thanksgiving

hi everybody. we went to a little home-style cooking restaurant in austin, tx tonight with the shout out louds and it was a lot of fun. most of them were very interested in the traditional thanksgiving dinner and when they ordered, they consulted us on the quality and authenticity of the sides. Ted said he liked the fried okra but i think he was just being nice because i told him it was my favorite. mostly the turkey with stuffing was the jam. so, after the dinner we went to play pool and foosball and get to know each other better. "Cheers" in Swedish is "skol" like "skull" but i think i'm spelling it wrong. it also has an "a" with the circle over it. After a long night of hanging out and being secretly sad about just general thanksgiving stuff, i decided the best thing to do would be to throw myself into the Swedish culture and so Ted and Carl taught me to toast properly (the Swedish way) by looking each member of the party in the eye while saying SKOL and then drinking and then making eye contact again. Also, if there are more than two people in the party, each should be aware of the arm with which they "cheers" each other so that if they are sitting side-by-side, for example, they should click left hand to right hand so that they create a circle-like shape with their bodies and arms, signifying closeness. If there are three people or more, it doesn't matter but if one-on-one, we must sit next to each other, face each other, click our outer-handed glasses and make eye contact when we say "cheers" and again after we take the sip.
Much better now.
There's a show tomorrow so i should get some sleep. happy thanksgiving everybody. i hope your uncles didn't go on and on about how great they are and i hope your mamas were nice to your girlfriends/boyfrineds. it's hard on everybody so remember that we all have our hang-ups and that we are all human--even the weird family members who don't always seem to present that "human" side first.
everyone's just as strong and/or hurt on the inside. but remember, you are not to tolerate any kind of abuse, not today or ever, from anyone. even family. if they're mean to you, you are not obligated to stay. you have your life to live (really live!) even if they are going the other way.
especially if they are going the other way.
my little 5-year-0ld niece did call this morning to say happy thanksgiving so i do have her and her wonderful, fearless little girlness to be thankful for.
happy thanksgiving.
k