By request. The description on the original thread:
You know what we’re talking about: things that, for no good reason, you enjoy having around, being around, or doing.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
First posts. Peppermint bark. Scrubbing dirty things and making them clean again. Happy endings. Friends. Warm fuzzies. Marshmallows. Chocolate. Books. Libraries. Summer reading. Friends. Long nights. Parties with said friends. Friends.
Motivating yourself to study Spanish over the summer so you can take the place-out test by telling yourself that when you know more Spanish, you might be able to run around singing Beauty and the Beast songs in Spanish semi-accurately.
Coping with songs from a musical you were in getting stuck in your head by badly translating them into a foreign language on your own and singing them in all manner of places, period.
I do that all the time – pick random songs and see if I can muddle the words into Spanish. After 4 years of Spanish, I still have to improvise words and notes
My brother tried to translate “Home On The Range” yesterday, with a little help from me.
Cuddling warm, soft, squishy things.
Sunflower seeds. Ice cream. Chocolate. Tea.
Picking rose petals and eating them.
Rainbows.
Pretty notebooks.
Cute things. Shiny things. Tiny things.
Doodling Swalots over everything. -,3,- SWALOTFACE
Swalots.
What’s a Swalot?
*Online search*
It appears to be a type of Pokemon.
That is indeed true!
It’s also a nickname for *C’s… friend, who posts here as Aerohawk.
Oh…
Finding obscure old songs about historical events and listening to them until you learn the words and can sing along…
“The Bonneville Salt Flats had seen some strange things
But the strangest thing yet was a jet without wings…”
Finding entire, fairly accurate obscure old musicals about historical events (like Pacific Overtures, which is about the events surrounding the Treaty of Kanagawa) and listening to them until you learn the words and can sing along.
I bet you’d like either Nixon in China or Doctor Atomic, both operas by John Adams.
I’m half tempted to recommend Wozzeck by Berg because it’s my absolutely favorite opera ever, but it may come across as a bit non accessible.
Oh, if there was a musical about Craig Breedlove… well, maybe not. But if there was a musical about the history of the Guinness World Records company/book, I would watch the heck out of it, if only for the stunts.
Sleep, cereal, and my computer.
SFTDP but also throwing away/recycling old school supplies at the end of the year, spending time with friends, catching lightning bugs, visiting the mountains, listening to music that isn’t popular among my peers, going on walks around my neighborhood and writing.
Getting a fifty-cent piece as change.
That happens every time I go to the movie theatre here—for some reason, they never have quarters there. It’s great.
With JFK on the side!
What do you mean?
That was supposed to be a reply to Piggy’s comment. I like seeing JFK’s face on the side of half-dollar pieces.
Squids, and other cephalopods. Dragons. Warm sand by cool water. Chocolate.
The smell of mornings outside. (Kind of like pre/post rain, but not.)
Sunrises and sunsets over water.
The shades of blue that mountains in the distance look.
During sunset that part of the sky that’s right between orange and teal and is neither and both of those colors at once.
The way sand gets between your toes if you stand in the waves.
Finding leaves, sand, blades of grass, etc. in your things after you’ve returned from a place you love.
The slight smell of cigar or pipe tobacco. Also woodsmoke.
Tiny, tiny facial expressions, like little smiles from people who love you.
Nonverbal conversations.
Being far enough away from light pollution that the stars look three dimensional.
The slightly scratchy feeling that comes with being kissed by someone with facial hair.
Having evenings cool enough to wear sweaters in the summer.
Baby animals.
Finding brightly colored feathers.
Having fitting music coming on by chance.
When people touch or play with my hair (assuming I’m comfortable around them/they’ve asked nicely).
That chirping purr-mew thing that my cat does.
The soft fur on cat and dog ears, and horses’ muzzles. The eyelashes on cows.
Lying in bed listening to a thunderstorm.
YES. That is so much amazingness.
Yes! And that was a sweet storm.
Wasn’t it? Everybody today seemed to have a story about it. What was yours?
Yes!
Going to Trader Joe’s to pick up some food for dinner because your mom’s under the weather and having an employee compliment your t-shirt as he’s walking past.
What was the t-shirt?
It’s not even a shirt I particularly like; I just grabbed it from the top of the pile this morning. It was a senior class t-shirt from a few years ago: on the front it says, “Senioritis,” and on the back it says, “We would find a cure but we just don’t care.” Most of my shirts are much more interesting, in my opinion.
