Some days I feel so alive and human...
and others, I pretend to be.
Maybe it's the sickness talking; or, this may be my honesty. I need a vacation.
-Mon
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Dali
Some days I feel so alive and human...
and others, I pretend to be.
Maybe it's the sickness talking; or, this may be my honesty. I need a vacation.
-Mon
Sunday, November 28, 2010
New York Times: Focus
Focus!
Because, a mind that wanders is not a wise mind at all...
FINDINGS
When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: November 15, 2010
A quick experiment. Before proceeding to the next paragraph, let your mind wander wherever it wants to go. Close your eyes for a few seconds, starting ... now.
And now, welcome back for the hypothesis of our experiment: Wherever your mind went — the South Seas, your job, your lunch, your unpaid bills — that daydreaming is not likely to make you as happy as focusing intensely on the rest of this column will.
I’m not sure I believe this prediction, but I can assure you it is based on an enormous amount of daydreaming cataloged in the current issue of Science. Using an iPhone app called trackyourhappiness, psychologists at Harvard contacted people around the world at random intervals to ask how they were feeling, what they were doing and what they were thinking.
The least surprising finding, based on a quarter-million responses from more than 2,200 people, was that the happiest people in the world were the ones in the midst of enjoying sex. Or at least they were enjoying it until the iPhone interrupted.
The researchers are not sure how many of them stopped to pick up the phone and how many waited until afterward to respond. Nor, unfortunately, is there any way to gauge what thoughts — happy, unhappy, murderous — went through their partners’ minds when they tried to resume.
When asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being “very good,” the people having sex gave an average rating of 90. That was a good 15 points higher than the next-best activity, exercising, which was followed closely by conversation, listening to music, taking a walk, eating, praying and meditating, cooking, shopping, taking care of one’s children and reading. Near the bottom of the list were personal grooming, commuting and working.
When asked their thoughts, the people in flagrante were models of concentration: only 10 percent of the time did their thoughts stray from their endeavors. But when people were doing anything else, their minds wandered at least 30 percent of the time, and as much as 65 percent of the time (recorded during moments of personal grooming, clearly a less than scintillating enterprise).
On average throughout all the quarter-million responses, minds were wandering 47 percent of the time. That figure surprised the researchers, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert.
“I find it kind of weird now to look down a crowded street and realize that half the people aren’t really there,” Dr. Gilbert says.
You might suppose that if people’s minds wander while they’re having fun, then those stray thoughts are liable to be about something pleasant — and that was indeed the case with those happy campers having sex. But for the other 99.5 percent of the people, there was no correlation between the joy of the activity and the pleasantness of their thoughts.
“Even if you’re doing something that’s really enjoyable,” Mr. Killingsworth says, “that doesn’t seem to protect against negative thoughts. The rate of mind-wandering is lower for more enjoyable activities, but when people wander they are just as likely to wander toward negative thoughts.”
Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be happier if they focused on the activity instead of thinking about something else. In fact, whether and where their minds wandered was a better predictor of happiness than what they were doing.
“If you ask people to imagine winning the lottery,” Dr. Gilbert says, “they typically talk about the things they would do — ‘I’d go to Italy, I’d buy a boat, I’d lay on the beach’ — and they rarely mention the things they would think. But our data suggest that the location of the body is much less important than the location of the mind, and that the former has surprisingly little influence on the latter. The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet.”
Still, even if people are less happy when their minds wander, which causes which? Could the mind-wandering be a consequence rather than a cause of unhappiness?
To investigate cause and effect, the Harvard psychologists compared each person’s moods and thoughts as the day went on. They found that if someone’s mind wandered at, say, 10 in the morning, then at 10:15 that person was likely to be less happy than at 10 , perhaps because of those stray thoughts. But if people were in a bad mood at 10, they weren’t more likely to be worrying or daydreaming at 10:15.
“We see evidence for mind-wandering causing unhappiness, but no evidence for unhappiness causing mind-wandering,” Mr. Killingsworth says.
