Actually, happiness is not having to run away from the here-and-now by using any mood-altering substance, including alcohol; and instead, finding gratitude and serenity in the "embrace" of one's higher-power, sometimes with the assistance of color and sound, you know, music and lights, and most assuredly meditative thought patterns.

So when do the Mariners win their first World Series? Last I looked, the only place they can go in the AL West is up. (I once had a job interview in Tacoma for a junior faculty position; one of the interviewers commented that the salary included a season ticket to Mariners games, "because they can't get anyone to go otherwise.")

Companionable companions includes cats, I hope. Otherwise it's a good list; enjoy!

"..to render themselves worthy of their internal vision of themselves as perceived by others."

I think one finds true happiness when they stop viewing themselves through the perception of others. As well, when they can ignite the long gunpowder trails that have been laid since childhood and can dust the soot off into the past of old and worn out scripts...

I find that the PNW oysters lack just a bit of brine, prefer Goslings and could do without the cake altogether. Congrats on your happiness! I will pull for your team dispite the cocky QB, slightly comforted by the fact that my "skins" were able to put a tally in their "L" column this season.

I rather like the thoughts of Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary of Great Britain at the time of World War I, on happiness: that it consists not merely of having all that one wants, but also of not having all that one does not want. I can testify that the second condition is quite as important as the first.

If you haven't tried the Quilcene oysters at Shuckers (4th Ave, basement of the Olympic Hotel), you are missing a treat. Good microbrews and real horseradish to boot: highly recommended.

I took the opportunity to fertilize my lawn last weekend, with the first sunshine in many weeks. That simple act alone should guarantee many months of dry, rainless days...

All too many think happiness is something you must stalk, kill, skin, and mount on the wall. Happiness is really something you invite to join you for as long as it wishes to stay.

Now, for a case of irony, consider that the AFC is being represented by an old NFL team, while the NFC is being represented by an old AFC team. :)

Happiness, in the land of Deals, is measured on a sliding scale. What makes you happy? A long white silent car with smoked windows, with a chauffer and a stocked bar and beautiful objects of desire in the back seat? An apartment in the nice part of town? A kinder lover? A place to stand that's out of the wnd? A brief cessation of pain? It depends on what you have at the moment I ask the question, and what you don't have. Wait a little, just a little. The scale will slide again.