Gratitude '08

Last year I was grateful to be alive. This year I am grateful for my life. There is a huge difference. Some things on the list are trivial and some as important to me as the air that I breathe. Again, in no particular order, 100 things for which I am grateful. This year's list was exceptionally easy to fill up, the mark of a truly excellent year.

1. International shipping
2. White Rabbit Press kana flashcards
3. Brita water filters
4. Pasmo
5. Electric blankets
6. Good memorization skills
7. Charades
8. My neighborhood recycle shop
9. Ikea
10. FAST internet
11. Skype
12. The shoe store in Usui that sells womens' size 3L shoes
13. http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english
14. Liz and Joe and their awesome idea
15. My last two weeks in the States
16. My brother, for being one of my favorite people to be around, and for managing the mutt.
17. Bravery
18. Stupidity
19. The 100 yen shop
20. Millie Mamachari
21. Isolation and time to think
22. A global market for English education
23. Maruetsu
24. NO CRIME
25. The perfect running park three blocks away
26. Izakayas
27. Great great great great luck
28. Narita-san
29. My adorable Japanese style apartment
30. 25 hour workweeks
31. First dates
32. Zoe and Ashley and our whirlwind trip to see everything
33. Pointing
34. The Shinkansen
35. Jon Stewart
36. 160 Gigs of stuff to watch when it rains (thanks Chris!)
37. Neighborhood cats
38. Wonderful students
39. Matt and Beth and the incredible luck in meeting them
40. Glen and Steff and our Sunday morning muffin ritual
41. Facebook
42. The Shinkawa river path
43. My waterproof camera (Thanks Dad!)
44. Bit torrents
45. Hot tea
46. People giving out packs of tissues at every train station
47. Yaki-Niku, Yaki-Imo, Yaki-Tori and many other Yaki things
48. Small earthquakes
49. Visitors! (Chris, Alex, Zoe, Ashley, Eric, Hiromi, Michelle, Dad, Cheryl...and counting!)
50. Knowing I am missed
51. Clementines
52. The Gaijin Smash!
53. My rice cooker
54. The departure of the possessed howler monkey bird from my balcony
55. Beth having a good year
56. My Macbook
57. Feeling proud of myself
58. Vending machines
59. 7-11
60. Teachers' editions
61. My compass
62. Pimsleur language CDs
63. My volunteer private tutor, Rika
64. JapanIcan.com
65. Jenny and our bicycle trips
66. Christmas trees
67. High valued Yen
68. Ambien
69. Japanese customer service
70. Landing on my feet
71. Lonely Planet guidebooks
72. Dissolving regrets
73. Thirty
74. Mom and Dad and their unwavering encouragement no matter how wacky the idea
75. Tatami and futon sleeping
76. Having such a great family to miss
77. My summer with Cat and Jude
78. Only waking up to an alarm once a week
79. The word 'Domo' and the particle 'wa'
80. Care packages
81. NO CRIME (bears repeating)
82. Not knowing what country I will live in next year
83. Barack Obama
84. My friends who really work to stay in touch with me
85. Wii fit
86. Tempura
87. My 30th Birthday weekend and all those involved. It was the best I ever had.
88. Shrinking
89. MIL
90. The nightly English newscast at 9:00
91. A whole new world to explore
92. Streaming video and proxy blockers
93. Simplification
94. Trains that are always on time
95. Long aimless walks
96. hugs
97. Those tissues with the lotion in them that don't make your nose all red
98. Irony
99. Carpe Diem
100. Japan