Tag: happy

Happiness

lanative1Leave a comment

Can you think of one thing everyone has in common? Public school kids, lawyers, locksmiths, princesses, Canadians, Obama… We are all on a quest to find true happiness.

But what is true happiness, really?   Is it doing what you love, being with who you love, loving yourself, or helping others?   I guess it’s different for everyone. In my case, I think happiness is when you can do what you love with support from the people you love.

Others, however, are willing to give up who they love for what they love. I personally don’t think this will leave you being truly happy, for as long as you are not surrounded by people that will keep you happy, I think you will not be able to find happiness in just an activity.

It is true that happiness is relative, of course, so I extend the question to you – what makes you happy? Do you think you are a happy person? Why?

I wish you all luck on the quest to living life to the fullest.

Photo Credit: http://www.wikipedia.org

Dove

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

A little Dove chocolate told me to enjoy the small things in life.

This is a stage in my life that I need the small things.

With the stress of school, sports, and a social life, it’s the little moments that make it all worth it.

They happen here and there, but today for instance it rained.

The rain brings me great happiness. It cleanses the ground, but it makes everything clean and new.

Flowers bloom, and otherwise dusty hills become rolling green hills.

This is the entrance into spring that we have been waiting for.

The past few weeks have brought a lot of stress to an already stressful life.

One would think that having a single mother with multiple incurable diseases would cause stress.

Having her go to the hospital unexpectedly would seem to cause stress, but that is my life.

This is who I am, this is how my family works.

I can accept that my mother is sick and I can find happiness in the fact that she always comes home, although sometimes not without a fight, she has managed to make it back every time.

On this Easter Sunday I ask you to consider this.

I don’t care what your beliefs are, or if you don’t believe, but there is something on this Earth and beyond that has kept my mother here.

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Happy Birthday Sarah

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

This weekend, my friend Kendall Shiffman checked me out, and I spent the weekend at her house. On Friday we watched a ton of TV, which was, as always, really fun.

On Saturday, my best friend Sarah came over in the morning, and we hung around the house. She then went to the lacrosse game while we got ready for her birthday dinner at California Pizza Kitchen that night.

At first, I was a little worried about the dinner. I knew a couple girls from a nearby school, Villanova would be there, and I had never met them before. I was nervous, and expected the dinner to be really awkward. Thankfully, it wasn’t. They turned out to be really nice and funny, and the whole night was a blast.

Then this morning, Sarah and her brother came over, followed by two of the girls from last night. We barbecued hot dogs, and ate ruffles with onion dip while drinking coke. It was delicious.

Sarah is my best friend. She’s funny, isn’t afraid to laugh at herself, and is someone I know I can always count on to be there for me. We have lunch dates every day at school, where we talk about everything and pretty much anything.

She has helped me so much, from problem-solving to leaving behind some of my insecurities and growing into myself. This weekend with her and Kendall was so much fun, and I hope the rest of her birthday day is amazing. Happy Birthday Sarah!!

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Choices

callmemaybe321 Comment

I have been thinking a lot lately about what my future is going to be like.

Not as a grown adult, but where I want to go to college, what I want to study, and what about sports?

Thinking about what’s going to go into getting in to the schools I want to go to, and if I will be able to do it.

It’s a lot to be thinking about, there are so many choices we have to make even at the young age of 16, but I have realized the future is really up to me and how hard I want to work.

I have always been the kid who doesn’t put in the effort, and I come out with a few As and a few Bs.

I have realized I need to start actually trying to put in more effort to make it all As, instead of sitting on my butt when I have free time, maybe I should study more, and get work done before sunday night.

Maybe that means I can sleep more seeing as my schedule right now is crazy.

That brings me to the other thing I have been thinking about.

It was just last year that sports started to mean something to me again.

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Goodbye, OVS.

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

Wow. Did this year just end?

I’m sitting in my empty room on a sunny day before graduation, looking outside of my window thinking how OVS made me a happy person.

