Happiness Is....

... a warm puppy?
... all the jelly beans you can eat?
... Waikiki Beach?
... a three-minute jingle, jangle pop song?
... a day at the spa?
... the start of baseball season?

It could be any of those things, but I have to say that to me, happiness is my life overall right now. I'm good at keeping things in perspective and remembering that I have led a fairly privileged life, but that doesn't mean I can't find something to mope about. I can and will, if provoked. Go ahead and try me. However, I woke up this morning, or perhaps it was another recent morning, and realized that everything is going really well. Yay!

Nothing terribly earth-shattering has happened lately, just a lot of little positives. My singing habit is flourishing, as I continue to test the Bay Area open mic circuit (and remember, the Sub Rosas have an upcoming gig). Plus, last weekend Rosa and I made a recording of some of the songs I've been singing. The recording is pretty rudimentary, and I'm no recording engineer, but the good news is that I'm not horrified by what I hear when it comes to my vocals. I'm still an amateur, and I definitely need to keep up my singing lessons, but I'm getting better everyday. I've always had a decent voice, but given what I sounded like a year and a half ago when this singing endeavor began, I'm very happy with my progress.

Work is going well, too, and my work schedule has allowed me some free weekend nights lately. I spent Sunday night at the Attic with Carolyn and Dima, and it was super fun. I make no money hanging out at the Attic, but I had worked earlier in the day, so it was the best of both worlds.

There are also cute boys everywhere these days. Everywhere. No salacious stories, necessarily, but suffice it to say I'm in a pretty good mood where boys are concerned. And of course, there is my upcoming trip to Hawaii. Just thinking about that is a guaranteed pick me up. All of this is to say that, as we make our way through the spring, these are good days.

Unfortunately, something not so good has happened to a friend of mine. I was hoping I would wake up today to find it had all been an elaborate April Fool's joke, but no such luck. He'll be fine, but still. Sucky. Happiness is not watching your friends go through rocky times.