Day 335: Old Man Aspirations

Today on my lunch break I went to a cafateria across the street from my building. I purchased my food and sat outside on the patio. I noticed an old man eating at the table next to me. One of the buildings janitors came around the corner and saw him and her face lit up as if her day had just been made. She began to him about her kids and how her life was going. It was at that moment that another woman, wearing business attire, came around the corner, saw him and had the same reaction as the janitor. I was happy when one be one a steady stream of almost ten people had the same experience with this older man. I just sat and watched during my entire lunch break and hope that one day I could bring this much to joy to others.

Day 336: With my head held high

I had an interview for a new position at work today, and although I'm fairly positive I will not get the position, I was happy when I walked out of the interview and did not have a single regret. I did the best I could and thats all I could have hoped for.

Day 337: De-Stress

I'm not particularly stressed or anything, but I was happy to hang out with a friend, watch new episodes of some of my favorite shows, eat popcorn and generally not have a worry in the world. It might sound lame, but not thinking about anything today (i.e. School, Work, Bills, etc.) is exactly what I needed.

Day 338: Stop And Smell The Trees

Yet another day of going to the capitol building. Maybe its a signal to myself thats saying "Hey, your happy place is the capitol building!" But, today  I was happy when I got to take a tree tour of capitol park. I didn't fully understand everything that was being said to me, but it was really cool to stop and take a look at a place I ride by everyday. My tour guide was the superintendent of the arboretum at UC Davis. He should us and told us all kinds of interesting things like a bunch of trees that were shipped here as seedlings from civil war battle fields a year after the civil war ended! There are trees from all over the world here and there so much more that he didn't show us. I'm thinking of going again this weekend to check it out myself.

Day 339: The Center of the World

Today I went to the capital building to attend a rally for the deaf on the south steps. When I go there I was happy to find rallies on three sides of the building. This made me happy because when I walk around the capital building I realize that I live in the processing center for California. California is such an important place on not just an international scale but an international scale. And when I see rallies and demonstration happening here, I feel like I might just be inside history. I like that feeling.

South Steps: Deaf Rally

North Steps:

West Steps:

Day 340: Gas Happy

I use to fill up my car's gas tank every four days. That equalled a few hundered dollars every month, let alone meant that I was in my car a lot. Today, I was happy when I dorve my car and realized that I have not put gas in my car for over a month and a half and still have over a quarter tank left. It is so awesome to be living a life where gas is not draining my wallet dry. I wish this upon everyone.

Day 341: Twofer Wednesday (that has absolutley no ring to it)

Happy times two today! That's some good alliteration if you ask me! I decided that since I never said I couldn't do two things in one day that I'm going to bust out the twofer today.

First: I was happy when I bought saveoururbanforest.org. Through many emails with Meredith, we built a really great foundation for what we hope will be a movement in the downtown Sacramento area. I'm warning you know, I'm positive I will be writing a lot about this as we get deeper in the year. Besides it was really cool because I've never bought a .org domain name before.

Second: My rule is to keep everyday unique, so today I'm using up an easy one (even if it's in my twofer day). When I started my job 3 months ago, I met someone who I became friends with almost instantly. She one of those people who, for some reason, can connect to my craziness and I to hers. Last night I realized that I am really happy I met her and she is now in my life. I feel very lucky for the friends I have, because all the friends I have are lifetime friends and not just friends for now. That's something special.

Day 342: Accomplished: Finally.

I have had my job for about 3 months now and so far its a fairly low priority, low maintenance, low thinking job. At first that was great, but I really am the kind of person who needs some kind of challenge to help make it through the day. I was happy when I had a lot of work to do and left work feeling accomplished. I know this should happen everyday, but it has not happened yet at my job, so that's why it is significant. I had to work on different projects that were above the normal remedial tasks I normally do. It really makes me excited for tomorrow.

Day 343: Help from a stranger

My bike broke on the way home from work today. The spring from the seat fell off. I was standing up on my bike, so I didn't really notice. I was happy when I stranger flagged me down and gave me the broken piece after she had picked it up for me. She didn't have to, I might not have. I'm so glad that good people still exist.

Today seemed like the world was trying to upset me. I woke up late, almost late for work, I thought I lost my cellphone, my shoe would not stay tied, my bike broke and a million other little things. But you know what, not one of those things even effected my mood. It was a good day. I think this project is having an effect.

Day 344: Ghost Town

I stayed in the house all today and watched football. So when the night came around I decided it was time to get out of the house and walk around midtown. I met up with a friend and we walked down to the Capitol building. I was happy when we were the only ones walking around downtown at night. Now I'm sure that others were around somewhere, but I couldn't see him. There is something just awesome about walking around a place all alone, when it is typically a place that is packed with people. It helps you how realize how really beautiful the world can be.

Day 345: Starting the Day Off Right

A lot of good things happened to me today. But I think the first thing  in the day that made me happy, was that I did not cry when I gave my speech. I came close, but I held it back. Some other things that made me happy were: I got to talk to a girl I've been wanting to talk to for a while, I watched two new episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I got to take a really long nap and my friend Rosemary came and hung out with me all night and was actually nice to me. ;-) (I'm just kidding Rosemary).

