The rest of your life is a long time,

  

and whether you know it or not, it’s being shaped right now. 

You can choose to blame your circumstances on fate,

 or bad luck, 

or bad choices,

 or you can fight back. 

Things aren’t always gonna be fair in the real world,

 that’s just the way it is. 

But for the most part, you get what you give.

 Let me ask you all a question;

 what’s worse, not getting everything you wished for or getting it all and finding out it’s not enough.

 The rest of your life is being shaped right now 

with the dreams you chase, 

the choices you make, 

and the person you decide to be.

 The rest of your life is a long time

 and the rest of your life starts right now.

 Either you say too much or you don’t say enough, and then they’re gone.

Live life for the moment because everything else is uncertain. 

Take advantage of what is right in front of you.

There’s nothing wrong with fairy tales. Everyone ends up happily ever after.

 What’s more important? 

What we become or how we become it?

 Someone once said that death is not the greatest loss in life. 

The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live. 

I could tell you who said it,

 but who the hell really cares.

 You have one chance, one life. 

And what you do with that is up to you

 Love is a wonderful thing. 

And it doesn’t knock much, 

so when it does, make sure to open the door.

 Death is not the greatest loss in life. 

The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.

 Every song has a CODA, a final movement. 

Whether it fades out or crashes away, every song ends. 

Is that any reason not to enjoy the music? 

The truth is, there is nothing to be afraid of.

 It’s just life.

 Imagine a future moment in your life where all your dreams come true. 

You know it’s the greatest moment of your life 

and you get to experience it with one person. 

Who’s standing next to you?

 Sometimes  we waste our words and we waste our moments, 

and we don’t take the time to say the things that are in our hearts when we have the chance.

It’s hard when you miss people.

 

But you know if you miss them, that means you’re lucky. 

It means you had someone special in your life, someone worth missing.

 Because it’s only when you’re tested that you truly discover who you are.

 And it’s only when you’re tested that you discover who you can be. 

The person that you want to be does exist, 

somewhere on the other side of hard work and faith, 

and belief and beyond the heartache and fear of what life has.

if you look closer,

you might see someone like you or someone like you. 

Someone trying to find their way. 

Someone trying to find their place. 

Someone trying to find their self.

 Sometimes it seems like you are the only one in the world who’s struggling, who’s frustrated, unsatisfied, barely getting by. 

But that feeling’s a lie. 

And if you just hold on, just find the courage to face it all for another day, someone or something will find you and make it all OK.

 Because we all need a little help sometimes 

— someone to help us hear the music in their world, to remind us that it won’t always be this way. 

That someone is out there.

 And that someone will find you…

 

You ever look a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background?. 

It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. 

How many moments of other people’s life have we been in. 

Were we a part of someone’s life when their dream came true or were we there when their dream died? 

Did we keep trying to get in? 

As if we were somehow destined to be there, 

or did the shot take us by surprise.

 Just think, you could be a big part of someone else’s life, and not even know it.

 You ever heard the expression ‘The best things in life are free’? 

Well, that expression is true.’ 

Every once in a while, people step up they rise above themselves sometimes they surprise you 

and sometimes they fall short.

 Life is funny sometimes. 

It can push pretty hard, 

but if you look close enough, you can find hope in the words of children, in the bars of the song, and in the eyes of someone you love. 

And if you’re lucky, if you’re the luckiest person on this entire planet, the person you love decides to love you back.

 

When life comes rushing at you out of the darkness, who will you choose to face it with?

 Will it be someone you trust? 

Will they be wise? 

And will their love for you help them to guide you to the light,

 or will they lose their way in the darkness? 

Will they make noble choices? 

Or will that person be untested, someone new?

 Life comes rushing at you from out of the darkness. 

When it does, is there someone in your life you can count on—

someone who will watch over you when you stumble and fall, 

and in that moment, give you the strength to face your fears alone?

 And once you lose yourself, you have two choices: 

find the person you used to be 

or lose that person completely.

 We spend so much time wanting, pursuing, wishing. 

But ambition is good, chasing things with integrity is good, dreaming. 

If you had a friend you knew you’d never see again, what would you say? 

