a small list of life-affirming things

-onion rings
-clean towels
-Sam
-altoids tangerine sours
-acceptance letters
-fresh lobster and butter
-magazine subscriptions
-Hannah and Her Sisters
-8 1/2
-good-looking dogs
-writers' autobiographies
-writers' interviews
-not running out of kleenex
-club soda
-sex daydreams
-arm warmers
-fried bananas
-cigars
-girls in drag
-boys in ties
-wireless networks
-personal libraries
-pens that aren't running out of ink
-soft hair
-believing I can write a novel
-cigarettes accompanied by music
-kisses that take me by surprise
-Edmund White, sometimes
-when I smile and can't help it
-a day writing a paragraph
-finally wanting to wake up in the morning
-walks
-a sense of self on airplanes, in airports
-Reel Around the Fountain
-newly discovered family albums
-Japanese noodles
-school supply shopping in elementary and middle school
-my mother playing guitar
-balconies
-sleeping when sick
-music when sick
-pajamas
-long letters
-alcohol, sometimes
-middle school karaoke
-nighttime car rides followed by sex
-beaches at night
-Sam
-my two ugly dogs
-conversations with, among others, SS, TM, JG, GL, ES, CD
-my mother's fully stocked fridge
-fiction that makes me jog around the kitchen island with excitement
-Sam
-graphic design
-best friends who unexpectedly wink at me
-wearing ex-boyfriends' socks, usually nicer than my own
-elaborate lists, esp. of ambitions
-bookstores
-new computers
-a boyfriend tying my tie
-my scanner
-having EU citizenship
-iTunes playlists
-hotel brunch
-people that aren't horrible at neighboring tables in restaurants
-proper ashtrays (not bottles, boxes, sinks)
-parks
-art books
-Sam's nose
-film trailers
-diners
-parmesan cheese
-11:11
-costume jewelry