March 29th 2010 Good Stuff

*Rachel and I spent the day at work drawing pictures of animals that were meant to represent the other person in some way...that was amusing. Later, that developed into us planning a line of disabled stuffed animals that we should produce because she thought it was sad that disabled animals were not represented in the stuffed animal line of toys. Ok...I totally was in on that idea as well :/

*The new Jonsi album!!! OMG I got to hear the new Jonsi album thanks to Ana and it's SOOOO good :D I'm in love with it!! Favorite track already: Tornado! I'm so in love with that song!! It's just beautiful. God, I wish he were coming here with his amazing looking tour. ETA: Just heard Grow Til Tall for the first time and um...it's amazing too...maybe tied with Tornado for favorite track. You can just close your eyes and melt away into that track.

*The weather. It's just been beautiful here today. Upper 60's, windy, sunny...just nice...

*My new headphones. If you're looking for new headphones, earbuds specifically, might I suggest Skullcandy headphones! They're fantastic! Sound amazing, block out all outside noise, and don't feel weird or fall out of your ears.

*Orange cream slushes from Sonic.

*Ummm...Tornado by Jonsi...seriously, go click on that link above and listen to it...it's incredible.

*How about just Jonsi...he's a good thing.

March 28th, 2010 Good Stuff

*I had a day off of work finally.....

*I had a therapy session that was a lot of fun today! The reason why it was fun is that I got to break out the crayons for the first time and did a really fun activity that went over better than I had planned. Which is always a good thing.

*I slept a lot

*I had my first crawfish of the season :D I went to eat with Megan, Shane and some guy I don't know after the counseling session at a great little seafood restaurant and was very happy find crawfish at a somewhat reasonable price. We talked music over lunch which is always a great topic to me :D

*I started my first Dorothy Sayers book today and OMG I'm in love with it!!! And from what I've heard from reviews of it, it's one of the "worst" of her books. So if this is supposedly one of her worst, damn I can't wait to see what her best is like!

Now if I can shake this three day headache, I'll be fine :/

March 22nd, 2010 Good Stuff

I don't know what's with 2010, but it's just been a rough year...I can't get it together for some reason. Every time I feel like I'm starting to get it together again, I seem to fall back a little bit. Hopefully something will swing into place soon.....But there is good stuff going on!

*I got to see a really good show the other night! JBM, Avi Buffalo and Rogue Wave were all fantastic and I have pictures that I'll upload here eventually. This guy JBM was a last minute addition. He's from upstate New York and at one point was playing guitar, drums, harmonica and singing all at the same time :O He's a singer/songwriter...very folk-y type stuff and reminded me a lot of a modern Nick Drake. Just fell in love with his stuff! I highly recommend you check him out on iTunes.

*I got tickets for another show! This one is on June 16th. I'm going to see Passion Pit! They're playing with Tokyo Police Club who's fun as well. I'm super excited by all of this live music lately :D

*I broke my 'NO ARC' rule today. I was contacted by Underland Press for an ARC of Martin Millar's new book which isn't due out until August...it's called Curse of the Wolf Girl and it's a follow up to Lonely Werewolf Girl. Super duper excited about that one :D And now I totally have to read Lonely Werewolf Girl NOW.

*Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha Frappucinos. I hate Starbucks...I really do. But it was the only available option yesterday and I saw this new drink that they had so I decided to try it out and it freaking rocks!

*I had a massage today and it was a little piece of heaven.

*Emails and friends even though I'm a horrible friend in return and don't respond :/ I'm trying guys I'm sorry :(

And now I'm going to try to go catch up on my blog reading and maybe actually respond to comments on my own blog and maybe even write a new post...maybe even a review?!

March 14th, 2010 Good Stuff

*Another day of just doing absolutely nothing. I had a REAL weekend this weekend!!! I haven't had that in forever!

*My Google Reader says "0" That is such a good feeling.

*I started reading This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer last night (despite the fact that I'm in the middle of two other books) and I couldn't put it down! I ended up reading half of it. It's not perfect, but it's DEFINITELY a page turner and it's definitely entertaining. And it keeps me on edge. I love those kind of books. And I really love this series. It's the third "moon book" as I've come to call the series.

*Tomorrow night I'm going to see Rogue Wave and Avi Buffalo after work :D I haven't been to a show in so long. So excited about it!!! And then less than a month to wait until Vampire Weekend! I found out that Abe Vigoda is playing with them. I don't know them at all. Anyone else know them?
*Today was the St. Patrick's Day parade in New Orleans! I didn't go. But my sister did so we have lots of veggies, ramen noodles, soap, oranges, etc. etc. to last us for awhile. It's one of my favorite parades. Any parade where they throw cabbages at your head just automatically rocks :p Yes, we have odd traditions in New Orleans, I know :p
*I made a craft!! I've been wanting to do something crafty lately and I give ALL of you permission to laugh at me :p Because this is laughable, but dammit I'm proud of it and it's something i'll use. I bought an ounce of fresh lavender recently to help with my headaches and got sick of just smelling it in the bag. So today I made an eyemask with it! Basically I just cut a big square out of an old tshirt and sewed it around the edges and then turned it inside out so that you can't see the seam. Then I stuffed it full with all of the lavender and sewed it shut! And it smells so good!!! And now I'm quite proud of myself :D

March 13th, 2010 Good Stuff

*My spirits were up today. It felt like a good day.

*The weather could not be any more gorgeous than it was today!!! Mid 60's all day today with tons of sunshine. Nice and cool with 20-30 mile per hour winds all day. I just wanted to literally be swept up by mother nature. So gorgeous.

*I got a haircut finally! One sign of depression for me is that my hair gets terribly unruly :/

*I had a really good session with a client today with lots of breakthroughs that ended with her mom telling me "we're so lucky to have you". The reason that matters is because I was TERRIFIED that this mother HATED me. She doesn't.

*My sister bought a new car today!!

*I blogged!

*I traded emails with people I love!!

*I've discovered that when I'm reading books of poetry, I understand them better when I read them aloud. Even if it's very softly. The reason for this is that by reading aloud, it cancels out all of the other things going on in my head :/ My thoughts that tend to get away from me while I'm trying to concentrate. I started reading Aurora Leigh aloud and it's really added to the experience. Damn, this is a beautiful book. I'm in complete awe of the beauty in which Browning used words! I just want to read this book aloud to everyone.

*And now I'm laying in my bed drinking red wine from a coffee mug. Which is my favorite way to drink wine :)

March 8th, 2010 Good Stuff

*So many wonderful emails from good friends. I realized today that it's been quite sometime since I've posted on either of my blogs and probably even longer since I've commented on anyone else's blog. I'm still reading everyone's blogs and keeping up to date. It makes me smile to see what's going on in the Stevens' household, that there are new moorhen chickies by Pat!, that Ana is continuing to read amazing books that will add to my pile and writing thought provoking posts and updating me on what I need to be listening to, that Amanda is continuing to write and redefining her blogs, that Jason continues to write the most thought provoking posts and lyrical posts, etc. etc. etc....I could go one here about all of my blogging friends. What I mean here is that everyone has made me smile. And while I have seemingly neglected everyone by not commenting and letting them know that I'm here still, I continue to get these sweet emails. I can't describe how much I cherish some of the friendships I have made over the internet. The thought that they have gone beyond my blog is so special to me. That they have been solidified. It just fills me with so much happiness. And I've needed that.

*Homemade crocheted finger puppets and bookmarks :D

*Little powdered donuts.

*A clean car. I was talking to Debi about this over email earlier. One of the things I do to relax myself, to give myself "me time" is drive around in my car and listen to music. I can do that for literally hours. I've done it ever since I started driving. Well my car has been a mess lately and it's just been added stress. So today I cleaned it! Vacuumed it, cleaned the windows and cleaned all of the interior. Just having the clean space gives me peace and makes all the difference.

*An absolutely amazing book written by an equally amazing friend.

*Another amazing book that I finished tonight, The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delaney. I've been having this on my TBR for literally YEARS! I heard about it from Neil Gaiman when I first started reading his blog. He wrote the introduction for it. I had hoped to read it for the February GLBT mini-challenge since Delaney was an African American gay man. But it didn't get read in February. But it's a sci-fi classic that I'd recommend to anyone and everyone. I almost wouldn't even call it sci-fi. Yes it's set in the future and has some fantastical elements and the main characters are not human, but it's more philisophical. Just a beautiful book.

I don't know if this means I'm back to blogging. But I'm going to try to be. I still don't know what to post on Stuff as Dreams. I guess I need something explaining my absence, but I'm just not up for doing book reviews yet. The motivation is not entirely there yet. But I want to thank everyone for their support and kind words over the last several weeks. It's just been a rough go of things, but things could definitely be worse than they are. Love you all!!!

February 22, 2010 Good Stuff - iPhone Pic Edition!

*The new app on my iPhone that lets me count down the days until I get to see Debi and co. :D


*The new 32 oz. size coffee at my favorite coffee shop :p

*While at the french quarter today, Megan and I discovered this little "park". It's kind of odd, but very pretty. It's odd because it's as big as what you see and it's considered a national park and actually has 2 forest rangers that work there....in the middle of the quarter. Very strange. But it's neat because they have all this info on the history of the french quarter in the attached buildings and all sorts of native Louisiana plants outside.

*This is one of said native Louisiana plants. I haven't seen them in ages! They reminded me of my aunt Shirley. When I was a kid, she was my favorite aunt and she had them in pots all over her back yard. We used to call them "rubber plants" because the leaves have the consistency of rubber. I learned today that their common name is actually a "ghost plant" How cool is that!?


*We then went to Royal Street which is the street in the quarter where all of the art galleries are. We found this amazing gallery with an artist who paints people while they are nude and then photographs them and I was blown away by his art. But I couldn't take pics in there. I did take a pic in this mask shop though ;) I've been wanting one of these masks forever! Aren't they cool? Didn't buy one, but you can see them at least ;)

*We then found a lovely little restaurant called Pere Antoine right on the corner. Great food and drinks and great prices. And the weather was just gorgeous out today, so they had all of the windows open. Here's our view.

*And here's our drinks :) An Abita Bock for me and a Bloody Mary for Megan.


*My song obsession of the week. Seriously, I think everyone needs to go to iTunes right now and download this single. And then go watch the video because it's afuckingmazing.

*The two shirts I bought today at Urban Outfitters. I'm in love with my Where the Wild Things Are shirt :D I've actually been wanting one for ages, but couldn't find the right one! This one is just perfect. It has that nice worn and soft feeling to it and I just love it.

*This was my other purchase of the day. The french quarter has lots of "occult shops" so we stopped in one of them and picked up a couple of things. One is a bag of lavender because lavender is supposed to help migraines. I might put some in a sock or something to smell when I get a headache. The other thing that I bought is a charm! It's for people who are depressed or stuck in a funk and you're supposed to carry it around. I bought one for myself and one for a friend who's been going through a lot of crap lately.

All in all, it was a fantastic day :D

February 20, 2010 Good Stuff

*Oh Lush how I love thee. Though you are quite expensive. I went a little crazy at the Lush store today, but at least bath bombs to last quite awhile now :p And a bubble bar that will last me for at least two baths. I've been taking lots of baths and reading in the tub lately. I find it helps me relax a lot!

*The Mighty Boosh. I'm forming a mighty obsession with that show. The UK has the best shows in the world :p

*Atlas Sound, Jonsi, Yeasayer, Avi Buffalo, Owen Pallett, Alec Ounsworth, Broken Bells and Fanfarlo...my current obsessions musicwise.

*I vlogged finally and it was fun :D

*My clients did NOT cancel on me today!! On Wednesday, both of my clients cancelled on me, so it was nice to actually get to see both of my clients today.