If you could do one last thing for someone you love, what would it be? 

Say it. 

Do it. 

Don’t wait. 

Nothing lasts forever.

Happiness comes in many forms —

 

in the company of good friends, 

in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, 

or in the promise of hope renewed. 

It’s OK to let yourself be happy

 because you never know how fleeting that happiness might be…

Make a wish and place it in your heart.

Anything you want, everything you want. 

Do you have it? 

Good. 

Now believe it can come true. 

You never know where the next miracle is gonna come from, the next smile, the next wish come true. 

But if you believe that it’s right around the corner, and you open your heart and mind to the possibility of it, to the certainty of it, you just might get the thing you’re wishing for. 

The world is full of magic. 

You just have to believe in it. 

So, make your wish. 

Do you have it?

 Good. 

Now, believe in it with all your heart…

 Sometimes pain becomes such a huge part of your life that you expect it to always be there. 

Because you can’t remember a time in your life when it wasn’t, 

but then one day you feel something else. 

Something that feels wrong, only because it’s so unfamiliar. 

Then, in that moment, you realize you’re happy.

Does this darkness have a name?

  This cruelty, this hatred, how did it find us? 

Did it steal into our lives, or did we seek it out and embrace it?

 What happened to us that we now send our children into the world like we send young men to war, hoping for their safe return, but knowing that some would be lost along the way. 

When did we lose our way? 

Consumed by the shadows. 

Swallowed whole by the darkness. 

Does this darkness have a name?

 Is it your name?

 

Do you ever wonder if we make the moments in our lives, 

or if the moments in our lives make us?

 

Every day we ignore how completely broken this world is and we tell ourselves it’s all going to be OK, 

you’re gonna be OK. 

But it’s not OK. 

And once you know that, there’s no going back.

don’t be afraid to make mistakes,

to stumble and fall, 

cause most of the time, the greatest rewards come from doing the things that scare you the most. 

Maybe you’ll get everything you wish for. 

Maybe you’ll get more than you ever could have imagined. 

Who knows where life will take you. 

The road is long and in the end, the journey is the destination.

 Every song ends — 

but is that any reason not to enjoy the music?

 

There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads, 

afraid, confused, without a roadmap. 

The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days.

 Of course, when faced with the unknown, most of us prefer to turn around and go back.

Do not let your fire go out,

 

Do not let your fire go out, 

spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all. 

Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. 

The world you desire can be won. 

It exists. 

It is real.

 It is possible.

 It is yours.

think about the finality of it all

 how somebody can leave your world in the blink of an eye and be gone forever. 

It’s too enormous to think about. 

It’s too hard. 

And then you’re just supposed to go on, just deal with it, 

 really you’re only supposed to be sad for as long as the flowers last 

and then, time to go back to telling jokes and reminiscing about the old days.

 

When your heart breaks, you got to fight like hell to make sure you’re still alive.

 Because you are. 

And that pain you feel? 

That’s life. 

The confusion and fear? 

That’s there to remind you, that somewhere out there is something better, 

and that something is worth fighting for.

It was a comet.

 

 The boy saw the comet, and he felt as though his life had meaning. 

And when it went away, he waited his entire life for it to come back to him. 

It was more than just a comet because of what it brought to his life: direction, beauty, meaning. 

There are many who couldn’t understand, and sometimes he walked among them. 

But even in his darkest hours, he knew in his heart that someday it would return to him, and his world would be whole again… 

And his belief in God and love and art would be re-awakened in his heart. 

The boy saw the comet and suddenly his life had meaning.

Most of our lives are a series of images

 

Most of our lives are a series of images, 

they pass us by like towns on a highway. 

But sometimes a moment stuns us as it happens, 

and we know that this instant is more than a fleeting image. 

We know that this moment, every part of it, will live on forever.

Learn to let go of the past.

 

The important thing is not to be bitter over life’s disappointments. 

Learn to let go of the past. 

And recognize that every day won’t be sunny, 

and when you find yourself lost in the darkness and despair, remember it’s only in the black of night you see the stars. 

And those stars will lead you back home.

The rest of your life

 

You can choose to blame your circumstances on fate or bad luck or bad choices. 

