Tagged By Wil...What Are My Top 5 Guilty Pleasures?

"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it."

-Soren Kierkgaard

My good friend Wil, author of the fabulous journal, "Daily Snooze," has tagged me to list for you my Top 5 guiltiest pleasures. :) Ok. I love doing memes, I find them challenging and fun, so it will be my pleasure to share with you my top five favorite guilty pleasures. Let me know if I surprise you...

1. Food. I love fresh fruits and vegetables, I like trying new cuisines and experimenting with creating new recipes. Food is art, and that is how I view it when I start with a few ingredients and then eventually come up with something good. It's art. Food should always be great to look at.

2. Music. I have a pretty wide variety of favorite songs in my Real Player. Alan is always making fun of the homemade CDs I make for long car rides because the music I put together never seem to go together. One such CD included Mozart, REM and Alvin & The Chipmunks. He actually asked me about 45 minutes into the 4 hour car ride, "Honey...do I need to phone Sarah?" LOL. Sarah is my therapist you see. LOL. "No darling," I explained, "I am doing just fine now." Tee Hee.

3. Humor. I LOVE the sound of laughter, either my own or someone else's. It's one of those universal things that can break down the highest wall and put one at ease. I remember I made a joke one time, at a moment when everyone around me was feeling very serious, it was a simple thing and the reaction could have been anything from anger to total indifference...I got lucky and the humor was understood. Laughter, caused by humor, is a nice sound.

4. Chocolate. I am not a big chocolate eater as far as it goes. I don't consider myself a chocoholic per se, but when I do have some I like specific chocolate experiences. Black Forest cake, Hot Chocolate with Raspberry syrup from Starbucks and I like Chocolate Mint ice-cream. I enjoy white chocolate as well, but again in moderation.

5. My photography is my top guilty pleasure. I can spend hours working on my photographs, either editing them, or planning for them. I was absolutely manic last year taking photos. I have estimated that I put about 4500 miles on my car last year just on photo jaunts alone, and except for a couple special trips, we stayed mostly in the Bay Area. I like the variety of subjects, I liked that even places I had seen my whole life, suddenly seemed all brand new when I was photographing them. It was like making a great discovery that no one else ever saw before. I get lost when I am with my camera, and sometimes I don't want to be found. :)

There are my five! Now if could just find a way to photograph David Duchovny, eating some chocolate at Starbuck's, while all the while laughing at one of my jokes, and then singing along with me to whatever great jazz is being played on the stereo. Bliss. Do you wanna play? If so, list your five guiltiest pleasures on your journal or blog, then come back and leave me your link so I can see what you come up with. Come on, you know you want to. :)

-OndineMonet
"Pure Guilt"
Berkeley, California
Spring, 2005