The Pursuit of Happiness

Saw Eddie Vedder at the Wiltern in LA last night (3rd row seats thanks to dad's fanclub status!) after a 10 mile hike in the Palisades in 90 degree heat. Utterly awesome and inspiring. The reason I bring this up is because I've been trying hard lately to figure out exactly what makes me happy so that I can follow a strick diet of fun and contentment. This idea came to me after seeing the films "Into the Wild" and "Pursuit of Happyness" and an episode of Oprah with Eckhart Tolle (stifle the laughter, please.) All three had messages of following your bliss, freedom and living in the moment. And I concluded that if I'm going to live in the now, then that "now" better be an enjoyable one. After my weekend, I can now add nature, exercise, going the cinema and live music to my list. Those are obvious choices, but my weekend spent doing solely these things reinforced the idea.

Also added to my list is mochi and read bean cakes from Little Tokyo. Hell, I really don't care where they're from as long as they're fresh and in my mouth. Sipping tea also makes me happy. Coffee, as I've unfortunately come to realize, only makes me happy for a few hours, then it's acid reflux city limits. Eating out makes me happy as long as someone else is footing the bill, it's vegan or it's a bargain. Audience work for $8 an hour on "American Gladiators" does not make me happy, but cash under the table certainly does. Skydiving makes me happy, which is something I just did for the first time with the newly founded Bite the Bullet Club. Next stop for us, Mt. Whitney. That mountian (the highest in the lower 48 states) will make a woman outta me yet.

Temp work does not make me happy. Writing treatments, believe it or not, does. My family makes me happy. My friends make me happy. Large salads make me happy. Historical mini-series make me happy and my boyfriend taking the time out to research our trip to Santa Fe makes me almost giddy. These are all insights from the last week. Stay tuned for more and start to make a list of your own. The list part, really, is easy. It's adhering to it that's the hard part, but I'm doing all I can to follow in Supertramp and Mr. Gardner's footsteps... although I don't think my list includes the Alaskan wilderness without a map or sleeping in a subway bathroom.