It’s still unbelievable that I’m here today at Ojai Valley School. Everything just happened all of a sudden in one week during last summer after I met Mr.Alvarez.

First of all, Mr.Alvarez. I don’t know how to thank you. You made my year. If I wouldn’t have met you, I would’ve stucked in New Hampshire being cold, wondering why I run and when and where I can be happy. It’s so strange that you know me very well; you knew I was scared to race, you knew I had to slow down and take one step at a time. I really couldn’t have achieved anything this year without you. You’re the best coach I’ve ever had, and it’s such a blessing to meet you. I will never forget the lessons you taught me, and in college, I want you to be at the Olympic trials in 2016.

Second of all, Serry. You have no idea how much you influenced me. When I first met you, I thought you were just being super nice because I was new to this school but you never changed and found out that you’re just nice from the bottom of your heart. And we have the exact same humor. Everyday, every morning, after lunch, before dinner, we never stopped laughing at the lamest jokes. At that moment, I realized that I’ve met the person who I will keep in touch for the rest of my life. I’m so fortunate that I could have you as a roommate. And I love you so much.

Third of all, all my friends at OVS. Seriously, I’ve never seen a group of people being very friendly and super nice. I am not even exaggerating but when I first came here, I couldn’t believe how nice they are. I was actually wondering why they’re so nice to me… but that’s OVS.

I really can’t express how fortunate I am to come here.

I just realized that this is the last blog of the year, and I think this is the last assignment of high school…

I love you OVS. You changed me and you made me so happy as a person.

Pure love

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

When I had the first meal of after being sick, white rice, I thought I was in heaven. I was like, “Thank you for letting me eat. Thank you so much.” That was one of the happiest moments in a long time.

I wasn’t feeling well since last Wednesday. My stomach was acting weird. I thought I was just tired so I ignored what it was telling me.

But finally, the pain really broke out this Monday. During lunch that day, I didn’t want to eat anything but I ate because I had to. But about half an hour later I started to feel nauseated and threw up all I had eaten. I usually never throw up. I hadn’t have thrown up since like 1st grade, so I realized that this virus is a really strong one. That night, I had a high fever. I tried to get changed, but I had no energy in me. I lost 5 pounds in 2 days and felt like a skeleton. I looked at myself in a mirror. It was disgusting.

On Thursday, my stomach finally let some food in. I ate impulsively. I was way too hungry. I couldn’t have been any happier. But I ate too much that I got nauseous again…

But, I’m getting better and better.

I once again realized that I love eating. I missed eating so much.

Fat Sundays with Tom Cruise

yrreskrap2 Comments

Huddled together.

Light cutting the darkness like blades

through the spaces between the blinds.

Our heads come closer to the screen,

our limbs intertwined.

A mess of blankets and

the overwhelming scent of Chinese food.

Golden Moon did it again.

Our stomachs are aching

but, we don’t mind.

Tom Cruise is almost dead,

Julia with a gun in her hand.

HE’S ALIVE!

We all let out a sigh of relief,

our hands let go of each others.

This is a good Sunday afternoon.

Surrounded by my friends,

just being fat and lazy.

I am so happy.

This is happiness.

“Friendship is a special kind of love.”

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder…

yrreskrap1 Comment


Everybody told me that long distance would be trouble. That it would hurt. That it wouldn’t be worth all the stress–especially during my senior year.

But I, being the stubborn love-struck puppy I was, didn’t listen. Nope. I didn’t want to believe what people said, so I didn’t. I told myself that it would be easy.

Now, here I am sitting in my room in Ojai, California. 2643.071 miles away from my boyfriend of two and a half years.

It’s funny. In the beginning, I had kind of wished Kai was a recluse that veered away from any female contact.

But again, the beginning was the hardest part. The time difference made it even worse. He was already at school when I would wake up most days and by the time study hall ended, it was around 12:30 in the morning where he was.

And boy, would we argue. Over the most minuscule things. I argued because we were so far. He argued because of the time difference. We argued because we missed each other. We argued. And. We argued.

