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Journal Fiver-rah's Journal: The great joys of life 19

Journal by Fiver-rah
So, one of the things I say a great deal is: "X is the joy of life!" My friends regularly slag me off for this. But life has a lot of joy and I don't see why I shouldn't appreciate it.

Here is an incomplete list of the great joys of life:

  • Good friends.
  • Warm places to sleep.
  • Yummy bread.
  • Tea. Oolong is quite nice.
  • Laughter.
  • Books.
  • Learning something new.
  • Taking over the world.
  • Linux.
  • My new laptop.
  • Silliness.

(Note that some of the great joys of life can be constructed by combining items on the above list, like "My new laptop" + "Warm places to sleep" + " "Learning something new" --> working on cool things in bed via wireless network). Then there's things other people want that leave me completely baffled:

  • A plethora of shoes
  • Diamond engagement rings.
  • Money
  • Power
  • Prestige
  • Social status (aside from slashdot karma, which is all important).

What do you want? Why?

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The great joys of life

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  • Easy (Score:2)

    by keesh ( 202812 )
    Coffee, Ruby [ruby-lang.org], her [slashdot.org].
    • Sleeping
    • Learning
    • Snuggling
    • Creating
    • Laughing

    Lots of things make me happy, though. Most of them are combinations of the above. Creating human-readable documentation falls under, of course, creating, but also under learning. The cat falls under the laughing-snuggling-sleeping category... hey, so does the boyfriend... Mostly, though, I've got to learn and create.

    I'm a quilter. I like to create things from fabric. [otherperson.info] Right now, I'm staring at the sunflower wallhanging that's in my cube. It's the closest thing to a window that I get. I'm actually taking a week off soon so that I can sew the quilt for my/our bed, and I know I'll enjoy it thoroughly, both the time off, and the ironing/cutting/sewing that quilting entails.

    I'm going back to school [slashdot.org] right now, so that I can continue my learning, because the atmosphere at work is such that it's hard to learn at work.

    But what brings me the most joy is simply to go home and snuggle with my bf and my kitty on the sofa after a long day's work.

    :)

  • What do you want? Why?

    I want that one magical, mythical thing which will bestow upon me happiness for the duration of my life. Failing that, I'd like a moment of unadulterated carefree silliness. Water balloons optional.
  • So, one of the things I say a great deal is: "X is the joy of life!"

    I used to say that a lot, and then I went into rehab. :-) Just kidding, I know you didn't mean ecstacy. (and I've never been to rehab)

    Things that I enjoy...

    • God - He's done some awesome things in my life.
    • Family - I have a great family. We all get along, my parents are still together after 28 years.
    • Friends - Both online [slashdot.org] and offline.
    • Water - I'm an AQUAholic. I love rivers, lakes, etc. Especially when I'm riding my Sea Doo across them.
    • Computers - Hence my profession, which is enjoyable in itself sometimes.
    • Cars - I love to drive (fast.)
    • Cooking - As I have mentioned before. [slashdot.org]
    • Knowledge - And the act of acquiring it.
    • Programming - Yeah, I know it falls under computers, but I enjoy creating things with code so much I thought it deserved it's own little bullet.
    • Music - All kinds, except country, and some more than others. I like Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, and Classical most. (yeah, I'm weird.)
    • Helping others - Ok, sounds kind of corny, but I really do like to help people. I have to be careful, sometimes people don't want help, or they will take advantage.
    Things I don't like...
    • People who don't use their blinker - or just can't drive in general.
    • Someone who thinks they are more important than someone else because of (Race|Gender|Job|Salary|Parents|Age|etc.)
    • Laundry - I hate doing laundry.
    • Being extremely hot/sweaty - I like to work in the yard, and I like to exercise, but I hate being sweaty and smelly.
    • Anyone who hurts someone just because they are weaker than them: Wife beaters, child abusers/molesters, rapists, etc. Nothing burns me up worse than these cowards.
    • Sickness - I hate for someone to be sick or depressed.
    • Greed - RIAA, MPAA, etc. I would like to have lots of money, but I don't want to step on anyone to get it. And I'd like to think I would use it to do good and help people.
    • Hornets - Because I am allergic to them, and if I don't take inject myself with Epinephrin within a couple of hours of being stung, I'll die.
    • Mean people - they suck, just like the bumper sticker says. :-)
    • Oh my god. I forgot music on my list of things I love. Paint me yellow and call me a chicken! My music loves are (mostly) jazz and classical. By classical I mean "Late Romantic"--I'm not overly entranced by all that much in the classical period.

