Guest Author #1: Candice Tomancak

I am starting a new thing on my blog where I'll occasionally have entires from "guest authors". So, I have asked a few people to be guest authors -- to write anything, on any topic -- and will ask more people, maybe you, to be guest writers down the line. Most of those I asked this time do not have blogs, that I know of. Whatever the case, I am interested to see who I can get to be guests in the future. Maybe I'll ask President Bush... haha ;).

The first guest author is a dear friend of mine, Candice Tomancak. Candice and I go way, way back -- back to the days when we played little league softball together. She is currently a pre-law student at a really cool university I am familiar with.

Candice is an excellent, intellectual writer whose poetry I always look forward to reading. In fact, she has written me a poem or two for my birthdays in the past, which was cool. So, here I present her submission...

"The Sands of Time"

Careless and free
I glide through the air
Pushing through my thoughts
Past a place of loneliness

Distortion sets in
While I try to understand
The recent events
That have come and gone

On the outside
A smile hides my pain
Of what my life is
And what it should be

On the inside
I torment myself
Wondering how to reach
A place of forgiveness

To heal my heart
And mend the broken paths
My life has taken
Through an endless maze

In this moment
Time stands still
Waiting for me
To awaken from its grasp

In the distance
A ray of light
Shines brightly above
Beckoning my presence

Staring straight ahead
My eyes fixed on hope
Knowing I have the strength
To carry on

Written by. Candice Tomancak

RENT: See it in the Next 525,600 Minutes

This weekend a friend and I saw "RENT," the movie version of the hit broadway musical. I must admit, when my friend said he wanted to see this movie I thought to myself, "Ugh, I don't like musicals. I'm not a 'musical' person." Yet, I decided to open up my mind and give it a chance to see what I would find. What I found was a very impressive film with a good message and addicting songs!

The synopsis of RENT goes something like this:

"Based on Puccini's classic opera 'La Boheme,' Jonathan Larson's revolutionary rock opera "Rent" tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent in the gritty background of New York's East Village. 'Measuring their lives in love,' these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic." - Rebecca Murray, About.com

This movie has such a powerful message imbedded within its songs and stories -- that message being to value love, life, friendships, and relationships.

The story behind the musical may not appeal to some parties as it deals with many controversial issues such as drug abuse, same-sex attraction, and AIDS, just to name a few. Some parts of the movie, take for instance a very erotic dance scene, may not be pleasing to some viewers eyes. I found this scene to be a little on the "that's a bit sick, put some clothes on" side. There are some other scenes like this, too. If you can handle these, you will see a good movie -- one that may even bring tears to your eyes.

Even if you don't care to see the movie for the storyline and the message, the songs are worth hearing. I admit, there were a rare few songs where I thought "umm, that sucks -- it doesn't even sound like a song."

To listen to some of the songs (thanks to JWalk for this link), click here, then click on "Enter the Site" over on the right side of the screen. At the bottom, there's a spot that says "Launch Rent Music Player" and you can click on it and hear some of the songs.

My favorite song from the movie is:

"Seasons of Love" (which I believe is the theme song)

COMPANY
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Moments so Dear
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure - Measure A Year?
In Daylights - In Sunsets
In Midnights - In Cups Of Coffee
In Inches - In Miles
In Laughter - In Strife

In - Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure
A Year In The Life

How About Love?
How About Love?
How About Love?
Measure In Love

Seasons Of Love
Seasons Of Love

SOLOIST #1

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Journeys To Plan
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure
The Life Of A Woman Or A Man?

SOLOIST #2

In Truths That She Learned
Or In Times That He Cried
In Bridges He Burned
Or The Way That She Died

ALL

It's Time Now - To Sing Out
Tho' The Story Never Ends
Let's Celebrate
Remember A Year
In The Life Of Friends

Remember The Love
Remember The Love
Remember The Love
Measure In Love

SOLOIST #1

Measure, Measure Your Life In Love

Seasons Of Love...Seasons Of Love

Also, here's an outtake from another song I liked:

From "Finale B":

There's Only Us
There's Only This
Forget Regret Or Life Is Yours To Miss

No Other Road
No Other Way
No Day But Today

I Can't Control
My Destiny
I Trust My Soul
My Only Goal
Is Just To Be

Squirrels Need Rest, Too

Here's a pic I took yesterday while I was up at the library. This squirrel was all sprawled out on the arm of that bench and it just looked so funny.

