“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

From the Movie "Manhattan" (1979)

Chapter One: He adored New York City. To him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity that caused so many people to take the easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in - no, it's gonna be too preachy, I mean, you know, let's face it, I wanna sell some books here. 

Chapter One: He adored New York City. Although to him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitized by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage - too angry. I don't want to be angry. 
Chapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. 

Oh, I love this. New York was his town, and it 

always would be. 

Think you left me broken down
Think that i'd come running back
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong. 

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone.

What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone. 

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, Myself and I 
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller 
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone.

"Expect trouble as a part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it sqarely in the eye, and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'" 

IN REMEMBRANCE OF ONE YEAR AGO. IN REMEMBRANCE OF ADVENTURES PAST. IN ANTICIPATION FOR ADVENTURES TO COME.

This is my story this is my song
if you aint got the heart, don’t attempt to try this at home
it’s just a poem from a man once living wrong
now I’m in the zone, tell the World I’m coming home
been a long time coming, been a long time coming
this song feel like the greatest of all time coming

Have you ever done something, you look back, and it all seems blurry..

But then you think a little harder about it, and it's crystal clear.

A bookmark in your brain of memories of a journey, of an experience.

The time I've never understood, the way it slows and speeds,

it's all perception.

I disappoint myself, I impress myself, but it's all the same.

but in the end it only matters how you felt through it all,

what you learned, the person you become,

the strength you accrued.

It's the way you treat people, the smiles you received, the streets you walked through.

I will never forget this day, for the rest of my life.

And it will live as a reminder of what I could do, what I can do, and what I did.

No one can take this experience.

No one can understand this experience like I do.

Because it's mine, I own it all, the mistakes and the triumphs. 

It all matters.

And it helps, it clears the haze and I can feel the sting of a sharp bite of reality.

And I am proud and encouraged, and hopeful, and desperate all the same.

I love the adventure, I would trade nothing for it.

When it all seems hopeless and the anxiety intensifies,

remember the full moon, and the dark streets, and the people you met, and the places you went.

But really, remember how you felt when you realize what you were capable of.

Stand back and put it in perspective.

Appreciate yourself.

Celebrate.

Move forward.

Never forget the passion.

Love life, for the good times and the bad, and also...

remember, eventually it might all make sense one day.

and ,

of course...

it all matters.

Happy Valentines Day 2012,

I' can't wait for the next great adventure.