On a given day, how many things do you complain about? It’s too hot outside, too cold in the office. I hate traffic. My Cheez-Its are stale.

Well, it’s that one time of year when we’re supposed to cease in our petty malcontentedness, and pretend to be thankful for all those little things we usually ignore. In doing so, I realize I am thankful for a great many things, and in an effort to trivialize the process, here is a list of some of them.

1. Matt Fraction – Fraction writes comic books, mostly for Marvel, including The Immortal Iron Fist, The Order and Punisher War Journal, but his best work is his original creation Casanova. I’ll blog more about that later.

2. Haruki Murakami – My favorite author. His book After Dark came out in English translation earlier this year. It was very good.

3. Chris Potter – A world-class jazz saxophone player who has put out a couple albums recently. I’ve asked for them for Christmas. I’ll let you know more, like, when I’ve actually listened to them.

4. Seijun Suzuki – Japanese film director who made one of my favorite movies, Tokyo Drifter, known for his theatrical style and absurdity. I’m currently watching through his Taisho Trilogy, which is weird as frick.

5. The start of college basketball season.

6. Heroes – I don’t love this show, but I enjoy it, and more importantly, I’m grateful that television like this is successful.

7. Mr. T – Mr. T is awesome, and I dare any one of you to try to prove otherwise.

8. White Ninja Comics – This isn’t my favorite web comic, but it’s probably the one I laugh out loud (LOL) at the most. Check it out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

9. YouTube – Redefining entertainment two minutes at a time. In the case of “Chocolate Rain,” four minutes.

10. Friends, family and loyal readers – Puts a tear in your eye, don’t it?

Go now, eat turkey.