People, things, places and events to be thankful for

Here is a Thanksgiving list which appeared in the Nov. 27 issue of the Marianas Variety...a collection from the Variety family which has become a tradition for the past 10 years. (My thanks are in large bold letters...)

THANKSGIVING is about love. And there is no sincerer love than the love of food and days off. It’s also about being optimistic — like trying to start a diet on this special day. We may have more downs than ups in this sorry, sordid year, but hey; at least we’re not a turkey. Poor bird. He’s hit in the neck, loses his head, they break his legs, knock the stuffing out of him, cut him to the heart and pick on him for weeks. Clearly, if you’re a turkey the Bermuda Triangle is Thanksgiving.

And on that uplifting note, here then is the Variety’s 14th annual Thanksgiving list. The items, by the way, are not necessarily arranged in order of importance.

Praise the Lord and have a shot of Tanduay!

1) The local economy, or what’s left of it

2) Paydays

3) Jobs

4) The CNMI will have a new governor in 2010

5) Taotao Tano & Irene Tantiado

6) Diet Pepsi, Coke Zero

7) Mar-Vic, this list’s inventor, says, “I finally found the One and married him. And my name is Mar-Vic C. Palmertree.”

8) She also wants to thank South Park, Family Guy, Google and “my simple desires that make it easy for me to smile and be happy.”

9) Gemma says thank you to Radio Australia, Jojo Dass, Jet, Bey, Myla, Weng, Dave, Hera, Venus, Charlotte, Cherrie, Shabs, Ate Jackie, Tita Lits, Arlene, Anna, Raquel, Tess, Achie, JV, Libay, Sally, Rose, Betty, Sisi, Chummy, Ate Susan, Shintaro, Naoki, Naoko, Hideki, Nojima, Kamimura-san, Fukutomi-san, etc., Mr. Suzuki, other friends and family.

9) She is also thankful to sources for keeping the news flowing despite the odds, Mike & Eleanor Nisperos, Kyodo News, Rep. Stanley Torres & staff, Ernie & Monie, the wires, Flor & Aven and the Marianas Variety & staff

10) Miggy’s, Viralicci, Aliviera

11) Flame Tree Terrace

12) Fat Joy Slim — the music and the friendship

13) Zaldy wants to thank Pareng Onald for the memories, Uly for his tireless devotion to Onald, Hydee and Rose Ann, and the members of the community who joined the week-long rosaries and memorial services

14) Primo’s

15) J’s Restaurant

16) amazon.com, Alibris, Bestseller, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library

17) Godfather’s the bar and parts 1 & 2 of the movie

18) Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis’ Memorias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, Don Casmurro, Quincas Borba

19) Zaldy thanks Mar-Vic and Jason for visiting us

20) Jojo wants to thank Burj Dubai BASE Jumpers

21) Chris says “thank you to my Mom & Dad, Gene & Cora San Gabriel Mr. Abed Younis & Family, Mr. Laurence Boyer & Ms. Laila Boyer, Kuya Zaldy, all my friends specially Maria Eleonor Espinas & Nhorleen Bitco.”

22) Eli says “I’d like to say thanks to my bosses, Mr. Younis, for giving me the opportunity to work here, Ms. Laila, for all the awesome projects. My best buddies Nhorleen and Chris for all the happy moments, the craziness and the dramas. My sisters and brothers at heart, Loidski, Sheryl, Lala, Osang, Sally, Haidee, Ate Chit, Irene, Moneth, Ariel, Kuya Makoy, Greg, Mikol & Dindi, many thanks to you guys. Tita Litz for all the kindness and the ooh so yummy carbonara. Ate Noims and Ate Janet for the crazy Thursdays we’ve shared, Ate Lyn, Kuya Boy, Ka Ed and to the rest of Marianas Variety staff that I’ve worked with, thanks! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!”

23) Moneth says thank you for nothing

24) Jim & Grace Belyea

25) Brenda & Fred

26) Bruce & Maya

27) Jeff, Cynthia and their kids

28) tsetse ija

29) Brad R., Bruce B., Mike E., Angelo V., Brad D.

30) Makoy, Sally, Timbo, Betong, Rick, Julio, Bino, Bel, Prolayn, Ka Ed, Goro, Chris, Mike, Mark, Ernie, Ka Max, Ka Nards, Tekya, Talits, Lenlen

31) Nhorleen says “I would like to thank God for another Thanksgiving, for a year full of blessings and surprises, for a wonderful family, for the greatest friends a person could ever ask and for the rest of the people that continue to rock my world.”

