choose to be happy

as much as a lot of things should be depressing me right now, i am choosing to be happy.  a lot of things are happening that are not favorable, if not downright unpleasant and unwanted.

work, for one thing, has become a roller-coaster ride gone awry.  by that, you'd think i'm exaggerating.  but no.  it has indeed become the weirdest place on earth.  there have become new policies, restrictions and people who i cannot fathom as to why those things happened.  sorry to say, boss, if you're reading this.  i have been dedicated to my job in the company for the last 5 years.  5 YEARS!  most of the things promised me years ago have gone to naught and some benefits i had were retracted.  in its place, doubts to an upward career path.  i'm not ungrateful though.  there are some things that the company has given like the 5pm off in place of my favorite flexi schedule.  (i hated it when they told us no more flexi schedule but like all lowly employees, i did not have a choice!)  

this morning, it took me the whole ride to the little big man's school before i decided if i wanted to go to work or not.  coz i honestly, did NOT want to.

i do not wish to enumerate anymore because, like i said, i'm choosing to be happy.  i will look forward to a better day today.  maybe clean my table and start fresh or something.  

or maybe, i'll go home by lunchtime. 

Man is fond of counting his troubles but he does not count his joys.  

If he counted them up as he ought to, 

he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

~Fyodor Dostoevsky

smile for the camera

so the family was on a field trip organized by julla's teachers on a fine saturday in february.  everybody was in a good mood and excited to go.  we had tons of food and snacks in hand and two cameras so as not to miss a single kodak moment of our special day.

first destination was rizal park.  migo and julla loved the open air, lush greens and yes, the thomas the train roaming around. they couldn't wait to ride it!  and we were lucky enough to ride in front with the driver.

after getting off the train and walking around, we went to watch the lights and sounds presentation of dr. jose rizal's execution.  normally, according to the presenter, it's watched at night for us to appreciate the lights, but we had to  content ourselves with a "sounds" only presentation because it was daytime.

next was brunch at the chinese garden.  why do kids prefer to run instead of eat?  and feed their food to the floating ducks?  they were uncontrollable but i know they had a great time.  

museo pambata was next on the itenerary.  this literally became a playground.  the guides did not have time to explain each room as the kids scurried here and there, trying out all the different interactive stuff.  it was fun though.

then there's the oceanarium and mermaid show at the manila ocean park.

the funny thing about this day is that hubby and i tried our mighty best to capture everything digitally.  what with two cameras but it's ironic that while we wanted to do that, the kids wanted to enjoy the day and remember it in their own way.  here's what i mean:

scene: oceanarium, inside the tunnel while all the sea creatures swim around us.  dad wants to take a picture as the stingray goes by while the kids turn away from the camera so they can watch it go by.  dad gets frustrated coz he is unable to capture the scene, while the kids are frustrated as well coz they didn't get to see the stingray up close.

so i tell dad, let the kids do whatever they want instead of forcing them to smile at the camera and miss whatever awesome experience they might have.