Overall, it was a terrific day and I couldn't asked for any more!

Happy Birthday to my brother Brad! I haven't seen my family much lately , because I suck and have been busy. But I owe you b-day present Brad, I bought you a brand new sweet Barbie because I know you've always wanted a cool doll.

One more thing, My blog has been kind of picture-less lately, my goal for tomorrow is to get something visual up, because the blandness is starting to piss me off, too. :-)

Day 346: My drive to happiness

Tonight I had to write a speech for my speech class that I take on Saturday mornings. This week topic was: Inspiration. I've decided to give my speech on how much my late grandmother inspired me to try and become the man I want to be. But, in doing so I was so happy to relive her memory and realize how lucky I was (and still am) to have had such an amazing woman in my life. She was the perfect grandmother. I will post the speech I'm going to give on my other blog ( thecowtongue.blogspot.com ). I really hope I don't cry during class, but I kind of think I'm going to.

On another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to my brother Mark. He's only 22, but he's more mature and more on track with life than me. Hey, someone's got to act like the big brother, and I'm certainly not doing it!

Day 347: Hatching a Plan

Down to the wire for my happiest moment of the day. Meredith, Mel and I went walking with the dogs around midtown tonight. We sat at an outside table and began to talk about Midtown Sacramento's dying urban forest and what we could do about it. I was happy and excited when we hatched a plan to bring community awareness about saving our urban forest to our neighbors. I love it when an idea is born and the reality and feasibility of it becomes apparent. I won't go too deep into what we're planning, I'm sure I'll be writing a lot more about it in the coming months, but it's going to be awesome! I am really excited!

Day 348: Roomate vs. Cupid

Often the happiness of others can rub off on us. A fine example of this was when my roomate came home from work and I was happy when he told me he had been rear ended (he's fine) by a cute girl, (his car and her car are fine) and got her number. He came in and said, "Jared, cupid exists in Sacramento!" Later in the evening he texted her and got a date out of it. Of course I made fun of him, but really I think its really awesome.

Day 349: A New World

Not much happened today. The same old routine of wake up, work, then school. So today's happy thing is one of those things that makes me happy all the time. I was happy when I was riding through downtown during the day. I love being downtown during the day. Its SO different then the night time. Different people, different attitudes, it seriously is a new world created after 6 or 7pm. The day time downtown is still unfamiliar to me, so I feel like a bit of a stranger, which may be why I love it so much.

Day 350: Deodorant Free

Everyday when I ride by bike home for lunch I end up riding back to work really fast to make it back before my hour is up. Today I was happy when I left earlier, rode nice and easy and didn't sweat and stink when I got back to the office. This is a miniscule triumph, but it really pleased me not to be worried about stinking up the office for once.

Day 351: A Dog's Life

What a weird weekend. I've had to go through some situations that I haven't been through in a long time. I won't go into detail about anything, but with the help of my friends I realized some things about confidence. Honestly, today I had a lot on my mind, but when I went to the dog park, I was at my happiest. Watching the dogs live so simply, really put me at ease with my mental worries. I know this post might be a bit confusing, but believe me, I was really happy at the dog park.

Day 352: Amongst the Beasts

Today was simple, I was happy when I went to the zoo. Nothing is better than the zoo, seriously. Here are some videos and pics:

Red Panda

Tortoise

Day 353: Elevators are awkward

I rode the elevator with a man whom I had helped (I work in the HR department) the other day. I didn't really know him but we started talking about working for the state. He thought it was awesome that I was in a Communications major and was interested in multimedia. He thought it would be awesome to change the perception of government work form a "slack job" stereotype to a "working for the people" thought. Without going into too much detail, I was happy when I made a new friend at work. We ended up walking and talking for quite a while during our lunch. He actually gave me his business card, so I could email him later to continue our conversation. I think I might.

Day 354: All Alone

Everyday I ride my bike to and from work. I also ride home and back for lunch. There are a set of railroad tracks in between my office and home. Today I  was happy when I barely beat the train across the tracks on the way home for lunch. This means that all the cars I was riding along side got stuck waiting for the train. Let me tell you, having a busy road to yourself while on a bike is heaven.

Day 355: Happiness I'll never understand

While searching around the internet today I stumbled upon this video:

It made me wonder how anyone could find any kind of joy in something they could never get to fully understand the end result as we understand it. The more I think about it, the happier I am that a state of happiness exist out there, that I could never understand. There is so much joy and love in the world that no one could ever be able to take it all in, which means that there is PLENTY to go around and no one should be without. Pretty amazing concept.

Day 356: Like an Elephant, Remembering all

I'll try not to post too often about my sing language class, but it definitely is one of those things in my life that can make me instantly happy. However, today in particular, we learned a lot of new signs and I was happy when I could remember all the new signs that were taught. I don't know if I'll use it in a profession (see last post), but it has certainly been a joy and extremely fun experience learning sign these first few weeks of school.

