Via Ramona Taylor

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."

- Frederick Keonig

My Goodbye Lunch

 Marcee, Rox and Denise

Krista

Matt and Michelle after one too many

Derrick and Matt mugging for the camera.

Matt and Michelle

Matt and Michelle after a cup of coffee.

Michelle, Cindy and Melani

 Michelle pointing out the obvious, Cindy trying to keep her under control and Melani.

Melani and Heather.

Denise and Jaydan.

Gord

Horsing around with Pam.

Jack and Krista.

Jen and Kelly.

Kelly being not very managerial :)

For My Wife

Come to Me


Come to me
I know we are out of sync
I know they will call it dying
but come to me anyway
I have tried to hate you with the strength
of many animals and I cannot hate you
so come to me burning
and I also will burn
come to me with ancient music and I will be a snake
writhing with my many wrists
each one more undulant than your long hair
o I still have nights and nights of you
all queued up in the thirst of a single slave
to work out
come to me with snow and I will promise
to be red in it
come to me unique and I will match you
stare for stare
come to me in greek in spanish in french in hebrew
and I will sing that I found you
because I overthrew reason
because I live in the wreck of my senses
by wish and magic
like a roc in the ruins of its egg
come to me dancing
that dark bacchanal of your kiss
so wet on my lips for days I will not want
drugs or water
just your own sea broken like a sheet of lightning
on your thigh so sensual
come to me because we will arrive
anyway at each other
because it has been many lives
and each time we touch
great forces
are again able to move
come to me cruel and lovely
because I am abandon
because I am silver
because a million years
you have suffered
and know at last how to be free


-- Robert Priest

apane hi kuun ke dariya mein nahaane nikale

And you call yourself a Muslim? 

From Reuters: July 18 - The Pakistan Taliban releases a video, posted on Liveleak.com, showing masked militants...shooting more than a dozen Pakistani security personnel in firing-squad style in the northwest part of the country last month. WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES.

By what stretch of whose imagination could this be considered" in the service of God?"  Surely, God is sitting shamefaced, with his head in his hands, for these supposed followers of His will.  Silly men with toys can be dangrous sometimes.

It seems that some people will happily step out to bathe in a sea of their own brother's blood.

 

A New Beginning?

Okay, people! I have decided to return to blogging. I have been struggling and ignoring the blog for quite some time now. I'm going to start safely tell you that I am moving workplaces from Durham Mental Health Services to Surrey Place Centre in Toronto. So, all you lurkers and what-nots, come and find me...I dare you!

Surrey Place is a new beginning of sorts: Six years ago I left the Griffin Centre's Crisis Network for Durham and was already familiar with Surrey Place and some of the staff working there at the time. At Griffin I was doing crisis case management with developmentally delayed and dual-diagnosed clients. Surrey Place (SP) will give me an opportunity to exercise some of those same skills again.

The bonus is I will be better paid (important, though no one seems to talk about this elephant in the room) and there are some familiar faces (even friends) at SP and the other agencies in the developmental services sector. It is a homecoming of sorts for me.

I'm very excited for the (soon to come) arrival but am also saddened by the (almost) departure. Today, I reconnected a client to a therapist he had walked away from nine months ago. Among other things discussed, his therapist discussed the importance of saying goodbye appropriately; about how I have been with this client through many hoops and over many hurdles. There have been a ton of changes and some definite successes. And it was sad to have to say goodbye to him, there is so much still to be done and it's all very much, given time, achievable and do-able. Letting go is not easy for me.

Nevertheless, the moment arrives. We shake hands, a few words exchanged. He says, "You're the best worker in the whole world!" And I say, "You've done a lot of great work and I'm sure that you will get lots done (with your new worker)." Words seem to let people down and lingering, waiting for the right phrase/sentiment to come, seems so awkward. So we shake hands, I give him a hug and say, "Be well." And drive away feeling the pain of loss, try to re-focus on the present moment and put up my work shield.

Now we're both grown up a little.

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Loving You Is Killing Me - Aloe Blacc

LOVE THIS! Thanks, Lisa!

D. H. Lawrence Says

"A woman unsatisfied must have luxuries. But a woman who loves a man would sleep on a board."


"A woman has to live her life, or live to repent not having lived it."


"The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few in most personal experience. There’s lots of good fish in the sea...maybe...but the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you’re not mackerel or herring yourself you are likely to find very few good fish in the sea."

"One must learn to love, and go through a good deal of suffering to get to it, and the journey is always towards the other soul."

Filipino Names

Fun article on the Filipino penchant for wacky nicknames:

"On my first day in Manila, I walked down to the local cafe and was served by a smiling young girl who wore a name badge entitled BumBum."

Readings

I seem to read, at random, books that seem to be closely allied: A while back I read "A Long Way Home: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." Recently, I finished Alexandra Fuller's, "Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier." Fuller's book is beautifully written and is a journey into the history of a man known to the reader only as "K," who also happens to be an ex-soldier of the conflicts in Southern Africa. His tale is heart breaking and told unflinchingly in vivid colour by Fuller. There is a problem with this memoir: In order to get "K" to open up to her Fuller allows K to think that she is as "in love" with him as he is with her. It is never clear whether Fuller was unhappy with her husband in the U.S., in love with K, or merely allowing K to think that she is the one for him in order to coax his story out of him. She does, however, have the decency to cover K's true identity by not naming him in this book. Well worth a read despite my moral hand wringing.

I have also been reading a work of science fiction by Jack McDevitt called "The Engines of God." The first and last book that I read by McDevitt was also in the series of "Priscilla Hutchins Novels." I normally avoid multiple novels held together by a repeating character because they, in my experience, end up being rehashes of the initial successful novel even if ably written. Having said that, if all you want is a good romp (read) than this book will do the trick. Like his other novel ("Chindi")which I read previously, "The Engines of God," was a repetition of the archaelogical-space-mystery-adventure which I had experienced before...I may yet give another one of McDevitt's books a try as he has some powerful reviewers on his side.

Lastly, I have just picked up M.G. Vassanji's, "A Place Within." It is a travelogue by this Tanzanian born, Ismaili writer who goes to India, his ancestral homeland, to discover....well, I'm not sure as I haven't read the book yet. Nevertheless, you can't go wrong with Vassanji -- a two-time winner of The Giller Prize and winner of the Governor General's Award too!

Raghu Dixit "No Man Will Ever Love You, Like I Do" LIVE on BBC Later Wit...

Snow Patrol

Narayanan Krishnan

Shab-E-Gham ae Mere Allah

Shab-e-gham ae mere allah basar bhi hogi
raat hi raat rahegi ke saher bhi hogi

maiN ye sunta hooN ke wo duniya ki khabar rakhte haiN
jo ye sach hai to unhe meri khabar bhi hogi

chaiN milne se hai unke na juda rehne se
aakhir ae ishq kisi tarha basar bhi hogi


Jagjit and Chitra Singh
Album: Your Choice
Lyrics : Seemab

Listen to this ghazal

Ain't Life Grand?

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic.

Source: The Smart Guys at NASA