day thirty.

A few hours ago, I went down after spending five straight hours working to get myself some snacks. Sometimes when I’m in the zone, I tend to forget that I have to eat a snack to keep my metabolism up. Diet, yo.

Anyway, as I walked from 7-11 back to the office, I marveled at the how beautiful the weather was (and felt slightly regretful that I didn’t bring my camera when I went out), despite it being summer already. I don’t know why we often complain of the heat (except during the noon, of course), but afternoons are beautiful. :)

There’s this little part of Eastwood Mall that I love walking through. I think they call it Open Park or something — it’s one of the things that make the mall a place to visit. They were cleaning the fountain there earlier, so it smelled kind of fishy because of the old water, but there were a lot of people still hanging out at the park, and there was this man sitting comfortably on one of the benches with his MacBook on his lap, calmly doing work or checking his email, researching about Symbol LS2208 or maybe even writing a story. He looked so peaceful and calm that I envied him almost instantly — I want to be able to experience that, too. Someday, maybe.

Today is the last day of March, the last working day of the week, the last “normal” day, at least as far as Holy Week is concerned. Tomorrow we enter into April, and we enter the Easter Triduum. I have this weird feeling on the upcoming days, almost like a nervousness that I can’t seem to shake. I’m not so sure why, but maybe it’s because my heart knows that there are great things coming in the next few days. What great things, I’m not sure. It may be something for my heart and my spirit, something that I think I kind of lacked from last year. I’m keeping my heart and mind open, because I want to see Him this weekend.

I know it seems like this post doesn’t have a point, but hear me out a bit. Today also marks the end of my 30 Days of Celebration blog challenge. I honestly didn’t know if I’d get here — I half expected something big to happen in the middle of the month that would stop me from reaching this point, but there wasn’t. Oh, there were big things that happened, but they weren’t enough to stop me. For that, I am thankful.

March proved to be a great month, with concerts and birthdays and forgiveness and earthquakes and realizations about life and love and letting go. There were a lot of times when I didn’t have anything to say but still found myself writing things, and there were times when I had so much to say that I didn’t know when to stop. I’m not sure if this challenge brought in new readers to the blog, but I did feel the presence of some lurkers, which is good, I guess.

But yeah, March has been good, and I am thankful. In the course of thirty days I found myself more on the lookout for things to write about within my day, and if I don’t find anything…well, that’s why I was born talkative, you know? ;) I realize yet again that the first step to writing is to just write. It’s just like what I tell my fellow writers during NaNoWriMo — just keep on writing. You never know where your pen (or your keyboard or your chosen writing instrument) will take you. I think I managed to surprise myself a couple of times this month. :)

Oh, and did you notice? I posted pictures everyday for this month, too — including the challenge intro post. :) That’s another feat that I have tried on myself, and it was actually quite fun trying to make photos to match the entry. Sometimes they didn’t, but I noticed how it looks better when there’s an image to visualize the post. It’s nice to bring out my camera again, even if my shots were lousy and my camera is starting to get old. It’s nice to try new things every now and then. :)

And I think, most importantly, this challenge taught me that everyday really is a celebration. There may be sad times, there may be boring times, and there are definitely happy times, but every single thing is worth celebrating. Life’s beautiful, after all, despite the uncertainties and tragedies and sadness. It’s all about perspective, right?

Before I end this post and end my work day as well, let me share one more anecdote for the day. My iPod was kind of acting up earlier and I almost lost all my songs. It went back when I plugged it in my computer, and so I decided to let it charge there first while I listened. After the first song, my iPod played an old song that I used to listen to a lot back in college: God’s Here by Aaron Benward. Normally, I’d go skip the song since I wasn’t really feeling it anymore, but today I just let it play and listened…and realized that he’s right: God is here. He is everywhere and at one place at the same time. He is with me — with you, with us — every step of the way. We worry about life and all other things and wonder how we’d get through it all…but yeah, what if all we need to know is that we’re not alone? What if all we need to believe is that God is here, period?

It’s something to think about. :)

So now I end this journey of 30 days. I don’t know when I’ll pull another stunt like this, but I know I do have to go and write other things (namely my novel!) now. But I will still continue to post here, and it will probably be random, nonsense things again, unless I can help it. :P I’m still used to not seeing comments on most of my entries, but I do hope that somehow, all the randomness that I spew out here reaches you and somehow makes you feel better and believe, even. If not, it’s okay. I’ll still keep on writing. :)

Anyway, I better go, because I’m off to watch The Book of Eli with the family today. I won’t be online until Easter Sunday, except maybe to download some podcasts for reflection, so expect silence here and in other forms of social networking. This should be fun. :)

Everyday is worth celebrating, friendships. ♥ Be happy. :)

No, I don’t think
All of this just happens by chance
Wake up, look at the sky, the earth
Go watch the sunrise in the morning
Take a breath
And feel the moment
So good to be alive
Hello, it’s no surprise God’s here
He’s watching us all
He’s near
Oh, right where we are
And all our lives we’ve been runnin’ ’round and searchin’
When all this time He’s been standing right beside us
If we just close our eyes
And let all our doubts disappear
Listen, Oh, God’s here