Happiness Experiment: Day 4

I have to say yesterday was a pretty damned good day even though it was pissing rain all fucking day. Hydroplaning on the highway did freak me out a bit but at least nothing happened. Ok, now onto the happy moments from yesterday.

#1 - Seeing my buddy's military parade

One of my closest and oldest friends graduated from boot camp and had his military parade yesterday and I got to see it. It was good to see him actually accomplish something, he's been wasting away for years getting jobs when he needed cash but for the most part he just played video games. It was a very positive change in him and I'm happy for the fucker.

#2 - Being Congratulated for getting engaged

You see all of the buzz about my getting engaged has passed so when my buddy's parents (see point #1) congratulated me out of the blue I was susprised. I didn't think he'd mentioned my getting engaged to them. It was a rather pleasant thing since it was one of the first things they said. Again I've know them a long time but never talked to them much (and I don't think my buddy talks to them much either)

#3 - Cleaning @ Home

How can cleaning be a happy moment? Very simply I don't like being too sendintary; I like doing things. If I'm bored I'll typically go wash the dishes or something. Yesterday when I got home I just got into a lets start doing some cleaning before the weekend mode (got family coming on Saturday) and I managed to get a good chunk of shit done. Its always nice seeing progress.

Happiness Experiment: Day 3

I know that this is a little late but here is what I came up with for day 3 of this little happiness experiment:

#1 - Reading at lunch

I know that this is starting to be a bit of a trend in that I'm reading at lunch and enjoying it. I've started reading a new business book; Seth Goodin's Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable and it's started off quite interesting. I guess reading a marketing book is a good thing especially since I came up with that business idea a couple days ago. It felt like I was accomplishing something and that was good.

#2 - Making dinner with my Fiance

One of the things that my fiance and I did when we first started dating was making mini-pizzas on tortilla flats. It was nice to make dinner together since this isn't something that happens all that often. Not to mention that the things were pretty damned good.

#3 - Watching Thank You for Smoking

While eating the mini-pizzas we watched a movie, Thank You for Smoking and I've got to say that I haven't seen a movie quite that funny in a long time. It was nice watching something satirical that played on something that I still do: Smoke. We both enjoyed the movie and had more than a few laughs. This was a nice and long happy moment - close to 2 hours.

This was day three of the experiment; I'll be posting day 4 a bit later on today.

Happiness Experiment: Day 2

Well its day two of my little experiment and yes for those of you counting that means this is also day three in a row of my posting an item on this blog which hasn't happened for months. So how did day two go?

#1 - Finishing my book.

Just like yesterday I took some time at lunch to eat and read my book but today was a bit better in that I was able to finish my book. I don't get a chance to finish books very often but I'm done. I took the time over lunches and whenever I happened to be on the subway and finished the library book before it was overdue. Now all I've got to do is return it. It was a small accomplishment but one never the less and that made me happy. The book also made me think which is a great thing.

#2 - Coming up with a business idea

Why would this make me happy? Well around the time that I was in university and actually attending I was generating ideas at an alarming rate. I never did anything with them because they were just that ideas. Now that I'm older and in theory wiser I can actually take an idea and run with it. I spent most of my drive home from work mentally going through this idea that I had and what might be involved in getting it off the ground. It made that hour go by like a flash.

#3 - Finally hitting the gym

I've never been big on gyms but I'm starting to see results even though I go a grand one time a week. I missed seeing my trainer dude last week so I was glad to go this week and I was able to push myself a little bit further than I had in the past. Although I'm convinced my trainer is evil for making me to all those insane ab exercises.

My mood the past couple days has definitely been lighter but I'm not sure if this is attributed to the fact that I know I've got a method of escape from this company lined up or this little experiment; if it keeps up it'll be this experiment.

Happiness Experiment: Day 1

So I decided to start this experiment where just before bed I recount 3(or more) of the things that made me happy during the day and analyze them. Figure out why they happened and what about them made me happy; essentially think them through. Today is day one of the experiment and I'm going to write out the three things.

#1 Reading my book at lunch.

Very simply put I went out for Thai food at lunch and read my book, I took the full hour and when I was done at the restaurant I sat on a park bench by the restaurant until I was done the chapter. It was nice not to think about work and the pressing things in my life. I'm reading Not Buying It:My Year Without Shopping and quite enjoying it so it was nice to take that break. Deciding to stop and finish the chapter before going anywhere was what really put it over the edge for me.

#2 Going for a second interview

I knew this one was going to make me happy because it was a move in the right direction when it comes to work but I didn't think it would make me quite as happy as it did. I got a verbal job offer and I should be starting first thing in the new year. This is an obvious happy moment but the best parts were that not only did I get the job offer but the description of the job sounds like it'll be challenging and rewarding which is something that I'm totally lacking.

#3 Getting home and telling my Fiance about the job.

Ok, this was a happy moment because my Fiance has been dealing with my crankiness and moodiness from work for a few months now. Knowing that I'm not going to be bitching and complaining about work and that I'll be happier for it is something I know she wants. Because of that seeing the look on her face was great.

#4 Helping with homework.

I know it was only supposted to be three items, but I got to help my fiance with her homework. It made me glad that I was actually able to help her with something that I haven't studied in 2 or 3 years(if not more). She was grateful and I was able to help her work through an assignment question when she was starting to get stressed by it.

Overall yesterday was a good day and I think going forward I'm going to have a bunch of these good days. I guess we'll see where this little experiment takes us.