so much accomplished this week. from dj dan at boa, the tribe annual bbq, gettin my ass nice and bruised at fet sat night, and promise cherry beach sundaze. i'll elaborate more from the west coast. what a boring blog entry. i must suck.
london got terrorized today...but that doesn't change my feelings about riding transit over here.
leaving for vancouver in one hour!
schweet
- norm \m/^_^\m/
Friday, July 08, 2005
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
~*...the festival formerly known as om and pride in toronto...*~
what an incredible weekend. god i love birthday month, especially in toronto. there are so many things happenning every weekend, and the weather is always fabulous. every weekend, starting in june, there is a free outdoor festival in toronto to attend. torontonians realize that we only have three months of excellent weather to take advantage of, and we take full advantage of summer. its like canadians have spent all winter ripening just waiting for summer to peel off the layers. and daam this city is full of hawties, of every race, creed, colour, and orientation.
last thursday i left the big smoke of toronto and headed towards the self proclaimed most talented town in canada, bancroft. we actually were heading to a small town outside of bancroft called shutte to attend re:union, the festival formerly known as om. om evolved into re:union and took on a different approach. it was a members only celebration, but anyone could be a member. to be a member you had to contribute both monetarily ($42 membership fee) and through volunteer time (5hrs of volunteer time). this eliminated all spectators, and left only participants who consciously made a choice to contribute their time and money to make re:union happen. the result was the tip of the spear when it came to the quality of the people there to celebrate with. re:union was a full week long event, but most of us were only able to make it up for the weekend.
i left early thursday morning with my friend neil, devi, and her friend christi who was visiting from sarasota, florida. we packed up our rental car and began our trek towards the canadian shield of ontario. our first stop was in a town called tweed to grab groceries, beer, and lunch at kelly's restaurant.
our next stop was a quick visit to neil's kitty kat mojo. mojo is currently living with neil's friend wendy who lives in a beautiful little cottage on the black river in tweed. of course we had to take a quick dip in the river before heading to bancroft, so we started our weekend nakedness a little earlier than expected. the current in the black river was very intense, so i grabbed on to some of the rocks and let my body flow with the river. with water rushing over and under me, i let gaia remind me that everything flows back into itself...and that saucy tart also massaged me in ways that i never thought she could. gaia, you dirty little slut ;)
we left tweed and arrived in shutte an hour later, with time to spare before sundown. after checking in at the gate, we parked our car and went to survey the land in our search for a camping spot. the land was beautiful, the air clean, and the lake clear and refreshing. breathing in clean air was such a change from the smog we are used to in toronto. its easy to forget the big city when you can walk around barefoot in a forest with other like minded people.
after dropping off our food donation at the kind kitchen, we set up our camp right off the main path and immediately began our canadian ritual when out in the bush: we cracked open a few beers and smoked a joint. god i love this country.
many people who were at the site had been there since the beginning of the week. there were about 150 people when we arrived. that number would double by friday night. with a smaller number of participants, and no spectators, re:union was a very intimate and tight vibe.
the om mission statement: to create an environment that encourages freedom of thought and responsibility of action through a ritual of celebration and education where we can come together to build a sustainable future.
over the past few years it became more difficult to keep the spirit of om alive in all of the om participants because of the number of spectators, people showing up expecting a party and not willing to contribute anything more than the cost of their ticket. re:union brought things back to the original grassroots mentality that om was built on, community. there were no spectators, only participants. and of course the leave no trace mentality was practiced by all, especially seeing as there were no garbage cans on the site. if you brought it with you take it with you. no one should have to pick up after you, and you should not have to pick up after other people. a very simple concept that was easy to practice which resulted in a very clean venue to celebrate on. the bathrooms however could have been better. hippie holes in the ground with a wood structure built over top of it is not a porta pottie. i really felt sorry for the females who had to perfect the hover.
