THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

I would still like to add some text but I am just dying to post this entry so expect a follow-up on this. :)

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I would just like to share what I read four nights ago from the latest issue of the Reader's Digest (Asia). This might just be the lone helpful post in the annal of this blog ever.

10 Ways To Turn That Frown Upside Down

1 BE LESS VIRTUAL, MORE 3-D. "If there's one thing that separates happy people from ridiculously happy people, it's the quality of their social relationships," says psychologist Todd Kashdan of George Mason University. If you sit at a computer all-day, get up and indulge in some human contact instead.

[jailbird] For all you know, I busily devote most of my time resting my ass in front of the laptop after the mandatory housekeeping. Household responsibilities are very withering since most of us find it as a chore (because I really do not mind watering the plants) but it can just be as boring as net surfing despite the countless activities and possibilities it has to offer. But before I forget, hey! I've got cousins in the neighborhood! At the dreariest time frame of the day, I brushed my ass off, turned-off Pav, walked to my grandparents' place and bonded with an older-but-of-my-age-bracket cousin. You are a social being─ allow yourself to interact. And when I said interact, that excludes adding "friends" in Friendster, sharing applications in Facebook, throwing comments in Multiply or giving away your seclusion in Blogger, Wordpress or LJ for a change. // [jailbird]

2 4,6,8...WHO DO WE APPRECIATE? Making a list of things you're grateful for may seem silly, but it's been proven to work. In fact, counting your blessings may be the single most helpful thing you can do for your happiness quotients, says experts.

[jailbird] She resolved to detach herself. Her classroom experience was always penetrated by loneliness on her own account but she found solace in a piece of paper and a retractable pen. *Maybe it was my love for doodles. Amidst an interesting class where all auditory organs are lent except my pair, rolling friction materializes before my eyes. I found myself listing my inner circle. I love scribbling the names of true friends. Those squiggles are nothing but a natural spring of joy. Yes, it is a silly act but I cannot deny that it is a caress in my back. // [jailbird]

3 RACK 'EM UP. Think of every positive experience during the day as a bead on a string and see how they add up. This simple exercise makes you focus on even the smallest positive moments, like an e-mail from a friend in a spam-filled inbox.

4 THINK MEMORABLE, NOT MATERIAL. If you have to choose between a new car and a family vacation, pack your bags. Even the sexiest sports car becomes routine over time. But the memory of a good time with love ones will last forever.

[jailbird] From all the toys you unquestionaby discarded, from all the clothes you purposely handed down, from all the spring notebooks you barely write at, from all the shoes you hardly wear, from all the mobile phones you intentionally disposed, you should know by now.// [jailbird]

5 GO TO THE FUNNY SIDE. "Humor is like salt on meat," says psychologist Martin Seligman PhD. "It amplifies everything." Watch reruns of classic shows that never fail to make you laugh. Try to smile at the absurdities of life.

[jailbird] (Sometimes) Forget poise, laugh out loud! Embrace rowdiness with open arms. :) //[jailbird]

6 ESCAPE TO YOUR STRESS-FREE ZONE. Think of a place where you always feel calm and happy. Then, when you are tense and miserable, call it up mentally, with as much detail as possible.Smell the suntan lotion. Feel the sun. Hear the sea. Play this video in your mind when your spirit plumps.

7 SEE THE GLASS AS HALF-FULL. Whenever possible, try to look at the bright side. You might be feeling like your life right now is one giant downhill slope. But if you stop and assess it honestly, you'll see you actually have it pretty good.

And if things truly are against you...

8 FIND YOUR INNER ARTIST. Think back to when you had time for creative expression. Were you in a rock band? Did you write poetry? Did you like tinkering with cars? Remembering feeling so engaged that you lost track of time? Joyful expression can bring happiness.

