The Unofficial Happiness Experiment

The Happiness Experiment (below) was intended to be one month only. However, looking back at the results it actually serves as a good and positive diary so I've carried on recording 3 things that make me happy each day.

So here's the batch from after the official end of the experiment:

27/8/06
Hearing Matt and Trey talk about creating Southpark - inpiration to write
Watching the rhetorical performance of Al Gore at the Edinburgh TV Festival - a thoughtful, knowledgable address
Edinburgh in the sunshine - yellow stone and green under blue skies

28/8/06
Ice Cold in Alex - Sylvia Simms - desert boots
Somerset House fountains and courtyard
Betjeman - Summoned by Bells

29/8
N's flowing locks
Howard Jacobson - Superman as immigrant

30/8
The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper
Chatting on the terrace (behind C4) in the sun (Harry Cymbler, also half-German)
Commenting on films (from Ideasfactory West Midlands and Northern Ireland)

31/8/06
Marie Antoinette - meeting Sophia Coppola
An evening out with Jonathan Rutherfurd Best - 20 years since we met in Penang, Hotel Suisse
Dinner at Sheekeys - Bill Nighy and Rufus Sewell in the house
1/9 ?

2/9
Seeing a Spitfire fly - part of celebrations of its 70th anniversary
Watching N + D play with toy spitfires (resonant of the scene from the Battle of Britain with Ian McShane)
Watching the sleek profile of a Canberra in flight - like something out of Captain Scarlet

3/9
Walking to the Brazil-Argentina match - the approach to a match is often the most exciting bit
Admiration of N's Brazentina flag - his whole non-tribal sensibility
Watching Jake cruise on his terms around his 2nd birthday party

4/9
Walking through Highgate Woods in the sunshine
N + D playing toy soldiers
The direction, writing and acting of Saving Private Ryan

5/9
Getting the all-clear on my suspect mole
Walking and talking - Moray at lunchtime
The Regency caff - incl 1970s Spurs photos

6/9
Who Do You Think You Are?
Setting up Black History Month film event - with Inge, Paul Murphy, Mark Boothe etc.
Building up a visually-led presentation - for Ideasfactory Highlands and Islands

7/9
Lunching by Loch Ness with Sue and Akeva at Dores Inn
Sailing down Loch Ness in the afternoon - the churning green water of the wake, the black water of its depths
Doing my presentation on 'Making the Web Work for You' (creatives) in Inverness with David Bausola and Gill Mills (DJ/podcaster)

8/9/06
Dawn in Inverness
An evening siesta [or "fiesta" as D called it] in Kent - low sunlight filtered through the curtains and the trickle of the fountain outside (Eastwell Manor, Boughton Lees, nr Ashford)
Doing some interesting, pioneering work around Second Life

9/9
Swimming with D - a whole indoor 20m pool to ourselves
Swimming outdoors with Danny - diving along the bright yellow mosaic crest
Reading Andrew Motion's article about writing about his mother and the nature of biography (Spots of Time)

10/9
Chris Cawte teaching D guitar - D strumming like a natural
Having a swimming pool to myself - with Italianate decoration
Catching up with my old friend Chris - and his sons (and their music)

11/9
A Spitfire hand-made birthday card from N + D
A surprise outing from Una to hear Patti Smith (at the Queen Elizabeth Hall) including chance encounters with Jude Kelley (CEO South Bank Centre), Alison Cole (Director QEH) and Kate, a lovely woman from Brighton.
Picnic in Green Park with James and Jonathan.

12/9
Chatting with work colleagues - Lisa Pruden, James and Kerynne Metherell
D telling me about his lesson about babies
Effortless jogging - when your mind is elsewhere

13/9
Listening to Matthew Bannister on creativity
Being in a stone's throw of JimCo in Commercial Road (my grandfather's old factory)
Watching the Creative Archive User Generated Content at the Creative Archive Licence Group, esp the dyslexia film

14/9
Contributing to the 14-19 Creative Media Diploma for Interactive Media at the Skillset Interactive Media Forum
Chatting with N at bedtime
Explaining the achievements of Breaking the News to the DfES evaluator