Rico Lamoureux's Blog: Cafe Lamoureux

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Check out my latest guest post. It also has a giveaway, for a chance to win a copy of Riker's Calling!

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Riker's Calling is now available for the special pre-order price of only $1.49! Check out Amazon for details, and follow on fb for latest reviews, guest blog posts, etc.

Summer reading is upon us!

12 years ago today I stepped off the plane in Manila to meet in-person my long-distance love. First time off American soil, I had no idea what to expect, having no inkling of a clue that my life was about to change forever.

Love was there,
an opportunity to bring her home, not.
And so I decided to stay with my newly-wedded wife, believing that one day soon we'd find our way home.

One year turned into the next, never giving up hope that it was just a matter of time. Time... That was now beginning to show with age.

12 years of struggle...
12 years of poverty...
12 years of discrimination,in a society that would never admit such...
12 years of their hard-headed ways...
12 years of sending out S.O.S's...

In all ways but one, a prison sentence.
But that one...
That love, that peace, that everything wonderful that is my wife,
makes it all worth the 12 years of sacrifice.

A diverse life is a story worth telling...

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Five years since one of the greatest artistic geniuses of all-time left us for what lies beyond. A half a decade, that in some ways seems longer, but in other instances, such as clicking play on one of his masterpieces, that shocking day in June of '09 comes back in an instant. As if the president had come on-air to announce that sunny days would no longer be the norm, but instead to be rationed and savored, the saddening fact that the world had changed for the worse froze in time. We would all remember where we were, what we were doing, when the King of Pop abruptly left his court of admirers, his majestic throne now sitting empty, with no one worthy enough, talented enough, to take his place as rightful heir. (Although some of us can't help but to hope that like Arthur and the sword in the stone, Blanket will one day slip on the loafers, tilt the fedora, and resurrect the power of daddy.)

The past five years have cemented the fact that music had lost its magic on that 4th. day of the summer of '09. When sunny brightness turned to mournful grey. When the most prolific genius of our time succumbed to such greatness. (Toxicology reports proved that with the exception of the propofol, he was healthy, clean, and fit. Only by the use of that drug, a drug that does nothing but render one unconscious, was he able to escape the amazing power of creative genius long enough to get some sleep.)

Michael Jackson, who's name is synonymous with the highest level of human greatness, will live on as a lesson to all who would seek to better themselves. To embody his compassion, to strive for the level of excellence he so well reflected, is a state of being that if embraced by all, would indeed heal the world.

Welcome my wonderful readers!

Latest novellas, Elsa's Gift, has just been launched!

Great summer read. Powerfully dramatic.

For the next 24 hrs, get your copy at 50% off!

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The battle rages on over on my youtube channel, in this exclusive violent footage...!

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Wow, just yesterday I wrote a tribute to Maya Angelou on this blog. Never imagined that the very next day I would be saying goodbye to my own grandmother...!

Just learned that my grandmother passed away. She had been suffering from alzheimer's and dementia for the past few years, and although i had wanted with all my heart to say goodbye to her in person, I just couldn't find a way back home to do so. Any of you who know my story know that I've been stuck in the Philippines for the past 12 years, unable to go home because I can't acquire a visa for my wife, and can't bear to leave her under such uncertainty. Unfortunately, neither of us come from a family that can, or will, help. So I keep writing, hoping to some day return home with her.

This picture was taken on the last day I saw my grandmother, about two weeks shy of 14 years ago.

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May peace be with you on your continuing journey, grandma~

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Her beautiful work was a prime example of what is created when words of substance are spoken by a voice of passion. Through her we felt the struggle and anguish of yesterday, the hope of today, the redemption of tomorrow. Maya Angelou, forever a wise grandmother in the art of poetry.

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