Snowy, wintry and... happy?

The snow has finally arrived. The real stuff! Not some powdery excuse for la neige that stays on the ground for like 10 seconds and then melts away. That stuff's a tease. No, real, fluffy and shoveable snow!
Of course, according to a couple of my relatives who live in Québec city, the snow I consider to be real here is something they merely scoff at. They've had massive snow banks for at least a couple weeks now, with feet upon feet of snow. Chance of more snow in the coming weeks.

What am I, a weather man?

No, I just think all this snow is rad. See, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, being surrounded by man-made things everywhere has made this city a pretty ugly place to live. Well, the snow eases this pain somewhat by coating all the artificial stuff everywhere with a layer of crystal perfection.

So seeing snow everywhere reminds me that out there, up high in the sky and elsewhere, the power of Gaia still resides. The unchangeable laws of nature- however much we try to tamper with- still exist and affect even the most nature-proof city dwellers.

And yet I still find myself in front of my computer screen!
I was supposed to go sledding with some buddies, but plans fell through. I wasn't so much excited about the drinking as I was actually being outside with the snow, reminiscing about childhood tobogganing. Mixing exercise-related stuff with booze doesn't make too much sense to me, but I suppose it could have been fun. Oh well.

So I'm wearing a sweater that I got for christmas, and I'm trying to figure out if it would qualify as a candidate to wear to an ugly sweater party. I guess the fact that I'm asking myself that question might undermine the value of my sweater as a present... hmm. Well, it's blue and black and red and it does have some neat buttons and... oh, why don't I just show you so you can judge for yourself.

You know what, it doesn't even matter. I like the sweater, and it keeps me warm, so even though I might wear it to an ugly sweater party, I'd be trolling the party because my wool sweater is rad.

That's all I've got for today.

Shard vs sherd

I had the impulse to draw this when the word "sherd" was stuck in my head.
My TA in Anthropology assures me that "sherd" is an archaeological term meaning a broken piece of  pottery or artifact. For some reason, the word "sherd" annoys me to no end, since it's so close to the word "shard". Why not call it a pot shard instead of a pot sherd? Grrrrrrrrrr.

Tranquility

The worst has gone by/
But I may be in the eye of the storm
The winds blow in the distance and I feel alive/
Better not walk into them again

I find I yearn for tranquility. Tranquility, and some semblance of simplicity.
That doesn't mean that I need to avoid busyness and action; that would be a mistake. In fact, I should probably strive for more busyness and more participation in the world around me. Not because society says I need to be busy, but because it's rewarding to get things done.

Still, it would be nice to be around simple people. Maybe some monks or something. I would probably get bored, since I'm so used to having some external stimulation, but there's definitely something to learn and appreciate in simply being.

I've been told I should try my hand at meditation. I would gain so much from having a regular practice. And it would enhance my quality of life, and probably make me more mindful and more aware of the present. And even if it's only for a few minutes per day, I should still try. But my brain says "No no no! At least look busy! You have things to do! You need to move! You need to read! You need to fix this and that!".

Words words words.
I'll see what I can do about this whole meditation dealio. Exercise is a bit easier for me to do, so I'm walking a lot. Just simple walks, walks for the sake of walking. Mostly silent, and usually at a brisk pace; to get the heart going, you know.

School is a bit of a mess right now. I hope I can fix it. I have two new classes starting in January, and I'm gearing up to take them more seriously.

Bloggity bloggy happy holidays.

December weather

It was a warm and rainy day today. I don't know how I feel about it being 10 degrees celsius in December. On one hand, it's nice to not have to deal with the biting cold and chapped lips and all the little inconveniences of real winter weather, but on the other hand, I feel sad knowing that this abnormal weather is a very real manifestation of climate change.

I'm kind of far away and isolated from all the hardcore devastation caused by human exploitation of the Earth (e.g. dead whales and melting ice). So while I might be aware that climate change and pollution caused by humans is wrecking the Earth, I'm not reminded of it on a daily basis. Indeed, all I see is the same old houses and buildings, and sometimes parks with some litter strewn here and there, but the artificial city I live in keeps my mind in a bubble of fake comfort.

Comfort definitely isn't here, though. A city, at least to me, doesn't provide comfort. It provides convenience and maybe a form of protection from the primal elements, but in the long run, it is tiring to have to see the same ugly not-quite-perfect shapes of man-made structures everywhere.

For a pessimist, I'm pretty optimistic sometimes.

It's alright, I'll find my optimism again, somewhere in time.

Keeping up is tough

If you don't keep up with your schoolwork, it builds up. Fast.
I hate to admit it, but having a good work routine is pretty damn important.
Having structure in your life is important. The brain likes structure because then it doesn't have to over think every little thing.
I don't like structure. I try to rebel against it. Somehow, I convince myself that having structure will rob me of my freedom - the freedom to be spontaneous, to be serendipitous, to be genuine.
But maybe - just maybe - having more structure will allow me to accomplish things that will bring more joy into my life.

Here we go again. Setting a time limit of how much time I spend on the computer, regardless of whether I'm working or not, is critical. And there's nothing wrong with avoiding computer and electronics altogether on some days. A few months ago, one my profs even gave the class homework to avoid the computer and cellphone for a whole 24 hours, more if possible. Not too many people were able - or willing - to do it.

I've spent too much time writing this out already. School isn't going as well as I had hoped. I will work harder to not let myself get overwhelmed again.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Bright and early

Yes, why not write? 8:30 am, on my schedule, is very, very early for me to be up, and I only have 15 minutes or so to write before I have to leave for my Friday 10 am class, but that's cool. Usually, I wait for the last minute to be up and gone for my class, especially when biking because then I don't have the mishaps of the transit system slowing me down.

I have yet to be late to any class with my last-minute strategy, so it's not a problem. It's a time-saving way of getting around, right?

I thought I had more to write. Well, I do, I just don't find it particularly interesting.

I guess I should mention I'm at school full time now, unlike last year. I'm doing fairly well in most of my courses so far, but there haven't been that many evaluations. I kind of know now which classes will be easy to get a good mark in, and which ones I'll actually have to buckle down and read a ton to get a good mark. Either way, I probably (read: definitely) procrastinate way too much and generally avoid dealing with schoolwork until I absolutely have to.

Oh, yes, you might be interested in what I'm studying. 

Well, first, there's History of modern Europe 1650-1950, which is okay. I'm usually good with history, but I really, really should spend more time studying for this year-long course.

Then there's Sociology (social problems and inequalities), which I find fairly boring, but I'm doing well so far so I guess it kinda makes me like the course a little more.

And then there's Anthropology 101, which generally has more interesting subject matter than Sociology, but it's a lot more scienc-y than my other courses. I should reread lecture questions once in a while.

Let's not forget about Intro to Environment, which is probably the course most unlike all my other courses. The prof is really cool and invites a ton of guest speakers (native elders, scientists among others) to the lectures, and he also randomly does bird calls in class. And the content is actually interesting!

