I'm Just Wild

Unfortunately, my T9 (smart text) on my phone fails to recognize "blog" as a word, even when I save it. So every time I text someone to let them know my blog is updated, I have to take an extra few seconds to type in "blog".

It also converts "bagels" to "acid?", which in the case of "Mom, when are you bringing the bagels", it turns into "Mom, when are you bringing the acid?"

They never said life would be easy.












Through nature and nurture and 18 years of this fortuitous existence, I have collected a set of beliefs. I will share them with you now.



-There are aliens out there. Sure, they haven't visited us. That's no reason to shoot them down. We haven't visited them, either.
-Gratitude brings happiness. Just being alive is something to be grateful for everyday, and it makes me happy to think the odds of my existence were one in a million. I'm a lucky one, and so are you.
-Nature is healing. Returning to a natural environment, or even a natural mindset, would cure many ills of humanity. I believe humans are naturally good.
-It's all in your head. You have the power to see the bright side in everything, and you have the power to be resilient. Life is what you make it, because
-Reality is just an illusion. Since everything in the world is constantly changing and evolving, there is no such thing as the "real world". It could be real at that moment. But in the great scheme of things, it is just a blurry frame of a full-length film.
-We as humans are oblivious to basically everything. We only base "reality" off of what we see, touch, taste, hear, etc. but there could possibly be a sense that we are completely lacking, a sense that could potentially tell us why we are here and why we have the ability to love. Who wrote this film, anyway? There are dimensions that a human cannot perceive--in my opinion, spiritual dimensions.















I’m just wild


Turn for me,
This ladybug hesitates to fly

It foresees gliding,
tripping
tumbling
into ambiguity

Even with wings
It waits for the wind

Where is your ladybug
When did it fly

A whisper proceeds
But she hesitates still.





Rock on, Damon Soule:

The Canvas, Part IV

The two children felt it first in their fingertips, as if they were being sucked into a black hole. As they watched their fingers being stretched towards the canvas, they began to feel the pull throughout their arms, then their shoulders, then their heads…

Before either could muster a word, they were jerked wholly into a vortex of spinning colors and swirls, their bodies freely floating through a tunnel of energy and light. Emerson felt the bubbles and swirls engulf her, passing through her as if she were only a spirit. She had only dreamt about this sort of thing in her imagination—her emotion was of pure joy for it seemed like ten minutes.

Shortly after Emerson had taken careful mental notes about what the experience was like (to write it down later), Riley grabbed her hand, his body starting to disappear from the tunnel inch by inch. Looking down, Emerson realized that her feet weren’t visible anymore, yet she could feel a surface beneath them. Slowly, Riley and Emerson’s bodies disintegrated until they were only floating heads in the twisting and warping tunnel.

The kids looked around the new place with wonder and amazement in their eyes. Emerson’s grin could’ve lit up the sky, yet Riley’s expression was of pure confusion.

“Some hallucination,” Riley said with a smirk on his face, “How did you do that, anyway?”

“I’m pretty sure this is real, Riley,” Emerson said as she looked around at the lime green grass, purple river, and pink sky. “If I’m not mistaken-“

“-we’re in a dream!” Riley interrupted.

“That’s not what I was saying. If I’m not mistaken, we’re in the canvas. We’re in our painting. We created this place!”

“Well that’s flat out illogical. Irrational. Impossible!”

Just as Riley said the three formidable words, a boisterous tik resonated throughout the sky. The two looked up to see the giant purple clock that Riley had painted on the canvas, its hands rotating counterclockwise.

“Well that clock seems to be going backwards. How nice!” Emerson said, pleased with the fact that there is no such thing as wasting time when time is moving in the opposite direction. I must only be getting younger, she thought to herself and smiled.

Deep in her own thoughts and looking at the world she had created, Emerson started to wander off in search of the blue tree that she painted. She never had more of a desire to climb a tree, for she wanted to see her world from up above.

“Hey, wait up!” Riley exclaimed as he took Emerson’s lead. She slowed down, took off her shoes and socks, and sunk her bare feet into the soft, fuzzy grass. Just as Riley began to do the same, Emerson was already off and running through the endless field, her hair and dress fluttering in the warm wind. Riley chased after her until they were out of breath, clutching their knees and laughing hysterically. The two of them were overcome with laughter, although neither of them knew what had made them laugh to begin with.

After catching their breath and forcing themselves to quit laughing, the two of them stood smiling at each other, giggling here and there when they couldn’t control it.

Ravechild?

Gotta love Ghostland Observatory's light shows.


Check out this pattern maker.


Some art:






















julian c duron: http://www.jduron.com/2010/
nicholas bohac: http://www.nicholasbohac.com/
ted vasin: http://www.tedvasin.com/2009_list.htm#art2
heidi taillefer, james roper, kenji hirata, robert hardgrave, tomokazu,
http://joshualinergallery.com/artists/

Oddsac

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today is one of the best days of the year because not only am I Irish, but everyone is wearing my favorite color green. I gave my Consumer Ed teacher a card with a leprechaun on it and he later put it on his fridge.


Tonight I went to the Animal Collective movie, Oddsac, which was essentially an hour long music video (and hipster convention) meant to blow your mind and let the pieces soar out of this world. It was a creative collaboration of music and video that had whole 10 minute sections that must've been designed to let the audience space out into their own thoughts and let their minds wander to repetitive electronic beats: Oddsac Trailer. I think Animal Collective's main theme is that we humans are animals too, and sometimes we get carried away in everyday tasks and fail to recognize the nature inside of all us.


If plants and animals are alive, and we are fundamentally animals anyway, why do humans have a "God" and other lifeforms do not? What makes us different from the animals, anyway?


If you know the answer, please let me know. I'm really curious.












In the spirit of St. Patty's day festivities, a tribute to the O'Malley clan:

A friend of mine, let's call him Buddy, lives next door to my grandparents. They are tree-hugging artists who are active members in their local garden and environmental clubs. One night, Buddy had a party. The next day, he was throwing the empty beer cans over a neighbor's fence into another neighbor's lawn. After Buddy had left, my grandpa went to the lawn and started to pick up each beer can individually and put them in a plastic bag. When he was done, he walked over to Buddy's front door and hung the bag on the doorknob. On the bag, he left a note that read "Please Recycle".





Cool website I found, thought provoking art and animation: http://www.changethethought.com/category/art/

Let it soak in

Today, I was locked out of my house for 45 minutes. I sat on my swing and looked up at the trees. I got to do my favorite activity, daydreaming, so it was actually very fun. I pictured myself playing the xylophone surrounded by animals up on the highest branch.


My time outside inspired a poem.



[Human]

nature believes that two snowflakes are never the same.
nature believes in forest fires and hurricanes.
nature believes in metamorphosis.
nature believes that everything has its own place.
nature believes in surprises
and nature believes that beauty can be found anywhere.
If you don’t believe nature,
Let the rain change your mind

Alice In Wonderland Review

Last night I saw the incredible Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, a sequel to Lewis Carroll's classic version of the infamous tale. I was super impressed with the creativity throughout the movie- creating a new storyline of Alice as a 19 year old and her visiting the dream world that she visited as a child.


I thought the movie was absolutely amazing and I'm glad they changed the story a bit, because it would be very hard to do the original movie justice. I loved the imagery, especially the forest of mushrooms, and the hookah caterpillar was pretty cool too. I thought Alice's dresses were a nice variation from the original, emphasizing a modern-day impression of her outfits.


My infatuation with Alice in Wonderland is because her story is similar to my own. In the real world, Alice's life is predestined by her parents and she has little free will. Wonderland is her escape from this reality. In Wonderland, Alice can control everything that happens. Her fantasy world is a manifestation of her imagination, and a place where she can discover who she is. She befriends lunatics such as the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire cat, who help her defeat the Queen of Hearts.

"I believe I'm going bonkers!"
"Yes. But the best people are."

Ultimately, Alice is given a choice on which path she wants to take. You can tell that Alice loves the ability to make decisions about her life. Deciding to return to the "real world" (whatever that is), Alice has to say goodbye to the Mad Hatter and the world that she loves, although I do not doubt that she will go back one day.



I am at a point in my life when I have to say goodbye to childhood and enter "the real world" or, at least, college. Like Alice, I'm having a hard time letting go of the fun and lunacy that my life has been up to the this point. However, I will bring my own Wonderland with me wherever I go.









"Sometimes I believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast"
-Lewis Carroll

Post It Notes

I wonder what life would be like without Post-it notes. Maybe people would communicate in a more wholesome, thoughtful way. Like, by posting blogs maybe.


















My favorite paperweight says


Five Simple Rules For Happiness:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.















What I've been wondering about lately:

-The Secret Life of Plants: Supposedly, in an experiment, they had a sunflower in the middle of the room with a large group of people. One of the people beat up the sunflower. Later on, the tests subjects walked in a single file line past the sunflower, which was hooked up to a machine that can calculate its energy levels. According to a Russian researcher, the sunflower's energy dramatically increased when the attacker walked past. This leads us to believe that the sunflower was conscious of the enemy, possibly aroused by the recognition of a violent attacker. Maybe the sunflower is more sentient than we believe. Maybe it knows who we are.
-The string theory says that there are many more dimensions than what humans can perceive or sense. Since we see in 3D—length, width, height—we are not cognizant of the other dimensions that rule our life, such as time. That being said, there could possibly be parallel universes, in different dimensions than what meets the eye, only millimeters away from us at this very moment. Is it possible that gods/spiritual beings truly do exist, but just in another dimension? They could be right next to us, controlling our lives, but we wouldn’t be able to perceive them. It makes you wonder why it is human nature to believe in the spiritual beings: maybe they are there, but we can only imagine them in our minds because they are not present in our own dimension.

-When did nightcaps go out of style?






















My most recent poem:


Maybe tomorrow, I will take a day off
And read that book you thought I would like

Maybe tomorrow, I will leave the country
Or the earth
And travel alone to Neptune
Maybe tomorrow, I will climb the tree
That screams insanity at passersby

Maybe tomorrow, I will internalize your thoughts
And forget about my own

Maybe tomorrow, people will start to wear night caps again
And cover their minds and let them rest

Maybe tomorrow, I will fill some helium balloons
Tie them to a lawn chair
Bring a needle
And wait till I feel the cold atmosphere on my bare feet

Maybe tomorrow, I will want to grow up
And I will think about today



















Some cool artwork I encountered, click for larger image:

















You should check out grooveshark.com. You can listen to any song in the world for free, and even make playlists and share them online with your friends. I sound like a commercial.
But don't worry, it's all true. If you feel like sharing your playlist with me, or listening to one of my playlists, my username is wanderingcat7.













Last night's dream:

I lost my school bag. It had my ipod, my cell phone, my notebooks and everything in it. I return to school the next day looking for it with my mother. The school, in my dream, took form of a department store. I found my school bag-- it was on a rack with other bags just like it, all for sale. I went to the front desk with my bag. I told them it was mine. They told me I could have a discount.




I woke up very frustrated.