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Today I need to be grateful... so:

1. The head gasket leak in my car should be covered under the warranty from having this same repair done last year.
2. I brought my car in for its 90,000 mile checkup before the warranty ran out.
3. I have retired friends who can shuttle me around town during the day.
4. I made a habit of saving up money each month to keep my car running.

Random Gratitudes

• New book contract!
• New grant-writing contract!
• Unexpected visits from family

Evidence of spring

• Snowbell blossoms in the cemetery
• A swarm of robins... seriously... like dozens of them... 
• NEW KITTEN! (*)

(*) Technically a kitten is not evidence of spring, especially since he was probably born some time in October. Still... ohmygoditsakitten!

Incidentally... new kitten... not so bright. Last night he got lost halfway down the stairs.

Mission Accomplished

Well, yesterday marked a full 31 days of documenting reasons-to-be-cheerful. I have a more positive outlook than I did last month, and I'm willing to attribute that at least partly to making a daily habit of focusing on things for which I am grateful (... and not having to sue my ex-employer... for which I am grateful). I intend to continue spurting out little bits of gratitude, but not as the focus of the blog. I'm really happy for all the participation from other people.

Shawn Achor (the author of The Happiness Advantage, from whom I lifted the "daily gratitude" exercise) has partnered with Catch.com to create a free little iOS App for optimistic journaling called I Journal. For me it's a bit over-specialized, and I also find smart phones to be beastly for typing anything longer than a brief email, but other folks may find it useful.

Anyway... gratitude:

• Leftover chipotle lime pasta
• Brad's really amazing pureed mushroom concoction that used to be the filling in his really amazing stuffed mushrooms until we realized it was just fine on its own, at which point I started using it in all kinds of stuff including the sauce for the above chipotle lime pasta
• No seriously, the mushroom stuff... it's amazing... kind of a vegetable pâté. It's good hot or cold.

Gratitude: Days Twenty-Eight through Thirty

Day Twenty-Eight

• More paid work!
• New Lovecraftian board games

Day Twenty-Nine

• Undertow (winner of the audience-choice award for Best Independent Feature Film at the ImageOut Film Festival) getting a theatrical release in the US
• Lazy days at home

Day Thirty

• Geeky science chats over breakfast
• Watching Lost while I eat lunch
• Neodymium magnets... just too fun

Gratitude, Days Eighteen through Twenty-Two

Day Eighteen:

• Getting my health insurance sorted out (with a lower co-pay!)
• The crunchy sound of my lumbar vertebrae being popped back into alignment

Day Nineteen:

• Breakfast meetings
• Rediscovering that I am actually a morning person
• Finally settling on a name for the new business

Day Twenty:

• Friends with copious website experience
• A continuous stream of meetings
• Taking it easy on days when I am sick and depressed

Day Twenty-One:

• The Rochester Public Market
• Birthday parties with pagans
• The curious phenomenon of straight guys who flirt with me(*)

Day Twenty-Two

• Unexpected snow that means I don't have to clean up muddy paw prints first thing in the morning
• Crawling back into a warm bed on a cold day
• Cooking brunch in the new kitchen
• Dinner plans with Nerkygrrl's Gramma

———

(*) OK, actually this is at least as discomforting as it is flattering, but I'm focusing on the flattering part.

Gratitude, Days Twelve

• Making new friends over coffee.
• Being able to write two pages of fiction in the middle of the work day, because writing is now my job.
• Unexpectedly running into old friends over coffee.
• Increasingly artful uses of 3D computer animation (with lemurs!) (*)

(*) Brad thought there were too many different animation styles, but I thought it fit perfectly with the "scrap book" nature of the film. I loved that, although the film is clearly computer animated, any given frame looks like it was hand-painted or hand-drawn. The animated water-colors particularly impressed me.

Gratitude, Days Seven through Eleven

Been traveling, so here's the backlog...

Day Seven (Saturday)

• Subaru all-wheel drive
• Dogs who sleep in the car, Part I
• Animal fables

Day Eight (Sunday)

• The niece who still loves math at the age of 16
• The niece who has had straight A's since kindergarten
• The niece who still uses the art easel we bought her when she was 8
• The niece who, despite being in preschool, can operate an iPad better than anyone else in the family

Day Nine (Monday)

• Institutional gluttony (in moderation)
• Cancer researchers
• Hyperactive Labrador Retrievers (in moderation)

Day Ten (Tuesday)

• Dawn through ice-enameled tree branches
• Dogs who sleep in the car, Part II
• Leftover lasagna and cheap red wine

Day Eleven (Wednesday)

• Working when I want
• Wanting to work
• Time enough to share Brad's hobbies (in moderation)

In other news, Brad and I started writing a story together. This is actually our first attempt at writing together, despite fifteen years of living together. The working title is "Questions about Angels," on account of I'm reading Billy Collins poetry right now.

Gratitude, Day Six

Today (or technically yesterday) I am grateful for...

1. Artistic friends.
2. Songs about monkeys.
3. Twenty-four hour emergency vets. (*)

(*) Advice for pet owners: Don't leave a plastic bottle of prescription chewable canine arthritis medication lying about in a forgotten bag because... you know... maybe your smaller, prettier, healthier (but stupider) dog will secretly eat all of it during Bad Movie Night prompting the veterinarian to say things like "You need to come in RIGHT NOW" when you call to ask about overdose symptoms.

Gratitude, Day Five

1. Being home when Brad gets home from work.
2. Conversations with new friends over coffee.
3. Magic rubber chickens. (*)

(*) This probably warrants further explanation.

Gratitude, Day Four

The series continues:

1. The triangular patch of velvet fur where a cat's eyes and nose meet.
2. Gamma World's return to silliness.
3. Brad's education discount on Apple products.

Today's Gratitudes

Three Gratitudes, Day Three

Thing 1: Licensed Massage Therapists

Thing 2: Nasopure sinus irrigation system(*)

Thing 3: Big dumb dogs jumping through the snow


(*) Disgusting, but effective. Don't look at me that way... make your own damn list.

Reasons To Be Cheerful, 1... 2... 3...

Three Gratitudes, Day Two

Thing #1: Arizona Statehood Day

Thing #2: The Will & Grace generation(*)


Thing #3: Ian Dury & The Blockheads' "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3"

(*) The video is a shot-for-shot remake of Taylor Swift's video, but performed a cappella by the University of Rochester YellowJackets. The guys made the whole thing themselves and ended up winning national acclaim. Anecdotally, I've heard that Roman White, the director of the original video, likes this one better. (Incidentally... the accompaniment is all vocal, including the cymbal crashes and "drum machine.")