Things That Have Saved Your Life

After Life - a brilliant Japanese movie where people awake in purgatory. They are told they only have a handful of days before they "move on." Once they have moved on, however, they will forget everything of their lives, save a single memory. They must choose that single memory from their lives which they want to relive throughout all eternity.

The English Patient - specifically, the scene without words when the score swells to the forefront and we only see Ralph Fiennes weeping.

English Breakfast tea - served hot, with milk and sugar, preferrably sugar in the raw. Sweet, milky, delicious.

A Good Massage - not a half hearted affair done sitting in front of a TV somewhere, but a real massage. A dimly lit room, Enya or the sounds of tropical birds somewhere, oils, quiet, and elbows. Lots and lots of elbows right down into the organs.

Blackbird/I Will by The Swingle Singers - despite this being a medley of sorts, it has an airy quality that soothes the soul. It all comes to a head by "For the things you do endear you to me..."

Kiwi! - It always helps to be reminded that the most hopeless and seemingly meaningless of tasks can have a much larger, much more glorious purpose. And sometimes that purpose is simply to bring a moment's peace before a total failure.

Raymond Carver - Despite whatever happens, revisiting Mr. Carver can bring it all into perspective - disappointment, mediocrity, loneliness, small successes.

Happiness - What a fantastic movie. No mood is ever so dark that this film cannot raise you up.