The Zeitgeist Project: Music of my generation (1996-2000)

1996:

1.     Macarena – Los del Rio;

2.     One sweet Day – Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men;

3.     Tha Crossroads – Bone Thugs and Harmony;

4.     Because you loved me – Celine Dion; and

5.     No Diggity – Blackstreet, featuring Dr. Dre

1997:

1.     Foolish Games/You were meant for me – Jewel;

2.     Un-break my heart – Toni Braxton;

3.     Barely breathing – Duncan Sheik;

4.     Quit playing games with my heart – Backstreet Boys; and

5.     Bitch – Meredith Brooks

1998:

1.     Truly, Madly, Deeply – Savage Garden;

2.     Iris– Goo Goo Dolls;

3.     Getting Jiggy wit It – Will Smith;

4.     I don’t wanna miss a thing – Aerosmith; and

5.     My heart will go on – Celine Dion

1999:

1.     No scrubs – TLC;

2.     Every morning – Sugar Ray;

3.     Baby one more time – Britney Spears;

4.     All Star- Smash Mouth; and

5.     Angel – Sarah MacLachlan

2000:

1.     Smooth – Santa and Rob Thomas;

2.     Say my name  – Destiny’s Child;

3.     Thong Song – Sisqo;

4.     What a girl wants – Christina Aguilera; and

5.     The nest episode – Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg

The Zeitgeist Project: Music of my generation (1991-1995)

1991:

1.     Everything I do, I do it for you – Bryan Adams;

2.     Losing my religion- R.E.M.;

3.     Gonna make you sweat – C+C Music Factory;

4.     More than words – Extreme; and

5.     Emotions – Mariah Carey

1992:

1.     End of the Road – Boyz II Men;

2.     Baby, Baby – Amy Grant;

3.     Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton;

4.     Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chilli Peppers; and

5.     To be with you – Mr. Big

1993:

1.     I will always love you – Whitney Houston;

2.     Whoomp! (There it is) – Tag Team;

3.     Two Princes – Spin Doctors;

4.     Runaway Train – Soul Asylum; and

5.     Nuthin but a G thang – Dr. Dre

1994:

1.     I’ll make love to you – Boyz II Men;

2.     Regulate – Warren G, featuring Nate Dogg;

3.     Breathe Again – Toni Braxton;

4.     What –A-Man – Salt N Pepa and En Vogue; and

5.     Because the Night – 10,000 Maniacs

1995:

1.     Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio;

2.     Waterfalls – TLC;

3.     Kiss from a Rose – Seal;

4.     On bended Knee – Boyz II Men; and

5.     Hold my hand – Hootie and the Blowfish

Zeitgeist Project: The music of my generation (1986-1990)

1986:

1.     Broken Wings – Mr. Mister;

2.     If You Leave – O.M.D.;

3.     West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys;

4.     Holding back the years – Simply Red; and

5.     You give love a bad name – Bon Jovi

Special for the Philippines – Bayan Ko – Freddie Aguilar

1987:

1.     Walk like an Egyptian – The Bangles;

2.     Alone – Heart;

3.     Nothing’s gonna stop us now – Starship;

4.     Mony Mony – Billy Idol; and

5.     With or without you – U2

1988:

1.     Faith – George Michael;

2.     Need you tonight – INXS;

3.     Never gonna give you up- Rick Astley;

4.     Sweet Child of Mine – Guns and Roses; and

5.     Fast Car – Tracy Chapman

1989:

1.     My Prerogative – Bobby Brown;

2.     Every rose has its thorn;

3.     Right here waiting – Richard Marx;

4.     I’ll be there for you – Bon Jovi; and

5.     Like a Prayer – Madonna

1990:

1.     Hold On – Wilson Phillips;

2.     It must have been love – Roxette;

3.     Nothing compares to you – Sinead O’ Connor;

4.     Hold On – En Vogue; and

5.     How am I supposed to live without you – Michael Bolton

Zeitgeist Project: The music of my generation (1980-1985)

I believe that music is the best way to capture the zeitgeist (spirit/mindset) of an era, and with each succeeding post I will be selecting 5 songs that best captured the spirit of the years from 1980-2013 ( The years I was aware of music and popular culture. I start with 1980...

