73. December 10

Today my roommate and I took a beautiful drive to hike and see some scenery. It was a frigid day, but the sun was out and the scenery was incredible. My kind of day. Tonight, Jordan I went out to dinner and then to a symphony holiday concert with friends. We spent the remainder of the evening talking and listening to music. Good day, right? Then I decided to ruin the good day by staying up ridiculously late to the point of crankiness, recycling at one thirty in the morning, getting into an awkward confrontation at the recycling bins with a guy I went out with a few times (I mean what was he doing there anyhow?), listening to the same guy laugh about it with friends when he thought I was out of earshot, and then wasting an hour online giving myself more reasons to be moody.

Moral of the story? When the night is over, go to bed. Don't attempt confrontations when tired. Recognize that lack of sleep enhances crankiness and things will seem better in the morning. Nothing is so terrible important that it needs to be done at one thirty in the morning (as I am blogging at three in the morning). Don't let sour notes spoil a whole day.

But I don't want this post to be about crankiness, because things like gorgeous scenery, good friends, and incredible symphony music should be adequate to swallow all other unpleasantness. Why is unpleasantries not a word but pleasantries is? I'm adding that to my rant list.

Moving on.

HERE is the view I was blessed to see today:

HERE is the quote I've been saving for a good day, and dang it all, today deserves to be that day whether it ended that way or not.

"Life is so full of unpredictable beauty and strange surprises. Sometimes that beauty is too much for me to handle. Do you know that feeling? When something is just too beautiful? When someone says something or writes something or plays something that moves you to the point of tears, maybe even changes you."
— Mark Oliver Everett, Things the Grandchildren Should Know

Mr. Everett does an eloquent job of describing an emotion I have oft felt.I haven't read this book, but twenty Amazon users gave it a five-star rating. If Amazon loved it, it's gotta be good, right?