Have you ever heard this cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”? It really digs into the narrative embedded in the song and changes the tenor, in the same way that Johnny Cash completely commandeered “Hurt” from Trent Reznor.

And as for gratitude… This past week’s collection has some complicated items in it. Let’s dig in.

Zine Fest Houston on Saturday was really fun! Even though the weather was rather warmer than I like for November (or maybe ever), the crowds were excellent as always, and I had a good time hanging out with Han. It’s always wonderful to see how much people love his art; zine festivals tend to be really good venues for his work. (And mine, as it turns out. Sonic Chihuahua continues to be popular, despite production on it taking a back seat to my books.)

I was also really grateful to Han for taking over our table for the last couple of hours of the festival, when I had to leave to go to an event at school I was obliged to attend.

At said school event, I had the opportunity to speak with lots of people about my program, and their enthusiasm for something I’m already passionate about always energizes me. Also during that event, I unexpectedly ran into a very dear friend from college whom I hadn’t seen in years. That was definitely a highlight for me!

Some of you know that I traded in my very old Leaf for a brand-new Ariya a few months ago. I haven’t written about it yet here on the blog for a couple of reasons. First, I just haven’t had time to do an EV Diary post the justice it and you deserve. Second, I’ve had a few challenges with this new car. For example, it’s in the shop today, and since it will be there for a little while, the dealership gave me a loaner car. A vastly inferior one, if you ask me (though it’s a perfectly good car on its own), and I’m grateful that this loaner car experience is making me appreciate the actual car I bought a lot more.

My great-aunt passed away last weekend. That is not what I’m grateful for, although she was old and sick and very ready to go and so this passing was a relief in some ways, and though we all will miss her very much. But here’s the gratitude portion: she lived to be 101 years old and went very peacefully in her sleep at home. She was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 99 and said, “Well, good grief, I’m not going to bother to do anything about that now.” She was also in congestive heart failure, very recently. Last week, she told my mom she was ready to shuffle along. She was active all the way up until the end. I was going to call her this weekend to invite her over for Thanksgiving when I heard the news of her passing, and while I’m sad, I’m grateful for her long and happy life and the very peaceful conclusion of it. She was the last of her generation in my family, so this is the end of an era for a family who usually has four generations alive at once.

Finally, here in the U.S. next week is Thanksgiving, and here, that holiday means much of the week off for a lot of us. (The whole week off for me because of the school where I work.) And boy howdy do we need that break! I’m extra grateful for that, even if I am hosting and will be cooking Thursday’s dinner for two days. I’ll take it!

I hope you all have a wonderful evening. I’ll be back here on the blog later this week with more good stuff.