Yesterday was turning out to be another fairly typical day at the Daily Trojan -- phones ringing, reporters flaking and people talking in small groups about everything in the world except what the hell we're going to publish tomorrow -- when the unexpected happened.

A pigeon flew in.

I love the unexpected. It really brightens up my day. A letter from a friend who had disappeared into the mists of time, a $10 bill in the pocket of a favorite shirt I hadn't worn in ages, a smile from someone I don't even know as I walk across campus -- these are the hidden pleasures in life. No amount of planning can produce these on cue.

However, I think that sometimes we build up an immunity, that we don't always notice these simple events. It's part of the aging process.

When I was little, something as subtle as the purr of a kitten could keep me occupied for half an hour, just listening and feeling as happy as the kitten itself.

As I got older, events that were once fresh and new became repetitive and almost boring. I eat the same cereal today that I did when I was a kid, only now, since I've probably eaten about 4,237 bowls of it, it's lost its zing. Same with driving: Once a thrill, now a chore.

I still avoid stepping on cracks as I walk down the street, not for fear of breaking my mother's back, but because if I don't pay close attention while I'm walking, I find that I get to my destination without remembering a single step of the trip.

It's hard to look at your present when the future is looming as large on the horizon as it does for most college students. Test this week, paper due next, then find a summer job, graduate, employment, relationship, retirement, death... As you can see, it's easy to get wrapped up in the Future and ignore the Now.

But the Now is where happiness is. Thinking about what's for dinner doesn't cheer me up nearly as a good meal does. The possibility of getting a job isn't pleasing the way getting a job is. I enjoy getting back a paper, not wondering what my grade is. And of course, imagining a relationship isn't the same as being in one.

It's no good to say that you'll relax tomorrow, that you'll smell the roses next week, that after college everything will change. Because college builds the patterns that are going to last a lifetime. If you don't decide now that it is as important to spend effort on happiness as success or accomplishment, you're not going to change your tune tomorrow, or next year, or when you enter the "real world."

But I digress. This unexpected pigeon flew into the city room from nowhere. Ace DT photographers immediately leapt into action. Shouts of "Get a picture of it on the keyboard!" and "That'd be really cool!" filled the air along with the pigeon. One staff member dove into the sports office, seeking shelter from the winged beast.

A committee was rapidly established to open up windows so the pigeon could leave. (Strangely, most of the windows had been closed, leading some to speculate that the pigeon must have come up on the elevator.)

The pigeon would have none of it. With a flapping of wings, it hovered over the city desk, looked into the production room but thought the better of entering, and finally expressed itself on the desk of a Viewpoint writer. Everyone's a critic.

Finally, one bold staff member attempted to reason with it. He explained gently to it that if it didn't leave soon, the city editor would assign it to do a story, and it would never escape. The pigeon bobbed its head a few times in agreement, turned tail and jumped from the 4th floor ledge of the Student Union Building.

The problem solved, the unexpected dealt with, we settled back and returned to our tasks at hand.

But we were all smiling.