*Handmade afghans to cuddle with from one of my bestest blogging friends, Pat :)

February 16, 2010 Good Stuff

*Dad is home and is feeling better. Well not feeling better, he's still really sore. For all those who've been wondering where I've been, this is what happened. My dad is an alcoholic. He went all day friday without a drink and had a seizure while he was driving because he started detoxing and crashed into a telephone pole. My little brother was in the car with him and thank god he's ok. Just a little sore. Needless to say, I've been a mess and on the verge of a breakdown ever since, but I'm doing better now I promise. He didn't break anything, he's just really sore. He's still not willing to admit he has an alcohol problem, though he did come closer to admitting it than he ever has. It's amazing how much power alcohol can hold over some people. I don't know what to do at this point. It's easy when I'm on the counseling side of the situation, but so much harder when I'm the family member.

*I finally got some rest. I slept until 1:30 today after going out for a couple of drinks last night with Megan and spent the whole night just listening to good music and singing loudly in the car. It was exactly what I needed and everything was off of my mind for a little while. I really needed that and I'm feeling much better now.

*It's Mardi Gras! I didn't go to any parades this year, but the feeling in the air is just wonderful during Mardi Gras time.

*I have the best friends in the world. I can't thank you all enough for the emails and twitter messages and for the phone call. Thank you all.

*Good good good good music!!!! I'm still so excited that I'm going to see Vampire Weekend and now Rogue Wave and Avi Buffalo in March!!!! And I finally listened to the CD that Ana sent me "virtually" like a month ago and I'm in love with it. Especially the acoustic Fanfarlo song and I now have a new obsession with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

*Little felt hearts

*This cute slightly demented chicken basket that I bought at World Market. I have no idea why I bought it but it was so damn cute that I had to have it (Debi, you should make these!!):

So I didn't get to go to the Saints parade tonight because I had to work, but that's ok...I'm just glad to hear that it was such a huge success! They're estimating right now that 800,000 to 1,000,000 people were out there!! Crazy, huh? Needless to say, the crowd is still going nuts :p Here's a video to show you what the parade looked like (don't know why there is so much space below :/):

New Orleans Saints Video: Victory Parade

-I have another new client!! It's a 16 year old girl and I'm seeing her tomorrow at 1 o'clock. And I have my other new client tomorrow at 2:30! It's going to be quite a full day because I go to my full time job right after that :/ But it should be a good day too!

-Happy emails from good friends :D Good news and just chatting makes me happy!

-I also got a confirmation from Expedia telling me that my flight is now OFFICIALLY booked :D Yes, it was purchased before, but it is now confirmed.

-I paid all of my fees at the library. I had like $31.45 in late fees because they were trying to tell me that I lost a book. But I didn't. They just didn't scan it when I returned it. So I found it on the shelf and showed them that I had returned it and they took the fee off! So I actually only owed $1.50 and now I can use the library again :D Yay!!

-And finally, I found out tonight that Avi Buffalo and Rogue Wave are coming here together on March 15th!!! They're two bands that I love :D Avi Buffalo has a great son called "What's it in for" that has a fantastic lyric that says "your lips are like two tiny pieces of bacon" :D I just love that!

February 8, 2010 Good Stuff

Phew! I'm still exhausted from last night. And I still don't think that it has actually hit me that the Saints won the superbowl. This whole city seems like it's in a big waking dream right now. It's kind of stopped functioning as anything but a party zone. Today, over 20,000 fans greeted the Saints at the airport and flooded Veterans which is normally one of the main highways in Metairie which is the suburb of New Orleans where I live. Traffic ceased to be able to move. The players all had their windows down and were taking pics of the vans and videos...they were just as excited as the fans. Sean Payton, our coach, even put the trophy out of the sunroof for the fans to touch! Total chaos, but friendly chaos.

Tomorrow is the big Saints parade, but sadly it's looking like I'll have to work through it...once again. But that's ok, because I'm off next weekend for my two favorite parades, Endymion and Bacchus! They're the highlight of my Mardi Gras. And the whole Mardi Gras season this year is just one big black & gold celebration!

I went shopping today and bought my Super Bowl Champions tshirt and hat :) The hats were sold out EVERYWHERE and I finally found them at the 5th place I went to. It was mass chaos at every single store. But once again, friendly chaos...the kind of chaos where you make friends while you're in line.

Aside from that, happy things of the day include eating gummy worms :p I usually can't eat gummy worms or gummy bears because they give me bad headaches. But they are seriously like my favorite food ever! However, today I woke up with a bad headache (too much celebration last night) and had to take a migraine pill (doubles as a hangover cure ) so since the pill was having it's effect already, I figured I'd indulge in some gummy candy :D They were delicious.

Also, I still haven't told everyone, but I booked my flight to see Debi in August!!!!! So it's a definite :D So fucking excited about that!!!!!!

Emails from people I don't even know, but that read my blog, telling me how happy they are for me and my city that we won the superbowl :)

Now I shall relax, try to catch up on email, because it's seriously EMBARRASSING how behind I am, and let this win sink in....

February 7, 2010 Good Stuff

Doesn't get much better than this :D

February 5, 2010 Good Stuff

I finally have new tires on my car. I can't tell you how good of a thing this is really. And they cost me about half of what I was expecting, which is also a good thing. I have bad anxiety at times. Though I don't show it...I keep it inside. But my back two tires were pretty much dry rotted and my front two tires had like no treads left (did I mention I also procrastinate :/) So for the last couple of weeks I have just been constantly convinced that all four of my tires were going to blow out. Now I know they won't :p Phew!

While I was at the tire place, this little boy, probably about 6 years old, came and sat next next to me and asked me if I liked his toy truck. I told him it was a really cool truck. He then asked me if I wanted a sip of his chocolate shake, which I politely declined. Next question was what was I reading? I told him it was a really cool book called The Ask and the Answer. He said "oh!" He then ran to his mom and said "mommy, can I get a book called The Ass and the Anso" He put the biggest smile on my face. I have no idea why random kids like to come talk to me, but it always makes me happy :) Is it that easy to read that I'm still just a giant kid myself?

