Well, I am home alone today for Thanksgiving. Primarily, because I coughed all night and got no sleep and I continue to be exhausted. But, as fate would have it, my dad is in really bad shape this morning with a blocked catheter, and would not have wanted me to come. The nurse is there with him now.

I feel bad for my stepsister and her family — they drove 9 hours from Alabama yesterday. But they will be there for a few days. Hopefully my dad will get a little better as the day progresses.

Anyway. Happy Thanksgiving, gang, however you spend it or honor it. I have some amazing Thanksgiving memories from my wee bonny girlhood in Cleveland, so that will have to suffice for me today.

If you missed Phil’s livestream last night, it was a very nice one. Mostly , it was really enjoyable to just have him back. The intel he had last night is already unfolding this morning. So check his channel, and also watch the replay if you missed it last night (1 hr 20 mins):

General Flynn had a nice Thanksgiving letter. You can read it in full here, but I particularly liked this part:

“[…] President Abraham Lincoln, after the victorious but very difficult Battle of Gettysburg displayed the cost of war along with apparent insurmountable odds, who proclaimed the last Thursday of November to be set aside as a day to reflect on the sacrifices of Gettysburg, and of all previous wars, as a “day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.” President Lincoln wanted Americans to reflect on the tender care we must offer to those who have gone before us and to those who suffer because of the consequences of war. Thanksgiving is a  reminder, despite the challenges we now face, there is a fruitful bounty in our lives that we must all reflect upon while we enjoy each other’s company and offer thanks for this still plentiful nation that remains the freest, most abundant on earth […]”

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Simon Parkes had a nice video of Putin walking down a flight of airplane stairs in a blizzard (30 seconds). (The meaning, of course, is that Biden is always falling down…)

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I hate to spring a pop quiz on you when it’s a holiday, however….

How do we know this gorgeous creature is really Johnny Depp? (Select only one answer please):

A. Because he is smoking

B. Because he is smoking

(Good luck, everyone!!)

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Okay, so Black Friday sales are bombarding us all over the place, aren’t they???

I saved a fortune on supplements yesterday at various online outlets, so that was nice.

I also purchased a couple things from the Manhattan Repertory Theater — a new eBook, The 10 Principles of Playwrighting by Ken Wolf ($7 Amazon Kindle) — because I am still tweaking my play, Tell My Bones: The Helen LaFrance Story.

And I also purchased a script consultation (on sale right now, can also use it for screenwriting!).

I have 5 months to use the consultation, so that gives me a nice deadline to tweak the play.

I did NOT get the Tom Petty Christmas coffee mug because shipping charges were off-the-charts insane.

I didn’t get the Keith Richards tee shirt, either. I’m holding out for a better photo on the shirt. I tell you, gang, I had the BEST Keith Richards tee shirt in the 1980s, and none of the newer ones hold a candle to that one. So I’m waiting…

(It was not this photo, but it was from this photo shoot, and the shirt was in black, white and yellow. And I had cut the sleeves off, because back then, for some reason, we cut the sleeves off of our tee shirts — you can see that with Keith’s shirt in the photo below. And the tee shirt I had looked incredible with black Levis.)

(I remember one spring day in 1985, wearing the tee shirt and a pair of black Levis and black cowboy boots; walking along St. Mark’s Place with the punk-rock bassist now known as Blare N. Bitch, who was the love of my life at that point. She and I were both smoking our cigarettes, both had our de rigueur crazy 1980s hair. I was good-naturedly asking her not to leave me, not to go back to her sig o, and to just let me be the most important thing in her world for at least an afternoon, and she was chuckling and some guy came up to me on the street and said, “I love your tee shirt”…. That’s the kind of Keith Richards tee shirt I want to own again.)

(BELOW: The bassist now known as Blare N. Bitch in my room at about 3AM in 1985. Note these things: Many photos of Keith taped to my wall, along with other people. The ashtray on the bed — you always want to do that, gang, because beds are super flammable. The Lou Reed cassette tape for New Sensations. I LOVED that album!!)

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Okay!

Nick Cave sent out another very interesting Red Hand File this morning!! Wherein, he encourages us to embrace yet another much-needed “cultural irritant.”

Personally, I have more cultural irritants than I can handle. So I’m gonna pass on this one. But I loved what he had to say about his own Christianity.

“The defining characteristic of my belief, and which I consider to be a fundamental imperative in my life, is uncertainty. This questioning impulse is the essence of freedom and the creative catalyst that keeps the wheels rotating irrevocably toward God….”

You can read it in full here.

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And I think that’s it for now, gang.

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world. If you are State-side — Happy Thanksgiving!! Good things are coming, even as I type!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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From Lou Reed’s New Sensations, 1984. “Doin’ the Things We Want To”.