Stuff I Like Pt. 2

A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post that was just a list of things I like. There are a couple reasons why doing something like this is beneficial from time to time. For one thing, it is Christmas season, and during this time it's good to think about happy things like trees with lights, snowman-shaped sugar cookies, and catching a honey under the mistletoe. For another, I can tend to be a rather negative person, and I have a habit on focusing on things I don't like rather than on things that I do. And so, in order not to become a complete Debbie Downer, I have to occasionally remind myself of the things in life I really like.

And so, for your edification, here's the 2012 version of "Stuff I Like":

-I like "O Come O Come Emmanuel." It's my favorite Christmas song.
-I like handwritten letters. I feel that if something is really worth saying, it's worth getting a hand-cramp about.
-I like that a vendor at the mall tried to get me to buy some hand lotion by asking if I had a "special lady in my life."
-I like to watch "It's a Wonderful Life," get a little teary-eyed at the end, and then scold myself for being such a sap.
-I like that I drive right past Great American Ballpark on my way to church each weekend.
-I like eating pizza. Seriously, it's maybe the one thing I could eat every meal for the rest of my life and not get tired of.
-I like this shirt. (This is a not-so-subtle hint in case you're not sure what to get me for my birthday.)
-I like the left side of my face, because my beard isn't as patchy there as on the right side.
-I like when I can watch a movie and identify what else an actor is in without having to check IMDB. By the way, did you know that the doctor in "The Dark Knight Rises" was in an episode of "How I Met Your Mother"?
-I like to keep my apartment cold, because I like the warmth of being under my covers in the morning.
-I like to watch really dramatic, coming-of-age TV shows, because I feel it makes up for the lack of drama in my own life.
-I like when someone quotes my blog. Seriously, it makes me feel more accomplished than in anything else I do.
-I like fiction written by British authors. Somehow, they really are the best storytellers.
-I like going to Kansas and seeing the massive Kansas sky that stretches from horizon to horizon.
-I like when people recognize my Oregon State Beavers jacket for what it is instead of assuming it's a Cincinnati Bengals jacket.
-I like how every frozen yogurt shop feels the need to have furniture that looks like it's from a 1950's science fiction movie.
-I like the sense of hopeful that expectation that exists when I go to a baseball game or ride an airplane, and I know that there is a chance that Katie the Bank Teller could have the ticket to the empty seat next to mean. However, I don't like the crushing disappointment that comes when it turns out to be a 45-year-old dude who won't even share his nachos with me.
-I like to have pictures of my friends on my fridge so that I can think of them every time I get some pizza rolls or a can of Coke.
-I like going to the Esquire Theater in Cincinnati because of its sense of nostalgia.
-I like to talk with people about what they have been reading lately. I think you can a lot about a person through such discussions.
-I like when I go to Chick-fil-A and order a 8-piece chicken nugget, but they make a mistake and give me nine nuggets instead.
-I like wearing a bookbag. It makes me feel like I'm living the day with purpose.
-I like going places where everyone is good-looking, professional, and sharply dressed, and then I like to daydream about what it would be like not to be such a slob.
-I like that time Donald Miller retweeted me.
-I like thinking of all the women who will fall in love with me next month when I'm able to post pictures of me with my newborn nephews.
-I like to drink a mug of hot chocolate on chilly winter nights while I watch TV.
-I like how a recent commercial for the iPad Mini showed the cover of Love Does by Bob Goff, which was perhaps the best book I read this year.
-I like being able to look up from my typing and see my Alfred Hitchcock poster, which reminds me of just how classy I really am.
-I like to sometimes take the last couple steps going down stairs as one big jump because it reminds me of doing that when I was a kid.
-I like when city streets are arranged as a grid, so that it's always pretty simple to get from one place to another.
-I like when people come over to my apartment because it forces me to clean up the place.
-I like winking. I feel it's an underused form of nonverbal communication.

And finally, I like you. I like that's it's Christmas season. And more than anything else, I like that Jesus somehow loved us so much that he entered the mess of our world to make it right.

What about you? What's on your like-list for 2012?