1980:

1.     Funkytown – Lipps Inc;

2.     Escape (The Piña Colada song) – Rupert Holmes;

3.     Coward of the County– Kenny Rogers;

4.     I Can't Tell You Why – The Eagles;

5.     She's Out of My Life – Michael Jackson;

1981:

1.     Endless Love- Diana Ross & Lionel Ritchie;

2.     Bette Davis Eyes – Kim Carnes;

3.     Jessie's Girl – Rick Springfield;

4.     Celebration – Kool and the Gang; and

5.     The Winner Takes It All – ABBA

1982:

1.     Physical – Olivia Newton-John;

2.     Eye of the Tiger – Survivor;

3.     Don't You Want Me – The Human League;

4.     Hurts So Good – John Cougar; and

5.     Rosanna – Toto

1983:

1.     Every Breath You Take – The Police;

2.     Billie Jean – Michael Jackson;

3.     Flashdance... What a Feeling – Irene Cara;

4.     Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler; and

5.     Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran

1984:

1.     Footloose – Kenny Loggins;

2.     When Doves Cry – Prince;

3.     Ghostbusters – Ray Parker, Jr.;

4.     Against All Odds – Phil Collins; and

5.     For the longest time – Billy Joel;

6.     Karma Chameleon – Culture Club

1985:

1.     Like a Virgin – Madonna;

2.     Money for nothing – Dire Straits;

3.     Wake me up before you Go-go – Wham!;

4.     Take on me – A-Ha; and

5.     We are the world – USA for Africa

As a mental exercise, I shall attempt to list five songs that best capture the zeitgeist of every decade I've been conscious of the music of my time... 1980's: 1. Thriller; 2. Beat It; 3. Like a Virgin; 4. We are the World; and 5. Born in the USA 1990's: 1. You Oughta Know; 2. Losing My Religion; 3. Sweet Child of Mine; 4. Livin on a Prayer; and 5. With or without you Honorable mention: Iris 2000's: 1. Hit me Baby One more Time; 2. Lose Yourself; 3. Bye Bye Bye; 4. Hey Ya; 5. The Thong Song 2010's: 1. Roar; 2. Titanium; 3. Moves Like Jagger; 4.Someone Like You; and 5. Radioactive; Thoughts?

The problem with the UN

Philosophical Random thought: The fundamental problem with the U.N. is that it is based upon the premise, necessary to pretend is valid after World War II, that ALL cultures and ways of life are equally valid. Here's my issue with that: The premise is false. Surely we all start out with valid potential, and our ideas have as much of a right to exist as any others, but when some societies act inhumanely on such ideas (ex. eugenics versus gays and/or disabled people is ok, etc...) the world has to take a stand. Ok, this is the part where you have to stop reading if you belong to an evil,repressive society/culture and want to remain my friend; I pull no punches:
1. It is NOT ok to use Shari'a law to justify whipping a woman who was gang-raped because she committed the GRAVE act of driving a car on her own and therefore was "asking" for it.... No matter what your religion says, misogyny is NEVER acceptable;
2. It is NOT ok to use "Catholic values" to justify opposition to an investigation on pedophilia... I'm sorry, but Confession does NOT absolve you from human justice; if you are a pedophile who rapes children you MUST pay... Confessing to your God through a priest might satisfy the demands of your religion, but it does not satisfy your obligations to society.
I could go on, but I figure I've already offended about 2 billion people...
In summary, I want the UN to condemn Saudi Arabia for misogyny, and Yemen for permitting child brides of as young as 10 years old; I also want the UN to demand a full audit of the Vatican, especially with respect to its cover-up of pedophile priests.
I want the UN to start demanding our societies act more humanely towards our citizens, without having the crutch of religion or tradition to fall back on as an excuse. I want all this, but it will never happen, precisely because of the fiction of "equally valid" societies the U.N. is premised upon. Moral relativism might help to promote an uneasy peace around the world, but it has led to some downright awful situations for too many innocent victims... I reject it completely and utterly, and will fight it to my dying day.
Shalom y'all... :)

On Fate and the choices we make...

