| Larry Powell: Elvis has left building, but is he happy? 01/04/2001 By / The Dallas Morning News Good morning. Today we'll discuss things that make people happy – the range of topics includes a secret society and a public Elvis.
Get happy
A couple of years ago, Pam Johnson, a Coppell-based public relations executive and motivational speaker, formed the Secret Society of Happy People (www.sohp.com or 972-471-1485).
She began promoting the underutilized practice of enjoying life and all its brightest moments. Who can argue with that? Oh, someone, but never mind partisan politics.
Today we'll review Pam's list of the "Ten Happiest Events and Moments of 2000." Printing them in the paper gives this column an early shot at being in the "Ten Happiest Events and Moments of 2001." That's my theory, anyway. Now, the happy list:
10. Amid controversy, Napster revolutionizes the sharing of recorded music.
9. Scientists complete first map of human genetic code.
8. New York ... [plays host to] its first Subway Series since 1956.
7. Survivor mania entertains millions of wannabe adventurers and makes CBS very happy.
6. The pope made the first official visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to the Jewish state (Israel).
5. Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz, celebrates 100 years of tripping down the Yellow Brick Road.
4. Good guys finish first: Brandon Slay, the Olympic wrestler, gets the gold medal after the original winner tests positive for illegal drug use.
3. Jack Kilby won the Nobel Prize for inventing the monolithic integrated circuit (the computer chip).
2. Harry Potter motivated both kids and adults to read.
1. Americans learned that sometimes your vote really does count.
Pam says the list, selected from nominations by society members, "reminds people that despite chaos, happy moments take place every year."
As luck would have it, the recent ice storm happily trapped Pam in Abilene, her hometown. So she spent time brainstorming with Abilene Happy chapter leader Cindy Fitzhugh about notions such as the happiest things in Abilene.
Asked what there could be to be happy about in Abilene, Cindy replied: "The drought ended. Then the rain ended. And now the ice has ended."
Happiness, like weather, comes in many forms. It can fall on you or you can fall on it.
The King lives?
Elvis Presley may have left us – gasp! – in the last century, but he lives on in this one. E lives in spirit and in sparkly jumpsuits. Leading, lively local Elvis impersonator Kraig Parker (check him out at www.thekinglives.com) will be in Bossier City, La., at the Isle of Capri Casino at 8 p.m. Saturday for the casino showroom's Elvis Impersonator Competition. Top prize of $6,000 goes to the best hunka-hunka burnin' love.
No intention to make any Elvis fans feel old, but babies who were born the year of Elvis' death (Aug. 16, 1977) will be 24 in 2001. The King was born Jan. 8, 1935, which means he'd have been 66 on Monday if he hadn't been done in by a diet of pills, peanut butter and rock 'n' roll.
Kraig, by the way, is a svelte Elvis – to coin a word, a "Sveltvis."
Larry Powell can be reached at 214-977-8487; P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265; fax 214-977-8319; or at .
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