~*...celebration...*~

randnorm friday event in black rock city 2005

freckle face strawberry pop tarts
2:00-4:00pm
freckle face strawberry libation and pop tarts served up by the "freckle face strawberry pop tarts" - refresh and revisit with fun and toys from the 1960's. location: 5:15fetish or thereabouts

photo by hovering

randnorm mind grenade
too often, we lose sight of life's simple pleaures. remember when someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown, but it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and bitch slap the motherfucker upside the head \m/^_^\m/

randnorm pikcha


normdate 5.26.6

i was supposed to teach my friend kim how to snowboard today at whitewater (yes, there is still snow there), but she wasn't feeling well and bailed on me. that's alright, i had some blogging to catch up on. i'm still trying to figure out the balance between living my life and blogging it. sorry for the delays in gettin these entries up.

my friends brett and reuben had organized a jam at baker street live tonight. they are leaving for the coast at the end of the month, and this was their going away jam session. it was also the going awa celebration for meredith and her partner andy. i was looking forward to being around good friends.



brett and reuben are very talented musicians, the guitar being their instrument of choice. the jam session included other talented local musicians as well, including wings on the saxophone, andy on the drums, and paul on guitar.

anke and i arrived at baker street live around 10pm. the venue was nice, more like a restaurant with a stage area than a concert venue. brett and reubz were providin some sweet gyspy jazz beats on stage.


man these guys are talented. i've enjoyed jammin out with these katz all winter, and it was awesome to hear them play in a larger venue.


wings joined in o the jam with some sweet sweet saxophone riddimz.


skye was tuned us into the grooves on bass...


andreas even grabbed the mic and dropped some sick lyrics


after a short break, paul joined the jam session and blessed us with some infectious tribal riddims. paul had just returned from africa where he spent time playing guitar and tuning into the rhythms of the motherland.


the soul of african music flows through all of us, regardless of what colour we claim.

the radiant goddess laura grabbed the mic and soothed us with her velvety voice.



we danced, we celebrated, we shook our hips! have a safe trip to the coast brett, reubz, meredith and andy. perhaps i'll run into you katz on hornby island in july. would love to reconnekt with you guys there.



after the jam was over, anke and i headed to the rez to shake our asses to some more upbeat riddimz. the rez avoir was bumpin!


i have an early morning tomorrow as i'm volunteering at the nelson food and bottle drive at 8:30am, so after a few tracks at the rez, anke drove me home. thanks for the drive anke...i'm so glad that you have a car :p

~*...normaste...*~

~*...give peace a dance...*~

randnorm thursday event in black rock city 2005

big z's body dice game
thursday and friday, 5:00pm
contestants needed, male/female or any combination. roll the body dice and win a prize! stop by for a libation and test your skills at performance art! hosted by: the liver's end bar

photo by steve tinsky

randnorm mind grenade
What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh, so wrong...
And nothing you do seems very right?

What do you do? Do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
Or see how fast you go?

It's great to be able to stop
When you've planned a thing that's wrong,
And be able to do something else instead
And think this song:

I can stop when I want to
Can stop when I wish
I can stop, stop, stop any time.
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling is really mine.
Know that there's something deep inside
That helps us become what we can.
For a girl can be someday a woman
And a boy can be someday a man.
- Mr.Rogers (R.I.P.)

randnorm pikcha


normdate 5.25.6

today was my last day volunteering at the nelson food cupboard, and it was a slow one. mardi gras was yesterday (welfare cheques come in), so it made sense that today would be slow. there is a such a different energy created when people have money, even if it only lasts for a short period of time. it really is mardi gras!


its been such a rewarding experience volunteering at the food cupboard. it has been there for me when i needed it, and i'm glad i can give back. its a flow of karma, a full circle. i've got to know so many people in this community thanks to the food cupboard and our daily bread (soup kitchen). its difficult to fellowship when you're hungry.

marya, the coordinator for the cupboard, gave me a chocolate cake to take with me. as i walked down ward street, i ran into my friend wings sitting in a converted veggie diesel school bus. i asked him if he wanted a chocolate cake, and the smile on his face was answer enough. mmmm...chocolate. yay randnorm gifting!


the veggie bus had just arrived from north carolina. it was way better than your average half sized school bus, it was a coool bus.



i headed back up to rosemont as i had told my friend lacy that i would drop by her place and give her a hand around the house. lacy lives just behind my place, and is a single mother to a beautiful 18month old boy named ariken.

as i neared lacy's place, a bit of graffiti on the sidewalk jumped out at me, and it made me smile.


lacy had hurt her shoulder and was taking pain killers to deal with the agony. that also meant that she could not pick up arikan, which is a big deal when a child wants so badly to be in the arms of his mother.

i played with ariken for about an hour before i attacked lacy's kitchen. 45minutes later, lacy's dishes were washed and the counters clear. it had been a goal of hers to get her kitchen clean, but being a single mommy means there isn't much time to do everything you want. it got me thinking about my mom, and how she raised three kids on her own while daddy was in the hospital sick. i have such a greater appreciation for the sacrifices my mom made for us, and how much hard work it took for her to raise us on her own. i love you mom.

once the kitchen was clean, i headed home and met my friend graham in ascalon city. yes, it was guild wars time and this was the first opportunity i had to meet a friend in this fantasy world.

using skype and headsets, graham and i were able to communicate with each other. it sounded like graham was sitting beside me. man, the quality of skype impresses me. download this app! and now you can call any phone (cel or land) in north america for free with skype! free long distance fukkin roolz! yay 0 cents a minute!

graham is such a geek, and his guild wars character, falon flamestrike, is a badass level 20 ranger. playing with someone who is clearly better than i am at this game, and with a character who is far superior to mine, was a lot of fun. i learned new techniques, and totally owned enemies! falon is a powerful allie.

falon gifted keiras mei a custom fire staff, the best staff money could buy. woohoo! even online friends are sponsoring me! even online i have no money ;) my fire skill level isn't even high enough to fully use the staff, so i've got a couple more hours and adventures to complete before i can truly wield the power of this weapon. thanks graham.


keiras mei is now an official guild member of the keirans of chaos [KoC]. i fight alongside warriors like falon flamestrike while wearing the cape and emblem of our guild. it feels good to be a guildy, now i've got to earn my keep.


i'm such a fukkin 933k.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...jah make us...*~

randnorm wednesday event in black rock city 2005

taoist erotic massage for men & their lovers
9:00pm-11:00pm
experience the power of sacred sexuality in this hands-on, clothes-off workshop on yogic breathwork and taoist erotic massage. sessions will focus on the male body. if you're looking to get off, this isn't for you. a spiritual, non-ejaculatory practice. be on time. bring a towel. adults only. hosted by : ascension tribe @ esplanade and 4:00

photo by jason silviero

randnorm mind grenade
ongaku ga nakattara jinsie no imi ga nakunaru - friedrich neitsche (translated into japanese)

randnorm pikcha

fat norm! hulla dec2k4

normdate 5.24.6

the cloudy weather from the weekend hasn't gone away yet. anke and i enjoyed the shelter of oso negro and enjoyed a coffee together as the sky opened up and rained down on the town of nelson.

while at oso, the lovely safire jones escaped the rain and joined us. safire is from the valley, and is a brilliantly talented performer. she had just finished teaching a workshop at the public school and was in full rainbow coloured attire.


click here to czech out safire's site!


of course safire has it goin on, she's a gemini! i still can't believe she hasn't been to burning man yet. safire, you belong on the playa!

in the video on safire's site, i noticed that she knew how to wield an illusion stick (thanks for letting me know what its called safire). i had seen this video of a girl wielding one at shambalha and always wanted to know what the hell it was, and how to do it. safire directed me to a store here in nelson called still eagle that sold them. i later found out that the illusion sticks at still eagle were made by safire ;)



the pricing at still eagle is like no other i've ever seen. every item there has two prices on it, a high and a low. you decide what price you can afford and then pay that price (within the range on the price tag). i walked away with an illusion stick made by the lovely safire for $20.

i headed over to cottonwood falls to try out my illusion stick. by the time i reached there, the sky opened up and was just dumping rain! i found shelter at the cottonwood falls market where i ran into dreamweaver.



i had met dreamweaver in april at cottonwood falls. this guy is full on! anyone with a huge marijuana leaf tattooed on his forehead takes smoking weed very fukkin seriously. with the rain comin down, i had some time to kill, so i spent it puffin roots with dreamweaver and picking his brain.

as you'd guess, this guy really is from another dimension, and there's a brain behind that marijuana leaf on his head. he shared with me some of his philosophies on life, many of which resonated with me.

understanding appreciation is to find the balance between having and not having.

dreamweaver tunes into the force through yoga, and has even created his own language that he expresses through both sound and movement. his little sketchbook is full of thoughts, art, and alphabets of many languages, including arabic, hebrew, and his own.

i was honoured to hold dreamweaver's wand, which was a perfektly wand sized deer antler that split into two points. holy shit is it powerful to hold. makes sense, it was once attached to a living creature.

dreamweaver doesn't like his pikcha being taken, so i respekted his choice and refrained from snappin shots of him and the wand.

the sun broke through the clouds as i began reading the instructions for my newly purchased illusion stick. i'm not very good at it, but i know i'll get better. it sure does look kewl though, like i'm using the force to manipulate a vertical wand.

the heat of the sun attacked the cold of the earth, causing it to steam from the contakt.


i offered dreamweaver a sip of water from my nalgene, and he accepted. when i asked him if he had a water bottle, he told me that he didn't own one...so i randomly gifted him my red nalgene. he accepted, and then immediately began removing the stickers on it. there was a casi (canadian association of snowboarders) sticker on it and a plastikman sticker. dreamweaver doesn't like logos. i explained to him what the stickers were as he removed them. i'm sure that the next time i see him, the silk screened nalgene logo and anything else on the bottle will have beeen removed by him. enjoy the water bottle dreamweaver. it was gifted to me, and i'm happy to pay it forward.

with a break in the storm, i jumped on my bike and headed up rosemont hill. more like i walked my bike up rosemont hill...its too steep to ride up it.


i stopped off at jim's place to say hi, and got to play a game of command and conquer with his son duncan. this game is so old skewl! it was good to be reminded of the games that laid the foundation for the rts games we enjoy today. yay networked computers!

after my game with duncan, i held little emily in my arms for a few before heading home.


when i arrived home, my roommate had left a surprise in the fridge for me.


pizza with meat on it! mmm. it was leftover from a group meeting he was at earlier today. it was going to be thrown away, so he brought it home for me to eat. thanks sunny. i appreciate it...and i still think you're nucking futz!

takes one to know one.

p.s. thanks to the sponsorship of angels, i am officially flying home to celebrate my birthday with my krew in toronto. i can't wait to be back amongst friends i have loved for years. thank you! my ticket is booked and i'm landing in the big smoke on the 8th. thank you!

oh yah, happy birthday queen victoria!

~*...normaste...*~

~*...keiras mei and the yellowknife normurai...*~

randnorm monday event in black rock city 2005

pancakes and soft rock
monday - saturday 9:00am-12:00pm
our pancakes are the best sunny playa morning cure for hangover, late-nights and all else that ails you. friday is white trash day. saturday hippie shit giveaway day. hosted by: pancake playhouse @ center camp and 8:30

photo by jack kelly

randnorm mind grenade
convenience does not give me the right to be wasteful - normurai

randnorm pikcha

regan and leroy - frozen great slave lake, yellowknife may long weekend 2004

normdate 5.22.6

may long weekend, and i now see the light. overcast and rainy weather all weekend has got me connekted to my computer, and guild wars has demanded my attention.

holy shit this game is fun! its my first massively multiplayer online game (mmog) and i now understand what all the hoopla is about playing in virtual fantasy worlds. entire societies exist in cyberspace, characters living out their lives in a fantasy world of ones and zeros.

my character is an elementalist/necromancer named keiras mei. i've aligned her with the element of fire, and she can cast spells that can shoot fireballs and bring flames down from the sky!

...and she daam good lookin too!

her necromancer abilities allow her to siphon life from foes...touch of death for rilly!

not only is this game beautiful to look at, it is so much fun! there are thousands of people interakting, connekting in this online world of fantasy. i've spent the last three days exploring ascalon city (including the surrounding areas), and levelling up my character.


my goal is to be familiar enough with the game and have a half decent character so i can play with brennan and graham this week. they've been addikted to this game for a while, so i can only imagine how badass their characters are. perhaps i'll be skilled enough to be invited to join their guild. holy shit i'm turning into a fukkin geek...hmmm, like i wasn't one before ;)

yes, you can make your characters dance around in their underwear (/dance), among other things. some people will actually give you gold if you dance for them. straight pimpin in ascalon baby!

well, talking about the video game i'm playin isn't really the most interesting of blog topics eh? here's a story about where i was two years ago this may 2-4 weekend.

i visited the groovy goddess elsbeth in yellowknife for may long weekend (we call it may 2-4 in onterrible) in 2004. elsbeth was living in the red roof houseboat on great slave lake.


yup, the lake was still frozen at the time. elsbeth's fiancee, regan, drove his 2tonne pickup truck (leroy) across the ice to the houseboat that weekend!


i had such an incredible time in yellowknife. this country is so beautiful, and the great spirits of the north speak loudly in the north west territories.


so many new experiences in yellowknife. there was no toilet in the houseboat, so i had to shit in a bucket.


i tried to learn how to fly a kite so i could go kite boarding across the frozen lake.


but the kite kicked the shit out of me before i even strapped into a board.

yah, they tethered me to the ice so the kite wouldn't fly away with me. holy shit the north winds are strong!

i had the best randnorm normurai photoshoot on the island behind the houseboat with regan's katana.



i got to blast off some rounds from a shotgun


i even fell through the ice and into great slave lake. you don't know cold until you're in frozen lake water *brrrr*


but the best part of my trip was hanging with elsbeth. she is up there as one of the grooviest girls i have ever met in my entire life. i know you're reading this elsbeth. you fukkin rawk! i am you and you are me.


five months later, i was honoured to be in regan and elsbeth's wedding party and celebrate their committment to be partners in life. i love you guys.


~*...normaste...*~