10 Things That Make Me Bizarrely Happy
(I like to make lists like this on occasion. They're excellent things to read over and contemplate as reminders during times when I may be feeling down.)
-Good puns. Sometimes even bad ones. I'm not sure why, but they irrationally amuse me. They take a quick-witted kind of cleverness that rarely comes to me on the spot, but when it does come to others I smile. :)
-Driving fast around curves or over gentle bumps, especially when I don't have my foot on the gas and I'm just gliding. I love it when my feet leave the ground, even for an instant. You feel powerful, pleasant.
-Putting on a really nice outfit for the first time in a long, long while and having someone complement you on it spontaneously. Perhaps it's vain, but I love being told that I look good in that sweater, or what have you.
-Christian music. I don't consider myself Christian (though I was baptized when I was young), and I'm really not on board with the people who aggressively try to push their Jesus agenda on me, but I feel exhilarated when I listen to their music, from medieval Gregorian chants to more modern soul music. There's a certain passion to them that I find really appealing.
-Making a non-native English speaker laugh at something I say, be it a joke or not. I like it when it's apparent that there was a true rapport, and that they feel fluent for having understood what I say. I love the feeling in reverse, too, when I suddenly get a French play on words or something.
-I like going to someplace out in the woods or the fields and being able to hear nothing but the sounds of nature: no lawn-mowers, and definitely no cars, not even in the distance. I like to sit and feel the sun on my face and just listen to the world.
-The smell of a really old book that's been opened for the first time in years. I love running my hands over the frontispiece and thinking about what the world was like when it was printed and speculating on who may have read it last, and how long ago.
-Suddenly understanding just what an artifact is for, be it, say, a clay mold for a lamp behind glass in a museum or demonstrating a half-moon scale to visitors at Fort Edmonton. I especially love everyday objects from long ago that have fallen out of use, but are easily understandable and relatable: that moment when it just clicks and you think 'oh, that's for making candlesticks!'
-The smell of old wood under the sun. I used to be taken to railway museums a lot when I was a child, and the smell of the train tracks on a hot summer's day always brings back nostalgic memories.
-A good cup of tea at the end of a long, cold day, as when you stumble into the house from your icebox of a car or a long walk home after a prolonged shift and can finally sit down, defrost and unwind.
-Good puns. Sometimes even bad ones. I'm not sure why, but they irrationally amuse me. They take a quick-witted kind of cleverness that rarely comes to me on the spot, but when it does come to others I smile. :)
-Driving fast around curves or over gentle bumps, especially when I don't have my foot on the gas and I'm just gliding. I love it when my feet leave the ground, even for an instant. You feel powerful, pleasant.
-Putting on a really nice outfit for the first time in a long, long while and having someone complement you on it spontaneously. Perhaps it's vain, but I love being told that I look good in that sweater, or what have you.
-Christian music. I don't consider myself Christian (though I was baptized when I was young), and I'm really not on board with the people who aggressively try to push their Jesus agenda on me, but I feel exhilarated when I listen to their music, from medieval Gregorian chants to more modern soul music. There's a certain passion to them that I find really appealing.
-Making a non-native English speaker laugh at something I say, be it a joke or not. I like it when it's apparent that there was a true rapport, and that they feel fluent for having understood what I say. I love the feeling in reverse, too, when I suddenly get a French play on words or something.
-I like going to someplace out in the woods or the fields and being able to hear nothing but the sounds of nature: no lawn-mowers, and definitely no cars, not even in the distance. I like to sit and feel the sun on my face and just listen to the world.
-The smell of a really old book that's been opened for the first time in years. I love running my hands over the frontispiece and thinking about what the world was like when it was printed and speculating on who may have read it last, and how long ago.
-Suddenly understanding just what an artifact is for, be it, say, a clay mold for a lamp behind glass in a museum or demonstrating a half-moon scale to visitors at Fort Edmonton. I especially love everyday objects from long ago that have fallen out of use, but are easily understandable and relatable: that moment when it just clicks and you think 'oh, that's for making candlesticks!'
-The smell of old wood under the sun. I used to be taken to railway museums a lot when I was a child, and the smell of the train tracks on a hot summer's day always brings back nostalgic memories.
-A good cup of tea at the end of a long, cold day, as when you stumble into the house from your icebox of a car or a long walk home after a prolonged shift and can finally sit down, defrost and unwind.