“Hakuna Matata”

It seems that If I anticipate that I’m going to be sad, it’s a good idea for me to do something that will continue making me happy even after I’ve done it- like a project that I can see the results of (maybe art for some people), learning a new piece I’ll be able to pick up and play later, cleaning/organizing something, decorating, or cooking a tasty meal that’ll last a bit.  I just cleaned my apartment really thoroughly for the first time in a while today, and it feels nice just being in it right now. I guess it might not work for all people, but I think I like my surroundings to make me happy and I feel good after hard work, so it’s a nice fit for me.

I’ve noticed recently that over the last couple of years I’ve had pretty good luck in life in that when sad things happen; I am often soon presented with things that cheer me up. It’s almost like life is trying to keep me from having nervous breakdowns by distracting me from things. To give context to the last few  thoughts: today, my closest friend in this town moved away permanently. It’ll be really hard for me to get used to his absence since we spent the majority of most days with one another. That said, and the reason for my previous two thoughts is that I have so many things to look  forward to. It seems like a string of good, distracting events coincidentally begin just as he leaves. It kicks off with a visit from two close friends from my undergrad, who I’m picking up from the airport tomorrow. I have a feeling that my friend leaving hasn’t quite hit me (he left about 12 hours ago), but I figure I should squeeze all the positivity I can out into written word for future reference if I feel down later.  Without further ado:

Things to look forward to this summer:

• Ishan and Trevor visiting- tomorrow!
• Caitlin moves here- Thursday!
• Ma visits (Yellowstone and Ikea and wonderful things)- 6/19
• Cinderblock and Mike visiting- 6/28
• Vegas with the best people- 7/11
• Productivity in lab and school (hopefully this summer will result in a paper?!)
• Tubing in a real river- July
• Parties
• Catching up in Naruto
• House and roommates- 8/1
• Getting back into TKD after almost an entire semester off – back to class on Monday!
• Getting into shape in general
• Reading everything (please give me recommendations- your favorite books)
• Perhaps beating a videogame for the first time in years- I’m thinking Windwaker since I never actually finished it.

I feel good right now- today was productive. I helped my friend finish packing; I did good work at school for how long I was there; I tried boxing for the first time today, and I’m shaky and sore but it feels good; I cleaned, as I mentioned; and I watched some episodes of a mindless anime while eating puffy Hot Cheetos (those who know me will know how this makes me feel).

This past week has been fun- I went downtown a few times with friends, spent some hours with a discoball and a fog machine with just 3 others lounging on the floor of a studio apartment watching music videos and eating old pizza, took a tour of the Annheiser-Busch brewery, ate delicious Indian food (restaurant as well as cooked by me- here’s what I made: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti -sequeira/chicken-in-creamy-tomato-curry-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe2/index.html with pulau), took a mini road trip, got good yield on my monomer, and had an awesome farewell dinner for our deserters with some of my favorite people here.

Me and the deserter

I’m going to be fine- something I was worried about since I’ve been dreading this day for a while- and I am very lucky to have so many good things available to me. Even if I didn’t have such visible things to look forward to as I’ve babbled too much about in this post, I think I (and most people) should always be able to find good things if I look hard enough. It’s just sometimes hard to remember that when stuck really far into sadness or apathy or grumpiness. At the very least, we’re all alive and as long as we’re not undergoing significant physical pain or issue, that’s probably a good place to start when looking for things to be happy about.