Metatalktail Hour: Hell Yes!

October 19, 2019 5:35 PM

Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, Bella Donna wants to know, "What makes you say "hell, yes!"? What activities, experiences, lifeforms, or fill-in-the-blank things fill you with enthusiasm or make you giddy with pleasure or joy?"

As always, this is a conversation starter, not limiter, so feel free to talk about everything that's up with you! And send me ideas for future MetaTalkTailses!

posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 5:35 PM (83 comments total)

I got up this morning and I was listening to Kiefer Sutherland's rendition of Heaven's Door, then I looked over my shoulder and it was getting light out, and I thought, damn, I better get down to the lake and get a picture of that. So I did. Here it is.

Here's Kiefer Sutherland, playing Heaven's Door.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 6:09 PM on October 19, 2019 [11 favorites]

All right, I'll start us off with an overshare. I was just practically dancing in my kitchen this morning, so delighted was I with the activities of last evening, middle of the night, and morning. I've never been loved the way I need to be loved and I finally am now and I just can't get enough, and I'm so grateful that I lived long enough to experience this.
posted by HotToddy at 6:10 PM on October 19, 2019 [49 favorites]

I love New Vegas, so the release of outer worlds next weekend makes me giddy. Meanwhile I have to finish nier:automata.
posted by Dumsnill at 6:25 PM on October 19, 2019 [3 favorites]

Any form of mascot on mascot violence, or a mascot being beaten up as part of the joke, I can’t help it, it appeals to me on a deep, fundamental level. There’s something glorious about giant mascot costumes doing battle.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:48 PM on October 19, 2019 [6 favorites]

Laughed and laughed
posted by Dumsnill at 6:51 PM on October 19, 2019 [3 favorites]

Well, this week that would be the seemingly mundane yet actually revelatory experience of an entire week's worth of full nights of deep mostly-uninterrupted sleep and waking up totally pain-free thanks to switching from a bed to a hammock. I'm still working out the (often literal) wrinkles - figuring out the best positions, how to avoid sliding down to the middle of the hammock while I sleep, and how to prevent the sheet and blanket from ending up in a bunch underneath me overnight. It's turning out to be a learning curve (and loquacious' comments last week definitely helped); but even the imperfect outcomes have still been so successful that I don't mind.

It's definitely a change in lifestyle that I'm still getting used to.
Pro's: a good night's sleep of course, and it takes up a LOT less room than a bed.
Con's: nowhere to lay stuff out on or sit on while dressing. Plus if I do ever happen to end up in a relationship again (ha) it may be necessary to go back to a shared bed. Looking forward into the not-as-distant-as-I'd-like future, it'll also be interesting to see how long I remain spry enough to clamber in an out of a hammock - it's not terribly hard, but it's not as easy as rolling out of bed.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:11 PM on October 19, 2019 [8 favorites]

I’d normally have other answers, but today it’s this. I’m pretty new at mushroom hunting, but last month I found some promising ones in my neighborhood park. I posted an Ask and determined they’re Shaggy Mane, a delicious edible. This morning it was raining, and I stopped by the park to see if one or two more had come up....and to my surprise, found a field full of them! I grabbed a dozen big ones and made a glorious breakfast by sautéing them with butter and garlic from my garden then cooking eggs on top. Called a friend on the other side of the city who’s a better mushroomer than me, met her there and got to hop around with glee again as she picked some for herself. I’m giddy with happiness about this and inordinately proud of myself for finding something before this friend did, and without going all the way to the wilderness. I’m going back in the morning to get some more for another breakfast.
posted by centrifugal at 7:44 PM on October 19, 2019 [22 favorites]

I don't know, I say "hell yeah!" a lot, so it's hard to think of a prime example. Typically it'll be when we're watching an action movie and a character says a line like "I'll take you to the bank, Senator... to the blood bank." Or if I'm at a certain kind of bar or restaurant and our food comes. Or if I come across literally anything with Satanic imagery.

I think I said it most recently on this site in response to some awesome local DC art.

I think I said it most recently in person when my brother in law told me we were getting Peruvian chicken for dinner.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 7:53 PM on October 19, 2019 [7 favorites]

I'll pretty much always say, "Hell, yes!" to ice cream, ice skating, book sales or travel. It doesn't even have to be very exciting travel. I just took my daughter to State College, Pennsylvania so she could go to a concert and I spent almost the whole time in places where I could get some work done on my laptop (public library, Barnes & Noble, Wegman's, my car) and I thought even that was basically fun.
posted by Redstart at 8:12 PM on October 19, 2019 [6 favorites]

For me there's nothing like climbing outdoors on a quiet day with no one else around (except an equally quiet belayer). The purity of it, just you and the unyielding, unsympathetic rock. The meditative quality of focusing your entire mind and body on a problem. The fleeting, Sisyphean thrill of success. Being humbled by defeats but at the same time being driven to try harder.

I go every chance I get.
posted by jedicus at 8:17 PM on October 19, 2019 [5 favorites]

POP ROCKS
posted by meese at 8:25 PM on October 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

... last month I found some promising [mushrooms] in my neighborhood park.

I've heard you need to be wary of the ones that promise you stuff.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:35 PM on October 19, 2019 [11 favorites]

The wonderful dogs that come into work. Every day. Without fail. Here's an enormous fluff. Today there was a wire-haired dachshund and this wonderful boy who is impatient for pets. No matter how hard work gets, there will be at least one dog. It's marvelous for the soul.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:44 PM on October 19, 2019 [16 favorites]

I am feeling very lucky to be alive and watching gymnastics during Simone Biles's career, not only because it's a joy to watch her routines, but also because it's so much fun to see a woman just unapologetically dominate.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:47 PM on October 19, 2019 [17 favorites]

i have the "forventningsglæde" that I will say this in about 13-15 hours when I take the pork shoulder out of the oven. it usually turns out delicious but this time it's special because it's the first time I make it in our new kitchen after moving a couple of weeks ago.
posted by alchemist at 8:49 PM on October 19, 2019 [5 favorites]

Poetry always fills me with enthusiasm! Today I just read this lovely poem by American Jewish poet Merle Feld, which begins:

My brother and I were at Sinai
He kept a journal
of what he saw
of what he heard
of what it all meant to him

I wish I had such a record
of what happened to me there

It seems like every time I want to write
I can’t
I’m always holding a baby
one of my own
or one for a friend
always holding a baby
so my hands are never free
to write things down
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:54 PM on October 19, 2019 [18 favorites]

My Spotify "Recommended for you" list has started working again! After months of being recommended the most confusing mix of low-effort EDM (commissioned by local high-schoolers as party anthems for their decorated buses, it's a peculiar Norwegian phenomena), one-off joke hits and easy-listening tracks, something snapped a few weeks ago and it again started to recommend music that was a) actually in line with my tastes and b) was stuff that I would probably not have stumbled on by myself.

I had not realized how much I missed it! Since we moved to an open floor plan at work I've been listening to so much music, and it's nice to have a certain influx of new songs.

Here's a few tracks of indie/alternative pop/rock that it has brought to my attention lately:

Alex Greenwald: On My Own
Your Smith: Debbie
Orangutang: After Dark
Sleepwalkers: Cheers
NONA: Hold Up (Beyoncé cover)
Geowulf: Saltwater
posted by Harald74 at 10:19 PM on October 19, 2019 [3 favorites]

Pusheen, you guys. I love Pusheen without reservation. And one of my favorite things in the world ever is this collaboration between Pusheen and Tom Morello (ok, well, sort of.) Oh, and this too.
posted by holborne at 10:33 PM on October 19, 2019 [7 favorites]

It's very deep in the meta of my "forever" video game, The Binding of Isaac, but I finally unlocked the D6 by defeating Isaac in the Cathedral using ???.

This is not easy. I’ve been trying to do this for about 9 months and I’ve failed again and again and again, 221 tries to be specific. The reason being that unlike most other dungeon runs, you have a very limited number of hits that you can take and the ability to replenish your life is also at a premium.

Earlier this week, I finally did it and I definitely uttered a "Hell yeah!", as well as a few other choice celebratory curse words.

Again, this probably doesn't mean much to 99.9 of the planet, but if you know you know.

Also, what makes it extra special is that I was taking a mental heath day from work, and playing hooky. Just a cherry on top of it all, I was relaxing on a day I should have been working. 🙌🏾
posted by Fizz at 10:53 PM on October 19, 2019 [15 favorites]

Right now mostly orchestra stuff. I got to conduct a couple weeks ago and it was absolutely exhilarating (even though Rachmaninoff can't stick to one time signature for more than ten bars straight). And listening to the Schubert Great (#8) today, the fourth movement, man, you can dance to it!

Also that for the first time in ages I've been getting serious about original writing (i.e. not fanfiction, although I'm looking forward to Yuletide too), and having lots of ideas (the story has informed me that it wants to be a trilogy, what the actual hell, I haven't even written one full chapter yet) and that provides a lot of hell, yeah moments.
posted by huimangm at 1:11 AM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Seeing that someone is really, truly, actually on the other side of setting down cigarettes. To my eye, and in my experience, this is generally somewhere between 18 and 24 months out and they are not fighting against it at all -- it's a non-issue for them. Not fighting it. Not not fighting it. Free. This brings me joy. There will be smiles. There will be hugs. There will be happiness. Fist pumps, both of us.

Seeing that an alcoholic is really, truly, actually on the other side of setting down drinking and drugging. Alcoholism has deep roots -- deep roots -- and roots that grow off of those roots, and more roots that grow off of those, too. It is like that person who is really, really bad for you but they have the key to you, and while finally they aren't calling you any longer, and finally they aren't shopping anymore where they know you shop, and you round the freezer case there they are, two feet away, looking you dead in they eye and they've got that look in their eye and the key to your heart in their hands and you're fuct -- while finally they are no longer pulling those stunts, you find that no matter that you want to dismiss it you still have their phone number emblazoned in your mind somehow, plus you still remember where they buy their goddamned bananas -- that's what alcoholism is like. It's a total fucker. To my eye, and in my experience, freedom from this is generally somewhere between seven and ten years out and not fighting against it at all -- it's a non-issue for them. Not fighting it. Not *not* fighting it. Free. This is a time of joy for me, and there will be fist pumps, esp if I was there at the start of their setting it down, and know the catastrophe that their life was. And now here they are, clear-eyed, smiling, doing well, an easy laugh. Free. Goddamn right there will be fist pumps ....
posted by dancestoblue at 1:22 AM on October 20, 2019 [17 favorites]

centrifugal, mushrooming is also my joy at the moment. Not terrific amounts of edible ones around (though I did have a delicious brunch of parasols recently) but there is just such a variety of species flourishing this year and it's really fun to encounter new ones and work out what they are. I just love learning about them. I also did find one lonely little cep on top of the hill by my house which gives me hope that there may be more maybe next year?
posted by Balthamos at 2:25 AM on October 20, 2019 [5 favorites]

Oh--I forgot one. I fasted for Yom Kippur this year for the first time in quite a while--didn't go to temple or anything due to various issues of logistics and belief, but knock wood, I feel very fortunate right now and thought that the least I could do was to eat apples(auce) and honey on Rosh Hashanah and fast for the Day of Atonement. Anyway, the first bite of dinner (Chinese food, beef stir-fried with snowpeas and umbrella mushrooms and bamboo shoots) after the fast, hell, yes.
posted by huimangm at 2:55 AM on October 20, 2019 [5 favorites]

1) A milky cup of tea - a smooth tea, like a nice rich yunnan. I don't think I've ever been ungrateful for a decent cup of tea.

2) A "good" run. Not a peep from my persnickety feet and feet muscles, lovely feeling of lung burn.

Tough week. Had my annual colonoscopy on Monday, results were good, but it always makes me feel pretty bad (due to the fasting, fuck I hate it), and the results haven't explained why my gut has been a mess these last couple of months. Had a lot of stomach pain during the week, and this in turn feeds my general anxiety (or maybe vice versa, who the bloody hell can tell any more). Coupled with a major life uncertainty at the moment, and I'm feeling a bit fragile atm.

On the bright side, the kids were delightful this weekend. My greatest fear is that I pass my anxiety onto them, as my parents did to us. They're doing pretty good so far. The youngest is bulletproof and the oldest is equipping herself with tools to let her beautiful soul shine brightly. Long may it persist.
posted by smoke at 3:30 AM on October 20, 2019 [18 favorites]

One of my favorites is that moment of discovery. Finally noticing a telling detail that was there in plain sight. Or making a connection you've never made before. I'll give you an example. I was recently in a very old building, built in the late 1700s, a two-story brick structure that first served as a shop for wagons then barges during the Erie canal era, and then as a print shop and paper mill for over a century. It was still being used as a studio and workshop by a third-generation craftsman. While I was there to learn about book arts, I'm also fascinated by architecture so I began to look around at how the building was built. It was then I noticed one of the ceiling beams didn't seem to have any latices. It was one solid piece, and it was 2 feet by 2 feet. Wait, that's got to be 70 feet long. Jesus Christ, I don't think I've ever seen a beam that thick that was also that long. It was the only uninterrupted beam in the building, but imagine the tree it came from. Some primordial old-growth tree taller than anything within a 100 miles of there today. Some ancient towering timber itself centuries old, but unfortunately placed, and in the way of empire. It wasn't what I was there to see, but I'm glad I saw it, and it filled me with awe.
posted by Stanczyk at 4:12 AM on October 20, 2019 [13 favorites]

You guys! I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin at the gorgeous old Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. And then I drove home on Lake Shore Drive. Oh my hell I love that view. And I loved those two women singing together and sharing stories. It was a magical evening.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 4:51 AM on October 20, 2019 [8 favorites]

Today is my cookbook club's bi-monthly meetup. It's such fun to go meet a bunch of people as enthusiastic about food and cooking as I am and eat a feast of thematically connected food. Today will be mostly focused on made-from-scratch pizza cooked in our host's wood-fired oven and I can't wait!
posted by peacheater at 5:22 AM on October 20, 2019 [8 favorites]

Having the energy to dye my hair today after a cleaner started on Friday, meaning my apartment was in a much easier starting place! Older photo but same colour.

