Power of Thought
If you can THINK, you can GROW, you can CHANGE, you can MOVE. You are ONE thought away.
Part 1
Part 2
The Potters Touch TV Show from The Potter’s House of Dallas.
What Else Are We Missing?
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
- Found on Facebook Feed, author Unknown.
Obsessed
Ever have a fling with a guy friend and then have him harass and stalk you for 8 months?
Let me tell you about this little shitstain. I met him through mutual friends and was warned about him from the beginning. Considering I never had any interest in the kid, I stayed far enough away from him for quite a long time. I was always friendly and we even ended up getting pretty close over Skype talking every day for hours at a time while he was visiting family in England. Things were cool between us but never got very far, I didn’t want to be anything more with him than friends.
Fast forward a good year, maybe year and a half. We were still friends, talking quite often although not quite as close as we had been in the past. It was cool though, we would hang out and go for beers with other people and whatever. We always seemed to have a good time together, so I never thought anything more of it. Then one night, both drunk and stumbling back from the bar after a wicked night of dancing, he kissed me in the street… Just like that.
The next two weeks were a lot of visiting, hanging out and then the inevitable happened. I mean come on, I’m only human. We had history, we were friends, we seemed to have chemistry. And even though my logical brain was screaming at me to not be stupid, I ended up being stupid.
It. Was. Awful.
No, it was BEYOND awful. So awful, in fact, that I left his apartment and wouldn’t talk to him or date him after that. I ignored his calls and messages on Facebook, and basically deleted him out of my life.
A couple days later, I’m hanging out at my girl’s place and I get this text at 1am from this kid saying how he has all these symptoms and he thinks I gave him the Clap. Whoa there, buddy. I know exactly where I’ve been. I am *always* safe, and checked. I, of course, was freaked out and mildly insulted, but if that’s the case so be it. I mean, shit happens right? It can happen to anyone unless you’re fucking Mother Theresa or something. Anyway, so I tell him to keep me informed, and make plans to go get checked out.
Well everything checked out fine but GET THIS: This little vermin went around to all of our mutual friends saying how I gave him the Clap and how I was dirty and a skank, basically just talking a lot of smack. So not only is this kid making me feel shitty and freaking me out, texting me DAILY in the wee hours of the morning absolutely shitfaced yelling and badgering me because we can’t be “friends” anymore, he’s now going around to my friends and making me look bad.
This is when I start to lose my shit a little bit. 3 months later, he texts me out of nowhere saying he’s so sorry, his symptoms were because of a ruptured testicle and never had anything to do with me, and he was wrong. Okay, that’s cool. I can respect someone who can man up and say sorry. So at this point I accept his apology, but I’m still fucking sour at the fact that he shat all over my feelings and then talked a lot of bullshit to all of our friends behind my back. One good thing doesn’t excuse a handful of shitty things. The New Years party this year was very interesting for me to sit through with all the snide remarks and underhanded jokes between certain people.
EVER SINCE THE SUMMER he has texted me randomly, harassing me asking if I will suck his cock or sends me rude messages on Facebook saying “Come give me a handjob”, “Would you fuck my buddy for x amount of dollars” just really rude, vulgar shit. Like… really? 8 MONTHS LATER and you still can’t let it go? Seriously kid?
The funny thing is, the only thing I ever did to this guy was reject him, and now I have to deal with all this bullshit. All I ever did was reject him, and I have to deal with being humiliated in front of my friends, being gossiped about, being freaked out, harassed and badgered. Like… what the fuck. Can’t you just take it like a man and leave me alone…?
WHY YOU SO OBSESSED WITH ME??? Don’t you have shit to do…?
GOD DAMN.
Inspiration
As everyone knows I (used to, and occasionally still) troll Craigslist in the missed connections and personals sections. I dunno why, I get kicks out of it I guess. Some of them are very touching. This one damn near made me cry!
