Thanksgiving as no pilgrim knew it...

It's very easy to become a slave to tradition. I know that I am especially subject to the danger of becoming mired in ruts. A few examples... I tend to sit in the same seat in classes, day in and day out. I have a set "lucky" wardrobe that I wear for tests with the inductive assumption that since I've performed well when wearing them in the past, I should perform well when wearing them in the future. Tonight I ate dinner at the same restaurant I have dinner at almost every Saturday (the rare exceptions occuring when I'm not in Davis).

And you know, I don't see a problem with this. If you find something you like, why not stick with it? Stagnation isn't necessarily bad! But of course, change isn't necessarily bad either. Which is why I think it's a good thing to do something totally weird and nontraditional every now and then.

And in that way, Jed and I had a perfect Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun, and certainly very funny as well. I was all set with sticking with the tried and true. But Jed didn't want me to cook for him (for reasons never elucidated). So we decided to go to a movie instead: the new James Bond flick, Die Another Day. I really liked it! Before the movie, we cruised around town to see if any restaurants were open. Selection was basically nonexistent. It was getting close to the time we needed to head back to the theatre, and so far only Subway was open. But the prospects of walking into a Subway for Thanksgiving dinner embarrassed us. So instead, we chose to try our luck at the theatre's snack bar. It's not just popcorn anymore! I'm proud (that's right, proud!) to admit that we are among the lucky few, the elite, who've had hotdogs as Thanksgiving dinner. And a lot of popcorn too.

After that feast, we didn't get hungry again until around midnight. Unfortunately, there are even fewer places open at midnight on Thanksgiving than we encountered for lunch. We didn't even have the option of a grocery store anymore! Not even In-n-out (and In-n-out is an excellent choice for special occasions) or Pho were open! Alas. Fortunately, we chanced upon the one open Jack-in-the-box in the world. (We passed several others that were closed). We did not have to starve after all!

Now I feel the need for a little bit of a disclaimer. I neither want, nor expect your pity over my Thanksgiving. That is not why I'm sharing =). I truly had a great Thanksgiving. I'll spare you from a polemic condemning the modern incarnation of Thanksgiving as a capitalist holiday promoting gluttony and turkey ranches. Because that's really not what I think of it. I have nothing wrong with gluttony (you should see the way I eat!) or turkey (though probably turkey ranches are a little on the evil side). But there probably are more meaningful aspects of Thanksgiving that are lost in the feasting tradition. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving doing fun things. But more importantly, it was with someone I love. Both because of that, and because of the departure from tradition =), it was a Thanksgiving I'll never forget. And I'll never want to.

Ok! That's enough cheesiness for one day! G'night everybody!