I'm a motorcyclist through and through. I don't ride because it's a cheap way to get around. You can tell those riders a mile off. I don't ride because I want to look cool. You can tell those riders a mile off also. I ride because it flows through my veins. I ride because it makes me feel safer than when I'm in a car. I ride everyday for my job as a postie, delivering mail.
Riding motorcycles brings me A LOT of joy. But this post is about those small joys that lighten our otherwise miserable days.
Take for example the other day on Thursday. I was riding my mail run listening to the Rock 2000 countdown on my headset. This is an annual event run by The Rock radio station here in New Zealand. They countdown 2000 rock songs as voted by the listeners. It takes 4 weeks to get through and unfortunately "Master of Puppets" by Metallica won. I don't like Metallica, in most part due to Metallica destroying Napster. But this little joy came not from the countdown but what I saw during one of the songs.
The song was "Purple Rain" by Prince. On the other side of the road was a lady walking her dog. As the song was playing I thought it delightful that her clothes from head to toe were purple. The joy I got from that made my day so much better and it even carried on until the next day. I still get joy thinking of that.
Don't get me wrong, being at the beach or walking in a forest brings me joy but not as much as stuff like this.
These little joys last with me a long time because they become cemented in my mind. When my mind thinks of them, sometimes many years later, I'm still made happy by them.
Here's another example. In fact this is an example of a thought that did happen many years ago that still makes me laugh thinking about it.
Once again I was on my mail run, only this time it was when I was doing the Hawera run. I come around the corner from South Road onto Waihi Road and there was the most glorious sight ever. A pilot vehicle had his lights flashing. A sign stood erect on his roof - "Wide Load Following". Right behind him was a fat guy riding a pushbike.
It's obvious the pilot vehicle wasn't there for the fat guy as the truck carrying the load was not far behind. But the thought of a fat guy having a pilot vehicle made me crack up laughing.
Irony is a big thing that brings me joy. The more ironic, the more absurd, the more dumb something is then the more I'll remember it and the more I'll derive joy. That joy will brighten my day and help me get through what is actually a tedious and monotonous day.