An Epiphany

Per Wikipedia, an epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of sudden and striking realization. Generally the term is used to describe breakthrough scientific, religious or philosophical discoveries, but it can apply in any situation in which an enlightening realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper perspective. Epiphanies are studied by psychologists^[1][2] and other scholars, particularly those attempting to study the process of innovation.

Sir Isaac Newton's realization that a falling apple and the orbiting moon are both pulled by the same force
was an epiphany.

i had an epiphany recently. i have been known to look for appreciation from people who have always overlooked the bars (that have been set) that i have gone over. recently a coworker crawled under the bar (that has been set) and she was applauded and congratulated  by the same people, as if she had cured cancer.

from now on i'm  going to focus on myself and on the people who have always had my back.

Know your circle!

A Kenyan Proverb

This looks about right

First of all, I DO NOT CONDONE VIOLENCE, but this is what happens when you come between  Halle Berry and someone who loves her and Nahla.

# Jus sayin'


Gabriel Aubrey



Courage

It takes courage to love, if you do not have the strength to walk through fear, then love is not for you. – Leon Brown

On that day

I will wake up in the morning stir up a couple cups of coffee play this song smile and when she's done showering we'll slow dance before we start our day... in the meantime I'll  just smile and keep it moving-

If, then (at your funeral)

Oscar Wilde's grave, Pere LaChaise Cemetery, Paris France

At your funeral, if you want people to say you were a good man/woman,
           then be a good person.
If you want people to speak of  how you helped them when they really needed your help,
           then be helpful.
If you want the funeral pews to be filled with people who loved you and had plenty of good testimonies of your kindness and your sense of humor,
           then act accordingly.
If you want your kids to recall many wonderful experiences and not be hard-pressed to find one good thing to say about you,
           then be a good dad.

But if  you want the funeral pews to be empty with the exception of  the pastor and your spouse who might be the only one tolerant of your behavior and made excuses for you , then  be the opposite.

New Position

U got 2 try a new position, yeah
Somethin' that'll make it all right
Oh, a new position, yeah, yeah
Let's go fishin' in the river, the river of life

I am the clay

But now, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand. --Isaiah 64:8 

 

The am that I am

                         You can't know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself.
                                              --Bodhidharma 

"Know Thyself’ was written on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Legend tells that the seven sages of ancient Greece, philosophers, statesmen and law-givers who laid the foundation for western culture, gathered in Delphi to inscribed ‘know thyself’ at the entry to its scared oracle. The adage subsequently became a touch-stone for western philosophers, and extended its reach as the influence of Greek philosophy expanded.
The Greek Philosopher Thales of Miletu (regarded by Aristotle as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition) said that of the most difficult things is to know thyself.

Do you think you know yourself?


“Can one know oneself” wondered the French poetess George Sand. “Is one ever somebody?” “When will I ever see that Am that I Am?” lamented the poet Rumi. Scores of poets and philosophers dedicated their lives to inquiring about the Self, seeking its elusive mysteries, digging deep to unearth that hidden stone without which all construction would be in vain. Some attained remarkable results, attested to by the legacy of their works. Others never found an end to their quest. “I have an inner self of which I was ignorant,” confesses the Bohemian–Austrian poet Rilke in his diary. Despite the passage of millennia, man’s struggles have essentially remained the same: man is, and always has been, a being in search of truth and identity.

--courtesy, the internet

JT's Homage to Prince

I can't stand Justin Timberlake but I have to admit I like this song. I'm gonna call it his homage to Prince, since it sounds like Timberland had Prince music (circa 1999)  playing in the background when producing this song.

Note to self

 

Saturday Flashback

Courage?

Friends are periodically connecting with me to talk about my trip to Paris, so I'll apologize in advance, for posting new insights from the experience for a time! Ok, my friend Luke was telling me today that it was pretty brave of me to go to Paris by myself. He sounded as if I had volunteered to join the army. I don't think courage had anything to do with it. I've always wanted to go. Of course, knowing that Paris is a romantic city, I thought about waiting until I got married, but I might never get married. I wanted to do something special for my 50th birthday; something different than meeting friends for happy hour, getting a bite to eat, baking my own birthday cake, and going home. I wanted to do something special for me since 50 came first. If love ever comes again, and by some miracle, marriage follows, I'd be an excellent tour guide for the next time I go to Paris. I'd like to think of it as the first step in healing my soul. I'm planning another trip abroad for my next birthday. Perhaps The U.K. or Australia, or Vietnam. or even Tokyo.

Songs in my head

A Fight!

