Buffa's Buffet, Thanksgiving edition: 10 things I'm thankful for

While you eat and drink, remember the good stuff.

“I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.”

Out of all the jewels in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, I appreciate John Candy’s monologue about loving who he is more than anything. Every Thanksgiving, I watch that 92 minute gem and remember what a great comedy with just the right amount of drama looks like. It’s vanishing these days, piled below IP, remakes, sequels, big-budgeted nonsense, and a narrative structure in Hollywood that’s like a bulging jugular vein.

Before we eat, remembering the good stuff in our life-whether it be a family member or sports athlete that makes life suck a little less-is about as important as choosing the proper travel partner. While I am more of a Del Griffith than a Neal Page, I think we all share a few traits of each of those Hallmark characters. Because lists are virtual catnip for readers and easy to assemble, let’s provide ten things I am thankful for these days.

10) COFFEE

Screw the melodrama. Let’s get real! If you’re a coffee drinker, it’s like reading scripture from ancient Roman gods. Without this liquid fuel, I would be a much different person in the morning. The caveman that walks into Crescent Plumbing Supply at 6 a.m. would carry a more primal look, like a lion hunting Columbian coffee beans out in the November wild. It’d be ugly.

A lot of chatter for dirty water, but it’s a getaway card for the morning shove that life can give you. No matter how you take it, the java power does the trick. Please don’t pour so much crap into it and still call it coffee, though. Be a consenting adult and just say you’ve sabotaged a classic. I am thankful for the *too many* cups of coffee I drink on a daily basis. One day, a doctor will tell me to drink less or none at all, and I will politely give him or her the finger.

9) NETFLIX

Blast it for greenlighting more crap than Michael Bay’s head could ever produce, but it’s an essential escape for a fella whose brain needs to be untangled after a long day at work. Their collection can’t be doubled at the moment; foreign language films you would never know existed, popular (and unpopular) TV shows from other networks, and a gluttony of movies and shows from their own production database.

Netflix didn’t take down Blockbuster; the video behemoth performed a Napoleon on itself by not scooping the streamer up early on. Netflix did become a serious, serious thing when Mary J. Blige was nominated for an Oscar for Mudbound, a Netflix original film. They went from being a mail service option to a premium house for a versatile array of entertainment.

You have the Martin Scorsese films, the top flight action flicks like Extraction 2, and then a boatload of true crime documentaries. They also scoop up hidden gems like Lone Survivor and Uncut Gems, giving anybody and everybody a choice. With no offense to Amazon Prime and Hulu, my bomb shelter streaming app is Netflix.

8) TASTY BURGERS

Jules Winfield was right, there’s nothing like a tasty burger. I had one last night at J.J. Twigs in South Hampton, a place known for comfort food and consistency. They use meat from a local deli in LeGrand’s, mounting a burger that gives all the pleasure one would seek from a classic item. It’s just meat, veggies, fruit, and cheese paired with hopefully a trustworthy sesame or brioche bun.

Smashed or thick, their goal is to drive your stomach and appetite up to the brink of overindulgence. You’ll have them again and again, but every once in a while there is one that stands above the rest. Hi-Pointe, Jovick’s, Mac’s, and Carl’s are all fine options for smashed, but Twigs owns one of the best thick burgers in town. Alex and company run a pretty good shop too.

7) GOOD FRIENDS

More than friends if right before family, the good ones can be as essential as the air we breathe. Someone to hear you out or set you straight, they can be mentors or mere allies. People who have your back but know how to trim an ego. The family you choose, even if you sometimes see them less than desired. I like to think a part of life is tracking down and finding people that are like you, but require further conversation and reasoning to confirm that notion.

Without them, we are more alone in a foreign land. Could we survive? Sure. But the rewards would be far less.

6) REWATCHABLE MOVIES

Goodfellas. Shawshank Redemption. Chef. The Intern. Collateral.