9 DO SOMETHING GOOD. Acts of kindness, however small, deliver as much pleasure to the giver as to the getter.

[jailbird] Cook breakfast for the family. Open the door for an elderly. Offer your seat to a preggy in a sea of people in the MRT. And turns out money can buy happiness...if you spend it for someone else. Bring pasalubong from an away day. :) Goodness is innate, people of the world. [jailbird]

10 SEIZE THE MOMENT. Rather than waiting to celebrate a big event, why not do it today? Bake a cake. Take someone out to lunch. Open a bottle of wine and raise a toast to a good day. GO AHEAD, BE HAPPIER.

Before the elite S and B, there was the B and V tagteam. No, it's not Blair and Vanessa. You wish, haha. :)

Thou shall not forget the love-hate BFFship of Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge! :)

Before one has discovered the magical world of Harry or even before one has deciphered the secret of Da Vinci, the Archie Digest Library was a bookworm's doorway to her/his insatiable interest.

My mom really wants my sister to enjoy the pleasure of reading so she dropped her by a bookstore today. Knowing my sister, I know she wouldn't have thought to purchase a reading material. :) So after devoting solid minutes on which coloring book to buy, she finally rested her heart to the Sabrina, The Animated Series Coloring and Activity Book. I really want her to invest in books too so I asked her to suit herself in the Children's Books section. I know I cannot ask her to read the Harry Potter Series at home so I encouraged her to buy a Betty and Veronica double digest which she has foreknowledge of. She enjoys my old copies at home, anyway.

Before I came tapping the keyboards to visit the Blogger page, I leafed through the B and V Digest of my sister. I never held one for ages, until like 30 minutes ago! :)

Remember the people from Riverdale? Course, Archie, Betty, Ron. :) Then there's Jughead, Reggie, Jellybean. Forsythia, Jellybean, Mr. Weatherbee, Geraldine. Daddykins, Pop Tates, that genius guy who played Socrates once.haha. My memory's sorta blunt. :P

Well, if it weren't for Betty and Veronica double digest, I wouldn't learn about Florence Nightingale. :)

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Well, what else.

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I guess the last time I read a book was two or three days before the JS Prom this year. Yeah, way back February, Coelho's Eleven Minutes. I just borrowed it from Janella while everyone was practicing for the promenade. And the last time I finished a book was last year as I enjoyed the Horcrux Hunt in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

I thought of finishing a book again when Jose told me he was enjoying Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. There was an abrupt ache in my senses and I yearned for a book. Just the thought of holding one and sniffing a brand new purchase.

I am not really a bookworm mind you, but I read. Well, it would really take one a good book to start to read.

This time, I am trying Philippa Gregory.

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I got this weird feeling yesterday. So since I am already done with the GG Episodes and all new episodes aren't airing yet, and I just finished the latest epi of OTH,I felt the urge to download. Nothing really, but it's just I don't get this feeling that I need to catch up. :) I've always thought of downloading Heroes 2 and House 1 but I prefer enjoying them on pirates. :P

Well, I JUST learned yesterday too that there was GOSSIP GIRL Revealed. And yes, you got it. Emptiness filled. I am downloading something again. Haha.

ECHOES, SILENCE, PATIENCE AND GRACE.

It has been 27 days since I last watched One Tree Hill. The show left me and the other millions of viewers with Lindsay figuring the comet riddle and running away from the altar, Brooke throwing a flamethrow (You're fired!) at Victoria, crazy Carrie loosing her screws as she kidnapped Jamie and grandpa Dan (now we call him grandpa!) rescuing his nearly-brunette grandson from the wicked witch nanny in its hundredth episode.

One Tree Hill returns with a four-weeks-later setting in Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, the 13th episode of the 5th season (don't I sound like I write some kinda recap or review writer? :p).

James Lafferty no longer has that appeal to me. I guess Nate [Archibald] took me away from Nathan [Scott]. As for Bethany Joy Galeotti, the makeup artists made a good job in making her look like a mother coping with stress. She really looked drained and worned-out. Is it just Haley or it's Joy we see? I would like to believe it's just Haley. Don't get me wrong, I like Mrs. Galeotti! Maybe I am not just used to see her less glammed up or maybe it is just because I have not seen her for a month.