Also going home to see my dog.
posted by ellieBOA at 5:31 AM on October 20, 2019 [4 favorites]

Luge ! Luge season is starting and I am SO pumped. I was hoping to go to the World Cup round that's in Lake Placid over Thanksgiving, but a whole lot of unexpected expenses means that is a big no. I do still have my eye on the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 5:48 AM on October 20, 2019 [4 favorites]

An additional Hell Yeah of mine, is anytime I think of the terrible attempts at American accents in the (not great) movie Blackhawk Down. The best of all of them is Ewen McGregor as the company clerk, always complaining that he can never go into combat because he can type (like I said, not great), and when he’s suddenly given the chance/confronted by going to combat, he looks a little freaked out, and the guy that gave him the news says “this is what you wanted, isn’t it?” and Ewen McGregor responds, half Texan, half valley girl, half (or more) stoned out of his mind and drawls

“Ahw yhaa. Ahhhww hihl ya”

It’s worth seeing it for the accents alone.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:41 AM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

I alway feel joyful and lucky when I introduce my friends to each other and they get along.
posted by ferret branca at 7:52 AM on October 20, 2019 [7 favorites]

Any form of mascot on mascot violence, or a mascot being beaten up as part of the joke, I can’t help it, it appeals to me on a deep, fundamental level.

Let me note that this (mostly) stopped being funny almost immediately, but, seriously and no-shit:

So I'm at this Virginia/Maryland football game probably in 88 or 89. The Cavalier mascot is there, basically a guy in big exuberant clothes with a ginormous foam head-and-hat on. And the Maryland Terrapin mascot, basically a dude in a Ninja Turtles foam suit, was also there.

And they were rasslin' around and engaged in various tomfoolery together, cooperating together to do some light stunts for our amusement... until the Terrapin is just on the ground on his back. And for a second this is the world's best Blade Runner joke but then the medical people start running up and looking at his leg and they remove the turtle head* to talk to him. Eventually they take him out on a stretcher, still in the rest of his turtle suit. Which... I mean I feel bad for the guy and I'm not proud of this, seriously, but I am a leeeedle beet glad that somewhere in the list of things I've seen is "Giant turtle being carried away on a stretcher."

The positive highlight of the relatively few football games I went to as a student. The negative highlights would be any of the many times some drunk pinhead almost threw up on me; the student section just reeked of bourbon.

*not a reference to the poop
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:14 AM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

In-house co-Mefite: "shall we have second coffee already now?"

Me: "Hell, yes!"
posted by Namlit at 8:37 AM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Naptime.
Heck yeah.
Naptime.

Reading a book in bed.
Heck yeah.
posted by sciencegeek at 8:45 AM on October 20, 2019 [8 favorites]

This morning I made duxelles with chanterelles and cognac and ate half of it on rye toast with cream cheese. Deeply pleasurable. Tomorrow the other half will be in scrambled eggs because I cannot be fussed with omelettes.
posted by Mizu at 8:52 AM on October 20, 2019 [10 favorites]

Walks on the beach. Absolute cliche, but I'm at the seaside this weekend, the town is deserted of its usual tourist crowds, and the trees on the dunes are golden and red. Utterly calm sea, fighty gulls and red maple leaves floating on the surf. Sunlight turning the water into silver. Ships pulling into port on the horizon. A faint smell of seaweed and the morning's fish catch.

Why do I not live here? Oh right, no jobs and literally the most expensive real estate in Poland. But wow I love the sea in this little resort town.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 9:22 AM on October 20, 2019 [9 favorites]

That feeling at the end of a run, where I've stopped running, but am still sucking lungfulls of air and I can feel my pulse everywhere in my body. That reminder that I'm alive. Hell yeah.
posted by Gorgik at 9:26 AM on October 20, 2019 [4 favorites]

Homo neanderthalensis: "The wonderful dogs that come into work. Every day. Without fail."

I have really been wanting to sketch more dogs, and I have bookmarked your imgur as an excellent source of sketchable dogs. They are the best dogs. (Like all dogs.) Thanks for sharing them!
posted by kristi at 9:33 AM on October 20, 2019 [6 favorites]

No matter how hard work gets, there will be at least one dog.

Man. This would improve my job immensely (and I already like my job quite a bit).
posted by obfuscation at 10:31 AM on October 20, 2019 [5 favorites]

I'd vote for cats at work. Though, I'd take dogs if that's the only option. I've had squirrels. It was bad for the lab hardware and made a mess.

(I also once took a grueling hour long oral exam as a student in a room with two really badly behaved hounds. I probably wouldn't have done well anyway, but it sure didn't help. There are times to leave the dogs at home.)
posted by eotvos at 11:27 AM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Hell Yeah? I love dancing, dancing to good music with other people blisses me out. My dog is always happy to see me, generally a bit of a character, and good company. Friend is in town and beer and food with friends.

This week, getting the power back on after a day and a half was great. Didn't have any food go bad. That hot shower was Hell yeah. Having the power out and being able to charge my phone from the emergency radio/ flashlight/ charger was pretty good. I'm not a prepper in any real sense, but we lose power for 1+ days every couple years and being able to manage well is satisfying.

