111 Good Things (A Repost from Da Old Blog)

(Those of you who remember the first blog will remember this post, as it originally appeared there over a year ago. I'm reposting it here for two reasons: one, because I like it a lot and wanted to see how people would react to it again, and two, to challenge everyone out there - make your own list! I'd love to see it!)

Now, a few years back, a show went up in the BGSU Shorts Festival entitled "111 Good Things." The idea behind this was four characters standing on the stage and simply going back and forth naming, duh, 111 Good Things. 20 minutes of characters standing there, talking back and forth, naming cool people, events, and things in life, the things that make life worth living.

Then, the punch line. At about #102 or something, everyone falls silent, and one of the characters says, "I can’t think of any more." They all say, that’s impossible, there must be more. But they stand there in silence. And the show ends.

Now, I don’t remember who wrote this show, nor do I remember who directed it. But I do remember one thing: This ending pi$$ed me off to no end.

I guess the ending was meant to be a searing comment on our joyless existence by claiming that we can’t name even so small an amount of 111 truly cool things. What irony. BS, I thought, all it meant was that the author wasn’t trying. If they honestly felt that not just one, but FOUR PEOPLE couldn’t make up such a list, they really had a pessimistic attitude about the world, and found an extremely unconvincing example to express it. Now, I am pessimistic a lot more than people realize, but even I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to claim that it is impossible to list 111 Good Things in my own life.

To prove my point - and to give me a little bit of perspective as I was writing this yesterday, on my birthday - here, off the top of my head, and in no order whatsoever, are 111 Good Things.

1. Mick Foley winning the world title
2. Eating a bag of peanuts at the ballpark
3. Having ice cream at Pee Wee’s with a good friend
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Jim Cornette interviews
6. Mystery Science Theater 3000
7. Harry Chapin
8. Niles and Frasier having one of their hilarious debates
9. Bowling for Columbine
10. Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick on SportsCenter
11. A cold glass of diet soda on a hot day
12. Bruce Campbell DVD commentaries
13. Rhapsody in Blue
14. Tajiri v. Psicosis
15. Picasso at the Lapin Agile getting a standing ovation its second night
16. Long talks in the car with Jeanine
17. Chris Jericho winning the world title
18. Honey BBQ wings at KFC
19. "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon
20. Long talks with in the Union with Jessica
21. Spider-Man
22. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
23. Challenging Lindsey to a movie trivia game
24. Watching a PPV at Ziggy Zoomba’s with the whole crew
25. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
26. Having lunch at a Chinese Buffet with nothing but a good book
27. Stewie: "111-1111. Lois? Damn. 111-1112. Lois? Damn!"
28. "Weird Al" Yankovic
29. Long talks with Heather at her kitchen table
30. Scott Keith reviewing wrestling
31. Roger Ebert reviewing a bad movie
32. Citizen Kane
33. Talking on AIM with Hanna, Jess, Mell, Heather W., Linds, Sarah, J...everybody
34. The Honeymooners
35. Cedar Point on a perfect day
36. Cartman: "Respect my f***ing authoritah!!!"
37. Black Adder (seasons 2-4)
38. WrestleCrap.com
39. Finding Unicron at Target
40. Miniature Golf with Abby
41. Playing Delta Green with a good team and a great games master
42. Gorilla Monsoon/Jesse Ventura Commentary
43. A long drive singing along to CDs
44. American Gladiators
45. Going shopping for comic books with Greg
46. A long afternoon nap
47. Long talks with Melissa Bennett in her apartment
48. Garfield
49. Christmas morning
50. Hanging out with my brother
51. A Dave Barry column
52. O Fortuna
53. Playing board games
54. Buying board games
55. Hosting board game nights
56. The BGSU Royal Rumble
57. Eva Marie Saint: Former Theta Hardcore Champion
58. Long talk over pizza with Amanda
59. Press Your Luck
60. ECW
61. Mohammad Ali
62. WrestleMania (except 2000)
63. The look on someone’s face when you’ve fooled them with a magic trick
64. Match Game
65. Power: A Federal Theatre Project Living Newspaper
66. Finding a new VCR board game at a garage sale
67. The ZAZ comedies (Airplane, Top Secret, Naked Gun)
68. The Far Side
69. Star Trek: The Next Generation
70. Walking around a mall with no money, just looking
71. Seeing a movie opening night with a bunch of friends
72. Edgar Allen Poe
73. Russian Roulette (the game show)
74. That moment when you think of the absolutely PERFECT rhyme when you’re writing a song
75. The Founders Room, 2001-2002: Jeanine, Megan, Courtney. Jodie....
76. The Founders Room, 2002-2003: Jessica, Hanna, Mell, Sarah, Megan, Caitlin
77. Getting a letter from a friend
78. Finishing up a big project
79. You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
80. Chocolate Milk
81. The Black Hole
82. Iron Chef
83. GoodFellas
84. The Plastic Shatners
85. "The Greatest American Hero" Theme Song
86. Metal Gear Solid
87. Billy Joel
88. Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks
89. 24
90. Oscar night
91. Hanging in the Obee on a lazy afternoon
92. A hug from someone you really love
93. The Muppets
94. The Twilight Zone
95. Seeing someone you haven’t seen in a long time
96. Beautiful red hair on a beautiful woman
97. Minority Report
98. Watching Breakfast at Wimbledon
99. Seeing a wrestling event live
100. Waiting offstage just before you go on
101. Crossainwiches at Burger King
102. Walking into a Media Play with money to burn
103. Crab rangoon
104. "Jack Burton. Me."
105. Finding an amazing bargain at a used record store
106. Going bowling with friends, no matter how much you suck
107. Getting that 4-line-clearing Tetris when you most need it
108. Seeing a great stand-up comedian live with a great audience
109. The Midnight Readings
110. Winning a big auction on EBay
111. Love