i still think them cats are crazy ...

Today's post is an ode to the Detroit Tigers and spring training ... I love some of the things these boys have to say. All of them are funny, and a few of them are quite well spoken, which is always impressive to me. I'm in their age bracket, and I'm trying to follow a lot of my dreams, too, and it isn't always easy. It's nice to hear what they have to say about life and about overcoming challenges.


I personally went through some tough stuff last summer, and corny though it may sound, watching the Tigers play every night and watching some of these guys -- many of whom are in their twenties, like me, and trying to reach their goals -- really inspired me. I'm sucker for well-spoken boys who use big words and can also be hilarious and sarcastic or who can master the art of dry-humor.  It seems like on the whole, they are some really great people, and their passion for Detroit and the fans is really honorable.

Guess who just got back today

Them wild-eyed boys that have been away

Haven't changed, haven't much to say

But man, I still think them cats are crazy ...

And if the boys want to fight, you'd better let them

That jukebox in the corner blasting out my favorite song
The nights are getting warmer, it won't be long
Won't be long till summer comes
Now that the boys are here again

-"The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy

The following quotes are from the TigerFest fan press conferences ... And let me just tell you these boys are funny! ...

Austin Jackson: "Hopefully, we'll bring a world series back to Detroit."

Phil Coke: "Hey Jack ... hopefully?"

Austin Jackson: "Okay, we will bring a World Series back."

Phil Coke: “Sorry I’m late. I was actually downstairs, asking the manager of the team store how come I didn’t have any shirts yet … (imitating her) ‘Well, we have to be guaranteed that there’s gonna be 250 sold.’ I was like ‘Yea, well that’s great. I’d take 150 myself.”

Mario Impemba: “You do know they can hear this in the team store.”

Phil Coke: “I knooooooow! I was just there. Hi guys! But I mean, seriously, Sizemore’s got a shirt down there!

Scott Sizemore (sitting a few seats away from him): Thanks Coke.

Phil Coke: “No, no, no. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. He’s on TV more than I am. And then Jackson … he’s got his own little figurine already, and a bunch of shirts.”

Rod Allen: “What in the world are you gonna do with yourself in between starts this year? You’ve been in the bullpen for a couple of years now. Now, I know you started in the minor leagues, but you’re gonna be a starting pitcher this year. What are you gonna do the four days you’re not pitching?”

Mario Impemba: “Drive people nuts.”

Phil Coke: “Y’all better make sure I’m locked up or something. ‘Cause I’m gonna be running around … I might come to the field with some pom-poms or something. ‘Let’s go guys!’”

Mario Impemba: “It looks like you’ve lost a little weight. Have you lost a little weight?”

Phil Coke: “Are you calling me fat before?”

Rod Allen (on Phil Coke): “Is this about over with?”

Mario Impemba: “Dude, we got like five more minutes with him up here.”

Fan (to Austin Jackson): “It’s famous for rookies to have practical jokes played upon. Is anything you’d like to share?”

Austin Jackson: “Umm … (looks over to Phil Coke) Don’t show nobody those pictures, man. Who was I? I was Tina Turner this year. Yea, the dressing up at the end of the year was pretty interesting for us rookies. Yea, I was Tina Turner.”

Mario Impemba: “Scott, what were you?”

Scott Sizemore: “I was like a female bomber. Like a jet fighter or something.”

Mario Impemba: “Phil, what were you?”

Phil Coke: “I didn’t do it man. With the Yankees, I was like a maid from the hotel. No, literally from the hotel. We were at the Ritz in Boston and they had to take one of their uniforms and mutilate it.”

Phil Coke: "Did you just say my name was Kook? It's just like the soda, man."

Jim Leyland: "Will the real Brennan Boesch please stand up? You know, first half, second half?"

 

Mario Impemba: "Phil’s a different bird. We learned that about an hour ago."

Victor Martinez: "I knew that this was a place that was going to give me a great chance to win a World Series. And uh, I didn't much time talking with my wife and the rest of my family. We made a pretty quick decision. This is a great team, you know, it has a great young talented players, you know some veteran players, I just can't wait. I'm like a little kid with a new toy."

Justin Verlander: "This is a constant game of adjustments, and I feel like there's definitely some areas I can improve, first and foremost would be the month of April for me. (Crowd laughs.) I feel like the last couple of years -- (Crowd is still laughing.) That wasn't supposed to be funny."

Phil Coke: "Nobody thought I was going to be very effective as a bullpen guy. They were like 'Oh, he's starter he's not going to be able to do this. You know, we don't need to worry about this guy.' Well, I think I kinda proved that maybe you should think about, that you should worry about me. Well now, they're putting me in the rotation -- so, heads up. I'm very, very excited about this coming year. I mean talking about it, I'm getting the chills right now."
Obsevation: Phil Coke could have a career in stand-up if he wanted it ...  

Brandon Inge: "I've been here my whole career. I really don't know any other organization. I never really had a want to know another organization. I love the fans, I love the area. Another big thing was my kids are starting school here, and no matter what team I was going to be on, if I was possibly going to go to another one, I would still be living here in Michigan no matter what."

Brennan Boesch: “Yea, I think a lot of people would probably look at pitching as something that might’ve slowed me down. But I have to tell you that in the first half, you know, they wanted to get me out just as bad as they did in the second half, I can assure you. The difference really, is in the first half, we were a first place team. We were a great team, we had a lineup that was really formidable, and I was just a guy trying to fill in and do my best to stay in the major leagues.”

Brennan Boesch: “The biggest adjustment for me was really a mental adjustment, of not putting too much pressure on myself. I love the city of Detroit, I really do. It’s welcomed me. It’s really made me feel a part of the community from day one, and so when we started to lose, that was really hard on me as a rookie. You know, I want to do my best, and I felt that when I didn’t produce that I was letting the team down, letting the city down. I mean it really was something that took some growing to figure out that you know, it’s not all on my shoulders; it’s not on one player’s shoulders, it’s a whole team collectively. So, it’s a learning process, and I’m just excited this year to just try to do my job and not try to do too much.”

Brennan Boesch (on his first homeruns): “The first one happened so quick, I ran around the bases, it was over before I knew it. So, you know the second one though, I trotted around, I think Rod said I was ‘cruisin,’’ you know, and uh, the coaching staff told me ‘Hey, I know you’re in the big leagues, you do what you want, but I don’t know if you want to have that reputation of somebody who just jogs around nice and slow, this quick.’ … But I had to take that second one in, especially since it was at Target Field again the hated Twins.”

Fan: “What does Dave Dombrowski think of Phil Coke playing with chainsaws?”

Brennan Boesch: “I grew up by the water, I love everything about the ocean. I like lakes, too. I’ve been surfing, kayaking, doing all that stuff my whole life. Hopefully Dombrowski’s not around; no surfing’s allowed, but it’s not as bad as chainsaws, so I guess I’ll be all right.”

Brennan Boesch: “I don’t want to pick some obscure song, that you guys are like, ‘What is this?’”