I was hoping that it was a Muse Academy shirt and that the admirer had said wistfully, “I always wanted to go there.”
I think the only MA gear I have is a travel mug. My H&H t-shirt always attracts a lot of questions, though, and my HBP shirt garners far more compliments than should be logical.
Trader Joe’s is so very lovely…
Star Trek TOS. Old Addams Family episodes. Packing. Chocolate. Speaking Shakespearean English. Speaking Ubbi Dubbi. Peppering my speech with Hebrew phrases. Using adverbs (THEY ARE NOT DEAD!!!) Fantasy and sci-fi books. And when I was younger: chewing on the stems of geranium plants. On that note, I also like it when I eat baby carrots that seem to taste a bit like geraniums.
Finding a complete video recording of Wonderland on YouTube. With decent sound quality no less.
Waking up and then going back to sleep and then having a wonderful dream.
When people like the same things that I like.
Or when they don’t, and we both find out about new things to like.
Sunsets. Companionable Silence. Literature. Big libraries with musty books. Birds. Woodland sounds. Early morning air. The clouds. A blank, white page. Family. Friends. Long chats. Streams.
FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!
Back rooms of antique stores.
Areohawk- You really are a Swalot.
Those little hole-in-the-wall shops that you can only ever find by accidentally stumbling into them that have nothing but charming trinkets and accessories from undervalued historical periods.
The ears on a dachshund.
The Wired Mystery Issue.
Triscuits and tomato juice. I actually prefer them to milk and cookies. SO GOOD.
Also carrot juice.
And soup.
And the smell of beans in a crock pot or baking bread.
Really good Halloween-themed shops. The ones with actually decent costumes, but also awesome decorations and things. I rarely buy anything, but I’ve found few better sources of inspiration.
Looking at your friendships and being really appreciative of them.
Great conversations that leave you happy.
Little organic farms.
Kind, thoughtful farmers.
Planting thyme.
I would say that no matter how fond you are of those, it is never unreasonable.
I thought of that, but this thread seemed like the right place nonetheless.
I think that’s the case with most of the things listed on this thread. Perhaps the next version should be called “Things of Which We Are Extraordinarily Fond” or at least “Things of Which We Are Inordinately Fond”.
Recurring dreams that take place in familiar settings and aren’t nightmares.
Dreams where you fly with no fear of falling.
In my flying dreams, I’m never acrophobic or afraid to fly. I know that my flying ability is trustworthy and won’t fail me in mid-air. It’s always frustrating to wake up earthbound again.
It’s the same for me. Furthermore, in my dreams, I always fly the same way.
Flying in dreams seems so simple, you just do that thing in your stomach and then there you are… it’s frustrating when you wake up and can’t fly anymore.
I have to work to fly in my dreams, slowly jerking myself upwards.
The only dreams in which I fly effortlessly are those where I’m falling.
For me, it’s different yet again. I fly pretty much the same way I swim. I can levitate effortlessly–just jump and get myself into the position you have while floating on your stomach* before I have the chance to fall, and then I’m guaranteed not to fall. But if I want to actually go anywhere, I have to paddle and kick the air.
*I have never, ever flown on my back or side.
Nice dreams that take place in settings dreamed of years ago. Especially if you remember a dream every single day. (Typing out dreams first thing in the morning is a good habit.)
Lucid dreams.
Random acts of love. A kind word, text or hug where one is not expected.
When you’re kind of worried about something and then something happens that completely dispels that worry and banishes it forever.
Catching a whiff of a scent that reminds you of something or someone, especially if it’s something you didn’t expect to smell ever again that way.
(Like last week my pajama bottoms smelled like my grandma. I don’t know how that’s even possible, but they did. It was sad and nice at the same time.)
Tending a good-sized garden on a perfect day when you don’t have to worry about school or work or deadlines and the weather is perfect. And the birds are singing and everything is serene.
Or tending the same garden at night when you still don’t have to worry and the weather is still perfect. And all the nocturnal bugs are chirping and buzzing and making the noises they make, and all you need to see are a few small candles here and there.
Plushies.
Pokemon plushies.
HOMEMADE POKEMON PLUSHIES
WHAT IS THIS DOING HERE THAT’S NOT UNREASONABLE
See post 25.1.1.1.
Which applies to a lot of posts on this thread.
Hi guys! it’s Lilly.
i am unreasonably fond of gerbils, raising money for my new computer, swear words, my grandma’s dog, talking to trees, my medecin (tastes like raspberries) and our washing machine.
go figure
-peace
Kate Shindle’s voice.
