Or well, at the very least. (Of course I want you all to be happy. And I understand that's not possible, there's no instant switch for happiness.)
Thank you all for your lovely comments and such on the matter of my lovely shiny New Job. I'm still very excited, though it seems to have been ages since I handed in my notice and declared, in an M-People stylee, that I'm moving on up, moving on out, moving on up, noooothing can stop me.
But there it is. Time plays tricks on yer.
Anyway, enough of this rambling tomfoolery. Onwards!
This week, I have mostly been ...
Reading
Watching
... the very last episode of 30 Rock
and then making a seamless transition into watching Still Alice (for which you really have to be in an emotionally stable state of mind -- you have been warned):
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| {Still, ahem, from Still Alice | via here | Wait, where have I seen this pairing before, lately ...?} |
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| {WHOOMPH! There it is!} |
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
I do believe I've shared the trailer before, but what the heck:
OK, you can come baaaaack, people who may actually watch Still Alice ...
And on a Netflix tip, I've started watching Grey's Anatomy. Because the post-House withdrawal became too great.
And also, yes, Patrick Dempsey. Because slightly arrogant medics are apparently my bag. See also: George Clooney in ER. And Greg House, natch. (I was about to share a recent sketch from some US comedy show featuring the two of them, Clooney and Laurie, together, but it's so cringingly awkward and unfunny I cannot. Never mind that Hugh Laurie's beginning to look increasingly more like the late Jeff Conaway from Grease and that's just upsetting.)
Incidentally, I've ditched my aerial and Freeview box, and am now sans telly. This should make me a bundle of laughs in social situations when people are talking about things that are, er, on the telly.
I still have the monitor for DVD, video and HDMI-hook-ups with the tablet but as for live streaming?
That's so last century.
Catch-up's where it's at.
(Also, I really, really hate most adverts.)
... It's been a slow news week, folks.
Making a List
And checking it twice.
Yea verily, following on from sharing Evie's list of happiness triggers, in the spirit of finding and maintaining happiness this year, I've taken it upon myself to write down 38 things that make me happy (one for every year of life thus far and one for luck because odd numbers are evil and must be stopped ... oh hang on, that would make it 39 things ... calculator, someone?). I think these things may be fluid depending on life-stage, but for now, here they are, my 38 Guidelines to Happiness:
QB's Guide to Finding Happiness
(in no particular order)
2. Turn off the tech, have an early night and don’t feel that the evening has been unproductive.
3. Sing without self-awareness.
4. Make lots of playlists for different times and moods. Play them on shuffle.
5. Spend unpressured time with your Lovelies.
6. Walk and get safely lost to find your way back.
7. Cook properly for yourself. Make an event of dinnertime.
8. Lie in. With coffee, magazines and music.
9. Spend all day in pyjamas once in a while.
10. Write by hand.
11. Be near a body of water and look for the sun.
12. Watch a film or episode with popcorn.
13. Doodle.
14. Stick stickers.
15. Stamp rubber stamps.
16. Go on a swing.
17. Bounce on a trampoline.
18. Ride on a fairground ride or pier ride.
19. Put on a really awful, cheesy kitsch song, and rock out.
20. Rearrange the furniture or reorganise the shelves.
21. Take the empties to the bottle bank and have a good smash.
22. Seek out a cosy pub with a log fire and read there with a glass of wine.
23. Keep ignoring commercial media. Ignore the tabloids, the gossip columns, the gossip mags, the adverts, ignore social media if you need to, and make your own gauge of your life.
24. Create something. Anything. Design a badge, write a haiku. Anything.
25. Find something that makes you laugh so hard you ache and cry.
26. Play the piano loudly, and badly, but with enthusiasm.
27. Bake bread and consume with real butter.
28. Read. Reread a book in which you identify wholeheartedly with a situation or character.
29. Eat chocolate.
30. Find a problem that needs solving. Solve it.
31. Write something that only you will ever read.
32. Identify something that needs to be changed, and change it.
33. Revisit a picture that appeals to you and just look at it for a while.
34. Look at old photos and remember good times.
35. Put on a song that meant a lot to you once, and remember why it was so important, then remember that you've moved on.
36. Send a message of love to someone just because.
37. Stroke or hug an animal. Hens definitely count here.
38. Light all the fairy lights and turn off the main lights. Enjoy the ambience.
---
I hereby challenge you to come up with your own Guidelines.
As I prepare to quit the Soulless City, I do find myself making little comparison lists of Things I'll Miss and Things I Won't Miss. No prizes for guessing into which category each of these pictures falls:
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| {The sunsets ...} |
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| {The river ...} |
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| {The commute ...} |
Having Quality Cake and Chocolate Time
... with Ms Pippa (of the Yankee Doodle Nobles blog) at Gail's in Clapham, with her gorgeous son in tow (he's so scrummy, all smiles and dribble and cuddles, and into everything, but for the sake of the young man's privacy, no photos I'm afraid).
'Twas lovely to catch up after quite a while; prior to a flying visit to the office on P's behalf the last time I'd seen her was in New Yawk Citaaaaay:
with our friend Jenny (left), and so much has changed since then.
Eating All the Meat Ever
Lunchtime today saw me rocking on up to the Toby Carvery to meet my Lovelies, Charlie and Al and Miss Keira, for a much-needed meat-feast in excellent company (and, er, slightly overwhelming heat and light conditions):
Sometimes a Sunday roast just polishes off the week, doesn't it? Especially with a huge Yorkshire on top, and pudding. (Brace yourself for some seriously obscene imagery ...)
Oh and a cheeky lunchtime vino and apres-dejeuner coffee doesn't hurt, either.
'Twas time well spent, bantering favourite films and books and bucket-list concerts, and yes, Charlie, I am still feeling the burn of shame that comes from never having read:
I shall rectify this oversight posthaste, my friend. Posthaste.
And, hello, was this the book you were looking foooor (Lionel-stylee)?
I highly recommend it. And I'll let you know if the film's any cop too.
Pinterest Pin of the Week
Weekly Web Finds
- Thanks to Ma QB for this gem from The Plarchers on Twitter ... that's no dunnock, Jim, you fool!
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| {via here} |
- Also on Twitter, some genius has set up the Redhill Donald Trump account [@RedhillDonald] and even our humble church gets a mention!:
Just passing St Matthews Church, a place that gives me huge spiritual inspiration and also where I go for Slimming World on Thursdays.— Redhill Donald Trump (@RedhillDonald) February 6, 2016
Such fun!
On that note, have good weeks, everyone!
I'm sorry there's no Honour Roll of Lovely-ness this week but I hope you all know that you're awesome.
qb xx
