Happy List

ChristelAdina

This is gonna veer away from happiness for a few brief moments in the middle, but then it will get happy again. Stay with me.

I got my chair back tonight, just now. YAY!... too late to go get food (all the close shops are closed now), but tomorrow, oh tomorrow there will be groceries and coffee and I will perhaps finally do some laundry (Oh Clean Sheet Day, you are my favorite!).

Three weeks is far too long to go without food and supplies! Or people willing to help. Seriously, what's with Oregon these days? When I lived in the south, the cheerleaders upstairs, whom I did not even know would knock on my window and ask if I needed anything as they went to the store. And that was when I was completely and entirely independently mobile! I've called and messaged everyone I know (and those I am related to) in Eugene, and a great majority of my neighbors in the past weeks, and other than the building maintenance man bring me my mail and deliveries once, NO ONE responded to my requests, pleas and downright bribes! I have an unopened-because it arrived unsolicited from a sneaky publicist--Glee Gleek Gift Set with the DVDs and the Yearbook Journal that I offered to anyone who could help me shop. I offered the Complete BBC Nature Set-8 DVDs including the Attenborough-narrated Life series to anyone who could come help tidy my house or take my clothes to the laundry or bring tea and shampoo and other personal items. I offered the collectors set of Doctor Who Series 5 to anyone bearing coffee and Dr. Pepper at one point!!! I was that desperate! AND nothing. Locally, people seem willing to help and donate and give to those that they see as somehow beneath them (so they don't have to think about it), and some are quite unecessarily generous with people who aren't in need (so they can do the mutual patting on the back thing, I guess). Yet someone who they see as nearly equal (in education, intellect, background, whatever), but who is in genuine need through no fault of her own is left out (or, rather, in my case, left in). I cannot get my head around this concept. Except I have been literally told such by several people I asked for assistance. Meaning they told me that I didn't deserve their help because I somehow brought the situation on (I was born with disabilities and had a defective power chair, so I needed to be punished for not being able to surmount that challenge??). It makes no sense to me.

Particularly when people in other climates who are in no position to help (poorer, more disabled, elderly, etc.) are the first to offer assistance. Often when you do't even need it, but certainly when you do. I wonder if it's the rain? I have actually lived in western Oregon and the Pacific NorthWet for more than two-thirds of my life now, and I am still not like that... so I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just me. People don't want to help me. Maybe it's my other-ness.

I received a package last night (thanks to the aforementioned maintenance man) with chocolate in it.  From someone who was willing to help me. A chocolate car package, if you will (This is the part where the post becomes happy again! . Because she couldn't send coffee or anything larger with the CD that was also in the package. I have never met this angel and I do not actually know her. She is a co-worker of the elder brother (who I also do not know... yet!) of a bassist I used to know (but have not even seen for years). This lovely chocolate-sending angel happens to also like a band of which I am exceedingly fond, whose members are friends of mine and who she had the opportunity to go see on their last tour. That was the reason for the CD you see, because she discovered I had been unable to see them for several years due to these chair/Eugene difficulties and made a point to meet them and get the show-only disc for me. The chocolate was just going to be her helpful, caring, slightly joking attempt to ensure I had a stash on hand should I get stuck in the apartment with chair malfunctions again, then she realized I was actually stuck again so she sent it Priority.

That a friend of a friend of the brother of an ex-roommate's ex-lover, whom I have never met, sent me Emergency Chocolate from the other side of the country out of the kindness of her heart (and, possibly, a shared affinity for a certain band--maybe that's it, maybe it's not climate or societal background, but musical tastes? She also likes OK Go...) makes me very, very happy!

But, she is from the south. Atlanta, actually. 

KristaMichelle

Oh wow Christel, I wish I had known you were in Eugene and needed help! I would've so been right there. If you ever need something in the future (uh, except for tomorrow through the rest of December, because I'll be out of state), just let me know! No way I'd leave a fellow fan hanging.  But I'm so glad your friend of a friend of the brother of an ex-roommate's ex-lover (!) came through for you! That was so sweet of her.

Let's see, happy news...Um, tomorrow is my last final and then I am flying to Las Vegas so I can see OK Go on Thursday!!!

ChristelAdina

Thanks KristaMichelle! If I had known there were other Boardies in the area, I'd have certainly reached out (I come from a long tradition of making friends and building communities around music and musicians I love. Somehow the fandom seems to make people more open and friendly.). But I thought it was just me and Aleatory for Oregon.  I would've tried to find a way to watch the Civil War game with you, too. Not really a football fan in general (not sport at all really, though I am sometimes found at Duck basketball games), but I support my school. I don't know any Ducks (Class of 2000, me) who are also Ok Go fans.

