December Meme: Things That Put Me in a Good Mood

[kmo]

This meme entry is coming in just under the wire, as I was dragged off to a screening of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Sherlock by my best friend and her husband. It was fine, but indifferent as I am to Tolkien, I never saw the first movie and was under the mistaken impression that this was the final of two movies. Because, you know, it's a pretty effing short book. Imagine my surprise that 2.5 hours later, Smaug is still around and that dwarf-elf-Kate from Lost love triangle has yet to be resolved.

aptasi asked me to talk about things that put me in a good mood. this shall take the form of a random list, much like the R&H classic song "My Favorite Things."

• While we're on the topic of favorite things, I guess Julie Andrews usually puts me in a good mood. Especially in Mary Poppins and Victor Victoria.


• Books! And bookstores! Sometimes when I'm stressed, just walking into a bookstore for about 15 minutes makes my blood pressure drop. I don't even have to buy anything. The public library will also do in a pinch. Seriously, you could lock me in the reference section in a university library and I could entertain myself for hours.


• New canons! Nothing makes me happier (especially when I am down) than diving head first into a new fictional universe, getting up to my neck in it, and finally realizing oh, so that's what everyone was talking about. Right now, I'm having a torrid love affair with the Felix Castor books (on book 4/5) That said, when I finally finish a canon, I do kind of get depressed. I mourned for days after finishing Breaking Bad and Battlestar Galactica.


• I also get really excited when I get a notification that a favorite fic author has uploaded a new story. Sometimes it seriously turns my day right around.


• A cuddle from V and hanging out with our kitty Max also makes everything better. On especially stressful days, I turn to one of those 30 cute animal lists on buzzfeed. I also recommend the Weather Whiskers app- it's the weather, except even better because there are cats!


• Music! Thank heavens for pandora. Putting on the favorite tunes and getting to program different stations definitely puts me in a happier place.


• Baking. Especially if I have the time and am not stressed. I get a lot of satisfaction in making something delicious with my own two hands and then getting to eat it later. Just kind of rote cooking doesn't really do it for me. But planning a special meal (especially if it's just the two of us) and getting to enjoy it together makes for a special day.


• A chat with a good friend- whether on the phone, in person, over facebook. It's great to be able to connect with a person that really understands you.

Comments

[ilthit]

I've never actually had a book checked out more than four times in a row - I feel like others should get the chance. I've been very good, and stuck to just the books required by my (rather overloaded) course schedule. The damned thing is I'm also tempted by books that have nothing to do with the BSc thesis I have started to plan. It all goes towards building a store of knowledge of course, but... men's representation in media throughout the 20th and 21st century? My major is Environmental Science!

[kmo]

hey that's what the library is there for! and let me tell you, it's a lot harder to get books on men's representation in the media after you graduate and no longer have the benefits of a large university library.

i have also had students tell me (juniors and seniors) that they have never checked a book out of the library. *facepalm *

[ilthit]

Hah! Must be nice to afford to buy all your obligatory reading.

I think that, now that I know it's there, if I'm in Helsinki post-graduation, I'll just come over to read in the library if I can't find a book in the city library. It's a lot less convenient, though, of course, and then I'd have no access to the digital library.