Max Scherzer: “Nothing from Titanic?”

Brennan Boesch: “No.”

Fan: “I’m reading a book right now that gets into rookie hazing and all of that going on. And people being made to wear dresses and carry on pink back packs and all this stuff. You came up and within like three days, you’re out there fist-bumping with Miguel Cabrera after getting back-to-back homeruns; you’re like knocking down the 420’-wall and stuff. Does that preclude you from a lot of the rookie hazing that like, Rhymes or somebody may have gotten?”

Max Scherzer (interrupting): “No.”

Brennan Boesch: “I mean—”

Max Scherzer: “No.”

Brennan Boesch: “The funny thing is, you’ve got guys like Scherzer who think they’ve been in the big leagues for fifteen years. You know what I’m saying? This guy’s got what, I don’t even know, three years of service time, and he acts like he’s in the hall of fame already.”

Max Scherzer: “He’s got jokes, he’s got jokes.”

Brennan Boesch: “They’re laughing, they’re laughing. You know, it is what it is. I will say that you know, having success actually probably brings it more, honestly. I think it’s a veteran’s job to make sure that new guys don’t feel like this game’s gonna be too easy or to take anything for granted. So it’s part of baseball, it’s part of everything. It’s all in good fun and it’s never meant to be something that’s degrading or to put you down. It’s a team thing, and we’re all here pulling on the same rope.”

Brennan Boesch: “You don’t have to get better. You just have to get back to you. Get back to what you did, and what makes you, you. And so for me it wasn’t about changing or reinventing anything, it was really about doing what got me there.”

Brennan Boesch: “It seemed like five minutes later I was in the batter’s box for my first at bat.”

Mario Impemba: “Doubling off Rich Harden, by the way.”

Brennan Boesch (jokingly): “My bad.”

Rod Allen: “First swing.”

Mario Impemba (reading a fan’s Twitter question): “Brennan, are the rumors true that you do not own a TV?”

Brennan Boesch: “Oh yea, that’s funny. You know what? Maybe I’ll go back to that. The first half of the season, I didn’t have a TV in my place and did pretty good.”

Max Scherzer: “How did you live without a TV? How?”

Brennan Boesch: “I mean, I went to Berkley, man. I’m kind of a hippie. You know what I’m saying? I like music more than TV.”

(A few seconds after his further explanation …)

Max Scherzer: “Were you playing Solitaire? Or Free Cell? Which one?”

Mario Impemba: “Brennan’s still using a typewriter, too.”

 

"I can't remember anybody breaking in with more of a bang than that for a short period of time -- I mean anybody, over my years of baseball."

-Jim Leyland on Brennan Boesch

"It's been a great off-season. But off-season is exactly that. You can build and make little changes in your game, or whatever you want to call it. But the preparation for the season really starts now, getting in baseball shape. ... This is where you really prepare. This is fun."

-Brennan Boesch

I've posted this one before, but I'm posting it again ...

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

-Roger Hornsby

And, because I'm starting to get excited for Stanley Cup hockey, here's some hockey love:

Oh, take me where the hockey players
Face-off down the rink;
And the Stanley Cup is all filled up,
For the champs who win the drink.
Now the final flick of the hockey stick,
And it's one gigantic scream:
"THE PUCK IS IN!"
The home team wins the good old hockey game!
Oh, the good old hockey game,
Is the best game you can name;
And the best game you can name,
Is the good old hockey game!

39 days 'til the first regular season game, Tigers v. Yankees ... I can't wait! :) Here's to the boys of summer ...

your birthday passed and I didn't call ...

Lots of new quotes this post as I have finally gotten caught up on more than a year's worth of Grey's Anatomy and there has been a ton of great new music out lately. A new musical love of mine is The Pierces. And regardless of whether or not you love or hate American Idol, you simply cannot miss looking at my last quote, which is quite possibly the most epic-fail in terms of forgotten words ever during Hollywood week. It made my night. :)

We'd be so much less fragile
If we're made of metal
And our hearts from iron
And our minds from steel ...
And you want three wishes
One to fly the heavens
One to swim like fishes
And then one you're saving for a rainy day
If your lover ever takes her love away
You say you want to know her like a lover
And undo her damage, she'll be new again
Soon you'll find that if you try to save her
It renews her angers
You will never win ...
You want one true lover with a thousand kisses
You want soft and gentle and never vicious
-"Three Wishes" by The Pierces

Got a secret
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save
Better lock it in your pocket
Taking this one to the grave
If I show you, then I know you
Won't tell what I said
Cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead
Why do you smile
Like you have told a secret
Now you're telling lies
Cause you're the one to keep it
But no one keeps a secret
No one keeps a secret
Why when do our darkest deeds
Do we tell?
They burn in our brains
Become a living hell
Cause everyone tells
Everyone tells
-"Secret" by The Pierces

These days, I haven't been sleeping
Staying up, playing back myself leaving
When your birthday passed and I didn't call
Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times
I watched you laughing from the passenger side
And I realized I loved you in the fall
-"Back to December" by Taylor Swift

"Once upon a time, happily ever after. The stories we tell ourselves are the stuff of dreams. Fairy tells don't come true. Reality is much stormier. Much murkier. Much scarier. Reality is so much more interesting than living happily ever after."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episodes 5.1-5.2, Dream a Little Dream of Me)

"Bones break. Organs burst. Flesh tears. We can sew the flesh, repair the damage, ease the pain. But when life breaks down, when we break down, there's no science. No hard and fast rules. We just have to feel our way through."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.3, Here Comes the Flood)

"People are terrible to the people they love sometimes. They're mean. You were both having a hard time and you took it out on each other. It doesn't make you the worst wife in the world. It just makes you a person who made a mistake."
-said by Izzie on Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.4, Brave New World)

"Slow rides make for boring stories. A little calamity -- now that's worth talking about."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.4, Brave New World)

"The ties that bind us are sometimes impossible to explain. They connect us even after it seems like the ties should be broken. Some bonds defy distance and time and logic. Because some ties are simply meant to be."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.8, The Ties That Bind)

"We don't wish for the easy stuff. We wish for big things. things that are ambitious, out of reach. We wish because we need help and we're scared and we know we may be asking too much. We still wish, though, because sometimes, they come true."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.11, Wish You Were Here)

"The snap judgments, the ones that come to us quickly and easy without hesitation, they're the ones that haunt us forever."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.12, Sympathy for the Devil)

Addison: "Do you really believe in all this? In God?
Callie: "Sometimes. Most of the time. When it counts."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.15, Before and After)

"And the only way to get rid of a shadow is to turn off the lights, to stop running from the darkness and face what you fear, head on."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.17, I Will Follow You Into the Dark)

"Doesn't matter how tough we are, trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up. But maybe that's the point -- all the pain and the fear and the crap, maybe going through all of that is what keeps us moving forward. It's what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up before we can step up."
-Alex's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.19, Elevator Love Letter)

