A forgotten treasure
In an abandoned corner.
Tucked away.
Hidden.
I brush dust away
And reach forward
Until my hand finally rests
On smooth satin
Liquid and solid
At the same time
Like a stone beat
By a roaring river,
It’s beauty only increases as
It gets battered
By the harsh hands of time.
A faded worn red
Rests calmly in my hands.
The cover obediently opens
And the flawless scent,
The perfume of books
Around the world,
Fills my senses.
Untouched dusty pages
Resolutely hold
Their purpose,
Refusing to let it
Fade with time.
As I turn the first page
A whisper snakes it’s way
Through the dust
To reach my ear.
I bend closer
To hear this unheard story.
Like a lonely old man
Searching for a friendly ear,
The book I hold so carefully
Reveals to me a tale
As only books can do.
The words weave
A colorful world
Swirling around me.
I sink,
Falling into the familiar
Excitement of the
Unknown
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
I, too, sing America
I am the student.
The bright eyed observer.
My eyes reflect
The future generation.
I walk down halls, streets,
A rhythm to my stride.
Restless eyes wandering.
Seeing the roads
Others have taken.
Watching for ways
To improve my own.
Tomorrow,
My stride slows and shortens
Wrinkles line my face,
Mapping out past smiles and tears.
But my eyes are unchanged.
I still remain the student,
My eyes reflecting
The future generation.
I, too, am America.
I am the student.
The bright eyed observer.
My eyes reflect
The future generation.
I walk down halls, streets,
A rhythm to my stride.
Restless eyes wandering.
Seeing the roads
Others have taken.
Watching for ways
To improve my own.
Tomorrow,
My stride slows and shortens
Wrinkles line my face,
Mapping out past smiles and tears.
But my eyes are unchanged.
I still remain the student,
My eyes reflecting
The future generation.
I, too, am America.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Cookie Story
I was on StumbleUpon and I came across this... enjoy
A young lady was waiting for her flight in a boarding room of a big airport.
As she should need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to spend her time. She also bought a pack of cookies.
She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP room of the airport, to rest and read in peace.
Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading.
When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also.
She felt irritated but said nothing.
She just thought, "What the nerve! If I was in the mood, I would punch him for daring!"
For each cookie she took, the man took one too...
This was infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene.
When only one cookie remained, she thought:
"Ah... what this abusive man do now?"
Then, the man taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half.
Ah! That's too much!
She was too much angry now!
In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place.
When she sat down in her seat inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses... and to her surprise... her packet of cookies was there, untouched... unopened!
She felt so ashamed!!!
She realized that she was wrong...
She forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse.
The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter...
while she had been very angry, thinking that she was dividing his cookies with him.
And now, there are no chance to explain or apologize...
***
THERE ARE FOUR THINGS THAT YOU CANNOT RECOVER:
The stone... after the throw.
The word... after it's said.
The occasion... after the loss.
The time... after its gone.
A young lady was waiting for her flight in a boarding room of a big airport.
As she should need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to spend her time. She also bought a pack of cookies.
She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP room of the airport, to rest and read in peace.
Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading.
When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also.
She felt irritated but said nothing.
She just thought, "What the nerve! If I was in the mood, I would punch him for daring!"
For each cookie she took, the man took one too...
This was infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene.
When only one cookie remained, she thought:
"Ah... what this abusive man do now?"
Then, the man taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half.
Ah! That's too much!
She was too much angry now!
In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place.
When she sat down in her seat inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses... and to her surprise... her packet of cookies was there, untouched... unopened!
She felt so ashamed!!!
She realized that she was wrong...
She forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse.
The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter...
while she had been very angry, thinking that she was dividing his cookies with him.
And now, there are no chance to explain or apologize...
***
THERE ARE FOUR THINGS THAT YOU CANNOT RECOVER:
The stone... after the throw.
The word... after it's said.
The occasion... after the loss.
The time... after its gone.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Night: A Found Poem
Hey! So I found this old poem from Freshman year... consequently it happens to be a Found Poem that I found. Haha. It's from Elie Weisel's Night. I read it and it's really not half bad... here you go:
Night: A loss of faith
Sophia Mirashrafi
Three gallows
Three black crows
Three victims in chains
One of them a young boy
The little servant
The sad-eyed angel
Sentenced to death
A merciless selection
A young boy in front of thousands
All eyes on the child
Lividly pale, almost calm
Gallows throw its shadow over him
The child is silent
Where is God?
Total silence.
Chairs tip over
We are weeping
Where is God?
Sun is setting
Struggling between life and death
Where is God?
Dying in slow agony
Where is God?
His tongue red
His eyes not yet glazed
Where is God?
