1st smile ; I'm leaving my physical therapy appointment, and I was wearing a silly tank top that says "Built in the Sixties, Original and Unrestored. Some Parts Still in Working Order" I pass the front desk where a woman was waiting near it in a wheelchair. She happily said "Yay for the sixties!" I gave her a thumbs up and a "hooyah" she said "61 here" and I answered "62 here" we high fived like the old ladies we are and shared a smile.

2nd smile; While sitting at a light, (in surprisingly low traffic for the time of day), I checked my rear view as one does, and behind me is a young man driving, and a lady quite a few years older than me was talking excitedly and pointing to the back of my car, moving her forearm back and forth like a windshield wiper. I drive a small SUV, and on the back window I have a cat decal, and its tail is on the wiper. I knew :) we had plenty of time before the light changed, so I switched on my rear wiper for a few seconds. The young man saw and pointed it out to her, and she laughed and literally clapped her hands, a huge smile. I waved at them and she waved back still smiling. I switched off the wiper and went on my way.

If feels nice to make people smile.

Today my phone rang at work, but I couldn't answer it so I just meant to let it go to voicemail, to deal with it later. No voicemail came, so I researched the number, found nothing and daringly called back. No answer...

Then my phone rang again, same number, and it was my wonderful coworker who had retired five years ago. We worked in the same room in a daycare, and I have since opened my own inhome daycare. She apologised profusely for not having deleted my number and told me she had meant to call her husband, whose name is right next to mine in her phone. We chatted for a bit and then decided not to delete any numbers but instead meet for coffee for a proper catch up!

It made me so happy to hear her voice - I have learned so much from her and think of her regularly. I'm just surprised she hasn't accidentally called me much earlier...

Edit: Thank you, anonymous friend, for the award! 💛

i have 2 cats which was the babies from my very first cat (crossed the rainbow bridge) I can say that my life was somehow a series of misfortunes, a little ups but mostly downs. But somehow my cats is like a lifeline to me. I have really worst times in life where I just wish to stop existing but my cats are such angels in disguise covered with fur. No matter how difficult things could get as long as my cats have their kibbles & few wet tunajelly. I be happy.

PS: I live in Philippines and know how bad inflation around the world is going on. Being below the middleclass kind of living iykyk

This was 2 years ago and lasted about 6 seconds total, yet I still remember it and will probably remember it for the rest of my life simply because of the shared moment with another human being, completely unexpected and so heartwarming.
I was crossing an irregularly shaped square towards one end where a road was dead-ending into the square. There was a bulldozer doing some work on the square which was done and the bulldozer was puttering along towards the road, only there was a car parked there (illegaly), at a T to the bulldozer's path. I was striding in the same direction as the bulldozer and drew up level with it just as it slowed down and stopped at the car blocking its way. I looked to my left at the bulldozer driver through the glass, he looked to his right at me (maybe thinking I was the car's owner) and we locked gazes. This was an older working-class man and I'm a youngish middle-class woman, meaning not the kind of people who would speak to each other as strangers. And we didn't speak - didn't need to. Without even breaking my stride, I mimed inserting my arms under the car like a forklift and flipping it over, indicating "Go ahead, why not do that!". He repeated my gesture meaning "Yeah, why not, really!" and burst out laughing, and I burst out laughing too. It would be so easy to do that as a bulldozer driver! And I strode off, still laughing, and I like to think he kept laughing too. It made my day, and apparently not just one year, but two.

Now my book smells nice :)

Just a cute coincidence that made both of us smile! 💜

I've been walking and biking to work mostly due to the nice weather but it rained today so I decided to take the bus. I found out they changed my bus route this week. My old bus stop was a half mile away (but went to my offices front door directly). The new bus route picks me up right by my apartments front door so I have door to door service.

Driving through my small Maine town today, I saw a tiny car (one of the bubble ones, I think a Smart fortwo?) pull out of the Post Office parking lot. It had been painted just like the Little Tikes Coupe plastic car that nearly every kid and grandkid rode in 20 years ago: red body and yellow roof and googly eyes.

