Hearkening back to the days of single blog posts containing multiple topics in sorta capsule form!

We saw Hundreds Of Beavers—a movie I have already gushed over in this space—on the big screen last night for the first time! The Davis Theater in Chicago participated in the International Beaver Day screenings that were peppered across the U.S. and the movie played to a pretty packed house!

Those of us that arrived pretty early were treated to different educational films from decades past about beavers and it set the perfect tone for the movie to come.

Stunningly, when polled by the cinema's program director before the showing it seemed many people there had never seen the movie, and most of those people admitted they had no idea what to expect. Which made for a wonderful experience as were submerged in honest, surprised laughter for much of the screening.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, you are really just letting yourself down by this point. And if you have a chance to see it with a lot of people on a big screen RUN (do not walk) to secure a ticket!

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I recently went to renew my registration for the car I bought last year and discovered it needed an emissions test. The next day the mail delivered the letter to renew my license but told me I had to do it in person and take a vision test. At first, I spun out for a half a second, bemoaning all the time these activities would take, wondering how to fit them into my already pretty busy schedule during the week.

Little did I understand how much these tasks have changed since I last owned a car in the late aughts!

I took care of my emissions test last Friday, taking a full day off work to make sure I had plenty of time to do so.* The closest center was a 15-minute drive away and ... I spent less than 5 minutes there because they were so dang efficient!**

As for the license, you now need an appointment for pretty much anything at any DMV around here, and due to a glitch in the computer system it would only offer me a single day and time slot: 7:30 a.m. today. So, I snagged that time, preferring to get this renewal done ASAP. I arrived at 7:20 a.m., ended up being first in line (until I wasn't***), and was all done and back out the door by 7:45 a.m.! And every single employee I interacted with was a pleasure to encounter. Pro tip? If you keep a smile on your face, a pleasant tone to your voice, and interact with other people as co-equal human beings, they tend to treat you incredibly well!****

I know I can project a persona that can be pretty forceful or aggressive when the situation specifically calls for it, but in my daily life I've tried to default to keeping a slight smile at the corners of my lips and eyes, and let the more sing-song aspects of my voice play over the more direct tones, and it really does make a difference. Not only does it seem to make other people's days better, it also does do a nice job of setting an internal tone that radiates out from me, making my own day far more enjoyable.

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Well, hey! Gotta go now, but also wanted to leave you with something to brighten your day. So, check out "Same," off Courtney Barnett's new album Creature Of Habit, below. The album in general seems to be an embrace of a lighter and poppier approach overall by Barnett, and "Same" is the song I find myself playing over and over and over and ... you get the idea. Enjoy!

*Don't worry, I had other errands to get done that day too. Including picking up a piece of Penny Pinch art I bought at his Dutch Auction a few weeks ago (and I love it so much)!

**And my car passed with flying colors.

***When they opened the doors I thought they wanted us to ascend the long twisting ramp we were lined up by, and halfway up that ramp I saw everyone behind me just went up the short set of stairs next to the ramp. Don't worry, I found it hilarious and had a nice time laughing at myself.

****I gleaned from a few employees that they were unused to dealing with people who were pleasant to them.