I always wait as long as possible to use the wood stove, longer still to turn on the furnace. With no power and a big storm, I used the wood stove to get the house warm and cheerier, so wood burning season has started, but no furnace yet.
posted by theora55 at 12:01 PM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

A good sunset.
posted by drlith at 12:15 PM on October 20, 2019 [5 favorites]

Puppies. prosciutto. No, not puppy prosciutto. Banana cream pie. New book smell. Making the SO happy. Birds, especially parrots.
posted by Splunge at 12:30 PM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

We've been kinda getting into this habit of watching 2-3 films at the weekend. Usually at least one absolutely terrible film and one great one. This weekend was a double hell yeah for Halloween 3 followed by Harakiri.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:47 PM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

For the sportsball-inclined, yesterday's MLS playoff game between the Seattle Sounders FC and Dallas FC was a "Hell, yes!" and a reminder why soccer is the best game. The "Hell, yes!" was that American men's professional soccer, the perpetual also-ran sport, has been quietly and confidently developing into its own thing. The quality of play has never been better, many stadiums are full, teams are attracting international talent (not just aging European stars trying to cash in before retirement), as well as homegrown players that can compete thanks to more rigorous youth development programs. Yesterday's game will probably go down as one of the greats with the kind of emotional highs and lows that I just can't find in any other sport. Short story, the Sounders, in their 11th consecutive playoffs, hosted a young and ambitious Dallas in a new format knockout game that was decided in the final minutes of extra time 4-3. Locally born and raised kid Jordan Morris scored a hat trick including the game winner, a beautiful header into the corner. Things got tense and heated a few times with play being stopped to restore order between arguing players. At one point the Dallas keeper Gonzalez ran out of the box to get into Sounders defender Nouhou's face and any other ref in the league would have red carded both of them. Dallas, with no more subs left, would have had to play the rest of the game without a goal keeper in.

I think most Sounders fans are just happy we made the playoffs and that going from the coolest jersey sponsor in the league to the stupidest didn't curse us. Sorry, second stupidest. I don't care what anyone says, Philadelphia Union's Bimbo is fucking cool. It's a Mexican bread company. It's hard to complain about your team's dorky jersey sponsor when you've also got a kick ass marching band that you unironically love. If you show up at Occidental Park before the match, you can march in with the band and the supporters' clubs.

Jordan Morris is kind of a neat guy, apparently he lives in my neighborhood because some friends of mine run into him all the time at the local coffee place including yesterday before the game. He's been a type one diabetic since age nine and he's pretty active meeting with kids who've been recently diagnosed about managing diabetes while being an elite athlete. For some reason, the TV network decided to highlight this yesterday and kept cutting to him running to the side of the field checking his blood sugar, etc. He normally uses a pump but he can't wear it on the field so I don't even know how he manages his sugar.

This is all happening during a season where MLS banned the Iron Front flag and then across the country Supporters' Groups came together and pressured the league and got them to renege and admit that being anti-fascist/anti-racist isn't a political statement. The Sounders officially signed 8 year old Bheem Goyal as goal keeper and played him during official time where he made a "save" and he remains on the official Sounders roster while he undergoes treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. And all season, we suffered the arrival of two of Europe's biggest stars, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, bitching about the MLS and having to fly commercial, Ibrahimovic calling himself a "Ferrari among Fiats", complaining about the playoff system here and basically being prima donnas and having few moments of greatness while Rooney is slinking off next year to play at Derby and Zlatan and the LA Galaxy being largely ignored (though squeaking into the playoffs) because cross town expansion team LAFC ran away with the Supporter's Shield and had one of the best seasons in MLS history behind the far more likable Mexican striker Carlos Vela who set a new record for most goals in a season and is a joy to watch. Also, Columbus Crew are not only not moving, but they're getting a brand new dedicated soccer stadium. The Crew is the MLS version of the Green Bay Packers, smaller town with hyper-dedicated fans who wear silly hats. Though I do miss their old Barbasol jersey sponsor.

And I wrote all about the men because the MLS is now in the final climactic 3 weeks of its best season, but of course like every one else we watched nearly every game of the Women's World Cup and even made the trek to Tacoma to see Reign FC twice and it's cool that my sons who are at peak "Eww-girls!" have Rapinoe as one of their biggest heroes.

My oldest kid made the more advanced team for his age in the Sounders development league and has decided he's a goal keeper, he's been doing all kinds of extra drilling and work outs to be the best damn goal keeper he can and his team is undefeated except for the tournament in Canada where the kids apparently play without offsides and with headers (you know, the two most dangerous aspects of the sport, go figure). He wears Jordan Morris' number, 13.

So anyway, I'm pretty "Hell, yes!" about Association Football right now. This has been your sports minute. Back to you, Phil and Megan.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:07 PM on October 20, 2019 [7 favorites]

Books!!! Reading of, buying of, talking about reading and buying of, occasionally writing of.

