#100dayshappy

as if I don't do enough social media without taking this on, too. i saw a post on twitter. maybe it was twitter. either that or Google+. the person who posted about #100dayshappy was a total stranger, so it couldn't have been facebook -- you get in big trouble on there for trying to friend peeps you don't know. it's not important how I know that.

so, anyway, this #100dayshappy is a thing -- a challenge, really -- that for 100 days, you're supposed to post a photo of something that made you happy that day. doesn't sound too hard, right? go on their site -- 100 Days of Happiness Challenge, i think it's called -- not too hard to find. site says the #1 excuse people make for not taking the challenge is that it'll take too much time. but who doesn't have time to be HAPPY, they want to know?

well, i probably usually don't. i mean, like hardly ever. well, maybe sometimes, that is if i'm not too busy on social media. hmmm-m. but perhaps this could actually HELP my social media situation. a "kill 2 birds," type-thing. sounds great, i said...

i'm IN!

day #1

day #1

pushing my cart through the grocery store when i saw these. perfect, right? stop & smell the roses... i was off to a GREAT start.

day #2

cruising down the road with my 90-year-old aunt in san angelo, texas. not the kind of thing you see every day. or at least i don't.

day #3

driving to houston for a book signing. i never, & i mean NEVER go on a road trip - changing zip codes qualifies - without eating at least 4 of these. reason being, they make me happy.

day #4

i was thinking about taking the photos a lot. kind of freakishly, now. @ maudie's, the tex-mex place around the corner from my house, people were beginning to whisper, why is that fruitcake taking a selfie of the trash can? i was beginning to wonder myself.

day #5

maybe i was having more fun than i thought. seemed like i was going out to dinner a lot, anyway. i ate there 2 nights in a row.

day #6

wheeling into downtown austin past the iconic changeable letters sign @ el arroyo restaurant on 5th street. had to get this!

day #7

just when this new happiness thing was becoming a habit, i went & blew it. almost midnight & i had no photo for that day. watching stephen colbert on tv, i knew this was just the right thing!

so... 100 days happy is off to a great start -- stay tuned!

TTFN

what is art?

essential.

it made me cry tonight. like with tears rolling down my cheeks.

that's the thing about art -- it makes you feel.

because art is an interactive experience.

that probably sounds heavy, i know, but you didn't see the dance performance that I saw tonight.

think how staring at a magnificent painting can make you feel, reading an incredible piece of literature or listening to a symphony & maybe you'll understand.

it was modern dance -- the kind that some people would say, that's not dance, just because it's not conventional. the dancers were male and female, different shapes, sizes, & colors, but none of that mattered. it was the dramatic emotion they were able to convey that was important. with just the dynamic movement of their bodies set to music, the dancers were able to make me understand things i never had before.

the art was that powerful.

i'll never forget the night i went to a concert -- it was a beatles cover-band, so i thought i knew what to expect -- a little "eleanor rigby" & "love me do," but it was so much more. the music lit me up in such a way that i couldn't wait to get home & write.

i set my computer keys on fire that night, & the story ideas & word combinations were so exciting -- well, i didn't come up with them all by myself.

have you ever seen ballet performed to hard rock? i have, & it changes the experience entirely, in a way that's damn cool. it's the unexpected that makes you consider things in a whole new way. & that's good.

so, yes -- art is an interactive experience that inspires the expression of the human soul.

no kidding.

TTFN

casino a-go-go

gambling makes no sense, but these places are packed, i'm telling you.

i've heard they pump casinos with oxygen to cause subtle mind control. i looked it up  online to see if that's true.

the answers were mixed. a couple of sites say no, but ask.com says they do it to keep people awake so they won't wander off to bed in the early hours of the morning.

even if it's not true, SOMETHING'S going on & it's working.

here's what happens: you sit down at the slot machines -- the one-armed-bandits. you load in your dinero & keep pulling down the handle even though you're losing your ass. but, I've just GOT to win, you think. I've already lost so much that it's only fair.

now, repeat after me: nothing @ the casinos is fair.

i mean, come on! everything is rigged. how could they afford to have a million tuxedoed blackjack dealers & scantily-clad cocktail waitresses swarming the place, otherwise, not to mention those rows and rows of flashing slot machines?

here was my personal low-point of the weekend.

oh, sorry -- i was @ a schmancy casino in lake charles, louisiana & i forgot to tell you that part.

i plopped down in front of "pharaoh's fortune." there was another machine called "kitty glitter" -- like kitty litter, get it? a little casino humor there.

& about those scantily-cocktail waitresses -- you have to feel sorry for them, forced to dress like a bunch of hookers in head-to-toe gold sequins with 4 inches of cleavage & their belly buttons hanging out, because they're really sweet people & don't deserve that. i became BFF's with a few of them while i was losing my ass, but I'm getting ahead of myself, here.

i finally won $200 with one pull of the handle. old pharaoh threw me a bone.

woo-hoo, i thought, but like a total doofus, instead of taking my golden tokens to the money cage, cashing in & calling it a night, i kept going until i lost every cent.

so, why is that considered fun?

must be the risk. like jumping out of an airplane.

or maybe it's not oxygen that's pumped into the air, but stupid-elixir.

or it could be plain old peer pressure -- you are surrounded by masses of idiots, after all.

and, we sure had a good time.

