Adopting Hedonically 

Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) in the film, Perfect Days by Wim Wenders.

Hedonic Adaptation
As I understand it, "hedonic adaptation" is how we return to our normal level of happiness (or lack of it). If you don’t struggle with mania or depression I suppose you’re considered pretty “level” - I think most of us are. What’s interesting is whether you win the lottery or have to pay a huge tax bill, the happiness or sadness caused by the event doesn’t last and you eventually return to whatever is normal for you.

Something that apparently has a positive impact is simply saying to yourself, ”These are the good days.”, which really reminds me of Wim Wenders' recent film, Perfect Days. In that film, Hirayama, the story's protagonist, is content with a simple life and a simple job and seems to greet every morning with an expression that beams from his face that says, "These are the good days."

a few weekends ago really did feel like the good days. Let me begin by saying that my job lately has been challenging. A re-org meant a project that I’ve been a part of for about four years fell apart and was cancelled, impacting hundreds of people. Fortunately, it appears that my team was saved from the indignity of layoffs. Unfortunately whatever will replace that project is ill-defined leaving us with a lot of spare time to worry. I’ve been in this spot before and have been filling my suddenly empty schedule with training courses and, if I’m being honest, daydreaming. Daydreaming leads to stepping out in some unexpectedly warm weather for wandering.
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Seen in April 

Still from The Creator.

In the entire month of April, we didn't go out to the movies once. That, in my opinion, is a shame and a bit of a travesty for me. While I completely understand the desire to shelter in place on the couch, and while I'm no fan of other people, I still like seeing movies, undisturbed in a large, dark room with others. In March, we went three times, twice in one day. As the weather improves it may be even less likely we'll want to spend time in a theatre, but I'm counting on that very same weather to make it easier to go. Here's what I saw this month.

The Completely Made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin
Apple TV+
Like Our Flag Means Death, they found a real life bandit and made a silly comedy out of it by applying our current pop psychology and trends to an 18th century rogue. A little lighter on the comedy than expected.

The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down
CBC Gem
Who knew Seth Rogen was such an accomplished potter… as in making pottery, not smoking it. I’m still waiting for the crossover show with the Great Canadian Baking Show.
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I'm Obmutescent 

I don’t have words to describe the spectacular event of the eclipse we recently witnessed. There are so many ways of describing the eeriness of the light quality, the sheer awe of seeing the corona and diamond ring effect, and the humbling realization of the wondrous dance of the cosmos but nothing that encapsulates the joy, wonder, and humility one feels at that precise moment. Now that Grammarly has replaced my Strunk & White The Elements of Style I find I struggle even more to find the right words. As robust as the English language is, we've never really had any rules for inventing new words, which might explain why English is so eccentric and weird. We mash existing words together in portmanteaus such as breakfast and lunch to make "brunch", or we borrow from the French to have words such as bureaucracy or entrepreneur. We even look to both the Danes and the French to describe that cozy warm feeling of hygge or àpres-ski and even though we may think of Germans as being unpoetic, we love terms like schadenfreude when we find ourselves enjoying the downfall of others. It seems particularly in English that we'd rather write essays, poems, novels or op-ed columns about things that are really common experiences like the ones we have when we travel. Perhaps we should take a page from the books of Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) or Douglas Adams and invent words as needed.

Like a word for the high expectation of going to a museum paired with the despair after finding it has been closed for renovations.
Proposal: Acropoly - from the Acropolis in Athens, a site of ruins.

Or a word for the joy and satisfaction when you finally find a nice restaurant followed by the lull of waiting for your order to arrive.
Proposal: Mealacuna, from "meal" + "lacuna" (an unfilled space from the Latin, "lacus" or lake.).

I think I need a word for the difference between my happiness at going to my dream bookshop only to realize that everyone else thinks it’s just a very regular bookshop.
Proposal: Bibliomojo - like library vibes, you might claim to others who look bored, "You're jamming my bibliomojo, man."

There definitely should be a word for the anxiety of catching the one bus that will take you somewhere you have to be but once you are on board, you're entirely unsure if it’s going in the right direction.
Proposal: Autoxiety - autobus anxiety portmanteau, applicable to any automotive travel. Usage: "This on-ramp is giving me major autoxiety!"

A word for the butt-clenching refusal to use the onsite toilets at a music festival.
Proposal: porta-not.
Usage: "This $50 Coachella burger isn't agreeing with my stomach right now."
Friend: "The porta-potties are just over there."
Me: "Porta-not."
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