Best thing about today...I didn't work! Well, I had a session with a client but I really enjoy my private practice and don't really consider that work. Even though the money is better than my 40 hr/week job. That session went totally awesome and ended like this:

Me: S, you've done really awesome so far and you should be proud of how far you've come..I'm proud of you.

S: I couldn't have done it without you, thanks Chris.

Me: You should congratulate yourself, you're the one doing all the work! But thanks and you're welcome.

S: Well, you're kind of like my anchor.

It's stuff like that that makes me love my job so much. I would honestly see many of my private practice clients, like this guy, for free if I had to. I think I get just as much out of it as he does.

February 4, 2010 Good Stuff

Ah, I missed a day. But honestly, I just couldn't bring myself to write good stuff yesterday. The day after a really bad migraine I just feel drained and I'm probably the most unmotivated person in the world. Today is slightly better despite waking up with ANOTHER freaking migraine. Thankfully the meds actually worked today though and the headache didn't last too long. So that's the first good thing! I think it's all of this horrible rain (not good rain) that's causing these headaches. Other good stuff:

Pandora! Oh I love pandora. I think I love it better than last.fm. I've discovered so many great bands from Pandora. That and XMU are my constant sources for new music. Oh, and Ana gives me new music too :p

I got to watch the Lost premiere last night when I got home from work and oh my god it was so good but so freaking confusing! Not really confusing...I mean, I have my theories of what's going on, but the thing with that show is that you never REALLY know what's going on. You totally think you do and then they throw this giant wrench into your theory.

I got showered with hearts via email by Renay :) That totally made my night :D

My little portable TV came in the mail today and it has SUCH a good picture!! So I can definitely watch the superbowl this weekend even though I have to freaking work. It really won't be that bad. I'm off the next day so I can go out after work and party.

I'm off of work tomorrow and even though it'll cost money, I can get new tires on my car finally!

I have another new client in my private practice!! And I'm so excited about this guy...not that I should get excited about others' misfortunes, I know that...god, it sounds awful when I say I'm excited...but it's the type of client that I really enjoy working with. He's young, 18, has a physical disability (which is the population I worked with for 7 years before I started this field) and really wants the help. Looking forward to working with him!

February 2, 2010 Good Stuff

Ok, so I'm going to start this post off by saying that I just laughed my ass off because I opened my computer and saw what I was looking at last night. Apparently I didn't close the window after I was searching the internet for plane tickets to Portugal :p One can dream, right? Maybe in a couple of years I can afford it...*sigh* It's a happy thing!

Lost is on tonight! Actually as I'm writing this it's almost over, but I just came home early from work sick with a migraine so haven't gotten to watch it yet..so I'll be watching it later on the internet. But yay for a new season of Lost!! Sadly, it's the final season :( But still, yay!

Patrick Ness I want to have your babies!! Seriously, I would have a uterus implanted in me if it meant having the child of Patrick Ness. I started The Ask and the Answer last night and it is freaking genius. Can a book that makes me so sad be a happy thing? Well yes it can because I like being punished with sadness. In books at least. But damn, this man can write. The only bad thing is, I now have 4 books going, 2 of which are chunksters and one of which is Tolkien...I think I'm out of my mind.

Lastly, I am thankful for pharmaceutical companies. You make wonderful pain killers oh pharmaceutical companies. I don't know how I'd survive these migraines without them.

February 1, 2010 Good Stuff

Today was not a particularly good day, but you know what...I stayed happy all day. Because I got back to keeping good stuff in mind! And because I got back to blogging so my iPhone kept letting me know all day that I had comments on my blog posts :) I like that. I like getting comments and I like just getting email in general :p That's always a good thing.

Twitter is a wonderful thing. It allows me to do a quick check in with everyone during the day while I'm stuck at work and find out cool things...things like RADIOHEAD IS NOW ON TWITTER! And and...Patrick Ness listens to really cool music like Muse and Arcade Fire and Radiohead while writing his books!! Thanks to Ana for both of those :p Oh...and AMANDA AND JASON'S KIDS ARE GENIUSES :D They are, I can attest to that :p Fun little geniuses too :)

I came home today to my Vampire Weekend tickets being in the mail!!! And I actually only paid $30 a piece more than I would have by getting them for realz, so I don't feel too bad now. It's not like I paid 4x's as much for tickets. I didn't even pay double!

Ana left a comment on my last good stuff post about how cool it was that I live in New Orleans and it had me thinking all day about how freaking cool it is where all of my other friends live! Debi lives in upstate New York! Ana lives in freaking PORTUGAL! So many friends in ENGLAND! Pat has that awesome pond :D with the beautiful birds! Colin lives in Portland! Yes, I love New Orleans with a passion and probably could never leave for long (I especially loved it today as I ate nearly half of a freaking king cake) but I would so love to move away for a little while....hmmm....we really need to form a little blogger commune :p

And the best news of the week.....my boss approved my week long vacation in August so my vacation to go see Debi and family is all set to go :D :D :D All I need to do now is book my flight which I will do next paycheck :D Yay!!!! She also approved my night off to see Vampire Weekend AND the day after, since I will surely be hungover :p

January 31, 2010 Good Stuff

Oh hai good stuff blog! I seem to have forgot about you! Truth is, I've been a little swamped lately with work and finding out that I have to work during the superbowl, so it's been hard to focus on good stuff. But I have to learn to still focus on good stuff even when it's hard! I made today a good day!

Instead of going to get coffee around my house, I decided to go to my favorite PJ's on Magazine street uptown. There's just something about the atmosphere uptown that I just love. Anyone who's been to New Orleans probably knows what I mean. I just love Magazine street. So I headed over to PJ's and got my coffee and then did a little shopping.

I found a tshirt that I've been wanting at funrockin' but they didn't have my size...but their store in the french quarter did! So they held it for me and I drove down there to get it. There were men in dresses everywhere in the french quarter because a famous radio talk show host down here who has since died always said if the Saints ever made it to the super bowl, he would wear a red dress. So today was "men in dresses day" in the quarter...I was not aware of this fact until I got down there. The funny thing is, I didn't even look twice...I just figured it was normal quarter folk. But anyway, I got my tshirt! And I also got some cajun boiled peanuts and the most awesome little wooden carved frog from the french market!!!! It has little ridges on it's back and comes with a little wooden stick, and when you run the stick along it's back, it sounds like it's going "ribbit!" :D I love it!! The lady who carves them makes crickets that sound like they're chirping too!

