Ricky Buchanan ([info]rickybuchanan) wrote,
@ 2008-08-03 18:49:00
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The happy places not-a-meme
[info]synecdochic posted just recently, asking people to List ten things that are your current happy places. She described "happy places" thus:

You know, the thing you retreat to doing or reading or watching or thinking about or whatever when you need to get away from all the things that are conspiring against you. The images you conjure when you close your eyes and chant "go to your happy place, go to your happy place". Those.


I took a while to get a response together, and in the end I'm pretty sure some of these aren't "happy places" by her definition but they're things about my life that make me happy. And it was good thinking about the positive things for a change - I've had a rough few weeks with a virus and my health generally so I've been a bit focussed on the negative. Trying to think of ten positive things was good therapy! Thanks, synecdochic :).

So here's my list:


  1. Although I only have 3 current PCAs (ie: not nearly enough) they are all competent and nice to be around and good at understanding when I appear inexplicably snappy and explain later that I was in pain/too exhausted to cope/whatever.

  2. Cuddles with my cat. Always a wonderful thing.

  3. I've been rewatching the Starwars movies (the original trillogy, not the icky mess of the new movies) with Flatmate which is wonderful fun.

  4. Talking and thinking and reading about Dreamwidth, especially the IRC discussion channel!

  5. My osteopath (USA translation "physical therapist"?? Doesn't translate exactly) just came so I am all melty and full of endorphins right now.

  6. The regular and wonderful "DVD extras" that Shadow Unit are making available even though they're between seasons.

  7. Extra cuddling with the cat because it's the coldest bit of winter.

  8. Watching 'Bones' from the start. Unfortunately I'm spoiled about the ending of the latest USA season but it's still fun. Usually I don't mind spoilers at all but it's difficult to watch the early seasons and know the stuff that's going to happen to my favourite character.

  9. My guilty love for the all-but-content-free TV shows CSI & CSI:NY! They're fun and fluffy ... TV brain candy :).

  10. Audio books. The thing I can do when I can't manage to do anything else. My in-progress audiobooks are currently - 'Genius' by Gleick (a biography of Feynmann), 'Stumbling On Happiness' by Gilbert (the current thinky book - very interesting), and 'Post Captain' by Patrick O'brian (the current non-thinky book, "age of sail" fiction).


I think I sort-of cheated by putting the cat in twice, so I'll plead exhaustion as my excuse!

What's making you happy just now?

Hugs,
Ricky

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[info]acelightning
2008-08-03 09:22 am UTC (link)
an osteopath in the US is usually a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, or D.O., with many of the same privileges (e.g., prescribing drugs) as an M.D.

that Dreamwidth thing sounds extremely promising... but it says "Coming Summer 2008", and it's already late summer 2008...

i dunno about ten things that make me happy, but one thing that makes me happy is reading a journal entry from you ;-)
my "happy place", the imaginary location i escape to when i absolutely have to escape, isn't exactly a "place". in this scenario, i am in a jet airliner at night. a thousand meters or so below me is a solid layer of clouds - people on the ground are enduring an overcast and rainy night. but up here, a full Moon is shining, and the top surface of the clouds is dazzling silvery-white. and above me, above the Moon, the sky is full of brilliant stars. i hear the normal sound of a jet in flight - a "pink noise" rumble combined with two high-pitched whistling tones a fourth apart - as i glide peacefully along through the magickal night...

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[info]rachelholkner
2008-08-03 09:49 am UTC (link)
Your three audio books sound fascinating. *sigh* 'Cause I need more to read like a brick to the head.
Teaching Abbey about averages at the dinner table is making me happy. My current brain candy (no-brain candy?) is the new US season of So You Think You Can Dance?

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[info]lauredhel
2008-08-03 09:52 am UTC (link)
- Reading the Moomintroll books to my kid.

- Voyaging around the internets. This really hit home to me when we were without power for around 12 hours a few weeks ago. No internet = I have to inhabit my body. Reading paper books or magazines doesn't take me out of myself enough, and I find pain builds up and up, I feel increasingly worse. (As well as the physical effort of holding and turning the pages. I know there are ways around this, but I normally don't read for long enough for it to be a problem.) When I'm internetting, I project out of myself enough so that my body isn't screaming at me anymore.

- Anticipating the new season's TV shows. Mad Men! Bring on Mad Men! And Dexter, and Heroes, and Chuck, and The Office, and Big Love! I'm missing Doctor Who and BSG, though.

- If I have to think up a happy place, it's usually either a particular little forest waterfall near Margaret River, or watching the sunset from the rocks down at Augusta, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet.