Pets I Wish I Had

Gizmo.
(But constantly having to keep him away from water would get old!)





I think this dog just needs a little love, that's all!
(Okay, maybe an exorcism, too?)






Sugar Glider.
(These things are SO cute!)





Lemur.
(Hmm... I wonder if he can waltz?)





Puggle.
(They're the new craze - a mixture of pug and beagle!)





Vampire bat.
(Just stay away from my neck!)

James Blunt: Simply Amazing!

I think I'm in love! This morning on The Today Show, the current #1 artist in the UK, James Blunt, made his first nationallly televised appearance in the U.S. singing his hit song "You're Beautiful," a song he wrote as a result of seeing an old girlfriend with a new boyfriend on the subway. Oh my, his voice is absolutely hypnotic and so is his life. Read on...

Click here to see the music video "You're Beautiful"

According to his website, Blunt went to University to study Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering and Sociology, joined the army (his family has been in one type of army or another since 995 A.D.), was a peace maker in serb villages, guarded The Queen, and helped bury The Queen Mother. Indeed, what a life at only 28 years old:

"From birth in a military hospital in Tidworth, to Harrow School, to Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering, to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, to The Household Cavalry, to Kosovo, to Buckingham Palace, to a recording studio in Los Angeles. How did James get from there to here? Only James Blunt’s hairdresser knows for certain, and either he isn’t talking or James cuts his own hair, and it’s up to you to join the dots – there are ten of them on the album."

And, after having done all this, he apparently, from what I saw on The Today Show, still misses (or at least gets sad about) the ex-girlfriend whom he wrote the song about yet says he never knows -- maybe a new girl will come along.

James, if you read blogs and happen to stumble across this post, please feel free to contact me for a date!

P.S. Roll me another "Blunt"

Yes, I am an Individual Who Writes Poetry.

I have written a lot of poetry thus far in my lifetime. A lot of it is kind of out there and doesn't really relate to me specifically, but I like to tell a story (real or not). Also, I don't always follow typical poem formart I guess. Anyway, I have been wanting to post some of my poems on my blog for a while. So, below I have posted three poems. Some of these are older while some of these are newer. Whatever the case, they are ones I got good comments on which made me choose them. I plan to post more poems soon. Enjoy the reads!

"Labels"

It's scary to think
of being labeled disordered.
She's not right.
She's not okay.
Borderline.
Manic.
Depressive.
Life goes on.
You're in a stand still.
Help me!
Help me!
Damn will somebody help her!

Run away
Feel depressed
Fear abandonment
Cut yourself

It's what is expected.
It's easier for them to understand.

She was disordered.
She was ill.
And that was that.

Labels can be peeled.

By. Holly H.

"When Time is Weighed"

NOTE: I wrote this poem just days before the September 11th attacks. Kinda freaky.

Tick Tock! The time is synchronized
that we all must become hypnotized
in a world that is scared to die.
What's beyond doesn't even know why.
Where laws are nothing but paper,
and cells are at times more safer.
Where ramblings of soul and mind,
surpass spirits of any one kind.
No kiss of death a saving grace,
no thought of God in this place.
The cultures are kept in some tact,
we have been weighed in compact.
Alpha omega measures for an eternity
no time at all left for a cup of tea.

By. Holly H.

"Animals in the Clouds Never Go Away"

The clouds held shapes to every child,
whether a plain circle or something wild.
It was a moment of amazement and grace,
for a child to make-believe in this place.

However, that was then and this is now,
and today everyone's too grown up anyhow.
There's no more elephants in the clouds,
just sad people fearing their shrouds.

Forget about the smell of fresh air,
because life is never, ever very fair.
At least, this is what I was just told.
All these words, they are so old.

By. Holly H.