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Someday I will see a design that will make me quiet with awe at the workings not only of man, but of the universe.
Someday I will undersdtand why Robert Frey was murdered when he had been at my birthday party only a few weeks ago.
Someday I will understand why I choose to drink at times, realizing now that my last moments with Robert Frey were spent being drunk and not drinking in the life which he had to share at that moment, which I will never get the chance to share in again… That being said, we had a great time together, so why beat myself up….?
Someday I will not chastise myself for being me, for drinking, for smoking weed, for not following conventional wisdom, the very same wisdom which gave us racism, nuclear weapons and competition to the point that we judge one another based on clothing labels…..
Someday I will be a true human, until then, I remain a shadow begging to see the sun, never realizing that it is the sun which allows me to be and once I see it, I will be no more…. maybe thats the point….
Someday I will understand why whenever the Country of Mexico wants to use the iumage of the Virgin Mary they have to pay China rights to use it…. As Kurt Vonnegut says, “I had to laugh”.
I have three students in Tai Chi, Cheng man Chengs 37 posture form, Yang form I think, I know the form and I tell myself I feel the energy, my students say Ilook like I am dancing in water, but they havent seen a real master, so I take it with a huge grain of salt and use it to deflate rather than inflate my ego… I have 3 students in Kung Fu, two of the students are overlapping. My ego deflates further, not that i am sure what an ego inflating number would be, and I hope never to get to that number because then my teaching, precarious as it is, would most likely begin to fall to s%#t.
All of that to say how stoked I am on how things are turning out here in Ensenada. I have a cupping set for my Chinese Medicine practice and a regular client. The Vegan Cuisine course has 14 people signed up for Saturday and my co-teacher and benevolent yoga studio teacher/owner has informed me that she would like to join me on my journey around the world to help out wherever possible.
I am making a line of hot sauces this week, the first one with habanero – Three Happy Chihuahuas and one Angry Chicken and the other one with chipotle and a serious herbal infusion including damiana – The Vegan Ninja faces the Zombie Apocolypse….
It’s my hot sauce so i reckon I want the names to reflect me…. it’s complicated.
My mission to save the Lagoon seems to be unfolding in leaps and bounds after having snoozed to the point that I nearly forgot about it and was feeling alone and much like a failure. Now surfrider has signed on to help the mission along with two schools and a few other local environmental groups and random folks off the web.
At times I can only wonder what is going on, where does it come from when a few days ago I would have said that I had completely failed and yet, now it seems I am succeeding more than originally anticipated. I am not tooting my own horn, I am wondering what happened…. Happily wondering mind you.
I succeeded in moving all the boulders into place, a two day process to make the walls of the garden bed which will be a community garden in San Miguel, Ensenada. San Miguel is one of the primo surf spots, not that I have done much since i do not have booties and the last time I went in bootiless my feet were shredded by barnacles and pierced through and through by vana or sea urchins. The garden is roughly, bad at square feet and what not, so, its as big as 3 Ford Focuses, or is it Focii?
A lot is going on. I have fallen in love, in doing so have re-connected with wanting to be celibate, so i am celibate once again. The science is in, I feel more magic when I am not having sex. Like I’m fully here in a different way that is inexplicable. How I view women is different, everything about it. So, celibate it is.
I have been doing some drinking again, I let myself feel bad about that, not while I am doing it of course, then I am drunk and happy and constantly trying to convince the people of San Miguel how important really big bonfires are for no good reason other than to have a fire.
My poor neighbors…..
So much has been happening and I havent been writing…. time has been getting away from me… I feel it now, n o, thats not right, I can see it, what happens between Nomad life and “This is My Home” life. I guess I should say I see what happens for me, but then, I’m pretty sure it would happen to most. For starters, you collect stuff. it just happens, in the refrigerator, in the closet, on the book shelves, everywhere, not to mention that once you have collected all these things, they in turn begin collecting as well, this they do in the form of dust and for the food in the form of mold.
Once you stay put, things begin collecting. Take a look at your life, I bet you have collected much and you want to know something, i speak from limited experience, BUT EXPERIENCE NONETHELESS, all these things somehow take energy from me. I cant explain this part, something about having and maintaining things in a home situation actually reduces my ability to kick the tires and light the fires…. What IS that?