Finally, for this semester, there's this course called Geography: Environment, Food, and People, which I picked because I thought it sounded interesting. This is my 10 am class that I have very, very soon and I should leave. Anyway, suffice to say that there's a LOT of content in this course, and it's a lot of work,  most of it is really boring but at least it forces me to get up at least before noon.

Okay, I gotta run, I'll start to update my blog frequently again, so if you're reading this, you could check back sometime!

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Oh time

Time time, why must you confuse me so?
It seems like only yesterday that I had my long flowing hippie hair with not a care in the world for what was to come later with growing older.
Of course, I never really truly was a hippie. Yeah, I had earth sandals, and yeah, I sometimes wore funky thai fisherman pants, but those were just clothes. And yeah, I guess I kinda liked the whole peace & love movement. Why do we need to be so bitter anyway?

I'm going through some dark times. Well, I have been for a while. I guess that's because I'm not really doing much. I give up hobbies too easily. I need to train my brain to enjoy things and to not mind doing things repetitively. Practice, practice, practice. And then I could be proud of something, like drumming.

I had a chat with a dear old friend of mine today. He told me how he remembers how social I used to be, how easily I would talk to others. I remember it too, somewhat. It seems like for some time now, I have chosen to hide away from others. This is not good! And it worries me. The only thing to do is to become more social again, clearly. Strengthen friendships and all. Otherwise, I'm just going to turn into an anti-social sludge.

I'm doing yoga regularly again (I've been to my studio for the past four days!), but I don't really talk to anyone there. I'm slightly in the wrong demographic, and I'm too shy to really talk to anyone. To be fair, a lot of people go to the studio to just do their own thing, take a break from their day or from work and from being around people and many just want some alone time to do stretches with their body and mind.
I, on the other hand, go to the studio to have a bit of a change from my usual hermit lifestyle. And to get some exercise, to help me sleep. I don't particularly love doing yoga, but I don't hate it or anything. I know it's incredibly beneficial for the mind and body, so I simply just do it.

University is starting soon. Yikes. I hope I can get my sleep schedule back under control. I also hope that I can deal with the anxiety. And finally, I hope I can finally do something productive with my time. Time management has never, ever been my strong point. I'll have to learn.

Signing off,
Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Drive my soul

Listening to music isn't normally an activity that makes me feel instantly better. Yeah, listening to music is nice, but I don't think of it as something that keeps the blues away. There's a few rare exceptions, like right now, but usually I just kind of put the tunes on the computer and they fade to the background as all my attention goes to what's on the screen.

I also don't tend to listen to albums in their right order, if I listen to them at all, as I'm more prone to hitting the shuffle button. But sometimes listening to an album in the right order just makes so much more sense, especially with concept albums.

So I once again find myself listening to The Listening by Lights. I really, really like it. The lyrics and the melodies are just so well blended together and they actually do have an impact on how I feel.

Most of the metal or rock stuff I listen to fails to make me feel connected. It all sounds pretty great (otherwise I wouldn't listen to it), but I don't particularly feel attached to what's being played. With Lights, it's different. I feel like she actually sings about stuff I can relate to sometimes. And often times, the lyrics are positive, or have positive undertones to them.

For example: It's only one part of the story//Just let it go//Don't let it bring you down now

So why am I paying so much attention to this album tonight?

Well, I want to feel better.

I want to have an amazing first full year at university. I don't want to spend all this money for book-smarts. I want something more - I want a purpose, I want a real connection to society. And I want to have fun.

Because, see, for the past few months, I haven't been having that much fun. This summer thus far has been quite awful. I gotta get over the fact that I'm not really a teenager anymore, and yeah, it's not really a surprise that being an adult is pretty hard.

But even from a teenage perspective, this summer has still been awful. I've been hiding away from friends and avoiding people as much as possible. I don't want to go too much into the details, as this is a public blog after all, but I just feel anxious about being around people. And save for a few rare occasions, I just find that I don't enjoy the time spent socializing. So my logic is not to spend time around people... hah, smart idea, right?

-

I keep hoping something will happen that will make the shroud go away. I know there's something beautiful beyond the shroud, as I still have memories of times not too long ago where the clear picture was a happy one. But despite occasional gusts of wind, the shroud remains.

The shroud is probably my fault. I put it up there because, subconsciously or consciously, I didn't want to have to deal with the picture when it wasn't beautiful. And it's been there ever since. If I could only remember how I got around to shrouding myself, maybe I could find a way out.

-

I've also been feeling really quite self-conscious lately, about my weight and general demeanor, so I'm going to do yoga regularly again. I was doing four days a week for a while, but I gave up because of laziness. And once again, I went into a junk food cycle... so that's going away too, and that alone will probably up my mood. Maybe not in the short-term, though...

Hope your summer has been better than mine, reader.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore 

Summer Blues

So it's been a while. I can't say I've been extremely busy; I just have haven't felt like blogging much.
So this is all old news, but I did very well in my Bridging Program course @ UofT, so it looks like I'm heading to UofT full-time in the fall.

It's kind of scary, really. Thousands of dollars and many years to get a liberal arts degree... Well, it gives me something to do, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at UofT so far. Made a bunch of friends who are all really cool. So I'm sure it's worth it in the end.

I have to pick my courses soon. I've decided on most of them (Into to Poli Sci, Intro to Philosophy, Intro to Environment Studies, random seminar course and probably Sociology). And I'm excited about being busy on campus.

So far, this summer has been pretty blah. I haven't been doing much. Haven't really been hanging out with people. Just thinking about my future, mostly, and doing yoga every other day. I should be doing more, and doing more would probably make me feel better, but I've sunken down into my old recluse ways. It's not healthy.

I should probably get a haircut.
I hate haircuts.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

A message from the Haida of BC

A sweet video showcasing how the Haida feel about the giant oil pipeline that would run through native land.

Raven rules.

The sleep conundrum

As I write these words, I await the soothing comforting feeling that Passiflora incarnata and Lady's Slipper will provide me.

The sleep realm awaits and I wonder what I will find there. It is mind-boggling when you think about all the images that are created by your brain every single night when you dream. What is their purpose? Are you supposed to interpret the images to help you in your waking life? Or are they merely there to distract you from the dullness of unconsciousness? Maybe they allow us to connect into the collective consciousness, like quantum particles resonating with each other through the folds of space and time.

Sleep must never elude me, for when it does, I will no longer be.

Equine love

I am the Kaleidoscope of the mind
I impart light, colour and perpetual motion
I think, I see, I am moved by electric fluidity
Constant only in my inconstancy, I am unshackled by mundane holds, unchecked by sturdy binding goals
I run unimpeded through virgin paths
My spirit unconquered; my soul forever free

I am the horse.

Source: The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau, 7th ed.

Plus rien ne m'étonne

C'est une chanson par Tiken Jah Fakoly, un musicien africain. En effet, plus rien ne m'étonne quand je regarde que le côté négatif de la situation humaine sur terre. Est-ce une bonne chose? Je ne sais pas.

Yes, sometimes I purposefully write in french on my public and mostly English blog just to annoy you. Yes, you, the one among many who thought that french class in high school was lame and who was jealous of the fact that I got all the attention from the girls with my flawless spoken french.

