Speaking of football, which would you rather have as an official national holiday: the day after the Super Bowl, or the day after Thanksgiving? My answer: how about both? And get rid of Daylight Saving Time while you're at it, please.
On the subject of giving thanks: thank you to Dan, the bass player in my band Second Player Score, for turning me on to this hilarious song & video by the popular Malaysian recording artist Namewee. It's been stuck in my head on a continuous loop for days, and during the rare times that it hasn't, I've consciously reminded myself about it due to its effect as a natural antidepressant (your results may vary; do not take medical advice from a writer/musician).
The word "bakayarou" (Japanese for, let's call it, "big idiot"), as heard at the end of the aforementioned song/video and in a good amount of anime shows is, besides being very rude (WARNING: DO NOT SAY THIS WORD IN JAPAN!) is also probably one of the hardest, if not the hardest, Japanese words to pronounce. It's spelled "ba-ka-ya-ro-u" but is pronounced something more like "ba-ka-yaero" with a sort of weird combination "ah-eh" sound. What this has to do with Thanksgiving, I have no idea (Brian, you bakayarou).
Speaking of Japan, turkeys are not really a thing there, at least from what I've heard (despite my seeming expertise, all my knowledge about Japan actually comes secondhand from books, anime, and the Internet). Something about there not being enough space to raise turkeys, or whatever. But Kentucky Fried Chicken at Christmas is a big deal.
For some reason, I seem to have a thing about writing scenes that take place on Thanksgiving. Like in Volumes Four and Five of the Joel Suzuki series. Or in the unproduced screenplay currently known as Jinx, featuring Joel's cousin April Hayashi. Here's an actual excerpt from the script:
Ralph goes back to eating. J.J. leans over to April.
J.J.: Sorry about that. I don't know why Thanksgiving family drama always has to be a thing.
April (chuckles): No worries. If you think this is bad, wait until you meet my family.
This raises all kinds of questions for me. Like, since April's family is basically Joel's uncle, aunt, and grandparents, would whatever drama that occurred have been confined to them, or would it have included Joel and his immediate family? And if so, would this have been before or after Joel's parents got divorced? What kind of drama took place? And could said drama be the reason why Joel and his family are eating Thanksgiving dinner by themselves during the events of Volumes Four and Five, even though they live in the same city (Seattle) as April and her parents? I'm really curious to know the answers...oh, wait, I guess I would need to write them, wouldn't I? Maybe I should work on that while Volume Six is with my editor next month...
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