Came home and mom fried fish which was delicious! and then just relaxed and watched tv. And now I'm FINALLY updating this blog. I swear, I'm going to try to keep up to date with this blog for now on...it really makes a big difference in my moods when I do...I've noticed that. Ok..well that's all for today!

January 27, 2010 Good Stuff

So I feel like a bit of an ass, but I'm so freaking totally excited and exhilarated at the same time right now. I called House of Blues today to see if tickets had gone on sale yet for the Vampire Weekend show on April 9th...4 months from now...the show that hasn't yet been announced in any of the papers, music magazines, anything....yeah, they've gone on sale and the show is SOLD OUT!! I nearly cried. I can't tell you how upset I was. Megan had to just sit in the car and pat my back for a little while and tell me it would be ok while I became all doom and gloom. Well, I decided to do some research at work on some of the middleman ticket exchange websites and I found tickets! And I got two!! For um...$77 a piece :/ Actually they were $59 a piece but after you pay shipping and "processing" they're a bit more. And that was the cheapest tickets I could find. But I don't even care at this point because what this means is that I'm going to see Vampire Weekend on Friday April 9th :D Me and Megan both said we don't care what we pay, we're just doing it...we're having fun...we haven't been to a "big" show that wasn't a local band in ages and we're treating ourselves! Now I just need you all to tell me that it's worth the price of 3 hardback books! Yes, I measure things in the price of books...don't judge me!

In other good news, I've started Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon and it's so freaking good!!!! Why have I shied away from Chabon for so long? I was convinced that I would either hate him or that he would be too smart for me or something....but god I love this book! It's nonfic, so I still need to try his fiction, but I'm totally in love with this book :) I'm also reading the Hobbit for the third or fourth time and it's just as good as the first! God I love Tolkien!

Hmmm....what else....No headaches! No headaches since the night of the Saints game which was Sunday and I only got a headache that night from screaming and drinking too much. But my massage really has helped out quite a bit. Ok...that's all for tonight...I needs sleep!

January 25, 2010 Good Stuff

I think I might drop the handwritten journal and just start blogging the good stuff. I find that I actually enjoy writing in a blog a lot more than writing in the journal. Though I do like writing in a journal too! Just not every day. But anyway, onto good stuff!

*Seeing everyone's smiling faces everywhere I went today. Everyone is still riding high on the Saints' win last night and I expect that the city will be for a long time. I went and bought my NFC Champs tshirt and hat today and I love them! Same ones they had on during the award ceremony last night. You should've seen the crowds out to get them!!

*I had my massage today for my headaches and it was soooo nice. Though a little painful, but painful in that good way. Masseuse said that I should be headache free for the next few days after all the work she did today!

*Good books :) I really have been super lucky so far this year! I've really enjoyed every book I've read so far and I'm really excited about reading. Ok, well that's no surprise there, but sometimes I just love that excitement that reading can give you.

*All of my good online friends that still seem to love me despite the fact that I've been a stranger this weekend. Love you guys!!!

January 24th Good Stuff!

Really really freaking good stuff!! Do I even need to tell you what the good stuff is for today?? The Saints are going to the freaking super bowl for the first freaking time EVER!! I'm so freaking excited that I couldn't even write this down in my journal first...I'm just typing it up right on the blog. Seriously, this city has been waiting forever for this. I know I've been waiting for this since I was a little boy. I've never been much of a sports fan, but I've always followed the Saints. There's something about them...they're more than just a football team. They have character like no one else. Just an amazing bunch of guys and such great fans!!

I can't even begin to tell you what this city is like right now. I can't even put it into words. It's basically like anarchy has broken out, but a peaceful, loving type of anarchy. After the game you could hear fireworks and screams (good screams) coming from neighborhoods everywhere. My entire family was just in one big hug and everyone was crying. This is more than just football to us folks in New Orleans...it represents a lot. Really emotional.

Then we get in the car to head uptown and EVERYBODY on the roads is honking their horns like crazy and screaming out their windows :D It was SO much fun. We made a pit stop at Walmart first and the people at Walmart kept screaming Who Dat over the loud speakers :p Needless to say, everyone everywhere is just ecstatic. As am I. And to top off the night, I got on twitter to see that Neil Gaiman said "who dat" tonight too :D

Ah, I'm in such a good mood right now!!!!

January 22, 2010 Good Stuff

*Hour long twiter conversations with Jason, Amanda, Ana and Eva. I had so much fun today just chatting for hours (?) on twitter!! Talking about video games and music and whatever else. It put me in the best mood for the rest of the day.

*Jason's kitty fund in memory of Neil and Nancy's cats spawned from tweets between him and Neil himself! Even though it has nothing to do with me, it got me so excited when I saw that Jason and Neil tweeted each other :D

*I actually slept in today which helped my mood a lot. I haven't been sleeping good lately and I don't know why. But last night I slept very sound and didn't wake up until NOON today!

*I had a really good counseling session tonight!

*I redid my iPod yesterday and it's so good to have all new songs to listen too and stuff that I'm not sick of....yay music!

*Went out for drinks with Megan after the counseling session and saw Leslie who I hadn't seen in a long time. I missed her a lot. It was good catching up with her!

*New York! New York!

January 20, 2010 Good Stuff

*I decided today that I'm definitely going to New York this summer. Probably not til around August, but yeah. I want to tart traveling more. I need to find a way to start doing that in an affordable way. Because there are SO many places that I want to see that I haven't I'm so very UNtraveled :(

*Vampire Weekend is number one on the Billboards! I would have never thought that, but congratulations to them!! And thanks to Ana for pointing it out to me :) And I swear I'll stop talking about Vampire Weekend.....eventually...

