100,000 Nuts of Pure Happiness

I’ve been slacking with my postings lately, although my mind is full of exciting, novel worthy blog posts galore (relating Little Mermaid songs to real life, wait for it; a boy crush post I wrote a while ago, etc., etc.) But I’d like to share some random thoughts from this past weekend.

I spent both nights are our favorite bar, Cheers. In spite of having already paid for an open bar both nights (granted it ended at 11, umm I still need alcohol), I managed to drop an exorbitant amount of money. On Saturday night, I became “that girl” that has to buy shots for everyone in the bar. Well, truth be told, the bartender has created this shot, which I refer to as the Cherry Blossom. It is the most refreshing and yummy drink ever. And I simply wanted to share it with everyone! (Full disclosure: Rabbit originally made this drink for me, so she gets the true credit I suppose). $80 later, all my friends and a few strangers got to try this drink, thanks to my community service act of the day. I also brought out my business sense and told the owner the he really should put this on the menu, it’d be a best seller. And that he only had to give me 1 percent of proceeds. Instead of smacking the drunk girl, like he should, he just smiled and said, “I’ll give you 2!” This is why I love this bar. (Note: I’m in the process of getting a patent; don’t jack this sweet and clearly originally idea.)

I ran across the article the other day and thought it was really interesting. Referring to the scandal with Sandra Bullock, it asks us to consider what is more important: having extreme professional success or a healthy and happy personal life. And, as most of us with a heart and soul would probably assume, the answer is love.

"Nonetheless, if you had to take more than three seconds to think about this question, you are absolutely crazy. Marital happiness is far more important than anything else in determining personal well-being. If you have a successful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many professional setbacks you endure, you will be reasonably happy. If you have an unsuccessful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many career triumphs you record, you will remain significantly unfulfilled."

A few other points of note:

"Instead, people are happy in their 20’s, dip in middle age and then, on average, hit peak happiness just after retirement at age 65."

I’m a little surprised to find that people are the happiest in their 20s. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty happy, but I’ve experienced, and still am, experiencing the quarter-life crises that many 20-somethings go through. However, given the fact that most of your 20s is spent in college, getting a job and finally earning money and binge drinking the weekends away, I guess this could equate to happiness. For some, your 20s is the time where you figure out what you want to do with your life. For others, it’s a time when you meet your soul mate. Although neither of these things has happened for me yet, I guess the true beauty of your 20s is understanding you have your whole life to figure these things out and find that person. So in the meantime, live it up and enjoy the freedom you have. Because once 30 rolls around, you will be miserable, obviously, until of course you reach the happiest of all ages, 65!

"The daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income."

I both agree and disagree with this statement. Obviously getting sexed up, socializing after work (aka knockin’ a few back after a hard day’s work) and eating are all related to happiness. But I wouldn’t say my current commute injures my happiness, yet. I actually enjoy my short metro ride to work and the mile long walk home in the evenings (if my Ipod it charged and bumpin' sweet tunes). Now, this happiness will only last a mere few months until the sweltering humidity of DC summer hell descends, and I am drenched in sweat halfway up the first hill. Then, my happiness and body oder may be a bit injured.

Also, go me; I am part of a book club that meets once a month. Now, I love these girls and book club is always a good time, but um, I think, given the choice, I would DOUBLE MY INCOME!?! This one, I just can’t swallow. But I need to go finish reading my book club book…

"According to another, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year."

Holy shit! That’s a lot of money. So maybe that online dating subscription price will really pay off in the end…That or just sign up for The Millionaire Matchmaker!

Coming from a broke-as-a-joke young professional living in a relatively expensive city, I’d like to believe that my personal relationships give me more happiness then my lame ass salary. But damn, maybe instead of looking for a new job, I should just look for that husband.

Finally, on a random note, I witnessed nature in action yesterday. I was sitting on my friend Blackberry’s porch, just chatting about random things. We had noticed a squirrel jumping around in the trees above us. Then all of a sudden the squirrel started making an annoying screeching sound, a cross between a dying bird and a rooster’s crow. Realizing we’d never heard a squirrel make a noise, we wondered if this little guy was dying. “Is he seizuring?” Blackberry asked. “I want to throw something at him to shut him up.” “Maybe it’s a mating call!” I yelled, my mind always in the gutter.

And in true blackberry fashion, she whipped out her phone and googled that shit. She stumbled upon this amazing article: Squirrel Speak: It’s More Than Just Noise. Indeed it was more than just a noise; it was a mating call. (For more on how squirrels mate, this is a must read.) We went inside before we witnessed the magical act. But I can only hope that that little squirrel found his bride. Because that would be worth 100,000 nuts of pure happiness.