A Short List Of The Best Things On Earth

Jenny Slate, The Easter Parade, Pho, The video for Drake’s “Practice,” Stoner by John Williams, True love, Lake Bell, A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe, Blake Bailey’s biographies, The review of Taipei by Lydia Kiesling, The feeling of a first kiss in your parent’s basement when you’re a teenager and it’s after a summer day and it’s storming out and you just had pizza, That scene in “Two Swords” when The Mountain and Arya take care of business, Drinking scotch and being naked while watching Sound of Music with someone you like, Swimming, Grass-fed steak, Red Wing boots, Clean sheets, The “Chardee MacDennis” episode of It’s Always Sunny, Russian women who stand up to Russian regressive politics and human rights, Whiskey, Cold beer on a hot day while lounging on a secluded beach, Cries and Whispers,Tom Ka soup, Underarm hair on women, Sensitive hearts, People who say what they mean, All the women at Creative Rehab, Turtles, The novels of Brian Moore, Seattle, Family, The Family’s version of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” The discography of E-40, Throwing a baseball back and forth with your dad, Road trips, “Order of Insects” by William Gass, Squeezing your lover’s butt for the first time, People who can dance like these guys or these guys or these guys, The smell after a hard rain is actually pretty nice, Kanye’s “We shoulda never ever let MJ play for the Wizards,” The style and writing of Maeve Brennan, Kate both Upton and Perry amen, “Reunion” by John Cheever, “Christmas” by George Saunders, “Gazebo” by Raymond Carver, This mix, Finding something important you thought you’d lost, Finding something unimportant you thought you’d lost, Madame Bovary by Flaubert, The work of Froggy Fresh formerly known as Krispy Kreme, Anyone who understands how bad of a person James Franco is, Whales, A freshly-cut lawn, When a hard day’s work is over and you get some food and take off all your clothes and lie on the bed and watch Netflix, Unfollowing someone on Twitter you never liked in the first place, Getting paid for something you like doing, A good pair of jeans, Fresh fruit and vegetables, Hand-churned ice cream, New socks, Doing well on a test you thought you were going to do terribly on, Remembering an album you once really liked but had forgot and listening to it as memories come back, Text-based adventure computer games, Princess Bride, The Book of Revelation, Air conditioning, Your first best friend, The dance performance “Girl Walk,” Cushion Forts, Talking in bed with someone you are fond of and who is fond of you, Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald though the Luhrmann film is underrated, Sherman’s March by Ross McElwee, Curly fries, On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardener, A new suit, Paisley-printed things, How music sounds on a record player, Crab Rangoon, Stardust Memories, The concepts of mercy and grace and forgiveness, Original Polaroid cameras, Clean water, Popping a really deep blackhead pimple, Taking a hot bath when you’re sick, The feeling after a bunch of errands are done, Finding a nice coat or quality pair of shoes at a thrift store, The discography of Jens Lekman, Book reviews that are honest and not sycophantic, Laughing babies, Puppies play-wrestling with each other, Kittens when they sleep cuddled up with their momma, Chocolate-chip cookies, Milkshakes, Cool winds, Crisp twenty dollar bills, A clean bathroom, The feeling you get after you work out, Yoga buns, Honesty, Nature, Art, People.