QOTD

Control yourself, let others do what they will.
This does not mean you are weak.
Control your heart, obey the principles of life.
This does not mean others are stronger.

~Southern Dragon Style Motto

QOTD

"I told the referee, 'Look at his eyes, look at his cuts'. I did not want to damage him permanently. That's not what boxing is about." ~ Manny Pacquiao

The Symmetry of Words

"...every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there. If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there." ~ Eat, Pray, Love (p. 137)

When I think about the place I love so much, I think about how my word fits its word seamlessly. It's like that very first time I stepped foot in that place and how it changed me. My friend Anna Liese and I were so moved by that visit that we vowed to go back.

A few years passed and I have not put much thought about that promise I made to myself. But we did go back. Anna Liese in 2006 for a one-year scholarship while I went back a year after her for what turned out to be a most unforgettable experience that further cemented my love for that place.

In my heart, I truly believe that whatever my word and that place's word may be, they somehow merge in amazing harmony thus creating the music that is the beating of my heart.

QOTD

“In the early months of training you’re thinking ‘What the hell is all this for?’ Because the race is so far off. There’s so much tedium and discipline and brutal effort to hammer through. You have to resist the subconscious desire to put an end to all this self-inflicted hardship. But as the days pass and you feel yourself getting stronger, you begin to live for the next day. You punish yourself if with a will in training, because you know you’re facing a race that will suspend your life. Somewhere in the race, you will find out what it is you’ve been working for. And your asking big questions of your body, and when the right answers are coming back, it’s a feeling you know you will never forget.” ~ Dan Topolski, Adapted from TRUE BLUE, The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny

A Lesson in Hope

"Sam: It's all wrong. By right, we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy

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Saw this on a friend's FB note only a few days after I rereading the trilogy. One of the most memorable conversations in the books. J.R.R. Tolkien's a genius.