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31 Days of Happiness Countdown: This cooking show in space is just so delicious. (Day 17)

Thanks for stopping by for Day 17 of Upworthy's 31 Days of Happiness Countdown! If this is your first visit, here's the gist: Each day between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, we're sharing stories we hope will bring joy, smiles, and laughter into our lives and yours. It's been a challenging year for a lot of us, so why not end it on a high note with a bit of happiness? Check back tomorrow (or click the links at the bottom) for another installment!

[rebelmouse-image 19471358 dam="1" original_size="400x224" caption="GIF via "Parks & Recreation."" expand=1]GIF via "Parks & Recreation."

I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept me from being an astronaut is the face-melting liftoff ... well that, and the decades of advanced math and science. But mostly the liftoff. I get nauseous on carnival rides, so exploring the final frontier just wasn't in the cards for me.

However, I am kind of obsessed with the astronauts who live and work in space. You know, the folks living in the space station, speaking to school children on Skype while their hair stands on end, and doing somersaults and experiments all the time. That's the kind of anti-gravitational fun I live for.

GIF via NASA.

So when I found European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's videos, my mind basically exploded.

While living on board the International Space Station, Cristoforetti made cooking videos. Yes, cooking videos! THIS IS TASTY IN SPACE, Y'ALL!

Generally, the meals in the final frontier are pretty standard, but every astronaut gets "bonus food" that reminds them of the flavors of home. In this video, Cristoforetti takes us lowly Earth-dwellers through the process of making turmeric chicken and whole red rice with mushrooms and peas. Forget outer space, Cristoforetti is living in flavor country.

I don't want to spoil the whole thing, but here are some highlights.

First, Cristoforetti doesn't use plates because that would be pointless. Instead, she plates her meal on a tortilla. This is a tip I will incorporate into my own life.

GIFs via ESA/YouTube.

To get the food to stick to the tortilla, she uses smashed pea cream as an adhesive. This is a tip I will not incorporate into my own life.

Also as she cooks, her dinner just keeps floating away which is hilarious the first time, and even better as she adds more food to the tortilla. #spaceprobz

You can (and totally should) watch Cristoforetti make a mean dinner below. It's got everything: space travel, mushrooms, floating tortillas. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT, PEOPLE?

(Plus, it's probably the most delightful meal you'll see all day, unless you know an otter eating Christmas cookies.)

Oh, and if you're as hungry as I am, here's a walk-thru on how to make Cristoforetti's exact meal — weightlessness on the side. Bon appétit, space nerds!

More days of happiness here: DAY 1 / DAY 2 / DAY 3 / DAY 4 / DAY 5 / DAY 6 / DAY 7 / DAY 8 / DAY 9 / DAY 10 / DAY 11 / DAY 12 / DAY 13 / DAY 14 / DAY 15 / DAY 16 / [DAY 17] / DAY 18 / DAY 19 / DAY 20 / DAY 21 / DAY 22 / DAY 23 / DAY 24 / DAY 25 / DAY 26 / DAY 27 / DAY 28 / DAY 29 / DAY 30 / DAY 31
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ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

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If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

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While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

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Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

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