Speaking of which, my entire library has been boxed since the end of July, due to various moving mishaps and contractors beyond my control, but I returned home from a conference to find that all of my bookcases had been assembled and screwed into place (and sometimes shimmed and screwed into place--House the Trilogy has some very, uh, wavy floors in spots on the second floor, although the main library floor has been reinforced underneath to within an inch of its life).
posted by thomas j wise at 3:05 PM on October 20, 2019 [10 favorites]

My choir had a great season opener yesterday, performing two concerts with our awesome new director (our former director, a Canadian music legend, stepped down after 35 years with the choir, and it's been a nervous but exciting transition period). We performed, among other things, this astonishing piece by Tarik O'Regan, and a world premiere by Japanese-Canadian composer Rita Ueda (who came in to Toronto from Vancouver to see it), which involved a lot of movement around the audience, wind sounds, handbells, a portion of song that spread like a virus, and, as I've heard, moved some audience members to tears. (The music looked like this - it was so cool!) My friends and family came, my bestie brought me flowers, and we went out after. Music and theatre, I believe, are truly transformative communal experiences, and I consider myself very lucky to be part of both of these communities in my vibrant city.
posted by ilana at 3:18 PM on October 20, 2019 [6 favorites]

Oh fuck yes is watching Richard Tillinghasts' face after I hand him another poets book just signed saying:

"Who's the money man"

followed by a small Irish chuckle.
Dude had my back.
So I let him keep the change.
posted by clavdivs at 3:29 PM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

The first couple chords of The Decemberists' The Crane Wife make me feel like I'm 18 and invincible again.

Kneading bread dough with wild abandon. Just whaling on it - punching it, turning it, punching it some more, and at some point the Bread Magic takes over and the elasticity of the dough changes.


Taking your shoes off after a long day. Also bra and/or pants.

Suuuuuper roller derby specific: you're jamming against a wall of blockers and you're working super hard to get past them, and then all of the sudden you're pirouetting on one toe on the outside line and that one person is just gunning for you but you twist out of the way and there's this moment, just then, where you're braced for impact because you're still in the engagement zone and it's entirely possible that someone is going to chase you down and make your soul leave your body and then it doesn't happen. The next breath/stride you take after that realization is the OH HELL YEAH.
posted by coppermoss at 4:44 PM on October 20, 2019 [8 favorites]

I thought of a lot of the things I love best -- someone moved by my writing; helping someone else accomplish something; dog kisses. But what it renders down to is connection. The deepest joys in this life come from making a real and good connection with another being, however fleeting it might be. I wish I'd understood that when I was younger.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:34 PM on October 20, 2019 [10 favorites]

My favorite thing is making music with other people, especially singing harmony. When it works right it is totally a "hell yes!" experience.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:34 PM on October 20, 2019 [7 favorites]

Watching my first ever high school football game and hanging with friends there, visiting my mom for her birthday and having food from favorite local places, and, if I’m being perfectly honest, Matt Mercer’s facial hair in Undeadwood. *fans self*
posted by booksherpa at 7:25 PM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Poetry
That moment when you first realize you are perfectly buzzed on a really tasty cocktail.
Seven Bridges Road. or Sweet Home Alabama coming on the radio
My heated mattress pad on a cold night
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 7:39 PM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

While surfing the REI outlet website tonight I found my favorite mittens ever, which I first purchased almost a decade ago at Thrifty Outfitters during my University of Minnesota grad school days and are now super worn out. I tried to find them again in recent years and got close but found the newer version subpar. But magically the older version has time traveled to the present at REI and are also an extra 25% off, so I said, “Hell yes!” and bought two pairs.

Winter is coming to Minnesota, and soon I will be reunited with the best mittens I have ever owned.
posted by Maarika at 8:29 PM on October 20, 2019 [7 favorites]

Daily Alice - YES. I came here to post about the Ben Folds solo piano show I saw tonight - I say “solo” and “saw” but neither of those words is right because as always it was participatory; at one point he led the audience in four part harmony, impossible and impeccable. Every time I see him it’s basically a secular flash choir. The best moment of this show came when he performed his half of the duet he recorded with Regina Spector, “You Don’t Know Me,” and unprompted, the audience filled in Regina’s part, never missing a note. I stood there on the concrete floor, doubled over in pangs of joy.
posted by eirias at 8:48 PM on October 20, 2019 [6 favorites]

Made the call yesterday that I was losing my voice, so called in sick and stayed up to midnight leaving plans for my classes, but it turns out I feel fine, so I'm having the good kind of sick day where I can actually get some stuff done.

Heck yes.
posted by freethefeet at 8:50 PM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Right at this very second it's the Motorhead cover of Bowie's "Heroes".

(I genuinely have no idea how I wound up on that YouTube video during my browsing, but I'm not regretting it.)
posted by soundguy99 at 9:24 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Bluegrass music!