On fate and the choices we make I've consistently maintained, over the past decade or so, that there is no such thing as "fate" or a pre-determined set of outcomes for one's life. Even as a Catholic who believes in God, I still find it impossible to believe that God would grant human beings their freedom in an imperfect way. I mean, how would THAT conversation have gone? "Hi, human race... God here... So, I'm going to let all of you go about and do whatever you want, and be free to love me or not, but hey, some of you I've already decided will become saints, and others will become thieves, murderers, despots and George W. Bush." I mean, c'mon. With the exception of Bush, whose idiocy seems either fated or just plain inevitable, everything else there would seem to really contradict the entire concept of "free to do whatever you want". Either God gave us freedom or he didn't. I don't see it being anything half-way. I'm kind of a religious existentialist in that regard; someone who believes in God, but who thinks that everything he has and will become depends entirely on his own choices. But what about those times when it seems as if things were just "meant to be"? Meeting a soul mate, finding true love, discovering oil in your backyard as you plant the only tree you've ever planted in you life... aren't all these signs that fate must surely be involved? Why did that car get hit in the accident, and not mine? God must love me, right? (What, God didn't love the other guy?) Ummmm... are you kidding me? :) I think that life does have those moments when we seem to be gifted with a lucky or unlucky occurence. But how we react, what choices we make, and what paths we choose to take ultimately determine what will happen to us. I don't believe in pure, dumb luck. I believe that, if our lives have to have meaning, we shouldn't make any important life decisions on the concept of what we are "fated" to do. Otherwise people from bad environments, with no initial money in hand, should all just give up and become criminals. It doesn't have to be this way, really. For instance, take that car accident example earlier. Many accidents on the road happen because people are drunk (they weren't "fated" to drink that alcohol), sleepy (they weren't "fated" to stay up all night watching TV), or had malfunctioning car parts, such as bad tires (they weren't "fated" to NOT be checked-up regularly or replaced by new, more reliable tires). Many deaths are attributed to the fact that victims didn't wear their seatbelts (they weren't "fated" to not buckle-up). I mean, really, it's either your fault or someone else's fault. It's not God's fault. That's the key: not thinking of anything as "God's fault", because thinking that way basically takes away your own power over your life. It makes you fatalistic (there's a reason "fate" is the root word there). You give up your own independence and freedom, and you say "Oh, well... it was/wasn't meant to be." Really now? Why/Why not? So if your business fails, your relationship ends, your test scores come back and you've bombed, it might be good to stop believing that God is trying to punish you (trust me, He's got better ways to do it, and a lot of it involves fire and brimstone...) and instead start believing in your own power over your destiny. Either work harder to change your life, or give up those things which you don't honestly care about in the first place. There's a reason Bill Gates is the richest man in the world right now, even though he dropped out of Harvard and never got his college diploma.... well, he dropped out of Harvard. :) He took a chance, decided to control his own life, founded Microsoft and the rest, as they say, is history. He certainly seemed "fated" to live a good life. He came from a good family and was studying in, arguably, the most famous and most prestigious university in the world. Wouldn't his life have been just great if he had stayed, graduated, and worked for some big company, rising through the ranks as an executive and, hopefully one day, CEO? He didn't see it that way, though. Instead he thought, "I'll be a CEO today!" and founded his own company, starting off with nothing but an idea and a dream, and created the company most singularly responsible for getting people to curse at their (blue) computer screens. :) Now how about that for fate, eh? Don't believe people who say you have no control. Don't believe people who say your life is "over". If that were true, then Tim Allen, the famous comedian and actor, wouldn't be a multi-millionaire right now. After all, he was arrested and convicted of dealing drugs and went to prison before he even started doing comedy and acting. Prison, folks... He's a convicted felon. Did that stop him from taking charge of his life when he got out and becoming a tremendous success? Heck, no! Things don't even have to be as dramatic in your own life. It could be as simple as deciding to be friendlier to everybody each day, so that maybe one day in the future one of your new friends helps you get a better job. Isn't it obvious that the friendliest people are very often among the "luckiest" people? Or are you still moaning about that dude who got offered that job that YOU were more qualified for only because he knew, and was friends with, the boss? What, like friendship is an exclusive concept? You couldn't be just a bit nicer and friendlier throughout your life, and not just on the day you wanted the job? Think about it. Lastly, to those who say, "But my family isn't rich, powerful or connected" I say the following: you may not always start out where you want, and that's not your fault (unless babies can somehow switch wombs before birth, in which case all rich, powerful women would probably start having octuplets or something), but where you end up is ENTIRELY your fault and your own call. Abraham Lincoln never graduated from elementary school. Beethoven was almost totally deaf when he wrote his Ninth Symphony. If you want a contemporary example, how about Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who set up the Grameen Bank, created the concept of "micro-credit" and made a positive impact on millions of lives? He didn't need to do what he did, and he certainly wasn't "fated" to meet with poor people. Many, many people do that everyday. The difference is he made the choice to help, and the fact that he also made previous life-choices that enabled him to get a first-rate education in economics also helped. He put himself in a real position to be able to make a difference, and he did so because he chose to do so. Many richer, more famous, more powerful people are put into contact with underprivileged people, but how many make the active choice to devote their lives to helping make a difference? Decide what to do with your life. Do it today. Don't waste another moment on the concept that you are meant to be the way you are. If you are happy with yourself, and totally satisfied, then fine. But how many of us really are? If there's something, anything, that makes you unhappy or makes you wish for something better... well, CHOOSE to change it. And to those who say things like, "But my boyfriend doesn't love me and I want him to love me!" I say, "He's made his choice." Now it's really up to you to decide if you want to remain in a love-less relationship or if you should move on and decide to find someone who will really care about you and respect you. Unless, of course, you believe God just wanted you to be miserable. As far as I'm concerned the only question you should be asking is "Do I want to be miserable?" Because if the answer is "no" then you ought to start walking down a different path. After all, if you're on the road to Hell, shouldn't you turn around and walk the other way? =)