For a minute, I laughed out loud. And then I thought, this guy is living his absolutely best life.

Last month, I missed home so much that I impulsively bought a ticket and flew back to China by myself. One day, I was wandering around the streets when my feet started hurting because I was wearing the wrong shoes. I got tired pretty quickly, so I found a little stone ledge by the street, sat down, and started drinking the milk tea I had gotten to go. Then this elderly lady walked over and started looking me up and down. I immediately thought she was about to criticize me for sitting on the street like that, because maybe she thought my posture was not very elegant or something. But then she asked, “Is that milk tea good?”All the tension in me instantly disappeared. I smiled and told her that it was REALLY good. Then she asked where I got it because she wanted to get one too. I had bought two drinks, so I gave her the one that hadn’t been opened yet. She tried to pay me for it, but I said no. Then the two of us ended up sitting side by side on the little stone ledge, each holding a cup of milk tea and just drinking together. It was such a strangely wonderful afternoon. Somehow, I got lucky enough to find an old lady bestie on the street randomly.

The bread was under proofed and bland, the sauce was oily. But the company was worth not breaking the moment up with a complaint. (:

If I’d have complained I’d have just gotten more bad food

It's my first September not going back to school.
I've been so busy I've barely realized what month it is. But it's starting to hit me.
I''ve started to really enjoy school and my campus. Wandering through the poster sales, checking out the many options of the food court. Drinking a Starbucks coffee while walking over to my parent's car (thank you parents for picking me up so much).
Sitting with my laptop in the common areas, listening to tv shows and crocheting. Doing class work. Checking on Discord messages. People watching.
I'm really going to miss it. It's just started to sink in.
On to new adventures.

I should be going to bed soon. I'm curled up almost in a ball in my favourite chair. It's making my hips hurt. I really need to stretch out.
But the orange is curled over my leg.
He's never been a lap cat, but lately he's been wanting to stay on or near my lap.
I can't bare to move him yet, not until I really have to.
I can deal with the discomfort, to let him get a little more snoozing in.

He's a near 5 yr old orange tabby. And he is the best boy. Little cuddle monster.

Over the last year I’ve been working out so I’ve gone up a size tee shirt. Instead of relying on free tees from companies, I’ve either designed my own with logos and designs I actually like or I’ve bothered to find tees I actively want. And they all fit the way I want. This morning I realized I was excited to pick out which tee I was going to wear today.

Sitting upstairs at the very back, about to get onto the motorway. Weather’s good. It's been raining the past week, but the sun’s out right now. Almost 6pm, so it's casting a golden glow on everything as it prepares to set.

Just looking ahead, the bus is fairly full but quiet. I suppose it's just people getting off work and from college. I work nights, and it's my day off, so I don't feel “it.”

I'm fresh out of the shower, with a red pin on my hoodie and a plaid green hat, lol. Nobody’s looking at me, and I'm overly concerned about them. We’re all in our own little worlds.

My parents were first gen immigrants. After recieving some terrible advice that they must not teach me their home language as a baby child because english will set me up for life (which it has, but still) they decided that they'd raise me completely english speaking. I don't actually know how they did it since my mother was new to the language and even though my father went to an english medium school over there... he has a strange way of english haha.

Also, they have the whooolleee rags to riches story going on, so "family" over there is kinda evil. Long story short they nearly convinced him to move back there to take care of his mother - when his sister literally lives across the city from her. Oh well, this meant that they began teaching me the letters for their language to prep going back home at likeeee 5ish. I had a perfect accent of both laguages, and would laugh whenever my father said something in a fun way hahaha.

But thankfully we didn't move back, I got a real citizenship instead and the language kinda just got left to the dust. Except for the fact that our parents (I gained a sibling) would speak thier language tons when they aren't talking to us. It is kind of odd, I think, but I don't really know any other way.