For my 40th birthday at the end of the month, I’m going to a Del McCoury show. He’s literally twice my age. Way to make me feel young!
posted by The Toad at 10:10 PM on October 20, 2019 [6 favorites]

Sunday morning early with cat and Spem in alium and toast and tea. Flying cat-buttresses.
posted by pracowity at 11:40 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Apart from needing to hand-pit an entire jar of Castelvetrano olives last night because I couldn't find any pitted ones in the grocery store, last night's dinner got a hell yeah from me and my wife. For some reason, a recipe for Vinegar Chicken with Crushed Olive Dressing was recently trending, so I decided that and a salad would be our Sunday dinner. I used white balsamic vinegar, which ended up adding a little unexpected sweetness that countered the olives.

Edit: I just realized that today's my Metafilter anniversary. Hell yeah!
posted by emelenjr at 4:07 AM on October 21, 2019 [4 favorites]

emelenjr, that recipe's been on my should-try list - glad to hear it got a thumbs up from you. And I've never been able to find pitted Castelvetrano olives - most recently I pitted a bunch of them to put in Italian-style giardiniera. Definitely a pain but worth it! I love those olives.
posted by peacheater at 4:48 AM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

Dear Husband's 60th birthday included both girls (now both in their 30s, whoot-whoot!) and a German chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting, baked by the younger (must get her glass pan back to her). No candles, but much laughter and subsequent zombie annihilation in the man-cave.
posted by TrishaU at 4:54 AM on October 21, 2019 [4 favorites]

Good harmonies. Band practice on Saturday had a few - we worked on seven(!!) new covers and while we made a lot of messes we made some pretty sounds too. I don't have to be participating in making the harmony to go hell yeah, but it helps.

Also a really great hug.
posted by wellred at 5:21 AM on October 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

Wow, I did not expect my topic to be posted so soon so I nearly missed it because it has been a crazy crazy weekend. Things I say Hell Yes! to include dinner parties (I invited over a fellow MeFite and his family on Friday night, a belated return on the dinner they served me maybe a year ago?). They taught me Hearts, which was fun.

Other Hell Yes! activities include taking baths, going to movies, and (for me, anyway) visiting MetaFilter. Thursday night I went to a knitting and crochet group that is in my neighbourhood, meets every other week, and includes another American PLUS a chatty Swede. Honestly, meeting chatty Swedes is an unusual thing for me and I practically swooned on the spot. While I do not knit nor do I crochet, I do mend and plan to learn some embroidery as a hobby.

Toward the end of the evening, the chatty Swede (who was wearing the most delightful sweater, which she had knit with asymmetrically patterned sleeves) asked me what I had accomplished that evening. I held up a pair of my dad's old jeans, which are ratty and need about a zillion mends, and she said, in a cheerful and booming voice, "You've clipped the strings and made holes. Nice!"

There were exactly 5 of us, all women, between late 20s and early 60s, and all we did was work on our projects and talk. I have never been to a group like this because I am not handy. I don't care. Dear readers, I am smitten and can barely wait for the next meeting.
posted by Bella Donna at 8:51 AM on October 21, 2019 [13 favorites]

Being on the Oregon coast (as I was yesterday) on a windy, grey, wet, blustery day, getting shoved around by gusts and watching the big waves roaring in. There was a small scattering of us crazy-weather devotees, staggering around zipped up in our waterproofs, with identical goofy, gleeful Hell Yes grins .

(And pracowity, I was listening to Spem in alium on the trip out -- great music for driving on winding roads through dense fog-shrouded Douglas firs.)
posted by Kat Allison at 9:32 AM on October 21, 2019 [6 favorites]

Walking around or hiking is my hell yes. Unfortunately I have sprained my big toe (the doctor called it Turf Toe, which sounds more ... floral than it is, fortunately) and have been trying to keep off it for a literal month. I am missing all the hell yes weather and I do not love it!
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:22 AM on October 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

As someone who feels like he's always the one to initiate contact with friends to make plans, earlier this week a friend texted to say that it's been too long since we've gotten together and invited me to the adult arcade in town next week. So, that felt good.

My fleece lined sweatshirt arrived just as the blustery Wisconsin weather did too.

I surprised my son (13), who is utterly in love with Hamilton, to tickets at our local performing arts center as an early Christmas present. He'd seen it last year in Minneapolis and it was the same cast as the show we saw. I was thoroughly entertained and now need to get his copy of the soundtrack to fill in the 45% of the lyrics I missed.
posted by Twicketface at 11:23 AM on October 21, 2019 [5 favorites]

Being on the bike and feeling like I'm in the moment of what's around me is real joy. Even if it's pouring rain like yesterday, when we were out in NJ, riding to eat fresh apple cider donuts. The soaking wet part was worth it to be with old friends and new, making sure everybody got home safe. Dry clothes and hot tea and snacks and a dog to play with afterward with was just icing.

The previous weekend was the Dirty Apple ride in Westchester, which was a gorgeous, perfectly fall day. Bombing down dirt roads, taking a turn a little too hot, feeling the loose gravel under your tires, pushing up a steep hill and all your leg muscles complaining for a solid three minutes, then you're flying down the next descent. That's pure fun.

