Wake up and smell the bitter coffee

I just wanted to put out there my support for the Aboriginal community's National Day of Action. Today, many major highways and train routes have been blocked, just as the city gears up for summer's first long weekend. What a huge strategic step this is...hitting Canadians where it hurts the most: their wallets. How many people are going to be left stuck in traffic or immobilized by this mass organization of protest? How many people are going to be stranded from their cottages or weekend getaways because of this? How many trucks are going to be idling with their million dollar Wal-Mart goods? How many government officials does it take to fuck up what's good about a country? Think about the inconvenience that the average Canadian may feel having their getaway interrupted. Then, stop to think about how desperate a people must be in order to act in such drastic ways. Having had a semi heated conversation with a co-worker, I am inspired to air my opinions even further. Yes, we live pretty cushy lives. The inconvenience of gridlock on the way to the cottage or getting out of town, would not necessarily appeal to the intelligence of otherwise well-educated Canadians. It's just going to anger them. What is wrong with this argument? Well, first of all, not all intelligent people out there really care about what happens outside of their own comfortable lives. I mean, if intelligence were the sole predictor of sympathy to important causes, then why the fuck do we continue to abuse the earth, privatize health care, and do little to eradicate poverty? Let's face it, so many so-called intelligent people are too busy being complacent and comfy in their cushy jobs and suburban homes and driving their SUV's!!!! How many intelligent people feel helpless to help themselves, much less take on the task of looking at their lives and how it impacts the larger community? What will it take for them to open their eyes to what's going on beyond their bubble? All these are questions after all and are meant to stimulate discussion and dialogue. This is my beef. Am I living the perfectly conscious life? Am I as active in giving back to my community that I want to be? Am I contributing energy to sustain the lifestyle that I lead? The answer is not always. I struggle with that daily. I struggle with it inside myself and I am judgemental of those who don't ask these questions. But, I'm being honest about that and I want to inspire others to get comfortable with asking those uncomfortable questions to themselves. At the end of the day, those people stuck on the highways today will eventually end up at their destinations (albeit late and frustrated). They will go back to their comfy lives while those who are trying to get their voices heard continue to face the harsh realities that they do. I am not a professional in Aboriginal affairs, but I feel compelled to express my support, my solidarity and my positive vibes because once in a while, we need to get out of our comfort zone. Comfort breeds complacency. Complacency equals a slow and painful death because anything that isn't growing and being challenged is dying.

Gondry does it again

Michel Gondry, the brilliant writer/director has wowed me with his pure and innovative representation of his imagination yet again. I just watched Science of Sleep and was in awe of his creative genius. So delightful, yet so crazy all at once. Madness and genius - together as usual. It didn't hurt that the lovely Gael Garcia was in it as well, but honestly that wasn't the most amazing thing about the movie. The most amazing part for me was the rejuvination I felt afterwards to move forward with creative ideas of my own, to be free, to be fearless. Thanks a million Gondry. You are one of a kind!

Age is more than a number

I am definately getting older, not younger. But that's okay with me. You know how I know this? I have way less tolerance for people. I am so sensitive to people's energies now. I totally can't handle people who have obnoxious and needy/attention starving tendencies the way I used to. Heck, I might have been one of those people in my youth and maybe that's why i recognize it so well now. Anyhow, I find that either I'm becoming a pretentious snob or I'm just a little more picky about who I hang out with. Maybe as we set into our ways, we become more intolerant of others. Not that I feel like I have to apologize for this because we all do it on some level. Anyone who doesn't do it is lying.

Energy dynamics are interesting. Like energies attract each other, but at the same time opposites attract as well. We seek what we feel we lack or we seek to affirm what we are. So, what makes it totally endearing and acceptable for one person to be big and bold and then totally unattractive and annoying for another to be that way? I mean, when I think about art school, sure, we're all vying for attention, acceptance, recognition...but somehow that's okay. It's curious and interesting even. But out of context perhaps, then a person just seems utterly egomaniacal or unattractively insecure. And in some ways, we all exist on a certain vibe - our own wavelength that may attract similar vibrations throughout the universe. It's when there's some other vibe that's steppin' over the boundaries of what's comfortable for me, that I feel aggro and compelled to blog about it. Some people...so clueless about their own noise...must constantly seek affirmation outside themselves and then that's just too much for me. I go into "preserve my inner peace, stay the fuck away from me" mode. For the most part, I have elimated most sources of this aggravation from my life (yet another positive shift as I have aged). I guess what I'm talking about is when you have no control over it because of friends of friends, facebook fanatics, ignorant egos that have no sense of reality testing....you get the point.

facebook. now that's another entry altogether. it's crazy the new politics that have arisen from this mass machine of social networking. i have had to reject a million freakazoids that have looked me up over the last while. like what in the world is any person, who hasn't spoken to me in the last i dunno how long AND i never had positive relationship with doing when they are adding me as a friend? i mean, in some ways, it has been good to reconnect with SELECT, and I mean SELECT people. But for the most part, it has been utterly shocking how many people just want to snoop around your life. I guess it's ironic that I am out there in cyberspace yet I crave privacy. Well...I never said I wasn't full of contradictions. But let's get serious. Some things have to remain sacred right? Some books (ha, a pun!) are better left closed and some pasts have served their purpose to enlighten, to educate, to celebrate in our memories and that's it.

I guess this whole venting session is inspired by the same source - being inundated by people's demands, energies and snoopiness and feeling that for a long time, I had done away with the excess baggage and unneccesary noise. But alas, all things are learning experiences and it would be foolish of me to think that i can pack up my bags and rejoice neatly in the life I have created. Things hit you when they need to and if nothing else, make you thankful that you've moved on.