as good a time as any

My friend Juliette has this thing where she posts on facebook a picture of one thing per day, even if it's just a small thing, that made her a little bit happy that day. Even if the rest of the day sucked. I'm going to do that too, starting today.

Today I didn't take any pictures but there were many things that I can choose from. I'll choose this one: meeting the wonderful old man at the L&S dinner function, who told me stories of his life experiences. Together we bashed the education system and the healthcare system; he recommended me a book to read (Healing America: followed by many words after a semicolon, by T. R. Reid) that looks at our healthcare policy here in the US. He went to UW-Madison back when tuition was $275 a semester ( with the intent of going to medical school but in his last year at UW, he discovered a passion for American history, catalyzed by having one amazing professor, and crammed in a history major. Off he went to medical school for one semester, before realizing that really wasn't his calling and he changed to journalism, going to Berkeley for his MA in journalism. But it was the 60s then, and he was drafted into the navy for some time before finally returning to academics to do postdoctoral work at Stanford. He's definitely very retired now (he spends time in Hawaii too) but before he retired he worked for the Milwaukee Journal, traveling all over the world as a journalist. Also, he was a little bit deaf. But adorable, and as I looked at him I could almost see the shadow in his face of the young man he used to be--whenever I look at old people, I imagine them young and fit and still having the experiences that they're reminiscing about now, as if I can visually peel away layers of skin and layers of years to find what's still there at the core.

Okay I have to mention another thing, which has to do with the happiness of my tastebuds:  tender buttery beef, pureed potatoes and mushrooms in sweet wine sauce creme brulee in a spoon, tiny brownie & tiny fruit tart eeeeeeeeee i was so happy. Those were my happinesses for today, what were yours?