In this episode, the two seeked the help of a therapist (I like the questions the therapist are throwing at them.) to save their almost 6-year marriage. The couple struggles with acting their age. No, they did not act their shoe sizes. They acted like sick burned out teachers who...whatever. There's no way their marriage is falling apart. Their tandem is the last thing OTH wants to alter. I love Nathan and Haley (and Jamie), always and forever. :)

Jamie is sooo...Jamie. Jackson Brundage is such a beautiful kid and his talents are superb. He's very promising. If more doors will be opened, I won't be surprised if he gets himself an Oscar! I realized I missed the kid when I watched the episode an two hours ago. Here is the feeling: You suddenly realize you miss the person upon seeing him when you haven't felt the longing at all in his/her absence. You get that feeling too, don't you?

Regarding Lucas, he spent the last weeks in Andy's yacht, waking up every morning thinking of Lindsay. Oh c'mon. I thought the Lindsay phase is ooover. She's just a guest star! She's not even in the header of the OTH page in cwtv.com or in every fansites there are (I suppose :])! Get over, Luke! Give it a break. The thought of Linday in the comeback epi is sooo predictable but I mind her presence. Well, she's in the latter part of the epi, looking bigger than Lucas as usual.

And guess with whom Hilarie Burton shared her scenes? Drumroll please...tada! Mark Schwahn, brainsource and executive producer of the show, on cameo. Look who's running out of actors. Haha. Schwahn played the owner of the record store in Tree Hill frequently visited by Peyton as you witnessed in the previous seasons. But was it really him? I don't think so. It was some pale-looking guy who definitely doesn't curly tresses if my memory doesn't betray me. Ha. Going back to P. Sawyer, I missed seeing the bulimic bitch (as how Lindsay labeled her in the Tree Hill library) and her lines. I missed how she insecure me with her gorgeous legs and slender frame.

Brooke Davis comes back on a serious panorama. No Owen in this episode. I really like her relationship with Jamie! Cool godparent. :) Victoria was absent in the epi but her bitchy intervention never fails to butt in. Eh yes, she failed to convince the adoption agent. I don't really have any idea what's coming on Sophia Bush's character...which means there'll be a lot of things to happen and we'll all be thrilled...again :)

Okay, so I just read something about the OTH creator's cameo. Well yes, my memory betrayed me. Mark Schwahn, as I've read in BuddyTV, appeared in Season 4.

It was not really an eventful episode but it was very verbose, which only means, more lines to quote. :) I really like the transition and the connection of clips, and if you are a Tree Hill fan, you know what I mean. They are just so great with that.

So did I just sound like the first person who watched the epi when I am actually two days late? I did, I did. :P

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.

When my mind is illegally lagging (go on, burn your neurons. what do i mean? it's not merely a wordplay :p), I do not permit The Remedy to be on a turtle pace. Lately, I am having problems with the thing that at the very least keeps me busy occupied. Why on (global-warming-threatened) Earth is my Internet Explorer giving up on me? Okay, I’ve got Firefox too, but it’s worse and I’ve decided to delete the application, thank you. It’s just ultra frustrating that I really arrive to the point wherein I restart the system.

Viruses. Yeah, that came in my mind too. :

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Well, anyway, finally! I am done with Gossip Girl! Yey! I just finished A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate a couple of minutes ago. Actually, watching the thirteen episodes took me almost a month (I started late Holy Week). I finished super later than expected because, yeah, I wasn’t expecting downloading wouldn’t turn out smoothly compared to my One Tree Hill downloads. Our cable line doesn’t include ETC so pity me, I really have to download everything. Well, at least, I am updated. :)

I guess I totally forgot about Brooke, Peyton and Haley for a while because Serena and Blair and Chuck so to add were purely amusing. :) I even failed to recall that the all-new episodes of One Tree Hill aired last April 14. Oh at least, I just started downloading the One Tree Hill’s latest epi.

