dynamic elf

You know what? I'm a pretty happy person. I have my struggles, sure, and they're real, but at my core, I'm actually just playful and perky. I hop onto curbs, I walk barefoot, I look at trees, I make dumb jokes, I smile a lot. And as I've been getting more exercise and sleep recently, I've been slipping back into this pattern, which I love.

This is why it makes me a little depressed when I feel like our default cultural bonding is through bitching.

Now, I'm not talking about my friends, here -- though let's be honest, this happens to everyone -- I'm talking about coworkers, coffeeshop buddies, any kind of person who you have an acquaintance-relationship with that is starting to go beyond "hey, hi, what's up, fine". It seems to me that the best cultural script we have for getting closer to someone is to maneuver our way into complaining about the same thing.

I walked into the office this morning in a stellar mood, and when coworker Lionel asked how I was doing, I answered honestly: "fantastic!" Immediately, two different people turned their heads to stare at me in shock. I GUARANTEE you that if I'd said "Ach, I think I sprained my ankle this morning," or "sad to be inside on such a lovely day", or "one of my customers is driving me insane" that they would have completely ignored me, or at least kept pretending to work.

I always try to respond to "how are you" with an honest answer, but some days, it's difficult, and not even for the reasons you'd expect!

* The rain (reign) of little pink petals
* Extra snuggles
* Wind sprints, even lame ones
* My coffee buddy being back in the office
* A card from my kid that reads "maman je t'aime très tres tres fort"
* New bike horns with rhinestones onnem
* Still being a little high from the five-minute-photoshoots
* Not being broke
* Guy wearing one orange Converse Hi-Top and one turquoise one
* Lunch: avocado, red salt, delicious local hothouse tomatoes (!), fig yogurt, some cheese, and a plum. Hell yeah!
* Coming in to the office means I get to look out the office windows
* A perfecly dried bloom fell off the orchid this morning as I was waiting for the elevator. Now it is mine.

(things I wish I could change: I need more sleep, my left wrist hurts, my tire.)

Happy halloween!

Cutting hair
Stacking small objects
Polishing silver
Running with my eyes closed
Smelling things that people usually don't smell (signposts, doorframes, cars)
Taking an even number of steps
Wearing hats
Wiggling my eyebrows
Eating carrots
Rearranging letters
Making stealth puns that nobody around me notices
Having exact change
Wearing my glasses
Three-dimensional organization (moving tetris) ((yes, yes, I know, you too))
Rock-balancing
Taking pictures of you

It turns out that sometimes, if you call someone and say "I don't think I should be paying $90 for this!" they turn around and say, "oh my, that is honestly a bit ridonkulous; how's $40 for you?"

And sometimes the cute girl next to you on the train is reading The Omnivore's Dilemma but really wants to talk to you about the well-thumbed Dresden Files library paperback in your hands.

And sometimes when you bike by the bike cops they compliment your hair instead of giving you funny looks. And sometimes the traffic cop on foot pulls over the jerk of a car who cut you off, giving you a nod as you go by.

And sometimes, just sometimes, things work out exactly right.

It's strong, it's mine, and it almost always tells me what I need to know. Today it said: you are sick! sleep all day!, and so I did, and I'm feeling much better. Not better enough to stay up much longer, though, so back to bed it is. *whump*

Need I say more?

Today's happy thing: going to the MFA with ukelele to see the Assyrian exhibition (since I have a longstanding Thing for Assyrian art). I love to visit museums when I travel, so it's a shame that it was so novel to visit one in my own city. I should fix that!

artricia tagged me for 8 days of happiness, so every day for eight days I'm going to post something that made me happy that day. Today, a bit prosaically, it's sweet sweet sleep. I never get enough, because there's just too damn much to be doing, but today, I went to lie down at about 10 AM and didn't move again until after 1 PM, and I tell you, those three bonus hours probably raised my functional IQ by 30 points.

D and I went to Wildfire this weekend. It was intense and awesome -- sort of focused and laid-back at the same time, which is essentially my ideal speed. I have lots of stories which I might or might not tell in person, but the short story is OMG I CAN BREATHE FIRE. And I have good breath control for various reasons, so I'm even kinda good at it! Also, I have lots of bruises. Productive bruises. But they still hurt. :)