the P.Pole

Okay, so, continuing with my spam-posting—my trusty P.Pole is the only other place for my thoughts to go other than run amok in my head right now—here’s an article I stumbled upon while meandering through my blog feeds (I’ve neglected a bunch of things lately, and my feeds are in that pile). I left everything intact (except for some punctuation and formatting). I’m not big on accepting life-advice from the Internet, but I’m mentioning this article because… this girl (whoever wrote this thing) sounds like my Keith when I asked him for relationship advice last night—perhaps he secretly writes for online publications as a young North-American woman. No emphasis added by the way. Via Datingish.

Do You and Your Partner Communicate Clearly?

Communication between two people is more than mouths moving, ears perking, and limbs switching. It is the cornerstone of human relationships. Without effective communication, a relationship can’t exist. It’s easy to look back at old relationships and blame the other person for why the romance failed. In some cases, one party does bare more of the burden than the other. Speaking for myself, I bare the less visible but more noxious burden of my former relationships going awry. I didn’t communicate with my partner properly.

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I bring you, the philosophy of the late Bruce Lee!

5 Bruce Lee-isms:

• On Mentality:
  Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
• On Potential:
  Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.
• On Love:
  Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.
• On Forgiveness:
  Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.
• On Immortality:
  The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

This was free-spoken by Shane Koyczan during the opening ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver, Canada.

When defining Canada
You might list some statistics
You might mention our tallest building
Or biggest lake
You might shake a tree in the fall
And call a red leaf Canada
You might rattle off some celebrities
Might mention Buffy Sainte-Marie
Might even mention the fact that we’ve got a few
Barenaked Ladies
Or that we made these crazy things
Like zippers
Electric cars
And washing machines
When defining Canada
It seems the world’s anthem has been
“Been there done that”
And maybe that’s where we used to be at
It’s true
We’ve done and we’ve been
We’ve seen
All the great themes get swallowed up by the machine
And turned into theme parks
But when defining Canada
Don’t forget to mention that we have set sparks
We are not just fishing stories
About the one that got away
We do more than sit around and say “eh?”
And yes
We are the home of the Rocket and the Great One
Who inspired little number nines
And little number ninety-nines
But we’re more than just hockey and fishing lines
Off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes
And some say what defines us
Is something as simple as please and thank you
And as for you’re welcome
Well we say that too
But we are more
Than genteel or civilized
We are an idea in the process
Of being realized
We are young
We are cultures strung together
Then woven into a tapestry
And the design
Is what makes us more
Than the sum total of our history
We are an experiment going right for a change
With influences that range from a to zed
And yes we say zed instead of zee
We are the colours of Chinatown and the coffee of Little Italy
We dream so big that there are those
Who would call our ambition an industry
Because we are more than sticky maple syrup and clean snow
We do more than grow wheat and brew beer
We are vineyards of good year after good year
We reforest what we clear
Because we believe in generations beyond our own
Knowing now that so many of us
Have grown past what used to be
We can stand here today
Filled with all the hope people have
When they say things like “someday”
Someday we’ll be great
Someday we’ll be this
Or that
Someday we’ll be at a point
When someday was yesterday
And all of our aspirations will pay the way
For those who on that day
Look towards tomorrow
And still they say someday
We will reach the goals we set
And we will get interest on our inspiration
Because we are more than a nation of whale watchers and lumberjacks
More than backpacks and hiking trails
We are hammers and nails building bridges
Towards those who are willing to walk across
We are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss
We are not the see-through gloss or glamour
Of those who clamour for the failings of others
We are fathers brothers sisters and mothers
Uncles and nephews aunts and nieces
We are cousins
We are found missing puzzle pieces
We are families with room at the table for newcomers
We are more than summers and winters
More than on and off seasons
We are the reasons people have for wanting to stay
Because we are more than what we say or do
We live to get past what we go through
And learn who we are
We are students
Students who study the studiousness of studying
So we know what as well as why
We don’t have all the answers
But we try
And the effort is what makes us more
We don’t all know what it is in life we’re looking for
So keep exploring
Go far and wide
Or go inside but go deep
Go deep
As if James Cameron was filming a sequel to The Abyss
And suddenly there was this location scout
Trying to figure some way out
To get inside you
Because you’ve been through hell and high water
And you went deep
Keep exploring
Because we are more
Than a laundry list of things to do and places to see
We are more than hills to ski
Or countryside ponds to skate
We are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can’t wait
We are first-rate greasy-spoon diners and healthy-living cafes
A country that is all the ways you choose to live
A land that can give you variety
Because we are choices
We are millions upon millions of voices shouting
“Keep exploring… we are more”
We are the surprise the world has in store for you
It’s true
Canada is the “what” in “what’s new?”
So don’t say “been there done that”
Unless you’ve sat on the sidewalk
While chalk artists draw still lifes
On the concrete of a kid in the street
Beatboxing to Neil Young for fun
Don’t say you’ve been there done that
Unless you’ve been here doing it
Let this country be your first-aid kit
For all the times you get sick of the same old same old
Let us be the story told to your friends
And when that story ends
Leave chapters for the next time you’ll come back
Next time pack for all the things
You didn’t pack for the first time
But don’t let your luggage define your travels
Each life unravels differently
And experiences are what make up
The colours of our tapestry
We are the true north
Strong and free
And what’s more
Is that we didn’t just say it
We made it be.
— Shane Koyczan, More (Copyright © The Vancouver Sun)

Just take it back. They’re only words. We hold the tethers. We’re here together.

I feel your hair through my fingers.

We paint the night, only to find it’s cracked and peeling–each face revealing what we don’t say.

Every silk strand takes my breath away.

Let’s take these lines and draw ourselves out of here, this shipwreck from set-sail. We’ll map the stars–tonight they help to find a way. When all is said, words can breathe more life than death.

The inner sense that people share: touching on secrets and letting down hair.

Over and over–let’s not forget last time. I’ve kept the best parts and play them in my mind. This is tomorrow so take it or leave it.

Empty diaries–there’s nothing to say, and we’ll take the right steps to keep these pages clean. You want the answers? I see them on your face. You need to know this is where the promise breaks.

I can give you my answer: I know if you stay this will be ours to take.

Inside I am overwhelmed from holding back, but know that this won’t be forever.

I feel so good, I want you for all my days, but tonight…

I can’t stay here–you can’t ask me. Just so you would know.
- Emery, Disguising Mistakes As Goodbyes

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Quoth I from some famous dude I heard about last week:

The strong make them.

The smart seize them.

The weak wait for them.

The foolish forfeit them.

Some shrink on the show said this:

“If you want to feel better, take a pill. If you want to get right, face the truth.”

I thought it was neat. That will be all.

Ah, poetry.

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.W. B. Yeats

When we think of dreams, we often think of our own. Perhaps, of how vain they are, or of how meager. Do we ever think of what role we play in the dreams of others?