things that make me happy

the weather has been good lately, and i could not procrastinate doing the laundry any longer, as i was running out of clean underwear. the sight that was to greet me as i hung the clothes out to dry was nonetheless amazing. 2 weeks' worth of colourful panties!

washing and drying all those clothes made me very happy, for some reason. and the feeling i get when i finish cleaning and scrubbing the toilet and bathtub! ah bliss! maybe i am a homemaker at heart. other things that make me giddy with happiness:

clear blue skies, warm sun and crisp cold air
ay, i'm getting closer to happiness as summer draws itself into autumn. it makes me think of going outdoors, driving with the windows down, yelling inane things out of the windows and then having some warm nourishing food (like stew or hainanese chicken rice!).

new sketchbooks/journals
for some reason i almost never get to fill the last few pages of a current sketchbook, in my haste to embrace the exciting possibilities of the new one. the old sketchbook held so many of my ideas, thoughts and feelings, but with the new one, it's like having a new lover with new things to fulfil.

a whole bunch of colours
very visual. like, the feeling i get when i'm at a florists', or looking at fruit in the market, or markers in an art supplies shop. and gummy candy! gummy worms and gummy bears! hell, it could even make a monochromatic person happy for awhile.

furry pets
the warm-blooded kind that gets me all tingly inside when i hug them... dogs and cats especially. hamsters are too small. and rabbits don't like to be carried, i read somewhere. i want to take my pet on car rides to the beach! to the countryside! to the cafe!

notes in the mail
lately, these one or two years, my new year's resolution has been to write more to friends, to keep in contact through snailmail. haven't been able to achieve this til this year, when i'm abroad and away from most of the people i have been close to. it's a nice surprise to receive letters and small gifts from them in the mailbox, and the bills and junkmail seem to fade into oblivion.

breakfast
of toast, sausages, baked beans, scrambled eggs (or half-boiled with soy sauce!) and tea. usually the time of breakfast is lunchtime for me. but i'll be in a better mood throughout the day if the first meal is done right! the smell alone is enough to get me out of bed, and it helps if i haven't got school for that day too! back in singas, i used to lurrrve a late breakfast at the market, or at cafe cartel's with its free-flow coffee/tea with friends!

decorating my own space
being a messy person (read: hoarder), my domain gets stuffed with too much unnecessary junk which i collect with the thought of turning it into something pretty when i'm free. it almost never happens, but i like a cosy, warm space to live and breathe and work and cook and create in. so i try to make it that way. a few good sites i keep visiting for ideas are apartment therapy, design sponge and shoestring decorator.

good music
usually involving a cello in some way. or a piano. or a HUGE orchestra, wagner or holst-style. or occasionally, the noise of marilyn manson, NIN and green day clear the head. or ben folds, the whitlams or even jay chou.

comics/graphic novels
gaiman's sandman series comes to mind immediately. and japanese manga like slamdunk, ranma and dragonball: i own the entire sets! it is easier for me to follow a story in pictures. serious. unless i absolutely have to read a text, like for research purposes, i normally find it hard to channel enough concentration to follow a written story through to its end. the few exceptions are the harry potter series, and the daVinci code.