As soon as this entry is made, I WILL update with something... I'm just not sure what. XD

'K, so... a handful of people have been dropping me messages asking how things've been, so I figured that I might as well drop a mass update from here.

Basically, life kicked me hard in the backside a few weeks back. Really. Hard. Really hard to the extent that my sister's significant other is facing some serious jailtime, ruined the life of a close friend of mine, and has been slapped with a label that will haunt him for the rest of his days. Cue fallout.

I'll admit, I was pretty livid there for a while. And I have to admit, in hindsight all the emotion/hatred I felt scares me. I was not a good time on me or anyone; I guarantee you that I was not good company and I was probably on the verge of devolving into a spitefully depressive wreck again.

Then I made some realizations (most of which were theological, drop me a line if you're interested and I'll share them with you) that really put things in perspective. Y'know, I can't control the 'significant other's' decisions. What he's done I can't reverse. What I can change and effect is how I respond to those decisions. If I allow his actions to ruin me, then I'm basically letting him ruin my life. If I'm going to get any sort of joy out of my existence, then I need to choose to feel that and overcome the disaster that he caused.

Don't get me wrong, there's still fallout and issues that have to be dealt with from this guy's action. Its not going to be a walk in the park cleaning up his mess; but things can be a lot easier if I approach this with a smile instead of a scowl.

Now, before I proceed, do yourselves a favor. Go to Google Video, find a copy of Donald O'Conner's 'Make 'em laugh' routine from Singing in the Rain. Watch that to get yourself in the right mindset and then come back to this.

The past few days have shown me that I've got a choice. I can either respond with a smile or a scowl. Most people choose the latter, but if I'm going to succeed then I've got to do the former.

This has brought me to another realization: the world is a very negative place. Scratch that, -horribly- negative place. I've talked to a lot of people over the past few days, and most immediately put some negative spin on the situation. I've sort of made it my mantra lately to, in point of fact, "Make 'em Laugh!"

Because quite frankly, I'm tired of everyone being all doom and gloom. If I'm looking for murky atmosphere, then I'll visit the smoking section of a local restaurant. They've got plenty of smog there.

So, basically, I'm on a bit of a campaign at the moment to make people laugh and to brighten up the day of those that I meet. Its not easy, since everyone wants to try and drag me down into despair, but I think I'm making progress.

I've become convinced in recent days that the world really needs more laughter. We've got enough problems and difficulties in our lives, and if we remain focused on those problems, especially if we can't solve them, then we'll do nothing but burn ourselves out. If all you look at is the things that are wrong, then that's all you'll see. But if you make an effort to look at the things that are right and laugh, then suddenly things don't look so bad and you realize that you can survive this.

Which brings me to the point that happiness does not come naturally. Its not dictated by your circumstances. Its not dictated by what happens in your life, its brought about by how you look at the world around you.

So... make an effort to laugh today. Or better yet, make it a point to get someone else to laugh. You'll really help them out, and you'll really help yourself feel better. Count on it.