Dancing in the Starlight

 Our favourite funk DJ

 Funkmeister Charles

 Funnel Cake

 This is what we do - we sit on bridges and play the guitar.

I could not have predicted the events of my final weekend in Ontario to have played out like it did. We danced to funk at Starlight and unexpectedly ended the night with an impromptu hour long jam session with a random guitarist and a moonlight dance in the streets of Waterloo. Undeniably, it was a great way to end the string of Friday night traditions at Starlight. The rest of the weekend was equally unpredictable. I refused to say goodbye to a friend Saturday night so we could enjoy one last afternoon tea together. On my way to her house, I was informed that she had been rushed to the ER. It really makes you cherish the moments while they're being played out rather than waiting for your final weekend to have those orchestrated last moments. The next time will never be better than the present time. Instead of wishing we had done things sooner, met people sooner, said things sooner, we should just savour the moments as they’re happening.

Yours,

P. xo.

Manifesto for Social Democracy

Nathan Phillips Square

Jack Layton, leader of the NDP was a man wreaked with optimism, and compassion; an idealist about the future of Canada. Yesterday I watched the funeral ceremony of Mr. Layton; a tribute that brought me to tears. His vision of an inclusive Canada was founded on his realization of our basic humanity and the belief of social justice. Whether you had faith in his political platform or not, I hope that people with different political creeds can at least acknowledge that he was a respectable man who just wanted to make Canada a better place. We need leaders who inspire us to do better because there is never not a time for improvement, justice and compassion.

People who are open to being inspired, and people who are not predisposed to cynicism will understand the feats of Jack Layton. I too am an idealist; I see and hope for a better world and a better me. Idealists are sometimes negatively portrayed as hopemongers who spend more time viewing reality as it should be rather than what it is. But my beliefs are on the premise that we have to keep on acting, moving, and changing in a positive way if we want to make the world a better place because it can be that way. However, just having beliefs soaked in sentimentalism and love is not enough when we want to create a new social reality. For more on the subject, read An Introduction to Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change as it demonstrates the importance of collective creation that utilizes both power and love. This book was given to me by a friend after Vancouver's riots. A beautiful quote that I pulled out of the book belongs to Martin Luther King Jr. - "Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic".

In the light of the day, it is still possible to believe in the essential goodness of human nature. I cannot recall another time when I've seen so many Canadians moved by a loss of a public figure, let alone a political one. To see these Canadians remember and celebrate the life of a man who wanted social justice, gives me hope that there are still people who have a love for life, a love for people, and a love for their country. This year, whether it has been after Vancouver's riots or the death of Jack Layton, I find comfort that there are fellow Canadians that I can stand with in our hope for a better tomorrow. "Dream a dream that is longer than a lifetime"

Stephen Lewis Eulogy

Jack Layton State Funeral Tribute

Steven Page - Hallelujah

I was pleasantly impressed by Steven Page's rendition of 'Hallelujah", a personal favourite of mine. The setting to which I enjoyed this was quite fitting as I watched it with people I admire, on the same TV and in the same room where we once debated if Jeff Buckley or KD Lang's version is better (IMO, Jeff Buckley is still the remarkable winner).

Reverend Brent Hawkes Eulogy

Reverend Brent Hawkes - "When all of the talking is done, when all of the tributes are done, when the chalk is washed on the concrete at City Hall, when our crying finally stops, the legacy of Jack Layton will not be in how much power you have, it will be in how all of us exercise our personal power for a better world. It will be in our actions and how we take those actions together. Yes, bring your passion but also bring your compassion. Yes, bring your agendas of what you want to accomplish, but also bring a commitment about how we can accomplish that together. Yes, bring your seriousness about serious issues but also have fun – sing together and pick up a harmonica once in a while." 


Yours,

P. xo.

Synchronicity

 Canadian National Exhibition

 Sand Sculptures

 A serendipitous realization

 Lighted up view from our window

 Sheraton's beautiful Oasis

Vintage Louis Vuitton baggage

In an effort to find answers, we search for signs to show that we are on the right path. Whether we’re seeking empiphanies to our religions, figuring ways to disembark from Robot land, or planning our travels, we look to the universe for those little moments where the stars align. In a discussion over this matter, my friend introduced me to the idea of Synchronicity which is “the experience of two or more events, that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner”. Living in a world that is so dispersed with symbols and signs, we tend to associate meaning with small or large coincidences. These signs are of hope that there is something bigger than ourselves, signs that we live in a villa of magical serendipitous occasions.

But how much control do we have over these synchronicity moments? Do we create them by only seeing what we want to see?