I have twenty years of incredibly fulfilling marriage because I chose the unique. While there is certainly something to be said for the uncomplicated, predictable ease many of my very good friends settled for, it’s also sensationally uninspiring. Twenty years, three children and an ever-present sense of excitement has made a beautiful marriage. Her wild and unpredictable ways quickly matured and when I simply accepted that she was who she was, she brought me into her world and immersed herself in mine. It wasn’t always Heaven, but in our now empty house, and her continued spirit, I don’t dread being alone with my partner, I relish the thought. She was incredibly frustrating at first; I could not understand why she continuously held me at arm’s length and refused to let me in. There was something soft and beautiful inside that she was afraid to show, forever terrified of being hurt. Her defenses were for self-preservation and when she realized that I just wanted to share in her light, she finally learned to trust me in every sense of the word and stopped making back-up plans.
The unique mark your soul eternally. If you carry nothing but the haunting echoes of her spirit as it once touched you, you will always be in want of more. Don’t deny your heart and your soul what it truly desires because it is a little difficult now. Everything worth fighting for is eventually worth dying for. Hold her hand to the very end. It’s what you truly desire and from a man who was once in your very shoes, I promise you the journey is worth it. The two who can survive through the very worst are the two who learn to celebrate the very best and to work together through the very worst because they know one another on every level. There is nothing my wife and I cannot face together as one team. It helped raising three very unique children who have already started leaving their mark.
———————————- Original post:
I want to get over you…
but I keep going back..its hard to forget someone so unique.
OMG
This just made my whole day. Among the cutest, geekiest things I have ever seen in my life. I love it.
Cowl
I desperatelywant to make this cowl I saw on ebay, but would like to make the hood bigger (to be more like a classic loose cowl with a lot of extra fabric) if possible. I just have no idea where to even start as far as creating (or mimicking) the pattern.
I was hoping to use a soft yarn for this, as my skin is really sensitive (some types of wool really irritate my skin, as does acrylic, etc)
Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you!
Video Chat & Moving
I just added video chat to the website, in the hopes that it will add a new dimension to the site. I want this to be an interactive place, where you can watch me create the things I create, or be silly, or be… I dunno. Alive.
So click this if you’re at all interested.
In other news, I’ve decided on a school for the fall! So I am really fucking excited about it. I will be moving, though, which is scary (but fun). I have wanted to leave Ottawa for a long time, so in 6 months (while I save up money and go through the application process, and find a place there) I will be GTFOing. I can’t wait. *SQUEEE*
Be. Here. Now.
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
This is why I live my life wide open. Like a ray of Sun shining into my heart, the Truth is my one vow to myself that will remain unbroken. I am alive. I am here. I am FREE.
Somebody…
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it’s an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end
Always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I’ll admit that I was glad it was over
But you didn’t have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened
And that we were nothing
And I don’t even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger
And that feels so rough
And you didn’t have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records
And then change your number
I guess that I don’t need that though
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I’d done
And I don’t wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn’t catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know…
But you didn’t have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened
And that we were nothing
And I don’t even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger
And that feels so rough
And you didn’t have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records
And then change your number
I guess that I don’t need that though
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
I used to know
That I used to know
Somebody…
Pursuit of Happiness
I want to talk about happiness.
Lately I have found myself in a permanent state of gratitude for my life and the people in it. It seems like every time I am faced with a crisis, out of the woodwork come all these people; some I didn’t expect and lots I did; to offer their support, their knowledge, their time, their energy. I have been privileged to spend a lot of time lately with people who are just… incredible. It’s easy to take advantage of them while things are great in your life, but when you are down and you feel like shit, these people have an amazing way of lifting your spirits so you drift gently back to your own two feet again. These people are Godsends. Some of them don’t even realize how much they have impacted your life or a chain of events. A simple compliment, a glance, an email, a text. Sometimes these simple gestures from one’s heart to another, is all that’s needed to set you on the right path again.
