A Few of My Favorite Things

Following Nuna's cue, I stopped surfing the net for a couple of hours to think of all the simple things that make me happy. I actually have a similar somewhat scaled down version of this on Tagged that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. (UPDATE: I have since taken down my Tagged account.)

This is in celebration of all the good things in my life. In other words, "these are a few of my favorite things":

• A good story. One that does any one or more of the following: makes your heart weep, or makes you want to scream out loud in frustration, or makes you laugh so hard you couldn't breathe, or makes you smile sadly and suddenly feel that the world has changed somewhat since you last looked. It could be from a well-written:
  
  • ...book. And I love the very physical act of holding a book in my hands, smelling the ink on paper, turning each page with my fingers...
  • ...play. The intimacy of watching a live performance. The collective gasps and giggles of the audience.
  • ...movie. The images put together to tell a story.
    

• Great company. Nothing beats being with people whose company I adore. No pressure to say anything witty nor smart, but always somehow coming up with funny things, albeit stupid at times. But you see, it doesn't matter because they'll still love you anyway.

• Great conversation. Which comes with great company. This one deserves its own bullet though because one needs not necessarily be having a conversation with the great company.

• Good food. I always tell Nuna that the best things in life are still the ones that satisfy our most basic needs. Eating (and one other thing that I love doing which I am not going to put here to avoid offending fragile sensibilities) remains to be on top of the list of one's primal needs.
  

• Singing with wild abandon. Sometimes to the frustration of people within hearing distance so I keep this to a minimum. Or I find myself a secluded corner and sing to my heart's content.

• Long, relaxing massages. Ooooh yes! A bit expensive in Manila though. Hmm, I hope my next boyfriend will be good at giving massages.
  

• The internet and blogging. Mainly because most of my great conversations these days happen online.

• Being read. And having people comment on my blog.

• Getting published. Which doesn't happen a lot these days.... I have to do something about that.
  

• Daydreaming and talking to myself. And I find myself doing a lot of these these past few weeks. More so than usual. If you don't find me online, then I'm off to my own little world having conversations with myself. Oh, and I do talk out loud in my room too.

• Hearing a long complicated sentence in Chinese and realizing I understood everything in it. And could even reply.
  

• Getting freebies. And discounts! And good bargains!

• Gifts!
  

• Getting a letter from an old friend who just suddenly remembers to say hi.

• A smile from a friendly stranger (not the stalker kind, please).
  

• Brainstorming on new and exciting projects with people with great minds.
  

• Knowing there are people who would like to be with me and are missing me right now. :D
  

Oh, I could go on and on but it's almost time for dinner and you all know I love to eat.