fire spinning/drum circle
monday - friday
9:00pm-12:00am
bring your fire toys and/or glowy things and show your stuff. we will have music, drums, and safety gear. nightly beginning one hour after the sun sets until we drop. hosted by: the fire station (shangri-la village) @ 7:30 and fetish
randnorm mind grenade
a man who has risked his life knows that careers are worthless, and a man who will not risk his career has a worthless life - han fei-tzu
randnorm pikcha
normdate 5.1.6
i headed over to julia's place yesterday afternoon to help her move out of 324 beasley street. i have such fond memories of that place. it was my home during february, a home full of beautiful people who opened up their lives and space to me when i needed it most. it was good to be back there, and to help julia in any way i could.
i packed up julia's hippie van, washed her dishes, and enjoyed the company and warmth of 324 beasley that had made me feel so comfortable when i moved here.
for once, everyone who lived at the home was actually there, so i seized the opportunity to get a pikcha of everyone in their yard...including the new addition to the home, andrea and akkal's baby boy abilash.
no drug, no high, no experience, can even come close to what its like to hold your child for the first time...and it looks like it only gets better.
i took over from zwerg and claimed co-pilot shotgun position in julia's packed hippie van. man, it don't get more hippie than this.
we grabbed henna before beginning our journey to winlaw for their beltaine festival and the gratitude for water celebrations.
winlaw is about an hour drive down the valley from nelson. a small town with a population of 400, winlaw is a nestled on the east bank of the slocan river. the energy there is majik, and you can see it, taste it, in the water. in gratitude for the water of winlaw, and to preserve the winlaw watershed, the town got together to celebrate water.
the town sent a sample of their water to japan to be analyzed and photographed by the emoto corporation. authour of the book "the hidden messages in water", masaru emoto is known for creating tangible images of thought through water. the resulting winlaw watershed water crystal was unveiled at the celebration. sorry, i have no pik of the crystal to share...yet.
the town had set up a stage outside of the cedar creek cafe where local musicians tuned into the rhythm of life and provided the music in celebration of water.
there was over a hundred people enjoying the sunshine, the music, and the celebrations. it was so good to dance outside, especially with children dancing with you. so many beautiful mothers with their babies were dancing and celebrating too. there were people dressed up for the occassion, from young children to old children.
henna and i headed down to the beach which was about a 10minute walk from the celebrations. we stopped at the bridge to chill out. there we came across a massive pile of quartz washed up on the shore of the river. i'm not talking a few pieces, it was like a mine of quartz. hundreds of pieces ranging in size from small to huge boulders! that is how majik the kutenais are, and the water in winlaw. its so majik that massive boulders of quartz crystals wash up on the shores of the river. crystal creek in nelson is beautiful, but the crystals in winlaw blew me away. they are much lighter in colour, white as opposed to the yellow colour of the quartz normally found in nelson.
henna brought some cider and guiness so that we could make black velvets *mmmm*
we used the river to keep the guiness and cider cold.
the sun was setting, so we decided to chase whatever sunlight we had left on our journey back to the cedar creek cafe.
we could hear the bass of the stage as we approached the cafe. the celebrations there were going full tilt. its such a different vibe when you can dance outside with your family instead of being inside at a club.
as i grabbed some more supplies (read booze) from julia's van, two women working at sleep is for sissies called out to me as i walked by...thing is they weren't calling "norm" they were saying "nature". yes, this isn't the first time i've been mistaken for my boy nature, however that normally happens to me at whitewater when i've got a helmet and goggles on. i can see the resemblance.
this dude's tattoo must have hurt. *ouch*
the koots roots all stars began their set at 7pm. it was pure reggae night, except we weren't at the rez avoir, we were outside. man that was fun. it doesn't get any more rad than this.
there is also nothing more beautiful than a goddess feeding her baby while dancing to reggae music. so simple. so natural. no nurturing. so radiant. feeding the vibrations of our future's collective creation.
a young boy, about 8yrs old, approached me and said that he had seen me spinning staff at lakeside park in nelson. i'm still learning to spin staff, but i am already addicted. i told him i'd share with him my limited knowledge of spinning staff if he could find us two staffs. he returned and handed me a beautiful wood staff. the staff was the perfect length and width for me, and all of the bark had been taken off by a beaver! you could see all of the teeth marks down the staff and on the tips. custom made for a normurai by a beaver in the valley. schweet.
