Happy thoughts (4)

Some things that made me happy this weekend, in no particular order:

  • The stunning weather. It’s since grown a little colder, but we had beautiful spring weather all weekend long.
  • Dinner and good conversation with friends on Saturday night. I got a fortune cookie fortune that said, “You look pretty.” And the restaurant was very kind to recalculate our bill when we asked to pay separately.
  • I mailed out 50+ packages, with some 80-90 copies of Kaleidotrope. Easily one the more time consuming and least fun parts of running the zine, it was made a lot easier by not having to wait in line at the post office and friendly postal workers. (To be nice, I split the mailings between two local post offices.) There are still reviewer copies to go, but current subscribers and contributors should all be getting their copies soon.
  • The two movies I saw this weekend.
  • My mother is feeling a lot better. Some family came to visit with her on Saturday, and she’s been a lot more up and about recently. Luckily the weather was nice enough for her to go outside briefly over the weekend.

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep doing this meme. On the one hand, I see the benefit of actively looking at the things that make you happy in a given day; I think there’s something to be gained from that kind of introspection. On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to devote entire blog posts to it. We’ll see.

Happy thoughts (3)

It wasn’t too hard to find happy thoughts today, what with the gorgeous weather and my decision earlier in the week to take off from work. My mother came home from the hospital yesterday, and while she’s still fairly achy, tired, and on a low-fat diet, she’s doing well. Thanks again to everyone for the kind words and thoughts, especially earlier in the week before her surgery.

I spent most of today prepping copies of Kaleidotrope, which — god willing and the creek don’t rise — will get mailed out tomorrow morning. That and just enjoying the start of my three-day weekend.

Happy thoughts (2)

So I may not have picked the very best week for this happiness meme. If you follow me on Twitter (or Facebook, where my Twitter feed, um, feeds), you know that my mother is in the hospital right now, having been admitted finally late last night for gallstones. She’s scheduled for surgery sometime this afternoon, to have her gallbladder removed. It’s a pretty routine procedure, especially if they can operate laparoscopically, but I’m nonetheless worried for her. I spent most of yesterday out of the loop, my father calling from the hospital with updates when he could, after work just hanging out until he got home a little before midnight. I’m at work now, but I’m keeping in touch. Hopefully, they’ll be able to perform the surgery without complication and release her this evening or tomorrow morning.

So, things that made me happy yesterday… It was a long and stressful day — work, my mother, crazy young woman on the train home, sort of electrocuting myself a little when I unplugged my laptop last night — but I don’t know that I’d call it a bad day, or a day without happy moments. I was comforted by the kind words from friends via Twitter and e-mail. I watched — quite unexpectedly; it came on HBO just as I was sitting down by myself to dinner — In Bruges, and quite liked it. (Tasha Robinson says of the movie: “If Guy Ritchie sat down, took a couple of deep, cleansing breaths, and put as much thought as energy and style into his films, they’d look almost exactly like this.”) And I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother. (“We are the Knights Who Say…You’re fired!”)

So, maybe not a great day — but then, I’m not the one who spent all of it at the hospital, or who needs surgery. I’m hoping today will be better for all of us.

Happy thoughts

So I stumbled upon this meme a few days ago that I kind of liked:

Post about something that made you happy today, even if it’s just a small thing.

I’m dropping the “tag eight of your friends” business, although obviously you can post this to your blog or respond with happy thoughts of your own in the comments. Here’s a couple of things that made me happy today:

  • A chapter that I’ve been waiting for, for more than half a year now, finally coming in
  • Listening to Robert Krulwich talk about biblical stories (and their terrible silence) on Radio Lab
  • Listening to the DVD commentary on Rachel Getting Married

Supposedly, I’m to do this for eight days. We’ll see. I may do more, I may do less, depending on how the week goes.

Feeling slightly meme-ish

Via Glen and Thud comes this odd little musical meme:

Using ONLY SONG TITLES from ONE artist, and cleverly answer these questions below. Make sure you send a copy to me when you respond. Do not use the same artist as I did or duplicate song titles.

All of these songs are by the Beatles.

Are you a male or female: Nowhere Man
Describe yourself: Mother Nature’s Son
How do you feel about yourself? I’m So Tired
Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: For No One
Describe your current boy/girl situation: Got to Get You Into My Life
Describe your current location: The Fool on the Hill
Describe where you want to be: Here, There, and Everywhere
Your best friend: With a Little Help From My Friends
Your favorite color is: Yer Blues [I don’t think they ever recorded a song with “Green” in the title]
You know that: Tomorrow Never Knows
What’s the weather like? Getting Better
If your life was a television show what would it be called? The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
What is life to you? We Can Work it Out
What is the best advice you have to give? Let it Be
If you could change your name what would it be? Rocky Raccoon