Party like it’s 19999

So we have reached a new decade. I find it funny that we hold so much significance in a completely manufactured date system. When you look at it from a logical point of view, we have just been following a sequence of numbers set out by a man with no particular reason other then serving his own ego. Without knowing the exact start, or even the true course of human history, calling this year 2010 isn’t any more accurate then calling it 2287, or even 15064 for that matter. The only reason we are in the “21st Century” is because the power of the Christian church was unstoppable for so long. They started marking the years from the point Christ was born. And even that is a point of speculation. They don’t have his exact birthday, or even birthyear. They just made an estimate based on a bunch of different texts. Many of which were written decades or centuries after the fact. And we have blindly followed their lead for over two thousand years. The passage of that much time has cemented this date system into almost every culture in the world because it was so widely used and strictly enforced.

I know we will never change the date system voluntarily because it would disrupt pretty much everything. I just like to remind people that it is all arbitrary and that the year 2010 is a subjective lable. It has no more significance that any other place marker. Especially people that fear massive earthshaking events on certain dates. The one on most people’s minds is the Mayan 2012 doomsday prediction. This one has been talked about for decades, but even more now that it is quickly approaching. It is a complete hoax. The Mayan calendar does exist. And technically it does end in 2012, although that is after calculate it against our calendar. But it is like any mathmatical cycle chart. It just starts over again. It’s a perpetual calendar that is desinged to follow lunar progressions and mark crop planting seasons. There is not a single piece of archeologic evidence that the ancient Mayans believed the world would end. In fact, the evidence suggests that they celebrated the end of their calendar as a rebirth, or a super new year. All the predictions associated with the 2012 doomsday are simply attempts to create fear and uncertainty, which are very powerful tools to manipulate large numbers of people. People have been doing it throughout human history. That is why we have organized religion in the first place.

I think the best thing for humanity to do is keep track of our cycles around our sun and celebrate them as achievements in human progress. We should cherish the knowledge we have created of ourselves and our surroundings, and look forward to the future as new possibilities, not possible destruction. The world as we know it could very well end before you finish reading this paragraph. There is no reason to fear it because we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway. So enjoy what we have, and keep moving forward until we can’t. It is said we must learn from the past. So let’s truly do that. Fear of what might be is what prevents what can be.

Can I get a diet “Pop”?

Pop music has become so formulaic that even it’s “genres” all sound the same. What the hell is happening?

Without getting into specifics, my job is to work with foster kids, well actually teenage boys. So when we are out an going somewhere in my car we listen to music. And often it’s the top 40 pop station because that’s what they like to listen to. Trust me, teenage boys rarely have taste in music. It is funny that they call it a top 40 station because I have listened, and it’s more like a top 10 to 15 station. If you listen for more than a couple of hours, you will start hearing the same songs over again. And you really notice the simple formulas that the producers and record companies have “perfected” to the point that a golden retriver with a half decent computer could be the next big star. They just find someone easy on the eye and even easier to exploit, run them through the make-over machine, auto-tune the hell out of them, and film them in skimpy clothes while they lipsync to “their” latest hit single. If two or more “artists” of the same gender are played in a row, it’s almost imposible to tell the songs apart.

Thankfully there has been a boom of independant artists making their way into the spotlight. Most of which are very talented and don’t depend on their looks to make it big. I think this is largly owed to my generation. We were raised on grunge, hip hop, and the dying corpse of hard rock. The last musical era that relied on skill and ingenuity. So our tastes were not suited for the sugary sweetness of pop. Well most of us anyway.

Sure there have always been manufactured pop stars. Even Elvis was groomed from a poor hillbilly. Come to think of it, he was probably the first. At least of the modern era. And there always will be as long as there are people with no real taste for music, and money to feed the popstar machine.

The 2010 Olympic Winter Spend

The 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in and around the Greater
Vancouver area. I am a long time resident of Vancouver, and I have
been against them from day one. It just didn’t feel right. I knew that
the cost would be huge. But the powers that be had their way and the
spending began. And boy have they been spending. This one time event
is already costing billions and it hasn’t even happened yet. And the
Olympic track record for profitability is poor at best. Montreal just
finally paid off the debt created by their games from 30 years ago.
There is no justifiable reason for spending that kind of money on a
few weeks of sport. Not when there are thousands of people in
Vancouver alone that live hand to mouth or worse. Our city is somewhat
famous for our homelessness problem. Less than half the amount of
money spent on the games would have solved that problem permanently.
Not just some “sweep it under the rug” solution for the duration of
the world’s attention. City hall passed a bylaw that all homeless
people must stay in a shelter each night. If they are found on the
street after curfew, the police are allowed to arrest them and throw
them in lock up for the night. That is their solution.
We could have used a some of the money spent on the games to improve
our transit system too. Oh they did build the Canada Line Skytrain (an
underground “sky”train) to link downtown to Richmond and the airport.
Which will come in very handy for all the tourists that want to travel
from the airport to their expensive hotels by foot. But will it be
useful for commuters afterwards? Well maybe they should have asked the
few thousand people who used the former bus line each day. I’m sure
they would agree that blowing billions of tax dollars to shave ten or
twenty minutes off their commute is worth paying for, for the next 50
years. There has never been and never will be the number of transit
riders coming and going from Vancouver to Richmond to warrant the need
for such an expensive mode of mass transit. They could have put dozens
of new busses on the old route for less than the cost of the new
trains, let alone the underground tracks and a new bridge. We need
more busses and a 24 hour transit system. Not a hole to Richmond.
Some people feel that the infrastructure being build due to the games
will benefit our region for years to come. Sure, it will give use top
quality training facilities for future athletes. And the Sea to Sky
highway is now wider, making it easier and a bit safer to travel to
Squamish and Whistler. As long as there are no more rock slides. But
when there are more important social problems that need to be
addressed, it’s hard to see how new arenas and a wider road to a
resort town are wise spending. And since so much has been spent, the
city is scrambling to find where they can cut costs elsewhere. City
council is currently working on closing down the Bloedel conservatory
at Queen Elizabeth park, as well as the children’s petting zoo at
Stanley Park. Seriously? How expensive could those thing really be?
They are a drop in the bucket of where money is spent in this city.
And the cost cutting is happening on a provincial level as well. The
government has cut funding to arts programs. Which seems funny
considering that thousands of tourists are coming to our city during
the games. Tourists that might want to see something besides game
events. Especially in the evenings when there are no games. Is every
one going to bed at 8:00? And ask any resident of northern BC if they
feel they will get their tax dollar’s worth while they watch Men’s
Hockey on CBC.
I could go on and on, but I will finish by saying I have never wanted
the 2010 winter Olympic games to come to my city. And I will not
directly support the games. I figure they will be getting my money for
the rest of my life, why should I have to pay for a ticket.

Spiritual Connections

I recently participated in an Aboriginal healing drum circle with some of the boys I work with. I went along to support them in reconnecting with their cultural heritage. It was a very interesting experience for me because I have not participated in any kind of spiritual rituals in a very long time.
My mother was raised catholic, and tried to raise my brother and I as Christians. From day one, the Christian message never made sense to me, and by the age of five my mother was asked to not bring me to Sunday school because I asked to many questions. She brought me to one regular Sunday service, but I was five, so I grew bored and squirmed and made enough of a disruption that we left early. After that day I spent Sundays with dad. My father was not religious at all but would talk with me about a connection with the world and the universe that he felt we all shared. As I grew up and thought about it myself I started coming to my own conclusions. I won’t go into great detail as to what those conclusions were because that would fill a book.
In my younger teen years, I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Aline, and she taught my brother and I about the spiritual beliefs of the local native culture. She told us that it is all based on spiritual connections with the earth and all its inhabitants. We are all connected to everything, and that connection is the most important part. It’s mostly about observing and respecting those connections. Not worshiping and repenting. Those ideas paralleled with what I believed in and I found comfort in the feeling of being part of everything while still retaining the concept of self. Over the years, that feeling of connection to my surroundings allowed me to become more perceptive. And I started to notice more connections between everything. These connections brought me to the conclusions that I feel make the universe make sense to me. Again, I will save those details for a book. What I think is important to point out is that most connections that people feel to be spiritual or even religious can be explained very logically. And the healing drum circle is a perfect example.
The drum circle connects everyone on a single level. The consistent beat and repetitive chanting put people into a meditative state that reduces stress, which in turn makes us feel better. The meditative state also allows us time to process our own thoughts. These combined factors are very therapeutic, and although simple, they are very important in any kind of healing process. This improved feeling is shared throughout the group and that in turn helps them feel bonded as a community. And since most people look at the world through a religious filter of some sort, they see these types of experiences as spiritual or even holy.
Just because it can be explained by logic, and even studied scientifically, it doesn’t mean that these kind of connections are not important. In fact, I believe they are very important. They just don’t have to be connected to any one particular religion. And I will save that rant for another day.