He is hanging on the gallows
That night the soup tasted of corpses
Night: A loss of faith
Sophia Mirashrafi
Three gallows
Three black crows
Three victims in chains
One of them a young boy
The little servant
The sad-eyed angel
Sentenced to death
A merciless selection
A young boy in front of thousands
All eyes on the child
Lividly pale, almost calm
Gallows throw its shadow over him
The child is silent
Where is God?
Total silence.
Chairs tip over
We are weeping
Where is God?
Sun is setting
Struggling between life and death
Where is God?
Dying in slow agony
Where is God?
His tongue red
His eyes not yet glazed
Where is God?
He is hanging on the gallows
That night the soup tasted of corpses
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Pet Peeves
Hey sooo new background! Yay. Trees were cool but it was all so very green.
To counter my last list, I've decided to share the things that absolutely just get on my nerves. You know, like pet peeves. Why they are called this I have no idea. Never made sense to me. Some people tend to say that EVERYTHING gets on their nerves. And that can't be true! Not everything is bad. I mean, I'm not perfect. Far from it. There are somethings that, I don't know, just get under my skin. Let's list 25 shall we, to balance the happy things.
They are as follows:
Any more pet peeves? Let me know
To counter my last list, I've decided to share the things that absolutely just get on my nerves. You know, like pet peeves. Why they are called this I have no idea. Never made sense to me. Some people tend to say that EVERYTHING gets on their nerves. And that can't be true! Not everything is bad. I mean, I'm not perfect. Far from it. There are somethings that, I don't know, just get under my skin. Let's list 25 shall we, to balance the happy things.
They are as follows:
- Old movies when the driver never looks at the road.
- Condescending people
- When strangers touch you in a friendly way
- When people chew gum with their mouth open
- Facial twitches
- People picking their nose when they think no one's looking... but you are...
- PDA
- People who answer the phone with a color (i.e. "Yellow?")
- People who abbreviate words that should not be abbreviated (i.e. legit, fab, disgust)
- Facial Piercings.
- Body piercings
- Really loud high laughs
- Yapper dogs
- Monkeys
- People cheating off my test when they think I'm not looking
- Laziness
- Large people who walk slowly in the middle of the pavement.
- People who pronounce vehicle, VEE-HICKLE, or MOTOR-SICKLE
- Bigots
- Miley Cyrus
- Butterflies
- Windshield wipers
- People that don't understand the meaning of "personal space"
- Hypocrites
- People that complain about their pet peeves.
Any more pet peeves? Let me know
Monday, May 24, 2010
Natural High - Smile Dammit
So, I have been sitting here... procrastinating away, staring at my Spanish homework for about half an hour... and then my mind starts to wander.
Okay, that there in itself is a bad sign. Unlike, well, normal people, when my mind begins to wander strange things begin to float into my mind. Like, for example, pears and scalps and their strange similarity... Or ants and their disturbing fascination with wheat.
But this time I was making a list of natural highs. See, everyday in school people talk about getting "so totally buzzed" over the weekend and getting high off drugs or alcohol. Getting a thrill from something so harmful to your body that it's almost disgusting that it would ever be considered that doing that to yourself for 'fun'. Some people do it for the thrill, others for the status, or popularity, I guess. Or simply to reach that high and feel... good.
And so I decided to write down my list of simple highs that can be acted out easily and everyday, free of charge. These are 25 things that occur to me on a regular basis and make my life worth while I guess. Enjoy!
And I'm not saying you should to that everyday! Hell, I know there are some days were I have decided looong before I wake up that I'm going to be in a bad mood. It's called PMS. Being a teenager sucks. Moving on.
But on most days, waking up and deciding to feel grateful instead of resentful is sometimes all it takes to change a cloudy day into a bright one. The more you smile, the happier you'll be. It's like, scientifically proven, or something.
Life's a joke. Smile dammit.
Okay, that there in itself is a bad sign. Unlike, well, normal people, when my mind begins to wander strange things begin to float into my mind. Like, for example, pears and scalps and their strange similarity... Or ants and their disturbing fascination with wheat.
But this time I was making a list of natural highs. See, everyday in school people talk about getting "so totally buzzed" over the weekend and getting high off drugs or alcohol. Getting a thrill from something so harmful to your body that it's almost disgusting that it would ever be considered that doing that to yourself for 'fun'. Some people do it for the thrill, others for the status, or popularity, I guess. Or simply to reach that high and feel... good.
And so I decided to write down my list of simple highs that can be acted out easily and everyday, free of charge. These are 25 things that occur to me on a regular basis and make my life worth while I guess. Enjoy!
- A hot shower
- No lines at the supermarket
- Getting mail
- Running on a pretty road
- Hearing your favorite song on the radio
- Lying in bed and listening to the rain outside
- Hot towels fresh from the dryer
- Deep conversations
- Finding money in your coat that you forgot was there
- Laughing at yourself
- Running through sprinklers
- Laughing for no reason.
