Today I am grateful for…

My iPhone
Yes, it’s just a 3GS. But it’s also a ridiculously fast computer in my pocket. And it friggin’ talks to SPACE!

I have 20,000 songs through iTunes Match and millions of songs through Spotify and Pandora. That’s 10 MILLION songs, in my front pocket!

My iPhone takes better pictures than my first digital camera, with unlimited storage in the cloud. I can Photoshop my photos and share them with my friends instantly.

It is a marvel of technology that my ancestors couldn’t even DREAM about. It is the only piece of technology that has transformed my life.

I’m grateful to the brilliant people who created the technology and infrastructure that made my iPhone possible.

My girlfriend
She’s beautiful. She loves me like nobody has ever loved me before. We have an incredible bond. I’m madly in love with her. For this, I am grateful.

my dentist visit
I’m grateful for the competent dentist. I didn’t get him yesterday, but today he was there. They gave me a deal (I think). It was only $145 out of pocket. I’m most grateful that I can have surgery with almost zero pain. Thank GOD (or at least hundreds of smart people’s ingenuity) for painless medicine.

Today I’m grateful that…

I live in an interesting beautiful neighborhood

I LOVE Fairmount. It’s the next best thing to living in Austin. The houses are all great old homes. People walk and bicycle around. There are fantastic restaurants and bars up the street. I go do yoga at my roommates studio whenever I feel like it. Love, love, love!

I have a healthy, strong body

I did yoga for an hour outside today. I’m grateful that my body is strong and healthy. I’ve never had any major health issues. I don’t have to work very hard to stay fit. I couldn’t really ask for a better body.

Today I am grateful for…

An air-conditioned bus
Apple buys Aston and me a bus pass every month. It would cost a hundred bucks. It beats the hell out of walking!

A free Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
I ran into Jenna. She’s a waitress down here. She bought me a drink.

Resurrecting my gratitude journal
I’m excited to pick up the practice of journaling again.

Exuberance

It is a trait of mine that has expanded over the past twenty years. I get excited about shit! I love new experiences, new people, new ideas, and new projects.

Some of my favorite people are exuberant: people like Val, Esha, Nancy, Sharyn, and Myles. The make me laugh out loud. I forget about myself. The moment becomes electric.

Exuberance is probably over-valued in our culture. We are a bit too obsessed with the cheerful, happy side of things. We need the less exuberant to fly our airplanes.

But without the exuberant ones, nobody would have tried flying in the first place. Without this excitement and energy, our lives would be much duller. I love the zing and spark of these emotional highs. Exuberance is a wonderful gift.

Today I’m grateful for…

A life of music
There’s really no way I’d rather spend my time than learning how to use my guitar and voice to create music. I’m excited about the musical adventures that the next twenty years hold: Funk Muffins, jazz guitar, crazy stage shows, mastering the language of my favorite art form, learning hundreds of scales and chords, collecting thousands of recordings. Yes!

beautiful, gorgeous weather
I haven’t spent much time outside in it, but, my, how nice it is outside this week.

Being rich
I’m much richer than the vast majority of my ancestors and richer than 85% of the people alive today. I have 300 books, air conditioning, an iPhone, a car, spices, and fresh produce flown in from around the world. Plus, I have paved roads, public education, plumbing, a stable political system, public libraries, and great art two miles from my house. I can eat at fabulous restaurants and hear live music, performed by professional musicians most days of the week.

practicing for twelve hours this week

I’m having so much fun. It’s hard fun, but I get such a thrill from practicing. I’m still an absolute amateur, but that just means that I have more opportunities to find flow in my practice. Just about everything is out of my reach so far, so making little inroads is exciting. The entire world of music is in front of me. For this, I am grateful.

art supplies all over my floor

I love having art supplies. I don’t do much with them lately, but I love the sense of possibility in a really great marker set, or a box of color pencils. My journals entries are colorful lately. :-)

short shifts

I like not being full time. Paychecks are a lot leaner, but my time is MINE. Until school starts, yes!

Today I’m grateful for…

a family recognizing me at Five Guys
I go there all the time on my lunch breaks. The staff is always extra nice to me. They say hi, ask about my day, and never charge me for drinks. One time, the manager even gave me my whole meal for free. Anyway, yesterday I walked in and a family said “Hey, it’s the Apple guy.” The little girl even remembered my name! It’s nice to have regular customers who appreciate my hard work.

...one quick thing I forgot. This one is for Saafir, if he hasn’t seen it. An essay by Dr Karl Paulnack on how music is essential for life. So inspiring!

I started out today feeling a bit blue, but it turned out to be a great day!

The spring weather was wonderful for cheering me up. All that sunshiny warmth makes it much harder to be down in the dumps.

I had some shopping to do today. Oftentimes this stresses me out a lot, particularly when I can’t find what I want or, worse, I don’t know what I want. But today was all smooth sailing. I picked up a great birthday present for a friend of mine and some business shirts.

And best of all, I picked up a dozen pieces of cardstock in different colours for a craft project I spent the afternoon. What glorious fun that was! I really should do things like that more often.

Hugs are great. I got a hug from my dad this afternoon. I take him far too much for granted sometimes. I am grateful that he loves me and grateful to know that he loves me.

I feel like I’m getting back on my feet today. I’m a bit more cheerful and stuff continues to get done.

By the time today is over I will have managed to spend some time with my two favourite men today—my sweetheart and my dad. My sweetheart and I are heading out to the movies to see Coraline tonight. Being a bit of a Neil Gaiman fan, I am rather looking forward to it.

My dad and I spent some time this afternoon looking at some of the photos he had taken over the weekend. He had a couple of lovely shots of some Gang Gang Cockatoos, which are rare birds in this area. The pair were nesting in the Botanical Gardens.

And speaking of gardens, I managed to get out into my own this morning. The rain we’ve been having today made the ground nice and soft to dig, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. I’m starting to think I’ll need to thin out some of the bulbs.