"Glories Strung Like Beads..."

(Most directly from Tommy, by way of Norm, the ineffable Sheila, and others. And I'm not really going to look at their work too long, because i don't want to copy.)

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I love in wintertime, when you're bundled, and the icy wind blasts your face, and you breathe that arctic air into your lungs. Winter "cold" has its own taste that I will always associate with college; probably because the coldest of the winters i can remember were spent there.

I love opening an ice-cold bottle of rootbeer, and the way the "fog" hangs around the opening. My mother "taught" me to blow on it, to blow the fog away, but I gulp it down with that first lovely mouthful of root beer. I swear I can taste it.

I love baseball fields. When I was heading toward McAllen, the highway passed what was either a college or semi-pro stadium. The field was low enough--or the highway was high enough--that I could look down into it and see the green of the grass, the milk-chocolate infield with its crisp white lines. And, believe it or not, I almost started crying.

I love the smell of ink. I've written a few poems and a short story about it, actually. The smell of ink in a brand-new book is beautiful and strange. Which always makes me sad, when I buy used books (as I tend to do) and that smell is gone.

I love finding old bookmarks, receipts, ticket-stubs, and other such artifacts in used books. Sometimes, this is the reason I'll buy a book. And I never ever remove these items.

I love it when girls my age wear their hair in pigtails. Don't know why. But I always feel like I can trust a girl in pigtails. (Maybe I shouldn't share that; it could be taken advantage of.) I think it's because wearing pigtails is most common in little girls, and, in my experience, little girls seldom have agendas or ulterior motives. Of course, I was probably just unaware of them, in my youth.

I love "Mystery Science Theater 3000." It's dangerous for me, though, if I watch it with people I don't know and trust. You see--I giggle. When something is continually funny, joke upon joke, I reach a point where I can't stop giggling. It's probably one of the most embarrassing of my traits. So I never watch MST3K with people I've just met. I don't want to give them the wrong idea.

I love my shoes. They're my favorite kind of shoes. I've gotten the same kind three times so far, and will probably continue to do so. Same thing with my glasses.

I love how excited my sisters get when I show up at my parents' house to visit.

I love Stephen King novels. They're great reads. And King has a great (though twisted) sense of humor.

I love the Cubs. Deeply.

I love that I fell back in love with baseball this year, and have recaptured the passion for the game that I last felt in elementary school.

I love how a great rock song is a transcendent, religious experience. How you get shivvers up and down your spine, or goosebumps on your arms, and then when the chorus hits, your eyes well up with tears.

I love blogging. I hate that I love it so much.

I love stories where the hero has to choose between doing what he knows is right, and doing what would be more comfortable/profitable/beneficial to himself. And I love when the hero chooses to be the hero.

I love cheering for the underdog. In any sporting event or story, if I don't have a real dog in the fight, I root for the one everyone counts out. But, as i said, I'm a Cubs fan.

I love the exuberance of the song "Everlasting Love" by U2.

I love getting home from work on Wednesdays, ripping off my necktie, slipping into a ratty tee shirt and shorts, and turning on something loud on the stereo.

I love how much Aslan teaches me about God.

I love meeting someone who, right off the bat, gets all my jokes and allusions, so that I never have to go back and awkwardly explain them.

I love it when--completely unplanned or uncontrolled--my favorite songs come on the radio, one right after another, during a roadtrip. In those moments, I believe all the more in Providence.