Learning How to Fall

 I was walking on a wire

Looking down, there was no net
Now, I'm standing at your door
Me and my last cigarette, oh

Yeah, we've been through this before
Too late to cover up my tracks
Damn the fool who begs for more
I'll take my past and paint it black

Now this circus has left town
This clown has gotta get his feet back on the ground 

I was standing in the light
There were faces all around
I put my gloves up for the fight
One sucker punch and I was down

I was flying through the clouds
Pucker up, it's time to kiss the ground

I'm learning how to fall
Learning how to take a hit
Had to walk before I crawled
It was winner take it all
I'm learning how to fall...
Yeah, I got the hang of it

~Bon Jovi, Learning How to Fall

Soul to Soul, A Kiss and A Sigh

Ev'rybody says that the living is easy 
I can barely see ‘cause my head's in the way 
Tigers walk behind me-
they are to remind me that 
I'm lost- but I'm not afraid

Soul to soul- A kiss and a sigh 
Sawed in half- by the passage of time 
Halfway home- from a window you see 
Chains and bars- but I am still free

People on the outside-
I remember sweet times 
This old rose- is always in bloom 
Ev'rybody is happy- to be a baby daddy 
Stone love- with nothing to lose

Life is long- if you give it way 
So stay, don't go- ‘cause I'm fading away 
Soul to soul- between you and me 
Chain me down- but I am still free

Now I can say- those three little words 
And ev'ry day- I'm dreaming a world 
Soul to soul- a kiss and a sigh 

Holding back- the waters outside.

Life is long- if you give it way 
So stay, don't go- ‘cause I'm fading away 
Soul to soul- between you and me 
Chain me down- but I am still free

~ David Byrne - Soul To Soul

Home

The dimming of the light makes the picture clearer
It's just an old photograph
There's nothing to hide
when the world was just beginning

I memorized a face so it's not forgotten
I hear the wind whistlin'
Come back anytime
And we'll mix our lives together
Heaven knows- what keeps mankind alive
Ev'ry hand- goes searching for its partner
In crime- under chairs and behind tables
Connecting- to places we have known 

(I'm looking for a)
Home- where the wheels are turning

Home- why I keep returning
Home- where my world is breaking in two 

Home- with the neighbors fighting
Home- always so exciting
Home- were my parents telling the truth? 

Home- such a funny feeling
Home- no-one ever speaking
Home- with our bodies touching
Home- and the cam'ras watching
Home- will infect whatever you do
We're Home- comes to life from outta the blue

Tiny little boats on a beach at sunset
I took a drink from a jar
& into my head
familiar smells and flavors

Vehicles are stuck on the plains of heaven
I see their wheels spinning round
& everywhere
I can hear those people saying

That the eye- is the measure of the man
You can fly- from the stuff that still surrounds you
We're home- and the band keeps marchin' on
Connecting- to ev'ry living soul
Compassion- for things I'll never know

~David Byrne - Home

My Home Sweet Home 

pungguk

Bayang rembulan ditepi air

Rindu dan cinta mencair    

Adalah asa jadi nyata

Jika kau jadi milikku

tentu bahagia

Hypatia of Alexandria

There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner, which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not unfrequently appeared in public in presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more.

”

—Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History

After I have seen movie of Agora, I really admire Hypatia as a person and as woman for her grace and eloquence, of beauty and wisdom.  Interestingly there is an opinion stated that she was born before her time and she died before her time, but I would say she was indeed born and  lived at her right time.  Because through her works, she had accomplished and brought enlightenment in astronomy, mathematic, and philosophies.   Without her works, knowledge today would have  different story,  such as earth circles the sun in form of oval orbit instead of round, in which it explains the weather seasons.

As Hypatia lived during the late 4^th, early 5^th centuries – a time of great change; she had chosen her life different than normal.  She remained single until her death, in order to pursue her passion in sciences. She also taught in prestige school for future leaders of upper class society at that time, which shown her knowledge were recognized and appreciated by patriarchy society. 

It’s a pity she had to die caused of  a large Christian mob.  In the movie shown us that Hypatia had been died before mob could do horrible things on her body, but history told us different,  some sources told that Hypatia had been seized on the street, beaten her, and dragged her body to a church where they mutilated her flesh with sharp tiles and burned her remains. It is sad to know she had to die because she was both female and transcendentalist pagan in an increasingly Christian environment.

I have plenty of what-ifs in my head about Hypatia, what if she had lived in modern time then would she have done many great works for people; what if she had married to prominent man then would she have been survived from the threats; what if she was not a pagan, would she have been as bright as she was?  But history has written its story, whatever it ended, Hypatia had did something and remained a remarkable woman with tragic story.

Who's the judge?

Q : Who is the judge? 
A : The judge is God. 
Q :  Why is he God? 
A :  Because he decides who wins or loses. Not my opponent. 
Q : Who is your opponent? 
A : He doesn’t exist. 
Q :  Why he doesn’t  exist? 
A :  Because he is a mere dissenting voice of the truth I speak!

Q :  Then speak the truth

-Taken from “The Great Debaters”

Tough Times

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
- Anonymous

When you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
- Franklin D Roosevelt

If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
- Winston Churchill

Oh Perplexity

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind’s eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light.  And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he has a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this that in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.

~~Plato, The Republic