Which is problematic, because there are NOT ENOUGH RECORDINGS of it.
25.1.1.1:
Maybe it is too restrictive to focus on unreasonable fondness. But it’s also more interesting than reasonable fondness, don’t you think?
Meanwhile, I’m afraid that my beloved one-third cup measure is on its last legs. About a year ago it became too pitted to hold liquids, so I redeployed it as a scoop for dry cat food. Now the handle has fallen off. It doesn’t look as if it can be repaired, and I can’t think of another useful job it might do, so I may finally have to relegate it to the recycling bin. I’ll always have unreasonably fond memories of the ugly little thing, though.
Aw, so sad. We could give it a proper send off at the kokonvention.
Whether unreasonable fondness is more interesting may not be relevant, since the fact is that most MuseBloggers seem to be ignoring the word ‘unreasonable’ and posting instead about things of which they are particularly fond. Literature? Sunsets? Random acts of love? Those are just a few examples of reasonable fondness that have made their way onto this thread. And yet I don’t find them uninteresting…
Actually, I’m starting to think that the only circumstance in which fondness can ever be unreasonable is when it’s inconsistent with your other views. It’s an emotion, after all; it’s not a question of what is; it’s a reaction to what is. If one person thinks that there’s a sun (replace that with just about any singular noun) and one person thinks there isn’t, then unless they have wildly different data and knowledge, one of them is being unreasonable because the facts can only point to one version of reality. But if one person thinks blue (which can be replaced with any verb plus a gerund or any other noun) is good (in other words, if a person has fondness of blue) and one person doesn’t, neither of them is necessarily being unreasonable, because goodness is completely subjective. Of course, if the person who is fond of blue also thinks it should be eradicated, and en doesn’t have any good case for blue having enough negative relative value to more than cancel out its positive inherent value*, then that’s unreasonable, because inherently good things without bad effects on good things should not be eradicated; that’s one of the very few absolute moral statements in existence, provided that you don’t define good and bad. But it’s ens choice of whether to get rid of ens fondness for blue or ens desire to have it eradicated; it’s not one of them that’s unreasonable; it’s the combination. The latter would generally would be easier to get rid of, unless it’s an obsessive-compulsion, in which case I think I’d not blame the person for just leaving both opinions alone–emotions are hard to get rid of, and trying to do so can be painful, and most people give their own pain negative value; the same can be said of obsessive-compulsions. But no-one here is talking about wanting to destroy something they’re fond of that they give positive or neutral relative value here, so actually, I think I may have just proved that not a single post so far has actually been about an unreasonable fondness–even your posts, Robert. So I don’t think there’s any excuse for the title, actually.
…Oh, dear, I think most people IRL would be really annoyed if I explained my thought processes this intricately–and I was trying to be concise! I hope it isn’t annoying here, too.
*destroying so many things that have positive value, according to whoever is assigning values, that the total amount of value destroyed by the thing, which can be numbered if you create a scale, is greater than the total amount of inherent value the thing possesses in the first place, which can also be numbered. Relative value is my name for a thing’s effect on things with value, which can be positive or negative.
Interesting. I’ll still joke about it though, even though I know I actually prefer being fond of the thing I’m fond of.
I also think there’s the difference in reading “things of which we are unreasonably fond” as “things we are fond of for no/weird reasons” and “things which we are more fond of an unreasonable amount for what they are”
So, it’s it’s maybe strange to be very fond of something like hubcaps and have a collection of ones you find on the road
vs
while it’s reasonable to be fond of squid, some people might find it unreasonable to be fond of them to the point where you have declared you will become one for the remainder of one’s life.
(I am guilty of both of these)
Seeing the shadows of clouds on a mountain.
White water rafting.
Being at the highest point of elevation east of the Mississippi River.
General stores that have been around since the 1800s.
Creek-walking.
On any day that I have to run for any reason, I love it to be windy. I hate running, but a good strong wind can almost make up for it sometimes. I also seem to have more stamina when it’s windy, but that could just be some sort of placebo.
Training Magikarps for other people.
Writing letters to imaginary beings.
Cute blobs.
Eating potatoes.
My cat’s face in mine at 3 A.M.
That feeling towards the end of something hard where you know it’s almost over and you’re almost to the ice cream or whatever.
Any “You’ve Won!” theme on any video game ever.
I’m unreasonably fond of spinning. When I was little I would spin in place for as long as I could get away with it (someone would usually tell me to stop after a while) or until I got dizzy. Then I would walk in a straight line.
