Gratitude '09

I discovered an interesting relationship this year. Turns out (at least for me) that the fear of flying is directly proportional to how great your life is. A few years back, severe turbulence was just a good excuse for a spilled cocktail. This year, I'd go into a silent prayer to an undeclared God with the slightest jostle. "Please don't crash! My life is just too good right now!" And with that, I bring you the annual list of 100 contributing factors.

In Random order for a random reason:

1. 31 Years with Mommom and the chance to say goodbye.
2. Hope
4. Rivers, lot's of em
5. My lucky interview dress
6. Spare keys
7. Kotatsu tables (as close as you can get to a hug from furniture)
8. Zamami Island
9. Smallish boobs
10. Tatami and Shoji (bamboo floor covering and paper sliding panels)
11. Facebook (yes, I am ashamed of myself)
12. My new found sense of direction (not in the figurative sense, but that suddenly, I have a good bearing on which way is North)
13. Opposable thumbs
14. Bit torrents and all the lovely stuff I've downloaded for rainy days
15. All of my adorable college students, except for one
16. The gaijin smash
17. both the beginning and end of friendships as necessary
18. instant soup, coffee and pudding
19. extension cords
20. The weird Spanish speaking bar down the street, and our lingua franca
21. Cathay Pacific Airways
22. My DVD player with the USB port on the front
23. Paper lanterns as an everyday aesthetic
24. Maple trees
25. the metric system
26. combinis (Japanglish for convenience stores) especially Family Mart and AmPm
27. the shuffle songs function
28. rice paddies
29. Mineo, for accepting things he didn't want to hear and being my favorite ex-boyfriend ever. You are a proud example for Buddhism.
30. vayama.com
31. Bibby's return
32. Six weeks in the US
33. 59th street beach
34. That 100 yen shop (dollar store) above Bic Camera that carries chick peas and coconut milk
35. the snooze button
36. Jon Stewart
37. Katsutadai
38. the ring of fire
39. stripes and sometimes plaid
40. Mom's fifth year clean scan: CURED!
41. spell check
42. Midori: shelter, food, translation services, advice, friendship: I would not have survived a month in Osaka without you!
43. pancakes
44. Dusty's return to London
45. geeks and nerds
46. my eye-opening month of poverty experiment
47. The highly anticipated end of that very same month
48. Kumiko and her beguilingly entertaining ways
49. Uno
50. Akabana: a veritable golden goose of new friendships
51. rice cookers
52. Cheryl- for being such a great partner to Dad and for your formidable packing skills
53. Moeno's "Osaka on the cheap" tour
54. Ferris wheels
55. Boys with dimples (I hope this makes the list every year)
56. Beth's new career
57. Wallace and Gromit
58. Engrish, Engrish everywhere
59. A very decent Mexican restaurant nearby
60. Utsubo Park's ever-blooming rose garden
61. Needle nose pliers
62. Dad- I would need a separate an equal length list to tell you all the reasons why
63. Couscous
64. Dad's cool pressure point headache trick
65. The incredibly helpful strangers in this country who have a knack at coming to my aid just before the tears of frustration arrive
66. Catamarans
67. Poppie, and some great quality time with him while I was home
68. Mom, for having big plans for me from the beginning, and for my healthy sense of entitlement :)
69. Pain
70. Care packages from abroad
71. yummy yummy bento
72. Osaka Castle Park
73. Jealousy reduced to a simple motivator
74. The Pellegrinos for being my model for marriage, taking me in when I end up homeless, and the use of their vacation home which also happens to be my happy place.
75. The smell of new tatami mats
76. Catching brief glimpses of 'what it all means'
77. A rapidly expanding circle of new friends in Osaka: Kumiko, Midori, Koki, Helen, Hiro, Stacy, Miki, Yoshi, Moeno, Rachel and Sam- thanks to you, this town gets better every week!
78. Disillusionment
79. The fantastic art store I stumbled upon a block from my house, and the resulting personal renaissance into sketching, pastels, ink drawing and maybe even painting...
80. Stan, for taking such amazing care of 11 horses and my Mom. Betcha the 11 horses are easier!
81. My resilient macbook which has sustained many blows, the most recent from soy sauce.
82. My walk to work
83. Finally establishing a list of songs I like to sing at karaoke
84. Harbor towns
85. Being 100% over it (took long enough)
86. Healthy, Happy, and pretty damn functional family
87. access to the McNeil company store (thanks Trish!)
88. My month long visit to Thailand (Thanks Dad!)
89. Living in a civilized society, and visiting the ones that are still working on it.
90. My sleepover buddy and all our adventures. You are one of a kind and I adore you.
91. Boating Regulations and life jackets
92. Osaka's Ikea
93. Tour guides
94. Anki
95. My all-in-one Hammock/Blanket/Dress/Towel
96. Skype
97. Megumi, for reminding me of my artistic and activist sides when I get distracted with simply functioning.
98. The "immigration office"
99. a wild imagination
100. My unbelievable, unrelenting, undeserved, disproportionately unfair and unreal good luck