This is also a beautiful cover, much like Lemmy doing Bowie. Levon Helm was the BEST.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:07 PM on October 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

Seeing the first few rose buds blooming (it’s spring down here) and the sweet pea tendrils inching up the trellis literally overnight.
posted by The Patron Saint of Spices at 11:16 PM on October 21, 2019 [4 favorites]

Making art and doing art stuff: This week is the hand-in for the first ever Annual Open Exhibition at the community arts agency in Edinburgh that I work at, and I'm hanging the show on Thursday and Friday. I was nervous that we'd not get many submissions, but according to the office, we've had loads, so I'm really excited to get in and see what we've had handed in and get it all up. Then the weekend after next I'm going down to England for a big collaborative making weekend at an organisation that I have a long term partnership with (12 years and counting!) so I'm super stoked to do that and catch up with lots of lovely creative people that I've not seen in ages.
posted by Chairboy at 4:47 AM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Lending my son money. He is just starting out in his career, though he is going gangbusters, and so it happens not infrequently. For some reason we always use the same words in this transaction.

My son: Hey mom, do you happen to have $x to spare for purpose y until z date?
Me: Hell yes I do

We were on welfare during his early childhood, and I couldn't afford the things he needed, let alone things he wanted and was constantly into MY parents pockets, so I'm just so overjoyed to be in a position to help him now. He always pays me back exactly when he says he will, which is more than I can say of my own history...
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:55 AM on October 22, 2019 [10 favorites]

An internet stranger I had never talked to before asked me randomly to coach them playing Magic: the Gathering this weekend. It was actually deeply rewarding and fun, and then unexpectedly, without my asking or even thinking about it, he paid me. Said I was perfect and explained things in depth and let him feel things out.

I felt value. That was cool. Maybe I'll do it again.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:29 AM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]

The last two races that I signed up for each had me saying, "Hell, yes!" I can't wait for December! Even better, I've got a 5k I'm signed up for the day before the marathon of endless hell.
posted by nobeagle at 12:03 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Ha, Kat Allison, I was one of your fellow devotees! We were at Ecola and then the south end of Cannon Beach, crazy amounts of wind and rain and two soaking wet, gleeful dogs. Well, one gleeful dog and one dog who said no this is insane I hate getting wet but. . but . . I love running on the beach. . run! Stop and look miserable! Run more! I will pretty much say Hell YEAH to a walk on the beach with dogs anytime.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:08 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

INDIE WRESTLING SHOWS and also the old friend who super-persistently kept in touch with my sad, flaky ass and wouldn't let up until I actually went to some of said wrestling shows. Thanks buddy, I owe you one.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:26 PM on October 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

Cuddling. I am not excited about the coming winter, but I am very excited about cuddling weather, and delighted that I have a person in my life to cuddle with right now.
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:55 PM on October 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

Bostock, because almond AND frangipane?
Really plush dense cats with dopey faces, like the one in my profile
My duvet / blanket, because it's so, so soft (how does anyone quantify softness?)
Getting a rare foundable in Wizards Unite, especially if it was the last one that I needed to place the sticker
(c.f. previous) Dirigible plums! I looooove dirigible plums.
posted by batter_my_heart at 12:31 AM on October 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

Here's my list of things that make me say: "HELL YES"

"bed snuggles" with my wife
taking off my bra after work
a bright fall day with a clear blue sky and a breeze
suddenly hitting upon a NEW PROJECT IDEA
suddenly hitting upon a NEW WORK IDEA
the clackety noise of my shoes that make me feel like a workday witch
the mountain goats' song "werewolf gimmick" coming on
posted by fairlynearlyready at 2:04 PM on October 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

my hunny, music, weed, sex, friends, food, water, close family, sportsball and game competitions, laughing... not necessarily in any particular order—except "my hunny," who comes first.
posted by not_on_display at 4:59 PM on October 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

batter_my_heart: Really plush dense cats with dopey faces, like the one in my profile
Plush and dense is the perfection description!

(cw: suicidality)
Hell yes to cats who love you even if you aren't the person that feeds them. I've never met one, but I'm sure they exist.
Once, I was in a bad spot and my therapist asked me if there was anything I thought was worth living for. I couldn't think of anything, and she was like "How about if you could save all the cats in the world?" I guess the solution would have to include keeping the outdoor cats from wreaking ecological havoc, but I think about her words sometimes.
posted by typify at 6:06 PM on October 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Helllllll yeah" said real slow and low is sort of the catchphrase of the cool kids at the bike shop. It's uttered in the general direction of any statement or suggestion they find even remotely agreeable. After a while I caught myself saying it too, in similar contexts, but since I'm decidedly not one of the cool kids I've made the conscious decision to always say "heck yes" instead. rebel rebel, etc.
posted by carsonb at 5:54 PM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Polkas
posted by clew at 10:39 PM on October 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Oh and of course, the best answer for the question: shall we open the wine?
Hell, yes!
posted by Namlit at 2:59 PM on October 29, 2019 [1 favorite]