My mother was convinced I’d grow out of it, but now I just confine my spinning to “appropriate places”, for example amusement park rides and things like that. I’m really not sure why I enjoy it so much, but it has something to do with the feel of centrifugal force and the dizziness. I love it.
When I was little, I used to play a game with my sister where we would spin around until I said “Okay, stop spinning,” and then we would pretend that took us to a magical world. My sister didn’t like the spinning because she couldn’t handle the dizziness as well as I could.
Your avatar looks like it spent a little too much time spinning. Maybe the avatar was made for you!
Me, too. Except when I’m really stressed, I don’t even bother confining my spinning (and other strange movements) to appropriate places because I know I’ll have a panic attack or something if I don’t.
Yeah, I’ve found spinning to be a great stress-reliever too.
Spinning is a very understandable thing to be fond of.
When I read this post I immediately thought of Temple Grandin talking about how spinning can be calming for autistic people, and set about looking into it a little deeper.
I found various articles talking about how spinning effects the vestibular system (the part of the inner ear that controls balance and spacial perception) and a lot of autism FAQs that mentioned it. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much information (at least in my very casual research) about why that might be the case, however.
I found one article that talked about the calming effect that spinning can have on people as compared with spinning and other physical activity that can be used to calm people and make it easier for them to learn. There were a lot of references to some CIA mind-control program and the work of someone who when I did some more prying came up with an abstract on “Spin Programming” about those same people, apparently.
I thought of that, too! I didn’t look into it, though, partly because I already had good reason to believe that it was related in my case at least (Spinning is one of the body movements that are socially inappropriate but very calming to me, and many of those movements are often associated with autism, and since I do have Asperger’s which is certainly at least related to autism, it isn’t usually a coincidence when I act or think autistically and it isn’t just an isolated event) and partly because it just didn’t occur to me.
It’s interesting about balance and spatial perception, because I know that my spatial perception is a little bit impaired. I wonder whether that’s a typical autism spectrum thing. *Googles “autism spatial awareness”* It seems so. My spatial awareness definitely doesn’t get better when I spin, though, so I don’t know if it’s related.
Hmm, that’s interesting. I wonder if the force effects on the body created by spinning have something to do with it. Many people with autism also are calmed by pressure against their body, like from a weighted blanket or piles of pillows.
I’m not on the autism spectrum, but I can attest to how sweet a pile of heavy blankets feels. I hate sleeping during the summer because I want a big pile of quilts on me, but if I did that I’d melt pretty quickly.
I have exactly the same problem in the summer. I really can’t sleep with just a sheet over me, I’ll keep waking up all night long. I usually end up just putting on as many layers of thin blankets as I can stand and striking a sort of compromise.
I also like having heavy weighted stuff on me, though for me it’s because the sensory input helps keep away my obsessive-compulsive-like thought patterns/makes them less vibrant. When I don’t have those going on (not as often as I’d wish) I’m fine with no covers though. Esspecially because my room is super hot.
This is very interesting, but I don’t think it has anything at all to do with my specific case. See, I’ve been through multiple evaluations – half through my schools and half through more professional systems – and I don’t have autism. In fact, in response to what Jadestone said, I have almost the opposite experience. See, I’ve been diagnosed with something that used to be called Sensory Integration Dysfunction (I can never remember what its current name is). One of the symptoms of that is that I’m overly sensitive to physical touch. If something touches my skin without any force, I feel like a cat does when you rub its fur the wrong way. If there is force applied, I just don’t care. So pressure really has no effect on me, aside from the possibility of making me overheat (which is very easy to do.)
However, things like centrifugal force seem somehow… visceral, almost. And I really enjoy that. Come to think of it, even though they are great at de-stressing me, I don’t find them calming at all, but rather invigorating. Slight vertigo has the same effect, so I’m actually just as fond of hanging upside down as I am of spinning.
I don’t like prolonged spinning, though I do enjoy half-turning when I’m dancing or something. I seem to be more susceptible to motion sickness that most people. And having my head upside down makes my eyes feel weird.
I do like pressure from blankets etc as long as it’s even- I never sleep with the covers partly off and partly bunched over me, whatever blankets I use have to be orderly.
Pokemon with mustaches.
Yummy roses.
Cephalopods.
