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Micropleasures

13:35 / 20.08.04

It's a macho, lo-res place, the web. For the sake of making a point (a blunt one) objects that bare only the vaguest of resemblances are crudely forced together into awkward clumps by men and women with big, rough hands. You'd think we were living in a poorly digitised, pixellated, 4-colour world. How depressing! Let's cheer ourselves up by describing some of the microscopic sensual experiences that make the world worth living in...

Using a rigidly straight finger to jab the buttons of a telephone (land line with separate handset and body) Two crucial things:

i) The handset should be held in the hand that does the jabbing

ii) The jabbing finger (I was going to suggest middle or fore but it works with any) should be perpendicular to the buttons - ie if using a table-top phone with horizontal key-pad, the finger must be pointing straight down - during the entire process so that the elbow and shoulder joints move instead of the finger joints. The movement should be mechanical but fluid, and each jab should have some bounce in it. Ahhhhh....

It's a physical and a mental pleasure. The former is hard to explain, you'll just have to try it; the latter comes from appreciating the series of little arcs and pillars that the movement of your finger describes.

Rolling a match back and forth between thumb and forefinger

No need to explain the physical process. I love the way dozens of tiny awkward movements - the clunk-clunk-clunk of a square wheel being forced to roll - add up, with sufficient speed, to one fluid motion. And the way the match creates a valley in your thumb when pressure is applied (a rolling valley!) is almost-but-not-quite like an iron bar resting on a plump cushion

13:59 / 20.08.04

Knocking your elbow. Associated in memory for me with the stone patio at my parents old house. The weird "electricy" shock that goes up your arm when you do so. Very nice - I remember asking my mum and dad if there was a sort of pain that you could like, after doing so once. Wood is probably a better surface for this than stone.

14:22 / 20.08.04

That kind of small cramp, where a little part of a muscle twitches on it's own. Not the whole muscle, just part of it, and it relaxes between each twitch. Sometimes it goes on for half a minute and you just sit still looking at you arm (or whereever) moving by itself.
Also, when it starts to wind down, the rhythm breaks, and you sit waiting, thinking "is there going to be another or has it finished" and you can never tell because there's no warning.

And speaking of cramps, what about that kind of one-twitch cramp that hurt like hell. I get them in my shoulders and neck. Without warning, suddenly the entire one side of my neck and shoulder contracts violently for just a split-second. And then nothing.

Spooky stuff. Your body really shouldn't move without your express permition.

14:27 / 20.08.04

Pissing in the sink in cheap hotel rooms.

15:14 / 20.08.04

Actually, that phone thing reminds me of two related experiences I really enjoy --

1. dialing a touch-tone phone with a pencil (something about calculating the resiliency of the eraser versus the springiness of the buttons, combined with the aiming of the pencil as precisely as possible while still being as fast as fingers).

2. dialing a rotary phone (we've got a gorgeous one at home, very "modern," with the dial as part of the handset, and it's such a rush to stick your fingertip precisely into the hole, spin around to exactly the point where the first joint touches that metal retaining ring, then release and wait for it to return for the full revolution. this has more to do with the machine/human interface, I think.)

There is also that feeling one gets when the tendons in the hand or ankle temporarily go the wrong way -- a weird locking twinge of pain when you can't figure out why the joint isn't working and why it hurts, and then, oh, it snaps over into whatever groove in the bones and all is well again.

Micropleasure: that feeling when the tearducts in your nose start filling up and you know you're about to either yawn or sneeze but aren't sure which.

15:34 / 20.08.04

Micropleasures, auditory: listening to someone else quietly reading or writing. Something about the sound of another person's pencil scratching over paper, or the gentle paper rustle and swish as they turn the page of a book, gives me pleasant chilly goosebumps.

Oddly, I have precisely the opposite reaction to the sounds of other people eating, if there are no other sounds to distract. Clinking and scraping silverware, chewing noises, swallowing - for me, possibly the most irritating sensation in the world.