That’s swell

I dropped my wife Sarah off at work early this morning and I had some time to kill before my first appointment of the day. Since it wasn’t enough time to head home beforehand I grabbed a sandwich at the grocery store and parked by the Fraser River to relax before I start work. I like to come down here when I can because I love being near water. With all the recent rainfall the river has swollen quite a bit. I have never seen it this high and I wonder how much more rain it would take to cause some flooding. I have always been facinated by the forces of nature and I have a great respect for it’s power. I have always thought that flooding is the one “disaster” that is pretty much avoidable. It’s just people stupidly deciding to build on the flat low land next to rivers. I love spending time next to water. I have camped by major rivers most of my life. But I would never build a house next to a river of any size unless it was suspended above ground. When people build on a flood plane I find it hard to sypathize when the river swells and fills their basement with water or pulls it down completely. Build on higher ground. Duh.

Social networking. Oxymoron?

I have been a Facebook user for a few years now. And I have been using Twitter for almost a year. My frequency of usage has ebbed and flowed over time, and has increased greatly in the last month. The main reason for my social network vigilance is my new iPhone. And as of last night I have access to Facebook and Twitter through my Xbox LIVE account. So now I can socialize with my friends from virtualy anywhere. It’s fun.
What I find funny though is how it’s called social networking, when there is very little social interaction at all. Sure, I’ve been to and even hosted events that owe the head count to Facebook messages and invitations. My wedding included. And I guess that does justify it as being a social tool. But I find that a very large percentage of the usage of facebook is barely considered social. And as fun and informative as Twitter can be, it’s hardly more than a digital stream of conciousness. I guess it is all forms of social interaction. But should scrolling through dozens of tweets, and occasional comments on status updates while sitting on the couch in my underwear be considered social?

Scout

This is my cat Scout. She is a very important part of my life. Oh the joys of being owned by a cat. She is young (two years) and therefore full of energy. She can go from zero to bat-shit crazy in 0.5 seconds.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not making this a cat blog. I just love my cat and she was the first thing I could think about to post. And I am sure she will pop up here and there throughout my future posts, so I figured an introduction was in order.

Here we go again

This is my third blog. I tend to treat my blogs like houseplants. Only the strong survive. I have a good feeling about this one though. I have armed myself with tools to make posting easier, namely an iPhone app and the lack of an enforced post schedule. Much like my houseplants, I will water this blog when I feel like it. If it is a hearty enough blog it will live. With my last blog I had set my personal expectations too high and expected my readership to soar. I started to stress out about my posts and if they were being read, and since I couldn’t find an easy to use counter, I felt left in the dark. Eventualy I dropped out and never went back. Again like my houseplants, I would see remnants of my blog linked in an un-updated profile, hanging around like dead leaves in a pot that I won’t get rid of but can’t be bothered to repot.
So this is a new plant in a new pot. I am going to try to post often, but I am not setting any expectations. And if people read it and even better, post comments, then I will put more effort into it. I bet my houseplants would fare better if they could bear fruit.