it was refreshing to be out of the city with so many incredible people. there were no sound stages on the thursday night, so most of my evening was spent with friends that i had not seen in a long time. my friend corrinne was visiting from newfoundland, and i was so excited to see her. i've spent many oms with corrinne, and it was a pleasant surprise to see that she made it this year as she had recently moved to the east coastwith her daughter. if you're reading this corrinne, spending time with you at re:union was one of the highlights of my weekend. *mwah*
on friday i woke up and had something to eat at the kind kitchen, some incredible fruit salad and a bit of cereal. the kind kitchen is fueled by donations, run by volunteers, and provides vegan meals for all re:union participants throughout the celebration. at 10am, neil and i reported to the front gate for volunteer duty where we helped direct arriving cars to the parking lot (with lots of frisbee tossing in between). after our five hour volunteer shift, we headed towards the lake where we spent the rest of the day basking in the sun and swimming in the lake. its so refreshing to be surrounded by people who are comfortable being themselves, especially naked. i kept on hearing my mother in my head saying "don't you have any shame?" as i donned my birthday suit i was reminded that i am not ashamed of my body at all, and neither was any of the other naked beach goers this past weekend.
there was such a variety of people that made up the re:union community this year. from families, to gnomes, i even saw a mack daddy go for a swim. i also learned that membership doesn't necessarily mean that crazy people aren't allowed to join. i heard that there was someone who posted a sign off the main path in the forest that said "women only" which lead to a masochistic man's tent who was wielding an 8 inch hunting knife. what the fuck? i'm so glad that i never came across that guy. word is that his knife was taken away from him, and later that weekend he was removed by police from the site.
as the sun was setting, we left the lake and headed towards the kind kitchen for some dinner. on our way back, we noticed a large group of people in the field holding hands. of course we had to find our what was going on, and it seemed like we weren't the only ones being drawn towards that energy as many others followed. it was a workshop about the mayan calendar being held by an old hippie. we held hands and praised the sun as it set, then chanted and danced. seeing as there was no om circle this year, this was the closest thing.
the sound stages began that friday night. there were two stages, the hOMe bass stage by the om bus complete with a screen for projections, and another man made dome created by the omshawa crew (they built rOMe at last year's om). the music at hOMe bass began with a great variety of breaks, drum and bass, and jungle. dancing barefoot in a forest under the stars is such a magical feeling.
at 10pm on friday night, we were treated to a 7 minute trailer for peter mettler's latest documentary on om. peter directed the film gambling, gods and lsd, a three hour contemporary dream following the visible and invisible currents of our synaesthetic world. he filmed most of the content for his om documentary last year, and i was honored to spend a good amount of time with him at last years celebration sharing with each other on and off film. i remember him asking me questions which he called "triggers". i love that word. the questions he asked triggers certain parts of people's personalities, parts that make people question themselves and at the same time encourage them to feel comfortable about themselves. i 've also learned that the truth is always distorted by the presence of a camera. cameras immediately stimulate the parts of people's personality that is on film.
there were many familiar faces in peter's trailer for om, including a short clip of peter and i sharing. it was interesting seeing myself up on a screen, to hear others rekognize my existence on film, but the highlight for me was the effect my words had on the people around me. i had so many people come up to me after the trailer played and express how a few words that came out of my mouth captured on film positively affected them. i'm just as blown away by the people i share my life with, and its so easy to tune into a positive energy when you are at om. there are two ways to spread light, be the candle that creates it or the mirror that reflektz it.
what did i say in the trailer? i said "if you wonder where the vibe went, maybe you left it at home or in the car. om is what you bring to it. don't expect others to give you something that you aren't willing to put on the table yourself. the vibe is contagious, and it starts with you."
the rest of my weekend consisted of dancing barefoot with beautiful souls, swimming naked in a refreshingly cool and beautiful lake, attending workshops on topics such as alternative fuel resources and dreadlock maintenance, eating, drinking, enjoying lifted spirits, spending quality time with incredible people (hi zanzae) and of course lots of frisbee tossing. did i mention how addicted to frisbee i am? playing frisbee in the lake was too much fun. diving catches in the water took frisbee to new and refreshing levels for me.
this past weekend was also pride in toronto, a weekend that i look forward to every year. it wasn't a difficult choice when it came down to re:union or pride. as much as i love being in thebig smoke with hundreds of thousands of gorgeous and proud people, i enjoy being barefoot up north with omies just a little bit better
as we packed up sunday afternoon, i was pleasantly reminded how blessed we are to live in canada, and how beautiful ontario and the people who i share my life with are. after a nice dip in the lake we made a quick stop at the local dump where we dropped off our recycling and garbage that we accumulated over the weekend. we then had dinner in bancroft (mmm...food that once lived) and continued our four hour journey back to toronto.