Climbing mountains...

Life has new beginnings all the time. Every day has a new sunrise, every new friend you meet has a smile, every new memory brings new emotions that can elicit laughter, tears and everything else in between.

The problem with life is that some people are often only willing to begin something they think will make them happy in the end. I just had a chat with a good friend about whether or not to love someone, even though the relationship is "doomed" to fail. I told him that, on a practical level, it would be better not to go into it if it was so serious, because the pain would almost be unbearable at the end.

However, I also feel that life is not about the missed opportunities, the blown chances, the lasting regrets that we will never be able to make right. Life is about risking, each and every day, what contentment we might already have... because how can we truly be content when we don't know if we've tested our own limits? How can we be content when the only valley we know is the one we've lived in all our lives? Some days, wouldn't it just be cool to go climb up that scary mountain that casts a shadow over us everyday?

That's what I'm doing right now: climbing my own mountains. I'm not sure what I may see on the other side, or even if there will BE another side... but I do know that staying put won't ever make me happy. Not if there's a chance, small as it may be, that there's a more beautiful place somewhere not too far away.

My friend and I eventually settled upon the ideal that life is too damn short to be wasted by NOT choosing to love someone. I told him to go for it, because life is not complete without at least one tragic love story. :) I should know... I've had my fair share. But, really, how many opportunities do we get in life to love the person we truly want to love? When the chance presents itself, you MUST take it. There's really no other way to act.

Someone once asked Sir Edmund Hillary, the great mountaineer who, along with Tenzing Norgay, was the first to scale Mt. Everest, why he climbed the mountain. His response?

"Because it was there."

And THAT is why, if you ever need to find me, you'll have to look up a bit, into the shadows of the great mountain. I'll be somewhere up there.

Does death really define us?

In my philosophy classes back in college, I heard of the concept that death is the defining point in our lives; that we work towards our deaths, and that the choices we make often mirror how we live with the limited time that we have.