Or you can fight back. 

Things aren’t always going to be fair in the real world. 

That’s just the way it is. 

But for the most part, you get what you give. 

Rest of your life is being shaped right now. 

With the dreams you chase, the choices you make, and the person you decide to be. 

The rest of your life is a long time. 

And the rest of your life starts right now.

One day, you look at your life,

 

One day, you look at your life, 

and it has purpose and someone that makes you feel very special and friends. 

And all the time and pain that it took to get there, it just doesn’t matter anymore.

Do you ever wonder how long it takes to change your life?

 

Do you ever wonder how long it takes to change your life? 

What measure of time is enough to be life-altering? 

Is it four years, like high school? 

One year? 

An eight-week rock tour? 

Can your life change in a month, or a week, or a single day? 

We’re always in a hurry to grow up, to go places, to get ahead. 

But when you’re young, one hour can change everything.

 

Life kicks you around sometimes. 

It scares you and it beats you up. 

But there’s one day when you realize you’re not just a survivor, you’re a fighter. 

You’re tougher than anything life throws your way. 

And you are.

 

Sooner or later we all choose a path. 

Sometimes you never look back, 

and sometimes life forces you to.

Truth is still absolute

 

. Believe that. 

Even when that truth is hard and cold, and more painful than you’ve ever imagined. 

And even when truth is more cruel than any lie.

There is no shame in being afraid.

We’re all afraid. 

What you’ve got to do is figure out what you’re afraid of. 

Because when you put a face on it, you can beat it. 

Or better yet, you can use it.

It’s the oldest story in the world.

One day you’re 17 and planning for someday. 

And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. 

And then someday is yesterday. 

And this is your life. 

Albert Camus once wrote, 

‘Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.’ 

But I wonder if there’s no breaking, then there’s no healing, and if there’s no healing, then there’s no learning. 

And if there’s no learning, then there’s no struggle. 

But the struggle is a part of life. 

So must all hearts be broken?

 We got one life, one chance, and what we do with it is up to us.

When you stop fighting, you stop living.

 

When you stop fighting, you stop living. 

We all need that thing that’s worth fighting for. 

Maybe it’s a certain someone, or a special place, maybe just an idea. 

So find your fight, and fight like hell, ’til your battle is won.

 

Most people are stronger than they know. 

They just forget to believe in it sometimes.

Have you ever wondered what marks our time here?

 

Have you ever wondered what marks our time here? 

If one life can really make an impact on the world… 

or if the choices we make matter? 

I believe they do. 

And I believe that one man can change many lives. 

For better…

 or worse.

6,470,818,671

 

At this moment there are 6,470,818,671 people in the world. 

Some are running scared. 

Some are coming home. 

Some tell lies to make it through the day. 

Others are just now facing the truth. 

Some are evil men, at war with good. 

And some are good, struggling with evil. 

Six billion people in the world. 

Six billion souls. 

And sometimes — all you need is one.

Happiness is not a destination.

 

Happiness is not a destination. 

It is a mood, it is not permanent. 

It comes and goes

 and if people thought that way then maybe people would find happiness more often.

 There’s a day when you realize that you’re not just a survivor, you’re a warrior. 

You’re tougher than anything life throws your way.

Ravens

 

Some people believe that ravens guide travellers to their destinations. 

Others believe that the sight of a solitary raven is considered good luck, 

while more than one raven together predicts trouble ahead.

Patrick Comerford: Poems for Easter (5): ‘Easter Poem’ by Ted Walker

Patrick Comerford: Poems for Easter (5): ‘Easter Poem’ by Ted Walker: Punters in summer sunshine on the River Cam below the Bridge of Sighs at Saint John’s College, Cambridge ... Ted Walker read modern languag...

 On average, the fastest your heart should beat per minute is 220 minus your age. 

But ideally, vigorous exercise is between 70 and 85% of your maximum heart rate.

 Exceeding your maximum heart rate can result in dizziness, chest pain, or even fainting. 

So listen to your body and don't push your limits. 

When you want something badly, it's hard to know if or when to throw in the towel. 