I have been very lucky to meet some really stellar people in the last little while… People I have come to feel very close to. People I feel I can rely on. I used to be so anti-social and introverted and now… I can’t imagine not being surrounded by these people. They make me strive to be a better person, if anything, so that I treat them better because I feel they deserve it. Jeez, I feel so full of love and life. These people give me LIFE.
Let’s talk about music. I’ve said it before and I really believe that loud bass can heal anything. Haha.
I carry on like I’m made out of titanium alloy and nothing can touch me, but it isn’t true. I’m fallible, flawed, and I get hurt. Damn I get hurt sometimes. Let’s be real for a minute, I am fucking hurting. It gets easier every day and all the love in my life heals me a little bit at a time, but I am still sad and angry and there is a knot in my stomach that will be there for a while still. I don’t give a shit if I’m the only one, and if I’m the only broken hearted person in this situation that’s fine. I’m going to feel how I feel and all I can do is look forward, drop my shoulder and push right through it. I know I will, and I know I will come away from this stronger and more determined than ever.
But right now, I hurt all over. I feel like I got tossed in a burlap sack and thrown down a flight of stairs. Or ten.
I’m not ashamed of how I feel. I refuse to apologize or act like it isn’t there. I’ve lived honest for so long, I can’t hide who I am. I wish things were different, and I wish that things had turned out the way I still sometimes fantasize. I have a small glimmer of hope in my heart. I am a romantic and I believe in enduring love that doesn’t die. I know with my head that’s not realistic, but fuggit, Imma believe it anyway because it helps me sleep at night. I feel helpless and disappointed and fucking ANGRY. I’m confused. I’m scared.
But I’m resolute.
I know things can’t go back to how they were, and truthfully, I don’t want them to. I deserve better than what I got, even if it was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I know that I don’t want to be around people who lie so much they don’t even know who they ARE. I don’t want to be around people who let others control their lives, their thoughts, their identity. I can’t. I don’t respect that behavior, I dislike it, it makes me feel physically sick.
I really… am hopeful. Honest to God I wish the best for Him and I hope that whatever path life leads him on will allow him to grow into the man I know is hiding in there. There is so much love and amazing qualities just waiting to be let out that it hurts me to know it’s just being WASTED. I feel so fucking angry because I know he has so much potential, he is loved so much for just who he is that I can’t understand why he taints it with so much useless bullshit. WHY. Why lie to prop yourself up or make yourself seem better than you are, you are already amazing. You’re already admired and loved just the way you are, why are you detracting from that by making yourself cheap and unrespectable? Why make people doubt you? Why cause so much shit for nothing? Can’t you see how amazing you are? And it makes me angry that he hasn’t yet found the strength to just be who he is regardless of what anybody thinks. I feel frustrated.
Leaving was the best thing for me in the end. I hate it every day, but I know it was right. I wish with all my heart it wasn’t. I know I will move on and things will change with time… Looking to the past won’t change anything, but it helps to see where you’ve come from. I felt insulted and hurt that he finally stopped chasing after me, but you know what, I am glad now. And it’s not because there aren’t feelings anymore, I am just glad for the break and it made things easier for me. It was the right thing to do. It kills me to think about how shit ended up, it hurts to be apart.
It was a bomb that dropped, and in the wake of the impact all the other love came rushing back in. The door slammed shut in my face, but ten new ones opened up for me. No, I’m not over it completely, but I am grateful for this. Sometimes I wonder if I create crisis in my life for this feeling of accomplishment, empowerment, overcoming. Maybe that’s partly true. It’s necessary to create change in myself, I guess. I have realized a lot about myself and my relationships because of this catastrophe. The pain reminds me that I’m alive, and all this love reminds me that it’s real. Jeez.
I’ve still got work to do, but hell… I’m not where I want to be but thank GOD I’m not where I used to be! I can look back 5 years and just… cringe. I’ve come a long way, baby, and I’m going strong.
Love can heal anything. You just have to believe it can.