inside joke

I'm listening to a CD of a concert that my college choir (or, more accurately, a recent roster thereof), produced. My college conductor always was and still is a character. And this is a live recording. I just laughed out loud at my desk as one of the tracks started up, and he is shouting the the audience, "Sorry about the wrong numbers... I have no idea how that happened, it's 245!" I actually laughed at loud at my desk when that gem blared out in between the otherwise serene choral works. I'm so glad this moment was captured on CD.

It's up there with the recording in which, during an especially dramatic pause in the Brahms Requiem, he was so wrapped up in conducting that he dropped his glasses and nearly tipped over his music stand, so instead of a pregnant pause, there is a very brief pause with a click (the glasses hitting the floor), and a scuffle (my conductor fighting to keep his music stand upright). You wouldn't know what the sounds were, if you weren't there, but that just means that even in the midst of a heartfelt performance of a wrenching piece about death and loss, there can be secret hilarity.

clarity

This really is the tiniest of things, but it feels big when it happens. You know how when you're really sick and completely stuffed up, and you miraculously have a five or ten minute window when your nose magically clears up and you can breathe normally for a little while? That window is pure bliss, because you really notice how great it is to just breathe. 

in the red

I almost never wear open-toed shoes, partly because I wear jeans to work, partly because my feet get cold without socks, and partly because I'm a slave to comfort.
Even so, I get a pedicure every month, partly because it's a little treat, partly because I love how pedicures last forever, but mostly because I like knowing that underneath my sneakers, my toenails are unapologetically red, and they wink at me every day before I put on my shoes to go to work, and when I come home and take my shoes back off, and it makes me secretly happy.

feast or famine

Just when you think you've hit a dry spell and need to make the one good book you've got last longer, you come across reviews for two books that sound really great, and suddenly, you have way too much reading to do. Not a bad situation.

ration

Good books are uncommon, but books that are so well-crafted that you are torn between reading slowly to savor every word or tearing ahead to devour the book in huge gulps are exquisitely rare. When I was younger, I almost always took the second option, perhaps naively believing that there would be many more perfect books to come. Now, when I come across such a book, I try to take a more measured pace, sifting through it more slowly and re-reading a line here, a page there, in order to bask in the book for as long as possible. The pleasure is more muted, but it lasts longer, and I can always devour it if I decide to re-read the whole thing later.

custom

My creative and talented coworker made a necklace (it may look like two, but it's one) that captures a lot of the things in life that make me happy. I can basically wear the whole concept behind this blog around my neck as a reminder of how good life can be, if I just stop and notice it.

I won't go into full detail on the explanation, because it probably only makes sense to me, but for me, this necklace is a physical representation of all that is frabjous: sun, moon, stars, blue skies, clear water, diving, my dog, freedom, self-determination, wonderful things coming from not-so-great circumstances, luck, the color red, food, loved ones, good times, and the very meaning of happiness.

delivery

Food is good. Company is good. Delivery service is good.

A boyfriend who picks up food on his way over, thereby providing delivery service for both food and company? That transcends good to become great.

vicarious thumb

Flowers are beautiful, but I never try to grow any, because I am unable to keep them alive. My new landlord hires a gardener to come by the house every week, though, so I get to enjoy flowers without worrying that I'll kill them.

respite

Nonstop action, that crazy mix of work, travel, play, and friends that I've had for the last few weeks, can be fun and exhilarating, and it makes the first empty day afterwards feel relaxing, rather than boring. I love quiet Saturdays, with just a few little tasks thrown in to pretend I'm still being productive.

burbs

I'm more of a city girl, and coming here was my first foray back into suburbia since leaving for college. Although I rail against the parking lots, the weekly trash pickups, the humdrumness, and all those other suburban things, I secretly do really enjoy a few things about the suburbs.

(1) I've never had so much space to myself before. And every room has windows and skylights.

(2) It's so quiet. Any noise I hear is the noise I make.

(3) On Friday nights, I don't feel pressure to do something exciting. If I want to go home, wear pajamas, and watch TV, that's OK. Or if I want to go to a big, suburban cineplex and watch a mindless move like Ironman 2, that's OK, too. It's the suburbs.

girls girls girls

I have tons of space in my new place, and I'm having ten or fifteen girls from work ("women," if you prefer that term) over for a good old-fashioned sleepover next week, just like we had when we were little, except that we'll have wine and no parental supervision.

par

Don't you love that feeling of quiet relief when you are temporarily on top of your work? When you're all caught up on every project, and you're just waiting to hear back from the other team members, or the other side of the deal? Even if it's just for a few hours, it's nice to have all of the balls in other people's courts, so that you can do whatever else you feel like doing, even if it's just to sit around and breathe, without guilt or worry.

hi ho

My dog is about ten years old. I've had him for almost eight years, and he has gone to work with me (at two jobs in two countries) for six of those years. In dog years, he's probably about retirement age, and he's been "working" for about 40 dog years.

Nevertheless, every morning (and especially on Mondays), he is so excited to go to work that he can barely wait for me to get ready. If the car ride is too long, he starts to whine impatiently, because, COME ON, PEOPLE, IT'S TIME TO GO TO WORK! He trots impatiently through the parking lot, takes the steps at full speed, which is impressive for a senior citizen, and when he gets to our floor, he can no longer wait for me, and he sprints to our office. Sprints. That's how excited he is to get started on his day.

I love my job, but I still don't sprint to my desk. I love watching him sprint, though, and I love how it gives passersby a little lift to see how excited he is, as well.

preview

I'm meeting a good friend from Zurich for dinner tonight. Just by coincidence, he started working in our Zurich office just a couple of months after I started working here at headquarters, and he has come out a couple of times for work since then. He is doing an internal transfer and will be moving here in about a month, so tonight's dinner will just be a quick preview of lots of hanging out in the future (and I'll have a little reminder of it until he moves, since he's leaving some of his stuff with me in the mean time). It's wonderful making new friends, but it's even better when old friends show up, as well.

flower power

I love that the climate here permits flowers to flourish riotously, and I love that my company takes advantage of that fact.

redo

I've been monitoring my Facebook feed to see all of the pictures and status updates recapping the weekend my college friends and I just spent in Cambridge. Although you can't go back in time and relive an experience, at least you can see it as it was viewed through someone else's eyes (or lens).

tivo

I bought a TiVo with the first paycheck from my summer job after my first year of law school, nine years ago. I said it then and I still say it now, that the best things to ever happen to TV were color, remote controls, cable, and TiVo, and of those four, TiVo is the coolest. It combines laziness and convenience with efficiency and gadgetry. You can watch more TV shows per couch-hour, and you can do it whenever you want. Still frabjous after all these years.

puppy love

It's hard to come back from a great trip, but on the way home, I always get excited that I'm going to see my dog again, and it always gives me a big kick when he's excited to see me, too. Rationally, based on the many times that I've left and come back to an overjoyed dog over the eight years that I've had him, I should know that he will still recognize me and love me when I get back, but it's always such a moment of pure pleasure when I do see him and he's all wiggly because I'm there.

(This is a picture that my cousin took while she was watching him for the week -- look at what a sweet old grump he's turned into.)

the best thing

Is there anything better than seeing lots of old friends, catching up with them in person, and rehashing all of the old stories and inside jokes?

two words

Brahms Requiem.
It was the first masterwork I sang in college, and we sang through it today at the retirement celebration for my college conductor. It was a perfect full circle, and I admit I got a little choked up a few times while singing it, much like I did when we sang it in Lincoln Center 14 years ago.