Links are current down, but torrents are up....

Hello everyone! The links to the novels are currently down. I believe that there is a server error on the file hosting service I use. However, if you use a program called Bit Torrent, there my files are circulating around those networks, including "The Pirate Bay". For now, I advise using those until I can get the official links working again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

---Felix

Becoming.

"We must become the change we want to see."
- Mahatma Gandhi

As we turn a new leaf into the season of autumn, so is it time to post a new thought. It's been quite a while since Felix and I have posted around here.

Speaking of the change of seasons, the concept of change seems to be unavoidable in our lives--no matter how negative or positive the impact of that change may be. Change can be fought. Change can be burdened. Change can be rewarding. There are an endless number of ways we can shape change. It is how change affects us in the end that will truly matter.

Emotions change over time. So does it when it comes to relationships. What if someone we loved truly was changing for the worst? What could we possibly think except this: 'how could we change their perspective or outlook on life'? The reasons behind why relationships tend to falter is that we become so focused on the disatisfactions about the person we love thinking that we can change them. But what we need to realize is that it is not up to us to make the change. It is up to the person themselves and we must give them an immense amount of patience in order for that change inside of them to occur. Now we may fear and doubt constantly that even the greatest amount of patience we offer for our loved one may not make any changes but in relationships we must expect that love is like a seesaw. There always will be a greater weight, or a greater burden placed on one side than the other. As difficult as it is to accept that factor when it comes to love, the aspect of change helps balance that defaulted imbalance in the seesaw of relationships. By expanding our patience do we learn about the change within ourselves. In that way we become less selfish and more dignified. Sometimes change makes all the difference such that in this case the change is negative but approached positively.

Focusing on the change around us, this generation today undergoes a great deal of pressure. Parallel to the impact change has on relationships, society is economically imbalanced. Global warming and other issues spark issues on change. Yet in order for us to benefit from these issues, it all comes down to how we treat and view our lives among others. This brings up another point: the change made internally can affect the change outward.

Change comes down to the decisions we make for ourselves that will benefit us in the future. We have the choice to live healthy lives with exercise and balanced diets. We have the choice to choose how to love and how we want to love. We have the choice to make something of ourselves even if we feel we may be forced to do something we don't want to do. We have the choice to sit around or get active. We have the ultimate choice to live up to our own expectations and not the expectations made for us by other. We must carpe diem (seize the day). And my last note to share with you from the Broadway musical, "Rent":

Forget, regret--
Or life is yours to miss.
No other road
No other way
No day but today.

Later Days,
Marie Ibarra

Colorblind

Hello.... So let's say that there is a world where a lot of people are colorblind in special ways. For example, one person can only truly see the blue in objects, another can only see yellow, and another can only see red. Now the first person would be able to admire the blue sky, the blue ocean, and everything else blue in the world... But they would not see the brilliant red of a strawberry or the calm greens of a forest; to a seeier of blue, such things would be insignificant compared to the sky and oceans. The person who could only see green would admire only the green objects and would never grasp why the seeier of blue would stare up at what seemed to be nothing more than a grey dome all day.

This is how their world worked... Different people had different values based on what their makeup was.

Now let's say there was a person who could see all of the colors... When he talks to a person who can only see blue, the two of them can talk about how great the ocean is. But when the person who sees all colors speaks of the beauty of the forest, the person with blue sight will lose interest. Similar scenarios will happen when the person who isn't colorblind talks to each of the other people.

So, if you think about it, the nonblind person will have in common only a small fraction of their own opinion with others who are blind. The person who comes to love everything the world has to offer, coincidentally, will be person who is understood the least by others. That spells big problems for the one who can come to see the significance and value in everything when he is outnumbered by people who are only capable of limited view.

How can any of them possibly be empathetic to someone whom they can only partially understand? They could lie of course, but that doesn't fix anything in their world as a whole. The colorblind would still be blind and the lone person would wrongly believe they had helped educate the world. To speak the truth to the nonblind person would be more reputable, but it would also further alienate the person who is different from the rest.

Alienation. That is the burden the open-minded, nonblind person must bear. What will become of them? Will they endure their social displacement and attempt to educate and lead the blind or will they silently stay in the corner away from it all and mind their own business? Worse yet, there is always the option to be aloof and choose to acknowledge the validity of only one perspective.

As startling as it may seem, the nonblind person is not at all the hero in this story. The blind are the people with the task and obligation to improve the world. Why? Because one person cannot do it alone. The nonblind person is simply an impossible, unattainable model of what the blind should indefinitely strive to become. It is within the endless struggle for the blind to become unblind that the world will change. The only problem with the scenario is that the blind have to first choose to be unblind.

And that is what I define to be a tragedy filled mirror.

Suddenly Rushed, Suddenly Still.

