Ten good things-- well, four

View From The Pundy House: Ten good things.

Pundy writes: "I am, as you may have noticed, a gloomy old bastard. You probably think I sit here all day in the Pundy House muttering to myself about how awful life is. Well, I do actually." So as an antidote, he has tried to list ten good things that have happened to him in the past 12 months.

I was impressed that he got up to seven. I'm going to have a go now and see how far I get (excluding vicarious pleasure at various children-related things).

1. Learnt blogging: encountered some nice bloggers and "delightful cross pollinators"

2. Got rid of ill-fitting wallpaper and had walls painted. (Not sure if this counts as Malcolm actually sorted it all -- I just enjoy the result.)

3. Read some good books.

4. Lost weight.

I'm a bit stuck now. Anybody care to have a go?

Comments

[Bill Liversidge]

Oh, Maxine. Add one more good thing to your list - you've cheered me up immensely.

You know, on the principle that it's good to know there's always someone worse off than yourself.

[Maxine]

Thought my (relative) failure might cheer you up, Bill!

[Susan Balée]

I tend to notice little things a lot. The older I get, the more I appreciate small(-ish) pleasures. For example, a wonderful dinner out -- we had a few this year, at Alma, a fabulous Cuban restaurant in downtown Phila., and Matyson's, a first-rate BYO, also in Center City, and at Cafe Un Deux Trois in NYC, one of my all-time favorite restaurants (if you go, get the Boeuf Burguignon -- it is to die for).

Blue tulips: Some "parrot tulips" I planted last fall came up this spring and were magnificent, esp. juxtaposed with some deep red and yellow ones in the same bed.

Several long bike rides, at the Jersey Shore, in the Pocono Mtns., along Kelly Drive in Phila. (A bad thing, however, related to biking: I badly tore a back muscle after one long ride while trying to wrest a bike back into the van in the rain. This occasioned eight weeks of serious pain, which you can read about in my "Spine-Soothing Tales," a fiction chronicle in the current, autumn, issue of The Hudson Review. Silver lining: I had a lot of time to spend reading!)

I dunno, Maxine, the older I get, the more I see the glass as half-full. Every small good thing that happens is a gift; the bad things, well: They're expected; I try not to let them get me down for too long.

[marydell]

Like Susan, I become more optimistic as I get older. Now that I'm rounding 40, all the angst from my teens and unsurety from my twenties seems like a waste of energy. I also am able to more easily see the good side of bad things. For example, having to shovel snow out of the driveway is bad, but getting it done without throwing out my back is good. I could probably come up with a much longer list than 10 items, and maybe I will if I'm struggling for blog fodder later. :)

[Marie]

Only 4, Maxine? I wonder if I can beat that. I might have a go during the next few days.