“do not lose hold of your dreams or asprirations. for if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live” ~ henry david thoreau

angel - jack johnson

i've got an angel,
she doesn't wear any wings,
she wears a heart that can melt my own,
she wears a smile that can make me wanna sing,
she gives me presents,
with her presence alone,
she gives me everything I could wish for,
she gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home,

she could make angels,
i've seen it with my own eyes,
you gotta be careful when you've got good love,
cause the angels will just keep on multiplying,

but you're so busy changing the world,
just one smile can change all of mine,
we share the same soul,
oh oh oh oh oh ohhh,
we Share the same soul,
oh oh oh oh oh ohhh,
we Share the same soul,
oh oh oh oh oh ohhh,
oh oh oh oh oh ohhh,
umm umm umm uhhhhhhmm,
~ angel - jack johnson

"you were born an original, don't die a copy" ~ john mason

"it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are" ~ e.e. cummings

And who are we really? Are we who we act towards others, and how others see us? Are we who we are when we are alone, or with those few cherished friends and family members? Or who we pretend to be to please society? "we all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin" ~ andré berthiaume. How much can we handle before we become a parody of our former selves, behaving how others think we should, acting, pretending to be someone we're not in order to fit it? like the old saying "it is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not" ~ andre gide. But its harder than some people may think, because some of us are born people pleasers, we want friends, we want people to like us, and sometimes its easier that way - fake it till you make it. But when someone says 'you're not yourself' i feel like saying 'is that so? who am i really? are you sure you really know?' but i just smile and think up a lame excuse, wondering why i cant say what im thinking, all those questions spinning around my head...

happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. ~ albus dumbledore

"when everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it ~ henry ford

"character cannot be developed in peace and quiet, only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved" ~ helen keller

bubbles are like all living things I suppose. The come into existence, beautiful, enlightening, putting a smile on everybody's faces. They are admired, cherished, weightless for a while, then POP. There one second, gone the next. live life to the fullest, you could be that bubble. “nothing lasts forever, be in the moment, follow your bliss, laugh as long as you have breath, love as long as you live.” ~ I left my mobile at the mall – wendy harmer.

"do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" - ralph waldo emerson

"life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

the wonderful wizarding world of harry potter

I first started reading the harry potter series in about 2004, when I was eight. I took them everywhere with me, refusing to take one, but all of the five that were published at the time. I read and reread all of them, many, many times, and to this day they remain my favourite books of all time.

But what makes them so compelling, so magical? (pun not intended!) I think it’s the idea of an escape; when I read them, I get lost for hours at a time, lost in harry’s world. I still find them impossible to put down, even though I’ve read them twenty three times! I can quote almost whole pages by heart, but never tire of them.

Harry potter and the philosophers stone was written by j.k rowling on a four hour delayed train ride to kings cross station in London. Jo came up with the idea of Harry Potter, with the rest of the characters based on people she knew.

"Hermione is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of.” Joanne says. Several publishers turned down the manuscript before Bloomsbury agreed to purchase Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone in 1996. it was published a year later, in 1997. I know all this, as I had to do an English presentation on a subject of our choice. I thought there was no better subject than j.k rowling herself. The presentation was supposed to be a 2-3 minute oral – mine was somewhere between 6 and seven. Oops.

"I want to finish these seven books and look back and think that whatever happened -however much this hurricane whirled around me -I stayed true to what I wanted to write. This is my Holy Grail: that when I finish writing book seven, I can say -hand on heart -I didn't change a thing. I wrote the story I meant to write. If I lost readers along the way, so be it, but I still told my story. The one I wanted. Without permitting it to sound too corny, that's what I owe to my characters. That we won't be deflected, either by adoration or by criticism."

Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated $15 billion. The last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. They have been translated into over 60 languages. All together, all seven books, have a total of 4,195 pages. As regards to the possibility of an eighth Harry Potter book, she has said, "I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know, in ten years' time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely." Rowling has said she will be writing an encyclopaedia of Harry Potter's wizarding world consisting of various unpublished material and notes. i am very much looking forward to this, as it would complete my collection, so far consisting of all the books, movies and playstation games, 1-7, as well as a few other unofficial books about harry potter. i managed to 'borrow' a hogwarts uniform off my cousin a couple of months ago, and i have intention of returning it any time soon! in the future i hope to go to the harry potter theme park, as that would be an amazing experience - harry potter nerds unite! i found a great website for harry potter paraphernalia, a lot of which i am currently saving up for - http://www.noblecollection.com/index.cfm?fa=products.catagory&catid=21

The midnight premier for harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 is in less than a month, and five of my friends and I are going to see it, in costume. I have gone to all the movie and book releases, dressed in my hogwarts uniform since about 2005, when I became totally obsessed, me, nor any of my friends see this as a bad thing. I think its very healthy to have something to believe in, real or otherwise, because to me, harry potter and his magical world are real.

“life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale” ~ hans christian anderson

“to avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing” ~ elbert hubbard

and who wants to be nothing? everybody wants to be something, so why not stand up and make yourself heard? “be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~ dr. seuss. because if people really love you, they wont care about your faults, or the things you do wrong, they'll accept you and love you for who you truly are. “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ~ eleanor roosevelt.

throw it away, forget yesterday, we'll make the great escape, don't hear a word they say, they don't know us anyway ~ the great escape – boys like girls.

"forget prior engagements, cancel your plans, let's do something amazing, while we still can" ~ vanilla - british india

living inside out, turn this chariot,
like a diamond in the sky,
you take me so far away,
a shooting star across the sky,
you kiss the earth and say goodbye,
only the good die young,
only the good die young,
crashing into the sun,
only the good die young.

~ only the good die young - def leppard

"you know that i'm a crazy bitch, i do what i want when i feel like it, all i wanna do is lose control" ~ smile - avril lavigne

“dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today” - james dean

love drunk

this image reminds me of summer, and all the memories that went with it ~

i used to be love drunk, but now i'm hungover,
i love you forever, forever is over,
we used to kiss all night, now it's just a bar fight.
~ love drunk - boys like girls

so lately i've been listening to a bit of hilary duff, which i wouldn't usually, apart from the fact that i've managed to lose my ipod - oops. when i was younger i bought a few of her cd's, and they're something i haven't listened to in forever. some of the lyrics are quite inspiring, such as these, from the song 'fly' from her self-titled third album, released in 2004.

~ fly, open up the part of you that wants to hide away, you can shine, forget about the reasons why you cant in life, and start to try, cause its you're time, time to fly.

"of course it is happening inside your head, harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" - albus dumbledore

“life is never easy for those who dream" - robert james waller