open up a big box of happiness

When I was logging into Blogger today, I noticed I had surpassed the amount of posts from my first blog in Oxford. I had 23 posts on my Adventures of a Curious Traveler blog and 28, excluding today's, on this blog. It seems like time was passing so slowly at Oxford, but in a good way, because it seemed like each day was filled with so much more than these current ones. This month has gone by in a humdrum, fast yet droning way.
I guess time passed by less quickly in Oxford because I was always filling ever hour of the day with something fun. So my time was never wasted. I feel like I waste a lot of time nowadays. So I guess you should just live in the moment. One time I was working out with my dad and he said how when you work out you are really living in the moment. Each second goes by so much slower and you are getting everything out of each second. That's true. Even though you may think time flies when you are having fun, it also flies when you waste time.
But anyways, since I have to watch the State of the Union speech for extra credit in AP Lang, I better hurry along.
If you asked my mom one thing I like to do a lot, she would say enter contests. I mean, that probably wouldn't be her first response, but if you mentioned contests, she would say that I enter them a lot. And I do. Anytime there is a contest I enter it. Usually, actally never, winning. Except once. But I love the hope and anxious-ness that contests have.
I always enter the skill-based ones since I think those are somewhat easier. Sort of. I've entered photography contests (I'm in the middle of one now), story contests, creativity contests (I won an orange iPod when I was one of 9 finalists in the Goldfish Crackers Create Finn's New Friend contest), and art contests. I'm even contemplating an online science fair.
I am in the middle of working on my submission for Doodle 4 Google. Keep it on the down-low, around kids, because I need to have as little competition as possible. So anyways, I have been working on it for a week. And whenever I am overflowing with homework and other pressures, I go into my little world and work on my drawing. And it helps me to be happy. Even if I don't win, it's good to do something like this. Something larger-than-life, bigger than me, something that I have to work really hard at. And when it's all done, it will be great. Picture(s) to come.
Working on a big project can be a lot of work, but finishing it will be so gratifying that you will just be overwhelmingly proud. You don't have to enter the contest - actually, only kids can do it - sorry. But you can pick something you love and work for it. Happiness does come in envelopes, but it also comes in big packages, too. So don't just shuffle through the flat envelopes - open up a big box.