As I mark the passage of 40 years on this planet, I’ve had plenty of chances to reflect on those four decades — the happy moments and the sad; the wins and the losses; and everything in between. As I rolled these years over in my head it struck me that perhaps I could put together a list — in no particular order — of 40 various people, places and things that have affected or influenced my life, brought me great joy or even provided simple lasting memories.

To my loved ones: you are ALL at the top of any list I would make like this, so realize and recognize that before you note to yourself, while reading, “What about me?” For all my cynicism and dark wit, I just love living and experiencing life so much that I could never touch on everything that’s made a mark on me in this or any space. But I can give you a decent set of examples — one for each year that I’ve lived.

• Sunrise at Haleakala Volcano on Maui
• The Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day
  

  Another glorious New Year's Day in Pasadena.

• “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson
• Clear and crisp winter days
• Houseboating on the Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Minnesota in July
  

  A normal July evening on the northern Mississippi.

• Cannes, France (though Antibes is better … and Monte Carlo is 100% overrated and overdone)
• Night-blooming jasmine in the spring
• Growing up hearing the “boom” of the Disneyland fireworks every summer night at 9:30 and thinking that — just a few minutes away — magic was possible
• Speaking of magic, Magic Johnson … and Larry Bird
• Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals
• U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” performed live
• The Cask & Flagon in Boston
  

  Just another pre-game behind the Green Monster.

• Vin Scully
• Bourbon whiskey (particularly Maker’s Mark and/or Booker’s)
• Gin (particularly Bombay Sapphire and/or Hendrick’s)
• Game 1 of the 1988 World Series
• Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”
• “Ask the Dust” by John Fante
• Chick Hearn
• The beach, anywhere at anytime
  

  This? Yes.

• Drinking an Old Fashioned at the Alembic Bar on Haight Street in San Francisco after a visit to City Lights Books
• The Parker Palm Springs
• Driving Sunset Boulevard on a summer afternoon
• The roar of the crowd at any sporting event (preferably the roar is for the team I’m rooting for)
• “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
• The opening innings on a clear summer night at Dodger Stadium, with a view of the mountains beyond deep center field
  

  Few things can beat a summer evening at Dodger Stadium.

• Showing off “My Southern California” to out-of-towners
• That my job has allowed me to see parts of Ireland, England, France, Spain, Morocco, Monaco, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany
• Interviewing someone I’ve never met and knowing by the end of the interview that this is actually the kind of person I want to highlight
• Santa Barbara
  

  Maybe in another 40, I'll be enjoying retirement here.

• The final line of Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road”: “It’s a town full of losers / And I’m pullin’ outta here to win”
• Jack Nicholson
• My dad’s fudge
• The 2005 USC-Notre Dame game
• New York on a cold day just before Christmas
• Taking a break on a hike of the Grand Canyon to simply breathe it all in
  

  September 2010 on the South Kaibab Trail.

• Driving between Ventura and Santa Barbara on 101 on a summer morning
• “The Boys of Summer” by Roger Kahn
• Watching Stanley Cup playoff games in person
  

  It's hard to match the intensity of a hockey playoff crowd.

• The W Lakeshore Chicago