Like, Totally

Irritation has been my constant companion for the past week or so. Any time I have a free mental moment, there it is, sniping away, a little like the annoying yappy dog on my walking route. It's amazingly (did I mention annoyingly?) loud for being so small, and it's got these feathery things all over its body. It looks like a chihuahua dressed up as Chewbacca for Halloween.

Today, there was also an irresponsibly off-leashed German Shepherd on my walking route. "But it's under voice control." Not when the deer show up, it won't be, and I'm holding you responsible if Bambi's mother breaks her leg.

You can see what I mean about the irritation.

Fortunately, while I was walking today, I was listening to a podcast of Q, CBC's arts and culture radio show (see description here). (Canadian content alert.) Q is a mix of interviews, reviews, music--it's stuff you'd seek out if you knew enough to seek it out but you don't have to because here it is, all held together by Jian Ghomeshi, the accomplished and affable host/tour guide.

One of the regular contributors is Mio Adelman, who talks about websites and blogs and other forms of new media. Today, by which I mean "the podcast from the day I was listening to while walking today," he was talking about this blog, "1000 Awesome Things."

Mio said of this blog, and I agree, that one's opinion about the success of the site depends largely on one's definition of "awesome." To some, broccoflower, the smell of new tennis balls, and flossing might not seem so awesome. Mio also said, and I also agree, that while the site is not necessarily completely guaranteed to drive the blues away, it does make you re-think your knee-jerk cynical reaction to the world.

So, if you can't even take a healthy walk without being dogged by a yappy Chewbaccette and a menacing free-range security system, you can at least give this site a try.

Caveat: some of the entries are ridiculous and some are scary-mean, much like dogs. Quite a few are gross. But in there are gems, like #895, getting something with actual handwriting on it in the mail, or #852, the smell of the coffee aisle in the grocery store.

Bonus: it's a work in progress. He's counting up (down?) from 1000 and just got to 800. It's updated Monday through Friday.

And Double Canadian Content points: Neil, the guy behind the blog, is also a Canadian. Of course. Because Canadians are nice.