This result may disappoint daydreamers, but it’s in keeping with the religious and philosophical admonitions to “Be Here Now,” as the yogi Ram Dass titled his 1971 book. The phrase later became the title of a George Harrison song warning that “a mind that likes to wander ’round the corner is an unwise mind.”
What psychologists call “flow” — immersing your mind fully in activity — has long been advocated by nonpsychologists. “Life is not long,” Samuel Johnson said, “and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.” Henry Ford was more blunt: “Idleness warps the mind.” The iPhone results jibe nicely with one of the favorite sayings of William F. Buckley Jr.: “Industry is the enemy of melancholy.”
Alternatively, you could interpret the iPhone data as support for the philosophical dictum of Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t worry, be happy.” The unhappiness produced by mind-wandering was largely a result of the episodes involving “unpleasant” topics. Such stray thoughts made people more miserable than commuting or working or any other activity.
But the people having stray thoughts on “neutral” topics ranked only a little below the overall average in happiness. And the ones daydreaming about “pleasant” topics were actually a bit above the average, although not quite as happy as the people whose minds were not wandering.
There are times, of course, when unpleasant thoughts are the most useful thoughts. “Happiness in the moment is not the only reason to do something,” says Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research has shown that mind-wandering can lead people to creative solutions of problems, which could make them happier in the long term.
Over the several months of the iPhone study, though, the more frequent mind-wanderers remained less happy than the rest, and the moral — at least for the short-term — seems to be: you stray, you pay. So if you’ve been able to stay focused to the end of this column, perhaps you’re happier than when you daydreamed at the beginning. If not, you can go back to daydreaming starting...now.
Or you could try focusing on something else that is now, at long last, scientifically guaranteed to improve your mood. Just make sure you turn the phone off.
Because, a mind that wanders is not a wise mind at all...
FINDINGS
When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: November 15, 2010
A quick experiment. Before proceeding to the next paragraph, let your mind wander wherever it wants to go. Close your eyes for a few seconds, starting ... now.
And now, welcome back for the hypothesis of our experiment: Wherever your mind went — the South Seas, your job, your lunch, your unpaid bills — that daydreaming is not likely to make you as happy as focusing intensely on the rest of this column will.
I’m not sure I believe this prediction, but I can assure you it is based on an enormous amount of daydreaming cataloged in the current issue of Science. Using an iPhone app called trackyourhappiness, psychologists at Harvard contacted people around the world at random intervals to ask how they were feeling, what they were doing and what they were thinking.
The least surprising finding, based on a quarter-million responses from more than 2,200 people, was that the happiest people in the world were the ones in the midst of enjoying sex. Or at least they were enjoying it until the iPhone interrupted.
The researchers are not sure how many of them stopped to pick up the phone and how many waited until afterward to respond. Nor, unfortunately, is there any way to gauge what thoughts — happy, unhappy, murderous — went through their partners’ minds when they tried to resume.
When asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being “very good,” the people having sex gave an average rating of 90. That was a good 15 points higher than the next-best activity, exercising, which was followed closely by conversation, listening to music, taking a walk, eating, praying and meditating, cooking, shopping, taking care of one’s children and reading. Near the bottom of the list were personal grooming, commuting and working.
When asked their thoughts, the people in flagrante were models of concentration: only 10 percent of the time did their thoughts stray from their endeavors. But when people were doing anything else, their minds wandered at least 30 percent of the time, and as much as 65 percent of the time (recorded during moments of personal grooming, clearly a less than scintillating enterprise).
On average throughout all the quarter-million responses, minds were wandering 47 percent of the time. That figure surprised the researchers, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert.
“I find it kind of weird now to look down a crowded street and realize that half the people aren’t really there,” Dr. Gilbert says.
You might suppose that if people’s minds wander while they’re having fun, then those stray thoughts are liable to be about something pleasant — and that was indeed the case with those happy campers having sex. But for the other 99.5 percent of the people, there was no correlation between the joy of the activity and the pleasantness of their thoughts.
“Even if you’re doing something that’s really enjoyable,” Mr. Killingsworth says, “that doesn’t seem to protect against negative thoughts. The rate of mind-wandering is lower for more enjoyable activities, but when people wander they are just as likely to wander toward negative thoughts.”
Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be happier if they focused on the activity instead of thinking about something else. In fact, whether and where their minds wandered was a better predictor of happiness than what they were doing.
“If you ask people to imagine winning the lottery,” Dr. Gilbert says, “they typically talk about the things they would do — ‘I’d go to Italy, I’d buy a boat, I’d lay on the beach’ — and they rarely mention the things they would think. But our data suggest that the location of the body is much less important than the location of the mind, and that the former has surprisingly little influence on the latter. The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet.”
Still, even if people are less happy when their minds wander, which causes which? Could the mind-wandering be a consequence rather than a cause of unhappiness?
To investigate cause and effect, the Harvard psychologists compared each person’s moods and thoughts as the day went on. They found that if someone’s mind wandered at, say, 10 in the morning, then at 10:15 that person was likely to be less happy than at 10 , perhaps because of those stray thoughts. But if people were in a bad mood at 10, they weren’t more likely to be worrying or daydreaming at 10:15.
“We see evidence for mind-wandering causing unhappiness, but no evidence for unhappiness causing mind-wandering,” Mr. Killingsworth says.
This result may disappoint daydreamers, but it’s in keeping with the religious and philosophical admonitions to “Be Here Now,” as the yogi Ram Dass titled his 1971 book. The phrase later became the title of a George Harrison song warning that “a mind that likes to wander ’round the corner is an unwise mind.”
What psychologists call “flow” — immersing your mind fully in activity — has long been advocated by nonpsychologists. “Life is not long,” Samuel Johnson said, “and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.” Henry Ford was more blunt: “Idleness warps the mind.” The iPhone results jibe nicely with one of the favorite sayings of William F. Buckley Jr.: “Industry is the enemy of melancholy.”
Alternatively, you could interpret the iPhone data as support for the philosophical dictum of Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t worry, be happy.” The unhappiness produced by mind-wandering was largely a result of the episodes involving “unpleasant” topics. Such stray thoughts made people more miserable than commuting or working or any other activity.
But the people having stray thoughts on “neutral” topics ranked only a little below the overall average in happiness. And the ones daydreaming about “pleasant” topics were actually a bit above the average, although not quite as happy as the people whose minds were not wandering.
There are times, of course, when unpleasant thoughts are the most useful thoughts. “Happiness in the moment is not the only reason to do something,” says Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research has shown that mind-wandering can lead people to creative solutions of problems, which could make them happier in the long term.
Over the several months of the iPhone study, though, the more frequent mind-wanderers remained less happy than the rest, and the moral — at least for the short-term — seems to be: you stray, you pay. So if you’ve been able to stay focused to the end of this column, perhaps you’re happier than when you daydreamed at the beginning. If not, you can go back to daydreaming starting...now.
Or you could try focusing on something else that is now, at long last, scientifically guaranteed to improve your mood. Just make sure you turn the phone off.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Northside, oh Northside
We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens.
—Chuck Palahniuk
Hamlet, you will be the death of me.
Ashley arrives today! This weekend is going to be one hell-of-a-riot.
-x-x-x-
For anyone in Berkeley reading this blog, if you're getting sick of Southside trek over to Northside. Brewed Awakening is a quaint little coffee shop that seems to attract plenty of EECs students as well as the co-op residents. I find this atmosphere far better than Strada and the coffee is definitely a step up. The price point is a little expensive, but this is coming from a girl who needs her soy latte. There are great lulls after 2 p.m where you can get serious stuff done and if you're not into working, most people I have run into here have had great insight and enjoy a short chat.
Ohhh, Berkeley.
-Mon
—Chuck Palahniuk
Hamlet, you will be the death of me.
Ashley arrives today! This weekend is going to be one hell-of-a-riot.
-x-x-x-
For anyone in Berkeley reading this blog, if you're getting sick of Southside trek over to Northside. Brewed Awakening is a quaint little coffee shop that seems to attract plenty of EECs students as well as the co-op residents. I find this atmosphere far better than Strada and the coffee is definitely a step up. The price point is a little expensive, but this is coming from a girl who needs her soy latte. There are great lulls after 2 p.m where you can get serious stuff done and if you're not into working, most people I have run into here have had great insight and enjoy a short chat.
Ohhh, Berkeley.
-Mon
Monday, November 15, 2010
Mid-November
It's mid-November here and the weather has still remained at a phenomenal 75 degrees in northern California. The sun is out, basking with an inviting smile that prevents anyone from a negative outlook (or, well, almost anyone). The semester is seemingly winding down to a close and I can honestly say this school is kicking my ass - totally manageable, don't get me wrong, but kicking my ass nonetheless. A lot has happened in this small amount of time and I feel that a month from now, when I return to southern California, many things will just be noted as the past rather than the potential future.
There is something up here, and I cannot particularly put my finger on it, that really makes me feel fantastic. It may be the curriculum, it may be my weekend rendezvous, it may be new yoga ventures and gym hopping, or, simply, just something in the air. Oh, the people here are amazing too. So, so, so amazing.
Not until Saturday night, when I was walking back with my roommate did I realize how thankful I am to be here, right where I am. I worked my ass off and slaved for three years, goofed off for one, and now I'm here, amongst thousands of other students who had the same fate as I. Some may become doctors, some lawyers, others drop outs, and plenty more have yet to still determine their path. Yet, every student here has something about them, a little glimmer in their eyes - a sense of belonging, perhaps?
Now that I've picked up on reading for pleasure again the little hamster in my brain has finally started up again. He's running, faster than ever before, and my thirst for creativity is being countered by my hunger for knowledge. I would have never thought that this would be the never-ending brawl that would ensue within my thoughts; to be creative, or to focus on knowledge? Surely, they coincide oftentimes, but you always put a focus on one or the other. One, is always (and unfortunately) a priority.
I'm rambling. I know. I jut haven't been carrying my journal around and have therefore come to updating my blog instead.
The sun is out and shining. I have two research papers due, a midterm on Wednesday, and a quiz as well - but, it's all okay, because the sun is out and shining.
“To live for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”
Robert M. Pirsig quote
Oh, am I living.
-x-x-x-
&, before i'm off, Id like to share this:
"I keep thinking about something you said.
Something I said?
Yeah. About how you often feel like you're observing your life from the perspective of an old woman about to die. You remember that?
Yeah. I still feel that way sometimes. Like I'm looking back on my life. Like my waking life is her memories.
Exactly. I heard that Tim Leary said as he was dying that he was looking forward to the moment when his body was dead but his brain was still alive. You know they say that there's still six to twelve minutes of brain activity after everything else is shutdown. And a second of dream consciousness, right, well, that's infinitely longer than a waking second. You know what I'm saying?
Oh, yeah, definitely. For example, I wake up and it is 10:12, and then I go back to sleep and I have those long, intricate, beautiful dreams that seem to last for hours, and then I wake up and it's ... 10:13.
Yeah, exactly. So then six to twelve minutes of brain activity, I mean, that could be your whole life. I mean, you are that woman looking back over everything.
Okay, so what if I am? Then what would you be in all that?
Whatever I am right now. I mean, yeah, maybe I only exist in your mind. I'm still just as real as anything else.
Yeah. I've been thinking also about something you said.
What's that?
Just about reincarnation and where all the new souls come from over time. Everybody always say that they've been the reincarnation of Cleopatra or Alexander the Great. I always want to tell them they were probably some dumb **** like everybody else. I mean, it's impossible. Think about it. The world population has doubled in the past 40 years, right? So if you really believe in that ego thing of one eternal soul, then you have only 50% chance of your soul being over 40. And for it to be over 150 years old, then it's only one out of six.
Right, so what are you saying? That reincarnation doesn't exist, or that we're all young souls like where half of us are first round humans?
No, no. What I'm trying to say is that somehow I believe reincarnation is just a - a poetic expression of what collective memory really is. There was this article by this biochemist that I read not long ago, and he was talking about how when a member of our species is born, it has a billion years of memory to draw on. And this is where we inherit our instincts.
I like that. It's like there's this whole telepathic thing going on that we're all a part of, whether we're conscious of it or not. That would explain why there are all these, you know, seemingly spontaneous, worldwide, innovative leaps in science, in the arts. You know, like the same results poppin' up everywhere independent of each other. Some guy on a computer, he figures something out, and then almost simultaneously a bunch of other people all over the world figure out the same thing. They did this study. They isolated a group of people over time, and they monitored their abilities at crossword puzzles, right, in relation to the general population. And they secretly gave them a day-old crossword, one that had already been answered by thousands of other people, right. And their scores went up dramatically, like 20 percent. So it's like once the answers are out there, people can pick up on 'em. It's like we're all telepathically sharing our experiences."
-Mon
There is something up here, and I cannot particularly put my finger on it, that really makes me feel fantastic. It may be the curriculum, it may be my weekend rendezvous, it may be new yoga ventures and gym hopping, or, simply, just something in the air. Oh, the people here are amazing too. So, so, so amazing.
Not until Saturday night, when I was walking back with my roommate did I realize how thankful I am to be here, right where I am. I worked my ass off and slaved for three years, goofed off for one, and now I'm here, amongst thousands of other students who had the same fate as I. Some may become doctors, some lawyers, others drop outs, and plenty more have yet to still determine their path. Yet, every student here has something about them, a little glimmer in their eyes - a sense of belonging, perhaps?
Now that I've picked up on reading for pleasure again the little hamster in my brain has finally started up again. He's running, faster than ever before, and my thirst for creativity is being countered by my hunger for knowledge. I would have never thought that this would be the never-ending brawl that would ensue within my thoughts; to be creative, or to focus on knowledge? Surely, they coincide oftentimes, but you always put a focus on one or the other. One, is always (and unfortunately) a priority.
I'm rambling. I know. I jut haven't been carrying my journal around and have therefore come to updating my blog instead.
The sun is out and shining. I have two research papers due, a midterm on Wednesday, and a quiz as well - but, it's all okay, because the sun is out and shining.
“To live for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”
Robert M. Pirsig quote
Oh, am I living.
-x-x-x-
&, before i'm off, Id like to share this:
"I keep thinking about something you said.
Something I said?
Yeah. About how you often feel like you're observing your life from the perspective of an old woman about to die. You remember that?
Yeah. I still feel that way sometimes. Like I'm looking back on my life. Like my waking life is her memories.
Exactly. I heard that Tim Leary said as he was dying that he was looking forward to the moment when his body was dead but his brain was still alive. You know they say that there's still six to twelve minutes of brain activity after everything else is shutdown. And a second of dream consciousness, right, well, that's infinitely longer than a waking second. You know what I'm saying?
Oh, yeah, definitely. For example, I wake up and it is 10:12, and then I go back to sleep and I have those long, intricate, beautiful dreams that seem to last for hours, and then I wake up and it's ... 10:13.
Yeah, exactly. So then six to twelve minutes of brain activity, I mean, that could be your whole life. I mean, you are that woman looking back over everything.
Okay, so what if I am? Then what would you be in all that?
Whatever I am right now. I mean, yeah, maybe I only exist in your mind. I'm still just as real as anything else.
Yeah. I've been thinking also about something you said.
What's that?
Just about reincarnation and where all the new souls come from over time. Everybody always say that they've been the reincarnation of Cleopatra or Alexander the Great. I always want to tell them they were probably some dumb **** like everybody else. I mean, it's impossible. Think about it. The world population has doubled in the past 40 years, right? So if you really believe in that ego thing of one eternal soul, then you have only 50% chance of your soul being over 40. And for it to be over 150 years old, then it's only one out of six.
Right, so what are you saying? That reincarnation doesn't exist, or that we're all young souls like where half of us are first round humans?
No, no. What I'm trying to say is that somehow I believe reincarnation is just a - a poetic expression of what collective memory really is. There was this article by this biochemist that I read not long ago, and he was talking about how when a member of our species is born, it has a billion years of memory to draw on. And this is where we inherit our instincts.
I like that. It's like there's this whole telepathic thing going on that we're all a part of, whether we're conscious of it or not. That would explain why there are all these, you know, seemingly spontaneous, worldwide, innovative leaps in science, in the arts. You know, like the same results poppin' up everywhere independent of each other. Some guy on a computer, he figures something out, and then almost simultaneously a bunch of other people all over the world figure out the same thing. They did this study. They isolated a group of people over time, and they monitored their abilities at crossword puzzles, right, in relation to the general population. And they secretly gave them a day-old crossword, one that had already been answered by thousands of other people, right. And their scores went up dramatically, like 20 percent. So it's like once the answers are out there, people can pick up on 'em. It's like we're all telepathically sharing our experiences."
-Mon
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Pablo Honey
Oh oh, Pablo Honey.
Pull me through these research papers...
"Deessstiny, Destiny protect me from the world
Deessstiny, hold my hand protect me from the world
Here we are, with our running and confusion
And I don't see no confusion anywhere
And if the world does turn, and if London burns
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar
I want to be in a band, when I get to heaven
Anyone can play guitar
And they won't be a nothing anymore
Growwww my hair, Grow my hair I am Jim Morrison
Growwww my hair, I wannabe wannabe wannabe Jim Morrison
Here we are with our running and confusion
And I don't see no confusion anywhere
And if the world does turn, and if London burns
I'll be standing on a beach with my guitar
I want to be in a band, when I get to heaven
Anyone can play guitar
And they won't be a nothing anymore"
-Mon
Pull me through these research papers...
"Deessstiny, Destiny protect me from the world
Deessstiny, hold my hand protect me from the world
Here we are, with our running and confusion
And I don't see no confusion anywhere
And if the world does turn, and if London burns
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar
I want to be in a band, when I get to heaven
Anyone can play guitar
And they won't be a nothing anymore
Growwww my hair, Grow my hair I am Jim Morrison
Growwww my hair, I wannabe wannabe wannabe Jim Morrison
Here we are with our running and confusion
And I don't see no confusion anywhere
And if the world does turn, and if London burns
I'll be standing on a beach with my guitar
I want to be in a band, when I get to heaven
Anyone can play guitar
And they won't be a nothing anymore"
-Mon
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday Nights
Rolled a j and set out for the night, iced soy latte in one hand and a ball of energy in the other.
"Hey, gorgeous, come stand with us - we'll show you a good time."
Strangers are peculiar individuals. On the one hand, they are creepy as can be, surreptitiously crouching at the most unexpected of places; however, they are also human beings, making "friends" in the most peculiar of manners. Regardless, there was no way in hell I would be caught dead with the two "gentlemen" who offered me a good time (with a forty).
So I set out alone, because sometimes that's the best way to really experience things.
It wasn't until the sitar began reverberating through my body, until that sweet sound entered my ears, that my hips began rolling back and forth to this unheard of rhythm. Beat poetry.
Beats.
The crowd was wild with energy. Every few minutes a puff of smoke would come my way, only to enjoy the sweet scent of marijuana. A collective enjoyment, across the crowd. The crowd was a cloud of smoke. Puff-puff; passsss. It was swaying back and forth, to the beats. Beat poetry.