"We can't undo our mistakes, and we rarely forgive ourselves for them ... But as human beings, we can always try to do better, to be better, to re-write a wrong even if it feels irreversible. Of course, 'I'm sorry' doesn't always cut it. Maybe because we use it so many different ways -- as a weapon, as an excuse. But when we are really sorry, when we use it right, when we mean it, when actions say what words never can; when we get it right, 'I'm sorry,' is perfect. When we get it right, 'I'm sorry,' is redemption."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.21, No Good at Saying Sorry [One More Chance])

"When something begins, you generally have no idea how it's going to end. The house you're going to sell becomes your home, the roommates you were forced to take in become your family and the one night stand you were determined to forget becomes the love of your life. ... We spent our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it our will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain when it finally reveals itself: The future is never the way we imagined it."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.23, Here's to the Future)

"At some point you start to realize your life is happening now ... This is it. It's here. Blink and you'll miss it."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 5.24, Now or Never)

"According to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, when we're dying or have suffered catastrophic loss, we all move through five distinct stages of grief. We go into denial because the loss is so unthinkable we can't imagine it's true. We become angry with everyone, angry with survivors, angry with ourselves. Then, we bargain. We beg, we plead. We offer everything we have, we offer our souls in exchange for just oen more day. When the bargaining has failed and the anger is too hard to maintain, we fall into depression, despair, until finally we have to accept that we've done everything we can. We let go. We let go and move into acceptance."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.1, Good Mourning)

"We're all susceptible to it, the dread and anxiety of not knowing what's coming. It's pointless in the end, because all the worrying and making of plans for things that could or could not happen, it only makes things worse. So walk your dog or take a nap. Just whatever you do, stop worrying. Because the only cure for paranoia is to be here, just as you are."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.3, I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me)

"We run like hell from our promises, hoping they'll be forgotten. But sooner or later, they always catch up. And sometimes, you find the obligation you dread the most isn't worth running from at all."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.4, Tainted Obligation)

"When we're headed toward an outcome that's too horrible to face, that's when we go looking for a second opinion. And sometimes, the answer we get just confirms our worst fears. But sometimes, it can shed new light on the problem, make you see it in a whole new way. After all the opinions have been heard and every point of view has been considered, you finally find what you're after -- the truth. But the truth isn't where it ends, that's just where you begin again with a whole new set of questions."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.6, I Saw What I Saw)

"They say the bigger your investment, the bigger your return. But you have to be willing to take a chance. You have to understand, you might lose it all. But if you take that chance, if you invest wisely, the payoff might just surprise you."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.8, Invest in Love)

"Stand still for a second and you'll be left behind. But as hard as we try to move forward, as tempting as it is to never look back, the past always comes back to bite us in the ass. And as history shows us again and again, those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. ... Sometimes the past is something you can't let go of. And sometimes the past is something we'll do anything to forget. And sometimes, we learn something new about the past that changes everything we know about the present."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.9, New History)

"In surgery, the healing process begins with a cut, an incision, the tearing of flesh. We have to damage healthy flesh in order to expose the unhealthy. It feels cruel and against common sense, but it works. You risk exposure for the sake of healing, and when it's over, once the incision has been closed, you wait. You wait and hope ... that you haven't, in fact, just made everything worse."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.12, I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked)

Cristina: "He took something from me. He took little pieces of me, little pieces over time, so small I didn't even notice, you know? He wanted me to be something that I wasn't, and I made myself into what he wanted. One day, I was me ... and then suddenly, I was lying for him, and jeopardizing my career ... And even then, I would've married him. I would have. I lost myself for a long time."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.13, State of Love and Trust)

Cristina: "It is not difficult, sir. It is simple. [He] is not here. He's gone and he's all the better for it ... That is not difficult. He's out there and I'm here where everything is the same ... It is not difficult. This is where I chose to be. But, sir ... I kept his secrets, I nursed his pride. You know it and I know it, and he knows it. He knows it ... I am the unseen hand to his brilliance. ... And yet while everything is the same, it is very, very different. ... I was his hand, and now I'm a ghost. That is not difficult. It's unbearable. Everybody is proud of him, but I'm not. And I do not wish him well."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 4.14, The Becoming)

"We have to keep reinventing ourselves almost every minute because the world can change in an instant, and there's no time for looking back. Sometimes, the changes are forced on us, sometimes they happen by accident, and we make the most of them. We have to constantly come up with new ways to fix ourselves. So we change, we adapt, we create new versions of ourselves. We just need to be sure that this one is an improvement over the last."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.14, Valentine's Day Massacre)

"It's hard for us to accept that it's not always the hard work or attention to detail that will get us the answers we are looking for. Sometimes, we just have to sit back, relax and wait for the happy accident."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.16, Perfect Little Accident)

"No matter how many plans we make or steps we follow, we never know how our day is going to end up. We'd prefer to know, of course, what curve-balls will be thrown our way. It's the accidents that always turn out to be the most interesting parts of our day: the people we never expected to show up, a turn of events we never would have chosen for ourselves. All of a sudden you find yourself somewhere you never expected to be and its nice, or it takes some getting used to. Still, maybe you'll find yourself appreciating it somewhere down the line. So you go to sleep each night thinking about tomorrow, going over your plans, preparing for them, and hoping that whatever accidents come your way will be happy ones."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.16, Perfect Little Accident)

"It doesn't matter how much we achieve. If you're a climber, there's always another mountain."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.17, Push)

"They take pictures of mountain climbers at the top of a mountain. They're smiling, ecstatic, triumphant. They don't take pictures along the way, 'cause who wants to remember the rest of it. We push ourselves because have to, not because we like it. The relentless climb, the pain and anguish of taking it to the next level. Nobody takes pictures of that. Nobody wants to remember. We wanna remember the view from the top. The breathtaking moment at the edge of the world. That's what keeps us climbing. And it's worth the pain. That's the crazy part -- it's worth anything."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.17, Push)

"It's hard to shake that feeling that you could have done more."
-Owen's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.18, Suicide is Painless)

"Psychologists believe that every aspect of our lives, all our thought processes and behavior patterns are a direct result of our relationship to our parents. That every relationship that we have is really just another version of that first relationship. It's just us trying over and over again to get it right."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.19, Sympathy for the Parents)

"No matter how thick-skinned we try to be, there's millions of electrifying nerve endings in there. Open and exposed and feeling way too much. Try as we might from feeling pain, sometimes, it's just unavoidable. Sometimes, that's the only thing left: just feeling."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.21, How Insensitive)

"It's common belief that positive thinking leads to a happier, healthier life. As children, we are told to smile, be cheerful, and put on a happy face. As adults, we are told to look on the bright side, to make lemonade and see glasses as half-full. Sometimes, reality can get in the way of our ability to act the happy part, though. Your health can fail. Boyfriends can cheat, friends can disappoint. It's in these moments, when you just want to get real, drop the act, and be your true, scared, unhappy-self."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.22, Shiny Happy People)

"Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple -- to be happy. Maybe it's this expectation though of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to states of bliss, the more confused we get, to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Instead, we just keep smiling, trying to be the happy people we wish we were, until it hits us -- it's been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes but in the known, the comfortable, the familiar."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.22, Shiny Happy People)

Arizona: "Do not alarm the makers of the tiny humans. They will eat you alive."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.23, Sanctuary)

Derek: "Please look at me in the eye. I'm a human being. I make mistakes. I'm flawed. We all are."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.23, Sanctuary)

"The human life is made up of choices. Yes or no. In or out. Up or down. And then there are the choices that matter. Love or hate. To be a hero or a coward. To fight or to give in. To live. Or die. Live or die. That's the important choice. And it's not always in our hands. ... Yes or no. In or out. Up or down. Live or die. Hero or coward. Fight or give in. I'll say it again to make sure you hear me. The human life is made up of choice. Live or die. That's the most important choice. And it's not always in our hands."
-Derek's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.24, Death and All His Friends)

Richard: "I've lived. I've really, really lived. I've failed. I've been devastated. I've been broken. I've gone to hell and back. I've also known joy. And passion. And I've had a great love."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 6.24, Death and All His Friends)

"Every cell in the human body regenerates on average every seven years. Like snakes in our own way, we shed our skin. Biologically we are brand new people. We may look the same, we probably do. The change isn't visible, at least in most of us, but we are all changed. Completely. Forever."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.1, With You I'm Born Again)

"When we say things like 'people don't change, ' it drives scientists crazy, because change is literally the only constant in all of science. Energy. Matter. It's always changing, morphing, merging, growing, dying. It's the way people try not to change that's unnatural. The way we cling to what things were instead of letting things be what they are. The way we cling to old memories instead of forming new ones. The way we insist on believing, despite every scientific indication, that anything in this lifetime is permanent. Change is constant. How we experience that change -- that's up to us. It can feel like death or it can feel like a second chance at life. If we open our fingers, loosen our grips, go with it, it can feel like pure adrenaline. Like at any moment, we can have another chance at life. Like at any moment, we can be born all over agian."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.1, With You I'm Born Again)

"Lightning doesn't often strike twice. It's a once in a lifetime thing. Even if it feels like the shock is coming over and over again. Eventually, the pain will go away, the shock will wear off. And you start to heal yourself. To recover from something you never saw coming. But sometimes, the odds are in your favor. If you're in just the right place at just the right time, you can take a helluva hit, and still have a shot at surviving."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.2, Shock to the System)

"Nobody chooses to be a freak. Most people don't even realize they're a freak until it's too late to change it. But no matter how much of a freak you end up being, chances are there's still someone out there for you. Unless of course they've already moved on. Because when it comes to love, even freaks can't wait forever."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.3, Superfreak)

"Biology says that we are who we are from birth. That our DNA is set in stone. Unchangeable. Our DNA doesn't account for all of us though. Life changes us. We develop new trades. Become less territorial. We stop competing. We learn from our mistakes. We face our greatest fears. For better or worse. We find ways to change our biology. The risk, of course, is that we can change too much, to the point we don't even recognize ourselves. Finding a way back can be difficult. There is no compass, no map. We just have to close our eyes, take a step, and hope to God we'll get there."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.4, Can't Fight Biology)

Derek: "Breakthroughs happen because someone is scared to death to stop trying."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.5, Almost Grown)

"We all want to grow up. We're desperate to get there. To grab all the opportunities we can, to live. We're so busy trying to get out of that nest, we don't think about the fact that it's going to be cold out there. Really freakin' cold. Because growing up sometimes means leaving people behind. And by the time we stand on our own two feet, we're standing their alone."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.5, Almost Grown)

Cristina: "Well, we went through the scariest thing a person can go through, and we survived. So now everyday's just a gift. And now we're all blessed. Blessed to be here."
-from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.6, These Arms of Mine)

"We're all looking for answers in medicine, in life, in everything. Sometimes, the answers we're looking for have been hiding just below the surface Other times, we find answers when we didn't even realize we were asking the question. Sometimes, the answers can catch us completely by surprise. And sometimes, even when we find the answer we've been looking for, we're still left with a whole hell of a lot of questions."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.7, That's Me Trying)

"Every pressurized system needs a relief valve. There has to be a way to reduce the stress, the tension, before it becomes too much to bear. There has to be a way to find relief because if the pressure doesn't fidn a way out, it'll make one. It will explode. It's the pressure we put on ourselves that's the hardest to bear. The pressure to be better than we are. The pressure to be better than we think we can be. It never, ever lets up. It just builds and builds and builds.
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.8, Something's Gotta Give)

"Under the cover of darkness, people do things they'd never do under the harsh glare of day. Decisions feel wiser, people feel bolder. But when the sun rises, you have to take responsibility for what you did in the dark and face yourself under the cold, harsh light of day."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.9, Slow Night, So Long)

"The goal of any surgery is total recovery, to come out better than you were before. Some patients heal quickly and feel immediate relief. For others, the healing happens gradually, and it's not until months or even years that you realize you don't hurt anymore. So the challenge after any surgery is to be patient. But if you can make it through the first weeks and months, if you believe that healing is possible, then you can get your life back. But that's a big if."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.10, Adrift and at Peace)

"People are really romantic about the beginnings of things. Fresh start, clean slate, a world of possibility. But no matter what new adventure you're embarking on, you're still you. You bring you into every new beginning in your life. So how different can it possibly be?"
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.12, Start Me Up)

"The worst deception we practice is on ourselves. Which is why sometimes, it takes us awhile to realize that the truth has been in front of us the whole time."
-Meredith's voiceover from Grey's Anatomy (Episode 7.13, Don't Deceive Me [Please Don't Go])

American Idol contestants have long forgot the words to their songs. However, last night's version of "I Hope You Dance," originally a Lee Ann Womack song that was sung by Scotty McCreery on Thursday night really takes the cake ...
  
I said this zone zoo talk and nuts of wonder. 
Nang da wonger un your jeans 
Your fighting chance.
-Scott McCreery's version of "I Hope You Dance" on American Idol

welcome to my silly life ...