Police: Halle Berry's fiancé and ex have Thanksgiving Day fight

Tensions erupted at the home of actress Halle Berry on Thanksgiving Day.  
People reports the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed to their publication that a physical confrontation took place between Berry's fiancé, Olivier Martinez, above left, and her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry, right.
Aubry was said to be at the home to drop off the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Nahla.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Aubry was arrested after the incident and taken to the hospital, where the model was treated for injuries to his face. The paper reported that Aubrey was released on $20,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on December 13.
Berry and Aubry have reportedly battled over the actress seeking to relocate their daughter to France, a request that E! online said was denied by a judge in November. In January, the child's nanny sought a restraining order claiming that she feared Aubry.


--courtesy Cnn.com

Hell, I'd fight over her too.  And like Olivier Martinez, I'd win.

Dear Karma

Friday Flashback

I already started loving you

Overheard in Dublin Ireland

 

"It's not someone else's job to make sure you (or I) are happy. You have to make you happy."

Another thing I'm grateful for

             

                           Never having to say President Romney.

More of this

Every time you appreciate something; every time you praise something; every time you feel good about something, you are telling the Universe: MORE OF THIS, PLEASE!" 

Paris

But I think I love Paris more now that I've been there. My best friend said that as a sensitive romantic, I will never be the same. I think he's right. I'm not the same.

Believe them

           Sometimes alot of your friends turn into people you don't even know,or want to know, or like, but maybe that's who they really were and you chose to see what you wanted to see because you both shared one thing or person in common. And then when that thing or person is gone, you get to see them as they really are. And some friends become even better friends than you imagined. It takes time, and situations, to filter out fakes/fairweathers/acquaintances/enemies. In the end, you'll end up with a smaller number of people. Those are called friends.

Bob Marley

One of the things I learned about Paris

The strangest thing. I took the train and bus every single day I was in Paris, and every single day a caucasian person sat next to me. They weren't scared of me. It was the strangest thing. In most cases there were other places where they could have chosen to sit, and it wasn't even tentative. They didn't look like they needed to reconsider a safer, more comfortable place to sit. Here in The States, I have lived on the east coast, the west coast, down south, and the midwest, and I can't remember the last time a caucasian sat down next to me on the bus or the train. It was the strangest thing. I loved it.

One of the things I learned about Paris

 Parisians really are not nice (outside of the tourist areas), it's no stereotype. It's real.

The previous black woman caught me staring at her, and I couldn't look away. I was hypnotized, and she looked annoyed. Then she looked away in the opposite direction.  Three stops later she got up and walked over to me and said something in french, and when I tell her Je nes comprend pas Francais (I don't speak french), tu parle anglais ( do you speak english?) ? She asked me, in a british accent, why I was staring at her. I apologized and told her she was so gorgeous I couldn't look away even when I tried. 
Guess what she does?
 
She opens her wallet and gives me a picture of her and says, 'take a picture, it'll last longer.' Then she gets off at the next stop. 

I'll let you decide the word that fits her. 

One of the things I learned about Paris

The people here are G O R G E O U S.  

From the Paris Opera house

The video for this song, one of my favorite songs of the 80s, and ever, was videotaped at the Paris Opera House. Rumor has it Jody Watley had to jump through alot of hoops for her vision to come to fruition. This is definitely on the list of places to see here. 
 

Cinquante- A Negro in Paris

 I was able to wake up in a suburb of Paris France to see 50 years on 11 November. It's so surreal to me. The very first thing I did was to get on my knees to thank God for letting me see it, then like every day, I get dressed and I head to the city (5 train stops away) to get a breakfast and pastries (the kind I have to lie to my nutritionist and doctor about)  before I start my day, and no matter what I do, I always end up at the Champs Elysee. It's about 2 miles of heaven for me. If you love shopping, eating, shopping, people-watching, shopping, meeting new people, shopping, pastries, shopping, bookstores, shopping, shopping, and shopping, go there.
I have the best friend of all, in Steve Demuth, who made a dinner reservation for me at the Tower 58 Eiffel for my birthday. I was told I needed to bring my passport and a print out of the reservation, but my name preceded me- since it's a French-Canadienne name, all I had to say was my name, and doors were open without my having to show any identification. I was referred to as 'the Canadian one.'   Every one was friendly. I was escorted to the elevator up to the restaurant on the 2nd level of the Tower Eiffel, and though I was over dressed ( all the other males wore dress shirts or sweaters with nice slacks), I love wearing suits. I like giving good first impressions.
I never imagined being in Paris to celebrate 50 by myself, but I'm not complaining. I've had some friends that never even got to see 40, or even 30, so keeping that in mind, I am grateful that God blessed me to see 50. I don't look my age so that makes it even better!    

a

Hopefully God will bless me to come to Paris again with my soulmate, of whom I'm convinced He is still preparing for me...

:-)

Well done, America!

Well done America, we choose hope over hate and we showed the world that we would rather build bridges than start wars. This is a victory for equality and doing right by our fellow man. We have showed  what's in our hearts. 

 Republicans, with all their threats to help Wrongney win the election by making it difficult for Democrats to vote, failed miserably. As my mother always says,  God don't like ugly.

