being young and careless, as in, who gives a flying f**k.

"Don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. 'Yes' is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes."

-Stephen Colbert

the world is a really big place

This 6 year old boy in Guangxi, China is an AIDS orphan and lives alone. His grandmother visits him every few days but for the most part he cooks, cleans, plays, learns to read, and exists, all by himself.

The world is such a big place...for such a little one to be alone in.

Read more

oops!!

phewee it's getting morbid in here. let's lighten this shit up a little:

xoxo gossip girl

a thought for the day

i've got sun and cups of tea, but not every one does.

this is not a guilt trip, but a trip to someone else's world. i think they'd appreciate at least being remembered for a little while.

it gets better

www.itgetsbetterproject.com

Spoken Word

Those unassuming looking people who have so much going on in there!

Thank you to them. Inspiring in a really positive way.

hello there miss moneypussy

Sometimes you feel you wanna put up a resistance. Nothing fancy. Even saying thank you to your bus driver can be an 'up yours' to the spoons that don't. Or arguing your point. Or ceding to someone else's point. Or just kinda feeling courageous.

As a person, living one single life, feeling something on the inside can be just as important as manifesting something on the outside. We all gotta look after ourselves.

Also, sometimes, as we all know, actions speak louder than words. And doing something could be so much more clear...oh and clarity is what we all so dearly lack.

A stunner of a quote from Zhuangzi:

"Words are obscured by the ostentatious blossoms of reputation that come with them" (Chapter 2).

ymfy

a wee delight for a wednesday

Weehee! The weight of importance depends on your perception my friend.

failblog.org

snapshot

This photographer, Ma Hongjie, has done a series of photographs of Chinese families outside their homes with all of their possessions. Kind of incredible. And beautiful too. (via ymfy)

advice fatigue

So, it's like poverty fatigue, you hear about something so often and so intensively that you just end up shutting it out. Stories of poverty just don't sell newspapers anymore because people don't want that guilt and pain at the breakfast table thank you very much. And it happens with advice too.

But then something happens to jolt you back, make you think about that issue or situation or advice in a new way.

And that is quite an awesome moment.

20/20 hindsight yadayada, so do it now and then you'll seem cleverer to your future self.

a bientot.

procrastination. or, more positively, brain-regeneration-downtime

1. Hahaha. Oh what a joy it is to know just enough about international politics to find this verry cute. (via www.superpoop.com )

2. Sometimes a positive recharacterisation of procrastination is wholly unhelpful...oh dear.

[uncliched word for wisdom]

"If an action tires your body, but puts your heart at ease, do it."

-Xunzi, Chapter Two, pre-221 BC

The Inheritance of Loss

Boast of Quietness

Writings of light assault the darkness, more prodigious than meteors.

The tall unknowable city takes over the countryside.

Sure of my life and death, I observe the ambitious and would like to understand them.

Their day is greedy as a lariat in the air.

Their night is a rest from the rage within steel, quick to attack.

They speak of humanity.

My humanity is in feeling we are all voices of the same poverty.

They speak of homeland.

My homeland is the rhythm of a guitar, a few portraits, an old sword, the willow grove's visible prayer as evening falls.

Time is living me.

More silent than my shadow, I pass through the loftily covetous multitude.

They are indispensable, singular, worthy of tomorrow.

My name is someone and anyone.

I walk slowly, like someone who comes from so far away he doesn't expect to arrive.

-Jorge Luis Borges. (used as the epigraph in 'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai)

Hit me like a punch in the stomach.

The generosity of ideas.

"I see I have made myself a slave to Philosophy, but if I get free of Mr Linus’s business I will resolutely bid adew to it eternally, excepting what I do for my private satisfaction or leave to come out after me. For I see a man must either resolve to put out nothing new or become a slave to defend it."

-Isaac Newton

(via www.youmightfindyourself.com)

Is that fair? Must we defend our ideas? Really our ideas only require defence or assertion in our own view, not in any one else's. That's kind of impossible anyway, convincing someone of your own point of view entirely, or if it is possible, it seems wrong. Ideas are only real for you when they are unique to you I reckon, and when you acknowledge this uniqueness.

Got that? Primo.

G'night.

We're all heading for death. Surely we can be ok with that.

So. Today I found myself feeling antsy and frustrated, while gazing into my bedroom window from the garden. It looked awkward and disconcertingly pink in there. And the first thought that came to me when I wondered what kind of a person lived in there was 'someone who doesn't know what they want.'

Like, I didn't force that thought, it just came. And it was right.

