What Team?!!!

In recent months I have become a full-fledged High School Musical fan. For those who think HSM is for kids and wonder what the heck has gotten into me, I feel the need to explain. First of all, let me say that I resisted for a long time. Despite working at Walt Disney World in 2006 when the first movie was released, I didn’t catch wind of its momentous impact. It was there, trying to creep through the back of my mind but I rejected it outright telling myself it was ‘dumb’, and nothing like the really good stuff that Disney produced when my generation was growing up. The overly catchy songs and dances were nothing I hadn’t heard before. In fact, they seemed a little hyper and overdone for my taste. But how often are the very best stories the ones we have heard before, but told in a completely fresh and wonderful way?




High School Musical is the story of Troy and Gabriella, two characters you know all too well. They could be Danny and Sandy in Grease, or Baby and Johnny in Dirty Dancing. But in this story they are modern day high school students who meet at a ski resort over winter break and get paired up for a karaoke duet on New Year’s Eve. What transpires during their song is a rare kind of chemistry and attraction that will warm your heart and captivate you and becomes even sweeter when you learn the actors were falling in love in real life as well as onscreen. The “Start of Something New” number lifts you up off your seat onto a journey you can’t help but give yourself over to. All three films are dressed in cheesy lines, exaggerated character depiction, and feel-good songs that will leave you sneaking your kid’s soundtrack in the car so you can have your own private HSM sing-a-long as you drive home from work.




After the first movie, the two sequels are practically prescriptive but highly enjoyable nonetheless. The music and dancing only get better and better. But what's it really about? High School Musical is about supreme possibility. It indulges us in the high school experience we all should have had but far from what most actually experience. Still, it creates a sense of nostalgia in us. It is about the innocence and purity of young love and the sacredness of close friendships. Most importantly, it reminds us that if we are able to overcome the major obstacles so many adolescents face like social cliques, insecurities, and the uncertainty of our futures, and learn to be ourselves and follow our hearts, we truly are unstoppable. A simple message but an invaluable and inspiring lesson. Go Wildcats, Game On!!



So which is the best movie of the series you wonder? Well you might just have to watch and find out..

Who Am I?

Who Am I?

I am the words that pour from my lips, lighting my way into tomorrow.

I am a shadow of my former self with softer edges, defined by the light of my understanding.

With divided loyalties I am committed to the two until they merge into one.

I am the higher self reflected back in a moment of intimacy and genuine relationship.

I am the question that remains on the fringe of recollection.

I am the intuition that rises in a moment of stillness. I am the stillness.

I am the crest of a wave, carried forward, serving its purpose then relenting.

I am the current that gently supports a falling leaf, moving it into its next cycle.

I am the fragrance of jasmine, blooming a welcome to the onset of night.

I am the gurgle in a new baby's giggle, a song of wonderment and mirth.

I am the smell of wet soil, promising fertility and completion.

I am the whisper heard in a chattering brook, of stories yet untold.

I am the warmth of the sun on your face on a long autumn day, telling of seasons to come.

I am the crackling of a fire as it baptizes a length of hickory.

I am the spark of recognition in the face of a friend, warming the corners of your heart.

I am you.

With remembrance and expansion dawns the space to carry all.

-Author Unknown

A Year Gone By

I haven’t written a blog on here in a whole year – wow. And what a strange and transformational year it’s been for me. We are all in the ever present process of evolving, growing, changing, and reinventing. Despite losing what I thought was the love of my life, a marriage, and the hopes and dreams we shared together over the course of five years, I have found that I still have all the love and abundance one needs; through strong, wonderfully supportive friendships, loving family members, and the incredible and endlessly fascinating relationship I have with myself.

I am living and creating the life I want each and every day. I am reminded that, and hope to continually remind others, that happiness is an internal factor. Nothing in this physical world can provide a permanent sense of satisfaction if you haven’t tapped into your light within. We are all the same and we are all connected and that is why you should express yourself freely to the world, so that others may feel less alone. In healing others, you too become healed. I wish to share with you poems, song lyrics, articles, and personal experiences as a resource to foster inner growth and cultivate your own spiritual wisdom. I wish you all deep, conscious awareness, and a flashlight to discover and radiate light on your own inner beauty.

Shine on,
Robin :o)

Watermelon Spritzer

Me.

Your Personality is the Rarest (INFJ)

Your personality type is introspective, principled, self critical, and sensitive. Only about 2% of all people have your personality - including 3% of all women and around 1% of all men. You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Death

David C. Kupsis, 67, of Brookhaven, died on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008, at Taylor Hospice, Ridley Park.

Born in Ridley Park, he had been a resident of Brookhaven for the past 41 years.

He was a graduate of St. James High School, class of 1959, and West Chester University, class of 1963. He also received his master's degree from West Chester.

He had been employed by the West Chester Area School District as an elementary school teacher for 39 years, retiring in 2002. He had taught fifth grade at Penn Wood Elementary School.

He was an active member of the Church of Our Lady of Charity, Brookhaven, where he taught CCD for 20 years. He had also coached youth baseball and basketball in the Brookhaven area.

He was a member of the Accordion Pops Orchestra.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Mary (nee Bryan) Kupsis; one son, David C. Kupsis Jr. of Perkiomenville; one daughter, Diana (Eric) Barraclough of Brookhaven; and one brother, Charles Kupsis of Trinity, Fla. He was the grandfather of Noah and Ava Barraclough; and the brother of the late Patricia Smarowsky.

A funeral Mass will be on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 10:30 a.m. at the Church of Our Lady of Charity, Upland Road, Brookhaven.

Interment will be in Ss. Peter & Paul Cemetery in Marple Township.

Friends may call after 8:30 a.m. at the Minshall Shropshire-Bleyler Funeral Home Middletown (Route 352) and Knowlton roads, Middletown Township, Media.

Memorial contributions may be made to Taylor Hospice, 300 Johnson Ave., Ridley Park, PA 19078.

The above is an obituary of my 5th grade teacher. He was someone I'll always remember. The kind of teacher whose students would come back year after year to visit him. The summer before 5th grade I had hoped I'd get put in his class because you always heard such wonderful things about him. But it was a hard year because he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had to miss many months of school. We had a longterm substitute teacher whom I disliked. I've often thought about him over the years and wondered if he was still living.

There have been a lot of deaths this summer. Joy's aunt, Laura's mom, two girls I went to school with. It's always sad to hear about someone you know who has passed but it's even sadder when you think about the lives that will be affected because of the loss. I have a book called The Soul Survival Kit that offers a good perspective on death.

"Death happens, not just to the physical body of someone, but to everything that comes to an end. We are taught to be frightened of death, but death can be understood as a chance for renewal. With death, new things are born or come into your life. If you believe in reincarnation or rebirth, then the death of the physical body can be viewed as a chance for the spirit to come again.

Whatever your beliefs, allow death to have its role and purpose. By accepting it you will learn how to let go and move forward. As well, you will understand the ebb and flow of the cycle that we are inextricably a part of: birth - life - growth - attachment - death - loss - grief - disengagement - rebirth.

Death and beginnings are part of the evolution of your spirit. We need these lessons to grow up and out into the world. At the time it's very confusing, hurtful and painful and can make us bitter, angry and resentful. But we each have a duty to carry on living our life the way the Universe, God or the Spirit intended. Until it's our turn"