Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

• Illinois Menace, past and present.
• Shanghai Hu Wa and Team Red.
• The Huddle and ICUltimate.
• Scott Roeder and Matt Lane.
• Five Ultimate/Adidas shorts, Badger shirts/jerseys, Adidas cleats, Underarmour everything, and cut-off shirts. 
• sweatbands and bandannas.
• push passes, inside/out forehands, push passes, give-and-go's, and push passes.
• Hong Kong Pan Asian Tournament semifinals: Shanghai Hu Wa vs. Sunken Pleasure (Philippines) and Trouble in Vegas '08.
• ibuprofen, tiger balm, Neosporin, knee braces, athletic trainers, and codeine.
• road trips, golf carts, and plane rides.
• my mom, my dad, my little sister, Katie Meyer, Paul Wellstone, Jon Blais, and Katie Douglas, among others.
• Team ICEHOUSE/The Baumann Corner, Team Stanford '08, Team Asia, and Team CHICAGO.
• Chicago, The Bay Area, Shanghai, and Champaign-Urbana, I guess.
• destruction, renewal, and progress.
• Summer '08 and everything it means to me.
• my broken heart and my full heart.
• Illinois and California.
• Illinois, Stanford, and Northwestern.
• the lakefront, Clarke's in Lincoln Park, my driveway, and Northwestern's soccer fields.
  
• the McKinley Foundation, Zorba's, Firehaus, and Grainger.
• Lagunita, Potter Lounge, Potter 1 and Potter 3, the Tank (Beefeaters), Arrillaga, Robinson Roof, and the entire Stanford campus, actually.
• the Junior Statesmen of America Summer School and the Junior Statesmen Foundation.
• O'Hare and all the pain, hope, and happiness it represents, SFO and all the pain and anxiety it represents, and Phoenix International Airport, and how I cried for the entirety of my four hour layover.
• Boulder, CO, and Denver International Airport.
  
• my iPod, and everyone esteemed enough (hell yeah, c-pop! shameless, baby!) to be in it.
• • Rilo Kiley, Tegan & Sara, Stars, and Explosions in the Sky.
  • Jenny Lewis, Rachael Yamagata, Leslie Feist, and Lauryn Hill.
  • Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith, and Elton John.
  • Ben Gibbard, Chris McCaughan, and Andrew McMahon.
  • Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Common, and John Legend.
  • Girl Talk, Ratatat, and RJD2.
  • Chris Brown and Ne-Yo.
• Facebook, Gchat, and Skype
• Gmail, Google Docs, Blogger, and Google in general.
• my Macbook and everything that is possible for me through the power of Apple.
• otters.
• my intensely ridiculous vocabulary, making references, inside jokes in everyday life, and people who rock J.O.R.T.S.
• the God-given ability to spit game. srsly.
• 20 years and counting on earth.
• 2 years and counting on the field.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.