Hearts

This poem is dedicated to a friend who has recently had their heart broken.

Hearts are chunks of perfect beauty we all carry within us. These little sparks are proof positive of a blissful joy beyond understanding. So powerful it trancends our earthly senses and points to a metaphyscial reality that rings true in our souls. Though unseen, we do catch glimpeses of it's effects in our lives.

Like a new born baby, young hearts have a pure glow to them you can actually smell. They exude syrupyness without leaving that sickly sweet sting on your tongue. A naive innocence so absolute we pass laws to make destroying such a wonderous thing the most heinous crime.

But hearts are made to be broken. Like any good thing they must come to an end. Fixing a broken heart is a dirty job to be sure. It can seem impossibly daunting when you see the countless twisted shards strewn across the floor like shrapnel. Your hands are sure to get bloody with the sharp edges of raw emotions cutting into your fingers. You'll suffer setbacks of missing pieces. Even when you finally finish the puzzle and the pieces back together you'll see veins running through a once clear and seamless surface like cancerous fingers gripping your heart and refusing to let go.

Here is the part where so many of us go wrong. In the name of safety and a misled effort to avoid the same tragedy again we lock our heart away in a dungeon. Caged up like a criminal, as if to say it was at fault. Too open, too accepting, too trusting. Instead what we should do is cast open the doors and let the light shine through us.

Sure it won't shine the same. But that simple shimmer is replaced by a full spectrum of hues and brightness. Those white veins turn into twisiting pillars of light. Tiny inflections in them make the light dance in new and wonderous ways.

Hearts are made to be broken.

Oh No Canada!

In the throne speech of March 3rd, 2010 the government said "Our Government will also ask Parliament to examine the original gender-neutral English wording of the national anthem."

I'm sorry. What? Yes folks, apparently our National Anthem is sexist by using the phrase "in all thy sons command." Is this really a priority? Even for extremist femenists, they must have more pressing issues at hand? Like maybe, equal pay for women doing the same job as a man? No, we need to bastardize our National Anthem first!

To me, it's an Old English word similar to the other ones used in the song that can in essence mean "sons & daughters". Or perhaps, it's because the song was written at the turn of the previous century when it was our sons we commanded into battle. But the government claims that the original version was gender neutral ("thou dost in us command").

To me it looks like the government didn't read their own website. O Canada was originally written and composed in French, and subsequently translated into English, with entirely different lyrics aside from the title. Numerous variations of translations followed. Our current national anthem is based upon a poem by the Honourable Robert Stanley Weir. The poem had 4 main stanzas (or verses) and a refrain. It's the 1st main stanza upon which our national anthem was built

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

But if we are going to revisit the lyrics we should look at ALL of them. The first thing we'll have to get rid of is the line about "native land" seeing as we stole most of it from them. Next would be the line about God. Because if our children can't talk to God in schools (public prayer) then we shouldn't talk about God. And calling ourselves the "True North" might offend other Northern nations like Russia & the Netherlands. And speaking of freedom would be unfair and innacurate when refering to prisoners. Finally, we need to modernize the language. Lose the 'thee''s and 'thou''s for something like "Yo Canada."

We'll be left with nothing but glowing hearts guarding nothing but our political correctness, and perhaps hockey. Whichs make me wonder, aside from hockey games, when do most Canadians attempt to even hum along (since we long ago forgot the words when they made it 1/2 in french or we finished high school)? At this point I think most Canadians are more familiar with the Hockey Night In Canada theme song. Of course, they screwed with that too.

Which is just more proof that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Oh when the Saints...

So last night I watched the Superbowl. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a sports guy. I'd LOVE to spend my Sundays lounging around watching football. It's just not that important to me. I do on occassion like to watch a hockey game (OHL) or football game (CFL) if I'm there in person.

The one major exception to this rule is of course the Superbowl. Mainly because it's usually the PERFECT excuse for a guys night out. I've been to some odd parties before. LOL like the time I had been talking to this girl from Hamilton over the internet. She invited me to the Superbowl party put on by her church. I dragged my buddy Mark with me and won a football with a built in pump (which I still have BTW).

Now my buddy Mark is the sports nut or 'Commish' as he likes to be called by his fanatsy football cohorts. So I can usually count on him planning some sort of Superbowl party. Well this new year has been crazy busy so we never wound up connecting in time to figure out what the plan was. So this Sunday my wife made chilli in the slow cooker and I was blessed with an afternoon of pre-game analysis and the game itself.

I was excited because this year I had an actual favourite. I had been rooting for the Saints since the beginning of the season. After all they had suffered from as a result of hurricane Katrina both the city and the team had to rebuild from the ground up. It seemed like, for the team at least, this was their chance to rise up.

Everytime people asked who I was pulling for through the season I'd say "I'm a Titans fan (don't ask why.. I just am) but I'd really like to see the Saints go all the way. Most often I got chuckles. Then something along the lines of "they are a good team. there are just so many BETTER teams. they'll never make it.

So when I heard that they finally made it to the big show I was excited, momentarily. I saw momentarily because i then heard they were up against Peyton Manning & the Colts. A formidable team to say the least.