"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Reflecting on one's inner thoughts especially at those certain points in your life when you feel at a loss--such that a certain dilemma heeds you from performing your best or from having a presentable attitude is highly encouraged. Though this feeling could be as complicated as rearranging a room from top to bottom, cleaning every corner as if you're diagnosed with an obsessive compulsive disorder...all in a day, it is worth it. Because it is during those times of reflection that we come in-between a bridge of self-conciousness and denial and we must learn to cross over that bridge and find our inner strength .

When Felix's last post challenged you to reflect upon the idea that if one were to embrace negativity and reject positivity, what good could that possibly do? Certainly, the answer is obvious--only to those who are willing to open their eyes to change and possibility could see that embracing negativity and rejecting positivity would do no good. Yet, for those who do not fully understand, it is encouraged that you take the time to literally sit back, relax and enjoy the blessings life has to offer. Much of this world is shattered because we are too busy, or we're too spoiled with technology, etc. to the point that we forget to think about the simple things that do matter: what it means to love, serve and be fully connected to who and what you are. You will make mistakes in life, guaranteed. There is no room for perfection but there is much room for goodness and respect for yourself and the people you love.

Take that time and consider yourself fortunate to be living today. It's what really matters.

So be enlightened by reading "Learn to Breathe" and continue to live life as it was meant to be lived.

In Earnest Faith,

Marie Ibarra

Switching You Up, Shall I?

What's up everybody? 您好吗？That's mandarin for "how are you?". Let's say I have the power to make a person hate everything they love and love everything they hate. Now if I were to use this power on 100 random people, do you think that it would make the world a better place? Sit back and ponder about it such a complete reversial of psychology and you will see why (if you had the ability to make people do this) it would be awesome. Here's why:

Well, in most cases, having that power has both the ability to heal or to destroy a person. What if I used the power on a racist person or someone who is messy? Or someone flaky? A liar? A cheater? The ability to completely reverse the way that someone feels about everything they are is good to use on someone with more bad qualities than good ones. Not only does it make them a better person, but it also punishes them in a way for what they did, because now they would no longer have a logical explanation for liking and disliking what they do, but they would still be a better person overall. Imagine a greedy rich man transformed into someone who would donate a majority of their money to charity. They would detest themselves for "wasting their money" on people who they didn't even know, but in the grand sum of everything, they would actually serve a good purpose to the world as a whole.

So here is my challenge to you: draw an image of yourself as a whole. Include every good thing about you, whether people know about it or not. Then do the same for your bad habits (yes this includes the ones you are planning to eventually fix). Now if I were to swap your personality around and make you embrace everything bad about you and reject everything good about you, would I be improving the world?

---Felix

Happiness is...

"FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL THAT'S LOVED BY YOU."

--"You're A Good Man Charlie Brown"

Sometimes in our lives we take things for granted. Know that it is not by the way we appear in public that presents our inner qualities. It is only dignity simplified through our actions towards our lives and others that contribute to shaping our personality. Take time to realize what you have to offer the world--through a wish, a donation, etc. All that happiness can offer is the happiness that only you can provide.

Attached below is a poem entitled "Judge Me By My Size". It is a poem I hold close to heart because of the inspiring force in my life, the brilliant Kristin Chenoweth (who performed as Sally Brown in the original Broadway version of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and Glinda in "Wicked"). Though she is only 4'11'', she finds happiness in the love her dog, Maddie, and the stage--singing, especially. Take time to realize the gifts that you have to offer the world because once you learn to put effort forth using your gifts, you will then achieve true happiness.

Please consider to support our cause for World Vision. Check out the link on the top of our page, or enter this url into your browser: http://donate.worldvision.org. Also in honor of Kristin Chenoweth, please support her cause in Maddie's Corner dedicated to people helping animals and animals helping people. Check out her site: http://www.maddiescorner.org.

Have a wonderful week, everyone! Thank you all for your support! =)

Click here to view "Judge Me By My Size"

The Big Four-Letter Word

Hello everyone!!!

So, I keep birdseed on my back porch and then these two birds came down to eat some. However, one bird wouldn't let the other eat. It would jump up on top of the other bird and hiss at it and basically always keep it away. The offended bird was left to go for the seeds between the cracks while the aggressive bird had a huge pile all to itself. But then a bigger bird of a different type flew down to eat as well and once it was there, the little aggressive bird moved off to the side to let the new bird eat because it was smaller than the newcomer. Seeing this, the little bird who had been kept out of the food before cautiously approached the new bird and began to eat with it. The largest bird let the smallest bird eat while the aggressive medium sized bird could only sit and watch. Suddenly, all three birds flew off in opposite directions... The point of this: it got me thinking a lot about humanity in general.

Why can't people just love?

I can't stop think thinking... Pondering and being philosophical is part of who I am... I agree that people in general aren't too bad, but once they gain the impression that they are anonymous or not very influential, then they become crueler. Once a lot of people think that way, the world as a whole seems to declines.

The question then becomes:

What stops people from loving one another?

If you think about it far and deep enough, the reasons for that lead back to the same question. So how can we break the cycle?

---Felix