I write a good things post every day on Facebook, usually in the evening between 8 and 10 pm. Sometimes, during the course of the day, I jot down good things in my Notes app on my phone so I don’t forget about them. Some of the good things are small stuff, like a hug from someone or the sight of spring flowers. Some are big things, of course: an event or an experience, or something I did. Some are silly, some are just notice of something yummy I ate.
I’ve found that it’s not hard to find good things throughout each day, even if some days are overwhelmed by something big and bad. And it may be weird to write a good things list even on the days that were not so great, or when there were maybe only a few things, but there’s almost always SOMETHING. Even when I’m really sick, for example, I can be glad that there are medicines or a fresh cool pillowcase, or my husband checking in on me.
Some friends, both IRL and online, have told me or written that my good things list is a day brightener for them, too, and some people have written their own. One friend here in Sweden is pretty regular about writing hers, and it’s so nice to see actual content from someone on social media, instead of just cut-and-paste sharing of a meme or a link. I appreciate knowing what people are doing, what’s going on in their lives, and what they find good in their lives.
In the spirit of balance, here are some of the “bad” things from this week so far (and it’s only Wednesday): an all-day seminar on a subject I am very ambivalent about (though I missed a couple of hours of it due to a doctor’s appointment) with a lecturer I didn’t much like, still having stuffed up sinuses and head, nosebleeds due to the ridiculous amount of noseblowing I have had to do, an upgrade to a major program that screwed things up because I didn’t realize it was OLDER than the version I already had installed, feeling very down about the state of the world and rage about my homeland’s government and idiocy, major ambivalence about figuring out alternatives to Facebook and Kindle, pain in the ass clients at work who don’t respond, or are unclear, or have ridiculous requests and super tight deadlines, my fairly new little computer mouse suddenly malfunctioning, insomnia nearly every night, stress about my mom and my impending trip to the US, being alone too much, really bad violent dreams, the nerve medicine not working as well as it did a month ago leading to burning pain in my feet, ripping a hole in my left middle finger on something sharp (didn’t bleed though), pain in my hips if I walk too much, having a mini-breakdown in my manager’s office, the antiques place refusing all of the items I brought to sell, sharp pain in my shoulder if I don’t sit right at work, and having an itchy back in places I can’t easily reach.
HA! Almost all of those are very much outweighed by the good things, but it’s funny to rip them all off like that.
Yesterday, after work, I drove straight to Malmö and picked up Martin and Theo. We went to Claeshallen to try and sell a few “nicer” items that I never use (bombed out) and stopped in the thrift shop next door just to look. Then we drove in downtown, parked and walked over to Davidshallstorg only to find the antique shops all closed except one. The proprietor there said she’d be interested in taking a look at my stuff (which I had left in the car), and possibly some of the stuff from Ingvar’s, and gave me her card to send her photos this weekend. I did get a card from Claeshallen that they provide estate cleanout services, which I’ll pass on to Anders and Maria.
Then we walked the rest of the way into the center of Malmö to Brewdog, which is where Theo works, though he was off yesterday. We had a booth reserved for us, and after getting drinks (and a huge glass of ice water for me), and greeting all of Theo’s coworkers, we sat down and ordered dinner. Karin showed up about 20 minutes later and we had a very nice meal. I had a chicken bacon avocado sandwich on ciabatta and a little mac and cheese! No one has mac and cheese in Sweden so I couldn’t resist.
We were there for Tuesday Quiz Night which Martin and Theo have participated in quite a lot and even won a couple of times. It’s run by a Scottish guy who is a friend of theirs and it was HARD and really fun. There were 20 questions worth 30 or so points and a “doodle box” where you have to draw something on the evenings subject, which this time was “a parrot in a suit”. We were pretty confident of most of the questions, apart from the first one which we should have gotten but were completely off-base with. Then we came to the last section which was 4 music questions where he played 1 minute each of 4 songs and you had to guess the artist and the title, and then guess the theme for the 4 songs. We didn’t know ANY of them except one title, and the theme turned out to be “on the soundtrack for GTA5”, which, what? hahahaha! NO ONE WOULD EVER GET THAT RIGHT, BE SERIOUS.
We thought our doodle was a surefire winner (it’s a separate prize), as we came up with a parrot astronaut in a spaceSUIT floating among the stairs. I sketched it out and then Martin drew the final doodle, but unfortunately we were beaten by a team that had done a SUIT OF CARDS with a parrot. Very clever! We lost by one point to them as well, taking second place which was a 250 kronor voucher for Brewdog. Not bad, and it was a lot of fun hanging out with the kids, even if I was zero help with the White Lotus and Pokemon questions. And I managed to drop the guys off (Karin walked to the station from the bar) AND get home by 10 pm, so win! (and a lot of good things!)
Mood: pretty good
Music: SKY—Love Song