Music For The Soul

There are some things that never cease to amaze me: guide dogs are a good example of something I am destined to always be in complete awe of.

There are some things that not only amaze me but move me to such a degree that I momentarily embark on a private and deep self reflection. There are not many things that prompt this in me.

Without a doubt, it is music that brings me to this point more often than anything else. Whilst at my parents this evening my father was watching The West Wing, and from the other room I was drawn to the tv as a piece of music started to play. Both my mother and me headed straight to the tv silently to better hear this piece of music and stood, motionless. Moved.

As the show climaxes in a height of emotion over the President's kidnapped daughter, Sanvean by Lisa Gerrard starts to stream from the tv.

Find it and listen to it. Stand, sit...whatever you need to do. Absorb the music and experience such an amazingly powerful piece of music that truly does caress the soul.

Al

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Double Standards

I met with a colleague (and a friend) today to catch up on each other's holidays. After filling her in on the 'Days of our lives' saga that became my holiday, I got the low down from her.

Mary has been blogged about before, a vivacious young woman who realised after seven years that her and her (now) ex were not on the same page. Slowly but surely she's got back on the horse - so to speak! In fact it appears she got on a couple of horses in a short period of time over the holidays. I was ever so please, as she was clearly happy to have done so and it was great to see her becoming more comfortable with putting herself out there. It seems she Is enjoying horses more than she realised!

However a comment quickly changed the focus of the conversation. It seems Mary was being very cautious about who she told as the stigma of a woman 'going riding' more than once every ten years was not one she wished to pursue.

How odd, I thought to myself. In gay male culture, you could go out to a club and pick up, take them home and 'hop on the horse'. You could then shower and head back and do it all again. And if you were to tell your male friends, you would get a smile which would say 'Well done, I wish I had the courage to go out and do that!'

In stark contrast here we have a woman who is anything but the cheap and vulgar slang terms she would surely receive were she to tell the wrong person. The double standards have gone nowhere so far as I can tell, but i'll turn straight before I submit to those.

Good on her I say, and if she wants to enter every horse race in the country what does it really matter so long as the horses don't already have a rider??

Al

Posted with LifeCast

Elusive harmony

Someone once said to me that there are three things in life that are important to everyone - love, home and work - and that of these things there will always be one that isn't performing as you would like. Ever since hearing this, I thought this was the case insofar as my life was concerned, with one coming good whilst simultaneously another started to fail.

Then, just before the end of the year, they all came good and stayed that way and I thought I really had sorted out my life so well that I had attained the unattainable. Little did I realise what was coming my way...for I had not been made aware of the fourth element in this equation: friends.

And so begins the latest disaster to mop up as the PBF and me are no longer on speaking terms. A series of events over the Christmas break whilst holidaying with my closest friends (including the PBF) have made me question when discretion should be used with your friends, and when you should just be blunt and tell them how you feel about what they are doing with their life.

As you would have read from previous posts, the PBF has an entirely unhealthy obsession with a man he simply can't have. This obsession has been going on for well over a year, with me having to hear about it every single time I see the PBF. At first it seemed comical and harmless however it's manifested into an unhealthy, sad and lonely obsession that is beginning to effect PBF in such a way that he is volatile and withdrawn.

So I wonder, do you call them early on this type of thing and be completely honest? Or do you do as I did on this occasion and make it clear that you don't think there's a chance, all the while knowing the person is not listening to what you are saying?

By taking such an approach we have had a disagreement of such magnitude that we aren't speaking and I am now faced with emailing PBF to ensure he knows where I stand. And despite only ever having the best of intentions, I have a fair idea none of it is going to register with him.

The elusive harmony in life once again slips away...I did get close this time though!

Al