thanksgiving is no longer representative of its original lies taught to me in school, Thanksgiving is a day of sitting with family and giving thanks that we're alive to see another day. That at least this time guns weren't threatened. Screaming matches weren't had. Aggressive spitting on someone wasn't done. Things weren't thrown in an attempt to destroy or hurt. No storming out and slamming the doors. No threats to call the cops. No hitting. No choking.

Progress is Progress, a step forward is still closer to the end than before.