Things I've become thankful for that would have seemed inconsequential months ago.

1. Coffee
I've always liked coffee. It's got that unmistakeable, untameable bite that latches onto your tongue and shoots up into your brain like some crazy-ass panther. Adding cream merely throws a thin, lovely fog over that wonderful sharpness. It mixes in without covering it up. Cinnamon is the perfect sprinkling of gunpowder to top it off.

2. Hot food
Trying to satiate myself when I'm in a rush is becoming a lot more difficult than I ever thought it could be. Sandwiches, granola bars, and the like can be nourishing and filling, but I find that there's nothing satisfying about biting into cold food when I'm exhausted and starving. My dry mouth and its thickened saliva are unable to fully process the cold chunks that I've desperately bitten off, and I feel no further motivation to continue chewing.

But hot food. Oh, there is really nothing like sitting down and feeling searing heat travel agonizingly down my throat, lightly burning every nook and cranny of delicate epithelium in its path. Hot soup. Hot stir fry. Hot ramen. Hot pocket. There's no need to be picky as long as it's hot. "Heat" should have its own space on the food pyramid.

3. Free food
Imagine this scenario: You've been slaving over your lab table or some textbook or mammoth binder or just any sort of inhumanely monumental task. You realize that the odd pain that has been grinding in your stomach is hunger. You search in your bag, and, lo and behold, you've brought everything - laptop, charger, textbooks, change of clothes, sneakers, hairties, gum, makeup - except food. In such desperate times, you would be glad to eat even the stalest, coldest cereal bar to mysteriously materialize in your backpack. You stumble into the communal kitchen and open the fridge. Your bleary eyes scan other more well-prepared people's yogurt, cold noodles, and salads guiltily before focusing on a mysteriously shrouded platter marked with "PLEASE EAT." Well, you think, you didn't even have to ask. And whatever is inside is, without fail, delicious and fills you with tear-inducing relief and happiness.

4. Finishing early
Even 5 minutes can make a huge difference. I consider the happiness gained in finding an extra minute to that of finding a dollar on the street. A minute = $1. In just one minute I could read a paragraph of a book, skim a magazine or fashion blog, buy myself a treat to go, stand in the shower just a bit longer, sit in the sun.

5. Being told that I look nice.
When I feel my mind and body slowly unraveling as I continue to push myself past endurance, trying my to tie up my loose ends isn't so bad when I'm told that I appear to be doing a decent job of it. I've already decided that I'm going to do at least a bit of makeup every day, just to keep myself feeling human. This isn't saying that humans are defined by their looks and ability to superficially dress up. I'm speaking for myself.

6. Being able to put everything away and just go to bed
This requires no explanation.