Micropleasure, tactile: tapping your fingernails. It's interesting because the part that feels the impact isn't the part that's touching anything, it's in the support structure of the nailbed and cuticles and fingerbones. The actual fingernail is invisible as far as your nervous system is concerned. Odd little dead extensions of self.

Similar effect on a larger scale: Using chopsticks. Like nervous-invisible finger extensions. The skill involved in manipulating the things is very enjoyable. Square, smooth tools working simultaneously in concert and in opposition. Gauging angles and pressure. It's like a tiny triumph every time a bit of food makes it to your mouth.

14:06 / 17.09.04

Excellent descriptions, thank you!

One I've had trouble explaining many times before: the sensation you get around your eyes when someone says something really nice about you and you weren't expecting it, or when you unexpectedly brush hands with someone you like. It might be the pupils dilating, but it feels further back and seems to cover a greater area. I can't think of any better word to describe it than 'creamy'. A creaminess round the back of the eyeballs, heh. Does anybody else recognise this?

grant:

"dialing a touch-tone phone with a pencil"

Ooh, ooh - and the stomach lurching moment when your fingers slip down the pencil. See also: holding a pencil (or long tube of any sort) in the air by its bottom end and opening your fingers or hand (depending on thickness of object) so that it drops through, only to close and clasp it again as near to the top as you can. The heavier the tube, the greater the little pull you get with the clasp.

And while we're on tubes - holding a reasonably heavy tube horizontally by one end with the back of your hand uppermost, then rotating it as far as you can over your hand, and bouncing off the point of maximum rotation. All about elasticity in the wrist.

Sekhmet:

"Micropleasure, tactile: tapping your fingernails. It's interesting because the part that feels the impact isn't the part that's touching anything, it's in the support structure of the nailbed and cuticles and fingerbones."

Ah, that's brilliant, yes! I imagine the finger in cross section, with a little lawn of red suckers holding the nail in its floating position and moving back and forth like velvet when it (the velvet) is brushed, always returning to its original stance. Similar to the sensations one can feel via the teeth - eg the surprise I experience whenever I bite into a ginger nut at the greater than expected resistance it offers up. The micro-second of panic when you fear your teeth will shatter and the poor knubs of sensitive flesh within will be rammed into cold, hard biscuit.

15:27 / 17.09.04

Never heard anyone speak of this before, but does anyone else, when experiencing a pleasing plot-twist or just a decent piece of writing in some form of fiction, get the slight sensation that they might cry? Just a little? Or am I a freak? Is this my mutant power?

19:12 / 17.09.04

I brushed against a plant a few days ago. Not so unusual, I grant you, but I was wearing shorts, and this fucker stung me. I felt the jab, and then the lower part of my right calf burned for the rest of the day.

19:42 / 17.09.04

Bizunth: yes. Creamy, as Saveloy says. The pleasure of something that works correctly, I think.

Hi-resolution senses: after taking that last bite of a poppy-seed bagel or bun, finding the final poppy seed in your mouth and, with the tip of your tongue, gently shunting it between your canines (eyeteeth) and popping it. Has to be those specific teeth, too - bicuspids & molars are too easy, incisors are (usually) too frustrating. One seed at a time.

Whisky Priestess

22:45 / 17.09.04

That weird acupuncture experience when you scratch a particular spot on your arm and your chest twinges like they're connected by a taut little nylon string.

Stronge. Is it just me?

00:49 / 18.09.04

Whenever my long-haired cat brushes by me juuust slightly, there's that lovely feathery feeling of her tail on bare skin. Just makes me wanna snuggle.

02:05 / 18.09.04

Picking a scab. Specifically, picking a scab which is almost-but-not-quite healed. One loosens the edge (which is satisfyingly dried scabbage) all the way round, and slowly, evenly, lifts the dried skin/blood from its bed - to be rewarded by the slightest jolt of pain (irritation, really), the shock of air on the freshly-revealed skin, and the half-dozen pinpricks of blood right in the centre of the 'wound': they can't quite be bothered to bleed properly, but they delineate that spot where epidermis is yet to grow back.

22:00 / 18.09.04

Waking up, thinking that its a week day, and realising its the weekend.

after half a restless night waking up and making your bed, then slipping back into a smooth crease-free bed (for extra joy drops flipping the quilt over so its nice and cool)

02:06 / 19.09.04

Is it just me?

No, I get similar weird connections -- usually leg/abdomen things, or cracking my spine giving me a sudden hunger-like pang in my stomach.

08:10 / 19.09.04

The sound of boiling water pouring into a cup with a tea bag slouching at the bottom. Just the right amount of slurp and slosh as the cup slowly fills and the tea bag bobs to the top, and then there's that tiny moment of indecision when you have to calculate where to stop, taking into account how much lower the level will be once the tea bag is removed, and how much milk that person takes, and you're not quite sure if it'll stop where you intend by the time the message reaches your hand and you whip the kettle upright again. Then you replace the kettle with a clunk and look into the mug to find that it's at optimum level, and you poke at the tea bag with a spoon and watch its lopsided dance on the surface. Now you have to calculate the perfect amount of time to let it soak, wondering if it's been as long as you think it has or whether you're just impatient for your tea. Then you add the milk, give it a brisk stir and carry it back to the bedroom, trying not to spill it on your bare feet. Then that slight rush of blood to your face as you lean down to place it on the bedside table, before rolling into bed and lying there for just a moment to re-warm your skin and savour the pre-tea experience. Then hoisting yourself up onto one elbow and reaching with your left hand to retrieve the mug, bringing it unsteadily to your lips where you take a tentative sip just in case it's too hot.

Aaaaah. The micropleasures of Sunday morning.

00:33 / 26.10.04

Throwing an apple in the air and catching it. There's something about the apple, specifically. It's firm, but yeilds just a little because it's all pulpy inside. Springy in a tennis-ball way, but not as much, because they're not hollow.
They also make a brilliantly pleasing "Thuk" sound when they land perfectly into your palm.

11:31 / 26.10.04

Throwing something small into the bin from across the room without [consciously] aiming. From gimpiest nerd to professional athlete there's just something satisfying about holing it in one. The crinkle of plastic and audible thump. One is Michael Jordon in these moments.

11:40 / 26.10.04

Also, that sensation you get that your mouth is filling with acidic water just before you throw up. It's strange enough that it's not entirely unpleasant, though it comes with that kind of animal brain panic that one is about to emergency eject.

11:56 / 26.10.04

Not one I've had for many years, but as a teenager there was very little quite as satisfying as the quiet yet definite crack of a spot exploding, despite the gruesome results and the guilt of knowing you'd just doomed yourself to getting more. I had a lot of zits as a kid. More than you can possibly imagine.

13:35 / 26.10.04

Swallowing a mouthful of hot coffee or chocolate on a chilly day and, about 1.8 seconds later, feeling the heat bloom behind your lungs and into your belly. Also works with bourbon.

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

15:34 / 26.10.04

Awaking in the middle of the night, opening your eyes, looking at the face of your quiely sleeping lover. That split-second after, right before you fall back to sleep, when everything is right with the world. Beautiful.

Standing on the edge of a new experience. I always feel this little bit of naked terror mingled with a savage joy that convinces me that I am the most powerful being in the universe.

20:34 / 26.10.04

One that I've only recently discovered is holding a rolling paper between your lips (but only by the most tentative grasp so you don't let saliva soak into it) as you reach for the tabacco then feeling the breeze slightly tugging at the paper. It's more that the invisibility of the breeze that almost gives the paper a sense of being alive. Fascinating.

20:06 / 27.10.04

After emerging from the dungeon that is my room, the scent of a warm midnight breeze gently caressing my face reminding me that there is nature and life somewhere not so distant.

The thrill of freedom after several days packed with work and college and feeling so good because I was finally able to sleep in.