Day 357: Its a sign

With my new focus to pay attention to happiness around me, I was happy to meet Mark, who loves what he does for a living. Mark is our sign language interpreter at work who found out that I began taking sign this semester at school. So he came over to my office to introduce himself to me and tell me he would be more than happy to help me with any sign questions I might have. I am and have been, extremely jealous of people who have found their passion and love in life and use it for a living. So not only was he an extremely nice man, but you could feel his love of his work emanate from him. It felt good and I want to be able to do that to others.

Day 358: You might call it unlazy

Sometimes just finishing something you've been meaning to do is all it takes to feel good about the day. Today, I was happy when I finally cleaned my bedroom. I know, I know, cleaning your bedroom is just something you should be doing always, but I use my bedroom as an unloading station. When I get I unload everything I have in my bedroom and it starts to pile up. I finally unpiled everything and threw a lot of things out. What a good day.

Today, marks the official first week of my project and let me tell you: THIS IS HARD! I think what made it so difficult this week is the lack of activity on a daily basis. My goal for this week is to really focus hard on things around me. I might even make a list of activities that make me happy, I don't know I still feel like this is evolving. If you've been reading this past week, thanks! Let me know, comment, email me, tell me what makes you happy during the day, I'm always in need of some inspiration.

Day 359: Its raining men

Sometimes you just need to laugh to be happy and Saturday night I was happy when I saw a naked man watering the black top downtown. My friend Jeff and I decided to walk around downtown Sacramento to see what was happening, when we turned the corner by the convention center we witnessed a man fully undressed, spraying water out of a garden hose on to the parking lot. I laughed a lot. I mean its not funny that the man obviously was not all there but come on that's just a funny scene. Sorry kids, tonight's post was rated R for full frontal. (I actually brought my camera to take pictures of downtown happenings, but when I pulled it out I realized that I left the battery in the charger at home. So sad.)

Day 360: Back to Work

This might sound sick, but today I was happy when I got to go to my first meeting at work. I recently took a job with the state, but in order to do so, I left a higher profile job with a private company where I was very involved in the day to day operations. With the state, I basically just answer a phone. It gets kinda of boring. So today I got to go to meeting about redesigning our departments intranet and I get to be involved. Being happy about getting more work to do might sound ill, but trust me, after a bit of boring monotonous  days, you'd be happy too.

Day 361: Its been far too long

If you know me, you know music means a lot to me. Today I was happy when I found out my favorite band is having 2 reunion shows and I bought tickets to both shows. This show was an impossibility in the minds of myself and many other. Hot Little Pony is going to be far and away the best show ever by far.

Day 362: A ring and a smile is all I need

Another day of struggling. As if another day could be as uneventful as yesterday, today came along. After I got home from work today I met up with my roommate, and I told him that I couldn't think of anything that made me happy earlier in the day. He suggested that we just need to get out of the house and go look. So we hopped on our bikes and started to ride around. Not more than two blocks down we crossed paths with three girls also on bikes. Sure enough I was happy when these three girls rang their bells and said hi to us. This is not ordinary for me. People don't just say hi to me. And the best part is that when we got all the way across town, we ran into them again for a second helping of bells and hellos. Sure it doesn't seem much, but I realized that sometimes just having a stranger say hi to you is all you need to make your day that much better.

Day 363: Just like Superman, There when you need him

Three days in and I thought I was going to have one of those days already. Nothing bad happened and nothing good happened. I actually was beginning to stress out a little bit trying to think of what was making me happy today. I even started to make my own "happy" (which I still may have to do in the future, I'm not ruling it out, sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do), but stopped and left it into the hands of fate.

And to my pleasure, I learned today why I am going to love this project. I was in shock and awe when a man and woman made me happy by giving me not only their parking spot, but their parking pass at school this evening. I was running late and was in a hurry to get to class. I stopped at the parking ticket vending machine to get my parking pass for the night. I put a dollar in the machine, the machine wouldn't take it. I put four quarters in, one by one the quarters made a clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk sound as they all hit the coin return dish. When all of the sudden I heard a man say, "Hey, you can have our pass, we're leaving, hey, you could even have our spot!" 

I've noticed that in Sacramento particularly, we tend to mind our own business a lot. Meaning, we try not to talk and/or approach others whenever possible. So to be reminded that there are still people out there who are looking around them to help someone out, blows me away.

I thanked the man generously, took the ticket and waited for them to back up and took their spot. The man did not think much of it as I took the ticket, but he didn't know that he was doing me an extra favor by making me happy and saving my blog. I would have told him, but he might have thought I was weird and not given me his ticket. 

Day 364: Button Magic

Today I volunteered at the Sacramento Tree Foundation's (sactree.com) booth at the California State Fair. I helped kids make buttons about trees for them to wear around the fair. However, one particular girl was amazed about how the button maker worked, and I was happy that she was in complete awe. To be honest, I'm not really sure how the machine works either but it essentialy cinches down a front metal piece, a paper with your design and a clear plastic outer shell. Then you spin the bottom and it cinches the backing on. It really is pretty cool. The look on the little girls face was priceless. She couldn't even walk away from the booth with out staring at the machine the whole time. I wish I had taken a picture but I forgot and it was in the moment. But here's an example of the button maker.