March 7, 2010

Today, I am grateful for….

1. My productive day even though I had slept in.
2. A day off in I don’t know how long.
3. Another crazy week about to end.
4. Catching up on old shows.
5. Siobhan on American Idol.
6. The long battery life on my macbook.
7. Leftovers from Mark Morris.
8. Not having to leave the house.
9. San Pellegrino.
10. Free food.
11. Pork fat.
12. Twitter not being as nearly time consuming as Facebook.
13. Oscar night.
14. Jamie Oliver’s new show.
15. Discovering yet another new BBQ place in town.
16. A busy upcoming week completely unrelated to work.
17. Tina Fey!
18. Not worrying about running out of firewood
19. All new No Reservations.
20. Not having to file FSA claims anymore.
21. Alex Ross coming out with a new book.
22. Keeping up with the writing pace that I set for myself.
23. Planning ahead financially.
24. Warmer weather.
25. Multitasking during my down time.
26. My newly greased bike chain.
27. Chicken bones for chicken stock.
28. MS Office 2008 finally crashing on me for the first time – nothing was lost
29. Getting back on track in keeping up with this busy year.
30. Being able to check at least one item off my to do list on each day of this week.
31. A new set of restaurants to check out in town.
32. Neal Patrick Harris.
33. Slowly figuring out what to give a shit about.
34. The possibility of the unknown affecting my life in the near future.
35. DVR
36. The self imposed deadline I gave myself for my book.
37. March being a slow month for Boston sports – Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to get anything done.
38. Learning new things about old friends.
39. My PC still working well enough to use it for MS Money.
40. How quickly this week went.
41. Being productive.
42. Job security
43. A great part time job that gives me constant contact with creativity of the highest order
44. The great folks at Cook’s Illustrated
45. Some semblance of financial security after some scary and lean years
46. Jessica - everyday I am surprised at how much we love each other
47. Not worrying about where my next meal is coming from
48. Going two days without Facebook to distract me.
49. How exciting this year is shaping out to being.
50. How Jessica and I can’t seem to stay mad at each other for very long.
51. The Les Halles Cookbook
52. How much Jessica and I make each other laugh
53. The seasons and all the lessons nature can teach us through them.
54. Breathing
55. Any form of nuanced thinking
56. The pajamas that Jessica got me.
57. Keeping my cynicism in check
58. Still not completely believing in the concept of being comfortable
59. The ability to have some fucked up and entertaining dreams – Being forced to go back to my high school prom with no idea who my date is going to be.
60. Having a washer and dryer in our apartment
61. Mike Ross, the director of Krannert Center
62. Foreign languages
63. Life forcing me to multitask
64. The new colleague I’ll be working with at work.
65. The rush of positive thoughts and feelings I have every time I see Jessica
66. Tiki
67. My smart and talented friends old and new
68. My increasingly reliable intuition
69. My Brita filter especially on those days when Illinois Water decides to put WAY too much chlorine in it
70. The music playing in my head – This is It
71. Competent and dedicated coworkers at both of my jobs
72. How great I feel after riding my bike to work
73. This computer stand from Ikea
74. Jessica's cute faces
75. How Jessica can pick me up when all seems lost
76. How good of a listener Jessica can be
77. Google Wave
78. Suits that hide my potbelly.
79. Bill Simmons
80. No longer worrying if today will be the day our car will completely fall apart
81. My new Ted Baker glasses
82. The moktak that my mom sent me
83. The copy of the Korean Zen Buddhist prayer CD that my mom made me
84. How good cracking various joints feel
85. Enjoying to read for pleasure again.
86. Jackson 5 version of "Who's Loving You"
87. Everything I have yet to learn
88. My passion for music slowly returning
89. Our Simmons Beautyrest
90. The bizarre yet surprisingly effective baby talk that Jessica and I have developed for communicating
91. Jessica's hourglass figure
92. Memories, good and bad
93. The pavlovian response Jessica induces in me when I hear her keys just before she opens the door when coming home from work
94. My desire to seek out the positive in my life
95. Sensodyne
96. Space heaters
97. My orthotics
98. Not having to worry too much about what to wear for work
99. Having hope
100. Completing my twentieth post

Object of my metta practice - myself

Reflection of the Day – On my first day off in a while, I gave myself a long list of things to get done. I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t get through the entire list no matter how unrealistic it was. No matter, I got stuff done and took it easy today. On my second day of doing the IMS meditation course, I’m starting to realize the sheer number of bad habits I’ve picked up. Physical – posture, tension. Mental – too easily falling into a spiral of negative thoughts. Emotional – Overreacting to needless negative thoughts. I’ve come up with a general plan for getting through the rest of the month. Hopefully, it’ll be as successful on a weekday as it was for a weekend.