The movies we rewatch furiously don’t have to be popular classics. If you don’t say Casablanca or Gone With the Wind, I won’t hold it against you. It’s important for every movie fan to find the movies they love and get something out of, not the ones on a Top 50 list that people with a different life composed for you. Since I’ve become more of a part-time film critic these days, I find that rewatching movies can be more enjoyable than lending your time to a new film that could underwhelm or flat out suck.

A rewatchable movie doesn’t have to be your favorite movie. It doesn’t have to be an Oscar-winner. It can just be a filthy jam that was unintentionally made just for you.

5) A SMART SON

While he’s currently swimming in the stronger currents of sixth grade, Vinny makes my job of being a dad quite easy. It’s this time of school where kids become bigger kids with a higher dose of responsibility, which can put a strain on the parents. You’re working 40-45 hours a week, and then you need to revisit school stuff with the boy? I’ve never felt so stupid in my life looking at some of his homework; the stuff I did understand were things I’d rather forget.

But he’s a smart young jedi, handling the rigors of a bigger grade and world with ease. Yes, mom would like the grades higher and there have been darker days than the last few years, but it’s all a process. He finds the time and warmth to come over to me and give me endless hugs, and ask me how I’m doing. If you raise them right, children grow up to be your own advisors.

4) BOURBON

Beer and wine can dance a fine line around happiness, but nothing cuts straighter to the bone of a tense situation than a couple fingers of bourbon. Take the lid off, pour it in a glass, and down it. Afterwards, pour another and sip it. When a few minutes pass, all of the tension will be gone.

The truth is I don’t drink a lot of it but when I actually need it, bourbon does the trick. You don’t need as much to get going. I feel like a couple beers is like more than 30 minutes at the DMV. You’re just waiting to get done and be there. Splurge on a bottle of Basil Hayden’s sometime soon. Pour, down, pour, appreciate. Report back.

3) A GOOD JOB

A pretty good one. Delivering plumbing supplies isn’t for everyone. Loading, lifting, strapping, and transporting pipe and heavy toilets in the morning can beat you up. There’s no getting around the fact that a cast iron tub wins a staring contest when it’s dark and cold in the morning. But once I leave the lot and start making deliveries, the edge of the work wears off a little.

I deliver to a residential home, and then to a warehouse. At the end of the day, I may be stressed and ready to sit down. But it sure is nice having a good job that pays well and doesn’t take away from the night moves. With a lot of people out of work and searching for that rare balance, I hold that high every weekday it gets dark.

2) A PARTNER IN CRIME

Someone to spend the time with, going on adventures to Aldi and Home Depot. You may be thinking that after pouring 2500+ words and 40 reasons out, I could run out of nice things to say about my wife. Nope. At the moment, she is prepping and cooking a Thanksgiving feast that will put a smile on a dozen faces tonight. She is doing this while working around six animals, two kids, and visiting family.

“Happily ever after” isn’t just about romance and finding the one. It’s about locating a person who gets and loves you down to the ugliest bone in your body. Harder than most think and a prisoner to every other movie, true love is in the little things. The good stuff, as Robin Williams eloquently said in Good Will Hunting, another rewatchable gem.

1) READERS

Without you, I’m Tom Hanks in Castaway: stranded on an island, talking to myself in print form. Writers need readers like a baseball team needs a crowd and a conductor needs an orchestra. I put it out there, hoping for someone to connect with the material. There isn’t a single writer out there who isn’t trying to reach someone with their ideas and arrangement of wording. I started this thing in January 2022 and have grown close to 300 subscribers in a little less than two years.

It’s hard work, composing these lunatic-fueled ramblings of a man who likes to impose his will and carries too many opinions. But I do it because I love it, and for the simple fact that I need it. Readers are something I need, so I am going to make the Ramble On newsletter completely free. Starting in January, paid subscriptions will be welcomed and appreciated, but not required to read all of my work.

Part of finding a good job is not relying on your hobbies to make money. That way, it’s just a hobby, free to roam and ramble its heart out.

Thanks for the time and Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.