Simple Pleasures

Most of the time, it really is the little things that bring enormous amounts of pleasure; not how much money you spend or how important you are or how much stuff you accumulate.  So in keeping with lean economic times, I offer up what brings me simple pleasure.

1.  Best of craigslist

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

This material is some of the funniest shit anywhere.  I cannot help, but crack up at Best of craigslist.  A lot of these people would probably be award-winning writers if they were not just blowing off work and posting on cl. 

2.  (I preface this one by saying I know I am a horrible person.  Yes, I am well aware of it.  Thank you in advance for judging me.)  So the building I work in has a public parking structure below it.  There are elevators, but after 5 PM you need a key card to enter the building.  Inevitably, when I am beginning a night at work, there is a person or person(s) parking nearby that sees me enter the lobby and heads in my direction.  By this time, I have swiped in and an elevator has arrived because no one else is in the building.  I am just pressing my floor when I hear people jerking on the door and saying, "What the hell?  How did that guy get in?"  It is mean and stupid, but it is really fun for me at the same time.

3.  YouTube.  What did we do before YouTube?  Who knew that countless hours could be filled by looking up old Journey videos or Wonder Woman episodes?  Good times my friends, good times.

4.  It is fun to watch people in the service industry with a difficult customer.  After many a year of people wanting more free bread, complaining about why they have to sit in the middle seat, or explaining to people why we won't take off in a bad thunderstorm, it is a pleasure and a relief to not have to deal with that anymore.  Even better, usually I am the one in line behind them and end up with something free because I am patient, polite, I speak English fluently, and I smile.  Usually I am thanking God that he and/or she got me out of that life.

5.  Hanging out with friends or family members whose company you enjoy.  Shared histories and laughter are really what it is all about.  And a juicy bit of gossip is like the cherry in a Shirley Temple.

6.  Reality TV.  Some of the shows are really fucking stupid, granted.  But what did we do before people got voted off the island?  Why did Puck have to stick his finger in Pedro's peanut butter?  Is it a bad sign that more people vote for American Idol than vote in national elections?  There is something so great about hearing the words "Auf Wiedersehen".  

 Now that I give serious thought to the issue, I am confident gay people had a lot to do with the reality TV revolution.  There would not be any Project Runway nor Queer Eye without the my peeps.  Nor would there be any makeover shows.  Let's be serious, who wants to see a straight person make over anything?  Me no likey.  As a side note, super super guilty pleasure is RuPaul's Drag Race on Logo.  Set your DVRs, you will note be sorry.  It is better than The Girls Next Door and that is saying something.

7.  Sex and the City.  The simplest pleasure of all, no explanation necessary.

8.  Getting a haircut.  There is nothing like a guy's head the first couple days after he has had a haircut.  Grr, very sexy.  Girls too, doesn't everyone enjoy a good haircut?

9.  Finishing crap on your To Do list.  I have been staring at a bunch of e-waste that I have been wanting to get rid of (old printers, digital cameras, etc) and I have had a post it note on my fridge telling me where to drop it off.  I finally had the time to do it the other day and it took me all of about five minutes.  Now every time I walk in my house, I say to myself, "All of that crap is finally gone!" and beam.

10.  Eating junk food.  In my line of work, this is an occupational hazard.  Try sitting in the same room for eleven hours, bored for most of it.  The question most asked is, "What can we eat next?"  Taco Hell at 2 AM, divine; Jack in the Crack at 3, even better.  If that doesn't satisfy your craving, 7-Eleven is always there with the Big Gulp and the McRib rip off.  For the truly twisted, there is now a product called Chocodiles which are Twinkies dipped in chocolate.  This seems so wrong on so many levels, but my coworkers swear by them.

I hope you are all having a great week.  Cuidate.