Tonight I ate with my dad at the Chart House; we were in the weird situation of the tail end of a period where their kitchen was overwhelmed by the Thanksgiving rush, so there were a bunch of drunk, angry customers cursing about the service, but ours was great (however, these folks said their food was better than ours, so technically it wasn't "a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat.")

Later I couldn't sleep because I had been reading something agitating - or maybe it was the tryptophan in the turkey; no wait, I had fish - so I went out for a walk. I have a frequent walk route which passes through a narrow park between expensive houses full of what the Communists would tell you are Bad People. These people have had a long-running battle with skunks: a skunk will spray one of their dogs; they will call in the skunk patrol, who will largely exterminate the skunks; but come autumn, a new crop of skunks will hatch to resume the fight - and this was the first skunk of the season. She was lurking in a bush, but nature has designed the skunk so that in full moonlight even lurking in a bush she proclaims "Hey, skunk here!"

The skunk was a good omen! I was cheered. And I was ok before, cheery but agitated, now I was just doubly cheery.

I passed from Revenant Skunk Park onto King Street, where the People are even Worse and the houses are nice beyond nice. This is the farthest point on earth from Black Rock City. And then out of the darkness, a guy wished me a happy Thanksgiving and wondered if I wanted a shot of his Smirnoff! I had some; it was just like home. His friend staggered out from behind a car and worried that they had just caused the downfall of a Mormon Missionary, but I assured him that no, there was only one of me (in case he couldn't tell) and while he maybe didn't believe this we both agreed that I wore no tie.

Maybe it's ok to have mood swings if they are in response to stimulus swings. it would be deranged to NOT have mood swings in these circumstances! As my friend said, "yay booze!" And Happy Thanksgiving, and To All A Good Night.