Friday, June 30, 2006

~*...burner birthday...*~


randnorm thursday event in black rock city 2005

arts and crafts at panty camp

3:00pm-5:00pm
learn how to make panty purses, water bottle holders, sports bras, and other panty fashions. we have panties and craft supplies. bring your own pair for a good fit. stay for the panty fashion show. hosted by: panty camp @ 3:00 plaza and 2:00

randnorm mind grenade 'tis better to have lobsters on your piano whatn crabs on your organ - some funny guy

randnorm pikcha


normdate 6.29.6

my day began helping my friend bobby and dana move out of their place. dana secured herself a teaching position at the university of texas, el paso. they leave in two weeks once dana's visa comes through. congrats dana, i'm so happy for you. i'm gonna miss you guys.



look, a blind cat!


we moved bobby and dana's stuff into a storage unit, then i headed to kensington market to celebrate my friend dani's birthday. i made a stop at kensington park first where i came across the most random musical instrument.



a bass guitar made out of a light post! who thinks of that?



what a perfekt way to start off a night with burners. random creativity, random musical instruments made out of unusual things. i love this city.



it was a toronto burner drink night, and seriously, burners know how to party...and drink.



happy birthday dani!



christina showed up for some libations and celebrations.



and we did it up roight!



there was only one guy working the bar that night, and there were a lot of us there. so many that we took over not only the patio, but the area around the patio and overflowed to the street. i can't count how many times the bartender had to ask us to keep drinkin on the premises and not on the street. hell, at burning man you can drink anywhere, and that's the mentality of burners. drink anywhere, and for free!













i kan't wait to be on the playa with these people, celebratin without fear.



christina drove me back to my sister's place, but on the way there the topic of conversation turned to the hangover you get from eating chicken mcnuggets at mcdonalds. of course that spawned mcdonalds munchies, so we headed to the 24hr drive through by my sister's place only to find out that their computer system is hosed and they couldn't take orders. so we headed to the nearest open mcdonalds at pape and cosburn. on our way there, i had to make a pee stop...and we stopped by the wierdest little shop i've seen a long while.



a russian children's clothing shop



with wierd mannequins in the window...creepy ones.



we finally made it to mcdonalds and bought 20 mcnuggets.



its been over 7 months since i ate mcdonalds, and i must say...daam it tasted good. and yes, the mcnugget hangover set in. christina dropped me off at my sister's place and i passed out from my mcdonalds/booze/moving drunk.

happy birthday dani!

more pix in my archive here

~*...normaste...*~

Monday, June 26, 2006

~*...in:tent and pr:ide...*~

randnorm sunday event in black rock city 2005

goma fire ritual

sunset
write your wishes on a wooden stick. rev. shizuka will conduct the fire ritual by burning your gomagi as he chants prayers to bring the buddhist divinity of fire. this ancient ritual will be an historic interfaith experience at brc! location: in front of the temple of dreams

photo by julian cash

randnorm mind grenade
'tis better to start small than not starting at all - unknown

randnorm pikcha


normdate 6.25.6

randnorm snippet from right meow
5:37pm

right now i'm sitting on a gentle slope at om. beside me is a little angel named haven. he's such al ittle man now. i remember seeing him at om in 2001, he was 1 yr old. has it really been that many years that i've been coming to this event? this is where i want to be. this is what i look forward to...sitting by the water, outside, surrounded by conscious and realized people. this province has so much love, and it is concentrated here. its home.



i'm typing my first blog entry on my birthday laptop. my friends are the best in the universe. daam this laptop is sweet. listening to some seeed. psychedliec kings and queens, join me in this one love dream.



we got here on thursday evening, devi and i. she picked me up in whitby and we made out three hour trek outhere to the ottawa valley. we are on crown land, and it is gorgeous. beyond gorgeous. gaia is breathaking. it is such a refreshing change to the smoke and smog of the big city. it reminds me of nelson, just without the mountains ;)



this space isn't really made for camping, yet alone this many people, but somehow we managed to find a spot to set up camp. it did require a bit of clearing, and we are sleeping on a little of a slope, but whatever...we are here.



what is it about om that rejuvinates me?



its being surrounded by the best people, being surrounded by divine creation, having bugs land on my laptop, naked hippies, naked normie. children. goddesses. fairies. booze. and dancing. i look forward to this every year. it is home...hmm, so is black rock city. different, but the same.



i'm impressed at how many gorgeous tattoos people have adorned their bodies with. there is so much creativity and imagination permanently inked on the bodies of kings and queens. bring you higher love me friend through music!



words are power. words aresubjective. words are for creating ideas. once you catch the idea, you can forget about the words. its the in:tent behind it. words inherently create power structure. words are just noizes our bodies make to express our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. they are the one of the tools i use to share my life with you here. i'm also a pikcha whore...duh!



we had to take a shuttle to get here, so our car is currently 20 minutes away. we're waiting for our shuttle so we can get out of here, and go dance with fags in the big smoke. i'm sure that right meow, there are thousands of proud people celebratin in the streets of toronto...that's a guarantee. but if there was a place where i wouldn't mind being instead of pride, its here.



haven just hit me in the head with a water ballon. good thing it didn't break. oh laptop. how i love you.



