Buy Nothing Day!

Hello all- for those of you who do not know, today is buy nothing day! So many days in the year I buy something and I am assuming this is the same for you. So one day a year is Buy Nothing Day where the western world, as a collective, can bite back against consumerism!

We cannot completely fight consumerism, that is not realistic. We live in a world where we need to buy things to survive. It cannot be expected that we can just live in a forest with gnomes and fairies and be happy and healthy. But this day intends, I believe, to bring our awareness to the things that we do buy. Being selective in what we do buy instead of buying for the sake of buying.

Especially in the time of the Christmas season we buy things for people because we feel obligated. We don't always want to but we get something just so we have gotten them something. I am putting out there a challenge. Reflect on what you are buying and why. When did we start buying useless items that we don't even like or need? Probably around the time we wanted to have money- just for the sake of having money!!

Love and Respect!

What a bus chase!

So this morning my delightful roommate missed her bus for work. Instead of being upset and starting the day off on an upset foot she and I made an adventure with the present situation! 

Background- I have a red convertible and I live in Vancouver, and it's the fall and it rains almost every single day! Not the best combination. To top it off... I don't have anywhere to park it except for the street! Needless to say I have a moisture problem in my car in that it is always too moist and I have a moldy roof. So my roommate asked me if I could drive her to catch her bus and I was happy to in my MOLDY CAR! (please note I took my moldy car to a detailing place to get cleaned out and am figuring out a different arrangement to prevent future mold!)

We get in the car that, again, due to the excess moisture factor is very foggy! I can't see out of my windows so we had to put the windows down in the cold to be able to see and we are trying to get ahead of her bus to meet it at a stop so she can catch it downtown. We take backstreets and are wondering if we should holler out the windows (that are conveniently down) to ask bystanders whether her bus has come by yet. Then we hit a red light heading north. We see her bus is at the same intersection about to turn left and head north. IT'S AT THE SAME INTERSECTION! I tell her to hop out of the car and make a run across the street to try to catch the bus. "Can I do it? I don't know I don't know!!" she claims.  "YES YOU CAN" I encourage! "If you don't I'll pick you up though!" I see her standing at the corner waiting for the light to go green to cross. At this point she marches across the street and of course misses the bus! I drive up and pick her up and we make another mad dash for it! At least we know where the bus is now!

"You didn't run across the street!" I point out the obvious to her!! "I know I was waiting for the white man!" WHAT??! "You don't wait for the white man when you are about to catch a bus! You wave at the bus and wait for the opposite light to turn yellow and then you RUN! All the while waving your hands and making obscene gestures. You don't know how to catch a bus!" "I don't always wait for the white man!! And the bus never sees you waving and then you just look like an idiot!" 

Oh dear- clearly waiting for the white man at the wrong time- a stickler for order and rules and I love her for it! So we now know where the bus is at least! I go around it and am point out that I am much nimbler than the bus and so I can WEAVE in and out of traffic!! It is helpful being in a little car- by this point I was able to see clearly, which was helpful given the weaving in and out of traffic factor! But then we couldn't recall where its stops were. It was an express bus and doesn't stop at every stop.

You could touch the adrenaline in the car! I felt like I was in a mad car chase- like it should have been on that TV show "world's craziest car chase." But instead it should have been called "world's craziest bus chase"!! I think it would be quite a hit! I think knowing that if we didn't catch the bus that I would have driven her to work anyways was helpful to have in our back pockets!

Well- she made it alright! Everything turned out great and I had an amazing start to my day!! All thanks to a miss of a bus! Turing lemons into lemonade really is just about seizing your opportunities!

Love and Respect!

Jerry and Esther Hicks- Abraham quote

I don't know if any of you are familiar with Jerry and Esther Hicks and their Abraham phenomenon? Check it out online if you don't know what Im referring to. Jerry and Esther Hicks- Abraham

Yes- it may be considered a bit out there, but what legitimate things aren't a bit funny and odd and interesting?! Isn't that what makes this life so diverse! Anyways, I was emailed a quote today- from my loving mum!- to help me out...

As you look for a better-feeling way to approach whatever you are giving your attention to; as you continue to ask yourself, from your ever-changing vantage point, "What is it that I do want?" eventually you will be standing in a very pleasing place—for you cannot continually ask yourself what it is that you do want without your point of attraction beginning to pivot in that direction. . . . The process will be gradual, but your continued application of the process will yield wonderful results in only a few days.

--- Abraham

And what person knows you better than my mum? I don't want to admit it and I push it away and resist it LIKE HELL! But in the end, she really knows me so well and can help guide me if I let her. That is my truth (whether unfortunate or not!!!) Just kidding- I am truly so lucky to have the people in my life that I do. At times I try to assert that I AM THIS PERSON- and WHY do you think I am someone else. You know what happens 95% of the time?! I am asserting myself to me! Those close to me already know who I am and I assert myself to me- God knows why! Because I feel challenged, maybe because I am posturing! The possibilities are endless! But really- in the end I know I have the stability and freedom to go on my tangents of life because I come back and am loved just the same, if not more for admitting I am human!

