The Little Things

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. I'm an idea man. I thrive on enthusiasm. No seriously, for as long as I can remember I've had an idea to make a list/write a book about all of the little pleasures of life. The smell of pancakes in the morning, snow days, power naps, etc. Naturally I was a bit disappointed to come across a book at Barnes & Noble last week that had the exact same premise. In fact, it was clear that it was the second edition because of the title, "The Book of (even more) Awesome". So I bought it, read it, and didn't really enjoy it. The guy's writing style just bothered me. He thought he was funny, but wasn't, every 8th word was seemingly in bold for no apparent reason, and he ended every idea with AWESOME! Either way, the premise of the book is still rock solid, so I think it's appropriate to celebrate the little things in life that make us happy.

Finally getting that tiny piece of (insert food item here) out of your teeth- It’s pretty crazy that getting something stuck in your teeth virtually takes control of your entire consciousness. It’s all you can think of until you get it out. You’re constantly trying to unlodge whatever it is with your tongue, but it never works. That sensation when the popcorn kernel or whatever finally falls out is something else. A return to normalcy if you will.

Coming back to your bed after a long trip

Finally realizing where you know someone from after staring at them forever- This is similar to the feeling that you know something, it’s on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t connect the dots for a while, except with people it’s a feeling that’s intensified.

During freshman orientation in college they split us up into groups of about 14-15, have us play icebreakers, etc. There was a kid in my group who I swore I knew from somewhere else, but I couldn’t figure it out. I kept looking at him trying to think of where I knew him from. Finally it dawned on me. The kid looked exactly like the actor that played Mike Eruzione in the movie Miracle. Sure enough the kid lived on my floor during my freshman year and I, of course, told everyone about his doppelganger and he was known as “Rizzo” from then on.


(on the left)

After a long night of shenanigans in NYC I was walking through Grand Central on my way to catch a train and about 200 yards in front of me was an 50-60 year old man that I recognized, but I didn’t know why and obviously didn’t know his name. As I got to within about 10 feet of him I realized that he was one of my politics teacher in college, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember his name. Like a bumbling idiot I said something like, “Hey, you teach politics at Fairfield University, right? I took one of your classes.” He said, “Yes, Dan, how’s it going?” I still didn’t recall his name so I said, “Good, good. Great seeing you,” and kept moving like I was in a hurry, but I really wasn’t. No more than 10 minutes later his name came to me: Professor Kevin Cassidy.

Finding $20 in your winter coat

No longer getting ID’d- This actually might be a bad thing because it means we’re getting old, but 2 weeks ago I went to a Blue Jays/Yankees game with my buddy Mad Max and we stopped at a bar before heading into the stadium. I walked in first and was not asked to show ID, but Max, in his business attire because he came straight from the financial district, was.

Learning a new keyboard shortcut- I’m not exactly tech savvy, but about a year ago I learned CTL+Z, which is a shortcut that will undo your last action(s), and it has made my life soooo much easier at work. I often edit audio highlights/sound bytes at work and in the process I try to take out “umms” and “uhhs”, among other things (when people repeat themselves by saying the same thing in two different ways) and sometimes taking out a breath or a few words makes the audio sound unnatural and I have to go back (by hitting CTL+Z) and find a different way to clean up the byte.

The sound of waves crashing into a dock

“Glue Movies”-This is the terrible term that the author used to describe the movies that you always stop and watch if they are on TV. It doesn't matter if you catch the movie when its 5 minutes in or an hour and twenty minutes in, you're watching it. My top 5 (not necessarily ranked) are:

1.) The Shawshank Redemption
2.) A Few Good Men
3.) Enemy of the State
4.) Rounders
5.) The Departed

Getting a stuck ball out of somewhere by using another ball- Looking back, I feel like this happened once a month in my childhood. Either a wiffleball/football got stuck in a tree or a basketball/dodgeball got stuck in the rafters. Getting the ball unstuck was always a challenge. About 50% of the time another ball, bat, etc. would end up getting stuck in the process too, but it was quite the feeling when the ball became dislodged.

Walking into class and seeing a substitute teacher

Becoming a regular somewhere- This is one of my goals in life. Someday I want to be able to walk into a diner, deli, or whatever and have the person behind the counter start fixing my order without me having to say it. Back in 2009 I went to a Dunkin Donuts every Sunday morning before work for about a 5 month stretch and ordered the same exact thing (Medium coffee 2 and 2 and a chocolate glazed donut). About 75% of the times I went the same 16-17 year old kid took my order. Each week I walked up to the counter hoping he would just say, “Medium coffee 2 and 2 and a chocolate glazed donut, right?”, but it never happened.

When the plane suddenly speeds up on the runway- I’m usually frantically chewing gum so my ears don’t pop (and I always start chewing the gum about 10 minutes too soon), but this is still a pretty cool experience.

In fact, on the way to Spring Back during my senior year of college a bunch of us got to talking about how fast the plane is going just before it lifts off. Guesses were all over the map. 200, 250, 300, 175, etc. As our curiosity intensified we asked the stewardess to ask the pilot. If memory serves, and it usually does, the correct answer was about 150mph which isn’t really all that exciting.

Finally peeing after holding it forever

Realizing that you still remember your childhood friend’s phone number- What’s sad is that people our age are probably the last one’s that will ever experience this because knowing someone’s house number is no longer necessary. After entering someone’s number into a cell phone it’s rare that someone would then memorize that number. Either way, if anyone wants to call my friend J.J.’s old house the number is 315-656-9617.

Going on a field trip

Passing under a bridge on the highway when it’s pouring rain- That momentary break from the downpour, no matter how short-lived, is a bit comforting.

The fries at the bottom of the bag- I rarely eat fast food anymore (not that I’m a health nut or anything), but this was the best growing up.

When the bubbles in your drink go right to the top but not over- I feel like it takes a lottt for the bubbles to spill over because for all the times this happens I’d say that only about 10-25% of the time they spill over. Either way, it’s a pretty cool thing.

Putting on freshly ironed pants or sweatpants/socks straight from the dryer

When you fold a piece of paper so it fits in the envelope perfectly- I can’t tell you the amount of times that I’ve folded something in half (I think that’s just instinct) and then realized that I should have actually folded it into thirds. I’ll tell you what, though, I’m on a pretty good folding streak and when it lines up perfectly it feels pretty good.