(Playing Mario Kart for the first time:
Me: *attempting to steer*
*little squid thing appears and spurts ink everywhere*
Me: D’AWWWWWWW THAT IS AN ADORABLE SQUID
Friend: [CSKIA] YOU JUST DROVE OFF THE BRIDGE AGAIN)
Sitting on a large chair, petting cat, and pretending you’re a supervillain.
If you don’t have a cat available, you can slump on it like a throne of evil with your feet over one arm of the chair, and look out a window and pretend it’s your empire. Extra points for using a broom as a magic staff with which you can blast disobedient minions.
Somehow, after seeing his cats, I imagine Robert does that a lot.
Yes, Mishmish and Mina enjoy playing Evil Feline Minions.
The advantage of Mostly Harmless is that you can do all the fun villain things without actually harming people. Mostly.
I cannot get over how much I love the name MishMish. I have to go get a pet and name it that so I can call it affectionately in a cute baby voice.
Preferably an orange-colored pet. It’s Arabic for “apricot.”
Or, you can join the Supernatural fandom and call a 39 year old man Mishmish in a cute baby voice.
Sleeping.
Anime, my cat when I get home from a long, exhausting day, and those weird chocolate orange sticks from Trader Joe’s.
Wait. You can’t be too fond of anime. Maybe.
Squishing squishy squishies that go “squish!” when you squish them.
Skiving off going to the pool.
Not going to the pool.
Keeping my total swimming-pool count as low as 3 for the entire summer.
Not having to go to the pool.
Staying home while everyone else is at the pool.
I agree.
Museblog itself. Calling bullies little girls because they end up crying like little girls. Living. Sleeping. Food. Doing headstands. Being
.
The blog is very reasonable!
Making little profiles for countless characters who will probably never appear in your writing, complete with little illustrations, then draw scenes of them interacting with countless other characters who will probably never appear in your writing.
Making lists of names of characters.
Making up a complicated backstory for every single character in your story, even if they only appear for half a second.
Bestowing quaint, extravagant, humorous or just ridiculous powers on your characters and making explanations for why they got that power. (“Oh, my twin brother is currently a single point of consciousness because someone mistook him for me and brutally hacked him to pieces while he was having an out-of-body experience. His body died, but his consciousness apparently missed the event.”)
Someday, I want to create a timeline of all of my stories, even the ones that I made up while playing pretend with my friends when I was eight and never wrote down.
I would do that, but I’m pretty sure I’ll always miss something or the other…
Well, if you make it a Word document, you can always go back and add to it.
46- That’s always awesome.
Roleplaying non-human characters. Especially if they have special powers. Coming up with just enough of a backstory for those characters in the beginning to join the roleplay, and then coming up with more and more of their backstories as I go.
SFTDP. Having a shouting match with Cskia about cuttlefish.
Being dubbed a Giant Space Cuttlefish by the awesome R101.
The very first Giant Space Cuttlefish! You simply could not be anything else.
Hanging out with AL!
-L
Milky chai and fingerless gloves on cold days; lemonade and blackberries and dry air on warm days. Finally finding the sheet music for a song you really like and discovering that it sounds just like it’s supposed to when you play it. When your favorite fanfiction author finally updates. Wandering around the house with a good book and nothing else to do for the day. Non-moldy antique shops.
Cadbury chocolate
Buying new skeins of yarn after you’ve nearly run out
Knitting while watching a good anime show
Sewing capes for the newly dubbed Sir Lanswalot! (Thanks to Fiddler for that idea :D)
(I’d make him little lances but he’s tiny so I didn’t give him arms when sewing him. Oh well, he’s perfectly capable of fencing with his mustache.)
For a moment I thought “sewing capes” meant capes you wore while you were sewing. It sounded heroic.
That’s another good idea! Hmmm, MuseBloggers sure are inspirational! Although you knew that already.
Ginger beer. I’m hopelessly addicted to the stuff–Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew, specifically.
One of the few sodas I ever drink. I get them whenever I have a cold.
This. This so much. Same brand and everything.
cranberry (/cran-pomegranite/cran-lime) juice in a wine glass
BECAUSE I CAN
also every juice tastes better this way, esspecially orange juice
With ice.
My new thing is to freeze cubes of juice instead! That way it doesn’t water down the drink.
Eating at the Mitsitam Cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Being a ginger.
YES.
I CAN FINALLY BE AMY POND
…I mean what
Walking around barefoot in the rain. Foreign-language versions of Disney musicals. Outdated maps. John Williams. Doing yoga alone in the park while listening to the news. Vests. Baking cakes for people when they don’t expect it. Sea otters.