I’ve read reviews saying the TV Series is less entertaining compared to what the books tell like how the Harry Potter movies turned out to be boring. I’ve always seen the Gossip Girl series in the bookstores but I never really showed interest. I don’t remember coming close to the shelves and surveying a copy. I dunno, I guess I felt it was some chic-lit I don’t plan to invest. NBSB by Claire Betita is the chic-lit I own actually.

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What now…Just can’t wait for The Blair Bitch Project! Uh-oh.

xoxo. =)

I DON'T UNDERSTAND!

German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper

BERLIN (AFP) - A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated.

Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a 1 in 450 chance that the Apophis asteroid will collide with Earth, the Potsdamer Neuerster Nachrichten reported.

NASA had previously estimated the chances at only 1 in 45,000 but told its sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young whizzkid had got it right.

The schoolboy took into consideration the risk of Apophis running into one or more of the 40,000 satellites orbiting Earth during its path close to the planet on April 13 2029.

Those satellites travel at 3.07 kilometres a second (1.9 miles), at up to 35,880 kilometres above earth -- and the Apophis asteroid will pass by earth at a distance of 32,500 kilometres.

If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.

Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet) wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic Ocean.

The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that would darken the skies indefinitely.

The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science competition for which he submitted a project entitled: "Apophis -- The Killer Astroid."

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nosebleed, mare!

severe epistaxis. :

I saw this article in the Y! homepage and I find it worth the click.

Pagdating ng fourth paragraph...Walay na. Is this another language? I don't understand it anymore. *_*

Science sucks. I suck in Science. They work to me both ways. There's a lot of truth to that. *_*

STORIES LEFT UNTOLD

February 29, Friday
THUNDERSTRUCKED. After the first test of the final exams, I went straight to the St. Augustine room. Andrei received a text message from Lance. It was all around the latter’s network. He sent a group SMS asking everyone’s prayer for her mom who suffered from stroke. I was jaw-dropped frozen. I did not presume though that Mrs. Rosales was on a severe condition. Knowing how Lance’s Mama looks, she defied 40─ blooming and beautiful.

I FEEL FOR YOU. My cousin*cuzzo is very tight with Pat, Lance’s sister. She went straight to the hospital from school. We exchanged text messages regarding the incident and I learned from her that Tita Ochie was already braindead, breathing through artificial respiration. I spent the night sobbing, ignoring the exams the following day. I felt terribly morbid. I was grief-stricken because of the circumstances Lance’s family is braving through. Moreover, I was disappointed with myself for not being there for my friend, telling him it’ll be okay while patting his back, when I could’ve come. I did not opt to visit his family that day and extend my warmest consolation all for the lousy reason that his other group of friends chose to come around that afternoon. I fumbled with my core emotions.

March 1, Saturday
IN THIS CHAIN OF DOUBTS AND RAINY CLOUDS. There were moments when my eyes wandered nowhere, totally ignoring the density of the final exams. I was greatly waiting for dismissal so I can finally assure myself that I won’t be compromising for any awful excuse. And boy, how glad was I when the clock stroked two.

Friends and I contributed to bring something for Lance, his Papa and his Ate. Sam and I volunteered to purchase the food. When we reached the Mendoza General Hospital, I caught sight of my friends─ calm and collected. His other group of friends were there too. It was relieving on my part that I am there too. Then, there was Lance.

He immediately brought Sam and me upstairs in the ICU. There we were, standing before the two-door entrance, absorbing every sad microelement in the atmosphere, glancing at Lance’s Mama lying on the bed and his Papa, caressing his better half’s hands. “Brain dead na Mama ko,” Lance uttered in a vulnerable-strength-fighting- deep-grief tone. It was very heartbreaking.

It was indeed a very unhappy way to smooth the path for the march of March. There are a lot of emotions to deal with but I know if paving way for the awaited month of our senior year meant helping a friend get through a difficult time, then that’s the way I want it to be.