In other words, if we were all immortal, with no consequences to have to speak of regarding how we choose to live (ex. smoking, drinking, drugs), then we would live vastly different lives than the ones we choose for ourselves today.

I tend to agree with the idea.

One of the things that has always terrified me about relationships (romantic, platonic or whatever) is the fact that life is so darn short. Why waste time on something that ultimately won't work, or won't give you the happiness you feel you need? I've had many relationships in my life, and with each one there's always a sense of wistfulness... as if deep inside you know that it may not, and probably will not, last...

Plus, when I was younger, I was willing to endure relationships that weren't quite healthy for me. I had emotionally-draining ones, for instance, that made me wonder quite why I was in them in the first place. Now that I'm getting older, it's clear that I don't want to waste time on people that just don't matter. Why bother? Each moment we have is precious, so we should allocate every single one to those who either enrich our lives or with whom we have something meaningful. Everyone else is really just a drain on our limited resources.

But here's the thing... how the heck would we know who is or isn't worthwhile? We can see the obvious ones, such as the guy who is just an ass to others, or the girl who doesn't do anything but take your money and spend it on herself... but what about the ones who provide both good and bad things? In other words, what about most of the world? How can we tell if someone will ultimately be worthwhile if, say, falling in love with a lady will bring both heartbreak and joy? Or if being friends with a guy will mean having to endure a boatload of problems but at the same time gaining a lifelong pal?

And that leads me to another philosophy concept: you'll never really understand something unless you actually experience it (phenomenology). You won't know what's worthwhile in life until you actually live through it. It kinda sucks in a way. I mean, why can't we come up with something that anticipates stuff, rather than just describes stuff? I sometimes wish it were as easy as having your parents tell you in kindergarten to "watch out for the bad kids". My problem is in knowing who the bad kids are. You'll never really know till you give them a chance to muck up your life.

So, since I don't want to be a hermit, and I'm not going to live towards my death in fear, I am recommitting to "mucking things up", if you will. I just hope I find enough good people to make it all worthwhile.

The abuse of power

Just read about this online. I'm adding the link here so that the story spreads even more. It's the story (that I'm sure many of you have heard of) about a powerful politician, his sons, and their bodyguards, beating up a defenseless 56 year old man and his 14 year old son (who goes to the same school I used to) on the golf course.

My family has a membership to that course. It's supposed to be for the more upscale Filipinos who (presumably) would be more educated about etiquette and good behavior. Obviously, that presumption is invalid in this case.

Here's the link:
An all-too-familiar story

I've seen this attitude all too often from people. The sad thing is that they often get away with it. Given the culture of corruption and entitlement in the Philippines, I really don't have much hope that anything will come out of this.

Just to show I'm still alive...

Hi everyone. I'm still here. As alive as I'll ever be, I guess, which right now doesn't seem to amount to too much. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

The more you get, the less you want...

I have this particular philosophy about money and material things: the more you get, the less you want. The basic idea I have is that the more money I make, the less important material things seem to get in life. It's a bit funny, really. When I was younger, and less financially-able, I seemed to want so many things (ex. a nicer car, all the latest gadgets and the ability to eat anywhere I want and travel anywhere I want); as I got older and made enough to really be able to afford most of these things, I found out that buying them didn't seem as fun anymore.

It's as if part of the satisfaction was in the struggle. If I didn't have much, then those things that were out of my financial reach seemed to be so desirable, perhaps more because a part of me needed to feel good about myself rather than because it had any particular meaning to me. Once I could afford most of these things, the thrill of buying them seemed to diminish. I had less and less urgency, and the thought of buying what once seemed unreachable got kind of... boring? I don't know any other way to describe it. It just seems less interesting somehow.

That's when I realized that the purpose of wealth isn't to buy everything you want; wealth, instead, is meant for you to KNOW you can buy anything you want... that way, you don't need to feel like you need something to validate you. You can just move on to other challenges, because this one has already been achieved. For example, a few years back, I really liked the idea of flying business or first class. It felt like such a status symbol, I guess, and the idea of flying in greater comfort, with better food and better service, just seemed so much more appealing. Now that I CAN fly anywhere in the world on any class, it seems to be much less exciting for me. In fact, I honestly find myself choosing economy with much greater satisfaction than I ever had before. Why? Because I didn't HAVE to fly economy. I now CHOSE to fly economy. Does that make any sense?

