I was driving to work, and i was crabby. Then I wound up behind a schoolbus. I saw a sad-faced kid staring sadly out the back window.

Once that was me. So I put my thumbs against my head and made moose horns and waggled them.

He grinned and called his friends over and we all made faces and laughed until the light changed.

We have a squirrel that's been coming to the back door of our kitchen, guy doesn't seem shy or scared at all. I wake up pretty early and quite often hear his little hands slap up against the glass while I'm making my coffee only to turn around and find him staring at me while I go about my business. Thought maybe he was hungry so took to leaving him something good like some unsalted peanuts or almonds on the back step for him to find before I start my morning routine, but he generally just comes and slaps the glass before he's even checked for treats and regardless of whether he decides to eat what I've left him. Not sure, of the two of us, who is more interested in watching who right now, but it's certainly adding a pleasant texture to my mornings. 🐿️👀

i love that level of intimacy with people where the joke is that your joke sucks, you know. they know you’re capable of something better, so when you try to make a bottom-of-the-barrel-barely-even-a-joke-joke it endears them to you even more and they laugh just because of that. i was at spirit halloween looking for a costume part and listing off aisles like “pirate.. mechanic.. masks.. tights.. makeup.. weird smell” and i have no idea why but it made my brother laugh so hard people would have been staring if Spirit Halloween wasnt already extremely loud. sometimes i dont know whats going to make him laugh so i just say the first dumb thing that comes to mind and he always ends up saying “why would you even say that?? that is NOT funny” while laughing with me, and then he tries to do the same thing later. just absurdity.

So this morning on the bus, I was sitting on the edge of the seat like I always do. For context, I’m a pretty big dude (6’4”, 217 pounds), but I used to weigh 400 pounds, so having people actually sit comfortably next to me is still a relatively new experience. I spent so much of my life trying to make myself smaller so other people could have enough space, and I guess some habits just stick around.

Anyway, this random Asian lady sat next to me and just casually fell asleep on my shoulder. Like, FULLY knocked out. She was zonked on me like I was some kind of public transportation memory foam pillow, and she stayed that way until she reached her stop. I’ll probably never see this woman again, and she’ll never know that her little nap meant anything to me. But I couldn't help finding the whole thing funny and weirdly heartwarming.

Maybe she was just exhausted. Maybe I looked like a comfortable place to rest. Or maybe I’ve finally reached a point in my weight loss journey where I no longer look like some massive dude taking up everyone's personal space.
Either way, it made me happy in a way I wasn't expecting. I spent years being painfully aware of how much space I occupied, and today, for a few bus stops, I was just some stranger's pillow. Life is funny like that. Sometimes a little reminder of how far you've come comes in the form of an exhausted lady using your shoulder as a headrest.

we have a kitten in our household now :D 11 weeks old! she's so very brave and curious and a real sweetheart. it's like a healing salve on the mosquito bite of our elderly cat's sudden passing. it's so awful to be catless and so very wonderful to have a kitten around <3

Last month I nominated the new IT guy at work for Employee of the Month,and he won!

I also nominated a specific manager for a values award (We Advocate) and she also won!

Then driving home from work today I pulled up beside a van for a disability support service I used to work for 1.5 yrs ago and knew the person in the passenger seat. I motioned to the carer/driver to wind down her window and I yelled out to say hello to the person I knew and told him I missed him and he was waving and so excited to see me and yelling back he missed me too.

A really sweet afternoon.

I was at the grocery store and decided to pick up some flowers for my fiancé. There was a little girl around 4yo in the self checkout line with her parents who were having trouble with the machine. A worker came over. The little girl looked ready to go and/or ready to act up so i handed her a flower. She smiled and played with it in her hands. Her parents noticed and thanked me. We went our separate ways.

There's something nice about those evenings when you don't really have anything planned. You finish whatever you needed to do, get something to eat, and just sit around for a while without worrying about the next thing on your list.

I feel like ordinary evenings like these are easy to overlook because nothing particularly interesting happens, but sometimes they're exactly what you need.

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada! I was on the bus headed home and we went past an apartment building. It had some small grassy areas on the property and I saw a family who had set up a picnic table and were all having their turkey dinner outside :) It's ~15C/58F and Sunny, quite a nice day for an outdoor meal.

I'm visiting Japan for the first time ever, as my brother and my SIL are getting married here in her hometown. We came to our hotel late last night and crashed pretty much immediately, but I got up early the next morning to take a shower and, oh, my god. The showers here in Japan are absolutely amazing. Despite still being somewhat exhausted I felt about 10x better immediately. Really makes you appreciate the power of an excellent shower for sure!

The other delight of this hotel so far has been a pancake machine in the hotel restaurant that you just wave your hand at and it makes and cooks two perfect tiny pancakes hot and fresh. Pretty mind blowing at 8am.

On my couch slightly hungover and munching on hot dogs, my partner is upstairs watching football in bed. Our dog prefers it when we’re all lounging together so he keeps going back and forth from me to his papaw upstairs. Just gave him the last bite of my hot dog and a wonderful feeling crept over me. I am just so happy ancient humans got along with wolves. Now we get to have these lil creatures that breathe joy and unconditional love into our homes :’)

I’m in a downtown city I’ve never visited before. Earlier I went walking around and picked up some lunch. On my way back to the hotel I stopped behind a middle aged man and young woman walking her furry little pupper as we waited for the crosswalk. The woman was on her phone, the man was looking straight ahead. At one point I saw the man and the dog lock eyes for a long moment. The dog wagged his little tail and cocked his head at bit toward the man. Then the man gave a little wave to the dog in return. It was spontaneously sweet and I witnessed it. The light changed and we all disappeared into the crowd.

He works for a construction company and is probably the only vegetarian on the crew. They did a pizza lunch today and there was a whole veggie pie left, so guess who gets free pizza for dinner? This guy! And that other guy (husband). It's really good, too.

Like, pick a day, suggest a place, make it happen. No elaborate planning needed.

It's surprisingly refreshing when someone makes spending time together that easy.

After being taken out for breakfast by my daughter, I went to the library for the first time in years. I renewed my library card and took out 3 books. I saw a bulletin for a jigsaw puzzle building contest and I registered to compete next weekend.

The vibe was so chill in there. Multi people also came in to get library cards and passports and just general help from the librarians. It was nice and calming knowing that this resource is available in my community. A jigsaw puzzle was set up there that I spent an hour and a half working on assembling. It was the first time in a long time I felt at ease in my mind and soul to be out in public just relaxing by myself. I am really looking forward to the contest and I hope I don't get too nervous. I am so excited.

I think we all know Facebook marketplace can be a jungle non-committing, low balling, selfish assholes that just drain your energy. I live near Austin and it’s a great city to give things away in. But lately I’ve been pretty degraded from people being rude assholes when I’m literally offering something of value to them for free.

A couple weeks ago I purchased a small machine from somebody locally via Facebook marketplace. It was about $50 which was a fair price but still not an amount I want to throw away. It feels like bare minimum, but the seller was very friendly and communicative and easy-going. He even told me if I had any problems or even if it just simply didn’t work for my needs to let him know . He was selling because he needed something more powerful but to his knowledge it was in working order. Well when I got home and tested it I realized it wasn’t in perfect working order. The part is probably replaceable. I messaged him asking if he had noticed the issue , moreso if he had any tips on how to go about fixing it.
This man was so kind. I’m honestly still taken aback by his kindness. He offered to give me my money back and didn’t even want the machine back. I told him he really didn’t have to do that because “buyer beware” and I was the buyer buying a second hand machine so if it wasn’t good that’s my own fault. But he still gave me my money back and really didn’t want the machine back. I plan on giving away the machine for free to someone who wants to fix it.

You just really don’t see that level of candor anymore and I just wanted to share this positive experience and hopefully keep sending the positivity around.

I love crisps. I hate it when you get a packet where there's barely any flavouring and it's just sad fried potatoes with a hint of flavour (looking at you Lays). What even is the point of mass production if things aren't consistent amirite?

But on my way back from the dentists this week, I entered a Sainsbury's which isn't my usual supermarket and saw their own brand Thai Sweet Chili was on sale. I've had it before and it's good. I bought 2 packets. Opened one and they are **heavily** coated in flavouring. Happy days. Delicious spicy crisps for me!

I was driving behind a very slow ‘paint lines on the road’ truck, so I turned left onto a road I never take. Just after turning I saw some shiny trash on the side of the road, a downed Mylar balloon. I drove past it, then stopped and reversed, thinking, “just go get the trashed balloon so it doesn’t end up in the nearby watershed.”

Lo and behold! That shiny Mylar balloon took flight in my car, hours later (mmm, warmed helium!), and I brought it home. Almost a week later it’s still floating at my ceiling, making me happy every time I remember to look up!

He told me they sounded as if “Nirvana was sober and made happier music”.

Watery, Domestic.

Sorry

I bought a much needed new bed off marketplace. When I unloaded it, I was struggling heavily to get it inside. An older couple driving by pulled over and helped me move it up into my apartment. It helped me feel less alone in life.

My direct neighbour is best friends with the cat from three doors up, she often feeds him and he turns up early in the morning for his breakfast despite his food bowl at home being stocked. I'm friends with him too and while she was away I gave the gorgeous little creature his second breakfast from her shed so he didn't associate my garden with feeding.

She's been back from holiday for a few days and today I hear him meowing outside my window so I go out, give him some ruffles and he goes to the gate between our two gardens to be let through. I open the gate, give him a few more ruffles on her patio and he tries to lead me to her shed. I don't want to be feeding him often because that's a slippery slope (apparently one I'm already half way down) so I messaged my neighbour to say "Not sure if you are home, but if you are your little friend asked me to let you know he'd like a snack. He's on your patio." About 30 seconds later I hear her back door open as she greets him and invites him into her home for some food. It just warmed my heart, that little cat has us all wrapped around his little paw.

I have slept like a normal person for the last three nights, and it has been heavenly 😊

Scrolling recently, I bumped into a deep question: "What's something you can't prove but believe 100%?"

The first thing that popped into my head was learning how to be happy. I genuinely believe we can train ourselves to notice, create, and appreciate more of it until happiness becomes a default habit. I'm convinced happiness is something we can actively learn.

What about you? Do you believe happiness is a skill we build?

I own a house 2 hours from where I live. It's currently between tenants.

I got a call early this morning from a neighbour letting me know that a) the house wasn't on fire and b) the smoke alarm was going off

I decided to go for a nice drive to check the house out, change the battery, and run errands in the area.

On the way I realised I would need a ladder. I stopped at a hardware store and selected a nice aluminium step ladder.

I got to the house, changed the battery, petted the neighbours dog, then went to Ikea for meatballs.

It was a pleasant day.