Oh, but now that we know, we'll have to have coffee or something sometime. Since I'm unable to see any shows (I was going to fly to AZ today, a friend had a spare ticket to the Pumpkins/OK Go show Wednesday, but my chair wasn't going to be fixed in time) this time out, I will just wish you a wonderful time in Vegas. Bring back some confetti or something ok? The Willamette Valley could use some color to brighten up its usual Bruise Grey.

(BTW, this post's happy thing is that there are other Boardies in my vicinity. And that they seem nice. That one of them is also a Duck is just a bonus...)

DJRose

I'm happy that Christel's sig is "Intellect and romance triumph over brute force and cynicism."  I wanna go to a Craig Ferguison taping now that I've seen that bit.

KristaMichelle

ChristelAdina said:

Thanks KristaMichelle! If I had known there were other Boardies in the area, I'd have certainly reached out (I come from a long tradition of making friends and building communities around music and musicians I love. Somehow the fandom seems to make people more open and friendly.). But I thought it was just me and Aleatory for Oregon.  I would've tried to find a way to watch the Civil War game with you, too. Not really a football fan in general (not sport at all really, though I am sometimes found at Duck basketball games), but I support my school. I don't know any Ducks (Class of 2000, me) who are also Ok Go fans.

Oh, but now that we know, we'll have to have coffee or something sometime. Since I'm unable to see any shows (I was going to fly to AZ today, a friend had a spare ticket to the Pumpkins/OK Go show Wednesday, but my chair wasn't going to be fixed in time) this time out, I will just wish you a wonderful time in Vegas. Bring back some confetti or something ok? The Willamette Valley could use some color to brighten up its usual Bruise Grey.

(BTW, this post's happy thing is that there are other Boardies in my vicinity. And that they seem nice. That one of them is also a Duck is just a bonus...)

---

I guess it sort of was just the two of you in Oregon until a few days ago. I was absent from the boards for just a sadly long amount of time. But I'm back now, yay! We will definitely have to get together sometime. It'd be great to be able to talk to someone in person about how freaking amazing this band is. It really does get lonely sometimes being the only truly OK Go obsessed person living close by. Maybe we could go to a basketball or baseball game or something together too! I'm super excited for Knight Arena to open. It's gonna be awesome.

And I will definitely do my best to bring something back! Maybe I could get the boys to sign the confetti or something. I don't know why, but that seems like it'd be really cool.

Happiness = finding OK Go/Duck fans nearby! Also, happiness = finally being on the way home for OK Go/the holidays!

pemi_blue

Reading this board makes me happy. Christel got her chocolate *and* learned there's another boardie nearby. Krista gets to go see an OK Go show after some really frustrating misses. Oh and it's a huge relief to know that 10 years from now, when most of Mexico is underwater, Tim will be there to see that we all have some *casual* flipper shoes to wear. Thanks, Rachel, for posting that interview in the articles thread!

DJRose

Awww, that post made me happy.  This is the best fan community on the web, no doubt.

KristaMichelle

That post made me happy too!

But do you know what makes me even happier? I AM SEEING THE BOYS TONIGHT!!!!!  Aaahhh is it time to get ready to go yet?!

violetchaos364

DJRose said:I'm happy that Christel's sig is "Intellect and romance triumph over brute force and cynicism."  I wanna go to a Craig Ferguison taping now that I've seen that bit.

---

Did you guys see the "leaked" cold open for Craig on Doctor Who night?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....9P4SxtphJ4

Annnnnnnd… Craig Ferguson being such a Whovian (and fanboy!) makes me happy! He still has his model TARDIS on his desk.

Annnnnnd seeing our boys on Monday with Switchfoot with my friend who is a Friend of the Foot (their fan name) …. very happy!

KristaMichelle

My roommate and I are probably going to Disneyland the day after Christmas!  Soooo excited.

silver12

It's not really something NEW that makes me happy, but: I may get to see my sister for Christmas. She lives five hours away, so I don't see her that often. She's one of my best friends, so I'm always happy to see her when I can. Oh, and, of course, my adorable nephew.

beckysioux

I'm baking! Believe it or not that makes me happy. I never bake. Ever. But when I like someone, I'll bake for them. And it just so happens that I totally rock at what I'm currently baking: red velvet cookies. I hope I'm able to give them to the intended recipient. Otherwise my co-workers will be getting some holiday treats.

It helps I'm listening to some OK Go, SDR, Two Man Gentleman Band, Dot Dot Dot, Blues Brothers, Teddy Geiger, etc.

Yay baking! And I'm doing it all by myself, too. Usually I have my fiance hovering over my shoulder since he's the baker in this little family. And so far I haven't burnt anything. Myself included. *crosses fingers I didn't just jinx myself"

Tempe Arizona

Wooot for Becky! Hey, if you've got extra, I'll take a few. ;) And most excellent choice in baking music accompaniment.

violetchaos364

I'm very happy that I saw a concert with my friend Jenny. Our musical tastes do not cross much, but with Switchfoot (her favorite band) and OK Go BOTH opening for Cake tonight - it was just perfect.

