9/29/07: One whole year since it all came crashing down. I should throw a party.

Dear Frippy: Let's do the list thing again, even though lists aren't even safe. I should learn this from my own past experience and yours, too. But I'm a-gonna give it a shot anyway. So this list is of some of the things/people that make me happy (in random order - if I had to order these in a meaningful way I'd have to get another PhD first).

1. I live in a cool house with a cool roommate.
2. I'm financially secure enough that I don't worry money too much.
3. Rockclimbing, biking, swimming, yoga/pilates, aerobics.
4. El señor B, B-alicious, Dragonslayer & Sleep Goblin, D&L, S&J, C&M-V, NATO, B&A, K&S (again, pay no heed to the order). These amazing friends in particular really helped me to survive mostly psychologically intact through the last year.
4 1/2. All my other friends, too numerous to list.
5. My beautiful family: Mumsie, Pfather, Em-o-lee, the Goose, Papa, the R's and the C's.
6. Playing cribbage with J the V. I'm ahead one game, if you don't count the skunk, but we're both winners.
7. My babies, past and present: Toot, Ollie, Otto, Biner, Senna, Boris, Sven the Pooper, Cecil, Occifer.
8. I've got a job that I don't detest.
9. Not being a grad student any more.
10. KMNR 89.7FM and WSUM 91.7FM, complete with all the associated peeps.
11. Cleavage.
12. Music - that I've found, that other people have led me to.
13. Tacos.
14. The saddest lesbian, the saddest percolator, on the top of my Escalade, and inside jokes.
15. Spending time by myself, not having to make time for someone else, self-sufficiency.
16. Salads.
17. I've got a kick-ass hairdresser. Not a negligible accomplishment, on my part or hers.
18. I know that somewhere out there are people who like me, love me, desire me, fear me, hate me, admire me. I may be lonely but I'm far from alone.
19. Cleaning the bathroom, especially post-chuff. Weird, I know, but oh! the shiny porcelain.
20. Reading. This kind of went downhill while I was a grad student but I'm starting to get back in the habit of always having at least one good book going.
21. Dancing, at parties or by myself. Booty dancing, mostly. Oooh, and booty dancing music - the nastier the better.
22. Dirty jokes, filthy mouths, and the people who appreciate them.
23. Throwing parties for which it takes weeks to plan the menu and days to prepare it. Making big elaborate dinners for a bunch of people. Also, big Saturday breakfasts at our house when D grills bacon and bitches about us cooking the eggs too fast.
24. Deviled eggs, and their propensity to be part of nearly every meaningful family gathering.
25. Everything about Australia, except how far away it is.
26. The summer, hot and dirty weather, humidity. Yummy.
27. Shiny and sparkly things. Like a magpie or a packrat.
28. Making out, spooning, and the like. Or at least I seem to remember that those things made me happy. Maybe it will again someday, if I don't go the crazy rat-lady route.
29. Sleeping in late. Like afternoon late.
30. Burlesque shows - the cornier the better.

and one to grow on, so's to balance out the last such list:
31. Writing stuff for y'all to read. Awwwwww...........

Okay okay one more: I am in awe - absolute utter AWE - of this picture.

Picture caption: My mumsie's new babies, Yogi and Booboo. I'll come by the crazy rat-lady role through genetics, it seems.