Flash.











THUNDER!

If you have love to give now, you give it now.

I finished watching Mulan today. I am the biggest cheesiest cheeseball ever.

"As Agreed,"
by Nathan Zach
(translated from Hebrew by Tsipi Keller)

Look, as we promised each other,
We changed nothing and the world
Is as wonderful as it was, the rain
Tarries this year, but it will come:
It will come as long as we're still here....

(Language for a New Century, edited by Tina Chang, Ravi Shankar and Nathalie Handal)

The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest human secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.

(Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, page 57)

It’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, and my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst…

And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain. And I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.

You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry. You will someday.

(American Beauty)

"She ran the back of her hand along the first shelf, listening to the shuffle of her fingernails gliding across the spinal cord of each book. It sounded like an instrument, or the notes of running feet."

(Marcus Zusak, The Book Thief, page 135)

"I think that Grace fulfilled you in a way you didn't even know you needed."

(Eli Stone, Season 2, Episode 1)

"He didn't have His Book written to be read by what must elect and choose, but by the heart, not by the wise of the earth because maybe they dont need it or maybe the wise no longer have any heart, but by the doomed and the lowly of the earth who have nothing else to read with but the heart. Because the men who wrote his Book for Him were writing about truth and there is only one truth and it covers all things that touch the heart."

(William Faulkner, "The Bear," Go Down, Moses)

After the dance, we left in Sam's pickup. Patrick was driving this time. As we were approaching the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Sam asked Patrick to pull to the side of the road. I didn't know what was going on. Sam then climbed into the back of the pickup, wearing nothing but her dance dress. She told Patrick to drive, and he got this smile on his face. I guess they had done this before.

Anyway, Patrick started driving really fast, and just before we got to the tunnel, Sam stood up, and the wind turned her dress into ocean waves. When we hit the tunnel, all the sound got scooped up into a vacuum, and it was replaced by a song on the tape player. A beautiful song called "Landslide." When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing.

And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

(Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

The ever so awesome Kristen Chenoweth of course. ;)

"To pray is also to breathe, and possibility is for the self what oxygen is for breathing." (Sickness Unto Death, page 40)

Without any training,
it's pouring, it's raining.
Training or a trade?
Hey, you bet I'm afraid.
Unequipped with a skill,
but I'm thrilled with the thrill!
Underskilled, unprepared,
hey, who wouldn't be scared?

Bring on the obstacles and burn me a bridge.
I'm not sure, should I call this a range or a ridge?
There ain't none too high if I'm up for the climb.
I'll go zero to sixty and stop on a dime.
A dime for a dozen if that's what you're after.
A moment of silence, a lifetime of laughter.

On the brighter side and on a happier note:
the noise, well, it's just love that gets caught in my throat.

The end of the line's not the end of the rope,
just a salesman selling a bucket of hope.
When the bucket gets kicked and my chips are all cashed,
my intentions, conventions are finally smashed.

- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Noise Brigade"

esp ~ 3:45