Tomorrow

Tomorrow is happiness. Palig Finals and Katy Perry concert, anyone?

26.5 hours late

I knew I was missing something.

Happiness in Marte Caronongan's point-of-view is holding a camera in your hands, acting like the professional photographer you strive on becoming, forcing perspectives, forcing more perspectives, and zooming in on the best moments in life.

Many know me as the class, and maybe even the school's "official" photographer. My pictures have appeared not once, but quite a few number of times in the Ateneo website, as well as other publications. Knowing that these pictures which I did not expect to reach such heights DO reach those heights make me a happy, happy panda. I knew that my hard work was not wasted on those pictures.

Yes, I am bent on becoming the slut you know I was going to turn into a famous photographer sometime in the future, and I know that such dreams require hardcore dedication and perseverance, qualities which I lack sometimes. But you know what they say, "Libre lang mangarap."

And now, I start my Pursuit of Happyness. One frame at a time.

PS I know I can be gay and just change the date and time I posted this entry, but I'm not gay. Yeah, my Profile Picture in Facebook can be deceiving at times.

The End (?)

[This isn't graded. I just felt I needed a place to tell this.]

"It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life."

That line made me so miserable the moment I heard it. I was literally holding my tears back :((

I guess it's a mutual feeling in the whole class. Everybody was sad to see Mrs. De Peralta leave. We've known it since the start of the school year, but it just became a harder pill to swallow as time passed by. Honestly, I have no idea how Ma'am affected us this much; personally, I think it was just a relief to be out of 2nd Year English. But no, I'm quite sure Ma'am did more than take us out of there. I mean SO MUCH MORE than that.

As I tried to draw Ma'am on the illustration board as accurate as I could (sorry if it doesn't look like you, Ma'am :))), I can't help but be a bit depressed. She was leaving the class and the class loved her. By that time, we had no idea (or didn't remember) why she had to go. We didn't want that to happen; we've started great, and I just don't want anything like this to end in something opposite.

On the day itself, I was sure everybody was thinking of how to say goodbye to Ma'am. Things like this shouldn't just crumble like that. We wanted to make Mrs. De Peralta feel like we were worth remembering, because she was for us.

And then she told us she was leaving for good, and perhaps we wouldn't see her again. Talk about heartbreakers. :((

That we were her last class EVER. More heartbreaker stuff. =((

[On a more personal note, I can die peacefully now, after hearing Ma'am speak in Filipino. It was one of the things on my "Things That Should Happen Before I Die" List.]

We can't say how much you meant to us Ma'am. I don't know where to start. I don't even know when to end. Ma'am, it's just...

...we can't explain it enough in words how much it meant for us to be your students, and the last ones to boot. :D

We can't accept the fact that the credits are now rolling in front of our eyes. But life goes on, and however much it may make us miserable to think that 3rd Year English does not anymore include Mrs. De Peralta, we still need to get the show going, 'cause that's the only way to show how much you meant to us :D

At least you could have finished the year with us, Ma'am. It would have really made 3rd Year really really really nice. But in the end, it's your choice to make, and whatever you choose, Ma'am, we'll be behind you, supporting :D :>

I hope you'll never forget us Ma'am, because I'm a hundred percent sure we won't.

"It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life"

Mrs. De Peralta, we'll always remember you, and we love you! >:D<

Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts...

Nothing’s coming to me, especially since my palm was just burned by an idiot. Now how do you write about happiness if each press on the keyboard sharpens the sting on your fingertips?

Maybe that’s what makes happiness so hard to recreate. It’s the feeling that makes your eyes wrinkle when you smile, ignore the irritating noise that won’t let you concentrate or the sensations from my throbbing fingers. Happiness is effortless.

It’s the feeling which wipes away almost everything else. A peace that wraps you as good as a condom from those convenient stores. So great that you always worry if it will go away. So fragile because of its rarity yet so sturdy in that solitary moment before it rips and leaks away slowly. Bliss. Though momentarily, in the end we will only just remember how it feels.

-Stephen Narciso. Im pretty sure I asked THEM to add this earlier. :D

Happiness by JP Tianco

I don't really know what happiness is. I do not know where and how it is found. It seems that I don't know much about happiness, I believe that I have wonderful experiences with happiness. Through these experiences, I have built my own idea of happiness.

When I was a child, I used to crave for the ice cream sold by street vendors. However, my mom wouldn't allow me to buy. i used to stare at the vendor, literally drooling as he passes by. One day, I saved my own money, approached the vendor, and bought my very first dirty ice cream. My mom saw and she scolded me. But the joy that my tastebuds experienced was far greater than my mom's anger. This, for me, is happiness at work.

Now, as a teenager, I rarely have the time to do nothing, to just sit down and let things happen to me. The world I live in us much busier than before. I take for granted the things that were once so valuable for me, like the dirty ice cream that was once the best thing in the world. Then, a week ago, I saw another ice cream vendor on the street. I bought one and remembered the same taste of the ice cream years ago.

These things do not really define happiness, but they make me remember the times that happiness enters my life even for just a short time. Well, happiness, for me, is the feeling after you work really hard for the you really want, and the memories it bring.

Happiness rawr

Happiness for me is very vague. Vague in a sense that it's hard to describe and I feel it a lot of times. I don't know how to define happiness, because there's just no definite definition to it for me right now. Happiness, I guess, is the feeling of feeling good about something.

Yes, that might be very broad, but happiness really does cover a lot of things. It's that big, that I can't even explain what I think it is in simple words. I'm still in a point of my life where I don't truly know when I am truly happy. What I do know though, is that I feel certain simple and shallow moments of happiness.

Those are the times when I would get a high grade on a quiz, or when I would score a basket in basketball. Yes, these are times when I feel momentary happiness, which often fade out after a while. Happiness for me right now, is nothing serious and something that I take for granted. I wish I could reach that stage in my life when I would truly experience happiness, maybe when I'm in love, or maybe when I win the lottery. Then again, I wouldn't really know because maybe even then, I would only experience the same simple and shallow happiness that I do now.

So I guess I can't sincerely answer the question, "what is happiness?". What I do know, is that I experience something which seems like it. Again, I can never be sure, but for now, that would be my own version of happiness.

Happiness

Some people are miserable because they live their lives haunted by the past. I was perpetually depressed because I was too busy thinking about the future. I daydreamed about things like the next time my clan would go on a cruise, the next time A would have a soiree, the return of a long test I felt confident about.

Life, for me, was about the big things. Most of my time was spent waiting for the next thing to come. The problem with that is that more often than not, I was disappointed. My expensive new guitar didn't sound as good as I thought it would. The soiree I lost sleep thinking about ended up being a bust.

That's why, for the most part of my sixteen years on earth, I've been depressed. The stuff I looked forward to never seemed to turn out the way I planned. I hated life. I was convinced that some higher being was purposely messing with me for amusement.

It was only very recently that I found the solution to my sadness- start finding joy in the little things. I started to care less about the grand and the extravagant. The things I used to find trivial and insignificant became my main source of happiness. Now, simple things (like hanging out with my friends, or doing well on a quiz) matter to me, and I'm a much happier person for it.

----

[short story]

The aircon was set to eighteen degrees, but that wasn't what was giving her goosebumps. It was his hand. His manly, calloused hand resting on her thigh. His eyes weren't helping either. They were chestnut colored, and, somehow, simultaneously gentle and naughty.

"I just don't think I'm ready," she said.

"But that's what you said last time," he complained. "Come on, you promised!"

"Well, I lied!" she said, while pushing his hand off of her. He stood up, walked across the room, and sat in a corner."

"I just don't see why this is such an issue for you,"he said, sighing. "Lots of people do it."

"Don't you think people will think differently of me afterwards?" she asked.

"Maybe, but it won't matter. It'll be better afterwards, I swear."

She didn't know how to reply. She loved him, she was sure, and he seemed to love her back. He was the perfect boyfriend-he never asked her for anything, he was considerate, thoughtful, and quite good looking. He could definitely do much better than her, and yet he stayed with her anyway. The past year had been the happiest in either of their lives.

The sadness in his face was quite evident. It hurt her to see him like this.

"Okay, I understand. I won't pressure you to do anything you aren't ready to." He stood up,

went to her, kissed her on the cheek, and walked to the door.

"Wait!" she shouted, as his hand was turning the doorknob. He looked back at her, with those

beautiful eyes of his, and his hand still on the knob. He raised an eyebrow, and there was a sad

smile on his face.

"I'll do it." she said softly but confidently.

He walked up to her, and she stood up to meet him. There were tears welling up in his

eyes as he hugged her.

"You know how long I've been waiting for this moment, right?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes, I do."

"I love you."

It was her first time, and it was over in a matter of minutes. It hurt. Each motion brought

a stinging sensation, and her face was ever so slightly contorted with pain. Still, it wasn't quite

as painful as she had expected. The stinging went away eventually, replaced by numbness.

"See," he said, when it was all over, "don't you feel much better, now
that you've gotten rid of your unibrow?"