- Inside jokes
- Friends
- Waking up and realized you still have a few hours left to sleep
- Making new friends or spending time with old ones
- Hot coffee. Black baby.
- Swinging on swings
- Catching the eye of a cute stranger
- Homemade cookies
- The sunrise
- Good hugs
- The smell of pavement in the rain
- Rain in general
- Walking downtown with friends
And I'm not saying you should to that everyday! Hell, I know there are some days were I have decided looong before I wake up that I'm going to be in a bad mood. It's called PMS. Being a teenager sucks. Moving on.
But on most days, waking up and deciding to feel grateful instead of resentful is sometimes all it takes to change a cloudy day into a bright one. The more you smile, the happier you'll be. It's like, scientifically proven, or something.
Life's a joke. Smile dammit.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Silent Speech
You know, I've always been an animal person. Ever since before I can remember. I feel more comfortable around them than I do around people. This sounds a little hermit-ish, I'm not a complete loner. I just feel better when I'm with them.
The thing with animals is that they have no facade about them, no pretence. When they feel happiness or fear or anger they are quick to tell you, or more, show you. Animals always find a way of speaking to you and letting you know everything they have to say, without speaking a word. All you need to do is learn how to read them.
Take my horse. I've been with her long enough to understand her body language without thinking about it. The key to understanding her, horse for that matter, lies in the ears and in the eyes. I have a slight obsession with eyes, if my profile picture gives it away. They are traditionally the 'windows into the soul'. Cheesy as this sounds it really is the truth. People have developed the skills to shut off their eyes so that they are no longer readable. But with my horse, her eyes tell all.
The less likely way to read an animal, the ears, are probably one of the most important tools for a person to have. Take any emotion, fear, anger, curiosity, contentment... it's all in the ears. One of my favorite things about horses, in fact, is that when you talk to them, they use those ears and listen. I can come and just prattle on and on about my day and the people I meet and the things I do, and my horse's ear will be cocked in my direction the whole time. I'm the kind of person that lets the other person talk in the conversation. People like to talk about themselves and I like to say that I'm a pretty good listener, so I just let them talk. I learn it from my horse. Talking to my horse is really the only time that I talk about me and nothing else. And having someone listen to everything you say, even if it's stupid or boring, is addicting. She's like my own personal psychiatrist.
More on horses... One of my favorite things about riding, is that when you're on the horse, you are creating a connection that goes beyond words into this whole new language where you speak using your body: A shift in my seat, a twitch of my pinky finger, a slight flex of my calf... all of these things trigger some response in my horse. To have a whole conversation, asking and receiving, rewarding with a scratch to the neck, is to have trust on both sides of the bargain. The downside to this, however, is if you are afraid of something, your horse will feel that in your body, and be afraid of the thing as well. Say I'm really nervous about a jump and so my body tenses up and I begin to shake. There is no way in hell that my horse is going to jump that jump if she think that her rider is scared of it. As a rider, I learned to keep any fear or doubt locked tightly above the neck so that my body betrays nothing and therefore keeping my horse as calm as possible.
It's ludicrous to me that people still believe the misconception that horseback riding is merely sitting on a horse and pointing it in in the right direction and bouncing up and down as it obeys you.
That assumption is almost disgusting to me. Let me tell you right now, I do not own a sweet horse. She does not fawn over every person she sees, she does not let her opinion go unnoticed. To think that she is an obedient mare that does anything for anybody when they sit on her back is laughable. She cares for me and listens to me because I have worked four years to establish that kind of relationship with her. And let me tell you it wasn't easy. In fact, in the beginning, we didn't even like each other. I would almost dread riding her. She would go to kick me when I put on the saddle and bit me whenever my back was turned. But, what with me being crazily stubborn and her being just as opinionated, we gradually and grudgingly began to respect each other.
Then came the trust. True, it started out as me trusting her to try to bite me as I went to pick out her hoofs just as she trusted me to answer with a whack of my own. But eventually, I would trust that she would jump whatever I asked her to, because she would trust that I would not make her do anything that would get her in trouble. She doesn't do the things I ask her to because she fears me, or because she is a mindless drone, she does it because she trusts me, and we are a team.
That's another thing that I really hate. I hate it when people use the term "break" when they speak of teaching a new horse how to ride. "I've always wanted to break a horse and raise it myself". As if sitting on a bucking foal and whacking the crap out of him is how to train a young horse. My preferred term is to "start" a horse. Because that is really what is happening. You are starting a relationship, starting to form a team between you and your horse. A good horse does not have it's spirit broken, but instead has all that power and will flowing through the positive outlet of a common goal for you and your horse.
