query: your happy thing

[Childbride]

with all the negative things in the world, i thought i would inquire as to your Happy Thing.

shiner and i live in a very regimented life during the work week. work 8-12 a day. come home, fix supper. work out. play guitar. go to bed.

my happy thing during the week:

before we start bedtime regimen, i play a game of stomp stomp with Maggie. [stomp stomp... a game we invented in her puppydom... two stomps toward her, which invokes a frenzy of running around the backyard/house... then usually invokes the fetching of stick or chew toy]

the way she bounces in the backyard after the stick or tears across the backyard always puts me in a good mood, no matter how cruddy my day.

query two: when you invoke your happy thing, do you hear music, and if so, what?

when i play stomp stomp with mags, i always hear 80's music.

right now it's asia and big country. must be the lighting in the backyard. reminds me of being 15 in the hobby ms parking lot learning to pass my driving test. [the hs lot wasn't well lit for this]

[street music]

Music is my HAPPY THING when I need to relax. I usually just pop on my headset and crank up some you tube videos or select some Eagles, Beatles, Mellencamp, CCR or maybe just John Prine and sit back for awhile before we head off to bed.

[sunvalleylaw]

Other than my kids, who are my true happy thoughts (See "Hook" with Robin Williams starring as a middle aged Pan), my true happy place/thought/thing is skiing. I love guitar and it is becoming a good alternative, but skiing, which I have done since I was 5, is my first love. I love the magic of snow, the sound of snow falling through the trees, the sensations of the motion, the spontaneous whoops and laughter skiing causes in me and my friends, and just all of it. I don't care so much about fancy lodges and meals, good 'ol chili and a cocoa/coffee is fine for me.

As for music to go with it, YES, I usually get a song in my head (as I do while mountainbiking), and they can be various. For some reason, U2 has been a front runner in that department, with "Gloria", Under a Blood Red Sky version being the first I really remember, and "Vertigo" being a good recent one. There are others. Hendrix's "Freedom" is my favorite mountainbiking song, and it works for skiing too.

[Robert****]

My happy thing would be playing and being with our 5 year-old daughter (she is so adorable), go for a hard run, and play my amp loud as heck with my Suhr.

I also get a kick out of helping others, like when I have created a video lesson and I get a ton of positive feedback from it, or helping a guitar student improve.

[piebaldpython***]

Hmmmmmmm.....my Happy Thing is music. It can be riding on the bus/EL to/from work, or at the gym, mowing the lawn....I just get a song in my head.....usually bluesy, usually a bump-and-grind boogie beat and usually loaded with slide guitar. Yeah, always puts a smile on my face.

Our psychotic toy poodle is a blast too and we do a stomp-stomp thing to which he loves to instigate with his own "demands".

Yep, life is very good.

Oh yeah, for those of you who have followed BC and her health saga....looks like she might start college in the Fall at nearly 23 years of age. She is doing marvelously.....her brain is working like a champ.

[djmcconnell]

Apart from hanging out with my wife and my college kids as much as their schedules allow, my happy place/thing is when I'm engaged in music somehow.

Singing, playing piano or guitar, or just listening to some tunes just totally fills me up and blots out the concerns of the day.

[bigG]

...my happy place/thing is when I'm engaged in music somehow.

Singing, playing piano or guitar, or just listening to some tunes just totally fills me up and blots out the concerns of the day.

Same here djm

[Perfect Stranger]

Watching my wife and granddaughters goof around. She looks and acts 7 years old too. I love to see them all together...

[FrankenFretter***]

I have lots of little Happy Things: Playing Aggravation or Sorry with 8-year old Matilda, or playing Bocce Ball with my lady in our backyard. Sleeping in on my days off, and family cuddles in bed until the crack of ten. Going for a bike ride after work, watching my lady use her pogo stick that I got her for her 32nd birthday (it's never too late!). Things like that are wonderful, but my really Happy Thing is the rare times that I actually get to play guitar for any length of time. I don't play often enough to be making strides in improving my very meager skills, but I do love to play. I totally lose track of time, and I love every lost moment. Maybe I wouldn't love it as much if I had all the time in the world to play...desire is mostly for things you cannot have, or can only rarely have. But that is where it stands at the moment; my occasional treat to myself is spending time in my attic music room.

[Childbride]

those are all Wonderful Happy Things!

thank you for sharing!

[just strum]

Being vertical is a big happy thing for me. Being able to enjoy everything the day throws at me.

I was walking through the shop today with the GM and he says to me "How can something that should be so easy, become so difficult (referring to a few issues we are having). My reply was basically that it is far better to be inside with the opportunity to deal with them, than to be on the outside wondering how you are going to make the house payment.

Yep, being vertical is pretty cool.

[R_of_G]

every second of every day that i spend with my ella rose is my happiest thing. many of you who are parents already know this, but it's still relatively new to me. there really is nothing more rewarding in the world than spending time with my daughter.

the next closest thing is playing my guitar. i think i've finally gotten to that point where i no longer care if it's "right" or "good" as long as i'm enjoying myself.

[marnold***]

Playing my guitar
Enjoying a well-crafted malt beverage
Playing on the PS3
When I come home and my dog comes running to greet me
Looking in my children's eyes
Marveling that my wife has been married to me for almost 13 years and she still thinks it's a good idea
Passing gas (I hope I never get so old/mature that that ceases to be funny)

[luvmyshiner]

Passing gas . . .

Sniff . . . that's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. You just brought a tear to this old man's eyes Marnold. There may be some hope for you yet.