I'm not as close to Jenny as I would like. We are close, but her husband Bill, is my best guy friend. Known both since college and been through thick and thin together. Bill and I connect on so many personality and background type things. Jenny is more like my husband Randy with the background and some personality stuff. (Bill and I decided, long ago, that it was good that we didn't end up together, because it would have been a glorious, exciting, short ride ending in mutual murder.) Jenny keeps Bill grounded, and my hubby keeps me grounded. It works, wonderfully.

So, I was excited about seeing my band and her band at the same concert, and we had such a good time! It was awesome. We gleefully pelted each other with tidbits about our bands on the way to the concert, and we finished comments and questions to each other that were only half heard during the concert on the way home.

Yup. Awesome. And happy making, definitely.

KristaMichelle

I GOT AN A IN LATIN!!!

Well, an A-. But still. This has never happened to me before!

soccerkeeper6

Things that are quite happy:

• reconnecting with an old friend of mine whom I haven't seen in years


• finding a ton of cute new clothes


• getting a cute haircut to match the clothes


• no school


• holiday fun


• finding out that your kind uncle is recording the Doctor Who Christmas special for you because you don't get BBC America


• having things to put in the happy thread

ChristelAdina

Happy Solstice.

ChristelAdina

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....99778.html

It's a good start– well, it is a start.

EDITED BECAUSE: It's not a start. It's more stall. The information I'm getting this afternoon is wildly different than what was posted on HP this morning... It's seeming like I may have to move this entire post to the Sad List because the average lawmakers are of far-below-average intellect...

(Was given to believe that the most objectionable parts of the bill had been improved, at least steps were being taken, before the vote. Not so. :/)

ChristelAdina

OH! And Krista? Congratulations!

An A- in Latin is fantastic (I wasn't even aware it was still taught here!)! I didn't take any languages at UO, so I don't know much about the departments and professors, specifically. However, I do know that my J-school classmates dreaded a few of their language courses as much as we all feared "InfoHell".*

I took Latin once. Once or twice a week for 6 weeks when I was between 5th & 6th grade (6 weeks was all the instructor could spare...we were a very small, unfunded TAG class and the teachers were doing most of our curriculum in their off-time). I don't remember much of any of it, unfortunately. Other than that Katie Stock and I were the only students who liked it, and that I wished there was more speaking and less copius copying out conjugations on the blackboard (I could not stand for long, and my writing was illegible). When the unit was unexpectedly ended without warning, Katie and I tried to show it has been worthwhile by incorporating it into our other projects (our architectural designs' project featured many innovations dating from post-invasion Roman Brittania, and one of our impromptu scenes became an attempt at Julius Caesar, but in our rudimentary Latin translation). Apparently, the parents/administrators who may have been present for those were not swayed, because I never had any further exposure to Latin and I don't recall the language itself beyond that which has become part of English (I still readily resume perfect calligraphic shapes and flourishes, despite my somewhat shaky form, if given the proper pens. Even after all these years. Weird what remains in our brains). 

I so wish I had taken languages! Latin was just the first. Sad really, because sometimes I envisioned becoming a scholar or a researcher in some ancient, Old World library when I grew up. As far as I knew at the time, that was the sole purpose for Latin. To be translated. I always loved words (duh), even if they weren't words I understood. I was also kind of morbidly fascinated with history, though I wouldn't have known it then, and I loved the idea of a "dead" language. Silly, I know.

Why are you taking Latin? How does it apply to your plans? Sorry, I'm still not up/out/about, I'm a bit ill today and I'm a lot lonely, so my curiousity has shed its confines of polite convention. I'm also a little delirious from the combo of pain meds that don't help with the pain and sinus remedies that aren't holding off this head cold. So I babble. Hey, it makes me happy. That's what this thread's for, right? It sort of makes me happy that people take Latin these days, and it's a really happy thing when it earns you an A! So again, Gratulatio (I don't know if there are supposed to be any accents...)!

My explantion of InfoHell at UOSOJC in the late 90s has mysteriously disappeared as I go to do the Math. I wish to type it again about as much as I wish to experience again the ulcer that Infohell caused me.

soccerkeeper6

Aw, I so wish my school had Latin.  I was talking about it the other day with my parents, and they were so confused that I wanted to take an even harder language than Spanish that I couldn't use around town.  (I already have Hebrew as a only occasionally slightly helpful language…)

And my happy thing for this is that I get to start working on my math project tomorrow which is enlarging an object, and I chose Cantarell.  I get to make roughly a four foot scale model of it.

(Yay! 100th post!)