*I got a new client today and it sounds like someone who's going to be really good to work with. He's a young guy and seems to have a lot of motivation for change. I was just getting worried again yesterday about being back down to only one client and then I got this call today, so definitely a good thing.

*I started reading Little Brother by Cory Doctrow today in e-book format just to see if I would like it and got TOTALLY hooked by the story. It's so good!! He used the word "teh" in the first chapter. As in "teh kittehs!" I'm in love. Wasn't expecting to like it this much. Only thing is, I wasn't expecting to add a fourth book to the "currently reading" list. :/

*I saw two pelicans sitting on the pipes in the canal today and they were huge and gorgeous. I wish I would've had my camera. those birds amaze me even though I see them all the time.

*There's an awesome thunderstorm going on right now as I'm writing this.

January 19, 2010 Good Stuff

*I got off of work half an hour early today. That's always a good thing.

*I'm thinking of getting a new car. This excites me to no end. But I don't know if I should or not. the thing is I CAN right now, but that doesn't mean that I should. My logic is, "oh, I've been paying a car note for 5 years now, so nothing will change." But the truth is, my car's in fine condition aside from needing new tires. I'm just sick of it. I just need to think of it and not act on impulses. But I REALLY want a new car...I tend to get sick of cars after 3 or 4 years :/ I've been driving for 13 years now and this would be my fourth car if I got a new one!

*Today was sort of a melancholy day which I guess is a good thing. It wasn't particularly great and nothing horrible happened. Just sort of blah...

January 18, 2010 Good Stuff

*Gifts arriving to friends and being a good gift after all when you were worried they'd be awful! I sent Jason a book about Emily Dickinson's gardens because it sounded really cool and was worried he either A. would have it already or B. wouldn't have it because he had no desire to read something like that :p But it turns out it was a book he wanted!

*Great tshirts. Saw a shirt today on someone that said "outlaw organized religion. stop the violence." How true that statement can be at times....especially these times.

*Another wonderful email from a friend that cheered me up!

*On my way into work today, my favorite radio station played the best row of music! "Diplomat's Son" by Vampire Weekend, "Drumming Song" by Florence + the Machine, "So Says I" by The Shins, and then "Blood" by The Middle East (the video I linked to the other day!). And I'm sure they played more good stuff, but I had to go into work so I didn't get to hear any more :(

January 16, 2010 Good Stuff

Today was just a generally good day. I went to bed at a somewhat decent time after a good night at work and woke up late. Which means I slept a lot which is good. I got my prescriptions filled, got my morning coffee and then Megan and I went to Half Moon to watch the Saints game which was a good thing in itself. We won 45-14 and are now advancing to the NFC Championship!! Went to dinner at an Italian restaurant after that which got me sick, but we won't talk about that. Laughed the whole way home. Wrote a book review finally. Read a book in the tub with a Lush bath bomb and then ate a piece of king cake and got the baby. I'm going to bed a happy man tonight!

January 15, 2010 Good Stuff

*Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer announced their engagement today. There's so much happiness in this!! It's kind of freaky how much one can be in love with another couple, but I just think that they are the most awesome pair and they seem so genuinely happy. It puts a smile on my face!

*The thought of trave makes me happy. There are so many great trips I'd like to go on. A few I'm really considering. One is to New York possibly this summer or later in the year. And today I heard about Neil Gaiman and the people at The House on the Rock planning a weekend during Halloween at the House on the Rock themed around American Gods! I would die! I seriously want to go so bad and Megan and I have already started talking about it. I've never been out of the south (:() so both of these would be totally awesome!

*I'm seriously in love with the new Vampire Weekend album. Like, can't stop listening to it. And I can't wait to see them on April 9th!! I'm getting White Sky, Run and Diplomat's Son stuck in my head all the time and driving people at work crazy singing them. It's ok though because Rachel sings Regina Spektor in the office all the time, so even though we both make odd vocal noises all day, we're both introducing people to good music!

*If no one else wants to host a mini-challenge in February for the Graphic Novel Challenge, I totally want to just because of an LOLCat I made from Pat's cat, BooBoo :D He was playing air guitar! It begged for it!


*My new migraine meds rock! They get rid of my headaches without any side effects. Maxalt - Try it!

*The Saints are playing in the divisional playoffs tomorrow!! Hopefully this will still be a good thing tomorrow!

January 13, 2010 Good Stuff

While the earthquake and the horrible loss of life and destruction in Haiti is most definitely not a good thing, the outpouring of emotion by the rest of the world and the aid that has been given so far is. It saddens me so much that it takes a disaster like this for the world to unite for aid and charity and to reach out and embrace each other as humans, but it brings me to tears that we are capable of uniting in this big of a way. What a strong and beautiufl force during a horrible and devastating time. There are other good things to focus on today, but everything else seems so damn trivial right now that I can't even begin to write it down. Maybe tomorrow....

January 12, 2010 Good Stuff

*Today I'm in love with biofeedback. #nerd. One thing I love about this exercise of noticing the positive in life is that it's starting to become an unconscious thing for me. And on only the 12th day. Tonight was hell at work. Pure hell. Very interesting patients. I love my patients, but I hate the beurocratic bullshit at that place. I realized all of a sudden tonight that I was just exhausted. My back hurt, my feet hurt, I was getting aggravated, so I just stopped for a second and listened to what my body was telling me. I sat down in my chair and put my feet up on my desk and closed my eyes for five minutes and just let my muscles relax. And after five minutes I felt so much better.

*The people that I work with. And by that I mean the people I serve, not my coworkers. I know that other people's mental illnesses should not be one of my "good things" but the truth is, it fascinates me how our brains work. Particularly with the people who come into our trauma program. I've been forming more and more of an interest in working with survivors of physical, sexual and emotional trauma in my own private practice. The cases are very sad, but at the same time, it's amazing what the brain is capable of doing to help us deal with these issues.

*Caffeine. I love my coffee so much, but sometimes I'm just especially fond of it's natural active ingredient.