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"People who live in the past are generally afraid to compete in the present."
-Sparky Anderson

"The trick is to realize that after giving your best, there's nothing more to give."
-Sparky Anderson

"I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it's more than there'll be tomorrow, it's that I want there to be tomorrow. That's the big difference, I want tomorrow to come."
-Sparky Anderson

One day justice will come and find you
And I'll be right there in your memory to remind you
-"Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You?" by Kellie Pickler

Long were the nights when my days once revolved around you
Counting my footsteps, praying the floor won't fall through again
And my mother accused me of losing my mind
But I swore I was fine
You pain me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain
And I lived in your chess game,
But you changed the rules everyday
Wondering which version of you I might get on the phone tonight
Well, I stopped picking up and this song is to let you know why
Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone
Don't think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home
I shouldn't known
Well, maybe it's just me and my blind optimism to blame
Or maybe it's you and your sick need to give love, then take it away
And you'll at my name to your lost list of traitors who don't understand
And I'll look back and regret how I ignored
When they said run as fast as you can
... Dear John, I see it all now, it was wrong
Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played with?
Your dark twisted games when I loved you so
I should've known
You are an expert at sorry and keeping lines blurry
Never impressed me by acing your tests
All the girls that you've run dry have tired, lifeless eyes
'Cause you've burnt them out
But I took your matches before fire could catch me
So don't look now
I'm shining like fireworks over
Your sad, empty town
-"Dear John" by Taylor Swift

The story starts when it was hot and summer
And I had it all, I had him right where I wanted him
She came along, got him alone, and let's hear the applause
She took him faster than you can say sabotage
I never saw it coming, I wouldn't have suspected it
I underestimated just who I was dealing with
She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum
She underestimated just who she was stealing from
She's not a saint, and she's not what you think
She's an actress, whoa
Better known for the things that she does
On the mattress, whoa
Soon she's gonna find stealing other people's toys
On the playground won't make you many friends
She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind
There's nothing I do better than revenge, ha,
She lives her life like it's a party and she's on the list
She looks at me like I'm a trend and she's so over it
I think her ever present frown is a little troubling,
She thinks I'm psycho 'cause I like to rhyme he name with things but
Sophistication isn't what you wear or who you know
Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go
Oh, they didn't teach you that in prep school, so it's up to me
But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity,
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at, honey
You might have him, but haven't you heard?
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at, honey
You might have him, but I always get the last word
-"Better Than Revenge" by Taylor Swift

We caught onto something, I hold onto the night
You looked me in the eye and told me you loved me
Were you kidding?
... And you flash back to when he said forever and always ...
So here's to everything, coming down to nothing
Here's to the silence that cuts me to the core
-"Forever and Always" by Taylor Swift

I'm not a princess
This ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood,
This is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around
... 'Cause I'm not your princess
This ain't a fairytale
I'm gonna find someone, someday
Who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rear-view mirror disappearing now
And it's too late for you and your white horse,
Now it's too late for you and your white horse,
To catch me now
-"White Horse" by Taylor Swift

He is sensible and so incredible
And all my single friends are jealous
He says everything I need to hear,
And it's like I couldn't ask for better
He opens up my door and I get into his car
And he says, you look beautiful tonight
And I feel perfectly fine
But I've been screamin' and fightin'
And kissin' in the rain,
And it's 2 a.m. and I'm cursin' your name
You're so in love that you act insane
And that's the way I loved you
Breakin' down and comin' undone
It's a roller-coaster kinda rush
And I never knew I could feel that much
And that's the way I loved you
He respects my space and never makes me wait
And he calls exactly when he says he will
He's close to my mother
Talks business with my father
He's charming and endearing, and I'm comfortable
... he can't see the smile I'm fakin'
And my heart's not breakin'
'Cause I'm not feelin' anything at all
And you were wild and crazy
Just so frustrating,
Intoxicating, complicated
-"The Way I Loved You" by Taylor Swift

I took a chance, I took a shot
And you might think I'm bulletproof,
But I'm not
You took a swing, I took it hard
And down here from the ground,
I see who you are
... And here's to you and your temper
Yes, I remember what you said last night
And I know that you see what you're doing to me
Tell me, why?
You could write a book on how
To ruin someone's perfect day
Well, I get so confused and frustrated
Forget what I'm trying to say, oh
... I take a step back, let you go
I told you I'm not bulletproof
Now, you know
-"Tell Me Why" by Taylor Swift

You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard
Calling me out when I'm wounded
You, pickin' on the weaker man,
Well you can take me down,
With just one single blow,
But you don't know, what you don't know
Someday, I'll be living in a big old city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
-"Mean" by Taylor Swift

Who you are is not what you did
You're still an innocent
-"Innocent" by Taylor Swift

"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
-Ben Franklin

Made a wrong turn, once or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's all right
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss 'No way, it's all good', it didn't slow me down
Mistaken, always second guessing
Underestimated
Look, I'm still around
-"Perfect" by Pink

in your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team ...

In your life
You'll do things greater than
Dating the boy on the football team,
I didn't know it at fifteen
When all you wanted was to be wanted
Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now
Back then I swore I was gone marry him someday,
But I realized some bigger dreams of mine
Abigail gave everything she had
To a boy who changed his mind
And we both cried ...
I've found time can heal most anything
And you might just find who you're supposed to be
I didn't know who I was supposed to be
-"Fifteen" by Taylor Swift

"When she shall die, take him and cut him out in the little stars and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with the night and pay no worship to the garish sun."
-from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

"People inscribe their histories, beliefs, attitudes, desires and dreams in the images they make."
-Robert Hughes

We were best friends, now we don't even talk
You broke my heart
Ripped my world apart
Didn't you know how much I loved you?
Didn't you know how much I loved you, baby?
I gave you everything, every part of me
Didn't you feel it when I touched you
Didn't I rock you when I loved you, baby?
Baby, tell me
Didn't you know how much I loved you? ...
From wanting you back to not giving a damn
I've felt it all
I've been to the wall
-"Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You?" by Kellie Pickler

Take my hand
Break my stride
Make me smile
For every time I've cried
Hold my heart
In the palm of your hand
Don't listen to it breaking,
Just listen to the band ...
My hands are tied
My head is reeling
My eyes have cried a million tears
From wishing you were here
-"A Million Tears" by Kasey Chambers

"Haven't you heard? I'm the crazy bitch around here."
-Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl (Season 1, Episode 18, "Much I Do About Nothing")