 

Good bye and Good riddance!!

I hope that the next time I hear about these lying rich bastards is as the punchline to a joke.

In 1 word

how would you describe this current election ?

when I go to bed tonight it will be O V E R .

Because I was anxious

due to the election tomorrow and my trip to Paris on thursday of this week, I haven't been able to sleep but 2 or 3 hours a night the past week. So since I tossed and turned last night a little after midnight for an hours, I got up and baked a cake. And, while waiting for the layers to cool before I could frost the bottom layer and put the other layer on top, I was sleepy. I couldn't wait to frost the cake and try to get some sleep before having to be up at 6 to get ready for work.

Very very blueberry

Depending on the outcome of the Election, I'll either bring this cake to a party to celebrate, or I'll cut myself a slice and eat it while packing for my trip, and throw the rest in the trash. And go to bed.


on Revenge

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves

 

 

Confucius

he said what?---Former FEMA director Michael Brown says New Yorkers should just ‘chill’ over Sandy

Michael Brown is doing a heckuva job – sounding completely tone-deaf on superstorm Sandy.

The former FEMA director, who famously resigned from his role in 2005 over his disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, took the opportunity on Wednesday to tell New Yorkers reeling from the hurricane this week that everyone should just “chill.”

 

“Hurricane Sandy should teach us to be prepared, willing to live without the modern conveniences of elevators, computers and refrigerators,” he wrote in an editorial for Canada’s Globe and Mail. “Hurricane Sandy should teach us all to chill.”

 

It’s the second time in two days that Brown -- better known as “Brownie,” the nickname given to him by George W. Bush – has told city dwellers to relax in the wake of a storm that devastated the East Coast and New York. In New York City the storm caused nearly 2 million people to lose power, 22 were killed, and 100 homes burned to the ground.

 

Brown, who became a household name and punchline when Bush told him “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job,” while he was widely seen to have botched the emergency response to Katrina, first offered his advice in an interview with Fox Business yesterday. 

“People are going to get frustrated – I’d just encourage people to just kind of chill out over this whole situation,” he told host Charles Payne.

 

“When you say chill out – what do you mean when you say chill out?” Payne asked, laughing, to which Brown reiterated that it can take a long time to restore power to certain areas and “If you’re the guy at the end of the line, you’re the guy at the end of the line and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

 

Brown defended his words in his editorial on Wednesday, arguing that New Yorkers need to take the natural disaster as a sign to unwind and learn to live without technology.

 

“Hurricane Sandy proved once again you can’t beat Mother Nature,” he wrote, listing the effects of the massive outages that hit the East Coast. “Seven million people didn’t have access to laptops, microwaves, ATM machines, televisions, forced-air heating, subways and commuter trains, and all the thousands of modern conveniences we have come to depend upon in this hyper-technological society...So I would ask New Yorkers and you: How long can you go without all of those conveniences? A couple of days? A week? Two weeks?”

 

Brown has spent several days weighing in on Sandy, criticizing Obama early this week for responding too quickly to the storm – accusing the President of drawing too much attention to the federal response efforts. 

 

“One thing [Obama]’s going to be asked is, why did he jump on this so quickly and go back to D.C. so quickly,” Brown told the Denver Westword on Monday. “My guess is, he wants to get ahead of it – he doesn’t want anybody to accuse him of not being on top of it or not paying attention or playing politics in the middle of it.”

 

The disgraced FEMA chief stood by his comments on Tuesday,telling Politico “In the context of the election, I simply said he should have waited … The storm was still forming, people were debating whether it was going to be as bad as expected, or not, and I noted that the President should have let the governors and mayors deal with the storm until it got closer to hitting the coastal areas along the Washington, D.C.-New York City corridor.”

 

Brown also stated that while agencies like FEMA can provide aid during these kinds of crises, the federal government is not as important as other entities when it comes to disaster response.

 

“State and local governments are, as always, the true first-responders,” he wrote. “So while the President goes to the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to show he’s on top of the situation, governors and mayors are making the real, life-saving, politically difficult decisions: who to evacuate and when.”

 

Obama’s handling to the storm drew praise from Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday, who said at a press conference that the President’s response had been “outstanding.”

  

Meanwhile, a senior Obama campaign aide slammed Brown for his comments on Wednesday in light of his own botched performance during Katrina.

 

“It’s pretty rich coming from somebody who has an abysmal record on management of emergencies,” campaign press secretary Jen Psak told CNN “I think the people of New Jersey, the people of Pennsylvania, the people of Connecticut, where I’m from – my family was evacuated – are happy that the President jumped in and moved quickly in response to this storm.”

--courtesy the ny daily news

 

 The nerve of  The President to respond too quickly to what people have called the storm of the century, Our President can't do anything right.

 

(you can't see me right now, but I'm rolling my eyes)