i shared what knowledge i had of spinning staff with this young boy, then danced to the rest of the koots roots set with my new staff. i felt like king lou from the dream warriors with my staff. yes, i used to idolize the dream warriors and even had my own sugar cane staff.
later, a man named peter came up to me and said "so that's where the staff ended up." turns out he was the one who had found the staff just down the river from the cafe. he said i could keep the staff as he had also found 4 more pieces that he left leaning up against a tree a 15minute walk away. thank you peter for this staff. it will travel with me to many exciting places. hooray random gifting!
the music finished around midnight, but there was still a fire outside of the cedar creek cafe and hippies banging on drums. henna and i, a bit drunk from our evening of celebration, got a ride back into town with a nelsonite named davin. too tired to walk up rosemont hill, i passed out at henna's place and woke up to this beautiful view outside the window.
it was not however as warm as it was yesterday. it was actually quite cold today, and overcast. i headed to the food cupboard for a volunteer shift. anke is also volunteering at the cupboard and today's shift was split between the two of us.
this is shanti. her mother is caucasian, her father is black and from jamaica. and here i thought that the black gene is dominant...she is the most light skinned mulato i have ever come across, and cute as a button! eek!
after my shift, i headed to the soup kitchen. on my way there, i got a telephone call from my friend greg in ottawa. greg had come to visit me here in nelson in march and we shredded some awesome powder together. he had called me to thank me for some words of wisdom that i had shared on my blog...more specifically my story about a guy who approached me at fluid last week telling me that he had seen me at faeries and fools, but that i was too bright to approach because of the light sticks i had on my arms. i had told this guy that he had done me a favour by judging me based on how bright i was, and thanked him. i have no time for people like that in my life, people who will judge me and punish me before they even know my name. greg shared with me a story of how my words helped him give shape to an experience he had in ottawa this past weekend, and how some people can be so judgmental and close minded, even hippies. greg told me that my words and my life have influence on people, whether or not i believe it. i believe it greg. you have influenced my life as much as i seem to have influenced yours. don't waste time with shitty people! blessings to you greg. thank you for that phone call. it brightened my day.
i ran into my friend jim at the kitchen. he had with him two padded swords that he borrowed from his friend nathan. every sunday, a group of people (young and old) gather in gyro park and battle with swords and axes...padded ones of course. i had always wanted to join them, but yesterday i helped julia move instead. so jim and i headed back to his place to sword fight. man was it ever fun learning how to wield a sword and fight. it is an extension of yourself. who'd a thunk that larping would be so much fun?
holy shit i'm such a nerd...and a hippie!
jim's partner fiorinda came home and showed me some of the pieces she's been sewing. jim and fiorinda are expecting their first child any day now. i showed her my asian bag that i carry my poi in and asked for her suggestions on repairing it (it has been well loved). she made a few suggestions, and then randomly gifted me a new red bag that she had sewn to replace my torn and loved old bag. another random gift. thank you fiorinda. i will love this bag. blessings to you.
i headed home to wash off my hippie stink. what an incredible 24hrs. actually, what an incredible world we live in, and i come across the most fascinating people...and this is just what i record in my blog. the best parts of my life are the parts that i don't record, because in my haste to capture a moment it takes away from the best part...being 100% in the now.
but wait, my day isn't over yet! after a shower, some dinner, and a little blogging, i headed down to see anke and jonas at the dancing bear inn. jonas had moved out of his place and will be spending his last few weeks at the dancing bear. anke lives and works there. we grabbed some beers and put together their poi (they got chain from the hardware store). i put the flashing lights on the ends of my staff to see what they looked like, and i was quite impressed. yay night time spinning without setting myself on fire!
anke and i headed to cottonwood falls to try out her newly completed poi. i was supposed to meet up with henna and mckayla there too, but they didn't show up...or maybe they did and i was just late. either way, anke and i drank some beers and enjoyed spinning poi and staff by the falls. then anke drove me home in her new car...yup, she bought jonas' car from him and is enjoying the freedom of mobility. personally, i'm just happy to not have to walk up rosemont hill ;)
i'm addikted to spinning poi and staff...and the joyz are contagious. now i've got both jonas and anke hooked. schweet.
p.s. been listening to the german reggae group seeed non stop since ali burned me dubby conqueror on saturday. these guys fukkin rool! reggae riddimz in another language have been keeping me company as i have been adding this blog entry. psychedelic kingdom come...
ok, blog entry is done...for real this time ;)
~*...normaste...*~
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