Diana’s mother just came in from her daughters Yoga class and smiled at me and thanked me for Kung Fu.
I love those little things that make the heart smile.
I feel so blessed right now its like walking in a dream, even when I am shoveling dirt into a wheelbarrow and walking it to my 3 Ford Focccii garden, its all so dreamlike. I have a life here if i chose to stay, and not just any life. The life of a teacher, a Chinese medicine practitioner, nutritional instructor for Vegan World Cuisine, soon to be hot sauce maker with two shops lined up to sell it, and its so easy here. Is it here, is it me….
I’m leaving this life in February if you are wondering. There is a world out there for me, there is dust to be blown off of things, other places to teach and make stoopid hot hot sauces with radically silly names that mean a lot if you knew me well….
When I leave I may have the first new member of the Pedaling for Peace team…. Imagine that, by the time I get to Africa it could be a whole crew doing good things…
Anyone want to ride?
Doesnt matter if its with me or alone, with or without a bike, do something nice for ANYONE, say hi to everyone you meet, die happy cause you live happy.
Aloha
Bites, I get them daily from such an assortment of critters and it got me thinking this morning, why is getting bitten such a rarity in the States for the most part. 2 things with that as best I can discern. A. most of my time in America is usually spent in a city, in cities, most things are dead or “Zombified“. There are multiple pages in the phone book solely dedicated to the eradication and continued war effort against all things not human of domesticated, well, thats not true, there are other pages which deal with those as well. You get my point, in cities as best we can, if it doesnt fit in to our immediate life, it is eradicated or targeted for eradication. Bugs, insects, rodents, squirrels, birds (primarily pigeons), homeless people, etc. Since we buy our food from a grocery store, we have lost the understanding of the key role something as simple as an earthworm, or an ant plays in the production of said food, well, thats not entirely true as most of us eat food which has been genetically programmed to grow better with heavy doses of round-up in soil laden with petro-chemical fertilizer, watered with petro-chemical insecticide by guys in yellow hazmat suits you would otherwise only see in movies dealing with mutant zombies from a top secret government disaster. But, now these same guys water our food. Unless they are illegal immigrant help, then they get a bandanna and a fuck you on the way back down south when growing season is over and they are not needed any longer. And yeah, thats the truth, you help it become a reality by remaining ignorant. And it's totally normal. So normal we are stymied and mystified whenever we go to our grocery store and dont see fresh mangoes in the middle of January, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which I dont think actually has a single mango tree in the whole state. I'm going on again arent I... I'm still waiting for my website to be re-done, amazing this process, it has taken over a year now to get my site fully live, functional and up to date. I used to get very frustrated about the whole thing. Now I could care less, and not in an “I don’t care” sense, I do, I am simply no longer stressed about it… truly, yes, I am writing about it, but it is mainly to give you, the reader, some insight into the illustrious "behind the scenes" action on the Pedaling for Peace mission. Websites, made for free, take a very, very, very long time to see the light of day. One of the upsides to this painfully at first and now comically slow process, is how it finally put everything into perspective. How many of you have really traveled? Not on a cruise boat or to resorts, but actually got to another country, hung out with locals/natives who were not obscenely wealthy and lived for a bit.....? If you have not, be careful the conversations you get into with REAL people, they will see you for what you are if you try to bluff your way into being a person in the know. Just trying to help, I finally see it. And I am only in my first major stop outside of the US. Travel with my first two wives and the US Navy notwithstanding, they really werent what is happening now. I am seeing the world from a different perspective. What is happening now. Well, I am here for a bit. Initially it was to help to save a lagoon, La Lagunita. Well, that has not been the overwhelming success I had reckoned on. Getting cooperation from people here and people in the states has been underwhelming at best and I have come to a point where I simply don’t care (this time it is in the “I don’t care“ sense). You see, I now believe that as with any other human condition we place upon ourselves, one basic rule applies to the masses. You wont miss it till it's gone. And then, well, of course it will be too late=] I really believe this now from the depths of my being. If people dont want to simply send out e-mails for one another to help save the last little bit of something green in thier town, far be it from me to hoot and hollar. I used to be number one hooter/hollalalrer, but this is wasted energy. All of this being