Day 3 - Lowlights of 2015

It's been said that it isn't the big things, but the little things that matter in life. With that spirit in mind, here are some of the small-but-crucial-for-happiness lowlights of 2015.

1. I spent $30 and bought 3 sets of good grading pens. As someone who stills does a fair amount of grading by hand, I felt I couldn't just stand by and let my life be wasted with cheap BIC pens. Nice pens make writing much more pleasurable.
2. My new house has windows. Being able to look out at the world is a big driver of happiness. After living in a basement apartment for a year, seeing the clouds (the sun doesn't make too many appearances in Seattle) makes all the difference in the world.
3. I was outside of Target earlier this year waiting for my shopping partner when a guy walked up to me and asked if I would be willing to give him $5 cash for his $20 Target gift card. I didn't really believe that the gift card had money on it, but gave him the cash anyways. The guys was really grateful. Several months later, I remembered to try to use the gift card at the store. It did indeed have $20 on it. Thanks honest-parking-lot man.
4. Occasionally, I go to a coffee shop near my house to grade and lesson plan. On two occasions, my friend Patrick has randomly shown up at the same shop. There is nothing more pleasant than randomly running into your friends.
5. I love the inspirational nature of people's creativity. It makes life so much better! Here's a recent example from Facebook with its accompanying commentary.

   

   I love the Paris "shoe march". 
   
   Because of the state of emergency currently in France after the attacks, protests are banned. So protesters have left their shoes instead. 10,000 of them. There is something so soulful and artistic about that. 
   
   As my sister says: being present while being absent.#cop21

6. The most life-changing thing I ate all year was the soy sauce & butter-flavored popcorn snack in Japan. It changed my life. In a good way. In fact, I just looked to see if I can buy it on the internet. I can! For $2.50 for 50g, I think it may be worth it.
7. Alex helped me move...twice. He really is a most excellent boyfriend.
8. My sister got married in a large house on a bay that feeds into the Puget Sound. Over the course of the wedding weekend, Candace and I got into kayaks and floated around the water. We quickly realized that there were small jelly fish everywhere. It was magical. The magic quickly scaled when a harbor seal entered the bay and began to follow us around. There was a small part of me that thought I was going to get flipped over and maimed by a playful harbor seal, but otherwise, magical.

These are the things that keep life going.