NOTES

In a moment of decision,

the best thing you can do

is the right thing to do.

The worst thing you can do

is nothing.

Theodore Roosevelt

LEONARD COHEN AGAIN IN BRATISLAVA

Leonard Cohen

legendary Canadian singer and songwriter,

will perform at Bratislava's Incheba Expo Arena

on Saturday, March 13th, 2010

One of the most fascinating and enigmatic - if not the most successful - singer, songwriters of the late '60s, Leonard Cohen has retained an audience across four decades of music-making interrupted by various digressions into personal and creative exploration, all of which have only added to the mystique surrounding him. Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon), he commands the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the 1960s who is still working at the outset of the 21st century, which is all the more remarkable an achievement for someone who didn't even aspire to a musical career until he was in his thirties.

Leonard Norman Cohen was born into a middle-class Jewish family in the Montreal suburb of Westmount in 1934, a year before Elvis Presley or Ronnie Hawkins, and his background - personal, social, and intellectual - couldn't have been more different from those of any rock stars of any generation; nor can he be easily compared even with any members of the generation of folksingers who came of age in the 1960s. Though he knew some country music and played it a bit as a boy, he didn't start performing on even a semi-regular basis, much less recording, until after he had already written several books - and as an established novelist and poet, his literary accomplishments far exceed those of Bob Dylan or most anyone else who one cares to mention in music, at least this side of operatic librettists such as Hugo Von Hoffmanstahl or Stefan Zweig, figures from another musical and cultural world

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ENJOY MUSIC

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GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL

THE ROSE

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The first day of class our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" And she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.

She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped all of her 3 x 5 note cards.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order, so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.

If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will still turn eighty-eight. Any body can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.

Have no regrets. The elderly rarely have regrets for the things we did, but rather for things we did NOT do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose".

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics. At the years end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL

WEDDING DAY

"Snow queen"

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Traditional Wedding Dress

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White wedding dresses were not in vogue during the Middle Ages—blue was the traditional symbol of purity. Often a band of blue ribbon would be worn by the bride and groom, this is where we get the part of the traditional rhyme where the bride should wear "something blue". Bridal dresses could have been any color.

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Anne de Bretagne (1477 - 1514)
   
Her marriage with Maximilian I, which took place at Rennes on the 19th of December 1490, gained Anne the title Queen of the Romans but proved to have serious consequences.   ~  
Maximilian I of Habsburg     Maximilian I of Habsburg (1459 - 1519) ,Holy Roman Emperor,  was born in Vienna as the son of the Emperor Frederick III and Eleanor of Portugal...   ~ and 519 years later on the 19th of December my daughter get married  as well...
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KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR ME

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I’ve had a big problem in my office recently... I was very frustrated before finding the first solution... a small light...but I found it   Thanks God for it Thanks for this solution...works great.
And I hope to find a solution for the rest also very soon...Keep your fingers crossed for me...please...

PORTUGAL 2009