But seriously! This song (and the entire album) is awesome! If you're sick of hearing Marley but you like the vibes, I suggest you listen to some other songs off the album too. Yes, they're all in french.


---

Hi.
Hey. It's been a while.
I feel bad. I didn't really keep up with the "decrees" even though deep down I wanted to. I let myself get carried away with pixels again.

Don't feel bad about your past decisions in this matter! Energies come and go; you can't always be in the same state of being all the time. You know that.
Yeah, but see that's the problem I'm facing right now. I know things, but I don't really do many things.

You think you're not doing anything, but really you're just comparing yourself to some sort of standard of how much you should be doing. Sure, society wants you to work, study, or otherwise appear busy - and that's probably a good thing - but sulking about the system only gets you so far.
Yes, you're right.

Expressing myself on A Kaleidoughscope of Writings, among other things, is definitely beneficial, but I feel like I'm lacking some sort of attachment to universal energy...  qi, or life force, or something along those lines. It's supposed to be simple: keep your mind, body, and spirit in good shape and simply be.


Simplicity is key. Spiritual decree #6: Instead of solely thinking about your place in the world, feel it.
And I will do that by doing more physical things. I'm going to try playing my drum on a regular basis again. Tiken really inspired me today.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

The Split Cosmos

"And I've always lived like this; keeping a comfortable distance. And up until now I've sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness... because none of it was ever worth the risk."

I hide my little reality, but is it a reality at all? Sitting in my worn black chair every day, I hide from the true experience that the world around me has to offer. Instead, I sit there and lose myself in the box in front of me. Forgetting, burying everything I know about the harshness of the present, I search for escapes.

Why do I hide so much? What am I so afraid of? I know I'm afraid of failure, but I'm also afraid of being perceived as different.

Why are we so split apart, me and you? Why are we all so separated from each other? We all know we exist, and sometimes we interact, but we don't really live and thrive, do we?

That's what I want - I want to live, not just exist. But I suffocate on the inside when I get overwhelmed with tales of horrors happening in developing countries, and poverty in Canada, and all the people who get sick and end up in hospitals with terrible food... among other things.

I worry a lot... I worry about wasting time, but a lot of the time I find myself wasting time doing nothing at all because I feel like I wouldn't be productive anyway.

Blah blah blah... I just had to rant a little. I just wish happiness was easier to come by and you didn't have to work hard for it.

Or maybe you don't need to work that hard for it, you just need to let the happiness in instead of being so bitter all the time.

I think I lack sunshine, for one, but I also need to keep myself busy, so I'm not always thinking about these things.

I had this idea of a little hobby to do the other day... go to different spots in the city and write letters to people. I like writing, and I don't think it's too difficult to write personal letters. It'll help me improve my writing, I guess, because I want nice letters, not ugly grey ones.

Well, I think I wasted my post title this time. I wanted a big post talking about loneliness and the way our society is set up so that we're all split apart and only to come together in times of dire need... but I guess that'll be for another time.

I am not content at all with my loneliness.

Another late night

Ah, how easy it is to stay up late when you have an endless supply of electricity and a computer that's ready to guzzle it all up.

Seriously, I need to be going to bed earlier. It's not healthy... at all. I don't generally lack sleep because I can sleep in a lot, but I'm not physiologically adapted to staying up late during the night. Maybe generations from now, we'll be able to see in the dark and sleep during the day or during the night, whichever you choose.

---
Someday, I'm going to write more of my theorycrafting down. I mean, I dream of a different society, a tribal society. I've been thinking about it a lot lately - why are things the way they are right now? Why does money exist? Why are there buildings made of concrete everywhere? Why are roads and cars and vehicles everywhere? Why do I buy food at a grocery store instead of at a farm? Why are some people richer than others?

I mean, all those questions have answers at face value... but behind them lies an even greater question: Why do we live the way we do? You can examine history, and you can arrive at a historical answer, but that only explains how things happened, not necessarily why they had to happen.

I have lots of theories. I don't spend enough time developing them in my head because I consume myself with computers and books and trivial things like The Big Bang Theory on television. But I think I could really grow as a person if I took the time to think critically about some of my ideas. For example: I've had this idea in my head about other planets and alternate universes. I highly doubt that Earth is the only place in the entire universe inhabited by intelligent beings. It just seems so... pointless if we really are alone.

What if the earth is merely but a cell within a greater macro-organism? Wouldn't that be cool? Well, we'd kinda be a sick cell, but we'd be alive nonetheless. Maybe there are other cells around us that we cannot see that are always like "Hey! Humans on earth! Wake up! You're killing your cell and giving us cancer over here with your pollution and destruction!".

Maybe I need to find some people who can help me develop my crazy ideas. Wouldn't that be fun? Arriving at a consensus about our place in the universe with other people? But the more I think, the more I am filled with doubt about my ideas. But at least I get more ideas.

Here's another idea: Technology is dividing us, not uniting us. Well, for some people. I guess I don't really use my cellphone much. And Facebook doesn't really help me feel better about myself.

Oh, I don't know anymore. Sometimes I think I just ramble late at night because I have nothing better to do. At least school is keeping me somewhat busy.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Caught in the rain

Today I went to class in a t-shirt in bright sunny weather and came out of class greeted by a torrential downpour. I proceeded to travel under the cover of the trees to eventually end up in the subway system completely soaked. And I didn't mind one bit! I love the feeling of rain on my skin.
In places like Toronto, the rain is just a mild inconvenience, really. It kind of annoys me when people complain about the rain. The earth is a beautiful place and rain is one of the things that makes life possible.

There's a second reason I like the rain: I was supposed to do yard work today, but it was not possible to do so because of the rain, so I had a fantastic excuse to slack off.

Il faudrait vraiment que j'écrive en français plus souvent. J'écris très, très rarement dans ma langue maternelle et je regrette ne pas avoir pratiqué mon écriture plus souvent. Je trouve qu'il faut que je cherche mes mots, et mon vocabulaire, comparé à mon vocabulaire anglais, manque de flair.
Malheureusement, je n'ai pas beaucoup de lecteurs qui parlent français et c'est donc dur de trouver de la motivation pour écrire. Les seules fois que j'écris en français, c'est pour communiquer avec de la famille sur Facebook... Et même là, c'est pas beaucoup de mots.

J'aimerais tellement écrire comme René Descartes, ou même Rousseau, ça serait vraiment illuminant comme écriture. Leur métaphores et leur façon d'expliquer des concepts souvent embrumé dans le monde théorique est vraiment fascinant et ils sont une source d'inspiration créative pour moi.

C'est vraiment dommage que la langue française se pert dans un monde anglophone. Je suis convaincu que cette langue a plein de choses que la langue anglaise ne pourra jamais remplacer. Mais malheureusement, je n'ai pas de raison de conserver cette langue de mes propre moyens: je ne communique qu'avec la famille en français.

Peut être devrais-je aller visiter la France? J'aimerais bien être un philosophe français et avoir de la sagesse pour règler les problèmes sur terre.

Cette cage linguistique m'ennuie.

À la prochaine!

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore 

Something similar

Courtesy of XKCD:

Sometimes, I get lost in the regular universe too.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Conservatives kill Katimavik

And I'm not happy at all. Katimavik is such a strong foundation for me. The nine months I spent all around Canada were the best of my life. And it wasn't because we partied all the time - we worked our asses off 5 days a week, not counting all the events we did on weekends. Oh, and we got "paid" 3 dollars a day. Slashing the program for economic reasons is completely absurd.
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I have SO much content to write about! Maybe it's because of the spring time, but I'm pretty happy these days AND I have the time to write on my blog a lot.
Well actually, that's a lie. I have a big research essay due in a couple weeks, and I have to start it. I'm already behind on it. It's my first big university essay, and it's a pretty general topic - Native American culture and survival in the 20th century. But there's a lot of information to digest, so my blog might have to go to the side a little bit. I'll see how it goes.
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This article here is very interesting. I don't usually like economists (and by virtue of extension, capitalism), but it's a good source of information on the wide impact that Harper's budget has on the labour force.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/the-economists/ottawa-killed-katimavik-and-missed-boat-on-youth-jobs-strategy/article2395726/

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore  

Words are Necessarily Important

Hey! Another one of my vlogs if you're sick of reading about my life.
It kinda relates to the post before the last one.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore  

The Art of Blogging

or, Why I Decided to Stay Up Late to Write About My Blog.

The good news is that I've just taken a cocktail of naturopathic medicines that will knock me out in a bit, so this post is timed in its length. If you see a bunch of nonsensical sentences near the end, you'll know why.

So here I am, after many years of having contributed on an almost monthly basis to my precious little project. Indeed, this place is one of the rare undertakings I have kept in my life for any length of time.  Most of my other "projects" - such as scouting, shamanism, origami, duct tape creations etc. - have been left in the dust because I have the attention span of, well, someone who doesn't like to spend time doing things over and over again.

I will admit that some of my blog posts can be quite a bore - especially the long winded rants about why I  sometimes hate life and the universe and other people, but I feel I can only get better the more I write. I hate to admit it, but practice, to an extent, does make perfect... whatever perfect means.

There are many patterns in why or how I write that I find almost fascinating. For example, I tend to blog more often when I'm feeling sad, depressed, melancholic, lonely, discouraged, forlorn - take your pick, they're all lovely words. It seems that if I'm having a really good time, like when I was in Halifax in 2010, I just don't feel the need to spread the joy through my words online.

There are exceptions to these trends. Just because I write often doesn't mean I'm particularly depressed or anything. If I'm feeling very, very angry about something I've witnessed or experienced (e.g. my anti-capitalism, anti-Facebook rant), my blog, instead of Facebook or the phone, is usually my go-to place. But I find I don't get livid easily, so I don't have that many angry posts.
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I don't really receive much criticism, as comments are few and far in between, but I feel I have a general sense on how to improve the readability of A kaleidoughscope of writings. It's simple, really. Have interesting things to talk about. Of course, what I find fascinating and what my semi-private audience finds fascinating are very, very different. (On a side note, I really wish more of you would comment, or even link to your own internet domains, blogs, whatever! I'm even willing to *shudder* visit your Tumblr as long as there aren't too many ADD-seizure-inducing gifs plastered all over the place).

But I do tend to lack content, a real subject matter to discuss and to explore in any sort of depth. But it's never been my goal to make this blog a politicized, controversial debacle full of people with hardcore opinions, like you find on so many of the popular domains nowadays. I'd describe this place as a mix of the easy-going and often humorous nature of Yahoo Answers with the somewhat more professional content-filled blogs like BoingBoing, with a dash of XKCD-inspired self-referencing wittiness.

I also made the choice not to monetize my blog. I don't think I ever will unless I'm really, really desperate for cash; or if I make a cool partnership with a business that won't alienate my precious audience with ads about bathtubs and useless gadgets.
I was actually offered a "partnership" with a big online retailer a while back who would send me free stuff if I reviewed some of their products on my blog. I admit, I was tempted at first, but I didn't need the stuff anyway, so I thought "Why bother writing about boring things that no one needs anyway when I spend half the time ranting about how consumerism is killing our planet...".
-
So what influences my writing? Well, I guess all the books that I've read help me to write with more confidence, as it's easier to place words in a sentence when you've read hundreds of thousands of them. I have a few favourite authors (read: "favourite" means that I've read at least a few of their various works), such as Kenneth Oppel, C.S Lewis, Bryan Perro, and a few of the fancy philosophers like Descartes, Kierkegaard and Kant; they really know how to make me feel like a smart cookie. But personally, I think I've finally found my sweet spot, the perfect setting that gets me to sit down and write a blog entry:

• a late-hour (after midnight is usually best)
• having taken a long, winding walk through the darkened city streets (I find a lot of my blogging ideas just pop up when I'm wandering Toronto pondering life)
• a smidgeon of alcohol (tonight, it was a bit of tequila and a beer later on)
• a small desk lamp that illuminates my desk and the piles of fancy books that lie beside it for school
• smooth jazz playing through my speakers
• a few puppets and origami to keep me company

What a poet, am I right?

If the above conditions are met, I usually bust out some pretty epic posts.

I also like to write when I'm high on various totally legal (insert hacking cough here) substances, but I find that my writing tends to lack clarity. I sometimes have to erase entire posts because my brain hurts after reading a couple sentences when I wake up the next day...

-

I really do feel like this blog has helped me out immensely. I used to think that blogging was not very therapeutic, because at the end of the day, they're just pixels on a screen. But being able to look back on what my life was back in, say, 2007, is pretty nifty; I'm kind of proud of having pushed myself to write when sometimes I didn't feel like it at all. It's also really awesome that a couple of my friends have started their own blogs, mayhaps because of my influence (I like to think that...).

In my opinion, blogs are much more conducive to "good" social relationships online. Facebook blends everything together and there's just way too much information to really care about any one person for very long because before you know it, a dramatic status update has captured your attention. Personal blogs, like mine and my friend Kate's that I linked just above are a much more interesting look into someone's life and you can really get a sense of what they're passionate about from reading a couple entries. Pictures on Facebook and years of status updates are just too... impersonal for me to really care about much.

Well, it looks like my lovely flower essences are kicking in and ZZZZZZZZZZZ-

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore  

Dreams and other pretty words

Why are there certain words that we just like more?
I sometimes get complimented on my majestic (and often ill-used) vocabulary and when it comes to archaic words, I see no reason for them to die off simply we've come up with more "hip" words like "tweeting".

It would be machiavellian of me to start listing off random words without proper introduction to them but I feel that this is sometimes almost necessary, considering the sheer amount of hashtag nonsense we see today from the younger generation.

Jeez, I sound like an old man (which I never, ever want to be) with my general ranting on today's youth. But it's true - I really like words, both english, french and maybe a select few other languages that hold a special place in my heart. Words allow us to convey things to each other - it's such a basic principle that we embrace in our lives and sometimes forget to take care of. But in today's modern world, we've emphasized speed over comprehension and it doesn't seem like very many people care about writing properly - which is insidious to our ancient linguistic roots.

