Fillin' Out a Job Application Playlist

Think good thoughts for me. This is what the random iPod gave me for a playlist (first ten).

1. One Week - Barenaked Ladies
2. All For You - Sister Hazel
3. Thank You - Dido
4. Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
5. Stay (I Missed You) - Lisa Loeb
6. Hands - Jewel
7. The Remedy (I Won't Worry) - Jason Mraz*
8. Underneath Your Clothes - Shakira
9. It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion
10. Music - Madonna

Special note on Jason - I've worked with his mom. Having grown up with musicians for brothers and lingering on the edges of the "music scene" for most of my life I smiled indulgently when she told me how great his music was. Well, we can see how that worked out. Good on ya, Jason, for making your mama proud.

Grilled Cheesus

This week on Twitter for a brief shining moment "Grilled Cheesus" became the top topic. Some of my favorite tweets are below.

Denial of Cheesus:
"I can't accept Grilled Cheesus as my Lord and Savior. It's not that I'm an Atheist, I'm just lactose intolerant." Not Gary Busey (@GaryJBusey)

Praising Cheesus:
"My life is complete. @TillamookCheese is following me. Praise the Grilled Cheesus for this miracle!" M. S Vich (@MischaVich)

Being Forsaken by Cheesus:
"I tried to make a Grilled Cheesus, but alas, the sandwich has forsaken me and instead I had a V8."

Michael Allen (@chaoticbuddhist)

God's Total Quality Management Questionnaire

4. What factors were relevant in your decision to acquire a Deity?
Please check all that apply.

___ Indoctrinated by parents
___ Needed a reason to live
___ Indoctrinated by society
___ Needed focus on whom to despise
___ Imaginary friend grew up
___ Graduated from the tooth fairy
___ Hate to think for myself
___ Wanted to meet girls/boys
___ Fear of death
___ Wanted to piss off parents
___ Needed a day away from work
___ Desperate need for certainty
___ Like organ music
___ Need to feel morally superior
___ Thought Jerry Falwell was cool
___ My shrubbery caught fire and told me to do it

Check out all of God's Total Quality Management Questionnaire.

Happiness

Do you ever wonder why we are so bad at predicting what will make us happy? Maybe you don't have this problem. In fact, I hope you don't. Since I've recently read a book on the topic (Stumbling on Happiness) it seems there are quite a few of us, though.

The biggest shame is that what makes me happy now are things I never would have predicted. Why is that a shame? Well, because I couldn't plan ahead for it - I was busy investing myself in other things. If you had told 16-year-old me tonight's happy evening would be spent listening to my husband singing folk songs while I sipped hot cocoa and the dog slept on my feet I would have thought you were mental. My vision then of what I thought would make me happy was completely different (ok, there might have been cocoa and a dog). First off, I was never one to dream of marriage or domestic bliss. It wouldn't have made my top 100 list of concerns back then, yet it has nearly dominated my life since meeting my romantic, energetic, outrageously intelligent husband when I was 17. Second, I had never heard of folk bands like Brother's Four and The Kingston Trio, music that he had grown up with while I was fed rock, blues, and R&B. So I wasn't even capable of correctly envisioning tonight's entertainment or imagining why I would enjoy it.

Because of tonight's deep happiness I have developed a formula: your attention span / (predisposition +  something unexpected). In tonight's example there are multiple pieces to my predisposition that fit in: love of music, a tendency to be quiet and contemplative (thus enjoying a "night in"), and a desire to see the people I love being happy. The something unexpected comes from both enjoying what I call "living in each other's pockets" (being in constant company with one another), and from him sharing something I didn't know before meeting him. Seriously, I don't think that things I can come up with on my own ever delight me as deeply as things I gain from others. Lastly is the first part of the equation. The importance of attention span has taken me the longest to learn. As a child I was blessed with that contemplative nature and not many responsibilities so I had attention span to spare, but starting in my late teens I was constantly on the go - too much to do and no time to do it. Come to find, if you don't have the energy to be present you can't be happy. Probably the most important point of Stumbling on Happiness is that happiness needs to be enjoyed when it's here.

While I've been typing up my reflections my husband, unaware of the direction of my thoughts and pleased that I have "indulged" him in being able to perform some of his favorite music, has tried to make it up to me with one of "our" songs that served as the first dance at our wedding, "What a Wonderful World." What a wonderful world indeed.

I hope that your day has some measure of the happiness that I've enjoyed tonight.

Book Review: Immortal

Immortal is probably the modern (and historical) fantasy you've been seeking

By the end of the first chapter I was fairly convinced that Gene Doucette had found this manuscript between seats on the subway because it had clearly been written as a collaboration by some of my favorite authors while they were sharing a bottle of whiskey. He has the wit of Douglas Adams, the sarcasm of Jim Butcher, the droll plotting of Spider Robinson, and the sly twists of Neil Gaiman, just to mention a few. But don't think that this means he seems imitative because he doesn't. "Immortal" was clever, fascinating, and endlessly entertaining.

I'm tempted to quote all the clever parts (which I highlighted because they were that good) but will let you discover them for yourself. As an example, one of my favorite bits from the first chapter: "I was suicidal for two solid centuries once. That was during the early part of what they now call the Dark Ages, in medieval Europe. Suicidal tendencies were de rigueur at the time, and I’m nothing if not trendy."

If there is a God, which is something that main character Adam sincerely doubts, then Mr. Doucette will write a series and get a TV show.

GoodReads links:

Immortal by Gene Doucette

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews