Lend me your hear and I'll sing you a song...

After a trip to San Francisco and a showing of "Taking Woodstock", it's safe to say I'm in a hippy dippy kind of mood. But it got me thinking [as most things unfortunately do]. The defining concert that took place in the mud now seems to be very 'in' and 'hip'. Redistrubuted posters of the love festival are ironically being sold at consumer monstrosities such as Target, and have the same 'WTF' air to it as seeing Che Guevara on a paid for T-shirt.

But I think there's a reason why we're so much trying to surround ourselves with that time. We live in an age of technology and individualism. But while our parents were telling us how special we are, we drifted away from society. We were special, we weren't like our neighbors, our friends, our teachers; anybody. We are therefore in a sense, alone. The principle of Woodstock is what we're searching for: Finding ways to connect with love, and not in a judging matter.

Think of all your friends now, or the people you wish to associate with. There's some form of checklist criteria they met. Even if you didn't physically write it out, you know it's there: Likes animals, willing to meet up 10 at night or later, can carry a conversation etc. What if we just took people as they were? No judgment. Just as another form of the human race? It's impossible for us to imagine. We would loose our 'special-ness'.

But I want you to try this. Try to live in 'Woodstock'. [By this, I don't mean drop LOADS of acid, and have sex with anything that moves]. I mean taking in everything as an experience. We are all human beings, we all can connect. We are all equal.

Try it for a week. Love thy neighbor. I mean it, LOVE thy neighbor. Love the human experience: love your skin, your hair, your flaws, your beauty. Love the ability to walk, and breathe. To sleep and wake up again. To just be. Just be. For one week. Actively be. I'm sure it would be pretty groovy.

I'd love to hear your experiences with this mantra of just being by leaving your comments!!

"We are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."
-Joni Mitchell

Oh the taste of your lips I'm on a ride...

Toxic friends. We all have them...briefly. Some longer than others. But why?
The basis of friendships is a list of common interests and a genuine enjoyment of being in the presence of one another. So why would we choose friends that make us totally and utterly miserable? Why do we go out of our way to keep a dying flame alive, when it should have never been lit?
I have experience up the wazzoo when it comes to toxic friends, and each one is never a complete shock. Yet, I keep digging this hole, and when sauntering around the area, fall right back into it, forgetting when I dug it in the first place. Are some people just too trusting? Or ignorant?
I don't really mind this phenomenon of surrounding myself with bad people occasionally, because it teaches you something each time, and makes you a better person by realizing what characteristics you don't like, and how to avoid them. [This of course, has taken me many years to realize]. The important thing when coming across a Toxic friend, is to realize that it's a life lesson. Not to get hung up on yourself thinking "How did this happen to me?" and Facebook stalk them to see how much fun they're having with their new friends. Remember YOUR new friends, and your old friends.
Because the thing about friends are, that other than a good handful, they'll change by season.
Remember your core group, and feel free to dip your hand in the cookie jar for more. Just be aware that not all of them are chocolate chip. Some might be nasty ass Raisin, and you'll bite into them wondering 'it looks like chocolate chip, but it tastes funny.'
Don't worry. You'll realize soon enough to toss it and try again. Life goes on. Catharsis.

“A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.”

-Charles Kingsley

Fuck you. Really.

Dear People Who Flip Off Cameras-
You do not look hard. You know why you don't look hard? Because you're not Sid Vicious or anyone of importance really. You are just a person someone is taking a picture of, and instead of looking like a decent human being, you decide to stick up a finger.
Kudos Flip off the camera dude. You are now totally awesome. Should I offer you a beer? Oh that's right I won't, because no one would ever approach you at a party or anywhere for that matter. Not even for the time on the street. Do you know why this is? Because you're a tool. You're just as bad as backwards sunglasses man.
So go fuck yourself. Take that finger, and stick it up your ass. You look retarded. And like you're in middle school when you first discovered 'bad words.'

Sincerely,
An angry observer of facebook.

"YOU'RE A MOTHERFUCKING IDIOT."
-Me

Rascism. It's kind of funny...

Thought of the day: Disney is coming out with an animated movie with it's first Black Princess.

Of course, Disney only managed to make this arrangement because she turns into a frog within the first 15 min. of the movie.

Kudos Disney. Kudos.

Hey maybe we can get Israel into it's a small world? No? Just 'shalom' on the sign? Eh I'll take it. But my Jew will take Zach Efron.

I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.
- Rush Limbaugh

Ohhh shiney!!!

My friends and I were at the beach today. Kids galore. I mean, climbing up and down the walls status. Which is odd because beaches don’t really have many walls to climb up on as is…but regardless. We got into a discussion about how obsessive the newer generation is: Twilight, Hannah Montana, etc. Everything with these kids erupts into Beatles-mania hysterics. Jonas Brothers anyone? These pop culture [I regretfully say] icons become so talked about that they are even made fun of and discussed on an adult level [see South Park]. And it’s odd, because every single one of things are average at the most. Why do we cling on to run of the mill products for dear life?

Has our generation advanced to such a place where there honestly is nothing new under the sun? Everything we have is a product of something that is already existent. Look around your room. Is anything a completely new concept? Or is it just a derivative? Do we grab on because we know this is truly the last of its kind? We live in a day and age where the end of the world as we know it can be daily conversation at your local Starbucks.

If this is the case, I can understand why we would want to obsess over what we have. Since everything advances at record speed, it seems like the only way we can enjoy something for an extended period of time is if we can obsess over it. I’m not entirely sure if there honestly is a right or wrong perspective on this, since if we take the time to discuss this I’ll have a new post and progress like everything else in this microwave meal world. All I can say is, slow down, chew slowly and enjoy the flavor life brings you. And think twice before you play ‘Burning Up’ on your ipod.

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
~Albert Einstein

1 batty batty batty, 2 batty batty batty!

When our minds are still sponges, at that tender age where our duty is to observe and act cute on command, we learn from our teacher ,the giant yellow bird with an imagination problem, how to count. First the basic 1-10, and then deviations of the arabic symbols we call numbers onward. From there, I believe, a world of problems start.

It is from this moment we learn how many more fruit snacks Timmy has than you. It is this age that we learn Mommy spends ‘x’ ammount of time fixing her hair, but only ‘y’ ammount of time playing Jenga with you. We now can record when we are to expect, when we are to be disappointed, how much longer we have to suffer, how much longer we have left together, etc. etc.

Would life be more meaningful without the stress of math? Think of how many of the world’s problems involve these numbers: money to some degree would be meaningless, age something that’s relative, and time comletely subjective. We would never be stressed to lose that 5 pounds, pay back that 36 dollars that we owe or race to an interview 15 minutes early to find that we are actually 20 minutes late.

Would humans be able to let go of this control? Because that’s what the number system ultimately is…a way to control the world around you through science and probability. Would humans be able to get there when they feel like it, wake when they are ready, pay what they feel is right, not worry about what the scale says but rather how they feel…or would the world be too up in the air?

Would the world be ok living on the basis of just trying; not having to make that certain percent, or would we find another way to torture ourselves?

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
~Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition