the stuff YOU do

In life we do stuff.
Some stuff we wish we had never done.
Some we wish we could replay a million times in our minds.
And whether we like them or not, they all make us who we are.
They shape every detail about us.
And if it were possible to reverse any of them, we wouldn't be the person we are.

So just live.
Fuck up and make misteaks.
Be awesome and do epic shit.

And never second guess who you are,
where you've been,
or where you're going ...

more whipped cream

One day I had lunch with some friends. Jim, a tall, bearded golfer type about 70 years old, came along with them; all in all, a pleasant bunch.

When the menus were presented, we ordered salads, sandwiches, and soups, except for Jim who said, "Ice cream, please. Two scoops, chocolate.

I wasn't sure my ears heard right, and the others were aghast. "Along with heated apple pie," Jim added, completely unabashed.

We tried to act quite nonchalant, as if people did this all the time. But when our orders were brought out, I didn't enjoy mine.

I couldn't take my eyes off Jim as his pie a-la-mode went down. The other guys couldn't believe it. They ate their lunches silently and grinned.

The next time I went out to eat, I called and invited Jim. I lunched on white meat tuna. He ordered a parfait. I smiled. He asked if he amused me.

I answered, "Yes, you do, but also you confuse me. How come you order rich desserts, while I feel I must be sensible?"

He laughed and said "I'm tasting all that is possible. I try to eat the food I need, and do the things I should. But life's so short, my friend, I hate missing out on something good. This year I realized how old I was."

(He grinned) "I haven't been this old before. So, before I die, I've got to try those things that for years I had ignored. I haven't smelled all the flowers yet. There are too many trout streams I havn't fished. There's more fudge sundaes to wolf down and kites to be flown overhead. There are too many golf courses I haven't played. I've not laughed at all the jokes. I've missed a lot of sporting events and potato chips and cokes. I want to wade again in water and feel ocean spray on my face. I want to sit in a country church once more and thank God for His grace."

"I want peanut butter every day spread on my morning toast. I want un-timed long distance calls to the folks I love the most. I haven't cried at all the movies yet, or walked in the morning rain. I need to feel wind on my face. I want to be in love again.So, if I choose to have dessert, instead of having dinner, then should I die before night fall, I'd say I died a winner, because I missed out on nothing. I filled my heart's desire. I had that final chocolate mousse before my life expired."

With that, I called the waitress over. "I've changed my mind, " I said. "I want what he is having, only add some more whipped cream!"

who's mad?

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.



-- Nietzsche

an act of rebellion ...

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.



-- Albert Camus

it's in your hands ...

If you end up leading a boring miserable life because you listened to your mum, your dad, your teacher, your priest, your friends, your boss, or some guy on morning television telling you how to live your life, then you deserve it.

high touch

TOUCH ME

Touch me,
it doesn't matter where
and it doesn't matter how
I need to know I'm still alive
so someone touch me now

Shake my hand and say hello
or pat me on the back
kiss me on the cheek
that I may feel this sense I lack

Slap my face and pull my hair
make me bleed I just don't care
dig your nails into my skin
so I can feed this need within

I've been numb for such a time
that even pain would be sublime
so touch me, touch me now
i don't care where, I don't care how



-- A Thomas Hawkins

freedom of speech ...

Interviewer:

The title of the novel seems to an ordinary Christian offensive.

Philip Pullman:

It was a shocking thing to say and I knew it was a shocking thing to say.

But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended. Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if you open it and read it, you don’t have to like it.

And if you read it and you dislike it, you don’t have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop.

No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or bought, or sold or read. That’s all I have to say on that subject.

YOU

Be the person your dog thinks you are.

already there

It is generally thought and assumed we have to leave where we are to get to wherever we want to be.

I think there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nobody you have to be, except exactly who you're being right here, right now.

As a kid I was told I could go to heaven if I lived a good life. Now I realise that there is no such thing as 'getting to heaven'. There is only knowing that you are already in heaven, because 'heaven' is 'now here' [as opposed to nowhere].

The point of living is not to get anywhere. The point of living is to notice and realise that you are, and have always been, already there; and to live in this moment.

it's YOU ...

Do you know what you want?

Do you really have a clear picture of what you want?

Can you think it through, and say exactly what you want?

Invariably you'll get back to where you are right now.

In other words, you have it now. It's all there. It's YOU.