TTFN

maudie's & goodwill

about 5 seconds from my house. I go there a lot. kinda like a "norm!" @ cheers moment sometimes, but you still don't care if you're wearing mascara or not. it's just that kind of place.

they've got this blistering-hot hot sauce -- in case you think i'm a wenie, i won a jalapeno eating contest in college, so i know what i'm talking about... food's great, too, but that's not the best thing. it's the people. the staff.

they're all so damn happy. tonight, i asked the hostess how she was doing. it's so fun being here, she said. i just love my job so much it's not even like coming to work.

now, seriously, how many people do you know who say that & mean it? they've had the same people working there since beans were new, & that's saying something.

this is the place where clinton came two weeks ago, if anybody saw my FB post. they said he was a hoot, posing for everybody's selfies. of all the nights for me to stay home eating a bowl of cereal.... damnit, janet!

here's the other thing -- there's a goodwill a coupla doors down. people call it the gucci goodwill (GGW to people "in the know") because all the donations are from the neighborhood -- not like i'm some ritzy socialite (as if) but somebody's bringing in some pretty cool stuff. not the women's dept. -- you can forget it on that -- but the men's? now, you're going to think this sounds totally gross & i guess it is, wearing somebody else's shoes -- but someone i know got a pair of real-live alligator dress shoes. i guess they were dead-live. no wait, real-dead. whatever, they were slick.

sometimes you can score some pretty awesome albums, too. they always seem to have the same helen reddy's "i am woman, hear me roar" -- don't know why somebody hasn't snapped that one up. & a little anne murray "snow bird" -- also still there. they had the partridge family & i was so pissed when it was scratched to hell. i got wayne newton's "red roses for a blue lady." come on -- i hadn't heard that since my mom played it on the hi-fi, & old wayne still rocks it.

all right, i'm going to let you in on a secret, so don't tell everybody -- you cool?  okay, it's the auction. most of it you wouldn't touch with a 12 foot pole, but darlin', i've scored some good shit. 

imagine someone who cleans out their grandma's house after she kicks off. ew, what's THIS, i can just hear them saying....  it's a fine-as-hell oil painting, you idiot. so here i was a couple of weeks ago. grabbed myself up a couple of bullfighting paintings. & no, they weren't velvet &, no, elvis wasn't the matador. the technique, the brushstrokes...  absolutely killer.

got myself a nifty little iron chair with a tufted seat for my vanity. a waterford bowl. i'm telling you, the GGW doesn't suck.

i also hang out at estate sales. you can really score at those. gotta get there early, though.

oh, & did i tell you i got some incredible hartman luggage? coolest yellow lamp...  i think i might have a problem.

so, back to maudie's. i absolutely recommend the tacos al pastor & the chicken flaquitos, or taquitos or flautitos - i never can remember what they're called, oh -- & the avocado tomatillo sauce.

did you notice i didn't mention when the auction IS?  as my mother used to say, you don't have to tell everything you know.

TTFN

my faith in humanity is restored

have you ever had something that bugs the wahoola out of you? sure you have, & if not, you must be either totally zen, brain dead.

or maybe you're just a nicer person than i am, which is a distinct possibility. okay -- so here's the deal. & this was a big one because it had to do with where i live.

specifically, the livestock that live across the street, like 6 "mother-may-I" steps from the end of my driveway. that's 3 goats, don't know how many chickens, a goose & huge pig. & this is in a pretty decent neighborhood in the middle of a big city, i might add.

& it drives me absolutely nuts, i'm not going to lie.

not only did my neighbor tell me to jump in the lake when i suggested he move the livestock pen across from his front door instead of mine, but my own mother turned on me. not that she thinks it's peachy-keen either, but she told me to get over it, because nothing i was going to do would change it, so i should just take a big old chill-pill.

well, i tried, but i couldn't get it to go down. it got stuck in my throat, or my craw... suffice it to say that it was a gargantuan bur under my saddle.

then, the strangest thing happened this morning. my neighbor said he wanted my input on the new fence & rock wall he's putting up.

no way! seriously?

it sounds like it's going to be pretty nice, too. so there you are.

so, what's the moral of this story? good things come to those who wait? miracles happen? the sun will come out tomorrow?

all i know is that i'm tickled to death, & yes -- my faith in humanity is restored.

does anybody want to join me in doing the endzone dance?

TTFN .... & for anybody who didn't read my post about the grumpy guy @ the liquor store, & you know who you are, TTFN is tigger-speak for ta-ta for now.

so, TTFN!

that grumpy guy @ the liquor store

he really kind of drives me nuts.

he always wears a purple basketball jersey with the name of some stupid team on it -- i think it's the louisiana lakers, & if you're fan, well, if you'd seen him in it, you'd want to yank the stupid jersey off his wiry little body. i just wish it didn't show so much underarm hair, but maybe that's just me.

beady little close-set eyes narrowed, he always has a scowl on his face, like he's totally pissed-off at the world. maybe i would be, too if i had to card the little punks trying to buy beer all day long, and then spend the night shift pretending not to notice when the old lady winos come in for another bottle before last call.

i know what you're thinking -- that to know so much about him, i must spend a fair amount of time at the counter myself. if i weren't such a sweetheart, I'd tell you to mind your own business.

anyway - imagine my surprise this afternoon to find el grumpo with a goofy smile on his lips. a regular little happy camper, he was.

he found religion.

not the bible-thumping type. the,  I've-just-been-to-anger-management-type, because otherwise, his old lady was making him hit the road.

he called her that, not me.

well, my heavens, i said breathlessly-- tell me more.

with giddy excitement, he told me about a book he'd just read -- positivity by barbara fredrickson, & an online course by a man named john schinerer -- said his blog's right here on wordpress -- positive.psychologyblog.

so, check it out if you want to. or if your old lady says you have to want to.

you know me -- just doing my job to make this world a better place.

TTFN

learned that from my homeboy, tigger.

it means, ta-ta for now!