January 11, 2010 Good Stuff

*Getting my currently reading pile down to one book finally! I never thought I'd do it, but I finally have, only I'm about to crack open a second book, but that's ok because it's BLANKETS!

*Curling up in a warm bed with blankets and Blankets.

*My favorite station on XM Radio had a two hour show today dedicated to playing the entire Contra album with commentary by Ezra and Chris from Vampire Weekend. Made of awesome!

*I had a really good counseling session tonight that was totally unexpected. It was really sad though, but I'm proud of my client and I just wanted to hug him after. He did a lot of hard work today and talked about a lot of hard things and I had to fight back tears myself. I'm really just so damn proud of how far he's come in three months.

*My doctor is starting me on new migraine meds since the ones I'm on are crap. I can't tell you how happy this makes me! The possibility of once again having relief is just wonderful!!

*I finished Above His Shoulders by Dan Williams today and what a truly amazing book and amazing journey it was. It's the resource I'd suggest for anyone who's ever been molested as a child and is looking for a story to relate to. His journey and his ultimate outlook on life just breaks your heart but gives so much hope for healing. And he's a fantastic writer.

*A fancy new yellow case with a black lightning bolt made by Threadless for my iPhone!

January 10, 2010 Good Stuff

I've just generally felt good today. I don't know what it is exactly. Maybe it's this streak of cold weather that we've been having lately, maybe it's that I'm feeling better, maybe it's that I haven't worked so much. But I'm loving life right now.

I have these moments a few times a year where all of the awesome things about life kind of hit me all at once and its just overwhelming. So many wonderful things like friends and compassion, diversity, the emotion of love, creativity in all of it's forms, words, science, music, nature, books. All of these things are so beautiful and they're all there to be appreciated every single day and I overlook that so often. It's overwhelming when it all hits you at once how much the world has to offer.

*Friends. I'll never tire of listing this as a good thing. Emails shared with good friends, twitter conversations, and more importantly, the love the trust, the emotion, and the bond shared within those conversations.

*A night out with friends. Megan had friends in from Texas so we met them out in the french quarter tonight and then headed out to Half Moon for beer and hummus. Really quite a fun night! And I hadn't seen Andy in like three years so it was good to catch up on what's been going on.

*Mix CDs!! I love making mix CDs, even if they're for myself :p I love the CD I made tonight. It has lots of Vampire Weekend (who I'm seeing in March!!!!), Tegan and Sarah, The Middle East, Kings of Convenience, Phoenix, XX, and Passion Pit among others. Music in general just makes me happy :D

January 9, 2010 Good Stuff

*On my way home from getting coffee this morning I saw a hawk pick a fish up out of the canal and fly away with it in it's talons! I've never seen anything like that. And it flew right next to my car for a few seconds. Amazing!

*Weird psychic thingies. Or whatever explanation you want to use. For some odd reason I was thinking earlier about how I hadn't really heard Ana talk about her brother in a long time. I have no idea why that would've popped into my head (not in journal: The whole thing I was thinking about was bloggers' families and how I've gotten to know them...wasn't really pondering on it, it was just in the back of my mind while I was getting ready and for some reason my thoughts ended on Ana's brother. *stalky stalk* :p) But then she posted about him today on her private blog! I love it when stuff like this happens, though at the same time, it weirds me out a little when things that specific happen.

*Waking up and seeing an email that Margo Lanagan is following me on Twitter. Yes, I know authors are normal people just like everyone else, but I squealed a little bit when I saw that. I just love her.

*Wonderful friends that I can share my pains and joys with who know that they can do the same. It's such a wonderful thing to have supports that care and that are just beautiful, wonderful people.

*Feeling good enough to go back to work tonight and the fact that my first day back was SLOW.

*Freshly washed sheets!!

January 8, 2010 Good Stuff

*Emails from friends that can move you to tears, conversations on Twitter that make you want to reach through the screen and hug someone and phone calls from sweet friends just checking up on you. All in one day. I feel loved!

*My naked Japanese neighbors. The people who live behind us walk around their house naked all the time! And their back door is a sliding glass door with a curtain that can close. I've seen it closed before. Well, I went out to smoke the other day and the curtain was open and the man and woman were both walking around with no shirt on. I didn't want them to see me and know that I had seen the woman topless, so I ducked down. Well yesterday, I went outside and same thing, but their patio door was actually open this time and the man waved at me! So I just smiled and waved back. It's not like they're swingers or anything. At least I don't think so. they seem like a very nice couple, probably in their mid 40's who just find nothing wrong with being naked all the time! And who am I to judge. If I were comfortable enough with it, I'd probably be naked all the time too. But that will never happen :p

*A wonderful cup of Orange Dulce tea in my favorite mug wrapped in my my mug warmer that Eva made for me!

*Having discovered a new favorite book, Tender Morsels, so early on in the year!

*Discovering the craftzine.com website thanks to Jason! Now I just wish I were talented enough to actually create something that's on that website.

January 7, 2010 Good Stuff

*Calling in sick to work. I woke up this morning still feeling like shit and thought to myself that I really just need a day off. So I did it. I've never heard of a place aside from my job that makes you go to work sick. that's the reason that I'm sick in the first place. But today I just said "absolutely no, I'm sorry, but you'll have to find someone else." And it's just been a wonderful day of laying in bed and getting better in pajamas all day and reading.

*Tender Morsels. I'm almost finished and OMG what an amazing book. I just can't get over how much I love this book and now I just don't want it to end. I'm hanging on to the 50 pages I have left like they're precious gems.

*I bought a humidifier today and it's like a little tank of awesome. I wake up every morning, even when I'm not sick, unable to breathe, so one of the nurses at work suggested I get one and it really is helping!

*Megan gave me my Christmas present from Nicole (her sister) today and it's a giant homemade sushi pillow!! I love it! It's so fluffy and soft. She says it's a crunchy roll, but I'm convinced that it's actually a tuna roll.

January 6, 2010 Good Stuff

*Hugs from Mom when you're feeling sick. I don't think you can ever be too old for that and really, nothing feels better when you're just all together feeling like shit.

