Things That Make Me Charlie White Happy (And Things That Really Don't)

This week beat me, guys. Between (extremely expensive) car problems, all sorts of stressful madness at work, and then another round of (extremely expensive) car problems, by the time Saturday afternoon rolled around I was trying not to burst into tears in the lobby of the auto shop. Granted, if each of these things had happened one at a time, I wouldn't have been nearly as overwhelmed. But all together? Ha, no thanks.

Basically, I've been a giant grumpy ball of stress for the better part of a week now. But I don't want to be a grumpy ball of stress. I want to be Charlie White happy.

Charlie has to be the happiest person on the face of the planet. I mean, look at him. He always has that smile on his face. He's like sunshine condensed into a human being. How do you do that? How are you that happy all the time?

If you're looking at me for an answer... well, I don't have one. But I compiled a list of things that made me Charlie White happy this week, because there are bright spots even on the days in which you spend three hours sitting at the mechanic while your car is being worked on. Siiiigh.

+Free cookies at work. Free stuff is great. Free food is greater. Free junk food is the greatest. I think that's something we can all agree on.

+People offering to help out when I'm carless (before I can even ask). For some reason, I find asking for a ride to be incredibly awkward. Actually, I find asking for favors in general to be incredibly awkward. Maybe the people in my life know this, because I had more ride offers than I know what to do with, and I'm so grateful! Not just that I didn't have to ask, but that people want to help me in my hour day(s) of need. :)

+Going to lunch with a friend and (finally!) hearing his Sochi stories. I do love me some good behind-the-scenes Olympic tales! And it doesn't hurt that the friend in question is an A+ human being.

+Treating myself. I couldn't even remember the last time I bought something frivolous for myself before last weekend. But I randomly decided to treat myself to a couple of books and a movie, and that was an excellent life choice. Especially when the movie showed up at my apartment with this!

+Going to sleep earlier than I thought I'd be able to. *heavenly chorus*

+People complimenting my blog. Seriously, if you want to make me really happy (and simultaneously kind of uncomfortable), talk to me about my blog.

+Getting Buzz back from the mechanic a day earlier than expected. YES. The cost also wasn't quite as high as the worst case scenario I was given, so that was a smidgen of relief as well.

+Having amazing friends who make me feel better about all the suck, from clear across the country. There is honestly nothing like getting texts that say a) "do I have to come kill someone for you?" and b) "we'll take good care of you if you ever need a vacation away from it all." Are they not the greatest? :)

+Crossing an item off my Olympic bucket list. LOOK, I can name every Olympic host city by year! (Don't judge.)

Now, you'll have to take my word for it that I didn't cheat. I didn't study, either. I just randomly decided to see how many I could remember (because that's where my mind goes when it's idle, apparently), and realized I was there. Woohoo!

+Spring has finally sprung in Colorado. I say this with extreme reservation, as it snowed on Wednesday morning. But it's supposed to be 80 degrees today, so we can call that spring, right?

+Going to see the Rockies play the Mets. I've been wanting to go to a Rockies game for, like, a year now. So when the Mets finally came to town, the situation was too perfect for me to pass up! I got to watch baseball, break out my R.A. Dickey shirt, eat a hotdog, and enjoy the flawless weather with some friends.

It was oddly comforting. I mean, it's a stadium I've never been to, friends I've never been to a game with and have only known for a couple of months, and a Mets roster that I'm like 90% unfamiliar with. But cheering for Murph and Duda and Wright felt like a little slice of home, like all the Mets games I've gone to at Citi with friends I've known for my entire life. It was also kind of fun having a sense of camaraderie with all the other Mets fans there. We share the same struggle. All the Mets jerseys I saw, with the exception of David Wright and Matt Harvey, are players that are no longer on the team -- Reyes, Davis, Delgado, Martinez, Piazza, Dykstra. We live in the past because... uh... who the heck is our present??? (Serious question.)

