Incredible Human Being

So happy that I can honestly tell you this person is my good friend. Do you have friends that are this funny? I think not.

This is Love

One of those moments when you can actually feel your heart...

Protective over Proust

Just like it was yesterday, clumsily handed to me and my twenty-some-odd classmates, were four pages. At first attempt, I received one page 14, two page 15's, and one page 17. Then at second attempt, two 14's and a combination and clutter of the remaining. Finally, disheveled and wearing chalk on his back, he handed each of us one page 14, one page 15, one page 16, and one page 17.

It was Spring, our class was [for the most part] all present, just as it was most days. Some there for the literature, some for the view and wise words of the figure at the front of the classroom, and some because they had no other choice. I was there for all three. That day, like many other days during that gorgeous spring, he had opened the classroom window to let life in.

What we had in front of us, I assumed, was just another excerpt from just another well respected writer. I was dead wrong. Maybe for the others these mix-matched papers held the same value as all the ones we received prior, but not for me. Little did I know that the print on these pages were to become something I forever treasure.

When he began to read the excerpt from Marcel Proust's "A Remembrance of Things Past" in his strong English accent the words felt to me like home. Although Ive never heard any bit or part of Proust's work it had such a strong sense of familiarity, intriguing every ounce of me.

Love...when we love something we hold it near, we protect it from negativity, and do all that we can to keep it safe. When we speak its name we know the warmth thats attached to the sound.

Mused but quiet, as I was often during this class, I began to fall in love with the words that I heard and the print that I read. I remember taking those four pages home and rereading them five times at least, just to be sure I was grasping every letter, every word.

This blog was created as "A little escape from your life into mine" and Ive shared much with its readers, but Proust's writing was something that I've kept to myself. Fearful of misunderstanding, or worse, disregard, Proust remained mine.

You may think this is silly and if you do thats okay. Those of you who believe so are the ones that I'd keep Proust from in the first place. But for those of you who are looking to read something beautiful and fragile and nostalgic please read this excerpt. Also, note that although this excerpt was found on a religious site Marcel Proust was in fact a Mystical Atheist. I only used this site because it was as close as possible to what I was given on that lively spring day.

Forever and always my all time favourite video.

Because I cant get it out of my head...

now it can be stuck in yours too.

Heavenly Hockey

By Ken Daneyko
VANCOUVER, British Columbia

"You have to hand it to Team USA – they fought hard and, against big odds, beat the home nation’s team. The crowd at Canada Hockey Place was 98 percent against them. They had a huge hill to climb by beating the incredibly strong Team Canada. Mission accomplished.

Ron Wilson, the head coach of Team USA and the Toronto Maple Leafs, played a game he would rather avoid as a rule. He’s always said that he prefers putting pressure on his opponents, forechecking hard in the attacking zone and pursuing the puck aggressively at all times. He switched gears on Sunday night, ordering his players to clog the neutral zone and, as a result, play a very conservative game. And it worked, although the superb net-minding of Ryan Miller also had something to do with it.

I still say that Canada has the better team and that was shown by the lopsided shots-on-goal total. Despite the loss (and I acknowledge that’s the only thing that counts), or even leading the game, I felt that Canada played its best game yet. The puck movement and physical play was much better than its previous two games, and they dominated the Americans throughout the majority of the 60 minutes.

Yet Team USA skated off the ice with a win and an automatic berth in the quarterfinals of an Olympic hockey tournament that is earning rave reviews. Here’s a look at the Super Sunday showdown game and what I saw as the keys to the game.

The Goalies

It’s not a cliché, it’s a fact – teams need their goaltenders to steal wins. Behind any championship hockey team sits a goaltender who has played the hero’s role on more than one occasion.

On Sunday night, it was Miller’s time to shine although that comes as no surprise who’s watched him carry the Buffalo Sabres on his slim shoulders so many times this season.

There’s no question that Canada’s forwards found their stride in front of an incredibly partisan crowd. And it took someone like Miller to stop the 42 shots the Canadians directed his way. He did everything on the night to keep Team USA in the game and he did his job fantastically well. All credit for the Americans’ win must go to Miller, who made the key saves when he was called upon to make them.

