singing drivers

hmm...maybe i'm a good driver after all!

ladybug and elliot

Two people have asked me the question "when you move, will you bring ladybug and elliot with you?". As much as I truly adore the people who asked me, I think it is the strangest question. Yes, I'll let them out on the roof, drive away waving, and wish them well?!!! No bloody way.

I fall deeper in love with my cats with each day. They are my best friends, my companions, my favourite listeners, my lullaby and my alarm clock, my family, and my loves. I hope to fall again for a human to the depths to which I love my cats.

So, yes, I will be bringing my cats. Would you leave your children behind?

so alive

i stood by the railing on the ferry deck on the way home. the sun inched to sleep. the wind was so warm and aggressive. i started crying, for about the 6th time this weekend. the tears, like the way my body didn't even question that it was meant to dance, were so welcome. I have been moved to tears by the music this weekend. the sadness i've been setting aside due to the 9-5 found a safe place in the music. i danced dripping with sweat and tears.
i have never had such a beautiful cry.

the moment i arrived at the stage i tossed off the shoes and put feet to grass. i danced to spoken word, trumpet, sax, dhol, drums, guitar, voices, hip hop, country, funk and silence. I saw friends I haven't seen in five years. I met beautiful people. I spent time with three of my dearest dearest friends. I had beautiful connection with all of the people I had wanted to spend time with there.


fruit was brilliant. so was d'bi young. shane koyczan. the dhol foundation. kate schutt. ruthie foster. jacob cino.

i danced to almost every beat you can imagine. my entire body hurt from moving in unusual ways, whichever direction my feet felt like flying, whatever movement my arms felt like making.

i cried under the biggest blue sky. the music had been rising the emotions up all day. Fruit played a beautiful song called Cherish about a friend who had died of breast cancer. At the end of the song, they got us all singing with them "I see everything beautiful" I sang so fully. The fullness with which I know I can sing, but hold back. And so it released. Later in the day I was watching d'bi, shane, jacob, oliver schroer and kate schutt. If I hadn't of known it was a workshop stage, I would have thought this crew was a band...they were that tight as a collective. shane did a piece which spoke of lonliness and he said this one line which was something to the effect of "there are 6 billion people on this earth and you couldn't find one person to help you". And I lost it...just wept. For those who got to that place and made the choice to leave. And there i sat in the widest bluest sky. feeling so fucking alive. and sad, angry, strong and alive. The next song got everyone on their feet and I danced with tears just dripping down my face. Dancing while my chest heaved and I just fucking wept. I can't even explain how beautiful that felt.

i ate cherries with a friend. We both would take the first bite, then gaze at the centre of the cherry, at how deep red it was and perfect it tasted, before devouring the rest and spitting the pit out with vigor. perfect cherries.
i was drunk on cherries
drunk on sunshine
drunk on my friends
drunk on music
drunk on barefeet
drunk on beautiful people
drunk on coffee
drunk on dancing
drunk on being alive.

i am sunburnt. windblown. released.
i can't even put this weekend into words. on the ferry ride home i bought a trashy magazine to use as papers and wrote memories, song lyrics to be, journal entries and stories in the margins, to be ripped out and put in my journal.

alive i sure am. nearing 28 years of it.
so how am i going to live rest of my years
making sure i feel like this? cry like this? sing like this?
good question.

my shoes have holes in them

I bought a pair of holey shoes today and I can't take them off.
They have little reflexology points in 'em and they are super comfy.
I know they are uber trendy, but I couldn't resist getting a pair for this weekend, as they are easy to slip off for some barefoot-dancing and I can't stand those sandles that go between yer toes. Those and toe socks...I can't handle them.

I am not sure if I can take these shoes off. I pretty much don't have too...one could shower in them you know. Awh, work may not like 'em (too funky?). Yes, I will take them off to sleep. And I'm pretty sure I won't make it through the summer without buying a bright pink pair.

Yes, you can call me a hippy.
And yes, you can call me a trendoid.
But I think this one is happening for good reason.

my mother

okay...today i like blogging again. its not that i didn't like it yesterday, i just don't think it should take the place of my pen and paper journal. But thats not what i intended to tell you today...the story of the day is all about my lovely mom.

my mom called 3 times between 7:30 and 7:32 this morning. I climbed out of the loft bed stumbling towards the phone hoping that it was someone from the east coast calling me, cause if it was someone in B.C. i was worried i'd be a rude pre-coffee vivienne, as they really have no excuse to not wait until the reasonable hour of 8 a.m. to call. but luckily it was my mom, Christine, up at her cottage in ontario. My mom rocks...she was missing me so much that she had just called Via Rail to inquire how much it would cost to take the train out to Vancouver. She was thinking about spending a week on the train to show up here on my birthday morning! Gad, the thought alone makes me cry...let alone if my mom really did that! Seeing that it is peak season it would have cost $4000! She said 'Could I have stayed with you once I got there? Cause I'd be out of money!' I assured her she could have stayed in my pseudo guest room, the futon under the loft bed. We could have drank tea and read books. But I assured her that I will come home soon and that although the notion is lovely, I think she should not spend $4000 to surprise me on my birthday! You see I haven't been home in a long time and it hurtin'. After chatting with my mom for about an hour, she was okay with not hoping on the train in a couple days and I assured her she could call me anytime of the day (which she does anyways) if she had the urge again to spend way too much money to come see me! Oh, I love my mum...she makes me feel pretty blessed and is definitely one of my best friends.

at the click of your fingertips

sitting here trying to put to words why i feel sad i was struck by the realization that my positioning in front of the buzzing box, away from the flowers all over my house, the cats purring on my bed, the painting i'm working on, and the guitar waiting to be strummed....that reaching for this clicking keyboard as my medium for expression may not be the ideal context for me. it may be for you. but i think it may be more part of the problem than where to look for the solution. so i am typing slower, standing up, kicking the chair away from the desk towards the sewing machine....looking for the pen, eyeing the journal and getting ready to press 'shut down'. time for me to get back to the things that make me feel real.

the pride vibe

it was queer pride day today. This day usually overwhelms me, what with 1000 people marching through the city and then gathered in a field. I have crowd issues. Not so much the amount of people, as much as the social demands that come with it. Usually I spend the day having 1 minute conversations with almost every queer or queer+ person i've ever met in this city...and with most of these people i'd love to sit and extend that 1 minute into 20, but it isn't really what tends to happen. This year it wasn't so bad....recovering from the flu left me feeling really gentle with myself today, really clear on my boundaries and kind of spacey. But you know what...I didn't really feel too connected to my community today as a whole. There were many lovely moments and people, but to be honest I'm feeling clearer as time passes that I am ready to leave this town. It felt like something, or someone was missing. and they were.

folk fest is warming my heart. Jorane played tonight. Tomorrow will be brilliant as well. We also went to the Teatro Circo (the circus stage) and watched some great acrobats and these amazing performers called Lelavision. They were phenomenal...doing this modern dance/acrobatics while creating music on the most unique instruments ever. ooo la la.

so...i'm not necessarily not feeling the pride vibe. I did get emotional when the queer pagan crew marched by in the parade, and pflag always gets my emotions flowing. I just think I definitely need a break from this town, need to have space from it so i can miss it.
As distance does make the heart grow fonder.....

the flu

i think i have the flu. i woke up this morning feeling nauseous and as the day proceeded different symptoms showed up...aches and soreness everywhere and then the chills.
yes, i am wimpy when i'm sick.
i had to pry myself away from the prospect of going to folk fest tonight. i just can't do it. but if last nights show with the pocket dwellers and sweatshop union. Monday night is K'OS and K'naan...which i'm so excited for.
I'm feeling minorly better at the moment, having recently puked up my hemp protein shake (darn.) Its strange that one feels better after puking. I'm sipping on a greens drink trying to settle my tummy but the nausea is slowly creaping back. Its pride day tomorrow too, and i'm gonna drag my sick self down there even if i'm puking on the side of the road (don't worry, i don't actually mean it...i'm too wimpy for that). Here's hoping for this stupid flu to be gone by dawn!

not the best way to wake up

i woke up at dawn this morning to the sound of a guy standing on the street corner outside my house screaming for a good 5 minutes about how women are bitches. I climbed down the ladder from my bed to sneak a peek at this asswipe. didn't really catch a glimpse unfortunately.

i'm really hoping that it isn't the return of the denman st. screaming guy. he hasn't been around for about a year, but he used to walk up and down the street between about 12 and 4 a.m. screaming in this really low voice but incredibly powerful. some mornings I'd get up at 7 to go for a run and still see him wandering on the streets. the guy this morning didn't have the same voice though.

i love fernwood, but some days, living one block away from the two scuzzy apartments on spring street does have its drawbacks.

sweet summer

I'm welcoming summer. Not with wide open arms, persay, but with a big nervous giggle that turns into a bouncy hug that catches you off guard. I'm feeling a bit awkward greeting summer. I've spent the past 10 months being sooooo concentrated on making sure I had enough time left in my stupidly busy schedule to have even one night alone per week. Mind you there were plenty of social moments, but with a small little network of folks. But now the season has officially changed and I feel like it isn't as nourishing as it was a few weeks ago to be in my little attic. So summer is here. Victoria folk fest starts in a few days and I'm telling everyone I can that they must go....K'OS....Ladysmith Black Mambazo....Jorane....and more for ten bucks....yes...ten bucks! and I've already got my tickets for Van folk fest with fruit....utah....xavier rud....sarah harmer....sigh.
I have some other plans for the summer...not quite as specific as a festival....
-to dance freely more (in a bar or on the grass at a festival...the later is easer of course, but I want to re-embrace shakin' it at any moment...anywhere)
-to let go of more possesions...and create a more simplistic home
-cleanse, detox, take care of my body. Take the 15 vitamins I would like to take every day!
-be more spontanious...go on picnics, take bike rides, talk to lovely strangers
-go places alone. I have a lovely network of people in Victoria and I forget sometimes how it feels to enter an event/space/theatre alone. I used to do that all the time in montreal and I miss how it challenges my confidence. Mind you, I usually know people there when I get to the event...but I want to be able to go places alone. Even go to events where I know I won't know anyone. Push the limits...
-And also celebrate my friends....I want to spend a lot of one on one time with people. I've taken a lot of personal space this year and have a lot of folks to catch up with. It wasn't nourishing for me to be social during this year and I'm glad I took that space, but I want to celebrate how blessed I feel for all the gems I have in my life.
-work on my perinatal business
-work on my body product business
-keep the songs flowing, perform and record
-keep strong and get prepared for what is coming up this fall
-make new friends
-take part in lots of full moon/ new moon and other spontaneous rituals
-allow myself space to be sad, grieve, change.
-make choices that nourish my body, sexuality, mind, spirit and visions. Don't be afraid of standing up for myself if I'm tested in making these choices ('cause o' how the universe loves to test us!!!)
Sweet summer. I've missed you while you've been gone, but was grateful for the respite.
Welcome back.

loosening the grip and letting go.

The last month I've been in transition (no, not that kind of transition). I've been in month 10 of the 10-month-plan....in which I've been psychotically busy doing far too much. The pressure of exams, thesis and homework have been over for the past month, but I still find myself at the same pace of the crazy busy lady. and i'm tired god-dammit.

But tonight was the start of the end of it, and I'm not so sure I'm ready for it to be over. Tonight was the graduation for my lay counsellor training group, and i cried most of the night. We are such a close knit amazing crew and it doesn't feel real that I won't be spending every monday night for the rest of my life with them. Are you sure we can't do that? Grad for GBI is next week and that is gonna be a whole other tear-a-thon. This hasn't been the most difficult year of my life, though it runs a close second, but it has been the most personally challenging. I've pushed my limits, worked my ass off, re-established my boundaries, cultivated more self-care, and finished what I started....and I know beyond a doubt it was all worth it.

So what do i do with all this. It feels a touch like that stage of mourning I experienced a couple months ago when alex died. In the first few days she was all I could think about and I spoke of not wanting to leave that stage of mourning yet, because it felt so raw and real, and I was scared of not being consumed by what I was experiencing, because I would have to let go and let it sink in that she is gone. It feels a bit like that, feeling so in the midst of all that is going on, but if I let myself emotionally comprehend that this stage is done, then I'll have to start to let go. And I'm bloody stubborn....not wanting to let go.
But it is time.
I have so much ahead too.
A summer of cultivating health, going to festivals, making music, celebrating victoria, the big saturn return 28th bday and then there is fall which will bring about a whole new chapter. I'm starting to get focused about my perinatal business, and in fact I am now the treasurer of the Global Birth Alumni Society. Yes, a treasurer that can't do math without a calculator. Yah, wish me luck, eh!

Lots of goodness coming my way.
Tonight at the beginning of our grad we did a meditation. The leader of the group gave us each a slip of paper with an insight of hers about us, to meditate on. Mine said:
Loosening my grip, loving with open hands and open heart.
So here I go....loosening the grip on the fear, letting change happen. Cause I don't actually want to stay still, it is just sometimes hard to let go.