32) Jacq & Joy

33) Aggie, Tomoko, Haids, Marconi & Adam

34) Badjoe, James & Helen, Ella & Sonny, Paul, Tom & Fe, Haidee & Kaycee

35) June says “Thank you to my housemates, Mommy Rio & Daddy Sandie, NMBF association (Macoi, Hapi, Malou M. Shirley, Marylyn, Banker [Malou Malasarte], A. Omori, to my teammates, Roger, Ingrid, Elma, Mar, Riza and Vic), thank you to KWAW and MBI (for Purex and Waioka sardines), thank you to all the editorial staff. Thank you to Rose, Mabel and Leo, to Uro, Uly, Atchie, Chammy, and to all my friends.”

36) Loids says “Thanks to Pipit for coming to our lives and for the blessings and joy that came with him. Thank you to my loving and supportive husband Ariel and to all our friends who are tirelessly helping us in taking care of Pipit. Thank you ever so much to Ninang Lits, Osang, Sally, Moneth, Nhorleen, Ely, Cris, Dindi, Ate Lyn, to my best friend Sheryl and to all the people inside and outside of the barracks. Thanks also to my friends and officemates for giving me bridal and baby showers; thank you for making my life colorful. Thanks also to Mr. Younis and Ms Laila and to all my co-workers.”

37) Miguel Dandan, his wonderful grandparents and ate Lisa

38) Whispering Palms School

39) Gold’s Gym and its management, staff and patrons

40) Hollywood Theaters

41) In Plain Sight, Burn Notice, Monk, Psych, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, South Park, Reno 911, Boston Legal, Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, History Detectives, Chuck, Life, American Idol, The Office, 30 Rock, Worst Week

42) John McCain and Sarah Palin

43) Fox News Channel

44) Hollywood Video

45) Floyd the Maestro and the Big Beats Band

46) Zaldy says Friendster sucks and thank you Facebook and his ever growing number of fellow Facebookians

47) Bon voyage to Raymond, Dindo and Eli — thank you and come again

48) Tina Sablan & Glen Hunter

49) Zhen, Galvin & Velma

50) Gene’s Barbershop

51) Raquel says thank you to “my nocturnal buddies who populate my Yahoo Messenger every night until the early morning hours (you all know who you are…); my family for the long-distance inspiration and for the encouragements to move on; people and objects who kept me going when the going gets tough — my five alarm clocks, cellphone, TV, Internet connection, YM, Facebook, superb sunsets, unpredictable rain showers and sudden weather changes, daily newsroom pressures and trials, and to everyone and everything else that spells the meaning of LIFE; and finally to Roberto Ramirez Herrera for all the memories. You’ll always be in my heart forever.”

52) Arnold thanks “my wife, Jennet and children, John, Ken, Bulet and Yuri for inspiring me to keep going, thanks to my mom for everything, thanks to my Aunts, Cita and Rose my sis, Arlynn for the ‘rescue’ recently, thanks to all the accommodating news sources, thanks to my friends Aries, Anton, Stephen, and the other Malate boys, thanks to Jacob for inviting me to his family’s Thanksgiving party today, thanks to Janet for lending me the camera, thanks to Zaldy for giving me the chance to thank everybody today, thanks to Moneth for valuing our friendship, thanks to Raymond for forwarding sports PRs, thanks to Talits for not being so angry when I failed to pay my phone card on time, thanks to Talits again for the delicious soup, thanks to Mang Nards for being so cool nowadays, thanks to Financial Lending and thanks to Nelson for providing discounts with his vegetables.”

53) Junhan says, “My gratitude and appreciation to all who give when there’s nothing more to give.”

54) Nick Pichay, Beret & John, Jeff Schorr, Pamela Mathis

55) Zaldy wants to thank the Variety’s kick-ass publishers, management, editorial staff as well as the company’s other hard-working personnel.

56) Guam Variety, Palau Horizon and their superb management and staff

57) siomai

58) Zaldy wants to thank his car which he considers symbolic of the CNMI’s spirit — battered, beaten up but bery much alive and kicking.

59) Apples, grapes, oranges

60) KSPN

61) The KAT

62) Heart’s Barracuda, Led Zep’s Ramble On, UB40’s Bring Me Your Cup

63) Friends of the Arts

64) Limewire

65) YouTube

66) Burt Bacharach

67) watermelon and pumpkin seeds

68) The U.S., Guam, Palau and the CNMI held clean, peaceful and orderly elections

69) representative democracy

70) free enterprise

71) detergents

72) Ivory soap

73) electricity

74) shampoo

75) running water

76) drinking water

77) Emperador Brandy

78) Tanduay Rum

79) The CNMI’s hardworking public servants

80) Rex Navarrete

81) Robert Lowell’s Day by Day

82) NMI Humanities Council

83) NMC

84) chess

85) Google

86) AP, Reuters, AFP

87) The Wall Street Journal

88) The Comedy Channel

89) Turner Movie Classics

90) old KMCV news

91) The new kick-ass James Bond

92) sleep

93) waking up

94) sunrise

95) sunset

96) e-mail

97) green tea

98) Nike shoes

99) This year is almost over

100) The Variety’s readers and advertisers