      Hornets - Because I am allergic to them, and if I don't take inject myself with Epinephrin within a couple of hours of being stung, I'll die.

      This reminds me. I really despise maggots. I'm not allergic to them--physically--but I had a really bad childhood experience with broken pipes and the family being on vacation and carpet in a suddenly muggy Southern California environment which I'm not going to go into. I hate maggots.

      I also hate olives. Olives are nasty and bitter.

      • Late Romantic will work. Baroke period is my favorite. I love Mozart and Tchaikovsky. I have to be in the correct mood though. That's the way it is with me and music. For the most part I have to be in the right mood to listen to anything. There are times that I don't want to hear classical, and there are times I don't want to hear Hip-Hop. The only exception to this rule seems to be Sublime. I have never been in a mood that I didn't want to hear Sublime.
  • A soft platform on which to sleep, a hard platform on which to write, meaningful work to do, and a unique way to express one's love.

    Tell me how you need anything else.

    Well, single malt scotch. And Oolong tea... Maybe lying in bed with a luminous woman listening to Nick Drake.

    Ooh, how about building a series of nuclear powered speakers & crossovers and reducing a moderately sized city into rubble with a selection of Beethoven concertos?

    And lest I forget, excellent karate [ska.org] instructors.

    As an aside, on the yummy bread... Fiver-rah's favorite bread from Arizmendi/Cheese Board is....?
    • Ooh, how about building a series of nuclear powered speakers & crossovers and reducing a moderately sized city into rubble with a selection of Beethoven concertos?

      Shit. My favorite. Global destruction--and I completely forgot about it. What was I thinking?

      As for my favorite bread? I have to pick one? And only one? Oh god. Can't you ask me a question about Replica Symmetry Breaking? Galois theory? Krylov subspace methods? No? This is really hard. It's a good thing my qualifying exam committee never asked me about this.

      And I get to pick it from the Cheese Board (I've never been to Arizmendi), so I assume this means I get cheese (and a lactase pill, please). Mmm. Bread and cheese. Well, I'm in the mood for some really good cheese. In fact, I'm definitely in the mood for some Emmenthaler--I haven't had any since I was in France a month ago. This goes with ... a whole grain bread with sesame seeds on top. Maybe sunflower seeds, too. Oh yeah. And a tomato from the plant on my patio.

      On the other hand, I make some really kick-ass sage buttermilk biscuits. That and a spinach salad??

      Someone tell me why anyone in their right mind would want a diamond ring when there are tomatoes to be had for the picking, fresh off the vine. :)

      Clearly my mind is not on your question. My mind is on dinner. I'm hungry. What's up with that?

      • Whoa, hang onto that Galois theory. Did you try to explain some arcane graph theory problem to me at Foley's Irish House back in November? If you tell me you're at Berzerkely, I may well have to scream and run away from the keyboard.

        I make a sock-rocking rosemary cibatta. Throw some basil pesto portobellos on that, and ... oooh, hey, a spinach salad. Don't mind if I do. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Tomatoes. The fools want diamonds because they're scrrrred! They're scrrred they won't know what to do with a tomato.

        I would kill for a sage buttermilk biscuit baked by a crazy math chica. I would also kill for the Irish Soda Bread at Arizmendi. I guess I'm just prone to that behaviour.

        • I am at Berzerkeley. Scream and run.

          Okay, are you back?

