Cranksgiving

Considering Thanksgiving that has gained notoriety for being surrounded by familey that you dont nesesarilly know, or have even the most remote desire to be around I gues it shouldnt come as a suprise that 70% of the people I have talked to about their "holiday" have had the same things to say. "fucking terrible, awful, boring, shitty, and catastophic failure" being among some of my favorite adjectives. My plan going into thanksgiving was simple. 1. Get tanked 2. Eat food 3. Ride bikes 4.Repeat 1 and 4 as nessecary. Nothing ever goes according to plan. 45 minutes into thanksgiving I began to get nervous and clam up. I suppose part of that has to do with no feeling like I can relate to 85% of my familey. It was an interesting portrate though. I got to hear midwestern living room politics, people talking about shooting deer and sharing the meat, I got asked the same questions inumerable times, my families trip to Peru was the hot ticket item of the afternoon, and I did get to gorge myself on all kinds of tasty food and desserts. Regardless, by the time we left I was elated to see the car again and hear its wheels turn towards my house.
When I got home I did everything within my power to make the best of a shitty holiday and geared up for a bike ride. It was really really good and I rode all over town. I found my new favorite place where you can see the lights of the whole city, and cars snaking their ways in and out of it. I just wish I could have had a better camera, phones are not good cameras. North side, west side, south side, bike crash, and back home. All in all a good 4 hours or so on my bike. It was really really good. I got home around a little after 9 and got bored fast. Fortunetly for me and a good portion of the population who are as disenchanted with thanksgiving as me bars were open. I met up with syd and amanda and a handful of other people at clancys and sat down for a pitcher. We all left for the GI and I found a hat sitting on a bench by my bike. I took it and put it on my head. The thought crossed my mind that it could have been soaked with urine or vomit and I wouldnt have know because I was wearing mittens. I lucked out and didn't even get head lice. Some times you win.

Holidays are strange. The city goes quiet and only a few select places are open. So while some people stay home the rest of us sneak into the places that we can to try to find something outside of the normal holiday stuff. Its kind of curious to see the garbage sit on the curb for an extra day, and letters sit in mailboxes waiting to be sent out. Every car you see is given a persona. It is taking someone somewhere special. Even if it is only to the gas sation, it is the gas station of Thanksgiving miracles. And when you dont have that direction or that presumed sense of magical holiday purpose it is wierd to sit around waiting for time to pass so you can get back into a "real" situation again. Something that is much more familar and comfortable than your aunts
house eating pumpkin pie, and dinner rolls from a bag. Thus I find myself sitting in a booth in a bar that I usually don't go to. Buying drinks with someone elses money, wondering just how it is that one person can be so mind numbingly awful. Luckily for me I was also there with very good people as well, and the night ended with a good conversation with Julia and a quick ride home to a bed I had made earlier when I thought the evening would end short.

So thats it. I suppose it was nothing to painful, but I just think that thanksgiving is a very strange holiday and I'm not sure how much I enjoy it anymore. And Im not sure how much anyone can really enjoy it when they have enough other things on their mind. Maybe this saterday when I visit the other half of my familey (2 people) it will be a little less painful. I know we will order Chinese food, have a pumpkin pie, and my granma will as me about who I am seeing these days, am I on drugs, and what I plan to do after college. I will weasle my way through all of these questions, and make my move for the fortune cookies.