I guess money should be viewed more as a great "enabler" of dreams, rather than a dream in itself. When we can't even have some of the "basic" things we see others have (ex. an iPod), we tend to feel a bit diminished, I guess. It's as if we have somehow failed ourselves because we didn't give ourselves as much as others give themselves; as if we somehow weren't "good enough" for whatever social circles we deemed necessary to be a part of. But once we get enough money to achieve just about any dream we used to have... our dreams no longer seem as fulfilling. I dread to think what Bill Gates thinks of at night. After all, when you find you can afford literally anything you want, what more is there for you to want?

So now I find much more satisfaction in things I CAN'T buy: making my friends and family happy; finding inner peace and contentment; and even small things such as setting a good example for the kids in my academy. Money just doesn't hold that much meaning anymore, to be honest. Each month I watch my money grow, I just think "Ok... I can buy more things, but what's my next great adventure going to be? How am I REALLY going to make a difference in life?" It's even affected my thoughts on things like charity and how I interact with people I consider underprivileged and less fortunate in life. In the past, I'd just give money to beggars on the street and/or the usual charities and barely give a second thought to the people I thought I was helping. Now I find that volunteering my time to actually do things for these people directly, meeting them face-to-face and learning about their lives and trying hard to show them you honestly CARE about them rather than about getting rid of them is a heck of a lot more fulfilling. Of course I still give money... after all, these people do have material needs that need to be met; but I no longer think that giving money absolves me of any future responsibility for them and to them. I have realized that these people don't want to be needy; they don't really want to have to need your money. They'd rather have enough to just get along with their lives, to live with dignity and respect, to be able to hold their heads up high and to look their children in the eye and say "Don't worry... we'll be ok." It's really not the money they want. The money is just a means to that better end. Now that I see this in my own life, I treat them a lot better than I used to, and I say a silent prayer in shame for all the people I just ignored along the way.

I guess the irony of it all is that, in seeking to make the money that would enable me to buy all the things I thought would make me better, I found out that I didn't want the same things anymore. I found out that I didn't even want money the same way anymore. I'm just grateful that I now have enough money to buy anything I want, because now I can isolate the material things from those that are REALLY important in life, the things you really can't buy no matter how much money you have. I don't have any real need to buy things anymore, because the real purpose of buying things is to make yourself happy, and I find I'm already quite happy, thank you. :) The other stuff just clutters my perspective. After all, once you've found the most perfect sight in the world, even the nicest car in the world would just be something that blocks your view.

Have a great day everyone! :)

Tiger Woods

One of the things I am most inspired by is triumph over adversity. This year's US Open golf tournament just encapsulates everything about what inspires me most, and Tiger Woods is most certainly one of the reasons why I keep on striving for better things.

I've liked Tiger ever since his amateur days, and I honestly feel blessed to be living in an age when I can watch the greatest golfer in the world work his magic on the golf course. All too often we just hear about the great ones (ex. Wilt Chamberlain, Secretariat, Babe Ruth, etc.) without ever having had the chance to live the moment of their greatest successes. With Tiger, the opposite is true. We see and FEEL the moment of triumph, right at the second it happens, and I celebrate with him. It's such a thrill watching him line up a "do or die" putt on the last hole of the Open (well, the last regulation hole) all the while KNOWING he's going to make it. Such a high, I swear.

This year's Open was accomplished on a very painful leg, which made it all the more miraculous. I mean, for anyone who's ever played golf, just having a slight twitch can cause you massive trouble. Imagine walking a total over over 37,000 yards (all 4 rounds plus the playoff) on a recently surgically-repaired knee? Not to mention all the pain caused by the immense level of torque his body generates at impact? I can't even begin to imagine how painful that is. I mean, I've suffered intense pain before, and been injured numerous times while playing sports, but I've never risked permanent injury and overcome all that pain to beat the best in the world. That's just inspiring to me.

