It's A Thankful Job But Someone's Gotta Do It

While we in Australia don't celebrate Thanksgiving (unless you're an American citizen who migrated to Australia), that doesn't mean I don't have a list the length of a skyscraper of things I am thankful for. While I could take up all your time and list them all (even the short version I could set to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire and it would still leave a lot out), I'm going to list some of the biggest things I am thankful for, be they small things like entertainment that has gotten me through tough times or bigger things. And with that, let us begin:

*I am thankful for the creation of some of my favourite foods and beverages, like meatloaf, chicken parmigiana, lasagna, meatballs, pizza, mashed potato, chocolate, strawberry milk and most pineapple flavoured drinks (curiously, I do not thank pineapples themselves, can't stand pineapple on a pizza)

*I am thankful for the music of artists like Queen, Muse, Powderfinger, Alanis Morrisette, Pink, Weird Al Yankovic, Madonna (yes, you read that right), Hall and Oates, Huey Lewis and The News, U2, Eminem, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Linkin Park, Green Day, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica, Kasey Chambers, Jewel, Rihanna, R.E.M, Coldplay, Radiohead, Garbage and many more, for lifting my spirits or giving me something new to think about

*I am thankful that movies exist, especially with gems like A Clockwork Orange, The Silence Of The Lambs, Chasing Amy, The Dark Knight, the Back To The Future trilogy, the Evil Dead trilogy, the Monty Python films, the Marvel "Movieverse", the Harry Potter adaptations, the rest of Christopher Nolan's filmography (save for Following, which I still need to see) and many, many more for telling wonderful stories and inspiring me to get into writing (as well as the books I've read. On that subject...)

*I am thankful for fantastic books like The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, the Harry Potter series, the Red Dwarf tie-ins, Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter series (maybe not Hannibal Rising though), the Darwin Awards series, Friendly Fire by Wil Anderson, Stupid White Men by Michael Moore but most of all, the works of Stephen King (in particular, The Shining, Gerald's Game, Firestarter, Nightmares And Dreamscapes, The Dark Tower series, Bag Of Bones, The Bachman Books and Danse Macabre). I thank all of these for filling me with all sorts of wonderful information and amusing anecdotes and for getting my creative gears going

*For the same reasons, I thank Bob Kane and Bill finger for the creation of Batman and Dick Grayson, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko for Spider-Man, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for Superman, William Moulton Marston for Wonder Woman and Joe Kelly and Fabian Nicieza for injecting Deadpool with his lovable personality (not Rob Liefeld though, he sucks at drawing). I am also thankful for stories like Y: The Last Man, Watchmen, Scott Pilgrim, Identity Crisis and the creators of each, as well as the concepts and characters of the Green Lantern Corps, nearly all of Batman's supporting cast and villains and the creators and companies of each. Oh and Dark Horse for publishing the Buffy The Vampire Slayer follow-ups to the show. On that note, I'd like to thank Joss Whedon for his creations, for the wonderful worlds he's created and for taking on The Avengers adaptation, I'm sure it'll be a marvelous (pun intended) day

*To prevent this from getting long, I'll just do another two paragraphs after this but this will sum up everything I miss, whether it be the video games, characters and publishers I'm thankful for (like Nintendo and the Mario franchise), the TV shows I've spent countless hours engrossed in (the Law And Order franchise, Red Dwarf, M*A*S*H, How I Met Your Mother) and all sorts of things I'm likely to forget. Now, on to the two most important dedications

*I am very thankful for the existence of That Guy With The Glasses (www.thatguywiththeglasses.com) and the contributors who lifted me out of a state of depression almost a year and a half ago, with their hilarious videos. They are a huge inspiration to me, since they are regular people who just happen to pick apart things we know and get adoration for it. Those I'd like to thank especially are Doug (The Nostalgia Critic and others) and Rob Walker, Lindsey Ellis (The Nostalgia Chick), Noah Antwiller (The Spoony One and others) but most of all, Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara and others) and his girlfriend, Iron Liz (you can visit them on http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com). They gave me a new lease on life and I hope to achieve my new ambition sometime within the next two-three years.

*But the people I am most thankful for are my friends and family. I know for a fact I would not be here today, or be who I am, without these people in my life. It's almost like they descended into Hell to pluck me out, no questions asked. And I would do it for them a hundred times over. I'm not going to name each and every person because I know for damn sure I would forget someone. But they are special to me. While I don't say this often enough, or even at all in some cases, but for any of my friends and family reading this, I'd just like to say this: I love all of you. And I thank each and everyone of you for the way you've shaped my life in the past, the way you're shaping it now, and the ways you will shape it. And it's something I want you to never forget.

Well, I could go on all day but I imagine some of you have delicious Thanksgiving food going cold. Thank you for reading. Now go enjoy your turkey, your turducken, your turturkeykey, whatever you have, enjoy, stay safe and best wishes!