Show and Tell

What floats your boat?  Anything you can't live without?  What are you grateful for?  In the spirit of brevity, the following is a partial list of what tickles the hell out of me.

Can't Live Without:

St. Therese of Lisieux.  She's gotten me out of many a tight crack many times. She's better than Prozac any day.  I chat with her constantly, and not just to ask for help.  She never lets me down.  How many people can you say that about?

Black Lab and Stray Palace - or anything Paul Durham-related - deserve to be much bigger than they are.  These bands are, by far, the greatest bands since the early 90s.  I highly, highly recommend becoming a fan.  (You can find some of their stuff on YouTube, blacklabworld.com and straypalace.com.  Free mp3s are often available).  Nothing gets my blood racing or makes me feel gorgeous or punches me in the gut harder than this music.

Ice Hockey.  I don't care if it's being played by uncoordinated 5-year olds or the Boston Bruins, it's all golden.  When life is shit, this makes it better.  When life is good it's the hot fudge on top of the sundae.  Nothing frustrates or elates me more than Hockey.

Books.  Pretty self-explanatory.

My Diary.  I'd have gone 'round the bend years ago if I didn't have a diary.  I've saved them all.  They're seething with anger, frustration, mirth, joy, boredom, stupid little details, selfishness, horrible immaturity, terror, hilarity, wondering, and utter bullcrap, but I wouldn't part with them.  I hope I become a fabulous writer one day so that after I'm dead, my diaries will go to the Smithsonian or be studied in universities, if only as a cautionary tale.

My driver's license.  I don't know what I'd do without it.  Going cruising is good therapy when I'm down, it calms me when I'm furious and is a means of private celebration.  Gimme four wheels and a seat and a decent radio and I'm happy.

Mascara and lipstick:  The bare minimum that makes me look alive and somewhat pulled together.

Guerlain's Vol de Nuit: The sexiest, most mysterious perfume I've ever inhaled.  Some of the notes remind me of that dusty smell when it first starts raining.  Love, love, love it and wish it wasn't $300/oz. and hard to find.

Music, period.  My dad's a musician.  My mom was a trained singer at one time.  I can't remember when there wasn't music in our home.  I'd die without it.


Floats My Boat:

1.  The smell of a Hockey rink.  It's a combination of rubber from pucks and equipment and sweaty men.  On game nights it's rubber, beer, hot chocolate, popcorn and sweaty men.  Sexy yet comforting at the same time.  It's my Chanel No. 5.

2.  The sound of stuff being sucked up a vacuum.

3.  Running errands.  Any day when I have to run to the pharmacy, library, post office, Target, Hallmark store, dry cleaner, grocery store and then grab lunch, is a good day.

4.  Waking up in a crummy mood, certain that it'll be a crummy day, not wanting to do anything, and then something pops up that's spontaneous and fun and makes everything sparkle.

5.  In mid-to-late August, when Orion can finally be seen just before sunrise.  I know that the summer heat will be ending soon, that Fall is imminent and that Hockey will be resuming before long.

6.  Nipping into a bookstore or card shop on the spur of the moment to browse.

7.  Shopping for someone's birthday.  I love thinking about what would make a cool gift and then picking out the perfect card.

8.  The smell of a new book.  Or any book.

9.  The smell of lilacs and apple blossoms on a rainy night.

10.  The smell of garlic and onions on a hot Summer night.

11.  Thunderstorms.  The bigger, the better.  They're fun to drive in, especially late at night.

12.  The sound of church bells.  Double plus bonus if I hear them on a chilly, rainy morning.

13.  Rain.  You'll almost never hear me whine and moan about it being a rainy day.

14.  Sitting in a coffee joint writing letters.  Double plus bonus if this happens on a rainy day.

15.  Shoe shopping.  Shoes, period.  My goal is to own a pair of Louboutins, Manolo Blahniks, Jimmy Choos and Brian Atwoods someday.

16.  Going out to my friend Chris' farm.  Sitting out on the deck with him and my brother after everyone else has gone to bed.  It's so dark you can see every single star in the sky.  Last time I was up there we could see the Milky Way.  It looked like the Las Vegas strip of the Universe.

17.  Trying new things.  I don't care what they are: a new food, a new movie, new store/restaurant, new activity.  If I haven't done it before, it's cool.

18.  Any kind of adventure.  In my mind there's no such thing as a small adventure.  They're all huge and they're all awesome.

19.  Catching a guy checking me out.  Always puts a dumb grin on my face.

20.  Actual letters.  In the mail.  Written on real paper or in a card, with a stamp on the envelope.  Sent and received.  E-mail, Facebook, Twitter and texting are lovely but I mourn the loss of real letters.  Technology may be expedient but real letters have a style, class and elegance that technology sadly lacks.


What I'm Grateful For: 

All of the above and so much more.  We all owe God a huge thank-you, both verbal and in frosting on top of his favorite kind of cake.  I'm especially grateful that I'm a girl and as such, I have cute shoes.  It's got to suck to be a guy.  From birth til death, all their shoes are ugly.  Our clothes are cuter and more varied, too.  I think it's God's way of softening the blow of childbirth and monthly inconveniences.

So, I'm curious.  What thrills all of you?