Smiling at People

I'm trying to make some alterations to my lifestyle. I haven't smoked for almost 6 weeks now and I've made some other changes which I won't bore you with. I'm a creature of habit so I don't find it easy to make changes. But I'm also stubborn so once I really decide to do something it almost always gets done. It's been going pretty well.

I've been looking at we are what we do. It's full of good ideas. On Wednesday I went out and decided to try put No5 into practise. It's "Smile and smile back". So I headed off into town with the specific intention of smiling at every person who looked my way. And I did. It wasn't easy at first and a got quite a few strange looks along the way. After a few forced smiles it started to become easier and I began to enjoy myself. I went into a bookshop and asked a sales person about the book of the website: Change the World for a Fiver. I smiled happily as he looked it up on his computer. They didn't have it in stock but could order it, he smiled back at me. I asked if he knew how much it cost and he smiled again (I think it was my grinning mug rather than the rubbish joke).
I decided to try another shop. I smiled up to the counter and asked the woman behind it if they had the book in stock. She checked on her computer (in a smiley way) and then beamed that they should have one left. She went to find it and came back smiling happily, book in hand. I grinned. I resisted telling the same lame joke. I paid my fiver. She went to put the book in a plastic bag. No thanks, I smiled, I'm trying to save the planet. We smiled at each other a final time and I left with my new book.
This really works. It sounds silly, maybe even a bit cheesy, but it really works. I had a few other chores to attend to and I smiled happily at everyone I spoke to. Most people smiled back and all were very helpful. It was a good day. I'll be smiling randomly at people at every opportunity from now on. If you see me, why not smile back?

In other news about me, I'd like to say something about my computer. I have a PC which a bought a few years ago. The tag line at the top of my blog isn't just a random sentence, it says something about me. I bought the PC during "the apathetic years". Now that I've started to care about the world again, I wish I'd bought a Mac. I didn't, I'm stuck with the PC. My next purchase will be a Mac but it isn't likely to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, I'm using the Firefox browser instead of IE. It's good and isn't made by a transnational company intent on global domination. It's also free. Why not give it a try?

One more thing. I've been exploring h2g2. It is amazing. It is also a time sink. On Poems I was accepted as a Thingite. I go by the name "Curious Hamster - Gatekeeper to the gazebo of the undefined amphibian underlord". Say hello if you meet me there.