taken for granted

Accomplishing everything changes it from being indispensable and desirable to just being taken for granted. This is what I say.

Have you ever felt being taken for granted after exerting more than enough effort, energy, and dedication into doing something or serving others? Believe me, it is not a happy experience. It actually made me believe that luck really exists. Why? How would you call the people who are not trying hard enough, but make another's life miserable, yet get good rewards and recognition? Lucky, right?

They say life begins at forty, at first I wonder; now I believe them. For when I turned forty, I learned so many things about life, things I thought I knew. But I ended up discovering that life has more hidden agendas that what is on the surface. Suddenly I’m a bit shaky and unsure of what’s going to happen, just like the outcome of a science experiment, you cannot conclude unless all the testing’s are done. I can’t wait to be forty-one for then maybe; I’ll pass this aleatory stage of confusion and stop altercating with myself.

Time please, alleviate my heavy feelings.

Being taken for granted can be a compliment. It means that you've become a comfortable trusted element in another person's life. This is what Dr. Joyce Brothers said. I'll keep it to console me.

It's here!

I love the food here better than McDonald's. This is the newest hangout for Pinoys in LA. I wonder if the white and latino customers I saw in the store loved the pinoy version of spaghetti and the yumburgers. Are they coming back after their first visit? or are they going out disappointed? I knew why they came...curious why such a new shop is crowded with cars and people. As for me and the family, we will be regulars :-)

Puppy (a limerick)

My favorite pet is a puppy,
Whenever I see one, it makes me happy.
It wags its tail,
It runs a trail.
Having a puppy is really jolly!

Abraham
April 5, 2006

('got an A for this!)

that look...

Toys R Us, Los Feliz, Saturday night.

The kids are busy checking out the latest game cube games and I am digging out the PS2 games bargain basket out of curiosity. I don't know why but I felt like someone's gazing at me. I turned my head towards my back...Brack, standing a meter away is starring at me. Jokingly I asked, "Why are you starring at me like that? Do you find me beautiful?" He said, "Yes, you are...” And he stared at me even more. Enraptured with his dazzled look, I blushed. Like a young girl, I walked fast to him and leaned my head to his shoulders, wrapping my arms around him. It's like a flashback of time when we were much younger and our love was new. It was a very good feeling...

Sunday morning, at breakfast table.

The four of us, having chocolate waffles and milk. I asked again, "Why were you starring at me last night?" He said, "Because I haven't looked at you like that for a long time."

That look brought back a million memories, when holding hands meant a lot to us. When starring at each other consume our days. The feeling's so strong, kept our love alive. Hmmm...That look of love.

Romantic love reaches out in little ways, showing attention and admiration. Romantic love remembers what pleases a woman, what excites her, and what surprises her. Its actions whisper: you are the most special person in my life. Charles Stanley ( A Man's Touch)

(this is Roselle's orchid which she has on her cubicle. I took a macro shot)

Why complicate?

Do you wonder how mathematicians heat chicken nuggets in the microwave? This was a recent scenario in my household. (A short conversation of father and son...the engineer and the fact wizard)

Abraham: Daddy, how long should I heat my nuggets?
Brack: How many pieces?
Abraham: Seven
Brack: It should be fifteen seconds each.
Abraham: Wait!
(Mommy interrupted and hit the microwave setting to 2 minutes)
Abraham: That's a minute and forty-five seconds!
Mommy: Oh my! That’s silly, you two are complicating it!
Abraham: Mommy, you're violating the rules!
Mommy: Hmmp!!! (I hate Math to the max!)

My, I’m glad the other math wizard was sleeping that time.

Second scenario: wonder how kids describe the taste of a drink?

Brack: Abraham, how does Hawaiian Punch taste?
Abraham: Better than a Tikki Punch!

Simply short!

Now if it's Mommy being asked:

Mommy: It's sweet, tastes like a Tikki Punch but not really, it has similar crispness but not exactly...blah...blah...blah...I don't know, just taste it!

Ha!ha!ha! Life is simple, why complicate?

Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is doomed to extinction he will die out for want of simplicity. Ezra Pound

How to be happy?

Wikipedia defined happiness as a prolonged or lasting emotional or affective state that feels good or pleasing. Why despite the overwhelming pressures of the week that passed and the ton of work at the office would I be reading about articles on happiness? What the heck! It’s the perfect way to console myself, after all watching the rain pour for a couple of days and not being able to do what you want while waiting for the SUV to be restored (had a road accident on my way to work the other Friday which is of course the other person’s fault), is no fun at all.

In order to shift away from depressing moments and to avoid sinking in disappointment, I hit the search engines for the word happiness – self medication. One by one I opened the links to articles on happiness. I came across a couple of interesting theories and paradigms about the subject, intellectual discussions and ideas which are all so informative and really helpful. Overflowing materials, most of them I just banked in my small memory capacity midbrain, who knows if those information will be processed or flushed later – hahaha! Who cares! My current objective is to make me feel better so for the time being, micro preferential reading suits me. I landed into this article called your own happiness manifesto, very appropriate. I told myself, I will account for the things that make me happy for, just thinking about it/them already makes me happy.

So here it is, my own happiness manifesto, people, things, and activities that make me feel good:

• A good laugh – whether it’s laughing with my husband, my children, or with friends, I usually laugh loud, putting all my energy into it.
• Leisure driving – without destination is more effective; adventurously exciting.
• Flashing back selected memories – Memory lane is crowded with sweet and happy thoughts, but the sweetest and funniest I recall over and over is when I celebrated my birthday with Brack for the first time. It was extraordinary and something I won’t forget. Try asking him what happened that night and tell me about his initial facial reaction as you ask him the question.
• Food and Cold Drinks – I’m one of the many who associate happiness with pleasure. I love sashimi, pad Thai chicken, seafood noodles, guava juice, cold tea, and milkshakes.
• Singing without an audience – self explanatory.
• Reading – Between the tube and the paper? I prefer the latter, although one of my favorite shirts says “Why read books, when you can watch the movies?”
• Shop and tell – getting along with girlfriends asking and checking out what they bought this time or vice versa. Giggling about freebies, markdowns and bargains. The principle really is retail therapy.
• Electronic gadgets – closely associated with the principle mentioned above.
• Travel – St. Augustine quoted, “the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Very true, near or far, what a pleasure it is to have a firsthand experience of people, places, and things different from yours.
• Sharing and being grateful – beginning or end of day, I count my blessings. There is a reason, there is a purpose, although I’m guilty of questioning sometimes, when things aren’t as clear to me, I do appreciate others, circumstances, events, and material things that come my way. I also feel gratified when I share...

How to be happy?

Stop pursuing happiness, stop asking yourself if you are one, just do the things you love. Enjoy others, enjoy things, enjoy life – cease trying too hard to be happy, happiness will come to you, free of charge!

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. C P Snow