Innocuous things that make you irrationally happy (a list thread)

Thunderstorms first thing in the morning!

joyful dancing to pop music

joyful dancing, joyful music in general

salad spinners.

in particular plying this one to the tune of yoo doo right.

The generic international chain hotel I'm staying in is decorated almost entirely with stills from films made by the golden generation of graduates from the Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa im. Leona Schillera (Wajda, Munk, etc). There's a poster for Camera Buff in my room.

listening to people reading a braille test at work yesterday was v. placid and quietly happy

So I've been struggling and feeling like I'm drowning all week at work because I've been having to deal with all this complex financial analysis at a very high rate of speed and I barely understand any of it (I'm working with more senior people who have a better grasp of it), and just been feeling pretty overwhelmed and bummed out, like I'm just not cut out for my job. And all these e-mails are going around and I can barely keep up with what's going on.

So tonight an e-mail from my co-worker went out that basically said "I'm looking at page x of document y, and it looks like the banker used the wrong values for the low end of the range" etc. So I open up the document and suddenly I see it -- my co-worker is misreading the chart, because the low end of the range should be the value with the highest discount rate and the lowest multiple instead of the lowest discount rate and the lowest multiple. So I called him up and let him know, and he sent out an e-mail crediting me with catching his mistake.

I didn't want to pwn the guy or anything, I just felt fantastic that I actually managed to understand and contribute something and even see something he missed - he's an intimidatingly intelligent guy.

On our new toilet, the seat cover is light and attaches tightly to the seat, so I can give it a little push and it lowers gently into place instead of slamming down.

Open parking spot right in front of supermarket

New pen!

stuff made out of crocheted granny squares

space heater

anticipating seeing one of my favorite childhood friends for the first time in 10 yrs

When a subway line goes above ground

cupcakes with filling inside

really good grits

Transferring stuff out of a crappy old wallet into better, tighter a new one.

Organizing my toolbox.

When my colleague from the Netherlands says "slice and dice" in the broadest Dutch accent imaginable.

the Dutch for "snow" makes me happy, as 1. it is spelt "sneeuw", which is pleasing; 2. it sounds like saying "snow" while holding an Elvis lip-curl

walking past Argos/Toys R Us today I heard a child calling his mother a "silly-billy bum-bum", which made me irrationally happy for a moment

(and then almost nauseously anxious for a few seconds of "what if that is actually the child expressing the full force of hatred with the only words he knows, what do you do if you are a parent and you know that" and then "why do I care when I will never be a parent, even if I want to be" and then I managed to steer myself back to irrational happiness)

chili cheese fritos

Small bodies of running water outdoors - creeks, ditches. Even rain and melted snow running down the driveway to the gutters vaguely satisfies.

I always enjoyed how a former colleague who is Dutch pronounced equipment: "ee-KIP-ment"

Finding a coin on the ground. It makes me feel like the universe is tipping me the wink.

Supermarket french bread. Soft & fluffy & omg I could eat a whole loaf. It's like a bread cloud.

my french co-worker used to say "I tink it very in-TEHR-es-ting"

My Dutch co-worker frequently referred to the "in-sink-er-ator" which made me lol every time.

http://www.wastedisposers.com/images/products/images/Insinkerator_65.jpg
?

We call it a "garbage disposal" in the U.S.! I have never heard the term insinkerator until Dutch post-doc! Who, btw, fixed my garbage disposal/insinkerator. And also collected newts.

Dutch post-docs: full of lols

Wait a minute, I think my home kitchen had an insinkerator, and all this time I thought it was an In-Sink Erator, and I was wondering what an "erator" is, i.e. did not get the pun at all.

quincie i thought you were saying dutch post-doc said 'incinerator' funny, i actually looked for my own joek insinkerator gif but couldn't find a good one like kinder's. anyway we had an insinkerator in my u.s. home too. but no one called it that except as a joke because ha ha insinkerator. i am 90% convinced that that is the only kind of garbage disposal anyone has.

we have an insinkerator.

yeah we had an insinkerator in the US! I was quite scared the first time I accidentally switched it on.

Two mid-thirties business dudes striking up a conversation on the corner about one of the dude's vintage 1987 Caballero skateboard. Could've been annoying I guess but they both seemed genuinely excited.

After grocery shopping, getting the groceries into the truck and August in her car seat. I remember the first shopping trip we did together and ever since, just love that part. Plus grocery shopping is done.

one of my students just started graduate school! my class was her first college class <3

!!!!! Yay teachers and yay next generation!

Mrs. Meyer's Honeysuckle Dish Soap

My defrosted freezer

turquoise, pink and red colors used in any handmade item, felt especially

I'm listening to Men at Work: Cargo. Right now for the first time in years. It was the first record I ever owned. I played it all the time when I was 4-5 years old. Enjoying the shit out of it.

I decided recently to become more handy by force of will -- will just try things I don't know how to do, look them up on the internet, and not give up when I face setbacks. Today I removed an old shower door from our tile shower stall, and the hardware was really old and rusty and there were a few stripped screws, and I wrestled mightily with them, and I got the motherfuckers out.

When you say hi to a dog you don't know, and it starts wagging its tail so hard you think it might tip over.

^^^that's a good one! Also: street cats, whom you expect to be pretty shy, who actually bound over to you purring when you bend down to call them.

Free tupperware with every takeout soup order.

People who go into Starbucks or Costa and say, in all seriousness, "i'd like a coffee please". Must be infuriating for the baristas but i find it oddly endearing, like they've just stepped out of 1954.

apologies i shd have promoted it more here but i only just discovered i still had a password :D

― mark s, Monday, May 18, 2015 8:47 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha

I've got a new purse (wallet) and it's a big MUM PURSE. I'm sitting watching TV and transferring everything carefully from my old purse to the new one.

18 oz of organic raspberries (fresh, not frozen) for $3.61
I feel I could make it rain raspberries and still have some leftover to eat

when i provide detailed easy-to-follow instructions and someone actually follows them