said, it does seem to be slowly moving in the right direction. You see, lots of people are interested in saving this lagoon, afterall, it gives people something to do! So, many little organizations are doing their part to clean up, hoot and hollar. I’m thinking, well if all of you have a common aim, COME TOGETHER. I think I can help make this happen… Enough talk about this, we‘ll save the lagoon, may lose the planet for humans, whatever, for anyone and everyone worried about the planet surviving, don’t, it’s a cyclic argument, you need only worry about, if you want to worry that is, about OUR SPECIES surviving. Theres a big difference. Life on this planet has been eradicated seom 3-5 times, it always comes back, after all, that’s life! It is a beautiful world, full of beautiful people, critters and things and I see that now and want nothing but the best for us all, even Mr. or Mrs. Monsanto (Sorry to hear about all your crops being destroyed by governments all over the world cause they are scared you are trying to turn us into Zombies, maybe make something that isn’t completely F$%#@d…?). I cant judge anyone anymore, no point, I'm too busy enjoying whats left of my planet! On to other things: I've had a couple of drinks. Still not a fan of the alcohol. Strange how I could go from lush on a mission to teetotaler without a clue so quickly and seemingly for real. The first drink to break the spell was during a trip to a winery to have a potluck type dinner with a freind of the young lady I am now dating who owned the vineyard. Of course, all the wine their was organic, local, I was hanging with the makers, was part of the process etc etc etc. So I had a glass, or two, or a few and then some of the nephews homebrew or a few and then woke up the next day in so much pain both physical and mental I couldnt even curse the gods for letting me be such a fool. It would be almost 2 days until the rancid stale cat s&%t like taste would leave my mouth. I had been sober for so long I had forgotten "the hangover". Since that day I have had a couple drinks and leave them standing almost as they came to me, to anyone who feels that they cant get off the crazy train of drinking, you can, somehow I switched. I still love the thought of a cold beer, a glass of fine wine, etc. YET, I cant really touch the stuff anymore! I find myself teaching and I love it! I teach a beginners Bagua class, this is the kung fu I learned while in Hawaii (Huge thanks to Marc M. my teacher and NATSTA.org for being so thorough). So much fun, anywhere from 8 to 1 peron(s) attend class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Ashtanga Yoga center here in Ensenada. In coming on this trip, I am finding the things I truly love to do. Turns out I really AM a ninja in training, or at least an Iron Monkey, and to simply be in this mode is fine for me, whether I get to a level of Mastery which would be acknowledged by others or not is now immaterial and of no value to me. I have a such a small amount of knowledge to share, and yet, even this single fame of inspiration i have to ffer is a wealth of light for those who come seeking it out from the darkness. I will do my very best to light as many other candles before i die. Soon I will be teaching Cheng Man Chengs (there are many variations on how his name may be spelled - feel free to comment and correct) 37 posture Tai Chi Chuan form, originally taught to me by Jon in Hawi, at least I think it was Jon, I could be waaay off, super tall older gentleman... anyway, also have an intensive on Qi Gong coming up and we just finished our first EXTREMELY SUCCESFUL VEGAN COOKING CLASS, right here in fish taco central, Ensenada Baja California Mexico! Vegan cooking in Mexico! Guaranteed the first vegan cooking class in this are EVER! The first meal was Lasagna, Eggplant Napoleon, enselada (salad for those of you who are really not in the know), avocado "chocolate" pie, fresh bread, well, not so fresh, it was the one thing we didnt make, in fact we bought it a week before and had to be really tricky with water and heating it in the oven to make it fresh enough to actually be able to cut, but, you know, fun is as fun does... Resurrecting the bread was fun. Dipping sauces, we ended up with a ridiculous amount of great, and most importantly, very filling food, surrounded on all sides by fantastic people who spent the better part of a day cooking and eating with one another. What could be better then breaking bread? So the meals are part of a series, next is Indian, Mexican, American, any suggestions from what part of the world we should veganize cuisine from next? Hawaiian with the fire pit? Also, I am practicing my Chinese medicine again. So nice, no real laws surrounding it, simply, you either know it or you dont and if you hurt someone, well, thats up to you and the injured party to figure out. So i do what I do and stick to what I know. Basic acupuncture, tuina (chinese medicinal massage), moxa (burning mugwort and being tricky with the heat and smoke to inspire healing, cant explain anymore, ancient Chinese secret=), and of course, my peas day rayhzistanss... cranio sacral therapy. So here I am, in Ensenada, at first trying to save a lagoon, now still working on the lagoon, also now just living