e.e. #2: when the light turns green as you're rolling to a traffic light

Driving a stick-shift, I can't tell express how much of a treat this is -- not needing to shift out of gear or use my brakes, but having the pleasure of coasting sraight through.

Or, as you're entering the on-ramp to the freeway, you switch over to the empty lane because lo and behold, there's already a car in the other lane that was patiently waiting for the light to turn green. And you time it just perfectly so that as you're accelerating up the on-ramp, the light changes, seemingly for you.

I must really hate using my brakes.

e.e. #1: When the song you're listening to on the drive home ends as soon as you pull into the driveway

Which is your cue to hit the power button to make that the last song you hear this night.

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

I think my most favorite blog to read on the web is 1000 Awesome Things. What an absolute genius of a blog. And while this blogger steadily marches through a thousand different awesome things to share with the world, I'd like to join this cause by occassionally adding to his list with things that personally bring me joy.

And to not be a complete copycat of 1000 Awesome Things (though these ARE awesome too), I see them more as the "easter eggs of life" for lack of a better, less corny term... but will henceforth refer to them as such.

It's maybe not so much the eight hours of sound sleep that you get, but it's the abrupt awakening at 5am and relishing the fact that you have a few more hours of sleep left. Or the lollipop you get at the end of a doctor's visit. Or the balloon that's still tied to your wrist long after the carnival has gone home. These are the kind of whispers I hear.

So. Let's see how this goes.

optima dies, prima fugit

Andy, I'm stealing this from you and never giving it back.

"Optima dies... prima fugit"
(The best days are the first to flee.)

-- Virgil

today marks the summer solstice

Today will be the longest day we'll have this year... and in certain respects, it already has been.