#howpunk

I was tagged by go-west-brother (thank you!) to make a list of the 15 things that make me happy. In no particular order. NB: This was supposed to be a list, not a fucking essay on the things that keep me going even though I like it so much to pretend to be a depressed little shit. But, oh well. Couldn't resist.

PEOPLE I TAG: in-thesuburbs-i, titlesmatter, howpunk, whatilikeandwhatidont, always-in-rainbows, take-me-to-gigs, la-la-blues, relaxed-muscle, shy-retiring-oxford-chaps, cr0nas (REMEMBER. YOU ARE A FREE KID. MAKE THE LIST ONLY IF YOU WANNA TO. RUN INTO THE WOODS IF YOU DON'T. FOLLOW YOUR HEART).

T H E L I S T : 1 MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH / You have no idea how powerful it makes me feel. Remember, if you've ever laughed at my joke, you are really likely to become my friend (simply because not so many people regard my jokes as funny ones. That's why if I spot a person laughing because of me, I will do my best to keep him as near to me as possible). 2 MUSIC / I'm a huge fan of Blur, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Joy Division, Nirvana, Velvet Underground, Explosions In The Sky, Blood Red Shoes, The Killers, Mogwai... I love music and it keeps me going on hardest of days. 3 RADIOHEAD / Yes, I needed to mention them separately. Radiohead and everything connected, including Jonny's soundtracks for Paul Anderson's films, Thon's solo projects and Stanley's artworks. The fandom became some sort of a separate culture long ago and I immensely enjoy being a part of it. 4 GIGS / Also need to mention it separately. Gigs are literally 2-3 (or 6-7 if it's a festival) hours filled with immense happiness and genuine joy. If it's your favourite band's gig there's often a moment when time slows down and you become greatly aware of what is happening, the band on the stage, the singing people around you. And the awareness gives place to recognition that that's exactly the time and place where you want to be right then and there. Pure bliss. Gigs are very important. 5 REALLY GOOD HOT CHOCOLATE / Okay, a real talk now. There's no words to express how much I enjoy a mug of good hot chocolate or chocolate milk. Worth travelling through the whole city and back. One day I will find a perfect one somewhere in Belgium probably and after nothing will matter really anymore. I will settle near that cafe and marry the barista 6 FOREIGN LANGUAGES / Finding a word that contains as much sense as a whole sentence in your mother tongue is truly joyful. I have been studying English for 10 years and French for 2 and I'm in love with them both. I still make mistakes even when speaking English, though. You feel powerful when being able to speak (and by being able to speak a language I mean being able to tell a person to fuck off in a witty at-least-ten-word-long sentence) more than one language because each learnt language literally opens a whole new world for you to explore. (Oh! And the best thing is when you reach the level when your gut feeling starts prompting whether the word/sentence/phrase is right or there's something wrong with it). 7 PEOPLE / I'm losing my faith in humanity as the time passes by, but still I believe that people are the most beautiful creatures on the planet. The world is filled with cunts and bastards, but those amazing ones make up for all these idiots. At least that's what I think now, maybe later I'll become a realist. I'm still young. 8 FRIENDS / A special group of people that I've somehow met during my life that were so attractive with their knowledge, talents, skills and set of their minds that I couldn't resist and so decided to put all my effort to fool them into thinking I'm not a complete and utter failure so they would want to have talks and meetings with me on a regular basis. I mean. All my friends are amazing. Artists, engineers, programmers, lawyers, musicians and photographers; sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking how happy I am to have met them and now being their friends. I love them. I do love them. 9 TEA / I drink at least (usually twice as much) 3 cups a day. My favourite ones are sencha, oolong, any green tea with melissa and black tea with milk. 10 SMOKING / Look at me. "Self-destruction" is written on my face in neon signs. It a weird and definitely a bad habit of mine which evolved from an odd ritual into a strange unhealthy meditation. Mixed with rainy weather or fog makes me feel older which in its turn allows me to look at thing differently and get through the shit I put myself into more easily. 11 BLUR / I considered they do need a special mention too. There are some of their songs that heal all wounds. 12 JOURNEYS / And everything connected. New cultures, new places, trains and planes, weird food and tourist traps. I love it all. And it doesn't really matter whether I explore a new street in the suburbs or a foreign country I've never heard before. 13 NEW STATIONERY / Oh yes, an illusion that I'm working hard instead of tumblring the nights away. 14 PLAYING GUITAR / I started playing not so long ago and I obviously suck at this and I will never become a real musician, I started far too late, and still the fact that I can play a simple riff from my favourite song makes me abnormally happy. 15 PEOPLE NOT GIVING UP ON ME