The second one made me smile because it reminded me of my own (slightly pathetic but extremely fun) attempt to translate Beauty and the Beast. It really is good motivation to study Spanish; I got so excited when I learned how to conjugate ‘decir’ in the preterite…
Doing something unexpectedly strange with my hair (I usually wear it natural and not up) and shocking everyone at school.
Embroidered vests.
Cute animals, like otters and weevils.
Adorable animals, like sloths and some beetles.
Top hats.
Pranks that involve water balloons.
Attempting to play gaga ball indoors, using mattresses as the walls for the makeshift pit. (Not that I’ve done that recently.)
Hearing someone else describe weevils as cute and some other beetles as adorable, confirmation that I’m not alone.
Shared joy with a fellow insect lover. (Read that as: you have officially made my day.)
ginger, cinnamon, spices in general. Cats. Curling up with a book. Tea. Diana Wynne Jones books. Chocolate. Architecture and books about the history of such. archaeology
Fireworks, Panera’s black cherry smoothies, knowing that he loves me.
I love Panera. The black cherry smoothies are great.
I know! Everything about them is wonderful. It’s like drinking happiness…and I’m convinced that their soup can heal the common cold.
Have you tried their Mediterranean sandwich? It’s amazing.
Sadly, I’m weird and I don’t like sandwiches! So, not yet.
Ah. That makes sense. (Honestly, though, what initially sold me on Panera were the pastries and souffles.)
Thanks for the smoothie recommendation–they are indeed delicious.
You are extremely welcome! Prepare to be addicted to them, though.
Thank you for making me REALLY want a black cherry smoothie., even though i love cherries.
Panera bread bowls. Yes. Panera is one of the few chain restaurants I can eat at without being regulated to cobbled together side dishes. Not only that, but it’s delicious.
I also have an inordinate fondness for Taco Bell.
Driving on country roads on cool summer evenings with the convertible top down.
Revisiting music that you used to love and finding new meaning in it.
Those posts that pop up here once in a while that make me think “You know, maybe there is hope for humanity after all.”
Seconded.
The Smithsonian Museums.
Fuzzy socks.
The Smithsonian Museums are so completely amazing.
TOE socks. Although they’re a pain to get on.
Playing MB-asteroids and demolishing every single thing on the homepage.
Playing MB-asteroids on the Rants & Plaints thread and pretending you’re demolishing everything that’s making people unhappy
Those delightfully cool zephyrs you sometimes get just before a thunderstorm. Especially in summer.
Beaches, especially if they have sparkling water and you can see the fish swim around your feet when you wade in.
Shiny rocks, shiny sand, shiny things in general.
Adorable home-grown potatoes.
Making crepes.
Eating crepes.
Eating crepes someone else prepared.
The Field Museum! Museums in general. Having Jstor access.
Seconded!
I don’t know what I’m going to do when I graduate and lose my JSTOR access.
Go to graduate school.
I feel your pain.
Singing favorite songs loudly in the streets regardless of the weird stares you get. Especially if they’re Wicked or Disney songs.
I second this.
SEA SHANTIESSSSS
Especially if they’re classical music
Especially if they’re Disney songs in bad Spanglish.
BE NUESTRA GUEST! BE NUESTRA GUEST! SE EXAMINE NUESTRO SERVICIO! SE TIE SU SERVILLETA ALREDEDOR DE SU CUELLO, CHERIE, Y WE’LL PROVIDE EL RESTO!…
and so on.
Oops–I forgot to put SE in between Y and WE’LL.
Possessing opposable thumbs. I’m serious here; sometimes I when I pick something up I can’t help but think “my life would be so much harder, without these”.
The National Geographic Society library.
Playing my violin in the park. The smell of wood smoke on a cold day. Grafitti art. Orange peels. The word “taupe.” Grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping.
I love grocery shopping when someone else is paying.
Dying in spectacular fashions in video games whenever the gameplay becomes monotonous.
I do this in Minecraft. A lot, actually. We actually all have done suicides in that game from time to time (except Altosax because she is levelheaded) because we are trying to make a point (YOU MAKE ME SO SAD I WILL GO DROWN MYSELF) or just for fun (LOOK AT ME I’M FALLING OFF A BUILDING). So much fun.
Colors.
I am so happy to see and dream and think in color.
I agree. The crazy thing about colors is that sometimes a scene is so beautiful because it’s black and white, like a moonlit forest for instance. But you wouldn’t notice that if there weren’t colors in the first place. I can’t really imagine life without them.