lil' miss grumpy-pants

I have not taken part in that nasty habit that has come to regular thing lately. I have not taken part in 3 days. I feel strange. Strange and alive. I feel like everything is just that bit clearer, slower, breathing deeper. I just had the most amazing improv-writing session...the words were flowing like waves in a wild storm. I have also been knitting up a storm, putting my obsessive energy somewhere. Yet I have also been wearing some serious grumpy pants, causing me to decide to try to shake it off by re-organizing all of the movable furniture in my house (my bed and desk are not movable...but everything else got a shakin'). The grumpy pants are not completely gone, but have kind of transformed into a deep appreciation for being alone. I'm feeling so in love with my home, savouring this alone space while I have it. Savouring my journals....feeling the 19 year old little girl in love alive in me, the 22 year old feminist alive in me, the 24 year old starting new alive in me, the 24-26 year old tired, co-dependant, growing girl in me, the 27 year old adultish-focused-and-following-her-dreams-girl alive in me. I miss some of those other stage of my life who's stories I read in my journals. But I feel them all in me today. Some days they don't feel part of me and I feel as though I am one dimensional. So for today I am stomping around the apartment in my big boots, grumpy but layered in a history that doesn't feel like hiding.

Hopefully in a couple days the grumpy pants will come clean again. Not that I never want to drink and smoke again, but I don't want to do it to hide any part of myself. And the way I feel right now, if I don't ever do it again...I won't miss it.

Seize the day, I say!

In Andrea's post yesterday she spoke of her experience with believing in herself and taking risks to manifest your ideas/concepts/artistic projects. And i've got me a handfull of those dreams/plans that need to be believed in and manifested.

School is coming to a close, and though the summer looks only mildly busy, my mind is shifting back to those projects, like my body products, recording music, creative ideas i want to manifest...I've got a knitting project started, i'm working on a couple new songs, working on websites....and one of the biggest lessons i've learned this year is about nourishing myself first...cause i need to be capable of doing that before i can provide nourishment for others. and i'm getting better at it all the time.

andrea's post, along with thinking about a friend who recently passed away, have made me think about all those things that i want to say to people that i have yet to do. One such thing is i've wanted to send a bouquet of flowers to the grandmother of one of my childhood friends kate. for a number of summers when I was a kid, I would go up to their family cottage for a few weeks....where i saw northern lights, played lotsa tennis, and most importantly...made many lip synching videos to debbi gibson and tiffani, complete with dance routines. Although I went up to my own cottage and adored that, spending time at the O'hara's cottage was always an adventure, pushing this shy teen to be a bit more outgoing. I've wanted to thank Libs for those summers for ummm.....probably 13 years now! So, for the last half hour i've been searching the net for someone who can deliver the flowers to my little ontario town. Tomorrow I am going to send them....because you know what....one day I'm going to mourn that I didn't get to tell her what an awesome woman she is.
Seize the day, I say!

counting the sleeps

6 until...
i hand in my thesis
16 until...
my exam is done
32 until...
victoria folk fest
36 until...
graduation
52 until...
folk fest....
98 until...
the big day....

saturn return

i just arrived home from 'couver after one of the most brilliant weekends. every moment of the 48 hours i was there tasted so sweet and i felt so present....just watching goodness unfold in my life. there has been so much change in the last week, so much is manifesting that is directing me forward in my life. i'm ready to move forward. i feel patient, without fear, ready to let myself greet success, with an open heart, with confidence.
i'm so looking forward to 28.
saturn return baby....
here i come.

third eye

I've had a sinus headache for the last two days and i am getting frustrated. i'm popping oil of oregano caps every two hours with no relief so far. when it gets to this point (yes...its only been 48 hours but it makes me pissy none the less) and nothing will work (even the dreaded tylenol) i've gotta look elsewhere for answers.

I'm doing this tree of life chakra process right now, where we spend 3 weeks working on each chakra, meditating and witnessing the manifestations that tend to happen in each chakra. And they have been...this past weekend there were so many things that manifested that have made a complete shift in my future and my self perceptions....changes that are outside of my normal patterns of behaviour and which are going to create drastic wonderful changes in my life...moving forward. I cannot elaborate at this point though...not online. It is still something that needs to remain in my journal and in discussion with my dear friends/family. But I tell ya...good things are goin' on!

Back to the chakra process....we are presently working in the third eye chakra...which likely has something to do with my headache. I often feel physical manifestations of the chakra while I am in it (ie. lower back pain in the sacral, my lungs/chest feeling open or closed in the heart chakra). So....what is blocked? What am I holding in my third eye? What am I unwilling to see? Is it even a block...or a physical reaction to all the release? It isn't a difficulty seeing my future (quite the opposite). This weekend was all about stepping out of old patterns....is this the low after the high? I'm going to spend tonight doing some painting/collage/singin'/writing...whatever manifests....and focus on believing in my ability to manifest my vision.

and if chakraness sounds like a foreign language to you...check out www.sacredcenters.com/chakras.html
for a little clarification.

change in the 'hood

fernwood is changing.
i'm unsure yet if for the better. it looks that way.
potentially good things
-there is a new kilt store, yes, kilts in fernwood, advertising traditional and functional kilts!
-there is supposed to be an ice cream shop opening up....i don't eat ice cream, but the potential is good! perhaps they'll have some gelatto!

lots has changed in the square this year...
-a new taco shoppe (cheap and unbelievably good tacos)
-the bead store opened...its lovely to have a creative energy to the hood
-the crack house across the way got emptied and boarded up and kids painted the boarded up windows with awesome art and grafitti
-there is a beautiful new mural depicting the square beside little fernwood

the other big change is that the thin edge, my favourite americano/pizza place is now under new ownership...i super liked the old owner chris, with his johnny cash/frank sinatra pics and the kinda tough assed attitude of the shop.
i'll deal with the change.
as long as wednesday still remains biker night.
there's nothin' like biking home from work to the street packed with harleys and a bunch of burly guys in leather filling the square.

65 sleeps until....

i'm freaking out...in an overjoyed way. i've been running around the apartment shouting 'YESSSSSSSSSS' for the last five minutes and the cats are getting scared. its almost midnight and i'm soooo excited about something that i don't think many of my friends would appreciate me calling them at midnight to tell them. cause i am obsessed with music. its the truth
AND
my the big excitement is that my absolute most favourite collection of musicians FRUIT is going to play the vancouver folk fest this summer. yes...that is what all the ruckus is about. and it is true i have seen them perform a multitude of times before....but never at folk fest (yes..they did play victoria folk fest a couple years ago but it was still in a bar).

perhaps i should explain how important folk fest is to me. all folk fests. i was brought up going to the summerfolk festival in owen sound....yes, i was that little infant being breastfed by the hippy mama in the shade under a big tree that you see at every fest...my love for music started way back when. every year we did folk fest and when i started off on my own i tried to catch folk fests wherever i could. the falcon ridge folk fest was an adventure i'd take on my birthday each summer...always taking a solo journey down to new york state to hear the likes of ani, karen savoca, kris delmhorst, lori mckenna the nields, greg brown, I must say it is the top of my list...both the brilliant lineups they score and the amazing settings.

but now that i've become a west coast kid, vancouver folk fest has been my mainstay. it is a dizzying weekend of bliss. it is dancing with candra (my 7 year old friend...the best person to dance with ever). it is spending time with alison and kim. it is the dizzying schedule of amazing performers...trying to figure out how i can see everyone...running between each of the 7 stages. it is being barefoot on the grass dancing. and it is that feeling of home that i find there....other than my own family...it is the most intense feeling of community, feeling that i belong.

so...i'm giddy with excitement. i can barely wait....
65 sleeps

open to any page

i open to any page and know exactly what is going on
i know the story that well even though it is not my own
i'm realizing how many books i reread and reread
these include:
the fifth sacred thing by starhawk
valencia by michelle tea
stone butch blues by leslie feinberg
rubyfruit jungle by rita mae brown
written on the body by jeanette winterson
and i confess briget jones: the edge of reason by helen fielding

the function of this immediate understanding of the storyline is
highly beneficial for me due to my extremely quick ability to
fall asleep. you see, i can read about one paragraph to two pages
before i'm out like a light. also note that the speed of my drifting
off to sleep creates a problem in terms of turning out the light.
most often i wake up at about 2 to turn off the light. i usually tell
people...if you see the light on in my little attic, i'm usually home so
just ring the bell...but truth be told i can't promise i'll be awake.
one of my past partners, as he was swooning me, when driving by
my house, if he noticed the light was on, would pop in, turn off the
light, give me a peck on the cheek and head home. purdy sweet.

but yes, i am not destined to be a library regular. it only leads to
more book purchasing. i like my own copies. that also means i'm
going to need to buy more bookshelves. i was talking to my friends
the other day about books being a status symbol. at first i didn't
relate to the concept, as they were talking about it in terms of academics,
the more books you have the more of a smartypants you get to be.
but then looking at my bookshelf, i can clearly confess that to be truth.
perhaps not in academia, but i do have and pride myself on the vast collection
of wicca/pagan books, evergrowing birth book collection and an almost near
complete collection of jeanette winterson and starhawk books. yes,
i too am a bookwhore.

new naked neighbours

i just went out on my porch
and as soon as i sat down
my newest neighbours and all their friends
came bounding out of the house
buck naked
i could hear them as they ran
around the block
and all came bounding home
i like my new neighbours