I began to wonder if they were right. If long distance was too much for me to handle. It seemed, with all my college applications and school work, that they might be right.

But, as much as we fought and as much as I hated the distance, I did not want to give up.

And I didn’t. Things got better, and I honestly don’t think that long distance is all that horrible. Sure, it takes a while to get used to but if you love him (or her), all of those frustrations–those initial arguments, getting used to the time difference–was worth the greater moments when I would get to hear his voice on the phone or see his face on Skype.

I still miss him dearly and love him so much. And I don’t regret choosing to be in this long distance relationship with him. He makes me happy although I don’t get to be with him nearly as much as I did last year which turned out to be a good thing. I have more time for friends and more importantly, when I do get to see him, it makes it all the more special. It’s almost like we just started dating. There isn’t anybody I’d rather have than him.

So let me tell you from my experience that eventually, distance truly does make the heart grow fonder.

Why Me?

yrreskrap1 Comment

October 20, 2011, Thursday morning.

The familiar buzz of my alarm shook me from my sleep. A heavy hand reached over, my drowsy fingers searching for the Dismiss button, rather than the usual Snooze.

I had woken up with one thing on my mind.

I sat up, my hands grabbing the computer and placing it on my lap. I refreshed the awaiting Collegeboard page that was already open on Google Chrome. I signed in again and…

I couldn’t believe it.

Could it be true? Was I too tired? Was I seeing things?

Again. My fingers tapped the refresh button. But the same score prevailed my cyber attack.

My SAT score had increased 240 point since the last test. My cumulative 5 months of straight studying had paid off! Immediately, I ran down the hall screaming for my roommate and Sungjin. Then, happy phone calls to my proud mother and father.

October 21, 2011, Friday evening.

With a heavy feeling in my heart, I checked my phone. The email accounts in my phone did not receive any mail but college junk mail.

It should’ve come by now. It should be here. Maybe…

Thousands of thoughts rushed into my head and I brushed them off. Worrying wouldn’t change anything.

Wishfully thinking, I double checked each email account I had on the internet browser. Nothing…

…until I checked my POP/junk mail folder on my hotmail account.

“National College Match Application Status” sent at 12:01 pm. Goodness, it was already halfway past seven, I should have checked earlier.

My fingers pressed the small icon before my heart was ready for the news.

My eyes couldn’t believe it and my heart beat at 9187431938471 miles an hour.

“Dear Serry,We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as a finalist for the 2011 QuestBridge National College Match! “

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH I’M A FINALIST AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed for joy! My track coach, probably scared out of his wits next to me in the Ojai Valley School Van, said, “No way!”

He had been helping me with these essays before I turned the applications in. Without his help, I don’t believe I would have gotten this far. (Thank you so much!)

Now, my next deadline is November 1. I need to submit all my applications by then and wait until December 1.

But until then, I can’t give up or slow my pace! I just need to try hard and pray even harder. Thank God for how far I’ve come. I can definitely see his hand working in my life, molding the paths I take. Although I know that this is just one step of the way, I am confident that God will lead me to the right direction.

Do good anyway

thehungryrunnergirl1 Comment

What is kindness? Why are you kind to others? Because you want to be treated the same way? Because you want to be recognized as a nice person? Why can’t people express their love and kindness freely without any complicated emotions?

I think true kindness is not seeking anything in return but wishing others happiness from the bottom of your heart.

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of Selfish, Ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be Honest and Frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
”

– Mother Teresa

I felt the strength and warmth from this quote.

I feel like a lot of people seek it in return when they did something good to others. But what if you could give love to anyone without expecting them to give it back? Wouldn’t that be nice?

If you think carefully, don’t you feel happy when you’re doing something for someone regardless of the return? Well, I do. When I make someone smile, it just makes me happy.

SO DO GOOD ANYWAY!

Translation:
“Thought” is not visible to anyone.
”Thoughtfulness” is able to be seen.
“Heart” is not visible to anyone.
”Warm-heartedness” is able to be seen.