This is what you do when you have a bad day

You make a list of random, little things that make you happy. Making your mind remember all these things changes your mood and is guaranteed to at least make you smile, even if it's secret and just on the inside.

Then forget about it and read it over again on your next bad day.

This is my list of 38 things that make me happy:

1. Not growing up

2. Swimming underwater

3. Summer evenings on a swingset

4. A lot of family together in one room

5. The feeling I get after learning my first song on a new instrument

6. Watching historical documentaries

7. Sharing Christ's love with people I don't even know

8. Researching and reading bios about old rock musicians

9. Sneaking into abandoned, creepy places and making an adventure out of it

10. Showing people their potential by capturing in photoshoots-- beauty they didn't know they had.

11. Going into an antique store I haven't been in yet

12. 1950s convertibles

13. Catching a bug or small critter and keeping it as a pet for a day

14. Old hymns, especially sung acapella

15. The smell of tobacco being smoked from a short distance away

16. Eating ice cream at the park

17. Mystery Science Theatres

18. Playing songs with my band and then suddenly realizing people in the audience know the words

19. When male specimens act like gentlemen and treat females like ladies

20. Playing pranks on people and having myself be the last person they'd suspect

21. The fact that I can hardly go anywhere without returning with a funny story about something silly I accidentally did

22. Writing and inventing things

23. Networking with other musicians and meeting new people in general

24. Loving on people that don't often get love

25. Pretending my car is spaceship while I'm driving

26. Wearing little girl dresses and just staying a kid

27. Trying on shoes and finding out I can fit my leg brace in them and don't hurt me to walk in

28. When male specimens wear suspenders or can just dress themselves nicely in general

29. Cotton candy

30. Old female jazz singers who had class

31. Making embarrassing movies with my brothers

32. Eating pasta

33. Buying a new box of crayons and journal every fall, even though I'm not actually in school anymore

34. Animals

35. Dressing up nicely for work or something professional related and pretending I'm in an old movie

36. Traveling and learning about other cultures

37. People's faces from the car in the lane next to me when they notice that I'm singing really loudly in mine all by myself

38. Hugging old people

I crowd surfed for the very first time

last night. And at my own concert, too.

All last winter, I had been working on a short film to raise child abuse awareness and wanted to partner with my town's local youth shelter in the profit of the film. But almost consecutively after learning of the government cutting their funds, God laid on my heart to host a benefit concert for them, because I knew my film would not be completed in time to give them any of the profit made.

After our set, opening bands-- Monty Wu and Donovan Fite of The Lonelys came on stage with us and we dedicated a cover of 'Hey Jude' to the boys and girls in the shelter. I felt so humbled when the kids and the audience came on stage to sing with us. It couldn't have gone any better. I never dreamed of raising $1000 either.

If I could describe this so that others could understand, I would. But during the entire hour we played, it was like my usual fragile body was filled with some kind of supernatural fuel. I moved more than I have in weeks and it was all without pain.

After the show, God gave me the opportunity to share my faith with the two girls from the shelter that were there. Such wonderful, growing people. I'd pick getting to do that over getting paid at any old show.

(During the finale with all the bands and some of the crowd performing 'Hey Jude.')
For more brilliant photos Tori took, you can visit her photostream here

This afternoon, I returned to the same hospital

that I lay in exactly 7 years ago this week. I played music in the rooms of sick kids like me, and watched smiles grow on their little faces whenever I sang. Thank You, God, for letting someone so underserving have an opportunity like that. Thank You for reminding me why I'm alive.