It's Good to Be Me

I've had this thought several times over the past few days, a thought which surprised me a little when I caught myself thinking it. Still, it is true. Why is it so good to be me? Am I free of stress and worry, and is life all sunshine and roses? Not remotely. Still, sometimes, I just have to marvel at how lucky I am.

Things that are good about being me:

• I get to be one of the Pop Bunker crew. You knew that already, and I hope you also already know what Pop Bunker is. I woke up to a notification about this post, and that pretty much illustrates how much fun it is to be a part of this thing. I never expected that I'd get to throw my weird opinions on everything from cult films to the Smurfs out there for an audience to actually read, or to find in my fellow contributors the kind of friends who laugh with you and perpetuate such incredible silliness that it's insanely difficult to be depressed for any length of time. The really cool thing about the Internet and living in this day and age is that it doesn't matter how far-flung we are. We are just a Skype call, instant message, tweet, email, Googy Wave, or Facebook comment away from an inside joke (see: "Googy Wave" and listen to us on last week's episode of The Paul and Spike Show if you want in on the joke) or some wacky new project. I'm telling you, I have been giggling for pretty much a solid hour this morning.

• Speaking of great people and technological advances, do you get email that comes with a soundtrack? If not, then you are missing out. It's good to be me because I do. Thanks to one I got yesterday, I have discovered the hitherto-unknown to me Frightened Rabbit, Reindeer Section, and Florence and the Machine. There was more, but those are the ones that are new to me. This also falls under the category of the strange and wondrous ways that people can enter and exist in our lives now.

• Do you come from a big, insane family? I come from a big, insane family. I have, at various times in my life, shared a home with my mom (who is responsible for her own laundry list of reasons it's good to be me), my brother, 4 of my uncles, a few of my 30ish cousins, and a number of friends who are family in every way but blood. This is probably why I don't tend to stand on ceremony with guests and have a very low expectation of privacy. I am so thrilled beyond words that more of them are getting on Facebook and we can talk and feel closer, though we're hundreds or thousands of miles apart. As my cousin Maggi (who I can't believe is in high school already...) said in a recent status update, "you don't know how good of family we gott until you eat dinner with us!!! Ribs, Jokes, "observations" , alott of laughs." She's absolutely right. There's this thing that the Fergusons (my mom's side of the family) do, that you just... have to experience to understand. It goes something like this:

You might say, "Hey, why don't we order pizza?"
And Dave will say, "No, I know - we'll have pizza."
And Paul will say, "Hey, no no no. We should have pizza."
And Mike will say, "Look, I dunno about you guys, but I could really go for pizza."
And Lisa wills say, "Why doesn't someone call and order a pizza?"
And Dave will say, "Now, look - we're gonna have pizza, and you're gonna like it!"
And this will go on until you just leave and show back up with a stack of boxes from Hi-Way Pizza (Not Sarina's - they changed the sauce and it's just not the same anymore). It is impossible to convey the true nature of these exchanges, because they're also peppered with quotes from whatever movie was on TV (last time, it was My Cousin Vinny, and everything came back to "These two yutes."), lines from Ray Stevens songs, and opinions on everything from online poker to foreign policy.

I could go on some more about my awesome friends who support me, laugh with me, and make me feel like the person I am is okay, but to give them justice would take an encyclopedia, not a blog post. I guarantee that if you get to spend time with them, it'll be good to be you.