Unemployment leads to...

1. A lot of nakedness and solidarity
2. Caesars at anytime of the day
3. Lathering your body and face with coconut oil to bring moisture to an otherwise dry existence
3. Losing all creative insight although the available hours to dedicate to the cause are limitless
4. Attempting script writing with a blank page and blank mind
5. Thinking of Berlin as if it were the first and only love of your life
6. Realizing that Berlin might be, in fact, the second and strongest love of your life
7. An unrivaled esoteric sense of self-deprecation
8. Worrying that these this preposterous beliefs will never stop bubble will never pop

(don't blow it)

Synesthesia

syn·es·the·sia syn·aes·the·sia (sĭn'ĭs-thē'zhə)

n.

A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

A sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus applied to another, as in referred pain.

The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.

What's in your Head?

If you don't feel like dancing to this, what else could possibly make you want to dance? So smooth! From the album "The Face" by Disclosure, a brother duo from the UK. Happy ending.
xo

The truth: I'm scared of myself.

For the next 10 days, I will be in complete silence; no speaking, reading, writing, listening to music or even making eye contact with others in the Vipassana course. 10 days of 10 hours a day of meditation,  just me and my mind. The purpose of this Buddhist meditation is self-observation, mindfulness, and introspection, in hopes of seeing things as they really are and achieving a sense of simplicity. In theory, this is accomplished through cognition of the senses, discrimination of the type of sense, experience of the sensation, and the mind's response to the sensation. 


My schedule for the next little while looks like this:

4:00 a.m.                             Morning wake-up bell
4:30 – 6:30 a.m.                 Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30 – 8:00 a.m.                Breakfast break
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.                Group meditation in the hall
9:00 – 11:00 a.m.               Meditate in the hall or in your room
11:00 – 12 noon                  Lunch break
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.               Rest, and interviews with the teacher
1:00 – 2:30 p.m.                 Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.                 Group meditation in the hall
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.                Meditate in the hall or in your room
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.                Tea break
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.                Group meditation in the hall
7:00 – 8:15 p.m.                 Teacher’s discourse in the hall
8:15 – 9:00 p.m.                Group meditation in the hall
9:00 – 9:30 p.m.                Question time in the hall
9:30 p.m.                             Retire to your room; lights out

Given that yesterday was the 1 year memorial of my father's death, I know I won't be alone in this journey.

Recipe for a Jaded Youth

1 part naive
1 part pretentious
1 part fragile
1 part selfish
2 parts wise
+ a large pinch of conceit (masking loneliness)

Bhārata

Again, I have been neglecting my Ego(tist). However, in emphasizing quality over quantity, I am excited to share an artist named Ami Dang, who I recently met while travelling in India. I particularly enjoyed track 4, A Strange Community, which fuses tribal sounds, drum beats, vocals and synth. Listen below.

Hukam by Ami Dang

As for a quick update on my first month of six in India:

- I have learned that dental floss, coffee, sex (masterbation may satisfice), a nap or aspirin can cure just about anything

- one of the great things about India is that your shit doesn't smell like shit, because everything already smells like shit (or cardamon, or sewage, or tar, or burning garbage) 

- I will be heading to Sadhana Forest in Auroville by the first week of February, and staying there for at least one month (this is cultivating some tremendous excitement for me!) 

This country is dynamic and gorgeous, and I cannot wait to encounter more adventures here. 

B3RLIN

I haven't updated this since I left Canada for Germany, and there is a good reason for that...I'm just enjoying myself too much to stop and reflect on how much I am enjoying myself. It's similar to when you are at a monumental live show and the people in front of you are watching it through the cracked screen of their shitty 5.2 megapixel Canon "coolpix" camera; they are better off actually soaking in the experience itself.

Berlin has been all that I wanted (don't ask me the criterion for this), and more. I won't bother with the details, but the bottom line is that two months in Berlin has taught me how to party more than all of the Burning Man experiences I have had and all the pre/post fiascos that have gone along with them over the last 3 years. Here are some artists I should be seeing soon here:

New Weird Latin America

My mind is currently being blown by these tribal, bassy house tracks by Mama Testa feat. Paul Marmota and Zut Zut. They both can be found on the Mulata/Haina EP released earlier this month. South America has been impressing me lately; Nicholas Jaar is based out of Chile, and Adrián Méndez (who is Mama Testa) is Franco-Mexican. Dig!

Mulata (ft. Paul Marmota) - NWLA R003 - Mulata/Haina by Mama Testa

Haina ft. Zutzut - NWLA R003 - Mulata/Haina by Mama Testa

Cloud Boat

Sounds like Burial but less dark and with live instruments- these guys are touring with James Blake right now.

Hippy-Hipster-Raver-Cowgirl...(Gangstaaaa??)

Sorry for the lack of updates, albeit, I swear I have a completely benign excuse! I have been travelling a bit to New York City, Portland, The Redwood Forest, Big Sur, San Francisco, L.A. and then to the almighty BLACK ROCK CITY. To finish things off I had an odd 24 hour decompression in Las Vegas before returning safe and sound to Toronto.

The Playa treated me like a bar of gold this year. Saturn, our reliable vessel, transported some absolutely wonderful companions (some old, some new) and myself on a fabulous journey full of discovery, adventure, challenge and constant soul searching. Special thanks to Alla, Jaca, Treymor, Wolf, Air, Rocky, Lamb Cunt and Rye Toast.

We were here. We were there. We will be again.