By the way, I hated english in school, hated language learning, and was all maths and science obsessed so its not my forte.

At night, my parents would speak downstairs and as I got older, obviously I wanted to know if they were talking about me. So in bed I'd start listening reaaalll hard for my home-name. By the way, its super funny but with an english accent - saying my homename means spiderwebs instead of sparks of light which is super funny - also the reason its my home-name hahaha.

And then with no effort at all - while I was simultaneously learning chinese (in school, I chose it over french because it was easier trust me) and sign language - I started picking up the language strangely really fast. Because I could guess what they were talking about from general context.

I got the music of the language - as in if I wanted to say something, I'd know the beat and I could hum the words but not actually say them. I could also somehow distinguish fancy version and colloquial quite soon in. I assume this is because technically I've heard it all my life but I usually completely tune it out in the day. Anyway, obviously my knowledge was extremely gappy and it wasn't entirely like I associated words to english meanings. It was... is weird.

Fast forward 2ish years, I could piece larger words together quite well simply from feeling the language - though pattern recognition is a big strength of mine. Then another few months, we were in the home country visiting the piranhas family there and obviously they know I can't understand a word they say. Also my parents don't really understand, I can't really explain how I interpret whole conversations, intricate jokes etc no longer with context but often can't give the english definition of a word when asked. And!! I was staring at them as if I understood what they were talking about with eachother (they don't speak english, my and my brother literally sit on opposite sides of the room with whoever and sign to eachother from sheer boredom usually). And I did mostly understand! It was hard, because I'm only used to my parents flavour of the language but thats why I was staring so intensely and they were like uhhhh she comprehend??

My parents said kinda.

Anywayyyy, we were in the store today, and they had whole complex conversation and I can proudly say I could translate it into english!! And reply back too :DD. I no longer have such a great accent but thats mostly because I overthink it. I also know like half the letters. Except for some reason they join letters and create new ones too so theres way way way more to learn. If I want to. But I'm reaaaaaaaaaaallly happy about that. Yay. Thats all

I'm what's known as a WikiGnome. I just happen to read a ton of articles for fun and my editing is exclusively fixing small mistakes that I find while reading--grammar, typos, broken coding, the like.

This is a random sampling of my recent edits, in no particular order.

+Apollodorus (painter).

+Pulsus paradoxus.

+Orbona.

+Déjà vu.

+Ranunculus asiaticus.

+Jean Marc Gaspard Itard.

+Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato.

+Fève.

+Conditum.

+TeleZapper.

+Mr Creosote.

+Maids of honour tart.

+Brushturkey.

+Teeth blackening.

+Raviole du Dauphiné.

Last weekend I visited Mt. Fløyen in Bergen with my friend and his 5-year-old son. My friend and his son are Norwegian. I'm American. I can read a bit of Norwegian, but I can't understand much at all, and I definitely can't speak it. That goes double for Bergensk, which my friend and his son speak.

We took the funicular to the top and went for a beer at the restaurant there. I sat on the restaurant patio with the kid while my friend went inside to get us the drinks. I felt quite awkward about it. I'm like zero perecent kid person. I just don't know what to do with them. Making matters worse, little man and I have no common language, so we couldn't talk to each other. We sat and looked helplessly at each other for a long moment.

He started fidgeting his fingers on the tabletop. Sensing a possibility, I grinned at him and started copying every move he made. After two or three moves, he giggled and started making more complicated movements. I kept up like a champ. He giggled and wiggled and clearly delighted in trying to stump me. We played until his papa returned with our drinks and we didn't miss him for a second.

At the end of my visit, when they dropped me off at the airport, he asked his papa to ask me if I'd give him a hug. I've seldom felt more like a success.

Now there's a picture of him and his papa in my Favorites gallery on my phone.

Maybe I'm not zero percent kid person after all.

My son (21) seems to be the "dad" type person for his friend group, both male and female.