i arrived at my home in toronto at 11:30pm where i bid farewell to my omie crew of neil, devi, and christi. but my evening was not over yet. i dropped my gear off, and then jumped into a cab determined to catch the tail end of pride celebrations. there were still many people walking around church street, but there were no more sound stages and most of the booths were being taken down. i still ran into some very colourful and proud revellers that littered the streets. spending the day naked by a lake with hippies and ending it surrounded by colourful and proud fagz in the big smoke...what a great weekend. i ran into some friends at zelda's on church and had a few drinks with them. we then proceeded to an after hours on yonge street where we danced until the sun came up.
i love june. i love birthday month. i am so very thankful for the people i share my life with who give my personality shape, and thankful to live in the most diverse and multicultural city in the world (it may not be perfekt but no one does it better). as i post this blog entry, canada has now become the third country in the world to rekognize same-sex marriage. i'll leave you with a quote by the good reverend al sharpton. when asked what he thought of gay marriage, al sharpton said "i have my own views on gay marriage, but those are my own views. but the moment you tell someone else that they are not entitled to the same rights and freedoms that you are entitled to is the moment you tell someone that they are less than you."
amen
last thursday i left the big smoke of toronto and headed towards the self proclaimed most talented town in canada, bancroft. we actually were heading to a small town outside of bancroft called shutte to attend re:union, the festival formerly known as om. om evolved into re:union and took on a different approach. it was a members only celebration, but anyone could be a member. to be a member you had to contribute both monetarily ($42 membership fee) and through volunteer time (5hrs of volunteer time). this eliminated all spectators, and left only participants who consciously made a choice to contribute their time and money to make re:union happen. the result was the tip of the spear when it came to the quality of the people there to celebrate with. re:union was a full week long event, but most of us were only able to make it up for the weekend.
i left early thursday morning with my friend neil, devi, and her friend christi who was visiting from sarasota, florida. we packed up our rental car and began our trek towards the canadian shield of ontario. our first stop was in a town called tweed to grab groceries, beer, and lunch at kelly's restaurant.
our next stop was a quick visit to neil's kitty kat mojo. mojo is currently living with neil's friend wendy who lives in a beautiful little cottage on the black river in tweed. of course we had to take a quick dip in the river before heading to bancroft, so we started our weekend nakedness a little earlier than expected. the current in the black river was very intense, so i grabbed on to some of the rocks and let my body flow with the river. with water rushing over and under me, i let gaia remind me that everything flows back into itself...and that saucy tart also massaged me in ways that i never thought she could. gaia, you dirty little slut ;)
we left tweed and arrived in shutte an hour later, with time to spare before sundown. after checking in at the gate, we parked our car and went to survey the land in our search for a camping spot. the land was beautiful, the air clean, and the lake clear and refreshing. breathing in clean air was such a change from the smog we are used to in toronto. its easy to forget the big city when you can walk around barefoot in a forest with other like minded people.
after dropping off our food donation at the kind kitchen, we set up our camp right off the main path and immediately began our canadian ritual when out in the bush: we cracked open a few beers and smoked a joint. god i love this country.
many people who were at the site had been there since the beginning of the week. there were about 150 people when we arrived. that number would double by friday night. with a smaller number of participants, and no spectators, re:union was a very intimate and tight vibe.
the om mission statement: to create an environment that encourages freedom of thought and responsibility of action through a ritual of celebration and education where we can come together to build a sustainable future.
over the past few years it became more difficult to keep the spirit of om alive in all of the om participants because of the number of spectators, people showing up expecting a party and not willing to contribute anything more than the cost of their ticket. re:union brought things back to the original grassroots mentality that om was built on, community. there were no spectators, only participants. and of course the leave no trace mentality was practiced by all, especially seeing as there were no garbage cans on the site. if you brought it with you take it with you. no one should have to pick up after you, and you should not have to pick up after other people. a very simple concept that was easy to practice which resulted in a very clean venue to celebrate on. the bathrooms however could have been better. hippie holes in the ground with a wood structure built over top of it is not a porta pottie. i really felt sorry for the females who had to perfect the hover.