So, we push the limits, hoping if we put in a little more time, more effort, maybe it will all work out. 

Or, you could crash and burn, taking everything you love down with you.

 But you won't know until you try.

Kings Cross

 The fire happened a significant time after the album was released, there is no connection 

Young people coming from poverty and unemployment in the North East headed to London 

Kings Cross is the station they arrived at 

The tramps, homeless, hanging round begging were a reminder that you might not make it and could end up like them, worse than you had it 

The Streets Paved With Gold myth about London goes back to Dick Whittington 

This song is a stark welcome to reality to those arriving

The man at the back of the queue was sent
To feel the smack of firm government
Linger by the flyposter, for a fight
It's the same story every night
I've been hurt and we've been had
You leave home, and you don't go back

Only last night I found myself lost
By the station called King's Cross
Dead and wounded on either side
You know it's only a matter of time
I've been good and I've been bad
I've been guilty of hanging around

So I went looking out today
For the one who got away
Murder walking round the block
Ending up in King's Cross
Good luck, bad luck waiting in a line
It takes more than the matter of time

Someone told me Monday, someone told me Saturday
Wait until tomorrow and there's still no way
Read it in a book or write it in a letter
Wake up in the morning and there's still no guarantee

"American Reckoning"

 I read through all the comments before adding my own

 George Floyd was a criminal, a drug dealer on drugs while committing yet another crime resisting arrest 

Floyd once held a gun to the belly of a pregnant woman

 Jon is a father himself 

Comments say various things including one saying they are not a Bon Jovi fan anymore 

The melody is sweet and the lyrics in many ways are touching

 But they are totally misdirected

 From These Days onwards Jon has been a multi millionaire writing songs about a world he long left behind 

During quarantine isolation rich old men like Jon were living as far from real society as anyone could be

 This song shows how far away he now is 

It's hard to not blame him, though he is writing a story based on something on TV that may have not been real to him 

Many people believe Floyd deserved what he got and that it should have happened sooner 

"Am I next ?"

 If a mother saw Floyd holding a gun to a pregnant womens belly would she have said that ?

 Police should have killed that piece of shit years ago 

This has nothing to do with "Race" it never did

George Floyd Between 1997 and 2005 served 8 jail terms including drug possession, theft and trespass

 2007 aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, entered an apartment as a gang of six, held gun to pregnant woman stomach, sentenced to five years 

Who are you singing the song for Jon ? 

Who exactly are you "grieving" for ?

If George Floyd had broken into your home Jon with his gang of big black men, while Dorothea was pregnant with Jake, Stephanie or Jesse, and put his gun against her stomach, would you be singing a song about him now ?

DJango castration

 The best payback would have been a progressive combination to maximise the suffering

 Castration here as that was standard

- this crap about bleeding out is wrong, slaves were regularly castrated, same method used on steers, and the hot end of the knife would cauterise the wound 

 - there is a method to castrate that doesn't even need cauterisation, you can look up a clip of that if you're curious

So: 

First stage, castrate him - then cut out his tongue 

Second stage a public naked whipping - strip him, tie him between the trees in the yard, have everyone there to witness and whip him all over - think the flogging in Passion Of The Christ 

Have him watch his wife get gang raped, first by the white farm hands, then all the slaves - one after the other - whether you also execute her in front of him or leave her alive is up to you 

Then give him to the Mandingo for sparring practice - brutal bareknuckle beatings by a seasoned fighter who knows how to hit and hurt 

- the added advantage is that your prize Mandingo, the one we saw earlier, gets better for having had the practice and wins you more fights

 Finally give what's left of him to the mines for the ending as described - literally worked to death down the pit 

Anyone thinking any of this is extreme, remember, these are things that happened all the time back then, none of this is made up or assumed 

Mr Olympia

 Haney competed in 91 to win his 8th putting him one ahead of Arnold's 7 

There would have been no point in him competing in 92 to try for a 9th 

Dorian came second in 91 Dorian has stated that if Haney had turned up in 92, then he, Dorian would still have won and been Mr O that year 

Dorian would have dethroned Haney the same way as Jay dethroned Ronnie after Ronnie got his 8th, no 9th for Ronnie, and there would have been no 9th for Haney

 Did Haney stay away because he knew Dorian would beat him? Or did he always know he would retire undefeated once he had his 8th?