I'm currently disillusioned with material possessions. I'm an anti-materialist. Not that I've taken any steps to deal with it, (it seems that my steps only really come after MUCH thought. too much) but I reckon this is a root of lots of dissatisfaction for so many people. We're striving for the grass on the other side of the bridge, but we need to be learning to appreciate our own grass, and strive to be a better member of our flock. ... Or something. There are more important things for us to spend our time worrying about and striving for than a new car or an extension or whatever.

This came from looking at my things and realising that they didn't all make up a cohesive existence. That some of them are just friggin unnecessary.

I was also thinking about impermanence, and 'The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.' Soygal Rinpoche said

"Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore, or the sound of my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence."

I think the idea of impermanence as our only permanence (delightfully ironic) is a comforting and practical strategy for dealing with life fullstop. I mentioned this, and then my Dad replied that maybe our attachment to material possessions is our attempt at creating permanence, and stability for ourselves. I think that is insightful. Seemingly common sense, but insightful when you think about it.

Soz about that. I hate long posts. But I had to write that. Rambling and half-baked as it is.

Frick yeah Wu-Tang Clan.

ahaha! Awesome.

hum.

Ok so. Sometimes you know exactly what it is that you have to do, and you know that not doing it will result in a rather big problem down the track...but you can't help it anyway.

And you wish that you were doing something that you really wanted to do, but equally you have this feeling that right at this moment there isn't anything that will fill that gap. Cause it's a necessary gap. A gap which will slowly but surely allow you to realise what it is that will fill it sufficiently.

All very vague I know...but perhaps some of you silent internet people feel the same. And that would be really neat actually.

Sometimes all you need is to know that you aren't the only one. Lets just pander to our need for conformity. It's basic, and we all need it.

ooch my bad

and sorry about that shite youtube embedding stuff and how the videos get all cut off...i'll work on that. im a beginner up in here.

Artisan Guns

aalso...this one. Makes you feel all lovely.

Mooosic yeah!

Ok so, here is a lovely NZ band- the Artisan Guns. I saw them once rather a while ago, and since, they have exploded all over the, dare I say it, 'indie scene.' This is one of my favourites, but most of their stuff is equally lovely and melodic. And so sweet...

merci, merci.

The Human Piano

So great! Bobby McFerrin is a vocalist who actually uses his voice as an instrument, mostly without words. He has a fantastic album with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, which is how I first discovered him. He has such a spark in his eye.

And what a thing to discover, that we are all the same...that we can all sing. That song isn't hindered by any other differences.

I was talking with friends the other day, and we each said whether we'd rather be deaf or blind (y'know, if you absolutely HAD to be one yada yada), and I decided that it would have to be blind for me. I just could not bear to be so removed from communication and sound. I actually can't explain the reason...but its a strong feeling.

Not that either are desirable in any way. Man. Kudos to all the deaf and blind people out there, living their lives. That's real strength huh.

If you're feeling down and out.

Wow so this sums up like everything I am thinking right now. Couldn't have put it better myself to tell the truth. Sometimes it takes something pretty harsh to make you realise how ok stuff really is...including being not ok. People do crazy shit all the time, its ok!!

Acknowledging that and then moving right on is the most important thing.

Someone said something in passing the other day but it really stuck. She said, even when you don't know what you want to do, really the most important thing is to do something. I think thats totally true. Don't wallow!! Do something!! Talk!! Turn on your music really loud!! Put all your dumb uni work away and watch a crappy TV show!! It actually doesn't matter. Things happen, and they're gonna happen, and you can deal with it however you want really, AS LONG AS YOU DEAL WITH IT.

You are awesome. Think of one awesome thing about yourself and write it down and stick it on your wall. Sticking things on my wall always helps me feel better.

And then look at it and yell "FRICKEN' YEAH!" because that is why I named this blog that.

Booya. Have a lovely evening.

Oh Beirut! Oh France!

This is gorgeous. I reckon this is how music should be all the time, shared and intimate and joyful.

tralalala.

No blowing on my street puhlease

There is a lady on my street who has an obsessive-compulsive thing with leaf blowers. We call her Blower Lady.

I think it would be highly beneficial for everyone involved in the situation if the damned things were just banned. Then we would be able to sleep in past 8am on Sundays and she would have an extra three hours in every day where she can do her other, quieter obsessive compulsive tasks, like picking the weeds out of her rock wall.

kthxbye.

Numero Uno, with a cuppa.

I'm not sure what this blog is for.

Bet that hooked you in, huh! Yup, I'm obviously a seasoned pro.

There will be some photos, and some links to bands, and some lyrics, and some thoughts, and quite possible some To Do lists. I am fond of To Do lists.

Ok quote Number One, to go with post Number One:

"A cup of tea. Like a band aid, but nicer to drink."

Ye. That's an original that one.