*1321 - too happy

Does it scare you to be too happy?

Do you worry that your capacity for happiness is going to expand in the same way your stomach stretches when you overeat, so that when you're below that max volume of happiness, even if it was perfectly satiating in the past, you may now hunger more?

That doesn't scare me as much as the thought of being happy because of someone else.

*1320 - Maui

I was trying to figure out which photo, out of the trillions that I took, would be the most representative of my trip to Maui.  These were two close contenders.

Intensely beautiful landscapes, which look uncannily like fake paintings.  Dorkily enough, this picture became all six of our phone screens throughout the trip.

And then there was this.  Intensely focused synchronized hula dancing.  

Yes, it was one of those trips.

*1319 - growing old

I recognize all the huge changes in myself over the years and am thankful.  I can guess at what could be happening in a couple of parallel universes--it could be more awesome, it could be devastatingly worse.  But where I am right now.  I am just thankful.

A younger me would have once thought crossing the line into "late 20's" would reflect a very different lifestyle than "early 20's".  Sure, materially, things have changed.  I work, I pay all my own bills, I subsist completely on my own, I don't depend on anyone.  I can afford tiny luxuries like trips to Hawaii and the occasional Michelin-rated restaurant and more shoes than I objectively require.  Sure, maturity has grown, thank God.  I understand myself and have learnt to accept myself or accept my process to accepting myself.  Sure, I have discovered new hobbies, have a different mix of friends, do different things to entertain or improve myself, have different goals and objectives.  Sure, I have new worries and new priorities that occupy my mind that didn't use to.

But one thing that would probably have surprises me, because it surprises me today and makes me giggle, is all that talk about getting jaded?  Tapering off?  Mellowing?  Settling?  Not having as much fun?  That is so far from the truth!  I look at my older friends in their 30's and 40's and I only hope I can be as cool and fun-loving as them when I am there.  (Everyone in San Franciso has a slight streak of crazy, though, so perhaps my perceptions are skewed.)

What I'm saying, I guess, is that a passion, a passion for passion, a wonder for life, and active pursuit of adventure and newness and excitement--I don't think this has to wane.  Sometimes, I catch myself laughing at myself, because I realise (happily) that some things don't change and don't have to change.

*1318 - sheeps and poles: a compilation

Sheep jamming out on poles.  Awesome Halloween!

This was Part 2 of 3 of the major Halloween events this year.  Part 3 was undocumented in pictures but involved bachata/kizomba dancing in above DIY sheep costume--which was handmade from 200 cotton balls glued to a top and a headband.  At the end of the night, I was a half-shorn sheep, leaving unravelled cotton balls strewn across the dance floor ... hilarious.

By the way, do note that cotton balls are extremely heat retentive, so prepare to be sweaty if you're ever covered in hundreds of cotton balls and dancing vigorously.