I'm still here!

HELLO !?!

IS THERE ANYBODY HERE?

Today, we celebrate the first anniversary of this blog.


Well... that's a big fat lie.

I actually started this blog on April 8th 2012.

But that day also turned out to be Easter Sunday.

So I decided to celebrate my blogaversary on Easter Sunday whenever it comes.


Troughout this first year, I managed to publish the very impressive ammount of...


...4 posts!



Magnifique!



But I'm fine with this. There is no way I'm going to fall into a severe case of blogger guilt. One of my main resolution was that I would not put any pressure on myself to blog.


Since my last post on October 1st, life has been quite hectic, bizarre, intriguing...

I wish I could write about it all but I'm way too busy just experiencing it right now, so you'll all have to bear with me... at least those who ARE still here too!


For now, I'm leaving you with Elaine Stritch's amazing rendition of "I'm still here", from the musical "Follies" by Stephen Sondheim.

At 85 years old, the lady is still rockin'!

Sondheim: The Birthday Concert
Filmed March 2010 with the New York Philharmonic
Avery Fisher Hall, New York City
Song: "I'm Still Here" from "Follies" (1971)
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Featuring Elaine Stritch
Conducted by Paul Gemignani

I'M STILL HERE!

LOOK WHO'S HERE!

HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE!

Hugs
Jon

Real Man

As I was tumblring around, I fell on this picture of John Wayne: 

It wasn't much the picture that caught my attention but rather the caption left by the blogger who posted the picture. The caption went like this:

Where have all the great men gone? And who are all these hipster jackasses?

Without really inquiring the real motive of such statement, I was prompted to reblog this post adding this reply:

A real man wouldn’t say stupid things like that! Whiner wieners! A real man lives with his time, holding his head high and not letting his ego, his vanity and his sufficiency befog his judgement.

A real man never let the foolishness of other people get to him because he knows he has made many mistakes himself in the past and will make some more again.

A real man doesn’t waste his time complaining and criticising because he’s got way too much work to do.

A real man doesn’t need to win all the time because he very well knows he doesn’t own the patent of truth and that, if he is patient enough, time will prove him right… or wrong, and if he is a real man, he will admit his errors.

A real man doesn’t put the blame on those who don’t think like him, those who don’t live by his own code of morals, those who don’t share his political, religious or philosophical beliefs and values, or those who try to sabotage his efforts.

A real man simply keeps working and never cease to inquire his own soul.


A real man doesn’t ask where all the great man have gone. He just works hard at becoming one.

Hugs
Jon

Opposing passions

If you are a democrat, please unfriend me.
If you are a republican, please unfriend me.


If you are a liberal, please unfriend me.
If you are a conservative, please unfriend me.

***

If you are a socialist, please unfriend me.
If you are a capitalist, please unfriend me.
If you are a communist, please unfriend me.
If you are a marxist, please unfriend me.
If you are an anarchist, please unfriend me.
If you are a monarchist, please unfriend me.

***

If you are an homosexual, please unfriend me.
If you are a transgender, please unfriend me.
If you are a bisexual, please unfriend me.
If you are straight, please unfriend me.

***

If you are a christian, please unfriend me.
If you are a muslim, please unfriend me.
If you are a jew, please unfriend me.
If you are a buddhist, please unfriend me.
If you are a pagan, please unfriend me.
If you are an atheist, please unfriend me.

***

If you are a man, please unfriend me.
If you are a woman, please unfriend me.

***

But if you are a human being,
Oh please! Please, will you be my friend?



Are there any human beings out there?

