Famous last words of Marius

One of the first things I do on a Sunday morning is reading PostSecret.  It is were people sent their secrets on a postcard and it gets published. 

From today’s, the following caught my eye.  I wonder how many of us go through life like this.

In this first one, it this why we do not allow people close to us?

And I am sure most of the time we do this.

Via gapingvoid:

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Via gapingvoid:

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From today’s Post Secret. If you have not spend your Sunday mornings reading Post Secret, then it is about time to start.

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Via gapingvoid:

The smarter wine.

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One of my favourite cartoonists is Hugh MacLeod and today he had a gem again.

Exactly like I feel sometime.

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From I Wrote this for You.  How true is this for so many people.

I love no one but you, I have discovered, but you are far away and I am here alone. Then this is my life and maybe, however unlikely, I’ll find my way back there. Or maybe, one day, I’ll settle for second best. And on that same day, hell will freeze over, the sun will burn out and the stars will fall from the sky.

This is a story I received this morning via e-mail and I am quoting it verbatim.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

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Via Gizmodo, here is the truth about Men and Woman. And I so agree with this.

I particularly like this one.

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I had this long post (hence the take 2 of this one) about how crap and bad 2008 was but then when I read and re-read it, I thought to myself, that was the past and absolutely nothing I can do about it.  Rather write about the good things and what the future holds.

So here are the bulleted list of 2008:

• Son completed 1st year Chemical Engineering with flying colors.
• Daughter passed Grade 11 much better than we expected with all the medical problems she had to cope with during the year.
• Via Geekdinners and 27dinners I met some great people.
• Worked on various projects (some good, some bad) and got to travel often around South Africa — Jhb is not a fun place to work.
• Learned a lot about relationships and friendship .. it is not always what it is made out to be. People are not always who they appear to be and can so easily disappoint one when one’s expectations are not inline with theirs.
• Played some golf — Pearl Valley is probably the best Golf Course I have ever played at in South Africa and I have played my fair bit of courses.  St Andrews Old Course will always be my favorite.
• Turned 50 but as I am not one for birthdays (hey age is just a number) it came and went with no real fuss.
• My health is great … even the doctor say so after I went for a full medical when I had some hiccups during the year.  Learned that one’s health is far more important than work and stressing about things one has no control over.

I am not one that make any resolutions about the future … so I will go into 2009 with no expectations, desires, wishes but only to live each day to the fullest and take things as it comes.  Will always try to be there for friends when they need me no matter the circumstances.  Only one thing I will try to do more in 2009 and that is to play more golf.

To all of you reading this, may you have a great 2009 and just always be yourself and be what you want to be.  Do not let other people dictate how you should live or do things.

Technorati Tags: 2008, 2009, friends, geekdinner, 27dinner