Things that are Nice

(that I've been thankful for lately):

• Cats. I've been re-reading William S. Burrough's book The Cat Inside today, and I just don't get how anyone could hate cats. It's such a wonderful feeling when a generally misanthropic cat (Arthur) attaches himself to you and follows you everywhere. It's equally wonderful when a little white cat (Mary) runs to the door whenever it's time to check the mail because she loves walking with you to check it. It's even kind of cute when your only true boy cat (Paul) goes through an "I'm tough and I hate my mama" phase and won't let you hold him anymore.
• Being sick. Even though it sucks and I've felt horrible these past few days, it's so comforting to think I'll be less likely to get sick this winter. Because really, what's worse than being sick in the middle of February when it's freezing out and you just want to lay in bed all day, but you can't because you have to go sit in a class where you sniffle obnoxiously the whole time?
• That little piano part in Bruce Springsteen's "The River."
• Cube Crash. I feel like a complete loon for saying this, but seriously, that game is so calming. Who knew that trying to align squares of the same color could prevent so many potential anxiety attacks?
• The fact that nobody really reads this blog. Looking back on some older posts, man, there's some pretty embarrassing stuff.
• The book Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer. I honestly didn't have high hopes for this book, mostly because of some bad reviews I've read, but gosh I love it so far. As someone who can never fully commit to any one mindset (a scientific one or an imaginative one), it's nice to see them merged so tastefully and intelligently. Maybe Marcel Proust wasn't actually a Neuroscientist, but he (along with all the other artists in the book) sure did know a heck of a lot about the human condition. And I think that's the most important thing to take from the book: science and art don't have to be separate. "Science is seen through the optic of art, and art is interpreted in the light of science. The experiment and the poem complete each other. The mind is made whole."
• My mama. She goes out of her way to make my life better so often. Whether it's spraying ant killer in my room for me, trying to cook the foods I like from Taco Bell at home, or trying super hard to find me a bookbag I like, that gal is always cookin' up something. She once wrote in a card to me that she just wanted me to be happy, and I'll never believe that coming from anyone else as much as I believe it coming from her. What a lady.
• Books. I think I love them an irrational amount. Earlier I put all of them in one pile, and it was so nice just to be completely surrounded by them. I've probably only read about 25% of the books I own, but that doesn't make them any less wonderful. All I kept thinking earlier is how happy I would be if all my walls were bookshelves and there was nothing in my room but a little bed to nap and read on.
• Hallie. Let me tell you a few things I love about my best friend. Sometimes she bursts out laughing at the most random things in the world, things you'd never even expect her (or anyone else) to laugh at, and it's great. It's contagious, too. She's also a darn good cheerer-upper, and she's letting us have a brown rug in our dorm. I love knowing that I'm lucky enough to be best friends with my favorite feminist ever, the most precious future librarian, and one of the smartest gals I've ever met. She's a firm believer in letting people "have their moments," and she deserves to have her own moments so much more. She's never stopped believing in me, and I'm so thankful she believed in me enough to let me copy her homework back when I was a lazy little thing. Not to mention how unorganized the Young Dems would be without her and her Leslie Knope attitude/emails. We have the strangest collective life, but it's also the most fun, most silly, and most ridiculously lovely collective life there ever was. At least to me.
• Finally having enough motivation to start packing for college. It feels great to be almost ready, to have almost everything. Minus some some scissors, three books, and some magnet-making supplies at least.