15 Things That Make Me Happy

1 Morning time … especially Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings! Sunlight streaming through the windows, air of silence underlined by the whirring fan above, birds chirping. I live for the mornings!

2 An upcoming holiday … need I say more?

3 My laptop ... I swear I don’t know how I existed before my laptop came along. It is one of my most prized possessions – right up there with my car, my camera and robust pair of lungs.

4 Being busy … I love being busy but the good kind of busy, of course. Not the running-around-like-a-headless-chicken doing a lot of stuff but achieving nothing. Purposeful running around I love! I call it being in The Zone. I love The Zone. It’s my place.

5 Mika and Jason Mraz … I just love Mika’s Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) and Love Today; and Mraz’s Butterfly and Make It Mine. I have many other happy songs, of course, but for some reason, these few never fail to cheer me up. Especially when things suck.

6 Post-exercise … ah, there’s nothing like that euphoric feeling you get after exercising. That layer of perspiration; that happy sense of satisfaction that once again you’ve defeated the demons of procrastination; that unbearable lightness of being (hi, Milan). Nothing feels better.

7 Simple food … forget fancy meals. Know what foods make me insanely happy? Bagel and cream cheese, chunks of juicy chilled watermelon, teochew porridge, baked beans and egg, sausages and ketchup. No I’m not kidding.

8 A great book … I’ve read many good books but what truly thrills me is the discovery of one that can keep me so engrossed that I forget time and place. One from which I need to literally tear myself away just to eat or sleep. One I can’t stop thinking about long after I’ve finished it. One that I can’t help but rave about to anyone who will listen. One where I get sucked into their world, am emotionally invested in the characters, love whom the author intends for me to love and hate whom the author intends for me to hate. One that makes me think and see things in ways I never have before. One that, hopefully, makes me a little smarter after having read it.

9 Camwhoring ... I can’t remember life pre-digital camera. Oh yes I do. It was boring as hell. Though I don’t go around with my camera surgically attached to my colon (like some people), my beloved Canon is a must on important occasions.

10 Rain … especially late at night when I’m tucked in bed (not when I’m stuck in a jam on the way home from work - %$#@^#$@#!!).

11 The Office … watching The Office makes me happy. Even if I’ve had a sucky day, just watching an episode or two can easily cheer me up. Makes me forget how sucky things are. I love it.

12 Youtube.com … it’s almost a religion with me. Every night, I’m on it. I can’t go to sleep otherwise. If youtube were a man, I’d get married like right now. That’s how strongly I feel about youtube.

13 Facebook.com … ditto.

14 SMS … I adore SMSes. I don’t know how I ever lived before SMSes came along. Oh ya, now I remember: I talked on the phone. Yuk. I hate talking on the phone. Truth be told, I don’t even like getting calls. My phone rings and I shudder. I hear that delightful ‘ding’ that signals a new message and I feel … happy.

15 Emails … maybe it’s this whole writer thing: I love writing so I take to email like duck to water. I love the whole thought process that goes into an email. A well-crafted email is a thing of beauty to me. It’s … literature. Unlike talking when things just come spilling out of your mouth and you have no record of whatever you’ve said, an email is a black-and-white record. It’s also a very accurate display of how things work in your mind. A sloppy email is the sign of a sloppy thinker.

Funnily enough, none of the things that make me happy include spending money on things. Who would’ve thunk.