Life's little pleasures

Till a year ago when we were like the millions of dogless families, we had no idea what we were missing out on.
Life's little pleasures are many, but owning a pet brings in scores more into everyday...

Here are some examples...

Being loved (and being woken up to persistent but gentle nuzzling and ear-licking)

It's another matter and not so funny when soon it becomes not so gentle, and the stupid mutt yanks away the covers, pulls my hair and bites my nose and my toe and generally takes the fun out of sleeping in the morning...until i get out of bed...

Being missed...

Much is written about how fantastic it is to have a pet because of the typhoonic love they shower on you every evening when you come back home. All of that is true... but i wonder why no one talks about the teary way in which pets see you go... even if you're going out just for 20 minutes to get milk and bread...

Tash makes this saaaaaaaaaaad face every morning when i leave for work and that's sooo cute! I love it :-)

Being appreciated

I cannot strum to save my life and the guitar is more a fashion accessory to pose with in pictures than anything else, but Tash doesn't know that. She wouldn't even believe anyone who told her that/ :-) She thinks i'm a rockstar (I am too)... And she likes it very much when i sing for her :-)

Tash is pretty much the full-time obsesssion and a beloved plaything for the family. But yes, there is surely more to life. There are other little pleasures too...

These top the charts...

Living the kickass life...
In the married vs the single debate at work the other day we (Jess and I) realized how fun it is to live with (and live off) your folks. You don't pay rent, come home to cooked food, clean sheets on a well-made bed and ironed/ starched clothes in the wardrobe, and generally have to do nothing more laborious than help mom shell peas on a sunday afternoon :-). Your salary is yours alone to enjoy and spend as you desire... the bills (newspaper, milk, electricity, cable, phone and whatever else there are in the house) aren't your problem...

Doing nothing...
I know R is not going to believe that I...of all people am counting 'doing nothing' in a list of life's little pleasures... :-)

Lol... but i am and i mean it. I love sundays for that... i love being in Goa for that. You get to do nothing..
And the best part is how energised you feel after some hours of doing nothing and how enjoyable it is to go shopping and/or do other outdoorsy activities then. (Now i probably sound more like me...)

* * *

Of course there are more in the list... but am out of pictures that match... and besides, it's time to go see what's for tea, and help mom shell peas...

:-)

The must-haves

In my home
- Sounds of laughter and of food cooking
- a balcony with a view of a pretty harbour
- a library, a wine cellar, a squash court and a pool table


In my partner
- maturity and wisdom that I could respect and look up to
- an infectious zest for living life to the very fullest
- the mischievousness and charm of a child

In a day
- a big and soul satisfying breakfast
- at least one big laugh
- 8 hrs of sleep

In my wardrobe
- a classy little black dress
- different colors, fabrics and styles co-existing happily
- one ambition pair of jeans – that never lie about my weight, are the first to tell me it’s time to diet

In my car
- Music, food and a squash racket
- Lotsa fuel (magically always there)
- Some rope and a spare tyre (and an instruction manual on how to change the tyre if needed)

In my heart
- A dream that gives me reason to keep going no matter what
- Gratitude for all that I have, and also for those things that I don’t
- The strength to forgive those who I cannot get even with


In my old-age
- Enough stories of my youth to amuse, impress and scandalize my grandkids
- Enough money and wits to command the attention/respect of family and society
- A partner and some friends with their memories and strengths intact

In me, today
- Enough patience to wait till it gets better
- Faith in me and my capabilities
- The courage to be reckless sometimes

This, that and the other... and HNY!!!

A third of January is over, and i think i'm doing ok on my resolutions still :-). Isn't that cool?

Other than that the year's not begun very well. Have been so busy with work that 've had no time to write even a 10 line post. And that can be frustrating when there are no less than 3 things that you want to write about.

Well i guess in my line of work that's the price you pay for a taking a small new year vacation at Goa... a really screwed up schedule on return :-(

Anyway, about the three things that I had to write about. The first was about what i did on New Year's eve... It was a house party on an island a little off Panjim. It was an awesome experience, though it wasn't half as glam as it sounds when i put it like that :-). Anyway, it was fun, and the pity is that i have no pics of it. And at the moment, don't have the energy also to write about it. Some other time, then.

The 2nd thing was about the Goa trip and some things i learnt about the place, the people and the life there in the tourist season :-). That too, later.

For now, i write about the 5 good things about me, since this is what Jackson tagged me on :-) (thank u, thank u!!). Well i suppose i will ignore all the well-known good things about me and focus on those things that people seldom realize are my best qualities. If you're thinking that modesty is unlikely to be one of them, u're right i guess...

Anyway so here goes:

1. I'm nothing if i'm not Charming. It's a natural gift, and i think i get it from Mom. If saying that makes me a conceited fool, i'm ignoring that for now and moving on to the 2nd point instead... since we are focussing on my good points :-)

2. Well, charming or not, those who have had the good fortune of having had my love and affection cannot deny that I'm ridiculously Indulgent. So much so that sometimes it makes people feel smothered. But hey... i feel great and naturally, that's what matters to me. See why you should make me like you :-)

3. The moody blog and any number of angry outbursts aside, I'm essentially a Happy person, who needs not much to feel pleased with. R will vouch for this i know. And for how much i like being outdoors!!!

4. A good listener and secret keeper. It's no coincidence that for the last four years i have been in a profession that needs me to listen, listen, listen to people and make sense of all the heaps of non-sense they talk. That explains the good listener bit. As for the secret keeper bit... i don't really know why i wrote that considering it's been a while since this quality was tested.

5. Fun to be with. Too sleepy to explain now. But seriously, trust me on it.

So that's that. I had not for a minute imagined that it would be so difficutlt to five little positives about me... but it was... and that's not so good. Well anyway...

And incidetally, thanks to Jackson, even i am now an avid reader of Boss Stewie's blog, and am very keen to see what funny twist he gives to this post (since he was also tagged).

So now i tag in turn - Lemontree, Palate and Tirbha. Let's wait and watch.