* Really comfy pajamas and getting under the covers in bed. Is there a better feeling in the world? I don't know? Well I do know of a few, but not too many...

*Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation. Just Wow!! This book is made of awesome. It's science and history and evolution and beautiful pictures all wrapped into one.

*Vampire Weekend is coming here on April 19th and I'm going!! And Contra comes out on Tuesday! I'm so excited!!

*Jason's post on why GLBT issues matter to him.

*Therapy (my job). I just love what I do so much and I forget that sometimes because of all of the bullshit that goes on with administration. But sometimes I stop and just really think about it and it makes me so happy to be doing what I love and to continue to learn more about the field.

*Watching a handwritten journal fill up is just wonderful :)

January 5, 2010 Good Stuff

*I actually crocheted a chain last night. Now it wasn't perfect. Some stitches were bigger than others and my hook would get stuck in the middle of a piece of yarn sometimes and I'd have to start over, but I have the basics down. Now I have absolutely no idea how to do more than a chain. It all sounds so damn confusing after that!

*Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Formula. This stuff is wonderful, though this cold is not. Aside from prescription stuff, it's the only thing I've ever found that's given me relief. While we're celebrating cold remedies, let's go with mentholated cough drops to soothe a sore throat too. Ah yes...

*"Blood" by The Middle East is such a beautiful and moving song that I just want to crawl into and listen to over and over again and let itself wrap its melody around me. And the painting on the album cover is just wonderful. (not in journal, but here's a pic of the album cover:)And here's a link for the video for the song which is really just as beautiful as the song itself. Gah, it's so awesome!!

*This cold weather. There's something so wonderful and electric about arctic air. I love to just breathe it in, especially in the night time. It clears up sinuses pretty well too!

*Twitter and today in particular, Bill Willingham's tweets on reasons to read Fables.

January 4, 2010 Good Stuff

*Megan's back in town! She had been gone for a week to have a late Christmas and New Year with her family and I missed her. So it was good to spend a couple of hours together after work just driving around talking and listening to music.

*I bought some new yarn and I'm really excited! I'm thinking that maybe the reason I had so much of a problem learning to crochet the first time was that I was using this thick "wool-ease" yarn with a smaller, size E hook, but tonight I bought some "cotton-ease" yarn which my creepy cute crochet book recommends in all of the awesome colors I need!

*Hot mochas on cold nights are just perfect. We stopped by CC's tonight and got one since the temps are in the 20's and 30's tonight. Delish!

*Jrock! I haven't listened to any Jrock in ages, but I downloaded "Gravity" by Luna Sea last night and it brought me right back to 6 or 7 years or so ago when I went through my big Japan phase. I remember Megan singing that song with her cousin at karaoke night at Numa Rei No Con....ah, nostalgia.

January 3, 2010 Good Stuff

*New music. I've found so much great new music lately like Atlas Sound, Passion Pit, The Middle East, the new Tegan and Sara album, Deer Tick, etc...and I continue my obsession with Florence and the Machine. Music is a constant in my life that never ceases to make me happy.

*The Saints. Ok, so we didn't win on the best of notes - a 3 game losing streak. BUT we had a 13-3 season, we're the NFC leaders, have a first round bye in the playoffs, and homefield advantage for the second game. I'll take that anyday over how our seasons normally go!

*I saw the cutest little black boy and his mom running around his bicycle today chasing each other with the biggest smiles on their faces. Just going round and round in circles and he was laughing so much. He must have been about 4 or 5 years old. It was infectious and just made me smile too. There's nothing more beautiful than a happy child.

*Cold weather. Oh how I love cold weather!! We're supposed to have periods of temperatures in the 30's all week! And we've had the fireplace burning all day today! AND on Friday, we have a high of 34 degrees with a low of 26! They're saying we may even have a chance of snow!! Some people hate it, but I absolutely love it. It's invigorating.

*I had a two hour nap today and it was wonderful. I love naps.

*This journal and this idea and the friend that gave this idea to me. Truth be told, I had to force myself to do this today. I was in a mood. Kind of a funky mood, and by that I mean depressed. But I already feel so much better having brought to mind all of this good stuff. I guess you can't feel totally depressed when you're working the happy parts of your brain. There's science behind this exercise!

*science.

January 2, 2010 Good Stuff

*Beer from friends. As I write this, I'm drinking my ImPaledAle that Debi and Rich brought me from a local brewery in New York and it's delicious!

*An afternoon spent with family. Went to Serrano's with mom and Michelle tonight to celebrate Michelle finishing school and after that we all went to Borders. I have a hard time sometimes being social with my family and don't know why but I had fun. I bought Jonathan Safron Foer's Eating Animals, Anne Rice's Angel's Time, and Michael Chabon's new autobiography.

*I actually finished my first book of the year on the first day of the year and reviewed it on the second day of the year. And I loved it! Dave McKean's Pictures That Tick. Good Stuff indeed. And I replied to comments on my blog.

*Baths with bath bombs from Lush with bath pillows and Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels. Perfect.

*Hanes comfort band boxer briefs. Comfy.

*Days off of work.

January 1, 2010 Good Stuff

*Good Friends:
-Rachel went out with me for New Years eve last night to the Half Moon and it was nice to have someone just to talk to and relate to. And someone who genuinely wanted to spend their New Years Eve with me
- When I complained about work on Twitter today, so many people sent good thoughts, but Ana in particular reminded me of so many wonderful things and people that I love

*Hong Kong Kitchen's sweet and sour chicken with spicy lemon sauce! Hadn't had it in ages and it was so good!!

*Pills. Because without them I don't know how the hell I'd deal with my my migraines

*The start of a New Year. This one is kind of a good and a bad thing. It always depresses me for some reason because it's a chance to think of another year that I have NOT accomplished some things, but at the same time, it's nice to have a fresh start and a clean slate. So I'm looking forward to 2010.

* The Golden Girls. They're my comfort show and just make me laugh. I hope they never cancel the reruns.

*Fountain pens. Because they're just fun to write with.