Little Pleasures

Sometimes I get the biggest pleasures or feelings of accomplishment over the simplest of things.

Today I purchased an inexpensive American novel in a Taipei bookstore for the same price as my night’s lodging.  I regularly spend more on food on a given day (and sometimes at a given meal) than I do for my lodging. This really makes me feel like I’m spending my money well to not be wasting it on some fancy hotel.

In Cambodia a few months ago, the immigration official warned me that I needed new Passport Visa pages soon because I had only a couple left. That was three countries ago. Having to mail my passport to Philadelphia so the Department of State could sew or glue in new pages was a proud moment. It really felt good to completely fill that book with stamps of foreign countries. Is that silly?

Every time I have a pen for several months and run it completely out of ink, I feel major accomplishment. I lose pens all the time, so this has happened only a few times in my life, where the pen literally runs dry. It’s amazing how long a cheap hotel pen will last, and I find it usually does take several months of use for me to extinguish all the ink. Have you ever used up all the ink in a new pen?

When things fall apart on me, it is a pleasure to have to buy replacements. Some things that come to mind are shoes. For instance, by the time I returned to the US a couple months ago (after nearly 5 months of overseas travel), my New Balance 993s were thrashed. I wore them daily for walking, running, hiking, motorbiking, travel, everything. The soles were breaking apart by the time I made it home. I’m now wearing another pair of new 993s. We’ll see how long these last. I’ve lost count, but I’m somewhere around my 13th pair of NB 990s-series shoes. New Balance, are you listening?? How many pairs do I have to buy before I get a freebie!

I’ve already written about my light travel packing. Being more nimble, traveling lighter than others, and not packing my backpack full of junk is something that makes me happy. I know this is not through strenuous effort or accomplishment, but simple planning and execution. It is nothing deserving of praise, but it gives me personal satisfaction to be on the road for months using only a carry-on.

Using old stuff makes me think I’ve found the perfect solution for a task. For instance, the alarm clock I use at home is a small black cubical GE clock radio. I’ve had it for somewhere between 15 and 20 years and used it everywhere from California to Guam to Afghanistan. It has been dropped, kicked, and beaten, but still works smoothly and has as clear a radio reception as I’ve ever heard from a clock. I will never buy another alarm clock until this one quits on me. I feel the same way about my blankets, my backpack, my Casio G-Shock Classic DW5600E, and other personal possessions. Quite simply, using them year after year, abusing them, and being provided full service in return has forged a certain product-customer relationship with me. In return, I am loyal until they die!

Do you find great pleasure in little things? The things that others might laugh at or think are ridiculous? If so, what are they?