***

Do que fala a madrugada O murmúrio na calçada Os silêncios de licor Do que fala a nostalgia De uma estrela fugidia Falam de nós, meu amor Do que sabem as vielas E a memória das janelas Ancoradas no sol-pôr Do que sabem os cristais Das paixões diagonais Sabem de nós, meu amor Porque volta esta tristeza O destino à nossa mesa O silêncio de um andor Porque volta tudo ao mar Mesmo sem ter de voltar Voltam por nós, meu amor Porque parte tudo um dia O que nos lábios ardia Até não sermos ninguém Tudo é água que corre De cada vez que nos morre Nasce um pouco mais além

What does the dawn speak of Murmur of the pavement, The silences of liquor? What does nostalgia speak of For a disappeared star? They speak of us, my love. What do the alleys know? And the memory of the balconies Anchored in the sunset? What do the panes know Of conflicting passions? They know of us, my love. Why does this sadness come back, Destiny to our table, The silence of a leaving? Why does everything return to the sea, Even when it does not have to? They return for us, my love. Why does everything leave one day? What used to burn the lips Until we would be no-one? Everything is running water; And each time something dies in us It is reborn again a little further on.

Hugs 

Jon

 

Pilgrim

To all my friends.


To all of those who are struggling on the road of life.


With all my love.

I'm still trying to find my rhythm here! It might take a while.

Hugs

Jon

Resurrexit

To blog or not to blog


Effectively, why would I keep a blog? Isn't there something rather indecent to expose oneself in front of anyone who might just fall in this place? Is there any sort of necessity.

I'm not an achiever. I haven't invented some kind of new "magical" device that will change the way things are done on earth. I haven't receive any kind of prestigious award nor am I a famous public figure. Is this all some kind of exaggerated narcissism add to a distressing pedantry to believe that I can actually write in a langue I didn't start using on a regular basis before the age of 20, and that my scribblings can be of some sort of interest?

I did hold a blog in English last year from April to October. I then strongly felt the need to get out of my little linguistic ghetto and make contact with people speaking a different music than mine. People with similar values and beliefs but sung in a different key. And I did meet some wonderful individuals, a few of which became very close friend.

For this only and simple reason, I believe that keeping this blog is vital for my own growth and for the growth of those who will find a resonance in me baring my soul.

The past two years have certainly been the most challenging for me, although I can think of some other periods in my life where I thought my world was comming to an end. But I survived those and I survived the last one too.

In October 2009, I lost the most important man in my life. 25 years of the most unique and bizzare relationship I ever had. This man had shaped me, had sculpted me, made me the man I have become today. He was the music teacher, the mentor, the confidant, the best friend, the big brother... All these years, he was my sole point of reference.

Michel is the only man who helped me reconcile with my life and with humanity. I can still hear his low-tone voice in my head, telling me so many times that the world is the canvas on which I am to create my own masterpiece: my life! His death forced me to start to question all the choices I've made so far.

Although I very well know that one cannot get over such loss, but now, two years after, I feel that I'm through with the mourning process itself. My old blog, known to my friends as DeepBlue, gave me the opportunity to close this cycle, and it's time for me to turn the page and start a new chapter.

So I've decided to create an entirely new blog to keep me company on this journey. This time it will be a bilingual one. I was born and raised in a French-Canadian-Catholic household and, growing up in Montreal, I've always been somewhat torn between the two predonimant cultures, English and French. I want to address these issues by keeping those two blogs.

Why am I blogging? Whom am I writing for? First of all, I write for myself. In my opinion, it has to be the main goal of most writer, which I am not, I must be clear about this right away. Writing is a little bit like looking at ourselves in the mirror.

To write, to describe. In French both these words are much closer to one another: "Écrire", "Décrire"! We see that we only have to add one letter:

"Écrire", "Décrire".

Describe our features, our traits of character. Describe our curves, our wrinkles, our skin tone.

There is no doubt that we'll want to mask the imperfections, hide those darker part of ourselves we are ashamed of and wish to keep away from any critical eye. Can self-censorship be avoided? I cannot fool myself at thinking this blog won't be read because, it could be... by two or three people.

But I want anyways to play the game of pretending that this blog will only be read by me or only by someone on deathrow, someone who will never have the possibility to repeat the secrets revealed to him/her.

And it is getting late, so I will shut up for now! This is Easter Sunday 2012. I couldn't choose a better day to resuscitate in bloggerland!


Hugs

Jon