Emotional lability

When it comes right down to it, it really only takes a small moment to completely transform a person's mood.

Or maybe that's just me, but I don't think so. I suspect most of us can have a day ruined or brightened in a very short period of time. It depends on which moments grab our focus.

I'm thinking about this because today (to be accurate, only the second half of the day) has had several highs and lows built into it.

There was a BIG high on discovering that a friend has succeeded in securing my first ever ticket to a Tori Amos concert. It was a surprise because I was expecting to have to wait another two days. A ticket in the dead centre of the Sydney Opera House is beyond my wildest expectations on how I would eventually see her perform live (although not my wildest dreams). Further joy occurred later on as I succeeded in securing a flight to Sydney using frequent flyer points.

There was a large dose of satisfaction as I suddenly realised that today I rather enjoyed the job I am so keen to leave. Having a large number of concrete, defined tasks instead of one horribly vague and neverending project made all the difference.

There was a clap of hands and a shout of 'yes!' as I reached a new high in my chess ranking, followed by a slight halt as I realised I was now only one point below Matt's ranking before he died.

There was a moment of intense grief as I discovered in the newspaper that Matt had been intending to propose to his girlfriend/partner of 8 years. She's now wearing the engagement ring, which was sitting in a parcel he never opened. It was worse because the first report I read suggested the parcel actually arrived just after his death. I now have reason to believe that's incorrect, but that barely diminishes the Hollywood-script tragedy of the story.

And there was a moment of profound gratitude when I opened a card from a friend that sincerely thanked me for doing something that I do because I enjoy it, not because people ask me to.

To think I claim to lead a fairly dull life.