Small Pleasures

Thanks to K-Rock's new format, I heard Master of Puppets for the last 10-12 minutes of my drive home tonight. It's rare that something comes on that makes me roll down the window, turn the radio up as loud as reasonably possible, and pound on my steering wheel. It's rare for me now, as an adult, but it was a lot more common in my college years, which frighteningly ended nearly a decade ago.

At the gig I played yesterday, one of the musicians was telling my dad what vitamins he takes. He mentioned surviving prostate cancer about six years ago and still going strong, but complained that it messed up his sex life. My dad told the younger man, who I figure to be in his late sixties, that at least he's still alive. He responded with, “Well sure, but there's things I enjoyed doing, and my wife was one of them.” My dad uncomfortably mumbled something about finding other ways to pass the time, and the guy just shrugged.

A friend of mine e-mailed me earlier this evening, posing an introspective question about the final Star Wars® marking the end of a chapter of our lives. It's funny that something so trivial as movies impact us, but it is a shared experience of a generation marking a place and time. People around the same age tend to have seen the same films, and be surprised when someone their age hasn't seen what they have.

I watched the 2-hour finale of 24 tonight—why DON'T more heroes walk off in to the sunset? It's going to be a long wait until next season. After Wednesday night, I'll have no more shows to watch and more time to catch up on movies. There aren't many new shows catching my interest, either. I've been enjoying Blind Justice quite a bit, but I hear that may not be returning. There are two summer shows whose commercials have caught my eye: The Inside and Prison Break. Given the track record of the network on which they’ll air, I expect them both to be amazing and not last more than 9 episodes, possibly aired out of sequence, and certainly incomplete. Still, I may watch anyway.

Blogging. It's nice to be able to sit down at the end of the day and share my thoughts when I have them, and even when I don't. Maybe people will read them, and maybe they won't. There's some small joy I take in the stringing together of words to convey my ideas, and that's more than enough for me.

What small things bring pleasure to your lives?