I woke up exceedingly early this morning (before 3am), and I was thinking about Mary Blair and her work on the Small World attraction. She was an amazing artist (her work and her use of color still floor me), and I think she was the perfect person to bring Small World to reality.

I know people are maddened by the theme song, but I’ve always loved Small World. When I worked at Disneyland back in 1997, it was the first year of Small World Holiday and even though I’m not a fan of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I loved it. Something about all those cultures represented under one roof moves me.

Perhaps it’s my lack of sleep over the past set of days that makes me feel poetic about this. But I also wish people were more accepting of other races and cultures.

Three years ago, I made an exceedingly dumb joke and came up with the word “Thanksgaming;” it amuses me still. I hadn’t thought about it in forever, but as soon as I woke up, it was the first word in my head.

Today, for Thanksgaming, I will be futzing around in Fallout 76. The game is a mess, but I still find the world engaging to explore. I wouldn’t mind starting something new, either.

Last night, over on my Facebook writing page, someone asked me what I would be playing over the holiday weekend and I realized something: that very well may have been the first time in over four years someone asked me what I would be playing. I was extremely touched by that. I am nearly constantly asking others questions and it felt really nice to be asked one, too. So, to the person who asked me, I say a sincere thank you; you may never know what that meant to me.

Since I have conflicted feelings about the holidays, I would like to play something strange, perhaps Transference or Remothered. Both have been sitting there waiting to be played, and I’m in the mood for an odd experience.

Historically, the last week of November is always the worst week of the year for me, emotionally. It’s not worth going into beyond saying it regularly challenges me to keep a decent attitude. Yesterday was a tough day. Because of my nonsense, I missed connecting with one of my favorite people to try out Black Ops IIII for the first time. Instead, I went to bed at 6pm.

I was really disappointed to miss that gaming date.

Also, and it may be hard for anyone else to be excited about this, this is one of only two days a year our apartment doesn’t vibrate from 6:30am to midnight. The restaurant we live above is closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and you can bet I will be both thrown off and delighted by the unmoving and quiet state of the place. To be fair, the constant vibration isn’t the worst of it, it’s the varying noises FROM that vibration that get to me. Occasionally they are minimal, but often they are maddening.

So there you have it. Today will be a low key day with my partner and pup, some digital worlds to explore, and probably some frozen pizza.

Happy Thanksgaming, friends. Please be safe out there. Cheers.