<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640046216476888618</id><updated>2011-10-30T04:06:16.121+08:00</updated><category term='sun'/><category term='bliss'/><category term='passion'/><category term='road less traveled'/><category term='trust'/><category term='wind'/><category term='submission'/><category term='sea'/><category term='companionship'/><title type='text'>coming out of breathlessness</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>milbenski</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07466172088378868567</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='21' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4M2FUDQy3I/AAAAAAAAADg/BkE8yqdFrdM/S220/solo+b.JPG'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>3</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640046216476888618.post-5928226797204736459</id><published>2010-12-15T19:35:00.004+08:00</published><updated>2010-12-17T08:26:00.834+08:00</updated><title type='text'>Tattling of the Hidden Bricks</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/TQowDQLnqpI/AAAAAAAAAJY/lYO50718_4s/s1600/2050716895_82174d0927.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 353px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/TQowDQLnqpI/AAAAAAAAAJY/lYO50718_4s/s400/2050716895_82174d0927.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551302323129002642" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/2050716895/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/2050716895/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The universe seemed to move in perfect harmony--&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;the wind caressing the soil, the water tickling the fire.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;But in this silent festivity, mistrust had betrayed.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;It had crept into the palace, unbeknownst to anyone.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;How quickly did the dagger stain the granite floor!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The crimson ink instantaneously wrote the tragedy onto the polished stones.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The murderer fled and led himself lost in the labyrinth of lies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Haunted by guilt, comforted by denial, &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;he dug deep into the ground.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;His relentless desire to escape was rewarded--&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;forgiven but not forgotten&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;by the bricks in the darkness.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4640046216476888618-5928226797204736459?l=findingasecondwind.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/feeds/5928226797204736459/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/2010/12/tattling-of-hidden-bricks.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default/5928226797204736459'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default/5928226797204736459'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/2010/12/tattling-of-hidden-bricks.html' title='Tattling of the Hidden Bricks'/><author><name>milbenski</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07466172088378868567</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='21' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4M2FUDQy3I/AAAAAAAAADg/BkE8yqdFrdM/S220/solo+b.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/TQowDQLnqpI/AAAAAAAAAJY/lYO50718_4s/s72-c/2050716895_82174d0927.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640046216476888618.post-7767034699271194256</id><published>2010-03-18T17:58:00.005+08:00</published><updated>2010-03-18T20:21:04.286+08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='trust'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='road less traveled'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='companionship'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='passion'/><title type='text'>walking beyond the road less traveled</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S6IT8A3UhyI/AAAAAAAAAIo/52pd2BwwoOU/s1600-h/2205534459_af757c2d41.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S6IT8A3UhyI/AAAAAAAAAIo/52pd2BwwoOU/s400/2205534459_af757c2d41.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449940420816832290" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;&lt;a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedromourapinheiro/"&gt;http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedromourapinheiro/&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/"&gt;CC BY-NC-SA 2.0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The clear night sky compelled my attention--&lt;br /&gt;full moon beaming at its finest and stars dazzling as ever.&lt;br /&gt;The dry breeze played a sonata&lt;br /&gt;as it was accompanied by the tapping of the leaves.&lt;br /&gt;Serenity bragged tranquility all over the place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What a complete mockery!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In my mind, chaos best portrayed the pause of a nanosecond.&lt;br /&gt;Oh, nothing but a series of unfortunate events seemed to be a pleasant respite&lt;br /&gt;to a man who has chosen to walk beyond the road less traveled--&lt;br /&gt;where no one, not even a few, has dared tread.&lt;br /&gt;Was this anger? Was this loneliness? Or was it plain fear?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;I closed my eyes and opened my heart.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And in that so familiar place,&lt;br /&gt;i found Passion;&lt;br /&gt;i found Companionship;&lt;br /&gt;i found Trust.&lt;br /&gt;Finally, I saw beauty in the still of the night.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4640046216476888618-7767034699271194256?l=findingasecondwind.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/feeds/7767034699271194256/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/2010/03/walking-beyond-road-less-traveled.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default/7767034699271194256'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default/7767034699271194256'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/2010/03/walking-beyond-road-less-traveled.html' title='walking beyond the road less traveled'/><author><name>milbenski</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07466172088378868567</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='21' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4M2FUDQy3I/AAAAAAAAADg/BkE8yqdFrdM/S220/solo+b.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S6IT8A3UhyI/AAAAAAAAAIo/52pd2BwwoOU/s72-c/2205534459_af757c2d41.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640046216476888618.post-6350787081072357475</id><published>2010-02-22T08:42:00.000+08:00</published><updated>2010-02-23T09:35:19.157+08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sun'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='submission'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sea'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='wind'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='bliss'/><title type='text'>The Ultimate Submission</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4Mvc82mXMI/AAAAAAAAADA/wTs0qtAgq5U/s1600-h/sun+man.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4Mvc82mXMI/AAAAAAAAADA/wTs0qtAgq5U/s400/sun+man.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441244949211667650" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;" cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ips/268551054/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ips/"&gt;http://www.flickr.com/photos/ips/&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/"&gt;CC BY-NC-ND 2.0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;that acquainted wind found me once again&lt;br /&gt;blowing on my face, causing my eyes to shut, taking away my soul for a treat,&lt;br /&gt;caressing, calming, chiding me&lt;br /&gt;to momentarily take a dip in my fountain of strength.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;everything became surreal but oddly familiar.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;it looked like the sun too had been kinder-- warmer than it was yesterday,&lt;br /&gt;bathing me with an unusual attention,&lt;br /&gt;purging and purifying my heart-- causing pain, nonetheless, bringing comfort.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;by this time, resisting the splendor of the sea was impossible.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;the tides invited me to reunite with them-- begging in chorus for company,&lt;br /&gt;pulling me away from the shore, farther by the second,&lt;br /&gt;till i could barely touch the powdery sand beneath.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;as i struggled to survive, life reminded me how it turned out--&lt;br /&gt;much better than i prayed for.&lt;br /&gt;yes, 'twas too early of  a call&lt;br /&gt;but i knew it was time to let my final breath escape&lt;br /&gt;and leave you nothing but an assuring smile.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;cry out your grief if you must&lt;br /&gt;but remember to rejoice and sing praises&lt;br /&gt;even after my ashes have come to rest&lt;br /&gt;in the pristine blue where it rightfully belongs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;at long last, i'm blissfully home.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4640046216476888618-6350787081072357475?l=findingasecondwind.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/feeds/6350787081072357475/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/2010/02/ultimate-submission.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default/6350787081072357475'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4640046216476888618/posts/default/6350787081072357475'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://findingasecondwind.blogspot.com/2010/02/ultimate-submission.html' title='The Ultimate Submission'/><author><name>milbenski</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07466172088378868567</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='21' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4M2FUDQy3I/AAAAAAAAADg/BkE8yqdFrdM/S220/solo+b.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8AuEA6wb2w/S4Mvc82mXMI/AAAAAAAAADA/wTs0qtAgq5U/s72-c/sun+man.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