life, learning Spanish, getting into Mexican time, which for those of you in Hawaii, it is almost like Hawaiian time, really being free for the first time in along time. It's nice to have a home, a place I get to leave again. I may very well do this until I die, or not, I am beginning to see things so very differently, I do things for me now, not for the impact it will have on others and in this it has even more impact. You may have noticed I am less on my insane (insane for me is a kitty whimper for others) social media blitz, it's all hype, there is nothing in hype, you wanna have a huge impact on the world, easy, follow your heart. Buddha, Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther King, they didnt have social media hype, they had assasins, brutality, insane people, worn out soles on their shoes and sandals respectively and they had dreams they followed. Thats one of the keys to this carousel ride. You have to have a personal dream and not a dream of riches, everyman these days is a king and every woman a queen by material standards, the poorest of us in America can get a cup of coffee and a bottle of wine, two things which our Medieval forefathers considered to be a mark of wealth indeed! Now it is simply a matter of what degree your symbols come packaged in. Does that make sense to you? Chase after a dream, the rest is to easy and very video game esque, just one level after another of different kinds of cups your coffee will be poured into and different kinds of carriages you will be in getting to the drive through window to get it.
Thats what I had for breakfast and what I am still drinking now as i type. I’m sitting in Diana’s living room, she is gone to wine class and I am waiting to see if the modd overcomes me to do my Qi Gong exercises or not. I have my first couple patients to treat today, interesting how all of a sudden, here in Ensenada i not only find myself teaching kung fu, something I thought would simply fade away into the darker recesses of my mind, but here I am, teaching and now practicing on people once again…
I’m reading the “Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins right now, he theorizes that the human body is simply a complex storage mechanism created through evolution to house DNA. On the first glance i thought it a bit absurd, but then, by page 48, I am seeing the point, and as always, this one point is a trickle compared to the stream of truth that the whole idea of “human” comprises. Well, at least for me.
I just finished “The Leopard” by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, quite an ingenious novel. You follow around a Prince in Sicily, just past his wild years, when reason has taken seat in his mind. He is Sicilian and slowly watching how government is becoming more and more of a machine that serves only it’s own ends, no, thats not entirely correct, it’s written in a way very hard for me to describe, so much is going on in so few words…. Well, you have the title and author, its an easy road to figure it out from there…
I shaved my beard yesterday, not “I”, but the barber, actually, whatever you would have to say for female barber. Straight razor and all, a few times i felt the urge to sneeze and then remembered my surroundings and it was enough to scare the sneeze back down into its lair.
I’m not sure why I shaved the beard entirely, part of it was due to simply wanting to, part was wanting to be able to kiss again should the chance arise, par was due to never having been to a barber with a straight razor, part of it was due to eating a water melon slice and then being able to ring juice out of my beard…
I have met someone. I wish I could say I was in love, instead I find myself in a great confusion, so much so I nearly made up my mind to simply leave Ensenada, but, this would not be the best in the long or short run. Something is happening here. I do not know what will become of saving the lagoon, at least through my efforts, part of me feels that hell and high water are the only things that could stop it from being paved under by the greed of simple men. What fools we are to believe we can live on a world of iron, concrete and steel!
I will stay here until the breeze blows again, for the first time I cannot see the future as it pertains to me, how long I will be here, in what condition I will be in WHEN I leave on my bicycle, or even where I will be going. I had not forseen this, I am no longer looking ahead, I have finally realized the absolute futility in making plans, what are the sayings, well, the once from Navy pilots – He who plans early plans twice, and then a classic, man makes plans and god laughs. Well, here I am, i hear laughter all around me, but it isnt bitter or deriding, I feel the love, it is the laugh of something very ancient and wise watching the futile struggle, knowing that of the struggle ever becomes to great, a helping hand will be lent.
So, enough computer for today, i spent all day on it yesterday planning this vegan cooking class and by god that destroyed my ability to love for a day!
Aloha!
P.S. To date I have seen very few Zombies in Mexico.
Where did I leave off, was it before I started ” Reflections on the Art of Living – A Joseph Campbell Companion” selected and edited by Diane K. Osbon.
Fantastic book, read that in conjunction with “I Am” by Howard Falco and you just may be a whole new person=]
I just finished a piece of homemade banana bread, baked by my recent very good friend and yoga instructor Diana. putting me through the paces with Ashtanga Yoga, something I have not had to this level before and am very glad I can do it now. It’s rare I walk away from activity completely drenched in sweat, like I walked into a shower with my clothes on type of sweat.
I am not taking tonights class as my feet are thrashed from following the mad urge to paddle out at San Miguels during an epic swell. Not only were the waves double over head and at times higher, getting out, that was the tricky party, so tricky that I found myself, pushing back into the moment as i went from sea level to peering over the lips of waves that were higher than my second story window from childhood.
Barnacles, sea urchins, rocks covered with algea, broken shells, anenomies, you name it, I crushed and smushed my way to the sea, by the time I got on my board and started paddling, I was already semi broken and bloody. Thats why I had trouble focusing on the epic waves I was amongst and too scared to drop in on, making half hearted attempts at paddling and then realizing that the waves were so powerful and I was so out of shape from paddling, even at full tilt boogie I was having trouble even getting to the point where I wanted to bail!
And there it was, the thought of getting out, always harder for me than getting in, and since the waves had increased in size since I had come out….oh geeze.
At last the sheer cold of the ocean broke through my rashie and board shorts (everyone else had full wetsuits and booties, booties of course because of the barnacles, sea urchins or Vana and, well, you know), it was time to go back. Even rad waves and the menace of further foot surgery could not shake the cold which had seeped into my marrow, I never understood that line in books, “it had seeped into my marrow”, never got it, until that moment when the cold had seeped in.
So, to paddle back, that was a treat, and by god, I made it, I have finally gotten good enough that I can read waves, and, ergo, understand sets, I may not be able to surf ‘em yet, but I can avoid the brutal part…. at least until I want to get better, but that is for another day which you will read about much sooner than I wish to think=]
The most brutal part was a telling testimony to life, its always darkets before the dawn, I could see the shore and yet there I was being washed over rock, barnacle, vana (sea urchin), I could feel the slices being laced into my knees. hands, chest, feet, like a thousand blades aimlessly culling the ignorance out of a paper doll…. welcome to San Miguel Mr. Bornstein, we do so hope you had a nice stay, dont forget us, and next time come a little better prepared, a little braver, if you dont plan on surfing the waves, dont be silly and paddle out!
The real fun came walking back home, walking over the dirt and rocks, if I lingered in any one spot for too long I would leave blood in the dirt or on the cobbles of the road…
He who fights and runs away….. verdad?
Soon, very soon I will be practicing my Chinese medicine and cranio-sacral therapy… I did my first treatment today. Smashing success, it appears the hiatus I took made me stronger….. yay for me. Thank you Marc for teaching me=] Thanks NATSTA (NATSTA.org)!
I have spoken the last two days in a row at Unifront, a private school that ranges from kindergarten to highschool, I believe I have spoken with 70 of the school so far. Absolutely rad people, all of them, the Grounds Crew, the Faculty and the Staff, the Principles, the Directors. Mahalo! Muchas gracias for the kindness!
I found it so very interesting that as I spoke to older and older children, the response, the ZEAL, at which they responded to saving the lagoon outside of town declined through aging. I am not sure what this means. It would appear that as a person gets older, they are less inclined to care about saving thier planet, now, this is not a personal attack, it needs to be looked at, what is it that causes, at least in this cross section of individuals, this dramatic result?
I am making this assuption, positing this theory based soley on the responses by the children, the younger ones would openly cheer, beside themselves that they had the chance to make a difference and save nature and birds. As they got older, th response lessened from outright cheers to excited whisperings and talk of who would ride with whom to the Cleanup on November 13th. Once i got to the highschool, it was a very reserved response. It was still positive, but very reserved, they have all said they would show up, make no bones about it (where did that saying come from?), they all gace me hope, and perhaps it is nothing more that maturity which would allow for the more somber response, and yet, they can still cheer, they do it when thier favorite futbol (soccer, though football is popular in the northern territory) team scores, what changes what they cheer for, what about society changes where the joy is placed?
I will be putting a garden in at the school as a teaching aid to the children, help them understand the true – NATURE – of things.
I was speaking with the owner of Milpas, the local health food store, been in business for 30 years now, he told me about a study that was done in France. Where they had children in the first grades draw different things, such as “a chicken”.
Do you know what they drew……..
They drew what you would buy in the super market and were astounded in a subsequent visit to a farm.
Of course, being a European country and not an American one, they were immediately shuttled to farms and ranges and a law was put into effect countrywide!
In America i think we are actually dong the opposite, right, we want people to think it comes from the store… ? No? Not sure, fill me in on that one…..=] Its your world, dont blame anyone else for what it looks like, especially when it comes to children, that is the future of our SPECIES. Help them out!
Riding my bike here has become of a dream like quality, it is zen in motion at this point. Truly, I believe it goes against most of the rules as set forth by most bicycle enthusiasts in the states and definitely against any rules of the road as posited by authorities…
Riding the wrong way in traffic, cutting lanes infront of BUSES, gauging things and subsequently acting based on what you want to happen not what seems like would or should be happening.
Saving the lagoon is coming together, so thankful, thankful for everything thats going on. The teacher who I am staying with who basically let me move into his place while I get my things sorted, I may stay at a hostel and work the front desk in exchange for a bed and a shower=] Hugo Gomez. Hugo is one of the more interesting individuals I have met in a very long time, one of the very few people that I absolutely do not seem to be able to read. I am always wrong in what i think he may be thinking and he always surprises me, he may very well be the Buddha, if it wasn’t for his high cheese and meat diet, I would most assuredly think so=] Thanks be to you Mr. Gomez=]
What else…..
I’m a ninja…. right, no zombies, even if there were, I’d still be a ninja, unless they were ninja zombies, that’d be something, I think the zombies would be enough, but would I sit there in utter shock and disbelief like in the movies… I dont think so. My reasoning is this, I reckon the governments of various countries are already working on some twisted for of biological warfare or super soldier program or nano technology something or other, so, I think I would be good to go. Unless they were like those zombies from 28 days later, they were a definite bummer to my survival of a Zombie Apocolypse…
Zombie Haiku, you can get it at Amazon and bookstores than sell books, one of the best books I have read to date, in my LIFE.
And to anyone who makes movies – I cannot stress enough how great and idea Zombies VS Ninjas would be. You have no idea, its like Pnit Budda and Double Chocolate vegan cookies, YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
I should drop the Aloha for the time being, time to go, here it comes….
Aloha=]
You’re a Zero, whats your name, no ones gonna ask you, better ask where they want you to go…
I’ve been waking up at 5.30 to do Ashtanga Yoga, you ever do it? If you like to see where your physical body is at in the grand scheme of things, find a good teacher for this and go for a class=] I have a video coming soon. The teacher has opened her studio and her life to me. Her and her partner let me come in and work on thier garden, I’m going to be helping give a demonstration of small scale farming/perma-culture/backyard gardens on Sunday.
I’m going to be teaching a kung fu class 2x a week at her studio as well as doing a vegan cooking demonstration – LASAGNA.
Surfing at 7.30 tomorrow… I’m putting it all on electronic paper because so many of you ask me A. what I’m doing and B. where I am – Ensenada, Mexico.
Did I tell you, my parents have gone vegan, 72 (Dad) and 64 (Mom). Dad says he has more energy than ever. It happened when they were at a 3 day vegan/vegetarian retreat and they showed a movie that had footage taken inside a commercial slaughterhouse. If you’ve never seen footage from inside a slaughterhouse, quit kiddin yourself, look in he mirror and take control of your life. You wanna eat, you know I’m not the one to judge, just dont tell me how you dont wanna hear about it and want to remain ignorant, that kind of talk scares me…
So, I’ve been dong this for one year now, well, a year as of 4 something in the afternoon, but hey, who counting.
Johnny Cash – Hurt
I’m speaking at a school this Wednesday, the W H O L E school. I also may be able to speak at CICESE (http://www.cicese.edu.mx/index.php), this is where you go to study if you’re a top student in the country of Mexico, youth from all over the world are at this school, if you’re reading this, you speak Spanish and are into science, and want to pursue a degree, and you have a ridiculous IQ… check it out=]
Florence and the Machine – Addicted to Love…
Put aside any thoughts you may have about this place that arent happy and cheery. I’ve walked the streets at 3 in the a.m., hung out with all manner of people, never felt even sketchy, well, just once I was gonna be in a commercial and I bailed, but that’s another story for another day…
I arrived in time for the wine festival, I was amazed at the size of the cups, and then someone explained, “They have to be big, they hold a whole bottle.”