The game itself was crazy entertaining (and crazy long -- three hours and 46 minutes!) and the Mets... lost. On a walk-off home run. After blowing a six-run lead in the third inning. Wompppp. But any game in which the Mets score 10 runs is a good one, especially since they lost the previous two games to the Rockies by a combined 17-7. And hey, the Mets losing is the kind of suck I know to expect and have learned how to handle. So if I had to be there to see a loss, it was a hell of a loss to see. At least they kept things interesting for all three hours and 46 minutes!

Looking back on all this stuff makes me realize that, despite all the craptastic stuff, this week was pretty awesome. Maybe this Charlie White happy thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hmmmm. I'm onto you, Charlie. Let's see if I can keep this optimism going as I drive a car with headlights and blinkers that don't work for the next few days. Siiiiigh.

Wishing you all a Charlie White happy week, friends!

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Favorites Friday: RA Dickey

Good to see his delivery face hasn't changed much!

Did YOU know the MLB's current National League Cy Young award winner was an Olympian? Back before he was baffling the majors with his knuckleball, he was a fresh-faced fastball pitcher for Team USA in Atlanta in 1996.

I didn't know this until well after I called myself a huge fan of his, and it just got added onto a rapidly growing list of reasons why I love him. I talked last week about the phenomenon of liking an athlete more the more I get to know about him; RA Dickey was my first (and, until Jim Craig, only) experience with this. But it got to a point where some new little tidbit or sound bite would come to light and I would just laugh, because of course it was perfect. Again.

When Dickey started with the Mets, I knew nothing about him. He pitched about .500 for the season, but always seemed to get awful run support because his ERA was low. So the rest of the team got blamed for that, in my mind. And besides, he was a pitcher that hit pretty decently, so I liked him.

The next season was a hot mess, and due to no fault of his own. Again, his ERA was respectable, but his run support was atrocious. Utterly laughable. I watched him pitch quality start after quality start, only to lose because the team just wasn't hitting. I'm a total sucker for an underdog, so I probably have this awful season to credit my fandom to. I saw this amazing pitcher who was being completely let down by his team and was FURIOUS for him.

This was when I first decided I wanted to buy his jersey and found out that it didn't exist. Seriously. So I had to settle for watching interviews, where I discovered that he's a humble, well-educated, well-read, eloquent, nerdy, soft-spoken, polite family-man, and then get even angrier that I couldn't wear his name and number on my back.

But then he signed a contract extension for 2012 and, hallelujah, the Mets came to their senses! I immediately ran to the Mets store in the mall and bought the first one I could find. Who cares that it was a men's shirt and I was basically drowning in it? I chopped a few inches off the bottom and the sleeves and was good to go!

And then... the 2012 season happened and I wanted to cry with happiness. He became the Mets' star, pitching full games, setting the record for consecutive shutout innings, becoming the first pitcher to reach 10 wins, striking out everyone... I was so proud, and had never felt more like a hipster in my entire life. "I've liked him since before his jersey was available in stores! HAH!"

Then he won the Cy Young Award and the Mets traded him to Toronto. >.< The rational, sport administration major in me understands that this was probably the best for all parties involved and what their goals are, but... god, I still hate the Mets for doing it. I was able to meet him in NYC a week (almost to the day) before he was traded, and after telling him I'm such a huge fan of his (to which he responded "It means so much to me to hear you say that!"), I said, "I might actually cry if you're traded." He laughed in that flattered, embarrassed sort of way, but I was serious.

Best. Day. EVER.

And I did. How can you not cry when a player gets traded and tweets "thank you for making me feel wanted" to his New York fans? It still makes me weepy. He's a player that names his bats after books, travels to India to aid an organization dedicated to stopping human trafficking, and dresses up like Star Wars characters with his kids. He's not exactly your run-of-the-mill athlete.

But he WAS named to Team USA for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, which means I can get a jersey with his name on the back and still be able to root for the team on the front. This solves 99% of my baseball-related problems! (The other 1% being how this Miamian/New Yorker is going to watch Toronto's games. I miss him and the season hasn't even started yet.)