          I doubt I was explaining an arcane graph theory problem--I'm a theoretical chemist. Or more like a theoretical statistical physicist. Besides I wasn't at Foley's Irish House last November. My choice of three things easier than choosing my favorite bread were three things that I used to know more about, but have since forgotten.

          Besides I figured I'd posted enough serious shit on slashdot today. It was time for something sillier. And more like food. Why haven't I eaten yet? Oh--because I just got back from the store, and I have to pick tomatoes.

          Note to denshi: if you're ever homeless and begging on the side of the road, "Will kill for bread" will probably not optimize your income.

          • Aaaarghhh!!!

            ARTHUR: Well, what does it mean?
            MONK: He must have screamed and run away while typing.
            LANCELOT: Oh, come on!
            MONK: Well, that's what it says.
            ARTHUR: Look, he wouldn't bother to type 'Aaaarghhh!!!' while he was running, he would have just run off and left the keyboard!
            BEDEVERE: Perhaps he was dictating.
            ARTHUR: Oh, shut up.

            Okay, scratch this noise. Time for dinner.

            ps. With a begging sign like that, you have to find just the right street...

  • Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...hehe

    ok...in stream-of-consciousness order:

    Friends. The kind with whom can confide anything. The kind who will come jump start your car at 3am. The kind who will expect you to do the same.

    Rockclimbing, Skiiing, Skydiving, The anticipation of a first kiss (yep...anything that gets the adrenaline pumping...I'm a junkie :)

    Cesky Krumlov. A week of my life back in 1998 has made this probably my favorite place Earth.

    Zachary's Pizza. Without which, life would barely be worth living...anyone who's tried it knows what I mean.

    That "Ah-Ha!" moment when some concept or idea finally "clicks" in your head.

    Dancing badly, Yoga, poi [homeofpoi.com]...along with rockclimbing and skiing, they're my favorite ways to move my body. I love finding new ways to move.

    Eating food outdoors. Maybe it's weird, but I find breathing fresh air while eating to be highly pleasurable. Added bonus when it's sunny as well.

    Movies. Yep, I'm a cinephile. There's not too much that's better in life that snuggling up on the couch with someone to watch a good movie. I tried the "boycott the MPAA" thing, but just couldn't do it. I settled on boycotting films I knew ahead of time would be mindless (e.g. Adam Sandler flix.) Heh...at least I'm two years clean of my RIAA habit.

    Meeting cool new people. Hopefully the kind who become the first item on my list.

    I don't really hate too much...thinking negatively isn't any fun for me. But here's a list of stuff I could really like a whole lot more than I do now:

    People who drive SUVs when they don't have to.

    People who try to control other people (basically the anti-x lobbies where x equals gun/drug/abortion/p2p/etc)

    Money. It's not that I hate it...I just hate thinking about it. I wish there was some amount of money that could be made such that I wouldn't ever have to think about it...somehow I doubt there is.

    Deadlines. I hate having a set-in-stone date when I have to have something completed. Luckily my boss has figured out that I do things faster when he tells me to finish it as soon as I can.

    Almost anything on network TV.

    I guess I'm done...though I could probably go on for a tome or two. FWIW, this kind of thing is a fun little writing exercise!

    • ...Zachary's Pizza ...

      Oh yeah. I TAed this class last year. The professor teaching it would buy us pizza from Zachary's while we graded exams. It made up for the fact that grading is boring and crappy, and you always felt like crying when your students missed something that you *knew* you covered in section and thought everyone understood. Definitely made up for it.

  • Sometimes I like to overlook the Deep Goodness in life for the Little Silly Things. My brain likes them, I'm not sure why...

    So I think my list should consist of Little Silly Things:

    • Snow, Snow and more Snow
    • Puddles to jump in
    • Sand Castles right before the ocean devours them
    • Puppies
    • Backrubs, Legrubs and Foot Massages
    • Savings worms from the cement when the rain ends
    • Ice Skating
    • Public Transportation that works
    • Getting two treats out of the vending machine when you paid for one.
    • My cable modem
    • ...
    I could go on and on....I guess it really doesn't take much to make me smile...

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