Personally, I feel my life would be more meaningful if I received texts in proper grammatical form and especially with proper spelling. I make an effort to write out my texts because I just... love the way they look.
Something about having numbers and random symbols just turns me off.

I think this is why I might be minoring in Linguistics. Either I've been raised to love words (having one too many translators in this house) or I somehow developed an attraction to them in school.

How do you feel about words?
This post was rather academic.
Maybe it should go to my university...
I don't know, I felt like writing something since it's been a while.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore  

K & The Internet

Once upon a time, in the depths of my past memories, I was an average 14 year old who went to school, got decent grades, and played video games with friends when not busy being a boy scout.
I also spent a monstrous amount of time surfing the internet - back then, we had just gotten a new DSL connection, and I could spend unlimited amounts of time connected to the modem without tying up the phone line.

I quickly discovered many ways to connect with people, and one of them was a particular chatroom I had found by googling (or, back then, "Altavista-ing) "chatroom". Of course, there were your regular people, mostly teenagers around my age (I hope!) discussing music, movies and your run-of-the-mill teenage banter. There were the creepers, who were sending countless number of private messages to the girls just to see them naked.
And there was me.

I don't really know why I was there in the first place. I guess it's because I felt a little lonely and I loved how easy it was to just start up a conversation with someone. I didn't even have to start the conversation with "hello". I usually came up with slightly punny introductions that would get me weird looks were they uttered face-to-face. Some of the people I messaged thought I was weird nonetheless, but once in a while, I would find someone who would reply with an equal amount of wittiness and I knew I'd found someone special.

Usually, the conversation would go on for a while before the inevitable question would pop up: "Do you have MSN?". Because, well, once you disconnected from the chatroom, you were likely fated to never see or hear from these people again, unless you were a regular.
Either way, MSN was always a constant. You could always depend on MSN Messsenger. The smiley selection was just... so appealing, and the introduction of voice clips in my later teenage years only furthered my adoration for this communication medium.

So, during one of my many 321Teenchat escapades, I met a girl named K. from New Zealand. She is one of my -original- internet friends, and I've known her for seven years to this day. SEVEN YEARS! And I've stayed in touch on and off with her for those seven years. I think I just loved the fact that she was from New Zealand, and I would always beg her to use her microphone to talk to me because I desperately wanted to hear her sweet accent.
K., being a wise and rather shy girl, never did such a thing... until two days ago.

I heard her voice for the first time after seven years of "knowing" her. Since we'd been Facebook friends for a while, she took the initiative to use the new Facebook video chat and actually gave me a call, and we had so much to talk about!
Unfortunately, it was around 4 am and I REALLY needed some sleep.

My conversations with her usually ended at such a time because I was always up late talking to her and I eventually needed to go to bed. She would rarely be on at normal conversational times for me, say, 9 pm, and so I would stay up late just to talk to her because her time zone was very strange indeed.

I have many, many other internet friends, but K. is probably my most ancient, and I do hope to see her someday. We're both mature enough now to actually travel the world without feeling awkward about it.

Anyway, this was what was on my mind today - let's hope my Saturday will be filled with fun-filled adventures and real-life socialness.
Hah...
Yeah right...
Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore 
2019-09 update: Removed first name for privacy reasons.

Free writing: #1

New rules: I am not allowed to use the backspace.

Doctor doctor, what is wrong with me? Why can'tI seem to find the right words for my expressions?

Why do you ask so many questions? Why do I sak myself countless number of questions only to find that nothing has changed.

Do you have a purpose for this words? Will people stop reading once they see that I don't write with eprfect accuracy?

It's actually really difficult to write without automatically pressing the backspace button; I'm so used to using it because I contantsly reainvent what I want to write to make my meaning omre clear.

I can't seem to be the epsonn I want to be... let me try that again (I am not a printer). I can't seem to find to be the person Iwant to be. I try for a little while, i try and follow the decrees but I can't keep up with all of them. I still can't sleep at a reasonable hour; I prefer to dull my brain with massive amounts of internet information before bed at around 2 am instead of actually taking care of my health and following nature's indedtend sycle of sleep.

This is a tortorus blog to write. THe isspelled words are nagging at me like a moqsquito draining y life blood. I breathe and write as as supplementary  way of feeling good about myself. OH THIS IS too difficult! Please let me use the backspace! No, trules are rules.

Living life oh my... jeez, ths is really difficult. Well, it's just like life itself, there's no backspace in time, so I better know what Im doing. I shoul d wtirte faster and faster; on second thought, nevermind, then my writing won't even be legible.

Did I have something important so say? Not really; I'm only writing these lines to get rid of the creative energy that flows through yym veins right now. There's no mutch left. It'd bea easier to feel content writing these lines if my fellow bloggers blogged as much as I do, butg I have yet to find a friend who has withstood the test of time with their blog. They quit, they come back, ( I just cheated there, I used the backspace twiece), but it'S still a lonely place on this blog. Who am I writing to? I'm not writing to anyone; I'm writing to myself so that in my future, Iwill see what I was thinking at the past.

Oh there goes my grammar too... oh dear oh dear, this will not do. I just wish I had more and mroe haobbies and that they didn't reolvele around being near a computer for any length of time. I can't imagine my life without a computer, itS' kinda scary. I mean, I've lived for a computer for a while, so it'S definitely doable... it's just I don'T do it because it's so much... fun? No it's not fun, computers aren't a fs fun as they used to be. I remember when I was little, because I had a windows 3.1, I remember playing with a toucan and him teaching me words.

That was sall so long ago. What happened tow riting? Why do we tweet so much? Why is Facebook so BIG? When's the last day I didn'T check facebook?% Why why why why.

Oh I have so many uquestions, I just wish people would give me answewrs sometimes.

OKAY I FEEL LIKE EATING JUNK FOOD. I do not want to cheat I do not want to cheat I do not want to cheat.

I think I need more pictures on this pblog, to make things colorful. OH GOD, NO, I SPELLED IT THE AMERICAN WAY. THis is my demise.

I want friends. I should wget that cellphne...

Emails no longer mean anything apparenly. Ou can't oraganize things without a cellphone, I'm out of the loop, I could be outside with a friend right now. I am locked away insid e a basement writing words that seem to follow a vague if not distant structure . I hope my witing isn'T too drab.

I'm at 0$5%.

Summer will help.

Sitting in a room

With big brown wooden walls, with fake rainy sounds coming from wood-and-plastic perfectly rectangular speakers.
Sitting on a chair with plastic armrests, staring feebly at a 23-inch rectangle that flashes different colours if I press different buttons.
There is an obsidian black lamp that shines artificial sodium light in the darkness of the much-too-late hour of two AM.
Beside this light is a bookshelf filled with what was once pulp from a tree somewhere in the world, probably the amazon.
But back to the table, where the rectangular screen glares at me menacingly, lies another plastic device that, when moved, makes pixels activate in such and such a manner.
Beside this plastic device is, you guessed it, a plastic board with keys on it that, when pressed, darken a pixel and make the patterns of light on the screen change somewhat.

