Thank Grog It’s Firday!
There’s one out of the way. Because thanks is what this entire post is about.
And yes…the neighborhood turkeys are multiplying, and oblivious to the dangers of the season. THEY should be thankful that it is illegal to shoot them within city limits. But, I have a sneaking suspicion they are acutely aware of this fact.
But, back to my thankfulness…
It has been brought up to me recently, that “these informational posts are great, and would be even better if a bit of the judgemental close-minded conjecture was slightly reduced…Alissa is my favourite hard worker because she sticks more to the facts and doesn’t lace a good chunk of her posts with subjective intense opinions…”
Yikes. Words hurt HT! But you did make me realize that this time of the year we need to work on being thankful, and full of grace. In this fractured world, with so many opinions about everything, it is easy to start a conversation with the negative. Or even worse…do the “but, flip flop.”
“I’m very thankful that there is still a TSTO, BUT…”
See? It’s the “thankful, but syndrome.” So not being truly thankful or penitent!
However, before we go too far down the road of explaining the “thankful, but syndrome,” I want to be perfectly clear that I am not mixing it up with the phrase, “I’m thankful I have a butt!”
I am very thankful I have a butt. At my age, there are loads and loads of men with no junk in the trunk. But, one of the benefits of my football/rugby days, is that I have junk in the trunk…and am, in fact, thankful for my butt. Old people sit more, and the extra padding is more than welcome. Those flat, bony butts that lots of guys in old age get, look uncomfortable when sitting on a stool or a hardwood chair. I am indeed thankful for my butt. But, I digress…
The “thankful, but syndrome” is the “thanks version” of the “I’m sorry, but…syndrome.” Nothing says a person isn’t really sorry like a sentence that starts with, “I”m sorry, but…” I am guilty of this more frequently than I care to admit (although I am clearly admitting this now). Am I sorry about this? Well…yes…I’m sorry that most people are too stupid to get the original intent of something I wrote.
See? That doesn’t really feel like I am very sorry at all.
It works the same way with the “I’m thankful, but…”syndrome.
As in, “I’m thankful that TSTO is still around, but, I would LOVE it if they lifted the damn Item Limits so I could enjoy the game more!”
So…no…not, that thankful.
But, I feel that after spending the day with some of my kids and grandkids for Thanksgiving, and knowing that I truly am blessed for a huge variety of wonderful things in my life, I owe it to the readers to actually try and simply make a list of things for which I am thankful. With no buts…or modifiers.
I am Thankful For…
- Being alive and in relative good health
- My wife, without whom life would be irreversibly lesser than…in every way.
- My kids, who have given me balance, a sense of selfless unconditional love, and more laughs than one can count
- My grandkids who have given me a sense of perspective, and the freedom to spoil and ruin without guilt
- The gift of curiosity….which keeps me interested in learning and being open to change.
- Friends I have made in the strangest places (like here for instance)
- The gift of never settling or compromising…knowing that we can always do better.
- The patience to realize that sometimes, this was as good as it was going to get…and that is enough.
- To never have experienced real poverty, real hunger, or real fear in my life…and the power to help change the lives of those who have.
I could go on and on and on. But, at some point, it begins to feel like bragging. I have had an amazing life…full of amazing people…and amazing experiences. If I am cranky, or discontented with something, it is usually because I expect more out of others than I probably should.
And even more important…every time I throw my hands up, and begin to get fed up with the way the world seems to be heading, I am amazed by the giving nature of strangers, who choose to help other strangers, simply because there is a need to do so.
With very little “cajoling,” we are more than halfway to our goal for this term’s school supplies…after just ONE WEEK! Now…that is pretty amazing.
We are all different…yet all the same. Especially in this funny little community of TSTO Addicts. What I am truly thankful for…are those of you who keep life in perspective, and can still have fun with this “silly little game.”
