Simple Joys

Sparked by my friend Stefon and his wife Melissa’s LiveJournals, which today answer the question:

“List five little things which make you happy/satisfied/give you pleasure. Don’t go for the obvious ones like second-hand bookshops, warm baths, icecream, wanking, seeing a band live or whatever. Odd little things, which give you a little frisson and make things better, even if just for a moment.”

So…

1. That moment when you realize something you’re reading/watching/whatever is really good. Not just passable like 90% of everything, but…wow.

1. A thoughtful e-mail from a friend.

1. Similar to 1, I suppose, but that moment in music where it stops, and for an endless split second you don’t know where it’s going to go, and it could go anywhere it could go bad it could go good…and then it goes to just the right place.

1. Voices in my head–the characters I create in my minds eye. Not a small thing, really, but it keeps me going. When I wasn’t working on my new play, I would occasionally recite the character names to myself almost like a talisman, or mantra.

1. Finding old pictures of me, my buddy Moya, and a couple of other old friends from around 1990/1991.

Ben Varkentine