There are objects strewn around the off-white desk that make the place look messy, but not pig-styly. Perhaps the only natural looking thing is a djembe drum about the height of a coffee table that does not seem to fit amidst all the fake plasticky things and that, when struck, booms out and resonates through all the corners of the underground room in which I find myself in.

Where did nature go? I miss her.
Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore  

Gabriel - Lamb

I can fly
But I want his wings
I can shine even in the darkness
But I crave the light that he brings
Revel in the songs that he sings
My angel Gabriel

I can love
But I need his heart
I am strong even on my own
But from him I never want to part
He's been there since the very start
My angel Gabriel
My angel Gabriel

Bless the day he came to be
Angel's wings carried him to me
Heavenly
I can fly
But I want his wings
I can shine even in the darkness
But I crave the light that he brings
Revel in the songs that he sings
My angel Gabriel
My angel Gabriel
My angel Gabriel 

Free speeching: Segment the fifth

Oh shiz, here we go, let's take a journey!
Tell me Gabriel, do you get influenced by the music you listen to when you write these things?
Oh yes, I sip gin & juice and let loose, letting my fingers do the walking on my sexy grey keyboard that I picked up a few years ago on the sidewalk in the neighbourhood. I once tried to burn the cable with a lighter because I thought it was possessed by California Girls.

I think California Girls, the song, is a mind-control technique aimed at getting people over to California to bring tourism. I don't think every girl in California is a daisy duke. I will deny them.

I should continue my music balancer blog, where I try to even out the music. What counters Katy Perry is Arcade Fire, so let's go see what the suburbs are up to.
INTERVENTION. With the little triangle, it goes "ding ding ding!".
I probably need to be a little careful, because if what I write is complete and utter nonsense, Google might decided to delete this entry because their spam-detector will be hitting the fan.

Rant rant rant? Okay, twice now I've tried unsuccessfully to pick up a mediocre 50 dollar cheque from this big office downtown for work that I did for them... what could I possibly do with a 50 dollar cheque, you might be wondering?

Well, most of my money these days goes to buying food when I don't have time to pack a lunch, which is a terrible expense. But I'm trying to save it for something or another, maybe some origami paper... or maybe I should invest it somewhere, that would be the wise option. Unfortunately, 50 dollars isn't very much - oh sure it is, it can buy you a hundred burritos in Nicaragua.

But when will I make it to Nicaragua? I really should find a job here first, so I can save my money and go places and do things that normal young adults usually do at this age, because that's what I want to do - just be your average regular everyday normal guy. The other day, I was with some friends and I asked this girl to "Call me maybe", and it's the closest I've really ever come to asking a girl out, except that one time at Starbucks when I walked in wearing my Birkenstock knockoffs and straight up asked for her number.

I think she was just being nice when she said "Sorry, I'm taken, but you made my night!". What, did I make your night because I may or may not have been at your standard of what you look for in a guy?
Well, it doesn't matter to me, because my theory of relativity (I still have no clue what Einstein's is) states that eventually we all will find our missing half, somewhere in the universe. If not in this universe, well, then in a parallel universe where things might be different and necessarily better.

I should share my deep philosophical theories on here more often, like my spectrum theory that I use to shed light on why drugs are a good thing for humans and not altogether bad when placed in the right hands.

It's a lot easier to share theories when you have people who really truly care to listen, but because we're inundated with massive amounts of information everyday - through Youtube, Facebook, advertising billboards and sneaky marketing campaigns in subway stations (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, THE HUNGER GAMES), people really have no attention span anymore. It's terrible.

Yesterday was a fantastic day at Trinity Bellwoods park though, because I had my tarot cards with me and people were actually interested by them, and the two people who decided to get a reading were impressed by the answers they got! It really clicked with them, and I was really happy to hear that because I was doubting whether they would work with others or not.

So hey, it turns out that fairies really do exist, but I don't think they wear boots.

Lots of umms

I honestly didn't know I used so many umms in my speech.
If I learned anything from filming this one, it's that I need to stop being so unsure about what I want to say.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore  

Read me maybe

Hey. I've always known you. And this is crazy! But here's my hotlink... so read me maybe!
It's hard to read you right; you're so cool baaaby, but here's my hotlink... so read me maybe!
Before you strolled into my life I missed you so bad; I missed you so bad, I missed you so, so bad!
Before you linked to my site I missed you so bad; and you should know that! I missed you so, so bad!
It's hard to read you right; you're so cool baaaby, but here's my number... so call me maybe!
And all the other bloggy girlssss, try to chase meeeee-


So I take it you're in a good mood?
WTF where did you come from?

You're my boyfriend!
Whoa... wait what? I have a girlfriend? You're joking right?

Who said you had a girlfriend?
Oh... You're starting to sound a lot like GladOS. You know who that is right?

Yeah, she likes to open portals and she's pretty mean. I'm much cooler!
Well... ANYWAY... Here I was, about to happily dedicate a post to Sgt. Kaleidoughscope's Lonely Hearts Club Blog. Because of course, that's what this place used to be called before it eventually turned into A Kaleidoughscope of Writings. A much better title, no?

Yes, and it also doesn't infringe on any copyrights.
That's always a plus.

So what are you going to do today, Gabriel?
If you must know, I'm going to finally finish that damn book report right before it's due. I also just came back from a bike ride 'cause it's sunny and-

Did you just openly admit to liking the sun?!
I complain about not seeing stars all night long so I figure I might as well not take the one I get to see practically daily for granted.

YAY! Let's go dance and sing and be merry and drink stupid wine-
Whoa whoa whoa, easy there. I have to finish my book report! Also, negative points for practically quoting Noah and the Whale.


:( This whole post is practically gushing about how much you love Carly Rae Jepsen!
:S ANYWAY, here's something that ought to add some spice to both our lives:

Remember this doozy? I posted it more than four years ago. I'm at a 1 right now.

Wow! You even labeled your axes!
Not very well mind you, but I think you get the gist of it. I think with my little goatee now, I might be pushing 30 once my hair grows out again...

So, ready for your next decree?
Sure.

Spiritual Decree #4: Lessen the use of sarcasm in your daily and online life unless you're actually being funny.
Ooooh I like this one. No really, I do! And it won't be too hard to follow this 'cause I've been practicing for a little while now. But occasionally, you meet that one person who is just so naive and-

Stop right there criminal scum!
Alright alright, no more sarcasm. Or as I like to explain it, it's time to close the sar-chasm.

Har har har.
HEY THAT WAS SARCASTIC!

The decrees are for you; not for me - I'm pretty much perfect.
Ugh, fine.

Last comment for today: What song were you just listening to?
You ain't seen nothing yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive. And then Nirvana came on and suddenly I really want to skip All Apologies. WOOHOOOO HIGHWAY STARRRRRRRRR!

