An Ode to Recycling...

Because it's not just about getting rid of your things in a conscientious manner, but finding them, too.

A true farmers' market aficionado, I like them even better when they have a flea market to boot, a la Fremont and Georgetown. On a recent jaunt to the Center of the Universe, I found a four-feet-tall, heavy duty tissue paper daffodil. The base of the flower is a bulb, with little tiny roots coming out. If ever there was love at first sight, this was it. Even a little bit of water damage couldn't stop me. I asked the owner if I could buy it, in a could-I-possibly-be-so-lucky-as-to-own-this tone, and her reply was almost the opposite! She softly chuckled and said of course, letting me that if I'm going to take her junk, I can roll full steam ahead. We had to walk a few blocks and enter a shop on the way home, post-purchase, and it was a walk of pride. Everyone was looking at me and commenting, and I just beamed with pleasure.

Now I'm just desperate for the apartment to put it in. Dear Queen Anne, might you have room for two and a flower?

The following week led to a newbie trip to Georgetown, and this market does not disappoint. I have never seen so much robust produce. Yes, robust is really the only word I would use to describe them. Let your imaginations conjure up what they will. 

On the way out, we stumbled upon what I now know is the Power Tool Drag Races. I will cheers every cheap beer I've had to this. We walked by about 45 minutes before race time, so people were still arriving with their home-made vessels. Each one was clearly stamped with the 'Made with Love' signature. You had to be looking carefully to see that...wink. Creativity and community were emanating from this event, and for a fleeting moment I wanted to enter next year. Perhaps I will just sponsor someone with a little more power tools knowledge. 

All of this "junk" has brought people together to share this thing called living. Sell it, use it, turn it into something else, it might be more valuable than you think.

As much as I love math, and har de har har, I'm not being sarcastic at all, I'm a little bit confused by the idea of indexing happiness. Running a regression on smiles and frowns. Calculating the confidence interval of the heart. I'm starting to see this idea pop up all over the place : The Happiness Index (published in The Atlantic, this one is based off of Facebook status posts; fortunately I'm enough of a jerk to say how dumb this sounds), the Happy Planet Index, a well-intentioned attempt at creating longer and happier lives while reducing human environmental impact, and Gross National Happiness, synonymous with GDP. The Happiness Index belongs to the United States, the Happy Planet Index to the Brits, and Bhutan currently has one of the highest GNH's. Ocean to ocean, this concept has found roots for itself.


I definitely encourage you to look some of these up - and there are more out there - because the original basis for the studies is so well-intentioned, it does give one sincere hope for humankind. I will give that one to happiness statistics. But if you asked me to take all my emotions, and make some kind of definitive, black-and-white logic out of them, I would tell you that you are crazy. I don't think most people even know when they are truly happy, or truly not. In hindsight, perhaps, but not at the time. I also don't think it would be even remotely possible to get people to accurately admit to their current state of mind. Even if we did come to some concise conclusions on happiness, would you really want to hear a rule and follow it? I don't think many people would benefit from someone else telling them what would make them happy and what wouldn't.


Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.


I do what I want.