It seems like most of the people in my life have had to deal with a lot of negativity from me lately. So, to counter it, here’s a short and (thankfully) by no means comprehensive list of things that have made me smile in the last few days:
- A sesame seed bagel, strong coffee and good orange juice. Still the perfect breakfast; yet somehow the most impossible to obtain outside of the United States. (Mostly, the bagel is the issue. Just poking a hole in bread does not a bagel make, my friends.)
- A care package from a friend that included, among other things: two pounds of fancy coffee, hello kitty temporary tattoos and a travel pack of tampons. (!?!)
- The pcij’s list of “Hello Garci” ringtones from 2005. This is why I’ll always love the Philippines, no matter how crazy it makes me. How else can you feel about a society that reacts to a political scandal with a techno remix ringtone? (Tapes were leaked of President Arroyo making a very suspicious phone call to an election commissioner on the eve of her 2004 election. Evidently, the ringtones made were among the top ringtone downloads in the world. “Hello Garci” boom-chikka-boom-boom “Hello, Ma’am”)
- Being reminded that even though I usually run around like a decapitated chicken , I seem to manage to act like a professional when it counts. I needed to find a quote I was pretty sure was in an interview I did in Mindanao this summer. It was in my notebook, basically legible and properly id’ed, the audio track was noted correctly, matched my handwritten notes, and has pretty decent sound quality.