But I will stick up for my man, Martin Brodeur. I must admit it was a night when the younger and newer New Jersey Devils out-Devilled the ultimate Devil as Jamie Langenbrunner put the puck past Brodeur and Zach Parise assisted on Ryan Kesler’s empty-net goal.

Marty will surely be criticized for his play on Sunday. He made a few mistakes with some of his plays. But that’s how Marty rolls – he plays the puck and sometimes he gets burned for it. It’s a risk that Brodeur takes and when he does it well (and that’s often), he gets praise for it. On Sunday, he had a few rough patches with his puck-handling and it cost the team dearly. No one feels worse about that than Brodeur.

There’s no doubt that Roberto Luongo will be back in net on Tuesday as Canada takes on the Germans to qualify for the quarterfinals. But I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Brodeur in these Olympics.

The D-men

Sharing center stage with Miller on the Americans’ wonderful night was Detroit Red Wings’ blueliner Brian Rafalski.

Playing against his current NHL coach Mike Babcock, Rafalski had himself a game to remember. The veteran defenseman scored against his former New Jersey teammate Brodeur, collected his third and fourth goals of the tournament, and set up Langenbrunner’s goal. As the oldest player for the Americans, he showed great leadership on the ice. He showed that a veteran player can have a huge impact on a young team, not only in the dressing room but on the ice. There’s no doubt that Rafalski was the best defenseman for both teams.

Although I still contend that Canada has the better D-men, you have to give credit to the American defensive corps for the way it dealt with the constant wave of Canadian forwards. Despite the shots on goal, the Canadians’ top skaters were given a rough time around the American goal. This was a case where there wasn’t just one single person that stood out for USA. The team worked hard at trying to stop the Canadians and, although they used some fairly conservative tactics, they got the job done.

For Team Canada, someone who didn’t have his best night was Chris Pronger, who appeared sluggish and unable to keep up with the up-tempo pace of the game. If there’s a weak link with the Canadian team, it’s their play in the defensive zone and that’s something that Babcock will undoubtedly address before the game with Germany.

Luckily the good news for Canada is that Drew Doughty and Shea Weber shone, and for that reason, earned a lot of ice time. Doughty was all over the ice creating havoc for the American forwards. And Shea Weber was a work horse on the back end.

Doughty recently admitted to feeling awestruck when he first arrived in Vancouver. But he hasn’t shown that in the three games as a first-time Olympian, showing a lot of poise and he delivered another solid performance against the Americans.

The Forwards

How do you create a line around Sidney Crosby? Babcock has almost tried everyone in an attempt to find linemates for Sidney. The Pittsburgh captain looked frustrated at times Sunday, despite scoring a goal and having several good scoring chances, and it appears that the always important chemistry is still being worked out.

The San Jose Sharks’ line of Joe Thornton-Dany Heatley-Patrick Marleau continues to work really well. They were bullish and around the USA net all night long, but aside from Heatley’s second-period goal, came up a little short against Miller.

I really enjoyed watching Ryan Getzlaf. The hulking forward and Ryan Kesler were at each other for most of the night. It was great to watch Getzlaf and Kesler mouthing off right out of the gate. The side antics and little games the two played to get into each other’s heads was good to see. It’s these little things that add a little extra spice to a game that already has lots of emotion and tension.

The two forwards who really impressed me were New York Rangers’ teammates Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan. They have great defensive minds, which is why the carried a heavy load on the penalty kill and were on the ice for a large chunk of the final minutes as the American hung on to the lead.

The night belonged to the Team USA. They came out and played a smart game, and they did what they had to do. On paper, it shouldn’t have happened. On paper, Canada is far and away a better team. But with the fantastic performance Miller delivered, combined with the conservative defensive strategy Wilson employed, you take that paper, roll into a ball and toss it into the recycling bin.