“Oh.”
Thats the Once a year Wine Festival, people tell me the wine is great, I’m still not drinking, and yes, still celibate… =] Ninja.
Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz
Lessons up to now that are worth checking out:
1. People with the least will give you the most.
2. People throw trash out of cars.
3. Mexico has a more serious public trash problem than the U.S.
4. Changing your life is easy once you decide to do it, whatever the change you want, E A S Y.
5. No more of this I cant do it, it’s too hard. You’re going to die someday, seriously, I promise, don’t die not in control of yourself.
6. If you like a thrill, ride yor bike in Downtown Tijuana during traffic and just get out there in it.
7. People are at their core, very kind, don’t forget this!
8. Something that can make your life a little more fun and interesting, and I guarantee it will do both of these things, BUT, you have to be consistent… You ready for the secret…. Seriously, you ready, took me 6 months on the road to figure this one out… say “Hi/Hola/Aloha/Dobri den/Guten Tag/insert your greeting here”, I guarantee, after doing this for a bit, once you actually get comfortable talking to other human beings for no reason other than to simply say “G’day” you will be amazed at what happens in your life.
Fleetwood Mac – The Chain
9. If you can, pick up random pieces of trash. I say “If you can” as it is harder than you may think, people look at you weird, there’s this whole thing that happens, whatever, do it anyway. I have chosen plastic 6 ring holders as my trash of choice. If I tried to get it all I would still be in Pennsylvania=] Choose a piece of garbage and get it whenever you see it, this will bring about some changes as well. If you cant bring yourself to do it, well, hell, who’s job is it to clean up YOUR world?
10. Read more books, and read different varieties. Just think about reading and see what books show up over and over and read those, lessons in their, a brain to be fed and T.V. to be ignored. Wanna get wild – read by candlelight. See what it was like for the people that paved the way for us to be the wild wooly crew we are… Its relaxing and very cool.
Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride
11.Treat your body with respect, you get one per ride. See if you can be sober and celibate and drug free for a month. No judgement, many of you know me, I did most of it a lot. You know I love you no matter. I also know that I can not do it. If you don’t know that you can NOT do it, find out. If you have trouble, figure out what this means and make your life better. Your body is a rental car, you are the driver. If you cant stop doing something which is not good for you or the body, well, WHO IS AT THE WHEEL!
As Darwin can be quoted, “An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.”
Foghat – Slow ride
12. NEVER for get that you are like 1 chromosome or so away from being a straight up monkey. Ponder what this means, like, R E A L L Y think about it. Now, take a fresh look at things.
Dennis Brown – Silhouette
12 – This is one of my biggest realizations so far, even though people mauy speak a different language and look different, beyond that, its all the same, seriously, it really is.
13. If you give, you will receive.
14. The things you think about do come true, and the things you dont want to happen usually do just because you spent so much time thinking about them.
15. No one dies from lonliness. Eventually you get to know yourself. Thats a good thing.
16. If you stay celibate for a long wnough period of time, you actually start to get to know people of the opposite (or same depending on how you roll) sex. Thats a really good thing.
17. Pure Neem oil cures a lot of stuff.
18. Surfing is one of the quickest ways to a meditative state for most people according to all that I met who are just learning or have done it for a while.
19. It is best to live vicariously through oneself. I have spoken to many men and women who are unable to live out their dreams any longer as they waited to long, they waited for the right partner to share it with, the right amount of money in the back, the right “situation” etc. They all regret this decision. Whatever you are waiting for whatever grand design you have in place for the perfect life, please, discard it and start living!
20. You CAN be Vegan and be incredibly strong, in fact, it is easier to be Ninja by being vegan, even science now agrees.
21. The shift is happening, every where I go people are talking about how everything is changing. Farmers Markets exploding on the scene, people being healthy, people being kind. Join the movement, eventually you’ll be on it anyway.
Thats enough for now, I have a statue to paint, traffic to dodge on the ninja, a Famers Market to attend and waves to surf=]
Peace be the journey, have a blast and let the day begin=]
Aloha!
