Rave-on, Perhaps I Should

Things that make me go grin.

Well, having ranted, I thought it might also be a good idea to balance that negative with a bit of positive.  It was a not-so-chance encounter with someone I knew back in college that prompted me, and so I’ll lead off with that.  Allow me to rave on about some of the things that always bring a grin to my otherwise dour mug:

Meeting an old friend

As a certified Swim Dad^tm, I send most Friday evenings in the Fall and Winter on a pool deck wearing The World’s Stupidest Uniform Of All Time Ever^tm.  Which I have really come to love, because despite the uniform¹ it really is a bit of fun.  This past Friday was an absolute delight, because I was able to spend time not only with my wife (the swim coach at CCHS), my parents, one of my brothers, and my two sons (one swimming, one riding herd on my mother and mother-in-law), I got to hang out with two friends from college.  Konrad is the head coach at one of the other schools we were swimming that night, and his wife Emily came along, too.  Their youngest is a freshman swimmer, and my wife and Konrad swam together in college, so, a mini reunion, spanning a couple of generations.  Konrad and Emily are some of the nicest (blanking) people on the planet, and they are always kind to us, remembering our boys and the like.  It is a significant source of regret that I didn’t know Konrad better while we were in school together, and it’s a highlight of the swim season when we get to hang out on the pool deck.

Ray-Bans sunglasses

Listen, if I am anything, I am old school.  I have two pairs of Ray-Bans, one solid black and one tortoiseshell.  To me, they are an enduring classic, permanently in style, and make even my dumb face look almost tolerable.  Also, they work!  I love that I can get them in my stupid-strong prescription with polarized lenses, and that they never pinch in on the side, nor slip off unexpectedly.  And while I also like the Maui Jims I own, I reach for the Ray-Bans first, second, and third.  Two thumbs up, way up.

Gaps in traffic

You know how, every once in a while, when you’re driving on a highway and you’ve been in a traffic pack for a while, and then for whatever reason the lane opens up for a good long stretch?  And you can press down on the accelerator, gently but steadily?  And feel the small of your back press a little more into the seatback?  And there’s, like, a really good song on the radio?  Yeah.  That.  I love those gaps.

Dog stories

I have a dear friend who has two dogs (Mabel and Moxie), and a cat, Mildred.  Mabel and Moxie are related (sisters-from-different-litters?  I think?), Moxie is younger, more rambunctious, and getting bigger than her big sister.  And for me, as the friend who gets to hear and read about those two?  I think they are the funniest dogs I’ve come across.  The stories about those two that come back from their time at “school”?  Crack. Me. Up.  But the best are the descriptions of Mildred’s frustrated indifference at the dog’s presence, behavior, and antics.  Having a bad day?  If you can’t read or hear about Mabel and Moxie, head to Instagram and follow AGuyAndAGolden and GoodBoyOllie. Best cure for a bad day, period.

Walks in a light rain in the woods in winter

When the temperature, rain and pine needles on the path all align, it’s a sense memory that takes me back to Heidelberg, Germany, in the beforetimes².  There is something about the balance between the quiet of the world and the nature of the conversations that happens, usually when I’m up at Mohonk³, that caries me back to being a kid on a Volksmarch with my parents and my younger bother, the two of use kids probably whining a fair bit⁴.  With slim wooden walking canes, decorated with tin medallions from previous Volksmarches, the promise of a Weisswurst or Bratwurst and Glühwein (if we were really lucky) and a very colorful medal at the finish, we’d trudge out many Saturdays into the wood and along very well marked paths, because this is what the Germans did on the weekends⁵.  Just writing about that makes me grin.

A well-modded Seiko

My immediate family all know this about me, and I confessed this to my brothers last year.  Having broken that dam, I’ve become more comfortable talking about this sort of thing in pubic: I’m a watch guy.  And a modder.  That is, I take an otherwise perfectly fine watch and muck about with it, replacing the bezel and inserts, dials and hands, straps and bracelets⁶.  Right now I’m wearing a Seiko SNZF “Sea Urchin”, the damaged original bezel insert replaced with a like-for-like new one, and the stainless steel bracelet updated to a stitched leather strap with a deployant clasp.  When I’m done working on a watch, updating the visible and the sometime hidden parts to match my vision, and when I’ve done it well⁷, I am, as my friend Keith might say, quite chuffed.

Well, that’s a bit of a rave.  No dayglo colors, Ecstasy, or fluorescent glow sticks required (unless that’s actually the kind of rave you prefer – you do you!). Tell me, what are the things, the people, the activities that bring a little grin when they come to mind for you?  Share in the comments!

1. It is well and truly the stupidest-looking outfit anyone has ever been required to wear. Yes, including all this polyester plaid outfits we Genders had to wear in family photos. It’s THAT bad.

2. You know, the late 70s and early 80s.

3. I wrote a bit about this, here.

4. OK, a lot.

5. I’m not sure this is actually true. I suspect it was all just an attempt at tiring my brother and me out. Did not work, of course. You can’t tire out Gen-X boys.

6. Like every good hobby, it has its own vernacular and technical language. Do NOT get me started!

7. Almost never, ever happens. I’m about as patient and dexterous as a Golden Retriever crossed with a hippopotamus.