I was spending time with my coworker by Marina some time this week, just to get away for a time from the "prison walls." He's the type of person that comes off as melancholic, if not masochistic (Hehe!!! Just kidding! I'm sure you'll read this man!). So, chronically in despair as we are, we go, as we normally do, through questions about what determines our affects, why does the world look like a blur most times, what were the best memorable times we had in our lives, etc., etc.

Sometimes, talking about this helps. What i find though is that two depressed people may also easily drag each other downwards. So I tried to get our spirits lifted a bit. Rather than being the recipient of a friend's therapeutic expertise, I just started cheering us both. Then I remembered that I left my camera in the glove compartment. I took it out and started fiddling with it. I took some pictures of the bay. I started off taking a panoramic picture as I'm fond of doing, then started focusing on the birds that were braving the winds that day.

While I didn't find myself absorbed in that moment while taking pictures, after I downloaded it on the computer I started to see how pretty the scenery was after all. As the flight of the birds are... seeing them soar and just, just... you know ---just living it!!!

...To some, pictures may talk about a time in the past. But to me today, it reminds me of a unique capacity built in us, in our ability of capturing moments as they come, to take still pictures in one's eye when the moment is ripe, to be able to freeze time, so they say, and look all around and be in there somehow however fleeting time may be, and to just revel in the sweetness of the day wherever you are, in that certain place and time. Like Jessie said to Norman (A River Runs Through It) while they're walking down the trails, after Norman asked her what's wrong and was surprised 'cause she suddenly looked up with tears that resemble so much joy, she said with the best smile, "It's the berries!!!"

I think 2007 for me will be the year of the berries... I wish we all will... but it's kind impossible really, when we live in a cruel world that doesn't make a lot of sense. But at least, I hope we can all have each other, and help each other out in the best way we can ---sharing lives as real as we can... as real as we possibly can.

Happy New Year, everybody!