right now, a radiant goddess named hilda has just lay down beside me. mm..portugese women. *rraow* distractions everywhere...goddesses everywhere. gawd i love this place.



there wasn't any amplified music on thursday night, so we took it easy, set up camp, and chilled out. waking up friday morning to the beauty of the ottawa valley was an incredible way to meet the day. this land is beautiful...and its filled with beautiful people.



wth a beach and a lake, of course i spent all of friday relaxing by the water...and in the water. my friend sean was chillin on an air mattress on the lake. when i asked her what's up, she said "just floatin'" good answer.



with the help of haven and his new little brother tobias, we harvested rocks from the lake to add to the expanding galaktik spiral of fuck yeah! rocks, spirals, candles, and fuck yeah.






the food at the kind kitchen has been quite impressive. fueled by donations and prepared by volunteers, its a pleasant reminder that there are no spectators here, only participants. my wooden bowl has definitely come in handy, especially with the caribeaner on it so i can attach it to my bag. thanks mel. but boo to the fucker who liberated my caribeaner from my bowl...who fukkin does that? alright, i just found out that the fucker was haven, and he returned my caribeaner. yay! fucker ;)



friday night celebrations began at sundown with two stages, home bass and moon bass. there wasd reggae playing at home bass, and surprisingly jungle played at moon bass. seelektah! there is nothing like dancing outside under the stars. being in nature, barefoot, dancing to wikkid beatz *sigh* you can't buy this.



my friend angela even dressed up in red and black tights just for me. she was my norm cheerleader. teehee! i love you ang!



the home grown circus dome performed a play about love, complete with some beautiful acrobatics from a radiant goddess.




there were many workshops going on all weekend. i attended a workshop on hugging yesterday put on by a lovely being named solomon. i like hugging, especially when it ends in kissing *teehee*



the hOMebass stage was the place to be saturday night. proper house music provided by leelee michie kept my ass shakin. dancing with the best people outside *sigh* this is what i yearn for every year.



just because this festival is a members only event doesn't mean that they screen every member...it just means that you have to pay for your ticket in advance and volunteer some time. anyone can do that, and sometimes some people that don't embrace the om vibe show up. in particular, this dude named cameron really bummed out the vibe this weekend. this guy is nutz, literally! he spent the last two months in the psyche ward. then he decided to come to om and do excessive amounts of acid. needless to say he was fucked and was sharing his fuct perspektiv with everyone around him, not respekting people's space. i saw him running up to people and gettin in their face, then when he came up to me i said "dude, you're certifiable!". he spewed some mindless bullshit that i didn't understand then the fucker spat in my face! he spat in my face!

i freaked out and chased him screaming "what the fuck?!?" you can't spit in my face for no reason and expect me to take it kindly. when i caught him, i pinned him up against a van ready and started yelling at him. when i let go of him, he dropped to the ground and rolled under the van to hide. i'm a kind and chill guy, but seriously, that kind of behaviour is not acceptable and i have no problems knockin someone out who spits in my face for no reason. fucker. yes, i can be aggro...just spit in my face and you'll see it!

the om krew ended up escorting him out of the party because he was causing too much shit. i'm glad. sorry dude, you're shit had to go.

back to the love.

there were theme camps, paintings, colour, creativity, and beauty everywhere i turned.





this place is hOMe for me...so is black rock city.



alright, looks like its time for our shuttle out of here. i'm heading back to town with neil and devi. i'm hoping we make it back in time for me to catch the end of pride celebrations with christina. alright laptop, away you go. what an awesome weekend. another om under my belt. off to dance with fags in the streets of the big smoke!

thank you om krew for another amazing year!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i made it back to toronto by midnight, dropped my gear off at john and sue's place, and headed to the gaybourhood to meet up with christina, jill, eric and his partner norm. there were still lots of people out and about on church street. gawd i love pride!


this city goes off pride weekend. i can't think of a better place to be proud than the most multiculturally diverse city in the world. be gay, be straight, be bi, be whatever...just pay your taxes and keep your stick on the ice eh? the trash was a bit much to handle though, seeing as i just came from a place where there were no garbage cans. leave no trace.



on my way to meet christina and krew i ran into angela and her friend mamma, the head of their female wrestling troop. she showed me a video of her and another girl wrestling in spaghetti. i said to her "you do realize you girls are satisfying every guy's fantasy don't you?" hawt chicks wrestling in spaghetti, jelo, mud, whatever! hawt!




there was a cocktail and a row of shots waiting for me at the mask, the bar where christina and krew were celebrating. it didn't take me long to get a bit loos thanks to the booze.



we headed next door to a dyke bar called slack alice and danced our asses off together. special weekends like pride means that bars can stay open until 4am. yay sunday night debauchery!

after dancing, we headed back to eric's place. on our way there, i ran into my friend dave outside of a bar called george's play. it was so good to see an old and familiar face. its been a while. good to see you dave.



we spent the rest of the night and morning chilling out at eric's place. eric is a great guy, and an excellent host. and of course, hangning with christina always makes me feel perfekt about myself.



what a fukkin awesome weekend!

there are more pix in my pikcha archive here


~*...normaste...*~