When we are actively searching for signs, we compare our thoughts and feelings to external events. Searching for specific signs may in itself be a case of selective perception as we tend to interpret meanings in ways that allows the universe to unfold as we want it to. My belief is that when you exude positivity, the universe will find a way to feed off of your energy. As for signs, this weekend gave me plenty of lucky stars. There were moments that seemed quite serendipitous. In addition, by simply narrowing in on certain positive outside events, I was rewarded with a cyclic cause and effect of karmic energy. My vacation mode was in full swing with the tapestry of rewarding events, the savouring of moments, amusing conversations with good company, enjoyable entertainment, and little-girl giddiness. It was a great way to end and remember Toronto.

Yours,

P. xo.

Roommate Warzone

I’ve just finished packing in what will be the first series of shoving things into boxes and heavy-lifting my junk around Ontario/Quebec until I make my way back to BC. I’ve performed an early evacuation from my apartment to temporarily seek refuge in a friend’s place. If there is an experience in Waterloo that I will not miss and have been vocally irritated about, it is my roommates. While I was open to living with strangers (new, shared perspectives was what I was imagining), this has been enough to tarnish any open-mindedness I had of living with students ever again. I’m aware that not all students are awful to live with; I’m also thankful that my roommates could have been much worse (ie. Leighton Meester's psychotic character in The Roommate), but it does not change how I feel about having had to share living quarters with four people I never want to see again. Over the course of these last eight months, I have had to share a communal living space with bratty girls and socially awkward guys. I could have easily ignored them if they weren’t so observably messy. I won’t miss the decay of old food in the fridge, the wrappers and crumbs of garbage left on the counter space, the crusty dishes left in the sink, the thick grease and spillovers left on the stove, and the conversations of small talk that did little to cover up my disgust. But I will find grace and solace in a new, clean place and will delete one of my roommate’s off of Facebook so I never have to see another status update on how hot he thinks I am. Weird, right?!

Yours,

P. xo. 

African Lion Safari

These pictures are from a few months back.

It was quite delightful observing the elephants, the giraffes and the other beautiful animals in this synthetic wilderness (well as enjoyable as it can be until you start to empathize for these trapped animals).

Yours,

P. xo.

A video to compliment the last blog post...

"When all I want is for you to see, the side that I don’t show to anyone"

Ozmozis/Envy Productions Present: Dash Berlin

psst.... 1:44 mins.

Yours,

P. xo.

Dash Berlin - Boat Cruise

Dash Berlin 

The deck captain

 Worshipping 

Our view of Toronto

Remix of A&B. You are the sun & the moon to meeee. 

Ladies & Dash Berlin  

 Ozmozis Productions photos by Vince Nguyen

Hi, stupid and embarrassing photo. But trust me, there's more.

I don't think I've ever had this much fun on a boat. I got to dance to the music of one of my favourite trance DJ's within a hyper-active community made up of trance aficionados.

The Electronic Dance Music community in Toronto seems to be one of the largest in North America, and undoubtedly the biggest in Canada. The truth of the matter is that I really have not embraced it here as much as I thought I would even though I have such love for it. My reason for not being so involved is because I'm continuously debating about the idea of wanting to belong within an imagined community. I'm defining 'community' here as a construct where people are in constant negotiation of belonging which is based on shared beliefs and meanings between members; this is quite apparent at any concert. I often feel that I am left with the paradox of both belonging and non-belonging when I negotiate between my identities. I feel this way within many spheres of my life because of my vast and often juxtaposing range of interests (curiosities which are mine but can appear boring to anyone else). 


For example, I sort of feel that when people like a certain type of music, they fall into a preconceived stereotype of what is often thought about the members of these communities. (See above pictures. Don't I look like I'm just another self-indulgent party girl?). I approach this EDM community like I do with almost every other thing in my life - I go into it with just the right amount of intensity. You can watch me dance to trance with such fiery passion, but then not see me the next weekend because I'm too busy reading a book and listening to Elliott Smith. I admit it, I am afraid of being defined in only one clear way. Perhaps because I hate stereotypes? Perhaps because I don't know how to define myself? But I do enjoy contradicting myself because I love loving so many things. I would rather be embraced by moments than let my 'self' underline what experiences I can have. 


So on this boat party, when the melodic waves crashed into gravitating beats, I felt pretty frickin' awesome (to put it rather bluntly) to be temporarily part of this community. I felt free to be who I am or whoever I wanted to be. I'm not saying that this party girl image is the dominant me, the alpha me, the better half of me, or the worst of me. Rather, it is simply just one part of this multitude of "me's". 

Yours,

P. xo.

P.S. I'm rather uncomfortable putting up pictures of other people on my blog because I figure people might be uncomfortable seeing themselves on here. I needed these pictures for the point of this post. If you don't want a picture of you on here, let me know please and thank you.