However rough life might be for you at times, you almost surely have at least some things in your life that make you feel lucky to be alive right now. Whether or not you believe in a deity or deities to whom to give thanks for the good things in your life, it can be good to take a little time out to consider how much you have that makes you happy.
Once you’ve covered the really important things: your family, your friends, a steady job (if you’re fortunate enough to have one), having a roof over your head, etc., there’s still lots left to think about. Here’s a list of ten geeky things my fellow GeekDads and I are thankful for (in no particular order) this (American) Thanksgiving Day:
1. We witnessed the first close-up photographs of Pluto. Whatever Pluto’s planetary status may be, these pictures are amazing.
2. Despite the efforts of the misogynist Gamergaters and their ilk, women in geekdom are growing in number and becoming even more influential. The only people who still think that women are ruining gaming, comic books, or anything else, deserve to have those things ruined for them.
3. It is just possible that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will manage to live up to the mind-blowing amount of hype that is preceding it. We who grew up with the original trilogy can finally take our kids to a first-run ‘Star Wars’ film in the theaters, knowing that it can’t reach such epic depths of badness as The Phantom Menace. Unless J.J. Abrams is insane enough to have put Jar Jar Binks in SW:TFA, it just can’t.
4. The first trailer for Captain America: Civil War is out, and it looks like Disney/Marvel’s streak of fun, well-built action films will continue unabated. (I didn’t love ‘Ant-Man,’ but it was unquestionably fun, and even if it wasn’t up to Marvel’s usual quality, it was still better than 90% of the other action films that get released.)
5. Continuing on that theme, the Marvel/Netflix partnership has produced Daredevil and Jessica Jones, both of which are powerful, entertaining, and excellent adaptations of their source material. That said, I wouldn’t mind if they produced a series that I could let my kids watch.
6. ‘Bloom County‘ is back, and as good as it ever was.
7. Caffeine is a thing that exists. I know that there are parents who do not (for whatever reason) ingest caffeine on a daily basis, and some of those who even hold down a steady job at the same time, but I have not the faintest idea how they do it.
8. ‘Fallout 4.’ For obvious reasons.
9. 3D printers continue to get less and less expensive, and thus more accessible to the general public. This gives adults and kids a new way to be creative and to make things, and that can’t be anything but good.
10. It looks like we’re going to make it through the entire year without a new Middle-earth movie from Peter Jackson (who in commentary on the video release of the thankfully-final ‘Hobbit’ movie admitted that he didn’t know what he was doing when making the recent trilogy).
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at GeekDad! Leave a comment and let us know what you’re thankful for today.
Photo by Cozinhando Fantasias; published under CC BY-ND 2.0
And they all said, “Amen.”
P.S. – Jar Jar was a Sith Lord: https://www.reddit.com/comments/3qvj6w
1) Pluto is an awesome Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) and it is well worth the effort to visit.
2) I am not a fan of SJWs, but I am aghast with the antics of the Gamergate bigots.
3) I am cautiously optimistic with SW:TFA. I am not yet fully geeked out, and I still remember cutting class to watch SW1:TPM on the first day. Boy, that movie was a major letdown.
4) I zoned out of the MCU with the first Avengers movie. Don’t really care much for it except for Guardians of the Galaxy.
5) I don’t watch those MCU TV series.
6) Never heard of it.
7) Caffeine sure does exist.
8) I only play FO:Shelter.
9) I am looking into getting a 3D printer next year.
10) I did not care for the Hobbit movies.
Happy Thanksgiving to you Americans. We don’t celebrate it here in Asia, but we don’t mind culturally appropriating your holidays.