Emotions of the game

Being inside Canada Hockey Place was just fantastic. Yes the crowd left a little quieter than they entered the building. Emotions for this rivalry are always going to run high. But with the Olympic Games in Canada, and Team USA looking for revenge after being unable to win gold on home ice during the 2002 Salt Lake Games, the rivalry is amplified as both teams have a great amount of pride on the line."

*****ARTICLE TAKEN FROM YAHOO! SPORTS*****

Ohh, how I love Wikipedia.

Wikipedia the word "bite" and this is what you will see...
is it wrong that this picture made me laugh hysterically?

Reinvent

A Mad Man

Belief and Technique for Modern Prose; a list of thirty "essentials"
by Jack Kerouac

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

Best Men

Best man: n.
The bridegroom's chief attendant at a wedding.

Sweetsters

revel in my randomness

Not sure if its the confusing weather or my nightmare of a morning, but something is causing me to have a really random day, ughhh and its only noon. For those of you that are on your game today congrats to you, I hope you take a moment out of your normality to revel in my randomness.

Music video:
This is basically how I feel today. Mean? Well sorry, getoverit.


Blurb:
Sometimes I find it amusing to subtly flirt with married men on the train. Keepyourhusbandshidden. I know thats awful to say, but Im sure I already have the EZ Pass to hell. Dont hate me. Actually, hate me if youd like.

Song lyric:
"When we fall in love, we're just falling in love with ourselves." Keane Hmmm, how true is this? I vote very.

Thought:
When we love or admire someone we sub-consciously memorize their laugh. We have the ability to play it over and over in our minds without them even being there. Knowing exactly what their mouth looks like, the shape in which their eyes take, the placement and movement of their body, and that infectious sound. Refreshing.

A little bit of love for everyone.

Whether you love love, hate love, or are just numb to love there is some form of love here for everyone.

I'll start with loving love- A group of professionals posed this question to a group of 4-8 year-olds, "What is love?" The answers they received were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. Read on:

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
Rebecca 8 yrs.

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
Emily 6 yrs.

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of you French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”
Chrissy 6 yrs.

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.”
Danny 7 yrs.

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
Bobby 7 yrs.

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”
Noelle 7 yrs.

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and he was smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”
Cindy 8 yrs.

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
Mary Ann 4 yrs.

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”
Lauren 4 yrs.

Sadly, loving love often does come to an end. We then welcome, with not so open arms, heartbreak. Im sure that we all at some point in our lives have felt like our hearts were literally broken, like without love we physically wouldnt be able to survive. Its that pain inside your chest, that moment waking up when you realize it wasnt just a bad dream, that unbearable weight on your soul. This article, Hearts Actually Can Break, is a must read if you have ever felt this way.

Sometimes after the heartbreak stage we experience simply nothing at all. A numbness where the thought of love doesnt even effect us. During this time we may even feel resistant towards the idea of love. I'd like to call this the "allergic" stage. Oh thank God for the occasional epipen. I know that when I feel this way a good song about how much love sucks is all that I really want to hear. Luckily, Ive come across a site that has ten music videos all with the same theme. Ill share one with you but if you really want your fill of love sucks songs I suggest you click here.

Bedtime song > Bedtime story

"If youre a bird, Im a bird."

So Ive finally given into Twitter. Follow me by clicking here! If you know me, you know just how many ridiculous things go through my mind and out my mouth, rarely ever filtered, Twitter will now have to suffer through it too. Ill also tweet about new blog posts so being my little bird friend will update you on whats going on in the world of Mused At Bay.

The man who made art out of fabric...Alexander McQueen.

"In a tragic start to New York Fashion Week, supremely talented 40-year-old British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found dead today at his apartment in London. He reportedly committed suicide.

The openly gay and fiercely private McQueen was widely acknowledged to be one of the most innovative and creative designers working today, known for just going balls-out with his designs and collections (the models in his 1995 "Highland Rape" collection—which represented the "rape" of Scotland by the British—looked like they had Tampon strings coming out of their ripped lace dresses). He wanted to name a 1998 show "Golden Shower" but ended up changing it to "Untitled" under pressure from the show's sponsor, American Express.

