Reza's Mind

Entrepreneurship In Motion

100 Things That Make Me Smile

It’s about 90 degrees now—I feel like I’m sitting underneath a very fat man who’s breathing on me at a steady humid rate.  I’m on my balcony watching Hollywood shimmer in the summer heat (unfortunately it’s technically fall) and I realize how much I love my view.  My dog is sleeping next to my feet; she always seems to be sleeping, but I love her nonetheless.  No matter how bad my day is, my view and my dog always put a smile on my face—I feel like people, including myself, have forgotten how many things there are to make us smile; like we’ve lost perspective.

In the last nine-years I’ve watched my country be attacked, then witnessed the invasion of one, and then another nation, seen people make and then lose millions in the blink of an eye, and now I’m faced with the latest—in what seems to be an endless procession—indicator of the waning spirit of the United States and our slipping position on the global list of VIPs.

So I want to write something to put a smile on my face and yours.  To remind you, me, and the world of what it means to be happy—despite circumstances and perception.

Here’s a list of things that make me smile, that remind me life is beautiful, humanity is magnificent, and things will be alright, no matter how bleak they may seem:

1. A random phone call from an old friend
2. My parents
3. Zina Bella
4. Sharing stories around a Hookah into the wee hours of the night with friends in Lake Arrowhead
5. Dessert wine
6. New friends
7. Old friends
8. Friends I haven’t discovered yet
9. Evite invitations
10. “Home” by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros
11. Physics
12. Babies tasting ice cream for the first time
13. Babies tasting lemons for the first time
14. Babies tasting just about anything for the first time
15. Looking through old Yearbooks
16. Rain from that lonely cloud on a sunny day
17. Leaving home
18. Coming home
19. Getting lost
20. Finding what I’m looking for
21. Drinking tea while I read a good book
22. Good music played loud
23. Walking through Bourbon Street on a Muggy Summer’s night and breaking into a spontaneous street dance with dozens of strangers
24. Humble people
25. Smart people
26. Friendly people
27. Watching strangers help each other
28. Helping strangers
29. Movie marathons
30. Making people feel good about themselves
31. Cartoons
32. Demonstrations
33. Watching friends hook up with people they’ve lusted after for months/years
34. Sleeping in
35. Waking up before the suns up
36. Riding a Harley through an empty canyon road
37. Listening to people’s stories
38. Free samples
39. Video games
40. Crowded parties
41. Intimate dinners
42. Fires on a cold night
43. Cooking for friends
44. Driving really fast
45. Driving really slow
46. Watermelon on a hot day
47. Hot chocolate on a cold day
48. Mixing drinks
49. Thunder storms
50. Upgrades
51. Starry nights
52. Full Moons
53. Snow
54. Trains
55. Getting a truck driver to honk his horn because I’m pumping my arm
56. People who ride scooters with authority
57. Creativity
58. Puzzles
59. Monopoly
60. A really fantastic work of art
61. Being early
62. Leaving late
63. Being able to watch the sun set
64. Being able to watch the sun rise
65. Psychics
66. Deeper discounts
67. HDTV
68. Giving awards
69. Getting awards
70. Saying thank you, and meaning it
71. Being thanked, when I know it’s sincere
72. Bonding
73. Riding my skateboard
74. Birthdays
75. Pool parties
76. Getting very buzzed
77. Sexting
78. Mobile uploads
79. Having your friend pass out on your arm and then humiliating them in cyberspace
80. Passing out and being humiliated in cyberspace
81. Laughing at others, but telling them I’m laughing with them
82. Laughing at myself, but secretly plotting revenge
83. Hot dogs
84. Greasy food
85. Chocolate pudding
86. Neon signs
87. London, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong
88. Not having to wear a suit
89. Being truly grateful
90. Something sexy
91. Being sexy
92. Sex
93. Love
94. Three’s Company, Dukes of Hazard, Transformers, and GI Joe
95. Technology
96. Heated debates
97. Knowing I’m right, but admitting I’m wrong
98. Keeping my inner-child happy
99. Reviving other peoples’ inner-child
100. Writing this list

I hope that now that you’ve read this list, you’ll add to it, forward it to your friends and let them add to it, and help create a list that stretches on forever and blocks out the negativity, cynicism, and despair that we sometimes use to paint our reality.

Now smile!