nathan moussa
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2005-08-24 15:39 I'm not much of a poetry person, but I have on occasion run across a poem that moved me. I like the ones that are short and rhyme. Sometimes I get the sense that real poetry people like long, non-rhyming poems.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

~~ Robert Frost
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2005-08-09 14:06 I wrote a long blurb on my spiritual journey of late but felt better afterwards and so decided to go with something a bit lighter. I'm not really sure whether to repost here what I posted on my mySpace blog or to do something different. For now I'll try to keep them seperate.

The art of moustache cultivation has died. I mean, I know a few middle-aged men and old women who have attempted to keep the tradition alive, but none with as much vigor as Nietzsche here. Speaking of Nietzshe, I'm involved in a philosophy discussion group, and we are going through his book Beyond Good and Evil. I started in a bit late and have not caught up yet but for some reason still feel at liberty to speak out in the discussion. This may be a fault of mine. What I will say about Nietzsche is that he appears to me to be overly cerebral. I'll be interested to see if he comes to any conclusions about the world based on such a thorough break down of culture and belief. I suppose maybe it's a philosopher's job to put aside natural feelings and emotions to get to the heart of whatever it is they are trying to discover, but Nietzshe seems to do it to a fault. A fine brain can come up with counterpoint for whatever argument it can devise, and overthinking can lead to intellectual deadlock. It seems to me that you can never take a stand unless you let feeling enter into the decision making process. When nothing can be purely proven it's that emotional catalyst, that leap of faith that wills a man to believe and act. And it makes sense. Humankind is both cerebral and emotional. Why deny either facet of your being?
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2005-07-25 11:13 Back in the saddle, my foot. I should explain why I haven't posted anything in a while. It's always been my intention to use this website as a learning tool for my web development skills as well as let friends and family know what's going on and promote discussion of certain topics that I find interesting. Well, I never really automated the process by which I update this site to the extent that I wanted to. Just that little bit of extra effort that is required has often kept me from posting the random news item or stray thought. Regardless, it's been too long.

So what's happened in the past year? It's been busy.

In the past year I've been playing guitar for a local musician, Deck Sachse, who performs under the name Mission to the Sea. This has been a spectacular musical outlet, something that I'd been wanting to quite a while. It's great to be playing with someone whom I respect both for their musical ability and character.

I am no longer dating the girl I dated for more than two years. It's amazing how much you can learn from a relationship. The parting was amiable, mutual and as good as can be expected though still sad at times. I have a deep respect for that girl and am better for having become so close to her. I used to hold the narrow view that any relationship that didn't last a lifetime was a mistake and not worth the trouble. It's not true. I don't know whether God brings specific people into life so that you can grow or just gives you guidance by which you can grow in any circumstance, but maturation is inevitable with the right attitude, especially in difficult times.

I'm still working at the company I've worked at since moving to Dallas, TX, and my job is going very well. If it wasn't, I wouldn't discuss it here because that would just be stupid. Thankfully everything is great.

My brother, Michael, who was living with me until recently moved out to go active in the U.S. Army National Guard. The first few months to be spent in infantry training followed by a year of deployment. I miss having him as a roommate.

The mother of two very close friends died unexpectedly not too long ago. My friends' lives are changed for ever as are their father's and sister's lives. There mother was a good woman. The family she left behind is a testament to that.

I don't know who originally coined the phrase "Waves of Change", but change indeed seems to come in waves. Like an explosion of charged subatomic particles hurled at the earth by some particularly violent astrophysical reaction on a distant star its path is unavoidable. Finding yourself in its wake can be scary but also curiously renewing.

This time I will make no promises about updating this site, but hopefully I will drop in from time to time to leave a comment. And next time I record a song, it will be posted here.

On a less serious note, I finished Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince this weekend and am trying to recover. Read it, and you'll know what I'm talking about.
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2004-06-08 22:01 Back in the saddle again. I have purchased my first laptop computer. It's a big one but a good one: an ABS Mayhem G1. Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Sorry again that this post will be short. I have a mound of photos from my trip to Europe to wade through before my next post as well as some other web development to work on. I'll tell you this, that Revekah and I had a great if not a little bit tiring time in London and Paris. Those are two really old, really cool cities. London is freakin' expensive. More coming soon.
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2004-05-05 23:07 I've been meaning to make this post for a week now. For it was nary a week ago that my brother and I went to the U.S.A. vs. Mexico friendly soccer match at the Cotton Bowl. Having grown up in Cyprus (and in my brother's case also Germany), soccer was the sport that we most often played and watched. We were lucky enough to have attended a few different national and international games while in Cyprus, some of which were quite lively. You can't beat the vision of tens of thousands of cheering fans chanting and swaying in unison while streamers of toilet paper fly off the upper decks. The smell of road flares burning the neatly manicured lawn that is the soccer pitch. The excitement of dodging bottles being thrown over the barriers by fans of the opposing team. The legions of police in full riot gear. Well, this "friendly" game wasn't quite that exciting. But the air still held a charge that was mostly carried by Mexico's loyal fans, comprising probably 90% of all 45,000 people in attendance. With a half time show put on by Telemundo, this was truly a home game for Mexico.

My brother and I were not disappointed. Both teams played well keeping the score to nil-nil until the final minute of play. The U.S.A. team who dominated for most of the match scored a goal off a rebounded header to win the game in the last minute of stoppage time. And because the header came from a free kick I was able to get a video of the only goal scored (19 MEGS!). There was one small section of cheering U.S.A. fans seated below us that put on quite a show. I'm glad they were there. The U.S.A. deserved the support these fans gave.
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