Tag Archives: love

Entheos Gathering 2012: A Memorable Experience That Won’t be Marred

Posted by Freedom Fro in Freedom Fro(m) and tagged with , , , , , ,

I really should be better at shutting off social media banter when events of great significance occur. I find that many people have this dark side of their personality that bubbles to the surface during these times. A side that likes to stir, speculate, and point fingers without any sensitivity to the people impacted by the event. A lot of the social media posts that I’m seeing related to the tragic incident that occurred at Entheos Gathering yesterday…yesterday — is so mean spirited, it’s mind boggling; especially considering that this festival and conference is meant to be about the spirit and our connection with one another. Balance. Harmony. Love.

I felt like this after the Riot in Vancouver. Would these people say these mean things as readily and eagerly as they type them? The permanence of what is typed is clearly not on minds as one clicks post, comment, send. The people that painted apologies and cleaned up and hugged and cried together: that is who I want to be surrounded by. That is the energy I want to fuel me.

This was my first Entheos. I wanted to experience being at a smaller music festival that attracted a different crowd. I was fully enchanted by the location and by the friendly people…children…animals. Running, walking, singing, playing, dancing; this place had a heart-warming energy. An amazing little hippy village. haha

Wild cloud formations rolled through the vast skies and there was so much green. I am in love with the colour green in all of its variations. This festival fully embraced the beauty of its location.

While I loved dancing in the forest to some talented DJs, I moreso loved the days. I loved going on a ‘nature walk’ with my fiance (oh yeah…I’m engaged!!). We got to walk through this forested area, surrounded by lush green trees and hearing music playing in the distance. While this festival was far from a ‘road’, the area was quite large to explore because you are in a valley. I enjoyed lounging on deep seated chairs constructed for just this thing and laughing with the man who was lounging with his large pan of dahl. Watching Bellyfit Live where around 100 people danced in unison, until she shouted FREESTYLE. It was a tribal movement. I also relished over the campfire, that was fueled by a volunteer throughout the evenings. Camping with 1000 other people is just such a great atmosphere to escape to. Seeing so many down-to-earth children was very warming as well.

It was evident that something horrible had happened by seeing the large RCMP presence in the morning. My beautiful hay field had a helicopter resting in the middle of it. Police tape melded in with other yellow tape blocking off gardens and edges of camping zones. With such a small community, the incident cut deep. Peaceful serenity stripped away by an act committed by one. And, now that I’m home, the acts of many keep ripping at my peace. All of my emotions…and I don’t even know him.

This happened yesterday. So, I have to be hopeful that those who are currently completely struck down with grief will soon have a voice. I just keep wanting to write STOP STOP STOP on all of these thoughtless threads, but everything adds fuel to angry spirits. So, I post this here, STOP, LISTEN, LOVE!

I connected to a beautiful festival. I will continue to connect with those I love, because, sadly, it sometimes takes tragedy to remind us how precious love and life is.

Day 12 Blog Challenge – Picture(s) That Make Me Happy

Posted by Freedom Fro in 30 Day Blog Challenge and tagged with , , , , , ,

I am generally a happy person. I also take pictures of things that give me the warm-fuzzies all the time. I want to post like 2500000 different pictures for this topic, but I’m narrowing it down to two.

1 Dead Hipster, 1 Live Hipster

This picture is from Halloween two years ago. I’ve mentioned before that I LOVE Halloween. I’ve had a lot of good costumes in my day, and this one is going to be very hard to top. My boyfriend and I wanted to dress up identical — and he has a thing for gore. After weeks of brainstorming, we stumbled upon the idea of being the East Van Hipster Killers. I’m not posting a picture of us (just to respect his privacy, he’s not in the room right now for me to ask). But this picture that I took while on the skytrain headed downtown makes me buckle over in laughter every time I look at it. I knew that I was going to run into some Hipsters in my journeys, but didn’t realize that I’d run into so many that looked exactly like my corpse! Poor Guy! I am not shy when in costume. I growled and pointed my Hipster towards him while dragging my plastic bloody machete across his neck and moaned, “You’re next!” People on the skytrain were roaring in laughter. He gave me looks of disgust and tried to ignore me. Bloody Hipster.

A photograph invokes memories and this one represents an amazing weekend – and my first Halloween with a man that I will be spending the rest of my Halloweens with. My Mom doesn’t understand how I ended up finding someone who is as much of a Halloween geek as I am. Last year, he was a gore-ish dentist and I was his psychotic tooth fairy. Fun…but how do you top being the East Van Hipster Killers??!!!

Bailey – this cat is hotter than your cat

And here we have a picture of my Bailey, my Bailey-bot. I love this cat. LOVE this cat. Shmailey and I lived together for 9 years. It was a pleasure being able to see this little monkey grow up into a big monkey — and then, one day,  I fell madly in love with a man who is deathly allergic to dander. Why must we be faced with these life choices that are so so hard? I came to the realization that I couldn’t have them both. My relationship couldn’t progress unless we could take the step to live under the same roof…but I couldn’t do that while having Bailster …now, before any of you say ‘how could you?!!’, I am a lucky lucky girl. Bailey, even with his faults (eyeball licker, holy eff furry, needs to be shaved in the summer, pukey brewster, competitive pooper, needs his bum fur trimmed or else he gets ‘nuggets’ stuck to it – then he gets scared cuz it stinks – so he runs around dragging his bum on the ground leaving shit streaks on the floor ) is easy to love. When I was living in Europe, Bailey lived with my Bestie…and that is who he is living with now. I have a lot of pictures of Bailey that make me go Awwwwwweeee He’s SOOO CUTE, I LOVE HIM — but this one from about 6 months ago is epic. His open mouth and his lower lip, his eyes, his paws all crossed showing in his reflection — *Squeeel*

Pay It Forward

Posted by Freedom Fro in Musings, Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , , ,

I live in a city where one can be asked for ‘spare change’ multiple times while walking down one street. It’s a city where the weather is so mild, many who have nothing come here and end up having to beg in the streets. Vancouver is strained with providing shelters and amenities to meet the basic needs of it’s residents. We are disparaged with epidemics of drug abuse, homelessness and a lack of affordable housing in general. Where I live, the rents are exuberant and the quality of the apartments ranges from ‘wow’ to debilitating. Yes, you can pay $1000+ for rent in the West End and still have bed bugs.

I will be the last person to look down my nose at someone asking for change, but I catch myself looking sharply away to avoid gazes and questions and commentary from them. I just don’t know how to deal with it. The only thing I have a lot of…is debt (student loans, yay). And, rather than try to decipher the legitimacy of the person asking me to empty my change purse into their hands, I usually fish out my laundry quarters/loonies and empty the rest into my local Starbucks’ tip jar, because I know that they are paid crap for what they do.

I will also be the last person to tell someone who is clearly unemployable to ‘get a job.’ Employable people struggle to find work so much in my city, it’s hypocritical for anyone to have unrealistic expectations of people.

But I don’t want to be a jerk who doesn’t give. Turning away from strangers is kind of a jerky thing to do. So, when my mind is in the right space, I try to remind myself of something I learned during my church-going days: It’s okay to get burned.

It’s okay to be giving and selfless and to offer yourself to your friends and get nothing in return. Really — it’s okay! Reciprocity is not meant to be an expectation. The spirit of giving is only about GIVING. What happens after you give, is beyond your control. Strangers or friends take advantage of you sometimes — you’ll get over it –it’s okay. Don’t let your fears of getting ripped off or burned prevent you from being the kind of person you want to be.

—

Does this mean I will give money to everyone who asks while I’m walking down the street? Probably not. Again, the only thing that I have a lot of…is debt.  I want to be helpful, but I’d rather start closer to home. I have people who I call my friend that I can help when they are in need. Taking the steps to help without them having to ask is an exercise in itself…like paying it forward.

I don’t have much, but I don’t need much. Here…share my happiness of this reality with me. Then, when you are in my position, you can pay it forward to someone else.

Imagine never having to ask for a ride home. Fuck special occasions; imagine giving someone a present, just because you thought of them. Imagine not always having to split the bill.

That’s my random musing for today.