Free stuff.
Those japanese Ramune sodas where you push down a marble in the top to open.
Exchanging coins for cash/gift cards. This morning I woke up with a jar of coins, but I’ll be going to bed 80 bucks closer to boots instead.
Italian sodas and gelato.
GELATO IS THE BEST THING EVER
My room, with all the green walls and squid pictures and Pokemon art and massive messiness that looks like a tornado tore through the room but oh well.
My garage, which is an art studio.
Making miniature costumes to dress stuffed animals up in for Halloween.
And then having all the stuffed animals come together to have a masquerade party!
Bubble gum. Handwritten letters. Coming home from work and having nothing to do but relax.
Listening to Wicked in Japanese.
Yessssssss.
Spontaneous renga.
Making things with which to gift people.
i am unreasonably fond of this youtube video called “unicorn planet” i don’t like it but it’s fun to watch i don’t know why.
Taking the stairs and beating the elevator to the sixth floor.
Music camp.
Gelato.
Making 3 friends on the first day of camp (trust me, I usually only make one in the week).
Seeing friends in unexpected places.
Sitting in the bathroom where you can’t hear “Sexy and I Know it”.
Being able to take the stairs.
Art stores.
My iPod.
Showers and being clean in general. Feeling all that nasty gunk come off of your skin.
How gloriously cool the air feels when you come out of the bo’sun’s locker where it is basically like a sauna.
Having the bo’sun’s locker being really clean and knowing where everything is. (Even though it’s insanely hot there and you had to spend a lot of time getting it to that point.)
Being salty, as in after swimming in the ocean or sailing when there’s a lot of spray. Snorkeling. Just …being in the ocean again.
Reading books about game theory and quantum-physics.
(Playing sims and making the dreams of a premade family work out perfectly in the shortest lifespan without cheating. Yes, I like to live vicariously from time to time.)
Listening to reggae music and irish shanties.
Singing irish shanties and songs from the Lion King around a bonfire with your friends at 1 a.m. .
Browsing squid hats and steampunk items on Etsy.
Taking apart old electronics without being expected to ever put them back together.
Attempting to create vaguely steampunk items with laptop parts.Going to garage sales and buying ALL the craft supplies for very cheap prices.
PlayingExperimenting with nail polish.Reading a book you thought you wouldn’t like, scanning the first page, and end up loving it so much you wish you could buy it , or actually buy it.
Writing songs you’d be mostly too embarrassed to sing in public. And then writing songs you wish you could sing but which are too high/fast for you to manage.
(I’d write you a love song but night’s getting late
And I’m just far too tired; but well, as I hate
My finger’s too sore from practicing piano all day long
And my voice is growing weaker so couldn’t write you a love song
I wrote you an odd song cause night’s getting late
I don’t think it has anything like good taste
I don’t know if it sounds okay or half decently right
But I’m tired and should be off to bed so well, my friend, good night!)
^extent of Cskia’s songwriting skills, along with “Because You Are Not a Platypus”
Going to Oklahoma for a few days and getting to know my family down there better, swimming in their saltwater pool, hiking in 115 degree weather, watching The Dark Knight Rises, etc.
Waiting a month to receive a print of some artwork only to find that it came with a handwritten note from the artist apologizing for the delay along with a second print for free, said print being the one you had been debating ordering in the first place.
Leatherman keychain-sized multi-tools.
Things of which I will never be fond, reasonably or otherwise:
Kansas.
Eric Whitacre’s music.
Asparagus. Colourful socks. Graph paper. Used book stores. Classic Doctor Who.
Asparagus! Yes! none of my RL friends understand this!
A little while ago, I needed to put some pie crusts in the freezer, and as soon as I touched them “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music got stuck in my head.
I LOVE piecrust so much. Whenever I make pie I save the scraps and make cookies out of them. And then I eat them, because they are the best things ever and taste even better than any other cookies.
Watching drops of water that were spilled “accidentally” evaporate on a hot oven burner.
Adding “OF RASSILON” to the end of everything.
I’m afraid I don’t understand. Please explain.
It’s a Doctor Who reference. Rassilon was the founder of Gallifreyan society, you see, and there’s an episode set on Gallifrey where nearly every object/concept that features in the plot is followed by “of Rassilon.” (The Black Scrolls of Rassilon, the Game of Rassilon, the Voice of Rassilon, the Harp of Rassilon, the Coronet of Rassilon, the Tomb of Rassilon, &c.) Naturally, I thought it was hilarious, and have taken to doing it myself.
