Andyland, USA

Thanksgiving is this week (don't panic!). Since we tend to get a little too caught up in the idea of Thanksgiving being all about the food—I'm just as bad as anyone about this—I've decided that I wanted to a column that's a little different from what I usually do in these pages. Thanksgiving is really all about taking a moment and remembering what you're thankful for. The modern world is crazy, and the more we spend invested in our phones than our interactions with each other, it's easy to forget the aspects of life that are really important. So if you'll indulge me, this week's column is going to be a list of what I'm thankful for. If you don't want to read it, that's fine. My usual fare will be here next week, but this is just something that I wanted to do. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for their support, and their love, and their care towards me. I'm thankful that I'm around to help take care of them...

In a social setting the other afternoon, I was introduced to someone as a “film historian”. I was taken a little aback by it, not because I was offended by the term, but because no one has ever used that term in referring to my palpable love of movies. When being introduced in a social setting to people, not everyone feels a need to comment on my love of film. If they do, it's usually something like “Andy's a big movie lover” or the variation of “Andy's really passionate about movies”. Sometimes it's not quite as nicely put as that, “Andy's invested way too much time and money into a home video library that no one gives a damn about” or “Andy's spends a lot of time watching movies, because trying to have a conversation with a woman causes him to curl up into a ball, much like an armadillo.” Yet, they wonder why I never came back to any of their parties. If it even comes up at all in polite conversation, I'll happily refer to myself as a “...

The other day I received an invitation to my ten year high school reunion, and I have no desire to go. I didn't enjoy high school, though there were good times during that four year period, overall when I think back to that time I'm reminded of huge waves of awkwardness, depression, and anxiety that I see no reason to revisit or celebrate. People who knew me then are usually surprised to learn that I was unhappy during that four year period, that's because I became good at hiding my emotions (Also, driving to school in the mornings blasting “The Best of The Who” helped as well). Most people thought of me as a weirdo, and I was fine with that. I wasn't really anti-social, but I was rarely invited to anything. Football games didn't strike my fancy as an idea of a good time, so I usually spent of my Friday nights in watching Alfred Hitchcock movies and British comedies on BBC America. Looking back on it now, I'm OK with the fact that I was that way. I...