Monday, December 31, 2012

Can you plan happiness?

I am torn on how to address this question and the entire "Happiness Project" concept. On the one hand I think it would be a very good strategy for those who aren't happy already but for people who are satisfied with life mostly as is, planning happiness is a little silly. By all means, if you have issues and are struggling, dive in.


For me, the whole exercise was tedious. Coming up with things to do for 12 months, in advance and then items to check off... just tedious. I enjoyed the concept behind trying to find what makes you happy and doing more of that stuff though. 

Two of the things that made me most happy I didn't even consider in January. One was writing screenplays. Yes, while I had written a few beforehand, I had completely fallen out of the habit for years. I really enjoy crafting a story that doesn't have to be hundreds of pages like a novel and doesn't really have the same convention as a novel. And the whole "26 acts" thing that came out of the horrific shootings in Newtown, CT. I found myself super excited to be doing them and planning them to make someone's day a little better and hope they continued it for 26 of their own acts. Generally, I enjoy making others happy so anything that involves helping someone I love or planning an event for them really makes me happy. Finally, I used to sing all the time, at home in the basement, in the shower, karaoke, events etc... but I stopped a few years ago. For no reason at all. I recently started doing it again and I really enjoy it. I'm not very good but I LOVE doing it. 

I want to concentrate on doing the above more this coming year as well as finding time for other things I enjoy like learning a language. I really want to learn sign language and Russian. If anyone knows of a place that teaches Russian, hook me up please! You can learn ASL, ESL, Spanish, Italian and Chinese all day long places but I can't find anywhere that teaches Russian. I already speak Spanish, Italian, German, Hebrew and basic Russian but I'd love to expand the Russian (since all I know I taught myself but I know the alphabet (reading and writing) and basic phrases).


By the way, the new blog will be here: http://stevieat30.blogspot.com/


Soundtrack of 2012


This might come as a surprise to many of you but I don't like to listen to music in the car. I do sometimes, sure. But I more enjoy listening to books on tape, NPR and Matty in the Morning (only when they are talking). I live a wild life, I know.

I listen to music in my classroom, at the gym, on the computer or if Scott is driving. A lot. I just saw the Kiss 108 top 40 of 2012 and decided to come up with my own soundtrack for 2012. (For example, I really hate the song "we are young" by fun so #2?? No.) These aren't in order but these were the songs I looked forward to and when they came on, I blasted them.

*Yes, I know I have sh*tty taste in music. And yes, I am embarrassed that two of the songs are by Justin Bieber... You can see the videos for these gons on the playlist I made.

  • Try - P!nk
  • As long as you love me - Justin Bieber
  • Trouble- Taylor Swift
  • I won't give up - Jason Mraz
  • The A Team- Ed Sheeran
  • Beauty & a beat - Justin Bieber
  • Let me love you- Ne-yo
  • Too Close- Alex Clare
  • Scream & Shout-  Will.I.Am
  • Locked out of heaven- Bruno Mars
  • Some nights- fun
  • One more night- Maroon 5
  • Tonight I'm loving you- Enrique Iglesias
  • Stronger- Kelly Clarkson
  • Somebody that I used to know- Gotye
  • Give your heart a break- Demi Lovato
  • Call me maybe- Carly Rae Jepson
  • Don't you worry child - Swedish House Mafia
  • Pound the alarm- Nicki Minaj
  • Don't stop the party - Pitbull
  • 50 ways to say goodbye- Train
  • Gangham Style- PSY

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Snow

Taken at 3:19p on December 29, 2012, after only a few minutes of snow. All of that "accumulation" was from a few days ago.

Here is the after, taken at 10:19a on December 30, 2012. 


We got about 9 inches:

Scott is a rock star! He spent an hour snow blowing the driveway!

Here's what the house looks like:


I love the way snow looks and how it makes it feel like winter and cuddling up on a snowy day with Scott and/or the pups is great. But I am not someone who likes/loves snow mostly because it's dangerous on the roads and a hassle to clear off the cars/driveway. I don't mind a storm or two but if what happened two winters ago happens again, I might freak out.

This is literally 20 feet of snow in the driveway in 2010, we literally had nowhere else to put snow after a few weeks where it snowed 2 feet every other day. Ridiculous. And it was hard enough hat I could stand on it to get up there. 


This is CJ and Adam with an extension ladder to chop down the icicles so they didn't ruin the gutters but that ladder had to be in/on snow- very dangerous.

I hated that winter - worst winter ever. I think we had 8 or 9 snow days which is another thing I realllllly dislike. 

So here's to a quiet, calm, relatively snow free winter.


Saturday, December 29, 2012

Adventures in eavesdropping

I know I reallllllly shouldn't mock people but I needed to do it today. You'll see why. I'm a horrible person sometimes. 

I am going to enter my screenplay into some competitions that are coming up in January and have trouble focusing at home sometimes since it's no longer about story creation but instead nitty gritty grammar things etc.... So I headed over to Barnes and Noble where I spent the first half an hour distracting myself and then getting down to work. After about an hour, the following transpired (if anyone below wants me to take out their comments - just ask - no problem!). I cut and copied the facebook things I posted:


Adventures in eavesdropping at B&N. A girl and guy appear to be on a first date (at noon on a Saturday, no less). I can't help but think she is trying to purposely sabotage is because so far she's said things like QUOTE, "Oh my God! Roller derby saved the misery that is my life". She also told him she knits and has three cats. This guy has said like 10 words total. She just keeps talking and talking. She's talking about something her sister stitched incorrectly... in detail. WTF? Now she's showing him scarves she made for Christmas. #Can'tMakeThisStuffUp
Stephanie Bentley Jesus, this has to be fake. She just talked about her antique sewing machine!