Horseback riding is not easy. Sitting on a horse is easy. Squeezing your legs to ask them to go faster is easy. Pulling on the rains to make them turn is easy. But riding - really riding - is something that is not easy to achieve. And unlike other sports it isn't just accomplished by practicing something over and over and over. Unlike a ball, a horse can kick back, a horse is 1000 pounds heavier than you, and it has it's own brain and opinions. Horseback riding is a constant giving and receiving of information, it is to be a leader who listens to the other side of the story.
To ride is to speak without saying a word.
The thing with animals is that they have no facade about them, no pretence. When they feel happiness or fear or anger they are quick to tell you, or more, show you. Animals always find a way of speaking to you and letting you know everything they have to say, without speaking a word. All you need to do is learn how to read them.
Take my horse. I've been with her long enough to understand her body language without thinking about it. The key to understanding her, horse for that matter, lies in the ears and in the eyes. I have a slight obsession with eyes, if my profile picture gives it away. They are traditionally the 'windows into the soul'. Cheesy as this sounds it really is the truth. People have developed the skills to shut off their eyes so that they are no longer readable. But with my horse, her eyes tell all.
The less likely way to read an animal, the ears, are probably one of the most important tools for a person to have. Take any emotion, fear, anger, curiosity, contentment... it's all in the ears. One of my favorite things about horses, in fact, is that when you talk to them, they use those ears and listen. I can come and just prattle on and on about my day and the people I meet and the things I do, and my horse's ear will be cocked in my direction the whole time. I'm the kind of person that lets the other person talk in the conversation. People like to talk about themselves and I like to say that I'm a pretty good listener, so I just let them talk. I learn it from my horse. Talking to my horse is really the only time that I talk about me and nothing else. And having someone listen to everything you say, even if it's stupid or boring, is addicting. She's like my own personal psychiatrist.
More on horses... One of my favorite things about riding, is that when you're on the horse, you are creating a connection that goes beyond words into this whole new language where you speak using your body: A shift in my seat, a twitch of my pinky finger, a slight flex of my calf... all of these things trigger some response in my horse. To have a whole conversation, asking and receiving, rewarding with a scratch to the neck, is to have trust on both sides of the bargain. The downside to this, however, is if you are afraid of something, your horse will feel that in your body, and be afraid of the thing as well. Say I'm really nervous about a jump and so my body tenses up and I begin to shake. There is no way in hell that my horse is going to jump that jump if she think that her rider is scared of it. As a rider, I learned to keep any fear or doubt locked tightly above the neck so that my body betrays nothing and therefore keeping my horse as calm as possible.
It's ludicrous to me that people still believe the misconception that horseback riding is merely sitting on a horse and pointing it in in the right direction and bouncing up and down as it obeys you.
That assumption is almost disgusting to me. Let me tell you right now, I do not own a sweet horse. She does not fawn over every person she sees, she does not let her opinion go unnoticed. To think that she is an obedient mare that does anything for anybody when they sit on her back is laughable. She cares for me and listens to me because I have worked four years to establish that kind of relationship with her. And let me tell you it wasn't easy. In fact, in the beginning, we didn't even like each other. I would almost dread riding her. She would go to kick me when I put on the saddle and bit me whenever my back was turned. But, what with me being crazily stubborn and her being just as opinionated, we gradually and grudgingly began to respect each other.
Then came the trust. True, it started out as me trusting her to try to bite me as I went to pick out her hoofs just as she trusted me to answer with a whack of my own. But eventually, I would trust that she would jump whatever I asked her to, because she would trust that I would not make her do anything that would get her in trouble. She doesn't do the things I ask her to because she fears me, or because she is a mindless drone, she does it because she trusts me, and we are a team.
That's another thing that I really hate. I hate it when people use the term "break" when they speak of teaching a new horse how to ride. "I've always wanted to break a horse and raise it myself". As if sitting on a bucking foal and whacking the crap out of him is how to train a young horse. My preferred term is to "start" a horse. Because that is really what is happening. You are starting a relationship, starting to form a team between you and your horse. A good horse does not have it's spirit broken, but instead has all that power and will flowing through the positive outlet of a common goal for you and your horse.
Horseback riding is not easy. Sitting on a horse is easy. Squeezing your legs to ask them to go faster is easy. Pulling on the rains to make them turn is easy. But riding - really riding - is something that is not easy to achieve. And unlike other sports it isn't just accomplished by practicing something over and over and over. Unlike a ball, a horse can kick back, a horse is 1000 pounds heavier than you, and it has it's own brain and opinions. Horseback riding is a constant giving and receiving of information, it is to be a leader who listens to the other side of the story.
To ride is to speak without saying a word.
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