sliced cake on plate

Top 5 Cool Things We Don’t Appreciate Enough

Welcome to Issue No. 12 of Listicles, the feature that presents the Top 10, Top 5, Top 3, Top 100 or Top 1,000,000 of whatever it is you want to know about. Email your Listicle suggestions to johnagliata@gmail.com.

It’s easy to appreciate the big things. That I have two sons here on Earth who are pretty amazing is a wonder to me. But what about the little things? We often overlook things and just accept them because they are without stopping to think how really cool their existence is.

For example …


No. 5: Rhinoceroses

When’s the last time you stopped and realized that something so closely approximating a freaking dinosaur is running around in Africa right now? These things are pretty amazing. Close second? Hippos.


No. 4: The heel of the bread

The guts of a loaf of bread get all the love. But the heels of that bread holds everything together. It’s kinda like bread skin. Well, crust is kinda like bread skin, and we don’t appreciate that as much as we should either. I don’t trust people who don’t like the heels of bread.


No. 3: That yawning is contagious

Yawn, yawn, yawn, yawn. For many people, merely reading those words makes them yawn themselves. This is nothing short of black magic or mind control. Nothing’s going to happen to you if I sneeze in front of you, unless I don’t cover my mouth. Then, at minimum, you’re going to be grossed out. But if I yawn in front of you? Chances are, you’re yawning too.


No. 2: Cake

Individually, the ingredients that make up cake are disgusting. Flour? Try downing a cup of that straight. Eggs? Who in God’s name ever figured out that what popped out of a chicken is edible in certain situations if it’s heated for a while? Butter? Ditto. Milk? I still can’t understand why it’s socially acceptable to drink the baby-sustaining fluid from a cow. The fact that someone figured out that, combined in the right proportions and mixed with a few other things, all this crap can form cake is amazing. And, I might add, much appreciated.


No. 1: That we dream

Hate the real world? Just go to bed! How cool is it that we can have a daily dose of unreality just because we close our eyes? I pity the people who don’t remember their dreams. I’m never going to play guitar with Metallica on stage in real life, but I’ve done so numerous times in my dreams. And hey, if you’re feeling all woo-woo, explore lucid dreaming. There are some who can actually control their dreams, to an extent!


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Top 5 Things I Hate About My Nissan Versa

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Top 5 Pieces of Advice I Have For You Today

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