But he was much more than a provocative stuntman. His designs were worn by everyone from Lady Gaga (who wore his amazing lobster claw shoes with the 10-inch heels in her video for "Bad Romance") and Cyndi Lauper to his very close friend, the fashion writer and icon Isabella Blow, whose suicide in 2007 deeply affected him (the Daily Mail goes so far as to imply that he never got over her death); he dedicated his spring 2008 show at Paris Fashion Week to Blow. He met Blow as a graduate student at London's famed Central St. Martins, where she reportedly saw his designs in a grad student show in 1994 and tracked him down at his mother's house.

After graduating, he established his own label, but was named head designer at Givenchy in 1996 (his predecessor was John Galliano). In 2000, Gucci Group bought 51 percent of McQueen's label. Indeed, he had a shrewd commercial sense, designing a collection for Target and doing a sport line for Puma, in addition to his "high fashion" work.

McQueen was particularly close to his mother Joyce, who died last week. As Jezebel notes, McQueen's Twitter feed (which has been taken down) had recently become depressing and macabre.

The NYT's Moment blog's Twitter says that McQueen's New York Fashion Week show is still on, but The Cut is reporting that the show for his lower-priced line McQ, scheduled for today, has been canceled."


*****ARTICLE TAKEN FROM GAWKER*****

Because its blizzarding. Yes, blizzarding.

If you hate this
and this
as much as I do then take a listen to this
Close your eyes, first 40 seconds specifically should bring you some warmth. Heres a few things I imagine when I hear this song: sand on my feet and in my sheets, beer in koozies, dirty beach hair, dark skin and rosy cheeks, bonfires and crickets, sunsets dusk and lightning storms. Yummmm.

Fan-tastically Funny

Saint fan's heart in her throat
By David K. Li

The Saints didn't choke -- and neither did one of their biggest fans after accidentally swallowing an earring shaped like the team's logo.

New Orleans resident Florellen Rickard had a piece of fleur de lis jewelry stuck in her throat last week before ER doctors pushed it out of harm's way. She wore the earrings on Sunday.

"They're my lucky earrings and I wore them yesterday!" a beaming Rickard told The Post yesterday, still giddy about New Orleans' 31-17 upset victory over the Colts on Sunday in Super Bowl XLIV.

Every night, Rickard, 42, puts her Saints earrings in her jewelry box and takes six vitamins and supplements kept on her nightstand.

But last Monday, Rickard put her Saints earrings on the nightstand -- and in the dark, she blindly went for her vitamins and water.

"I swallowed and something really hurt -- then I looked down and saw one fleur de lis, " said Rickard, a Saints season-ticket holder. "I thought, 'Uh-oh.' "

ER doctors pushed the quarter-sized earring out of her throat and into her esophagus. Then doctors pumped her stomach to recover the jewelry.

By Sunday night, she and hubby Daniel Rickard were at a neighborhood party, noshing on crawfish and jambalaya, whooping it up for the Saints.

"She has a little sore throat, but she's OK," said Daniel Rickard, 53.

When doctors spotted the earring in X-rays, they broke out in laughter, easing the couple's worries.

" 'She's a Saints fan inside and out!' " she quoted her ER doctors as saying.


*****ARTICLE TAKEN FROM THE NEW YORK POST*****

ActLikeYouDontLoveIt

Honest Words

Im not sure where I pulled this from, or when I first saw this, but today on this "snowday" while working from home and searching through my old word documents folder, I came across this poem and wanted to share it with you...

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love for your dream for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy mine or your own if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful to be realistic to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

My initial thoughts at seeing this poem, saved amongst old art criticism papers and countless sociological statistic reports, left me wondering why I would have made sure to copy, paste, and save this document...then I read it. After reading The Invitation I realized exactly why I made sure to take the time to copy and paste and save it. To me, this poem is the most honest thing I've ever read. I think that every human should be made to live by these words. To be true to oneself and true to others, I believe, is the highest form of self respect and respect you could ever give to another human being.

"I hope that this shaking will help us awaken"

Okay, so I know I havent written in forever but I promise that I will start writing again soon! Heres some ear candy for now.