where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

"So -- so -- they -- er -- they -- er -- they actually exist, do they -- er -- dementy-whatsits?"
"But what ARE dementoids?"
"These demembers guard some weirdos' prison?"
-that would be none other than Vernon Dursley in with the big picture on the Dementors of Azkaban, from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"Harry descended the stairs, very conscious of everybody still staring at him, stowing his wand into the back pocket of his jeans as he came. 'Don't put your wand there, boy!' roared Moody. 'What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost a buttocks, you know!' 'Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?' the violet-haired woman asked Mad-Eye interestedly."
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"Ah well ... wand still in your jeans? Both buttocks still on? Okay, let's go."
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher,' Sirius snapped. 'She kept herself alive out of pure spite.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!' 'What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?' said George indignantly as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son."
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"About You-Know-Who. He said, 'His gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'Fair point, little bro,' said Fred, scanning the column. 'You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like.' 'Why's it cheap?' said Ron suspiciously. 'Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet,' said George."
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'Not messing about, Molly dear,' said Mr. Weasley imploringly. 'It was just -- just something Pye and I thought we'd try -- only, most unfortunate -- well, with these particular kinds of wounds -- it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped --' 'Meaning?' 'Well ... well, I don't know whether you know what -- what stitches are?' 'It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together,' said Mrs. Weasley with that snort of mirthless laughter, 'but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid --' 'I fancy a cup of tea too,' said Harry, jumping to his feet. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny almost sprinted to the door with him. As it swung behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley shriek, 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?'"
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'I'm not saying what she did was sensible,' said Hermione, as Ginny jointed them, just as muddy as Ron and looking equally disgruntled. 'I'm just trying to make you see how she was feeling at the moment.' 'You should write a book,' Ron told Hermione as he cut up his potatoes, 'translating mad things girls do so boys can understand them.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"The teachers were, of course, forbidden from mentioning the [Quibbler] interview by Educational Decree Number Twenty-six, but they found ways to express their feelings about it all the same. Professor Sprout awarded Gryffindor twenty points when Harry passed her a watering can; a beaming Professor Flitwick pressed a box of squeaking sugar mice on hil at the end of Charms, said 'Shh!' and hurried away; and Professor Trelawney broke into hysterical sobs during Divination and announced to the startled class, and a very disapproving Umbridge, that Harry was not going to suffer an early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, become Minister of Magic, and have twelve children."
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'I cared about you too much,' said Dumbledore simply. 'I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for you peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives tha might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act. Is there a defense? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have -- and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined -- not want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands."
-from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Year 5) by J.K. Rowling

"'I don't mean to be rude --' he [Mr. Dursley] began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable.' '--yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often,' Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. 'Best to say nothing at all, my dear man.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Year 6) by J.K. Rowling

"'I would assume that you were going to offer me refreshment,' Dumbledore said to Uncle Vernon, 'but the evidence so far suggests that that would be optimistic to the point of foolishness.' A third twitch of the wand, and a dusty bottle and five glasses appeared in midair. The bottle tipped and poured a generous measure of honey-colored liquid into each of the glasses, which floated to each person in the room. 'Madam Rosmerta's finest oak-matured mead,' said Dumbeldore, raising his glass to Harry, who caught ahold of his and sipped. He had never tasted anything like it before, but enjoyed it immensely. The Dursleys, after quick, scared looks at one another, tried to ignore their glasses completely, a difficult feat, as they were nudging them gently on the sides of their heads. harry could not suppress a suspicion that Dumbledore was rather enjoying himself.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Year 6) by J.K. Rowling

"'The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left on the earth ... and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent.' 'Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!' said Ron. 'When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, were're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"
-from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Year 6) by J.K. Rowling
(A shufti, according to Yahoo, is British slang for "look" derived from Arabic.)

"Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different! Always he was on the lookout for the one who would challenge him. He heard the prophecy and he leapt into action, with the result that he not only handpicked the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely deadly weapons!"
-from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Year 6) by J.K. Rowling

"It gave him an odd, empty feeling to remember those times; it was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost."
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

"'A Horcrux is the complete opposite of a human being.' Seeing that Harry and Ron looked thoroughly confused, Hermione hurried on. 'Look, if I picked up a sword right now, Ron, and ran you through with it, I wouldn't damage your soul at all. ' 'Which would be a real comfort to me, I'm sure,' said Ron. Harry laughed. 'It should be, actually! But my point is that whatever happens to your body, your soul will survive untouched,' said Hermione. 'But it's the other way round with a Horcrux. The fragment of a soul inside it depends on its container, its enchanted body for survival. It can't exist without it.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

"'Sorry, I just think it's a bit spookier if it's midnight!' said Ron. 'Yeah, because we really need a bit more fear in our lives,' said Harry before he could stop himself."
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

"But it was as though a curtain fell on a lit stage: All his excitement, all his hope and happiness were extinguished at a stroke, and he stood alone in the darkness, and the glorious spell was broken."
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

"'Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice,' said Professor McGonagall, who had turned pale, 'a different, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

"Of course it's happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"
-from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Year 7) by J.K. Rowling

She's all laid up in bed with a broken heart
While I'm drinking Jack all alone in my local bar
And we don't know how we got into this mad situation
Only doing things out of frustration
Trying to make it work, but man, these times are hard
She needs me now, but I can't seem to find the time
I've got a new job now in the unemployment line
And we don't know how we got into this mess
It's a God's test
Someone help us cause we're doing our best
Trying to make it work but man these times are hard
But we're gonna start by drinking old cheap bottles of wine
Shit-talking, up all night,
Saying things we haven't for awhile, awhile yeah
We're smiling but we're close to tears
Even after all these years,
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time
-"For the First Time" by the Script

Your lipstick stains
On the front lobe of my left side brain
I knew I wouldn't forget you,
So then I went and let you blow my mind
Your sweet moonbeam
The smell of you in every single dream I dream
I knew when we collided,
You're the one, I have decided,
Who's one of my kind
Hey soul sister,
Ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister,
I don't want to miss a single thing you do tonight
Hey, hey, hey,
Just in time, I'm so glad you have a one-track mind like me
You gave my life direction
A game show love connection
We can't deny
-"Hey, Soul Sister" by Train

never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain

The first of two updates today, broken apart due to limits in tagging characters ...

In a book, in a box, in the closet
In a line in a song I once heard
In a moment on a front porch late one June
In a breath inside a whisper, beneath the moon
There it was at the tips of my fingers
There it was at the tip of my tongue
There you were and I had never been that far
There it was the whole world wrapped inside my arms
-"The Words I Couldn't Say" by Leighton Meester (Rascal Flatts have also done this song)

"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."
-from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Year 2) by J.K. Rowling

"'That'd be a cheerful visit,' said Ron. 'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, haveyou been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'"
-from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Year 2) by J.K. Rowling

"What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain."
-from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Year 2) by J.K. Rowling

"'It only put me in Gryffindor,' said Harry in a defeated voice, 'because I asked not to go in Slytherin.' 'Exactly,' said Dumbledore, beaming once more. 'Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choice, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Year 2) by J.K. Rowling

"'Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross ...' He consulted Unfogging the Future. 'That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' -- sorry about that -- but there's a thing that could be the sun ... hang on ... that means 'great happiness' ... so you're going to suffer but be very happy.' 'You need you Inner Eye tested, if you ask me,' said Ron."
-from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Year 3) by J.K. Rowling

"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself ... soulless and evil. You'll be with nothing but the worst experiences of your life."
-from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Year 3) by J.K. Rowling

"You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in the times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night."
-from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Year 3) by J.K. Rowling

"No matter how much Aunt Petunia wailed that Dudley was big-boned, and that his poundage was really puppy fat, and that he was a growing boy who needed plenty of food, the fact remained that the school outfitters didn't sell knickerbockers big enough for him anymore. The school nurse had seen what Aunt Petunia's eyes -- so sharp when it came to spotting fingerprints on her gleaming walls, and observing the comings and goings of the neighbors -- simply refused to see: that far from needing extra nourishment, Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale."
-from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Year 4) by J.K. Rowling

"At this, the veela lost control ... Watching through his Omnioculars, Harry saw that they didn't look remotely beautiful now. On the contrary, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders."
-from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Year 4) by J.K. Rowling

