On Happiness...Whatever gets you through the night

No waxing philosophical this time, happiness is feeling, and what follows is a short? (maybe) list of some of what trips my trigger, and what I'll miss when I take my last breath...

The Obvious
My lovely wife's smile...Ah hell, lets be for real, my lovely wife, period

Baby Evangeline...smiling, crying, sleeping, it matters not, I'm amazed and awestruck
My family...enough said

Thoughts of time spent with my grandparents, and my little brother...damn, I miss them

My dogs, by my side...especially Khan, (Nadja, I love you too but Khan is the rock)

* Disclaimer* if the next item offends, my only wish is that you get the chance to experience it before you die...Mutual orgasm with the love of your life, staring into each other's eyes, slick with sweat, shuddering, unable to catch your breath 

Honest to God True Friends...I can probably count them on one hand, those I'd take a bullet for

All the other stuff...
Intellectual Conversation...Whether its my wife and I debating absolute morality, My brutha Bruce and I kicking around the nature of virtue, or any of the other myriad engaging conversations I find myself in, this is what I enjoy most of all being a human being, and ultimately, why I chose academia as a life path
*see above* The intellectually stimulating and epistemlogically challenging regularly occuring conversations with Dr. Amanda Garrison, above all others, I relish and miss right now

Being in center city Philadelphia, especially in the heat of summer...The smell of so many foods, pizza, cheesesteaks, Italian ice, stale beer wafting from the open doors of two hundred year old taverns, the Italian market, South Street, Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, the sight of so many diverse peoples, the sound of the elevated, car horns, music of all kinds from open windows, grafitti, street performers, homeless folk spouting Sartre, junkies, hookers, drag queens, homeboys and homegirls, street kids, horse and carriages next to the trolleys...This sacred and profane magical circus I call home!

Cranes, Herons, Egrets, etc...One word DINOSAURS!!!

Bats...

Spiders...Hell holds a special place for those who kill these amazing little machines

Creating...It matters not the medium... drawing, painting, songwriting, poetry, or any other vehicle of expression, the fruits of labor are the sweetest

Building things...this goes with the previous, swinging a hammer feels so goddamned natural!

Music...The short list goes...The Clash (stirs the soul, you know the feeling), Social D!, The Dropkicks, Loreena McKennitt (especially in the Fall, near a warm, blazing fire...she above all others speaks to my pagan spirit), Imelda May singing Kentish Town Waltz (makes me feel like crying, EVERY time I hear it), Punk rock, Reggea and Dub (not step!, c'mon now), Rockabilly, Swing, Old school Jazz ( Coltrane and Hartman, Lady Day, Duke, the Count, and of course, the sublime Mr. Miles Davis)...Stravinsky's Rite of Spring....you get the idea, music is like air, a necessity...in adendum, if one wanted a glimpse into the inner workings and thoughts of my mind, he or she would find much of that tempestuous wrangling mirrored in the lyrical poetry of Joe Strummer, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Tim Armstrong, and Mike Ness, just throwing it out there

Dancing with my wife in our living room  ...Taking turns choosing songs, Sinatra for me, Louis Armstrong for her

Sharing the cathartic experience of an intense concert with friends ...(Bruce, my brutha, what's a few bumps and bruises compared to the lasting memories?...guess ya have to be there, eh my friend)

Honesty and Candor...No explanation necessary, I think

The Moon when its full, large and bright

Sunday mornings with nothing to do but relax with those dearest to my heart, watching movies...

This list is abridged, stay tuned, I will expand further...Like I said, the road goes on and on

Dancing with my love in the living room, eventually brings us to "our" song