My best wishes to all of you…the very fact that we can play the game…commiserate about it…and still remain friends, is something for which to give thanks. And I do…
Join in on doing something that matters…and actually does something to change the world for the better…
CLICK HERE TO DONATE!
Finally made a donation, meant to due it over a week ago. Love Friday Filler!
And love you, Fred.
You are one of the good ones.
We had a nice Thanksgiving. No electronics. After dinner we went downstairs to play air hockey, ping pong, and Pop a shot basketball game.
For those with diminished gluteal syndrome like me, I recommend Foundation Training by Eric Goodman. He has tons of YouTube workouts and his back routine will cure all those aches and pains. I do it almost daily to relieve the pain from sitting.
So Diminished Glutes IS real, and CAN be treated?
It rang a quiet bell when I first saw it on KOTH, and as I age more and exercise less … That bell is ringing louder then my tinnitus! (from spending too many nights spinning vinyl in a variety of clubs)
~MIB👤
It is real.. but I don’t know any easy cures…
No butt about it.
Yeah I have a desk job so I have to exercise as it feels like I am sitting my spine all day, My wife and I have been working with a personal trainer and I’m down 10lbs.
I am thinking of investing in those Fannie pads that Hank Hill wore so he could sit on his riding lawnmower!
I am feeling more lucky with every reply.
My hope for your gluteal healing.
Even though Addicts has always been my main TSTO blog, I would occasionally toddle over to Friends to see what this Cranky Old Guy thought. Being intensely subjective is part of his charm.
Convo with husband: “You can’t wait to become a grumpy old man!”
“Who said I’m waiting? I’m grumpy now!”
My grumpy old man makes me think and makes me laugh every day. As the song says Patric, ” Don’t go changing to try to please me”
I’d add something to the Thankfulness list. Having moved from the desert, plagued by drought and wildfires, I’m grateful to be in the PNW with it’s abundant clean, fresh water and air, lush foliage and soaring evergreens. Wildlife included.
I’m grateful that this year, as I celebrate my 50 rotations around the sun that I’ll get to go visit that wild desert beauty, see the people that helped form me, eat, eat, eat and appreciate just how green it is here.
As for TSTO, I have a little confession. When it took so long for the THOH event to drop I got a little nervous. May have even spent a little time hanging around the Google play store. Looking at some other City Builders. Looking at reviews of other games, it seemed like the grass was not any greener elsewhere. Complaints abounded of games too buggy, huge cash grabs for content or even timers on how long you can play, riddled with pop- up ads etc. I despaired of not having a game filled with beloved, voiced characters I was familiar with for many long years. I knew from my Magic Kingdoms game that not all design games are created equal, we TSTO Addicts enjoy incredible freedom of expression in our pocket size Springfields (and much shorter load times comparatively). The Halloween event dropped much to my relief and even if it wasn’t what it was in peak TSTO years, I’m immensely grateful it’s here. The game carries on. I’m ever hopeful for a change of format next event but I’ll play on regardless because I love it. And I’m grateful for all my fellow addicts here (Friends and Addicts together) where we can share all our little gripes and adulations. Friday Filler is your column Patric to get your Cranky on. And I’m grateful for that too, no buts.
As am I. It’s nice to be “got!” And you clearly get me!
“it is illegal to shoot them within city limits” – is that just with guns, or all methods (arrow, noose, …) off limit ?
All. But I do keep them out of my yard with a wrist ticket slingshot.
The gift of curiosity
“Evolution made us the ultimate learning machines, and the ultimate learning machines need to be oiled by curiosity.”
Nice!
I think I agree most with your last point and for that reason I have stretched myself a bit this month.
I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to help make a real difference where money pays for so much more than it does where I live!
You are one of the good ones,Jack!
Sorry I don’t get to tag you as much as I want but you are usually tagged out!
I make do with the Jazz Hole, Church and the dear to my heart Guinea Pig rescue centre as a consolation.
I love you ‘thankful’ list! Mine would be very similar. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Then you have a lot for which to be thankful!