Things that make me happy: a list

Life, in general, is a struggle. It’s an unpaved road riddled with potholes and bumps; the kind of road that your dad decides to take despite his best judgment in a desperate attempt to “find a shortcut.” The point is, life is tough. There’s a buttload of trials and tribulations one must face daily, whether it be at school, work or within the family. But there are things we all hold dear that get us through the long days and endless weeks; things that support us until the we’re embraced lovingly by our savior, the weekend. So, for your reading pleasure, here’s a few things that make me happy.

Led Zeppelin: I could listen to Led Zeppelin every minute of every day for the rest of my natural life. There’s not a bad track in the bunch, and their eclectic album selection provide me some rockin’ tunes for every occasion. Is it sunny outside? Well, pop in the acoustic-dominated “Led Zeppelin III.” Is the sky gray? Then opt for “Physical Graffiti.” Led Zeppelin makes me smile with every listen.

Bawls: Most of you are aware of my severe addiction to these beautiful blue bottles of ambrosia (I downed three the other night), but they don’t so much sustain my life as they do brighten it. You see, I’m a total night-owl. I do most of my quality writing, movie-watching and thinking between the hours of 9:00 and 2:00. I’ll be up on weekends until 4:00 in the morning, usually. Bawls helps me achieve this mean feat – with its crisp taste, sharp fizz and highly-caffeinated essence, Bawls is just what I need to get me through the drossiness that follows a tough day. Here’s to you, Bawls.

Adobe Photoshop: Photoshop is a fantastic program. It’s handy and useful to have around, while at the same time providing the necessary tools to give yourself a handlebar mustache, if you so choose. It’s also great for adding lightsabers to photos, for the record.

Sega Genesis: Most kids grew up with an SNES. I consider the SNES to be one of the greatest video game platforms ever, but I’m proud to say that I was a Genesis kid. I loved my Genesis to death, and to this day some of those games keep occupied for hours. Sonic, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Columns … these are awesomely timeless games. Thank God for emulators and ROMs, because now I can play all of those classic games on my laptop and pocket pc. And there’s nothing better than a good game of Streets of Rage after a long day. Wait, did I say emulators and ROMs? What I meant to say was, I own all of the games I download and use them legally over a 24 hour period and then delete all traces of them from my hard drive. Yessire, completely legal.

Rotten Tomatoes: The forums over at RT provide a great community of cinephiles, people who take pride in their passion for cinema. Nothing brightens my spirits after a shift of dealing with morons at Hollywood Video than hopping on the forums and discussing the symbolism of the monolith in “2001” with a bunch of my fellow film geeks. It restores my hope.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: This is the single greatest thing to ever come out of television. Period. It is the most original, innovative and flat-out funny concept in TV history, and I’ve been a stalwart fan of the show for a better part of my life. When I come home, weary and woeful, I might pop in one of my favorite episodes and lose myself in the hilarity that is MST3k.

So, there you have it. Have things that make you happy? Go ahead and list them in a comment! I’d love to hear what types of things make other people’s lives worth living.