…This has been the Explanation of Rassilon.
Well, that sounds awesome, although I don’t know anything about it. The last bit definitely was hilarious because you actually managed to use it correctly. Thanks! Ooh, a spider!
(…Sorry, the last bit was not at all relevant, but I would have said it if we were talking in real life, and in fact, I nearly said it aloud just now, so I went ahead).
Clearly, this serves as further evidence that you need to start watching Doctor Who.
(Was it the Spider of Rassilon?)
Technically it’s the Explanation of of Rassilon but it’s still perfect.
Artichokes. Especially the pickled ones marinated in olive oil, which comes in nice jars and can be eaten with toothpicks.
i like pickled watermelon with a little salt
Wow, I’ve never heard of that! Is it good? What does it taste like?
it tastes pretty good. like pickled fish with a little sugar. it sounds bad but it’s pretty good.
Unexpected spiders.
100- Expected spiders too.
Introducing a friend of mine to another friend and having them become good friends. (Although I have shocked myself occasionally by being bizzarely jealous of a couple of my California friends having fun together and then having one of them post about it online as “Me and my friend so-and-so….”. I guess it’s because I live on the East Coast now and therefore can’t visit any of them nearly as often as I would like.)
Japanese songs. (Understanding what the lyrics mean is optional.)
Marvel movies. :3 My mom is worried I’m going to start collecting comic books one day.
Is there something wrong with that? (Besides how expensive they are, I mean.)
Looking at ancient threads and wondering where the other realy old MBers went.
This one’s still here! (I used to be e~a, if it helps.)
Marching band.
PASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
instant miso soup. really need to start learning how to make it myself.
also, whistling teakettles in which to heat the water for one’s instant miso soup
Popcorn that tastes like corn. I had it in Indiana.
Cheese. That is all.
Having a good horoscope in my morning newspaper.
Salted caramel.
When you go to the first day of a Greek 101 course and the professor rambles on about Albania, modern Indian politics, and the Hittites for the whole period. I think I was the only one in the class who already knew this professor, so it must’ve been surreal for the rest of them.
Also: red onions.
Peanut butter, soy butter, honey, and garlic on one piece of toast.
When I’m at home alone, singing at the top of my lungs.
The fact that my cat is at least 4 years old, if not more, but still purrs like a kitten when I scratch her under her chin.
The Wayback Machine.
Going to a brick-and-mortar store and having them order something for you instead of ordering it yourself online.
Staying up until one a.m. doing something fun and potentially semi-social and then sleeping late. (I can’s usually actually get to sleep before one a.m. anyway unless I’m fairly sleep-deprived, and for some reason my circadian rhythm seems to have designated midnight as optimal party time.)
SFTDP. That should say “I can’t usually”.
Scones and raspberry jam.
SPORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the word ‘spork.’ It’s really fun to say.
The Star Trek fandom has sort of ruined that word for me.It is fun to say though.
Destroying my hearing by playing “ballad of Bilbo Baggins” and “Highly Illogical” at maximum volume in my car (it only goes up to 40. How lame).
The word “illogical”. And “fascinating”.
In another online community I’m a part of, there’s two people I’m good friends with*, and after meeting through this community they began a long-distance relationship earlier this year. They’re currently meeting IRL for the second or third time, and they texted me a picture this afternoon of them making weird faces at the camera, with the message “U jelly”. It makes me really happy to see them happy. Actually, just thinking about either or both of them makes me happy. I just want to buy them presents or text them something to brighten their day, and I realized today: that’s love, ain’t it? Not in the throwaway sense, but actual, distinct, verifiable platonic love. And that makes me very happy.
*I’ve actually become very close friends with both of them, closer than all but one or two of my “in-person” friends.
Kettlecorn!
Soy milk, and to a slightly lesser extent, almond milk. I seriously do not understand why people would prefer cow’s milk. To me, soy milk and almond milk taste at least a thousand times better.
But to each their own, of course!
I bought myself an early birthday present: my very own copy of Lewis and Short’s Latin dictionary, which I’ve been coveting for years. I can’t describe how ecstatic this makes me. The entry for “in” is a full two and a half pages long. It’s beautiful.
Showtunes. <3
Painless blisters. Painful ones are a bit annoying, but when they’re painless I can’t help but admire the ways the human body has evolved to defend and heal itself.
Coconut-scented shampoo.
Potato chips which resemble other recognizable items. (Saddles, Pac-Man, the moon, ETC)