Cheap Thrills

During a session on Facebook, I was introduced to the definition of the term “Furbling”. Furbling is when you have to wander through a maze of ropes at an airport or bank even when you are the only person in line. I commented that I rather enjoyed a good furbling and that I have to incorporate a one legged twist every time I turn a corner. The friend admitted to furbling quite a few times and that she too had done the one legged twist. She continued to ask me what it is that makes all of us prone to bringing some craziness into our lives. I replied that it keeps us sane.

This got me thinking about all the other cheap thrills I get on a day to day basis. They might be odd, they might make you say, “I do that too”, either way, here are just a few other things that keep me sane.

The one that comes to mind immediately is cutting any kind of food into small cubes. Ham, cheese (especially haloumi cheese), cucumber, crumbed chicken, and potatoes. Those would be the favourites. I will continue with thrills that please my visual sense. Watching laminating come out the other end of the laminator is surprisingly satisfying. Wiping away the tiny bubbles that collect on the walls of the bath just after it has been run (as they reach the surface of the water, they almost shimmer like glitter, reflecting on whatever is beneath them). Watching my windscreen go from dirty to clean in a matter of seconds whenever I stop in at the garage. Every time this happens, I hear the song, “I can see clearly now…”  Getting rid of stains successfully, I must admit, leaves me feeling quite powerful. Make up; now there is something that I can’t get enough of. Watching my face transform in front of my eyes is a morning ritual that I really enjoy.

I will move right along now to thrills that please my auditory sense. The sound that any fizzy cool drink makes when you open the lid for the first time. Driving through a puddle. Putting a cigarette out in a bit of water. My ring tone (it symbolises me being needed by someone…what is more thrilling than that?). When my daughter laughs a real belly laugh…its makes me giggle just thinking about it. When my fiancé tells me that I’m beautiful. By the way, these are in no particular order; fizzy drink sound does not, by any means, top delightful child laughter.

Thrilling smells do not happen on a daily basis though. Of course there is the smell of good food or expensive perfume, but these, in my experience are not thrilling. A thrilling smell would be the smell of rain just before the clouds let go. Or the smell of strawberry lip gloss. The smell of my parents’ house is one of the most comforting smells I know. The smell of a new born baby (post diaper change) and, as a matter of fact, the smell of a puppy is rather amazing as well. 

Feeling. This category has two parts; ‘touch feeling’ and ‘emotion feeling’. Touch feeling thrills include; stroking velvet, pushing my feet deep into the sand at the beach until I can feel the cool sand beneath my feet, typing really fast, the vibration my phones’ touch screen makes when I select something and the feeling of driving a car with power steering. A feeling I enjoy most when driving is when I have had the air-conditioning on for a while and then I switch it off completely; the warm air slowly creeps up all around me; I thoroughly enjoy this sensation.

Emotion feeling is a wonderful thrill to experience (when it is positive). Cheap emotional thrills include, shopping, watching Oprah’s Favourite Things, and bumping into my high school nemesis, realising that they haven’t changed at all. The greater emotional thrills include, the feeling my daughter growing inside me when I was pregnant, the excitement and anxiousness that comes with falling (and being) in love; some might be lucky enough to experience this thrill on a daily basis. Being acknowledged for the person you are whether it is at work or at home is, sadly, a feeling very few people get to experience.

And then, last but definitely not least, there is sex. Sex is by no means a “cheap thrill” but it is a thrill none the less. The sound, the feeling, some of the taste, and the sights of sex all add to the enjoyment of this thrill but I must add that I could do without the smell of sex. I cherish all of these thrills. No matter how bad life gets I can always rely on my cheap thrills to lift me up and make me smile. If none of these resonated with you then maybe you should pay more attention to the times when you smile (for apparently no reason) and you’ll find that the cause is most definitely a cheap thrill.