:D

Full lustre poetry

Sometimes I feel like my best friends are total strangers
Sometimes I feel like total strangers don't want to be my friend

Sometimes I feel like music's telling me to leave
Sometimes I feel like leaving music out of it

Sometimes I like to pretend like I know what the word love is supposed to be
Sometimes I pretend to have to care about her


She's elusive, but only because I'm more elusive than her
She's confident because she wants to be there for me

Flowing like a river; cool and remote like a dancing girl
Burning me with fire; hot in proximity like a flame

The poet and the pendulum sway with each other;
they know how to swing
from one life
to another.

Choosing De Cree

Hi!
Oh, it's -you- again. Well, I'm doing well on the junk food front, if you must know.

Good, I was hoping you'd say that.
Yeah, it's pretty hard though, because there's so much junk food everywhere I go.

Just remember that you have no idea where that stuff comes from or what that stuff is, really. Just because it tastes good doesn't mean it should go in your mouth.
I hate corporate interests that intervene with regular human life in order to profit off of desperate-

Ooookay, we're going to steer clear of that idea for now; your aim is to find your own sense of happiness, remember?
Right, right. As Lux would say, "Stay positive! ^_^".

Since you're actively trying to respect the decrees, I'll give you a choice for today as a present. Sleep or activity?
Oh, let's go for sleep. I've been plagued with sleep troubles since my teenage years. I'm kind of going to miss my erratic sleep patterns though... you meet the strangest and most interesting people at the dead hours of the night. It's the dark-after, after all, where human nature gets decomposed like my compost bin on Monday nights.

Right-o.
Spiritual decree #3: Go to bed before 1 am, every night of the week. Your aim is 11 pm, but this will take a while given your present love affair with going to bed at, shall we say, ungodly hours.
Am I right in assuming that this decree is flexible; for example, if I'm out partying at a friend's place?

Partying? Your goal is to be happy, not to have fun!
WHAT?

Just kidding! Of course this one's flexible, but it's really important to respect it as much as possible. There are very few things more essential to mammals than sleep. Sanity starts with good sleep patterns and you know that.
Yeah, I knew that. Sometimes it's fun to feel a little wonky! I suppose I am guilty of being a little -too- wonky sometimes...

Je sais, mon amour.
Whoa whoa whoa, let's not get into pet names now. Also, why are you in red now?

Because I love you.
ಠ_ಠ

Okay! See you next time!
Enthusiasm, thou art a bitch.

Watch your language!
This is MY blog you know!

:)


Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore 

Musical Decree

Hi. It's me again.
Oh god, what now.

Did you manage not to each junk food since last night?
I... I don't know...  It all happened so fast...

What do you mean?
It was 3 am and I was practically starving... and that box of cheerios, with the cute bee and little crispy round things... I just couldn't stop myself.

Stop yourself from...?
OKAY OKAY I ADMIT MY DEED! I ATE A WHOLE BOWL OF DELICIOUS HONEY NUT CHEERIOS WITH A COPIOUS AMOUNT OF 3.25% MILK LATE LAST NIGHT BECAUSE I COULDN'T SLEEP.

Anything else you care to confess?
This is starting to get creepy. I had a few bites of chocolate Haagen-Dazs and a bit of sorbet, but otherwise I'm clean today, I swear!

Good job!
Gee.. thanks?

Are you ready for your next ordinance?
Why do you have to act so formal? Yes I'm ready. I think I did okay on the first decree. You kind of remind me of someone from the fifth Harry Potter book, though...

I'm much nicer than that evil witch.
Yeah, and a little more sentient, too...

Spiritual decree #2: Play your djembe at least a few times per week at first, then augment to at least 10 minutes per day during daylight.
Hmm, I think I could do that. Do tell me, Guardian Angel, Spiritual Protector, whatever... What is the importance of this decree?

Well, music has massive healing powers, especially the drum because it's probably one of the most ancient instruments known to man. It fuels your soul in ways that no amount of Justin Bieber babies ever will, because it acts just like an external heartbeat to guide you. I'm not asking you to go to drum circles and solo (which would be super cool and you know it!), but just hearing a rhythm daily can bring a happy cadence to your life.


Solid. Sooo... should I start right now?
No. At this hour, you'll wake up the old lady next door to you that you've been using as an excuse not to practice. During the daytime and with spring approaching, there's no better time to commit to improving your musical talents, and you know it!


I think your enthusiasm is rubbing off on me. I hate it when that happens...
Cheer up buttercup!


Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore 

Divine Intervention

Dear Gabriel,


It has come to our attention that you have not been feeling too well lately. It is of our opinion that you are headed into a mild depression which, if left untreated, may lead to a more severe case of depression, anxiety and other psychotic tendencies. In order to prevent this from happening, we are here to assist you to make you... simply happy.


You may be asking yourself several of the following questions, all of which have answers:
1. "Who are you?"
2. "Isn't life like a roller coaster? How can I possibly always be happy?"
3. "How will this divine assistance work?"
4. "Who sent you?"

1. To put it simply, we are beings that you cannot really sense with the traditional 5 senses, but you can most certainly feel our presence.
2. Life is not like a roller coaster. It's a bad metaphor. Whoever came up with this idea did not want to you to be happy.
3. From this moment on, we will be imposing upon you no more than one (1) spiritual decree per day that will prevent you from doing certain things that do you no good. Alternatively, they may be more positive on some days and allow you to do certain things that you hadn't considered doing before.
4. We are here to help you. We are not here to harm you in any way. We have always been around you. We are your guardian angels.


Hmm. I accept.
You didn't really have a choice.


I think this is my subconscious finding more innovative methods to help me procrastinate on my book report which I should be writing right now because it's late.
Maybe. Either way, this is good for you in the long run.


Okay. So, what's the "spiritual decree" for today?
We'll get to that soon. First, a more detailed explanation of these decrees.
We regret to inform you that your blog will be the main headquarters for our operations, and so your decrees will appear as new blog posts, perhaps daily, perhaps weekly depending on circumstances.
Are you ready for your first decree? It's a big one.


Shoot me.
Wait wait, one more thing. Decrees will be in bold. Is that okay?


You know, for a guardian angel, you're pretty insecure.
Oh shut up. You still have free will, so I have to ask you a lot of questions. So that's a yes?


Go for it.


Spiritual decree #1: No more junk food. This includes cookies, chips, chocolate, copious amounts of cheese, fast food, gluten-containing foods, gluten-free snacks, fries, pizza pops and anything else that's factory made or just loaded with sugar and bad carbs.


Well, can't say I didn't expect this. Did you really have to go after the pizza pops though? Am I allowed gum?
Gum is the only exception. We recommend a lot of green tea to get over your junk food addiction, because babe, you're going cold turkey.


Hey! Did you just call me babe?
Some of your friends call you "Gabe the Babe", do they not?


*Sigh*

Well, there you have it. Welcome to my heaven (or hell, depending on how you look at it...).

P.S. I made this video late last night. Please don't enjoy it.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore 

Gabriel, The Environmental Philosopher

Hey.
Another crossroads - too many choices.

I've always loved nature. When I was younger, I was crafting bows, starting fires, whittling wood to make spears and building shelters. I was so happy because there was just so much stuff to do in the wild. From chasing chipmunks to whale watching, I was a serious lover of just about everything in the natural, physical world except maybe mosquitoes (I still think they should be wiped off the earth, just like politicians).