Haney had his long run, then Dorian, then Ronnie 

Nasser, Shawn, Flex and Kevin were all runner up under Dorian, usually made up the top four, and any of them could have theoretically won on their year if they unseated Dorian 

Ronnie was way down the list so when Dorian didn't come out for his seventh, any of these four should or could have won that year 

So it was decided somewhere that Ronnie would be put into first place and stay there 

 Nasser, Shawn, Flex and Kevin should each have had a Sandow and held the title at least once in their career, the same way Samir and Dickerson did

1992 

Dorian

 Kevin 2nd 

Shawn 4th 

Ronnie 16th his Olympia debut

1993 

Dorian 

Flex 2nd

Shawn 3rd

 Kevin 5th

 Ronnie no sign

1994 

Dorian 

Shawn 2nd 

Kevin 3rd 

No Flex 

Ronnie 15th

1995 

Dorian 

Kevin 2nd 

Nasser 3rd 

Shawn 4th 

Flex 8th 

Ronnie 11th

1996 

Dorian 

Shawn 2nd 

Kevin 3rd 

Flex 4th 

Ronnie 5th

 Nasser scored 3rd disqualified

otherwise 96 would be

Dorian 

Shawn 2nd 

Nassar 3rd

Kevin 4th

Flex 5th

Ronnie 6th

a chance to have them all together in a classic lineup 

1997 

Dorian last Olympia

Nasser 2nd 

Shawn 3rd 

Kevin 4th 

Ronnie 9th

1998 

Ronnie first win 

Flex 2nd 

Nasser 3rd 

Kevin 4th

 Shawn 5th

We have Flex, Nasser, Kevin and Shawn occupying the runner up top five slots right through there 

In 98 anyone of them could have been number one, with the other three lining up behind them 

Somehow Ronnie comes from lower down the pile to win the show, with the four of them lining up after him 

With Dorian we saw him come 2nd to Haney in 91 then inherit the title in 92 

Jay came up the ranks and held second for consecutive years until he won 

So how did Ronnie jump over the four top guys and then stay there ?

 

Victims of a sudden impact are some of the hardest to treat. 

It’s not just the collision that injures them, it’s everything after, the centrifugal force keeps them moving; tossing them from vehicles, throwing them through windshields, slamming their internal organs into the skeleton, their bodies are injured over and over again. 

So there’s no way to know how much damage is actually been done until they stop. 

You can't prepare for a sudden impact. 

You can't brace yourself. It just hits you. Out of nowhere. 

And suddenly the life you knew before is over. 

Forever.

 

The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness. 

 

 even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.

 

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation

 

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.

 

Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them.
They move on. They move away.
The moments that used to define them are covered by
moments of their own accomplishments.

It is not until much later, that
children understand;
their stories and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories
of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones,
beneath the water of their lives

freedom

 

 freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose

 - and commit yourself to what is best for you.

Numb - Song by Linkin Park

 

I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes

Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)

Can't you see that you're smothering me
Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control?
'Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you

Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
And every second I waste is more than I can take

I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
Become so tired
So much more aware
I'm becoming this
All I want to do
Is be more like me
And be less like you

And I know
I may end up failing too
But I know
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you

In the End - Song

 

It starts with one
All I know
It's so unreal
Watch you go

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To remind myself of a time when I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mockin' me
Actin' like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so far
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me in the end
You kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually
Be a memory of a time when I

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme to explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
You didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Tryin' to hold on, they didn't even know
I wasted it all just to watch you go
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory
Of a time when I tried so hard

 

The Marquis De Sade said that the most important experiences a man can have are those that take him to the very limit; 

that is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage. 

 people who have never dared to look into the depths of their soul, 

never attempted to know the origin of that desire to unleash the wild beast,

 or to understand that sex, pain and love are all extreme experiences. 

Only those who know those frontiers know life; 

everything else is just passing the time,

 repeating the same tasks, 

growing old and dying

 without ever having discovered what we are doing here