It’s my first year in Blogosphere! It has been a blast, and blogging has always kept me sharp and focused, while appreciating fellow writers and sharers and enjoying profound and sometimes funny moments with them, as if we have been like long lost friends. I like to thank the following people who have made my blogging life really a fun and insightful experience which will always color my existence as long as there’s a computer I can get my hands on (provided it has internet, haha!): Kim, Bullish, Sarah Flanigan, Qazse, Heather, Zaph, Soulless, Janet Leigh, Ranna, Manoj, Flori, Janet Cabral, Simonne, Beejing, Amada Sanz, My Soul, Elle, Ryan, Sonya Rose, and so many others that regaled me with their violent reactions and loving contradictions, you know who you are, and you’re always in my heart. Thanks Everybody! And keep on blogging and intellectualizing the Net with Poetry and Pure Fiction! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!
~~~
For my First Anniversary Post, I present to you…Tadaaahhh! My reaction to a prime example of how pop culture and the music industry can produce the most erudite, existential, thinking lyrics slash poetry that captures an alternative view of life and its smoke and mirrors. I’m talking about John Mayer’s “No Such Thing”, with the line that caught my imagination: “I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world just a lie you’ve got to rise above…”
Come to think of it, from adolescence we blunder into life with our preconceptions and assumptions about so many things, hoping that these beliefs will come out true and helpful to our growth and enjoyment of life. However, as John may have discovered upon reaching adulthood, that the initial onslaught of the “so called life” blasts most of all that we thought it to be, leaving us jaded, cynical, wary, and even paranoid. The second shock comes when what we know as the real world is but a mirage of deeper and more darker truths that seem to pull us down into more depression and suspicion. We begin to question what is real in books, news, government agendas, military decisions, geopolitical events, our own personal feelings, and the hearts of those we know.
The song, with its albeit jumpy, psychedelic, frisky, vibrant melody, as if a regression to high school sung by a wizened college boy, has a sad connotation but with a note of redemption, that after screaming your lungs out out of your dismay and sobering with the “real world”, John Mayer says we still have a chance to rise above the lies and red tape and propaganda. Running through the walls of your high school took a lot of gut instinct and sharp feeling, hence, this is just what we need to rise above the divisions, turmoil, and misinformations. Follow your heart, scream at the top of your lungs, if you must, and everything just might fall into place. With a little moxie and a prayer. 
I have the video and lyrics for you to see and try a listen to. Hope you can relate and hum to John Mayer’s tune. See yah next time! 
No Such Thing
John Mayer
“welcome to the real world”
she said to me condescendingly
“take a seat, take your life
plot it out in black and white”
well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings
and the drama queens
I’d like to think the best of me
is still hiding up my sleeve
they love to tell you “stay inside the lines”
but something’s better on the other side
I want to run through the halls of my high school
I want to scream at the top of my lungs
I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world
just a lie you’ve got to rise above
so the good boys and girls take the so-called right track
faded white hats grabbing credits, maybe transfers
they read all the books but they can’t find the answers
all of our parents, they’re getting older
I wonder if they’ve wished for anything better
while in their memories, tiny tragedies
they love to tell you “stay inside the lines”
but something’s better on the other side
I want to run through the halls of my high school
I want to scream at the top of my lungs
I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world
just a lie you’ve got to rise above
I am invincible
I am invincible
I am invincible
as long as I’m alive
I want to run through the halls of my high school
I want to scream at the top of my lungs
I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world
just a lie you’ve got to rise above
I just can’t wait for my ten year reunion
I’m gonna bust down the double doors
and when I stand on these tables before you
you will know what all this time was for
gimble Said:
on October 7, 2007 at 10:13 am
How strange – talk about coincidences. Not half an hour ago I contemplated downloading this as a ringtone. (Still on the fence.)
When the CD first came out, I gave it to a friend graduating from high school – today he’s in the real world and finding it tougher than the lyrics depicted. I’m practically the age of his parents, but thankfully not wishing for anything better, as my life gets unbelievably better with age.
Happy first anniversary and thanks for confirming my long-standing sense that despite the song’s power-pop sound, it possesses real meaning.
Thank you so much, Gimble! It’s nice of you to give your friend a John Mayer CD. I am happy that you’re fine and so far, so good. It’s a blessing and we are thankful for it. Again, thank you, and have a good one.
krkbaker Said:
on October 7, 2007 at 10:06 pm
HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY TOM!!!
We all love you in Blog land as well.
I agree with you on the Mayer tune. Been a long time since I’d heard it. Thanks.
Kim
Thanks you so much, Kim. I’m touched. I’m happy to have known you and I love you too.
elle Said:
on October 8, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hi!
Thanks for encouraging me, I’ll do my best. Anyway, Happy First Anniversary to your blog!
Keep rawkin!
Oh, you are a flower set to bloom. Thank you very much and looking forward to your anniversaries too. Smile!
janetleigh Said:
on October 29, 2007 at 4:07 am
Happy Blogaversary, Tom! The Blogosphere is certainly a better place with YOU in it, my friend. I’ve only recently discovered John Mayer; love his lyrics and his sound. My favorite so far is “Gravity” and I can’t get the dang thing out of my head. grr.
You wrote, “We begin to question what is real in books, news, government agendas, military decisions, geopolitical events, our own personal feelings, and the hearts of those we know.”
It wasn’t always like this, Tom. It’s only been in the last 20 years + or – that the elite has turned the tables on us with managed confusion and flip-flopism; it’s easier to herd a confused mass. ;> It’s up to your generation and the rising gen to put a stop to the BIG LIE. If people want to know what’s going on, study recent history (1900-onward) for your answers. We *are* repeating history. We are using the same path Germany was on pre-Hitlr, taking gun law legislation verbatim from German documents, creating a group of people to hate, and interfering in our lives to the point we don’t trust our own family members. Bring back community, God, and the right to defend ourselves from enemies foreign and domestic – and maybe we have a chance. For some inspiration, go to Dr. Ben Carson’s website http://www.carsonscholars.org/ . We’re all in this boat together.. ;> Sorry for hogging your bandwidth. You can delete my comments if you’d like, Tom. I won’t be offended.
Janet, my minds swims with your analyses and definitive conclusions that makes me comfortable in knowing that I am in colloquy with a person like You. Speak your mind and I am all ears, for I acknowledge the knowledge of my friends and kindred writers, how sparkling it is to read and digest what you say, and I dare say Heaven must be like this, the physical-less hearty consumption of enlightened thinking among souls and hearts, revelling in our mutual sharing and understanding.
I’ll keep what you say.
True, the powers that be and their retainers are just exhibiting the worst of human nature: Looking after their own assets. And the beleaguered populace are more human in reacting to their well covered lies. But, I believe so much in the Divine Power working in the Universe, and such chaotic smugness and megalomania and messiah complexes of the powerful will be swept aside in due time, to vindicate the humble, faithful, and the meek.
Thank You for you greeting, too. I am happy (:
mysoul Said:
on November 13, 2007 at 7:55 am
Happy Blog-anniversary! I am glad for people like you. As for what is real…I havent made a conclusion. Many a day I wake up wondering, if I am still asleep. And in my sleep I dream like it was real. The only thing real is knowing, I exist.
Yes, I am of the Cartesian sentiment too. Thank you very much! Contemplation of life is better than impulsive and often bitter view of such. All the best (: