Things That Soothe My Savage Soul

Stilleto Philosophy has a list up today of things that Disturb Carlene. And I agree with her on a bunch of them. Which got me to thinking about the opposite side of the equation, things that calm me down or soothe my anxieties. So, here goes.

1. The ocean, sitting in it, staring at it, paddling across it. The ocean is one huge ball of chill. Its a global sized and global strength Prozac.
2. Rain, another water theme here.
3. Watching my fishies swim back and forth.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It may seem paradoxical but going on a thirty minute virtual killing spree is extremely relaxing. And fun.
5. Gardening, getting my hands in dirt seems to make my issues and troubles evaporate almost instantly. This includes working on my bonsai as well.
6. High speed bike riding or other intensive exercise activities. Blood pumping so hard that it roars in your ears means its way harder to get stressed about the asshole who knocked into you at Safeway.
7. Heavy bag punching workouts. Same kind of an idea but more focused energy release. Nothing like punching as hard as you can until your arms are too heavy to lift.
8. Allowing the non-PC side of your brain a little latitude to vent. Write out anything you want, no censor whatsoever. Just be careful of who's around to hear or read your screeds. They may not be especially forgiving or understanding.
9. Have a nice slow wank while watching some porn. Pretty straight forward on this one, eh?
10. Go and find a dog or cat to pet and pet it until it doesn't want to be pet anymore (which can take quite a while). Participating in the sheer pleasure of the animal's pleasure sloughs off anger like nothing else.
11. Go play with some kids. Kids are their own magical form of catharsis. They are amazing, engaged, interested, creative, honest, funny and a thousand more things. Kids rule!
12. Build something with my Legos. Yes, I play with my Legos every so often. They help me break out of boxed in thought patterns and find a new place to contemplate from. And you can make cool robots and cars and other fun stuff with them too!
13. Music. Loud. Choose your anthem, crank it up and let loose with it. Some favorites of mine are: "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC (reminds me of college in Arizona and one particular night of very hard partying with pals and thrashing to that song like epileptics on speed), "Istanbul, not Constantinople" by They Might Be Giants (thumping bass at high volume, superb lyrics and awesome harmony make for good music), "The Roof is on Fire" by The Bloodhound Gang, "Sucks to be You" by Prozzak (thanks Layne!) and "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes (its newer to me but I cannot get enough of the combo of vocals and that beat!).
14. The Tard Blog. I forget about it for a few weeks and then hit it up again and cannot believe how funny and entertaining it is.
15. Beach volleyball. Yes, I've been set to suck at it for a long time now but I still like it and have fun doing it.
16. Golf. This can be on both lists for good and evil but there's almost always that one swing, that perfect swing with perfect ball contact, perfect drive or chip or putt. And its that victory that keeps me coming back for more.

I'm sure that I will come up with many more and I might even come back to this post and add them. But for now, this is a pretty good list of ways to turn down the rheostat of stress.

Any special ones you use? Leave a comment and let me know.

Other Big Prop News
Layne is semi back, more and more coming back online and a stronger, more ME first Layne too and its nice to read.
She wrote something today that I am compelled to reprint here, "I live every day like my master plan is to suck." One little statement that sums up an awful lot of who she thinks she is (and just who does she think she is anyway, going off and disappearing like that? just kidding, Layne, I'm all rant happy today)