Each time I feel a bit satisfied with my success I just look to Tiger and push myself harder. He just pushes me to strive for greater things, to never be satisfied, and to never let obstacles become an excuse for failure.

Thanks again, Tiger, for showing me the way.

Poem: the samurai's sword

he held it with exquisite care
with fingers worn from wear
and a soul as old as the ocean's sigh...
he held it high
and proud, and with all the grace
of a strand of silk, floating in the space
of the memories of the night.

and then the sounds
grew... louder, distant drums as one
as the eagles and lions with men's limbs
came storming over the shore
that pain and countless more had dimmed
and which the waves barely found,
to that point at which his sword stood its ground,
even as its master prayed
for that fate that only ever awaits
those with destiny at their door.

and then the sounds grew still,
quiet as the graves that this day would fill,
and the world had only three sights:
one of crimson and of dread, of red
and the tiny drops of life that bled
out of each and every slice
as the wind whispered goodbye
to the stars, one by one,
as they winked out into the light.

oh how it weaved its magic spell
its heavenly voice singing a song
no one else could hear
whose meaning no one else
could tell
as it whistled its way round that long
autumn breeze on that clear dawning day
as the sword, with no one else to kill
sang its last quiet hymn
while the man that held its beauty and its breath
exhaled one last, final reverent moment
and then, just as quietly... fell.

Please, Lord, help the Lakers win the NBA championship... :)

Just a heartfelt plea from a life-long Lakers fan. :)

Poem: the bridge between "you" and "you and i"

I haven't written a poem in ages... Guess I just either didn't have the time or the inspiration. So call this a belated addition to my many angsty thoughts on life. :)

* * * * *
the bridge between "you" and "you and i"

the chair you always say you liked
sits, cold and unwarmed
in the darkening april night
as empty as when
it first came into my life
now that you have left it
for the very last time.

it's funny how eloquent a silence can be
or how you fill my room still
even as you no longer step inside
and even as i no longer remember
whether your tears made a sound
or why my heart had to hide
each time you sobbed a heartfelt plea
to have me hold you in the dying light.

my arms could not move, you see
as full of futile feeling as
there is now emptiness in the night,
even as the moon spoke words of moonlight at
a world that had long ceased to open its eyes.

and every aching word you sought
to thaw away from me, as the winter slowly
melted its ice
would not flow so smoothly down
those jagged crags of rock that formed
the mask i wore outside.

somewhere, in the distant sky
a single whispered "sorry" dies
alight on the cowardly wings
of sorrow and regret, and i
took the bridge between the worlds
of "you" and "you and i"
and walked away long before
that whispered word could reach
your lonely, broken, weather-beaten door.

The importance of words

I have this motto I live by: "Never listen to what a man tells you; Just watch what he does..."

I've always been a fan of actions over words, especially since I'm a debater, and I know how people can twist words to suit their ends.

However, of late, I'm realizing that words, sincere words, can have a great deal of worth too.

So for all those whom I have not yet told "thank you" to, I'd like to say "Thank you for being in my life, and helping to enrich it."

I've tried my best to show the people I most care about that I care about them, but just in case they really need me to say it too this is what this post is for.

Honesty is so much more refreshing

It's taken me quite a while to realize that the truth really does set you free. I don't mean for small things, of course, like telling your friend she has a bad haircut, or mentioning to the keynote speaker that his fly is open... nope. :) I'm talking about the REALLY important things in life.

The funny thing is, we spend so much time running away from the consequences of having to tell painful truths that we often end up with so many more unintended consequences... PLUS we're damn far from wherever we wanted to be in the first place. I guess it's really better to just be open and honest from the start, and let the chips fall where they may.

Of course, things COULD get worse for a while... but in the end, if the people you tell the truth to can't handle whatever it is you're saying, are they really the people you want to live with while tangled up in a web of lies? Put another way... if the only way certain people are willing to deal with you is if you hide who you really are with them, are they worth being with in the first place?

Honesty truly is the best policy. I didn't say the most painless... just the best.