The Happiness Thread

What could go wrong anyway?



Taken just down the street from my apartment.

 

So far this typhoon has necessitated the closure of all three of my apartment's windows.

But the balcony doors are still open (screens closed).

I'm bored.

 

Well, it's just been gusty, missed us again.

Better luck later, I'm off to bed.

 

I'm so fucking happy....

 

If you have all of that, why are you here?

 

Octopuses have been found to live in 'cities' on more than one occasion now and I'm so excited that I'm sharing the news with absolutely everyone. It's so fucking cool!

https://qz.com/1077632/octlantis-is-a-just-discovered-underwater-city-engineered-by-octopuses/

 

Is anyone else just slightly concerned that this is just a first step towards revenge for their calamaried brethren?

 

I'm pretty sure octos are opportunistically cannibalistic, so ... they're probably chill with that, right? Right?

 

Feeling a bit chuffed that I still got up at 5.15am to go to the gym before work after getting to bed late last night, having had my cheat meal and my weekly beers that I am allowed.

 

Is that the good chuffed or the bad chuffed?

 

The good, hence this being in the happiness thread

 

People get happy over some weird things, my friend. Me, I try not to judge.

Speaking of which.. chuffed, and pretty much most other contronyms, make me fairly happy. I love our absurd language.

 

People get happy over some weird things, my friend. Me, I try not to judge.

 

So last night, I went out for coffee at my local java hut thing. I usually make small-talk with the baristas, and it usually jacks up my anxiety, especially with women. For as long as I can remember, I've been nigh unable to talk to women in-person with any degree of comfort. But this time was different.

I gave my order, and the small talk began. The barista asked me what I was up to. I mentioned going to help a friend tomorrow, and I kind of threw out the fact I'm a writer. She paused for a moment, obviously searching for a question, then said, "So tell me about your latest story." I proceeded to regale her with a sentence or two about the premise. Zombies in Colorado Springs, less of a hack-and-smash gore story because the main character is disabled and mentally ill, so he's got to fight the buggers in his brain as well as outside it.

She seemed genuinely interested, and added her own commentary on the zombie genre that somewhat mirrors my own: it's a genre with great potential, but that potential isn't often reached. What really stuck with me, though, was the fact she maintained eye contact, smiled, and talked with me even after I'd gotten my drink. Had another customer not come up, we might have kept talking.

I went home later and didn't have a full-on panic attack. My stomach is a little wonky because of work later today, but I'm happy that I met another human who didn't make me feel like "just a customer." She was polite, well-spoken, and intelligent. In other words, she was authentic.

I'm also happy I didn't shove my foot in my mouth or feel like throwing up.

Edited to add: It actually helped that she was beautiful, which is not usually how it works for me. She was just...very attractive, I guess would be the way to describe it. Classy. I admit I'm a bit smitten, actually, but not because she was flaunting anything. That made her more attractive; the fact she wasn't trying to weasel a tip out of me based on her appearance. She was like a Black Audrey Hepburn (or Hepburn as she is perceived, at least).

'Kay I'll shut up now.

 

That would probably be creepy to ask for that just yet. I'll try getting her name first.

 

Dad sent me the paperwork that I need to get an Irish passport. I'm an odd duck in the family in that my sibs were born in Ireland but I was born in Germany. With no idea what Brexit is really going to hold and my company having branches in Northern Ireland I want to keep my options open, as does my bf.