Then one day, I discovered the internet, and I thought to myself "Gee, why bother wasting energy and moving my ugly butt around to see stuff when I can do it just by pushing a few buttons". Thus began my teenage legacy of blogging, playing video games and meeting people online - and I wholly forgot about the world that was out there. I forgot how awesome the feeling of building your own shelter and spending the night under the stars was.
I traded my environmental soul for a technological body. Well, it was fun for a while, and I sure did rack up a ton of gold in World of Warcraft, and a ton of kills in Halo.

But what will that accomplish? Sure, I could (and still want to) make a career playing video games and conquering the video game world with my insane reflexes, but there are still around 137 species of animals, plants and fungi going extinct every single day on planet Earth.

Ideally, I'd save the planet by day and play video games with a real team at night, but I'd have to be pretty amazing to pull that off. Well, I am amazing, aren't I? You're all amazing too, especially all you students grinding yourselves through university just to get a paper so you can get a job.

Well, I want something more from my time on Earth, however long or short it may be. I don't want to "live fast and die young", like MGMT sings in "Time to Pretend", killing myself with drugs, alcohol and cheap music.

So as of today, I've decided that want I want to be when I "grow up" is an environmental philosopher, because that still leaves a whole lot of options as to what I would truly do in life. A marine biologist, why not? It's just, I can't tolerate all the stupid ridiculous wastes of time I'd have to go through at university just to be able to formally study animals in the oceans. All the money I have to spend, all the energy I have to give to all these big boxes that teach you stuff just so I can do what I want. Oh, right, I have poor science marks. Boohoohoo.

It's going to be ridiculously difficult to actually somehow make something amazing with my academy of thought, The Illustrious University, and still stay true to my beliefs about how people and especially, how I should live life.

You teach me, I teach you. It's as simple as that. I'm sick of having to collect money to do fun things. I'm sick of having to buy my drinks before 11:30 because it's half-price till then.
Why can't you and I do what we want if we don't bring harm to others?
Why can't we live somewhere without borders and without policemen  and lawmakers saying "no, you can't do that"? Do I really have to move to a different planet or something?

I'm too much of a scaredy-cat to pull an Into the Wild, but really, that seems like an excellent solution to my plight. I just can't do it alone.

Till my dreams come true...
... I really do need a part-time job.
To pay for school, you know.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

21 year lifestyle

I might go party downtown tonight. It's not usually my style to do what a lot of other 21 year olds do (mainly, get drunk and party hard), preferring nighttime nocturnal wanders to the excitement of dubstep electronic shows, but hell, I might as well experience some culture at my age.

A bunch of old time acquaintances from primary school are DJs and MCs, and so that's why I'm making an exception to see them tonight. It'll probably be a fun time. And I actually kinda dig their music, even though I've always been pretty partial to trance music as my exclusive source for electronic mind-altering wavelengths.

It's kind of repetitive and a little too... produced for my general tastes, but it's catchy.

Ya dig?

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Les enfants arc-en-ciel

There's a lot of suffering in the world, and I'm pretty emotional about it sometimes. If I get hurt emotionally (rarely am I physically hurt), I really feel it and shut down.

It's not fair. We know this - we know it isn't fair that people with money and business degrees get to call all the shots. What gives them the right to tell what people what to do? Maybe they have a social status that elevates them above others.

I've dreamt of a better world. I'm pretty sure it's on Earth, but it might not be. Actually, I dream of many other planets other than Earth.

Why are the planets there? When I was younger, I imagined different kinds of planets with different games and passions for different kinds of people. Happy planets. Sadness is allowed too, but it always comes back to happiness.

This whole idea that everyone needs to "unite" doesn't make very much sense to me - there's too many people in the world, too many differing views and we can't all get along the time... can we?

The power-hungry monster corporate machines that eat up the fabric of our earthly existence haunt me sometimes, but I do my best not to feed the monster. If you're born in Canada, you're practically born addicted to consumption and it's up to you to break free from the addiction because the machine just doesn't care.

---

I spoke to Lyra today, the girl of my dreams. I mean, it's hard to prove to you and all, but it doesn't really matter because she's real to me. And she told me that everything's going to be okay. Funny how Laura and Lyra sound awfully similar. Maybe I've been right all along, and dreams really do come true.

And my current dream is for the rainbow children who feel lost, confused and imprisoned by the evil that may or may not surround them to break free and finally spread peace and love across the earth, instead of hatred and greed.

It's going to happen. Quite possibly this year. I'll be ready - just find your inner sense of wisdom and love, your connection to the divine, and you might just be ready too.

P.S. If you're curious, I've officially launched my university, named "Academia Illustrae" for "Illustrious University". You can find it here.

Karma Aspiration Langune Entité Iodinement Dérive Oisellerie Ulysse Guimauve Hurlement Salutaire Citronelle Ophilia Perspicace Ettore

Free speeching: Segment the fourth

Pick me, pick me she says! Do you believe everything you see, all the things that you've seen. All the twisted and convoluted things that spin around you, do you believe?

Yes sir yes sir three bags full.
OH GOD I HATE YOU, CAPITALISM.
Make me rich someday, oh shut up Phish, I'm sick of your fans, NEXT.
Nevermind, it's Johnny B. Goode. Alright, that's acceptable, probably the only acceptable Rock & Roll song. Well, that one and Rock & Roll by Lead Zeppelin.

Okay now it's getting to me, I'm going to switch the song because I'm sick of songs telling me what to do, or how to act, or how to feel. I ESPECIALLY despise it when people say "OMG OMG OMG OMG GABE LISTEN TO THIS SONG IT'S SO GOOD, LET US PLAY OR WE'LL SHUN YOU". I'm looking at you, and you know EXACTLY who you are.

Repent, repent. Okay, I'm getting way too religious now, jeez. Yesterday I was at one of those fantastical bookstores, you know, the cool, clean ones with crystals and books, and well, I looked through one of those decks, you know which ones, the cool ones with cards and pictures. And I picked up an "angelic" deck, you know, a deck with angels and them.

OH THAT'S GREAT AND ALL, ISN'T IT? Sure, I look through the table of contents, and surely enough, there's (Arch)Angel Michael, and the other one, yeah, (Arch)Angel Raphael. Oh, so Gabriel must be nex-NOPE.

YEAH, THAT'S REAL NICE. Let's just talk about Raphael all the time, he's sooooo hot. And Mike, he's so smart! But Gabr- omg MICHAELLL I LOVEEEE YOUUUUU.
And where's Raphael when you need him anyway, I don't meet many of them these days. They must be ital-OH GOD I ALMOST called out a country there, I have to be careful to be politically correct!

Right, so Gabriel, Mister Angel, or Missus Angel, or (insert gender neutral pronoun here), way to ditch. Seriously, what is THAT, Missus PH.D.

I HAVE A ______'S DEGREE in the PERCEPTIVE ARTS, YARRRRRRR.

And I perceive that everyone always forgets about me.

This is Karma Aspiration Langune Entity etc. SIGNING OUT.

-Gabe