Love and Respect!

Dear WORLD!

Dear World,

I know people say that we create our own reality and that we are 100% responsible for how things go. I know also that people say we create struggle and that is not really what was intended for this world and that it is not necessary. Do those things not seem completely polar opposite views? Is that just me that sees that? I feel like I am trying to turn around the bloody Titanic, in a ferocious wind storm and I'm blind! Now that is a feat! Maybe I don't need to turn it around though...

Hmmm... maybe a redirection of where I am heading will suffice! OH I LIKE THAT! If I can drown out the noise around me, then I think I will know where to go. That's a feat in and of itself now isn't it! Sometimes I don't even know what is my thought and what is the world around me's thought. And that I don't like.

What does my heart crave? Love, joy, truth! I desire to write, travel, sing, dance and photograph. If I were to truly do those things, though, COULD I MAKE A LIVING?! Isn't that the question everyday? How are you going to make a living? What are you going to do? Where are you going? You need to grow up and stop doing nothing! You need to figure out what you want to do and do it!

OK OK OK OK OK OK!!! I get it, and believe me I want that too! I need to just shhhhhh for a little while! I need the world to STOP spinning and for me to STOP spinning and to just rest, and live, and realize what it is that I want. Because I don't know what I want to do right now! Do I stay in Vancouver? Do I leave? Where do I go? Do I work here where I am unhappy? Do I school? Do I work and school? Well-  one thing I know- no school at least! That I am FIRM ON! The other stuff I really do not know!

Do what I want and the rest will follow huh! I will do that! Wish me luck!

Love and Respect!

I had a dream last night!

I love dreaming! I dream very vividly and in colour. I love interpreting my dreams, other peoples dreams and attempting to understand what my true self wants me to know! I love that dreams appear to us as chaos but they really aren't and there is a lot of meaning in them.

SO... I had a dream last night that I had twins. Now, usually when one dreams of having a baby it means that they are experience the birth of a new idea. That seems to be pretty true to where I am right now in my life! The interesting thing for me was that I birthed twins but they were only kind of twins! As in- the baby boy had been in my belly longer than the baby girl. I can even remember joking with the doctor about how they were "kind of twins" because they were in my belly for a little time together. Nevertheless, I birthed a boy and a girl. I birthed them standing! Which the doctors were all laughing at me for and saying "no, you can't do that!" And in real life my Gran was an OBGYN nurse- in my dream she helped me birth these babies!

The boy came out first and I remember it not hurting very much at all but expecting it to hurt because, well, I was birthing babies and that is supposed to hurt!! Once they were out I didn't want to hold them right away because they were covered in crusted blood. I remember looking at them and asking my Gran to wipe them down. But in an instant I held them to my heart. It was as though they were asking me to! It was really quite beautiful and moving.

Something weird happened next- the girl was suddenly, like 2 years old and walking and talking! Everyone couldn't believe it because she was only a few months old but acting like a 2 year old! I loved it and thought this kid was a blast! The baby boy, on the other hand, kept on disappearing. It was very odd because we were at a water slide park and he wasn't there. We went up Whistler mountain on the gondola and he wasn't there. I didn't feel very concerned ever, though- which is a bit upsetting if you think about it!!

Then someone I know through work, had my baby boy. They told me he was in the hospital with prostate cancer. I remember thinking - oh, that can't be my boy, he's just little! It turned out it was my son but then I knew that everyone was confused to believe that he had prostate cancer when he didn't. But it wasn't like I was in denial of his condition I knew it wasn't the case! Well, trying to convince these people, first of all that he was my son was a challenge and a half! And secondly to convince them that he DIDN'T have prostate cancer when he was already in the hospital was extremely hard! But I continued to try telling them he WAS my son and I knew this because I gave birth to him! I told them he had a baby sister that I have been with!

Anyways I don't remember much after that, except going to McDonald's to meet someone and not wanting anything from there!!! Interesting eh! What do you guys think it means? I think it's about staying true to what is true for me. Like, with the birthing of the baby, trying to convince the people that he was my son and that he didn't have cancer were all true but people didn't believe me! And I was never concerned about where my son was, something people are sick over in the real world, because I knew we would be together again. That seems to follow the theme I mentioned above- that doing what people expect for the sake of it didn't seem to work for me. Again, this was true for not feeling pain during birth but expecting to!!

I love dreams- they are so interesting!

Love and Respect!

Who are you and what defines who you are?

I am presently in school at le UBC! It's a great school- very beautiful campus and lots of alive-ness! I am sitting here and writing my essay for an english class. We had to read a book call OROONOKO and write an essay analyzing it regarding human nature. It's interesting b/c the book is about African people being enslaved by the europeans and how that all goes- let me just say it isn't well!!

Writing about human nature! The book has African people, which i think represent people before humanness kicks in because they are pure and beautiful and innocent. Then the developed europeans, representing humanness, come in a steal these people- buy their innocence and make them change their names. Well how would you feel if that were to happen to you. Someone put a price on your identity?! Made you change your name and bought your innocence...

So I love this book b/c that is EXACTLY WHAT I SEE EVERYWHERE!!! It sucks that my essay is a literature essay and NOT a philosophical essay b/c I would sure put in my own opinion more than I have!! But really- look at this western world. If you wear all star shoes who are you? Kind of grunge. If you wear a popped collar who are you? A prep. If you have a coach bag you are you? An elite. If you wear sweats who are you? A bum! If you wear lulloolemons who are you? A yoga fan or just a fashion zombie! If you wear track pants- you are outdoorsy and athletic.

NAMES ARE LOST IN TRANSLATION! You are no longer jenny who likes yoga you are a yoga fan. You are no longer tommy who likes to skateboard you are a skater. This happens to us everyday and why do we accept it? Why do these seemingly insignificant things define us? Why is someone who has schizophrenia suddenly a schizophrenic? Not to take away from the pain of struggling through that or supporting someone who struggles through that. And not to say that schizophrenia is "seemingly insignificant" because it is NOT. That is not my intention. My intention is pose a question: where between being diagnosed does that person become their illness?

Similarly at what point does doing ballet define me as a ballerina? It's a fuzzy line and I don't know where it is- Im not pretending to know! Now, as my BEST FRIEND pointed out to me a while ago- humans need to categorize things so that they make sense to us. We need to say, oh yes this is like all the other things in column A so it belongs in column A. i.e. fruits and vegetables. But when did cucumbers and tomatoes become forgotten fruits?? I don't even know what I really mean by that other than there are always exceptions to the rules- there are always those who don't fit- there are always definitions and labels that don't make the cut. So why not just call it a tomato or a cucumber?! Because in calling them fruits or vegetables we may not quite grasp what one is trying to convey. And if the message being conveyed is getting confused regarding bloody FRUITS AND VEGETABLES- man that gets messy when we add in complications like HUMAN BEINGS!!!!

I don't even know how I got here, but it's my blog so that's ok with me! I got where I got talking about slavery and the purchasing of peoples identities and landed on tomatoes!! WOW!!! Im gifted!!!! By the way I love when you are little and you mum is like "hunny, can you help me make a salad- I would like all the vegetables for it" and you're like 8 or 9 and cocky because you go up to your mum with the tomato in your hand. Your hand is on your hip and you have your head tilted. In one hand is the tomato throwing it up in the air and catching it with the hand not on your hip and you're like "hey ma- did you know that, like, this isn't a vegetable!!" And you don't even wait for a reaction b/c you know you beat her!!! Or maybe I'm just talking about me now!!

Anyways- ponder that one for a while please! Does what you do define who you are? Or is it not what you do by who you are? Or is it not who you are or what you do but how you do what you do??

Love and Respect!

Dan Savage

HELLO WORLD!

So- do you all know who Dan Savage is? If you do- he's pretty rad eh! If not...WHAAT?! He writes a sex column called Savage Love- see the link. He's pretty BAD ASS and I think you would all benefit from finding out who he is. Really I am doing you a favour! Dan Savage and Savage Love

I went to that last night at the UBC campus, Chan Centre, for those of you who might know what I am referring to. His whole "Dan Savage" thing is based around a Q&A. A bunch of people submitted questions and he went through almost all of them with responses! His style of response is that of a friend. He can be quite brutally honest and poke fun of people who write in. He said that he does this because he wants to be casual and respond as a friend does- in a brutally honest yet loving way. Dan even said last night- what would your friends tell you if you came to them with a question about sex? He said the FIRST thing they do- is make fun of you!!! Well- at least true friends do! And why is that??!! Because it's funny! And they care about you so they are mocking you in a hug! (those are my words by the way, not his!- but that was pretty much the gist of his approach. Brutal honesty, humour, and care.

And he is making the world a better place! That is what my roommate/best friend and I think! I mean think about it- people have these unusual fetishes, or not-the-norm things they like, or don't understand, or questions they want to ask but feel really dumb to ask anyone they know! And how does Dear Dan respond to these millions of people? Absolutely 100% judgement free, he uses humour and basically wants to be your friend!!! LIKE WOW! And millions of people read his column because of this brutally honest yet caring approach with no bull shit. He holds you in a big hug while he kicks your butt! That is a pretty tricky art to learn, and to perfect with such grace and he has. And he is humble- oh my! He loves his job and he feels like it's not really a job! Isn't that the best!!

Haha- interesting how I am back to this job thing! Dan even said last night- well, this sure beats work! That's what I want to create in my life! Can you imagine a world full of people who found their niche, followed their heart and didn't care who didn't support them b/c they did what they wanted to do. If people everywhere followed their passions- we would be happier doing what we want and we would probably feel more committed to it too! Not only that but we do all have a special gift and if we were to harness that the possibilities are endless!!

So, to summarize- Dan Savage is a really cool guy! Check out his podcasts or check him out in the Georgia Straight in Vancouver (a local newspaper). He rocks! Secondly, follow your passion, follow your heart and don't let other people tell you can't or shouldn't! SCREW IT MAN!!

Love and Respect!