Knowing this, a few days ago I mentioned if any of his female friends found themselves in a period situation without any products. He knows where everything is and they are welcome to use what I have stored.

Apparently this situation has already occurred, he helped out and that was that. But other "friends" have said it's weird that 1, he knew what was going on and 2, where my products are and how to help. ( He opened a plastic tub in the linen cupboard. He didn't buy out the Cadbury's chocolate factory.... Lol)

Surely it's "weird" that young men in this day and age DONT know about it or what women may need for it????

I'm proud of myself for breaking the cycle of stupidity surrounding male immaturity regarding periods.

I'm proud of him for stepping up, being aware and empythetic with no shits given. In his words "It is what it is".

Ha it's that simple it seems!!!!!☺️☺️☺️☺️

After 3 years living with my avid baker MIL, my husband and I are finally back on our own and I have my own kitchen with my own tools out of storage. So far in the last 24 hours I have made honey oat bread, Japanese milk bread, apple scones, and carrot cake scones (currently baking). I added butterscotch chips to the carrot cake scones and the smell is absolutely divine.

It's a quiet Saturday morning 7 am and the only sounds I hear to disturb the peace is my German Shepherd/Belgian Malnoise mix arguing with the birds that frequently perch in my tree or take a bath in the front gutter on the roof that needs to be cleared.

He barks at them and they chirp in response. I'm pretty sure it's about them having the right to be the tree because it's in his yard. I have tried to call him inside but he is out there stubbornly guarding/patrolling the back yard to keep it safe. I'm thinking seriously dude, their 2 inches tall other than pooing on my car what harm is it? Life goes on

My family loves spaghetti, but over the years our tastes have changed. I don't love meat, but I don't want no meat. My kid likes extra meat. My husband wants no noodles but mixes some sauce into his people chow. Nobody eats the leftovers because the sauce soaks in too much and it gets dry and mushy. So last time, instead of making meat sauce, I got air-fryer meatballs. Delicious. When I put away the leftovers, I kept all the parts separate. This worked great, but we ran out of meatballs first so I bought more. Then we ran out of noodles so I made another batch. Then we ran out of sauce. You see where this is going. Now we have a gallon bag of cooked spaghetti, an opened jar of sauce, and a container of cooked meatballs being replenished in the fridge at all times for a good month now. We just heat up our preferred combo at any time and it tastes almost as good as fresh. I'm gonna see how long I can keep this going before we all get sick of it.

Pulled into the driveway with one of my favorite songs playing. Just as I reached for my keys, the song ended and faded out...

For just that moment, I felt the universe smile on me.

The air was cool and crisp, I could hear and see the branches of the trees near the fenced in yard swaying slightly in the breeze. I sighed and closed my eyes feeling like I could be grounded for the first moment that day and put my bare feet in the cold long grass. I opened my eyes and looked up, it was a full moon but the clouds were obscuring it, so it was a misty moon. It was the misty moon night 🌙

We had a nice clear night, and I love celestial events. I stayed up past midnight and kept going out to watch the moon go through the eclipse, and see if there was any aurora (not tonight). Mom (age almost 86) was interested, but had gone to bed at 9pm as usual.

She got up around midnight for a potty break, and came out to see how it was going. We had to walk out into the yard past the trees. I used my phone for a little light, and she carefully walked barefoot along the path, holding my arm a bit. We stood and watched the curious dark moon with its glowing hat, and a million stars. It was lovely.

I was casually chatting with my former colleague when she mentioned that time when we had lunch then she cried out of the blue.

She thanked me for not forcing her to open up and for inviting her for coffee after work.

I didn't do anything special on that day but apparently, what I did made a difference.

What makes this exchange even more meaningful?

My former colleague doesn't know I'm going through a rough patch. Her gesture is a welcome reprieve as it feels nice to learn that I did something right.

What I learned is that any act of kindness creates ripples. A polite smile, a simple token, or a random message can make someone's day.