"'I am not joking, Mr. Weasley,' he said, 'though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar ...' Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly. 'Er -- but maybe this is not the time ... no ...' said Dumbledore."
-from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Year 4) by J.K. Rowling

"'I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards' Conference?' 'Enchantingly nasty,' said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. 'I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat.' Rita Skeeter didn't look remotely abashed."
-from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Year 4) by J.K. Rowling

"'It'd be a bit more impressive if she hadn't done it about eighty times before,' Harry said as they finally regained the fresh air of the staircase beneath Professor Trelawney's room. 'But if I'd dropped dead every time she's told me I'm going to, I'd be a medical miracle.' 'You'd be sort of an extra-concentrated ghost,' said Ron, chortling."
-from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Year 4) by J.K. Rowling

"When he looked back, even a month later, Harry found he had only scattered memories of the next few days. It was thought he had been through too much to take in any more. The recollections he did have were very painful."
-from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Year 4) by J.K. Rowling

right now, I don't see the impossible ...

"I think the biggest thing to know is things aren't as bad as they seem. Your boyfriend seems like the last one you'll ever have and the love of your life; your friends and their drama seem so important -- but it's not."
-Leighton Meester (on high school)

"I want to do so many things, and maybe someday, a lot of it will be impossible. But right now, I don't see the impossible."
-Leighton Meester

"I really came to realize -- and it's the best advice that will come out at the end of this show -- that high school is not the end, it is not the best, it is not the only. You will have a whole life afterward, if you're lucky. If you're unlucky, then the only thing you'll ever feel is how fun it was at your prom."
-Leighton Meester

"I don't want to have a friend unless I can call them one of my best friends."
-Leighton Meester

"Humor was a good way to hide the pain. And if that didn't work, there was always Plan B. Run away. Over and over."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"'The winter solstice,' Chiron spoke up, 'is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It's a day when things ... stir.'"
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades ... Olympus has good reason to fear."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"It would be madness to oppose her. You would be better staying here as frozen statues."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"Most problems look worse than they are, mijo. Nothing is unfixable."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"He hated feeling like a reject. Jason and Piper got to visit the throne room. Leo got to wait in the lobby with Cal, the demigod of hockey and major head injuries."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"He felt like a broken machine himself -- like someone had removed one little part of him, and now he'd never be complete. He might move, he might talk, he might keep going and do his job. But he'd always be off balance, never calibrated exactly right."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"You see possibilities much more vividly than others. You see what could be. And it still might be. Don't give up."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"Beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself -- avoiding trying to be something you're not."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"Love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"Thalia gripped her brother's hand. 'How do you feel?' 'Hot,' he muttered. "Mouth is dry. And I saw something ... really terrible.' 'That was Hera,' Thalia grumbled. 'Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon.' 'That's it, Thalia Grace,' said the goddess. 'I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me ..."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"She didn't push him. If he wanted to talk, that was fine, but she knew him better than to press the subject. She didn't even worry that her knowledge of him was mostly based on three months of false memories. 'You can sense possibilities,' her mother had said. And Piper was determined to make those possibilities a reality."
-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

"There are a lot more differences than similarities between Chuck and me. When I was 17, I had certain characteristics of Chuck's but obviously, the context we different. I didn't come from the Upper East Side and I didn't have the same desires. Oh, and I didn't have a string of lovers. I was a good boy."
-Ed Westwick

"I'm a night time kind of guy, so I love going out. I always sense potential in the night."
-Ed Westwick

"My brother and I had a band, Fangs of Fury, for about five minutes [when he was six years old]. I just sat and watched him. So we were at two-men band, with one man doing something."
-Ed Westwick

"I like the glamorous indie rock look, like the Libertines. But you know, without the heroin needle sticking out of my arm."
-Ed Westwick

"I'm childish at times, passionate, a little crazy, I guess. And I pride myself on being one of the last romantics."
-Ed Westwick

"I can't win. I freak out because I can't be fake and pretend like she's not a crazy person, and then I end up looking like the crazy person."
-from L.A. Candy: Sugar and Spice (Book 3) by Lauren Conrad

"He loved the feeling that anything was possible in this city, as long as you had the brains and the energy and the sheer, unapologetic gall to invent it. Or to invent yourself."
-from L.A. Candy: Sugar and Spice (Book 3) by Lauren Conrad

"Here they were, almost two years later. Everything had changed ... and yet, in this moment, it felt like everything was still the same."
-from L.A. Candy: Sugar and Spice (Book 3) by Lauren Conrad

"See, Janie, there are two types of guys who won't commit. The first type avoids relationships until he falls in love for real, and then he's yours forever. The second type avoid relationships, period. That's the type you want to stay far away from. The question is, which type is Braden?"
-from L.A. Candy: Sugar and Spice (Book 3) by Lauren Conrad

"It doesn't do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live."
-from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (The Movie)

"Scars can come in handy. I have one myself about my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground."
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling

Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling
(This is from the placard outside Gringotts)

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers bleak,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise or Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You'll make your real friend,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking cap!
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling
The Sorting Hat Poem

"Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary amount of accidents even with both feet on the ground."
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling


"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling


"'It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,' said Firenze. 'Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.'"
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling


"What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, though ti might not be very hygienic and confiscated it."
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling


"You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all -- the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."
-from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Year 1) by J.K. Rowling

and they said speak now ...

Chuck: "I'm going to have to tell my parents the hotel they just bought is serving minors."
Serena: "And if you get a drink, they're also serving pigs."
-from Gossip Girl, Season 1 (Episode 1, Pilot)

Gossip Girl (voice over): "Revenge. We hear it's best served cold. Who's hungry?"
-from Gossip Girl, Season 1 (Episode 2, The Wild Brunch)

Gossip Girl (voice over): "It takes two to tango, and girls like these never go down without a fight."
-from Gossip Girl, Season 1 (Episode 3, Poison Ivy)

Blair: "Well, I'm done guessing. I want answers! And no one likes to be on the ground floor of a scandal like Chuck Bass."
Chuck: "I am a bitch when I want to be."
Blair: "Opportunity to cause some trouble, uncover a secret?"
Chuck: "I say yes for an answer."
-from Gossip Girl, Season 1 (Episode 3, Poison Ivy)

Gossip Girl (voice over): "Spotted in Central Park. Two white flags waving. Could an Upper East peace accord be that far off? So what will it be? Truce or consequences? We all know one nation can't have two queens."
-from Gossip Girl, Season 1 (Episode 3, Poison Ivy)

Kit: "Well, he's not a bum. He's a rich, classy guy."
Vivian: "Who's gonna break my heart, right?"
Kit: "Oh no, c'mon -- you don't know that. Hey, he asked you, right? Maybe you guys could like, um, you know, get a house together and buy some diamonds and a horse. I don't know. Anyway, it could work! It happens!"
Vivian: "When does it happen, Kit? When does it really happen? Who does it really work out for? Did it work out for skinny Marie or Rachel? No."
Kit: "Those are very specific cases of crack heads."
Vivian: "I just wanna know who it works out for. You give me one example of somebody that we know that it happened for."
Kit: "Name someone? You want me to name someone? You want me to like, give you a name or something?"
Vivian: "Yea, I'd like a name."
Kit: "Oh, god, the pressure of a name ... Cinda-fuckin-rella."
-from Pretty Woman

Getting something, then having the wits to use it ...