A goooooooooooood time.
And those lights! Oh, the lights were spectacular. Every emotional lyric resulted in a new color and a new texture. Yes! There were textures. At one point, the crowd was just a mass tide, swaying back and forth. No longer a cloud of marijuana smoke, but a ripple in the water. The whole crowd was one - a collective experience. But, that's a given (a Gibbons?). No, a given.
So, I lit my joint, respectively, to enrich my experience. All I could do was laugh. Giggle, chortle, chuckle.
Was this really happening?
And it was. Soon enough a wink came my way. I swam through the crowd. New people. New experiences.
"Hello, my name is Chazzzzzzz." She looks at me, intently, with beautiful blue orbs that embrace childish frivolity in a gorgeous mid-forties body. You are as young as you want to be.
So we danced, Chaz and I, as the winker stayed next to me.
Another puff of smoke!
Two girls, to the right, dressed up as new-age hippies smoking from a miniature piece, passing the pipe around. A sense of community! I laugh again, because Chaz and I are dancing and the new-age hippies are asking the whole crowd to smoke. The cute interracial couple takes a hit, and they keep dancing. But their dance is a little different than mine, or his, or hers. You could see their chemistry emanating out of their souls.
Bass drum. Oh the fucking bass drum.
With every hit of the bass drum my hips kept swaying. Michelle and Phil introduce themselves, the ones whose chemistry is remarkable. Another hit? Why not!
Of the bass drum, of course. Or the pipe? I forget. They all seem interchangeable.
So Phil, Chaz, Nicole, Michelle, Tim, Noy, and even more strangers are in a circle. Dancing and enjoying the rhythms. The crowd is a wave of movement as much as it is a wave of emotion. A collection of strangers, who have all come together in hopes of having a good time. Which we were. We were, oh oh oh.
Hands on my hips! More strangers. More love. More dancing. Ohhh the beats.
Rasp, sass. Vocals.
Everything was so smooth: the music and the movement. Who the fuck is this guy? More hands on my hips.
[I said, who the fuck is this guy?]
My hands in the air, swaying to the synth. Heads bobbing to the bass.
Another hit - I swear it's the last!
But I feel like nothing really "hit" me. Just an experience. Not stoned, but aware. Open.
And, the colors slowly drift away and the tide rolls out. It is a crowd of individuals again. No more smoke. No more music. Simply a batch of strangers, at the same place at the same time, ready to go about the rest of their night.
It's funny, you have this great experience and share it with hundreds of people, but rather than taking that all into perspective you run back into your schedule. Places to be; things to do.
Just aware, and open. I walked the streets of Berkeley to my ladies and we, too, went about the rest of our night (which will not be disclosed).
Live music is something truly phenomenal. Strangers are friends in the making. And, the words of that lovely lady, from earlier in the night whose sass emphasized the intensity of the rap, stayed with me...
"we must turn insanity into humanity."
And that is what we did, as a crowd, before we went about our Saturday night schedules. Hu-man-i-ty !
It was time to enjoy the rest of the night. Insane strangers are just friends in the making of humanity.
-Mon
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Words from the wise
I have a low key crush on my philosophy professor, regardless of his age.
&, I am not the only one!
back to work, but I felt like sharing that quote.
-Mon
Monday, November 1, 2010
I sat thinking how terribly sad it was that people are made in such a way that they get used to something as incredible as living. One day we suddenly take the fact that we exist for granted - and then, yes, then we don’t think about it anymore until we are about to leave the world again.
—Jostein Gaarder, The Solitaire Mystery
Well, there's a thought.
-x-x-x-
November is finally here! I had one hell of a weekend and need a fresh start.
One hell of a fucking weekend.
-Mon
—Jostein Gaarder, The Solitaire Mystery
Well, there's a thought.
-x-x-x-
November is finally here! I had one hell of a weekend and need a fresh start.
One hell of a fucking weekend.
-Mon
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