what is happiness?

**Disclaimer:  This isn't a fact.  It's merely a theory.  Hope you enjoy!**

About a little over five years ago, a reporter for the 757 column of the Virginian Pilot approached me when I was with my brother at the former Relative Theory records store in Norfolk, VA.  She was asking random cool kids in the store what their definition of happiness was.  Surprisingly, she approached me & asked me what I thought the meaning was.  This was hard.  I pondered for a second & being the naive youth I was simply stated:  "being loved."  At the time, everything had fallen into place in my life & I was in love.  Little do I know now, this was wrong.

Don't get me wrong.  Love is a many splendrous thing.  However, love can be complicated & there are more emotions that come with it besides happiness.  Tonight was one of those nights where I had an epiphany.  Well, I don't think I just realized it at that moment, but I damn well understood it now.  Happiness just isn't being in love or loved.  It's not just having everything in your life fall into place.  It's those small details in life that is happiness.  Think about it.  For me, playing my iPod on shuffle while driving in my car & it so happens all the songs it plays are the perfect songs that play at those exact moments.  Or, finding a random dollar bill in your pocket of something you haven't worn in a while.  Even being there for a friend or family member when you least expect it & the joy you feel just making their day better when you had no intentions of it.  To me, that is happiness.  The minor things in life that we all take for granted.  If only I had known back then what I do now.  I think I'd be a very well-rounded person ahead of her time.

I don't know all the answers in life, but I do know the lessons that come out of it.

oh how i love history

Another reason I shouldn't be ashamed of how I speak or pronounce my words.

Thank You southeastern Virginia:

ODU team records area's accent - English with 'deep roots'

12:34

My hair only looks hot after a good ol' workout from the gym.  Too bad I don't have a picture to show it =(  There's always tomorrow, or well today.

Am I not good enough, or am I too good for anything (not trying to sound arrogant or anything... this is more like one of those rhetorical questions I wish there was an answer for)?  I've been asking myself this for many months now & I just don't know.  I've always patiently waited for things to come my way, & eventually it has.  I'm just tired of waiting so long for it to happen.

My iPod was randomly shuffling through songs as I drove home from work & Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares To You" played.  Memories memories memories flashed through my mind.  Nostalgia suddenly set in.  I'm glad I had my workout at the gym to snap me out of it.  I think if my mind keeps up with doing this to myself I'll end up being either super fit, underweight, or an exercise junkie.

I finally created a sign/logo for Janelle's boyfriend's nephew's cafe.  It only took me around a hour to develop, but I kept messing around with the colors & placement of words and such that I was indecisive to come up with a final design.  Hopefully this will be suffice.

I miss designing.  Especially designing with an elaborate concept in mind.  Sometimes I still imagine how it would be like working for a design or advertising agency of sorts.  I do like the apparel side of designing too, but I'm not sure how long I would want to stick with this.  I have many dreams of what I still want to do.  I just hope I'll be able to live them out.

I know I haven't kept up with my daily nostalgic pictures, but hopefully this one will make up for it:

Nostalgic Pic#5 - Volunteering as a medical victim at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Richmond, VA circa 2006.  I did this a few months prior to this picture & got compensated $50.  I received a letter in the mail asking if I'd like to volunteer & be compensated once again, so I decided to & invited a few friends along for the fun!  I'm still upset everyone except I didn't get my compensation to this day.