A few new ones tonight ...

"'The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation,' she said. 'Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom ... that is very hard indeed.'"
-from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse (Book 3) by Rick Riordan

"'We know you, Annabeth,' the left face said. 'We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you.'"
-from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book 4) by Rick Riordan

"You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things, petty things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I'm the goddess of marriage, you see. I'm used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind."
-from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book 4) by Rick Riordan

"Getting something and having the wits to to use it ... those are two different things."
-from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book 4) by Rick Riordan

"I'd had more than my fair share of near-death experiences; it wasn't something you ever really got used to. It seemed oddly inevitable, though, facing death again. Like I really was marked for disaster. I'd escaped time and time again, but it kept coming back for me. Still, this time was different from the others. You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers -- the monsters, the enemies. When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no option. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give to your beloved, how could you not give it?"
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"Because I was so fragilely human, so accident-prone, so much a victim to my own dangerous bad luck, apparently I needed a tank-resistant car to keep me safe."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"But my idiocy would not ruin anything else tonight. I would put this away, shove it in a drawer and lock it up to deal with later. There would be plenty of time to flagellate myself for this, and nothing I could do now would help."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"I wasn't freaking out because I thought we were making a mistake. Not at all. I was freaking out because I had no idea how to do this, and I was afraid to walk out of this room and face the unknown ... How did people do this -- swallow their fears and trust someone else so implicitly with every imperfection and fear they had?"
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"My first instinct, the product of a lifetime of insecurities was to wonder what I had done wrong. I thought through everything that had happened, but I could find any sour note in the memory. It had all been simpler than I'd expected; we'd fit together like corresponding pieces, made to match up. This had given me a secret satisfaction ... Fire and ice, somehow existing together without destroying each other. More proof that I belonged with him."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"Children, in the abstract, had never appealed to me. They seemed to be loud creatures, often dripping with some form of goo. I'd never had much to do with them. When I'd dreamed of Renee providing me with a brother, I'd always imagined an older brother. Someone to take care of me, rather than the other way around."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"Because I was so fragilely human, so accident-prone, so much a victim to my own dangerous bad luck, apparently I needed a tank-resistant car to keep me safe."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays."
-A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare (Act II, Scene i)

"Why didn't I just walk away? Oh right, because I'm an idiot."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"I understand why you blond vampire is so cold -- in the figurative sense. She's focused. She's got her eyes on the prize, right? Because you always want the very most what you can never, ever have."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"Seemed like maybe getting your choices taken away from you wasn't the very worst thing in the world ... So how do you look for a random soul mate in a crowd? Well, first, I needed a crowd."
-from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

"Personal affection is a luxury you can have only after all your enemies are eliminated. Until then, everyone you love is a hostage, sapping your courage and corrupting your judgment."
-from Empire by Orson Scott Card

what in the name of Jim Joyce is going on here? ...

"What in the name of Jim Joyce is going on here? First, it's Galarraga's perfect game, then it's Calvin Johnson's touchdown, and tonight, David Murphy hits a home-run that was foul. Stick it to us once, shame on you; stick it to us twice, shame on us. Stick it to us three times, and you're not going to like where you can stick it next. Look, we were willing to forgive Jim Joyce, but this has gone on long enough. Whatever we did to umpires, officials or referees all across this great land, we are sorry. Oh, are we sorry. Look, we've got enough trouble around here with you and your garbage calls stinkin' up our days and nights. It's not an easy job, I get it, I don't want it. But for the love of Don Denkinger, save your errant safe, touchdown and home-run calls for fans that deserve it: Buckeyes."
-Mickey York

"Mario and Rod back with a preview of how the umps will screw the Tigers tomorrow night later on."
-Mickey York

"Maybe that was why he was feeling like he and Brandon should be better friends - or something. Like history shouldn't matter so much. But maybe that was easier when you were the person who usually won."
-from It Girl: Classic (Book 10) by Cecily von Ziegesar

"She old herself she wasn't feeling lonely, exactly. She just wasn't used to a whole lot of solitary time anymore. She was used to a shared life now. Callie, Tinsley, Brett and Jenny had been inseparable this past semester. It was going to take some getting used to, being just one-fourth of their foursome."
-from It Girl: Classic (Book 10) by Cecily von Ziegesar

"'Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before.'
'Laistry--I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?'
She thought about it for a moment. 'Canadians,' she decided."
-from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters (Book 2) by Rick Riordan

an invincible summer

It's been awhile ... Here are some new favorites ... :)

Keep drinking coffee, staring me down across the table
While I look outside
So many things I'd say if only I were able,
But I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by
You've got opinions, man
We're all entitled to 'em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time,
Try not to waste anymore of mine
Get out of here fast
I hate to break it to you babe
But I'm not drowning
There's no one here to say
Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me,
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be,
Who died and made you king of anything?
-"King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles


"I finally learned that there lay within me an invincible summer."
-Albert Camus


All the things I still remember
Summers never looked the same
Years go by and time just seems to fly
But the memories remain
In the middle of September
We'd still play out in the rain
Nothing to lose but everything to gain
Reflecting now on how things could've been
It was worth it in the end
-"September" by Daughtry


"Sometimes in life, there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you will find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding. But there's also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you, sometimes better than you know yourself, is the same person who's been standing beside you all along."
-from Bride Wars

Mmm, and come September,
Mmm, I will remember,
Mmm, my camping days and friendships true.
Mmm, and as the years go by,
Mmm, I'll think of you and sigh,
Mmm, this is goodnight and not goodbye
-"Linger" (a camp song)

Moon on the meadow, bugs in our ears
Smoke in our eyes, wet wood and tears
Up on the meadow, water somewhere
We were the only ones there
Wild horses rushing, dry lakes and peaks
Finding the love that everyone seeks
Hiking to rainbows, sunsets and stars
Finding out just who we are
We will return here
One lucky day
Our hearts will guide us
They know the way
People and cities don't understand
Falling in love with the land
Moon on the meadow, bugs in our ears
Smoke in our eyes, wet wood and tears
Out on the meadow, water somewhere
With you my friend, we were there
-"Moon on the Meadow" (a camp song)

"At the end of a day like this, a day when so many prayers are answered and so many aren't, we take our miracles where we find them. We reach across the gap and sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, we touch ..."
-from "Grey's Anatomy" (Season 3, Episode 17 - Some Kind of Miracle)

"For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything you come across -- hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."
-from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Book 1) by Rick Riordan