Edited at 2008-08-03 09:53 am UTC

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[info]sheramil
2008-08-03 10:23 am UTC (link)
y'know, most of the Starbuckses closed last week. :/

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[info]acelightning
2008-08-03 10:45 am UTC (link)
oh dear - the company-wide "downsizing" must have hit Australia much more than the US, then. but there must still be a few quirky little coffee shoppes that didn't get driven out of business by Starbucks - and they probably serve better coffee anyway.

*hands you a French press*

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[info]sheramil
2008-08-03 11:11 am UTC (link)
there are a few other frou-frou coffee outlets around, but i don't want to be seen in any of them in case any of the former Starbucks baristas see me.

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[info]acelightning
2008-08-03 12:01 pm UTC (link)
the former Starbucks baristas are all on the dole now, and can't afford the frou-frou coffee.

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[info]rickybuchanan
2008-08-04 02:45 pm UTC (link)
Think of all those calories you're saving!!

Where are you walking to now instead, though?

Hugs,
r

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[info]little_sista
2008-08-04 02:44 am UTC (link)
(My guilty love for the all-but-content-free TV shows CSI & CSI:NY! They're fun and fluffy ... TV brain candy :). )
I also love Cold Case and I agree with you on the cat comment though I also have a dog that snuggles into my back at night, they all have their spots to give me extra warmth

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[info]dahliablue
2008-08-04 04:36 am UTC (link)
What a great meme!

Cuddling with a cat is definitely a happy place. :)

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[info]call_me_lovey
2008-08-25 02:26 pm UTC (link)
Hiya,

This is really interesting. I don't have 10 happy places but I can list 10 things that make me happy (in no order).

1.Anywhere with animals (luckily I live in the country) I love all animals, even those with 6 legs. Every time I see a cat or a dog in a shelter I want to rescue it & take it home, no matter that I’ve already got 4 cats. One is needy & screams, so I *know* he couldn’t handle another in the house, especially if it was male.

2.Kissing my dog. He’s a 2½ y.o. Border collie & I’m completely in love with him. He jumps up & licks my nose. I could watch him whirling round with his toys all day. It’s nice to know that at least *somebody* is pleased to see you.

3.Sky. I love looking at the sky & have done since I was little. I’m fascinated by it. I love sunsets.

4.Listening to music. I never normally listen to the radio, but I found a 70s album radio programme the other day, heard a song I liked on it [‘There’s No Way Out Of Here’ by David Gilmour] When I was listening to that I don’t think I thought about my disability *once*.

5.Concerts. Most bands I like are/were better live but due to my disability (cerebral palsy) going to concerts is very difficult so I haven’t seen too many. Mind you I’ve seen more than most. I checked myself out of hospital to see Iron Maiden who were every bit as good as I expected. I’ve seen Gary Moore twice; he is amazing live. I’d never heard anything so loud in my life, my whole wheelchair shook & so did the disabled area. I loved it. He saw me flinch when he was playing ‘Parisienne Walkways’, so he came near me & played it louder. (I can’t stand that song myself but he can play what he likes. I’m just happy to get to see him once let alone twice. I once heard of somebody who saw him 30 times & *still* complained.) The only problem is when you listen to him afterwards it sounds a bit dull. Could you speak up a bit??

6.Record collectors’ shops. It’s amazing what some people recklessly give away, me included. I’ve had 2nd hand stuff from them & it’s been fine. I really don’t know how half of them stay open because everyone downloads or goes to http://www.amazon.co.uk now, but I hope they do. A lot of them are hard to get my wheelchair in but it beats staying at home.

7.The Silver & Blue Room [a sensory room] at the place where I used to do my physio. I was really little. There were fibre optics all over the floor & shiny stuff everywhere.

8.Thai green curry, with beer, followed by coffee later, especially if there’s a copy of The Sun nearby, & even more so if Jeremy Clarkson is in it.

9.Finding clothes that are not only comfortable but actually fit me. I’m very stiff so I need to have clothes a size bigger than I need so I can breathe & move. I *hate* clothes shopping so I’m pleased when I find some that fit because I don’t have to go for a while….

10.When people say “I saw this & thought of you” & then give me something I *really* like.

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[info]jazzerat
2008-08-04 08:18 am UTC (link)
Oh my. I don't HAVE ten happy places. Mine would be described simply by three.
1. Performing music with friends of similar or higher skill levels. That is probably the biggest high I can get in my life.
2. Listening to music.
3. Walking in quiet nature settings i.e. nature preserves, forests, animal sanctuaries.

When I can't do any of the above and need solace, I may play an instrument quietly to myself or read a book.

These are the "places" I seek for escape when I'm unhappy and the things that bring me the most joy in life.

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[info]jazzerat
2008-08-04 08:20 am UTC (link)
Putting your kitty in twice isn't cheating. He's VERY sweet, very cute and deserves twice the attention, too! :) He's twice the happy place is all!

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