In the end, I like how Coach from NBC worded it "My head says the Colts, but my heart says the Saints" That's what it came down to... a game of heart. the Colts were strong. But they played a typical football game straegy figuring tried & true would get them through. But the Saints had heart. They didn't have anything to lose. They have already made it this far. So they played a riskier game. Sure it cost them a few penalties (whether from nerves or being risky I'm not sure) but it also landed them a few big plays.

Like when they went for 4th & goal. If they made it GREAT... if they didn't (& they didn't) then the Colts have really bad field position on turn over. Or the interception for a touchdown. Or going for the 2 point conversion. New Orleans made big plays and made them count.

So call me a bandwagoner or call me a sports noob... but just be sure to remember I was right:

GO SAINTS GO !!!

Update

I've had other blogs in the past that I used for venting and posting updates on my life. I never really updated them on a regular basis (not that I post here very often). Now with Facebook I find that blog posts, emails, and the such are falling by the wayside.

So here is where I'm at...

I know I have some good solid pieces so far. I just need to memorize them so I can start 'performing' them. My problem is that I suck at setting time aside to practice. I don't want to practice where anyone can actually hear or see me. And when I do I feel like a total knob. So until I get in some SERIOUS practice I don't see myself placing much better at poetry slams.

I REALLY want to put out a chapbook. I don't really care if I'm 'ready for it' as a writer. I think it will (at the very least) give me credibility in my own mind as a writer. As of right now I'm looking for an artist / graphic artist. I had someone lined up who wanted to do it for free! But they never got back to me.

Writers block. It's weird because I have lots of things I have ideas about or opinions on but when I try to write the thoughts just can't come together. I think I might just have to start writing random posts on here about whatever is going on in my mind because writing is writing.

So I will definitely....most likely....probably....maybe....possibly be posting here more often. Maybe I'll start tomorrow?

CALLING ALL GEEKS: Remote Help

Okay geeks, I need your help.

Here is the deal:
My mom wants me to have remote access to her computer so I don't have to drive 2 hours every time she has a problem. I thought while I was at it I'd set it up on my sisters computer (same router) too.

I set it up using RealVNC for remote connections and dnydns.com to broadcast the IP address of the router.

The problem is I can make it work with 1 computer (1 server & 1 dns account) but with 2 computers acting as VNC servers listening on different ports, broadcasting IP on 2 different DNS accounts it won't work for either of them.

Is there any way I can get both computers to accept VNC remote connections?

P.S. All machines are running XP

Now Serving...

So I've missed a few days of my challenge. But I'm not giving up. I'll admit that I'm struggling to feel inspired. However, I'm going to continue to press on.

Yesterday

Like an old black & white family photo
Like an over-used ink cartridge
Like a high school t-shirt
Like a well worn favourite vinyl record
Like a 2nd hand Barney video cassette
Like acid washed jeans from the 80's
Like the last scene of an epic movie
Like using a tea bag the second time
Like the hood of an old forgotten Chevy
Like a black shirt after 50 washes
Like a Michael Jordan jump shot
Like prayers after September 11th
Like the faith of most my friends
Like remembering a dream the next day

...it is fading.

Stupid is stupid does

Bike thief get 30 months

So this morning I was browsing through Google News and came across this article in the Toronto Star. Apparently this man, possibly one of Toronto's most notorious bike thiefs, was charged and got 30 months. However, there are a number of finer points that make me wanna scream WTF???

This man paid people money or crack cocaine to steal bikes for him. So he created (or at least encourage) other criminal elements into society other than his own.

Over 3,000 bicycles, believed to have been stolen, were found in his possesion. Owners have claimed almost 600 of them. However, he was only charged with 58 to keep the case manageable and only wound up pleading guilty to 10 counts of possession of stolen property under $5,000.

I'm sorry, but that's pathetic. He should have been charged with conspiracy and then charged with theft as well as possesion.

Ha... Possession. That's another funny one. Along with the thousands of bikes found in his possession police also found 7 Kg of marijuana and several ounces of cocaine. You may not be aware of this but that is a FAR cry from "personal use". He SHOULD have been charged with possession with the intent to sell.

All this and the man is (to quote his lawyer) "understandably frustrated by how long the process has taken" for charges that were laid in July 2008. 1 1/2 years? In Canada? That's a FAST trial.

I think the REAL kicker is the fact that this man isn't even a Canadian citizen. According to his lawyer, this fact was taken into consideration during sentencing. Only one problem, it was taken into consideration so as NOT to affect his immigration status.

WHAT ?!?!?! So the system bends over backwards for a criminal who isn't even a Canadian citizen while others who have lived here their whole lives get racked over the coals?

I'll admit that I'm in favour stronger and harsher punishments for criminals. And that was what initially got under my skin about this article. But what caused to blog about it was that on top of being a gross miscarriage of justice, this sentence essentially rewards criminals from other countries. We're basically telling criminals to come Canada and we will let you off easy AND let you stay just because you're NOT Canadian.

It's like Forrest Gump said "Stupid is stupid does". And the Canadian legal system in this case has plain done stupid.