All entries for Wednesday 12 July 2006

happy things

A friend send me this two years ago. It seems this "happy things list" is still working———at least for me on this gloomy afternoon.
1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Finding the sweater you want is on sale for half price.
12. Chocolate milk shake. (or vanilla!) (or strawberry)
13. A long distance phone call.
14. A bubble bath.
15. Giggling.
16. A good conversation.
17. The beach.
18. Finding a 20 $ note in your coat from last winter.
19. Laughing at yourself.
20. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
21. Running through sprinklers.
22. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
23. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
24. Laughing at an inside joke.
25. Friends.
26. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
27. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
28. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
29. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
30. Playing with a new puppy.
31. Having someone play with your hair.
32. Sweet dreams.
33. Hot chocolate.
34. Road trips with friends.
35. Swinging on swings.
36. Wrapping presents under the Christmas tree while eating cookies and drinking your favorite tipple.
37. Song lyrics printed inside your new CD so you can sing along without feeling stupid.
38. Going to a really good concert.
39. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
40. Winning a really competitive game.
41. Making chocolate chip cookies.
42. Having your friends send you home–made cookies.
43. Spending time with close friends.
44. Seeing smiles and hearing laughter from your friends.
45. Holding hands with someone you care about.
46. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
47. Riding the best roller coasters over and over.
48. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
49. Watching the sunrise.
50. Getting out of bed every morning and thanking God for another beautiful day.

Xiu Wang : 12 Jul 2006 21:06 |  Tags: Quote |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

against the modularized way of life

It has been a very nice day today. After a whole chilly week, I think we finally deserve a bit of the sun in the mid–July here in England. I sat with a friend in front of the piazza for almost three hours in the afternoon. It is graduation week, and seeing people walking around, dressed smartly in their congregation rope is such a fantastic thing to do on a Sunny day. We were observing the graduates. When a young pretty female Doctor (judging from the color of the neckband) passed by us, we were whispering excitedly: are we going to get that rope in two years? Three years? Or maybe never?
There are many things that I think I would like to do in this life, but some of those ideas are just too 'unrealistic'. This is a very Chinese style way of persuading people to get away with their dreams, as 'being down to the earth' has always been regarded as a virtue. We keep our life modularized, and there is always a specific 'realistic' goal at a specific stage in life that you have to achieve, and if you happen to missed one or two of those goals, it is quite hard to pick everything back again.
For me, I kept almost everything in schedule, B.A. M.A. married, kid, then doing PhD. It seems that I am filling the blanks of my life in a quite mechanic way (or a successive way, positively speaking). But just when I was looking enviously at the newly–graduated PhDs, and when I was swearing that I am going to finish mine in two years time, my friend smiled at me: no, Ann, don't do that to yourself. You know you can do that, but the point is not if you can do it or not, but is that if you enjoy it or not. You've got to enjoy what you are doing, He said, since this is the choice you made, and the choice you made eventually becomes the life you have.
My friend definitely is in a better mentality than I am. I am the pessimistic type, never believing good things can actually happen to me. He is definitely the opposite: despite of all the difficulties and obstacles in his research, he holds on his confidence and passion.
If Buddha is right in saying that we should always live our life as our last life, then maybe the only thing we should ever bother to do is to do the things that we really enjoy. I was never so sure about whether my decision to go for this Degree is out of more pragmatic reasons or more of personal interest and passion. But it seems now that if I am doing it, and if I don't want to drop it, then I have to enjoy it.
I heard many beautiful stories recently. Two friends?? mothers are finishing their PhD in their fifties/sixties, a friends' mother got her book launched last week, and my parents are going to Russia for summer vacation. I suddenly realized in the sunny afternoon that good things do happen in life. More importantly, they do happen all the time, without any modularized schedule. But most importantly, it is we ourselves that made those best things happen.
We always have the chance to do things we enjoy, and the only thing is that we have to set off to do it, to start it. And always keep in mind that there is no checklist in our life anyway, and nobody is doing the ticking. It is just we ourselves, who is writing down stories that may or may not be remembered, may or may not be happy.Then why not write a happy story? :–)

Xiu Wang : 12 Jul 2006 00:41 |  Tags: Life |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem