Love gave himself to me, suddenlyâŠwhen I wasnât even ready.
When I was still wondering why love left me in the first place, caught by surprise…I didnât know what to do…
At first, honestly…I didnât even want him, dailyâŠI only wanted him momentarily, when my thoughts were scattered and my soul was hollow. When he could give me what I needed tonight but not tomorrowâŠtomorrow when I would wake up and change my mind again.
Iâm surprised love even stayed till the end, or I shouldnât say end, cause what I mean by end is now, and now is just the beginning of another journeyâŠ
Love came to me again. Just when I thought love never visited twice, love showed up with perfectly trimmed hair, looking all fresh and niceâŠ.yet this time, love had another complexion.
This time love had piercings and a tattoo but was overflowing with compliments and affection. This time love was taller, quieter yet wiser, slim but warm. This time love wore skinny jeans because love was a trend setter, and had 80 pairs of shoes, a father that called me his daughter from the second day I met him…and this time love let me chooseâŠeverythingâŠfrom what to eat, to where to go, to who to tell, and which show..to put on…This time loveâs patience was long.
He let me choose knowing of my indecisive ways, of my misjudgements and how I always procrastinate….now that’s love.
This time love was an observer, observing me and everything I did, so that love knew how to win me over.
Iâm telling you, when love came back this time, he knew exactly what to do. He knew all the right things to say, all the doâs and donâtâs….He knew that the first time I let love in I was left a mess, so love came back again prepared to impress….me. He knew it wouldnât be easy.
Love spent two years mending and bending, putting the puzzle pieces back in place, building a concrete pathway, leading straight to my heart.
Love came back once more, to make up for the first time he left me.
Love comes againâŠand again and again…and again.
Love comes and goes, and stays for months even years, and at times just leaves whenever he may please…
or whenever its convenient.
But love came again and found me, hiding under the bridge of past memories,
holding onto anything that linked me back to my previous love affair,
Only this time…love won me over with his high top hair.
Before the delightful madness of the first week back at school, I baked a cake.
I baked a German cheesecake, a cake that keeps me wanting, a cake that makes me smile, a cake that knocks me right back to my other home and still manages to soften the blow of the business and busy-ness of London.
A cake that inspired this little piece or slice of creation…
It’s Definitely not purely cake related but makes me smile just as much.
Open, close, ope… OPEN. Brilliant light! This is what I treasure.
I wake to a fiery glow as it is waking with me.
Little movement, no chatter, all is calm and sleeping. The feeling rises within me, it is a reflection.
Peace. All is dark, yet all is bright: Golden â black.
I hope desperately for no sound to be made, I cannot be woken from my tranquil state.
Alive and full of vibrancy, do not think a thought too many Please.
Stay. Stay as you are. Continue sailing through this jungle, never stopping. Be.
This was the first I saw then and the only one I wish to see now. It is always there… It always comes back to me as I come back to it.
Two, five, seven, eleven, twenty-one; I came home and will come again. 2571121
This is a Sunrise over Edinburgh.
…or should I watch a cheesecake bake in the oven perhaps? đ
Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe has just become European Champion of the Modern Pentathlon. In a sport dominated by Europeans historically, let’s take a moment to process that.
Apart from Boxing, long distance running and swimming, Ireland hasn’t had that much overall success in the greatest Sports event in the world. From recollection, only the Super Bowl final and the Soccer World Cup have even close to more global viewership and only take place over one nights entertainment.
The Olympics is the event in which respect, loyalty and fair play combine nations together under the guise of nationalism but realistically are patriarchy and pit competitors of different origins against one another fairly.
The Olympics is the pinnacle of a sportsperson’s career. And Ireland has a hope in Art.
We, as a country, should not be even in the running for a medal in any sport. Sure, if was music or poetry or theatrics or general beautiful writing or craic and respect, of course we’d be up there and many of our citizens are (U2, Celtic Woman, Joyce, Wilde, Day-Lewis, Farrell, Fassbender, O’Dowd, Heaney, Beckett, D Higgins respectively) but realistically, from a country of barely 5 million people, we should not be featuring sportingly.
Yet we do. McGregor, Taylor, O’Sullivan, Carruth, McGuigan, Keane, Keane, Irwin, Haughton, O’Connell, Murray, O’Driscoll, Munster, Leinster, Ulster, the Irish Rugby team as a unit are all past world champions for both club and country. Lanigan O’Keeffe is up there now too.
He is European Champion. And he’s not finished yet…not by a long shot.
We sat down with the Kilkenny and Dublin native and asked him the questions we wanted to ask:
TPJ: 1. –Â Who was your biggest rival in Bath and in the sport in general?
Arthur: Europe is the strongest continent for modern pentathlon so I had many Rivals for the title. The final was full of TOP class athletes but if I were to name a few I would say David Svoboda – CZE (2012 Olympic Champion), Adam Marosi â HUN (2012 Olympic Bronze medalist), Alex Lesun â RUS (2014 World & European Champion), Ricardo Deluca ITA (2015 World Cup Final Champion & World ranked No.2) & the list just goes on and onâŠ!
TPJ: – 2. Was it tough to win it?
Arthur: Its always tough to win a major title let alone on Olympic Qualification year. I had to have a perfect day and as it turned out I did. It was a big surprise for many to see me on top of the podium even I had to pinch myself at stages.
TPJ: – 3. What music did you listen to just before the race?
Arthur: It was an early morning start, 6am, and I needed some serious goosebumps music to get me going. I listen to Heart of courage by Thomas Bergersen. When I really want to get my fire burning I always go back to powerful instrumental music it allows the mind to dream.
TPJ: – 4. Are you looking forward to Rio?
I have been training all my life for my moment thatâs over 10,000 hours of training. âLooking forwardâ doesnât do it justice, imagine Christmas times 1,000. I think about my moment in Rio everyday at least 5 times. It gives me purpose its my life.
TPJ – 5. You have the full support of your country, you know that already. What do you do from now to Rio to prep?
Arthur: First off I have a 3 week break to allow the mind and body recover. Then train harder than ever before travel the world training and competing and ultimately SMASH RIO, Well thatâs the plan!!
So there you have it, like and share if you think our kid has a chance. He’s relying on our support to help him win. At TPJ we’re fully behind him. Are you?
We got the chance to go to the Wales Italian match yesterday in between shows. It was immense and the tickets were amazing (ÂŁ15 outside the stadium from a tote…sweeeet.
Met a few of the boys walking around. Jamie Roberts and Shane Williams were on commentary duty so they happily spoke to me. What nice guys…
I also got to witness the absolute power of Sergio Parisse. He is a mountain of a man, but I think what struck me yesterday was how his rugby brain works. He was seven or eight steps ahead of everyone yesterday and nearly beat Wales by himself.
It was like he was floating like Michael Jordan used to do. Nobody could touch him, nobody could hurt him. Every other player was worried about being injured pre World cup…not Parisse. He reveled in the competition, hit as hard as he could and got as stuck into everything and everyone. The last few photos show how far ahead mentally he was.
The next set of photos were when Italian knocked over a penalty to go into the lead again. Parisse sprinted back to his 22 prepped for the drop off. The ball hadn’t even been placed for the penalty kick. After a minute, his rest of his team joined him…and Wales kicked off to the other side…purely because Parisse was on the right.
To have that control over twenty nine players is amazing. One of the greats of modern rugby and could make any team in the world as captain.
I’d say when him, O’Connell and McCaw have lunch together, they must have some craic,
In the end, the score finished 23-19 with some excellent rugby from both sides. Wales look so strong for the world cup. I’d love to see Ireland and Wales in the final. Backers would say Australia and New Zealand, I would not. I think the semis will be very interesting.
Tiger Paws Junior 
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