Darkness was falling and there were now only eight of us left. Lance brought us to the second floor. We hanged out in the staircase and the corridor, literally making it difficult for passers-by. The next thing I knew, we were having a good conversation, laughing our asses off. Lance was even laughing hard too. It did not make things better for all I reckon but at least for moments, he was able to let go of the heavy feeling. Thanks to Jose’s dilemmas. The past days had been somewhat cold for me, missing friends even though they are just there. It was very heartwarming to hear Juanito saying, “Namiss ko ‘to.” Good things really happen in an unlikely place in the unlikeliest circumstance.

Then there were four of us left. Andrei. Sam. Zobar. Ako. As much as we would we want to be physically there for Lance, we were basically tired and sleepy too so we considered going home. Yet I kept extending the length of my stay. We went downstairs and waited for Lance since he was in the ICU. When he came down, he broke to us the news. The neurosurgeon said they would just be waiting for his mother’s heart to succumb.

I went through extremes today.

March 2, Sunday
SUNRISE DOESN’T LAST ALL MORNING. My cousin and I were walking home from the church. I was telling her stories how my friends felt about the situation, how Sam asked me “Sa tingin mo ba may pag-asa pa?” as we bought food for Lance and his family yesterday, how I felt when he said that, how I poured my despair to Zob and how Zob told me, “Wag mong isipin ‘yon.” I just reached the house when, the phone rang. It was my cousin. She told me Pat texted that their Mama passed away by 3AM. For seconds, my mind was blank. Every bone in my body was frozen and every nerve in my system was immobile. I felt dark. When she learned about it, Queen Elizabeth immediately decided to visit the wake after our family day-out.

Life is full of surprises, you know that. Money comes in an instant. Downfall happens in a snap. Fame rises in a flash. Sad to say, death may also come in the same package. :(

March 3-7, Monday-Friday
To relieve the pressure of the deadlines and clearance week, I have pictured since then that this week will be carefree. Together, we’ll all be the blithe people of the world. We’ll all just be cherishing our last days in high school, patiently waiting until the day we march down the aisle and receive our diploma. But since last Saturday, it already unfolded before me that this will not be the week as I imagined. Lance’s pain is all ours too.

SILENCE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS. I always try to come up with the comforting words but it never seemed helpful. I do not know the perfect words to say. I am not sure of the gestures to perform. All I can do without a glitch is be there for him. And yes, my friends and I made sure if the least thing we could do sit beside him, then we’re resting our weights on our buttocks.

LET IT GO WITH THE WIND. I never saw him cry but I know he did because it is necessary. There’s a lot of truth in that. He doesn’t buy the myth that if you are a guy; you have to act in a certain way. My friends and I admired him on the way he handled the situation. Needless to say, he has given so much reason to be strong and vice-versa. As days passed, his strength all the same made us feel easy.

March 8, Saturday

CURTAIN CALL. It was my first time to attend the funeral. Again, I found myself overlayed with deep sadness. Everything on my part was kindly unspoken. Hearing Lance’s Papa cry is the saddest song ever.

CRANK YANKER.

Ah ulol: Hello, pwede po ba kay Karen Anne?

AKO: (Ay mukhang may hahabol ng haberdey :D Assumer talaga o) sino ‘to?

Ah ulol: (Parang ‘di sigurado) Si Choko.

AKO: (Ha? Sino?) Sino?

Ah ulol: Si Choko.

AKO: (Niloloko mo ‘ko, Choko ka diyan.) Ha? Sino?

Ah ulol: Si Choko.

AKO: (Hindi mo nga kaboses si Choko eh.) Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Oo, bakit?

Ah ulol: Pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

(Dudong boys on background: Oo nga, gutom na kami! Burger! Burger!)

AKO: (Nangiti! :D) Sino ‘to? (Maniwala naman kasi akong si Choko ka.)

Ah ulol: McDonald, Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

[bagg]

Binabaan ako ng phone. Okay na sana eh, binabaan mo lang ako. Psssh ka.

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Whoever brain's behind the McDo Cheeseburger Ad, KUDOS. Such a cool ad. :)