it was refreshing to be out of the city with so many incredible people. there were no sound stages on the thursday night, so most of my evening was spent with friends that i had not seen in a long time. my friend corrinne was visiting from newfoundland, and i was so excited to see her. i've spent many oms with corrinne, and it was a pleasant surprise to see that she made it this year as she had recently moved to the east coastwith her daughter. if you're reading this corrinne, spending time with you at re:union was one of the highlights of my weekend. *mwah*
on friday i woke up and had something to eat at the kind kitchen, some incredible fruit salad and a bit of cereal. the kind kitchen is fueled by donations, run by volunteers, and provides vegan meals for all re:union participants throughout the celebration. at 10am, neil and i reported to the front gate for volunteer duty where we helped direct arriving cars to the parking lot (with lots of frisbee tossing in between). after our five hour volunteer shift, we headed towards the lake where we spent the rest of the day basking in the sun and swimming in the lake. its so refreshing to be surrounded by people who are comfortable being themselves, especially naked. i kept on hearing my mother in my head saying "don't you have any shame?" as i donned my birthday suit i was reminded that i am not ashamed of my body at all, and neither was any of the other naked beach goers this past weekend.
there was such a variety of people that made up the re:union community this year. from families, to gnomes, i even saw a mack daddy go for a swim. i also learned that membership doesn't necessarily mean that crazy people aren't allowed to join. i heard that there was someone who posted a sign off the main path in the forest that said "women only" which lead to a masochistic man's tent who was wielding an 8 inch hunting knife. what the fuck? i'm so glad that i never came across that guy. word is that his knife was taken away from him, and later that weekend he was removed by police from the site.
as the sun was setting, we left the lake and headed towards the kind kitchen for some dinner. on our way back, we noticed a large group of people in the field holding hands. of course we had to find our what was going on, and it seemed like we weren't the only ones being drawn towards that energy as many others followed. it was a workshop about the mayan calendar being held by an old hippie. we held hands and praised the sun as it set, then chanted and danced. seeing as there was no om circle this year, this was the closest thing.
the sound stages began that friday night. there were two stages, the hOMe bass stage by the om bus complete with a screen for projections, and another man made dome created by the omshawa crew (they built rOMe at last year's om). the music at hOMe bass began with a great variety of breaks, drum and bass, and jungle. dancing barefoot in a forest under the stars is such a magical feeling.
at 10pm on friday night, we were treated to a 7 minute trailer for peter mettler's latest documentary on om. peter directed the film gambling, gods and lsd, a three hour contemporary dream following the visible and invisible currents of our synaesthetic world. he filmed most of the content for his om documentary last year, and i was honored to spend a good amount of time with him at last years celebration sharing with each other on and off film. i remember him asking me questions which he called "triggers". i love that word. the questions he asked triggers certain parts of people's personalities, parts that make people question themselves and at the same time encourage them to feel comfortable about themselves. i 've also learned that the truth is always distorted by the presence of a camera. cameras immediately stimulate the parts of people's personality that is on film.
there were many familiar faces in peter's trailer for om, including a short clip of peter and i sharing. it was interesting seeing myself up on a screen, to hear others rekognize my existence on film, but the highlight for me was the effect my words had on the people around me. i had so many people come up to me after the trailer played and express how a few words that came out of my mouth captured on film positively affected them. i'm just as blown away by the people i share my life with, and its so easy to tune into a positive energy when you are at om. there are two ways to spread light, be the candle that creates it or the mirror that reflektz it.
what did i say in the trailer? i said "if you wonder where the vibe went, maybe you left it at home or in the car. om is what you bring to it. don't expect others to give you something that you aren't willing to put on the table yourself. the vibe is contagious, and it starts with you."
the rest of my weekend consisted of dancing barefoot with beautiful souls, swimming naked in a refreshingly cool and beautiful lake, attending workshops on topics such as alternative fuel resources and dreadlock maintenance, eating, drinking, enjoying lifted spirits, spending quality time with incredible people (hi zanzae) and of course lots of frisbee tossing. did i mention how addicted to frisbee i am? playing frisbee in the lake was too much fun. diving catches in the water took frisbee to new and refreshing levels for me.
this past weekend was also pride in toronto, a weekend that i look forward to every year. it wasn't a difficult choice when it came down to re:union or pride. as much as i love being in thebig smoke with hundreds of thousands of gorgeous and proud people, i enjoy being barefoot up north with omies just a little bit better
as we packed up sunday afternoon, i was pleasantly reminded how blessed we are to live in canada, and how beautiful ontario and the people who i share my life with are. after a nice dip in the lake we made a quick stop at the local dump where we dropped off our recycling and garbage that we accumulated over the weekend. we then had dinner in bancroft (mmm...food that once lived) and continued our four hour journey back to toronto.
i arrived at my home in toronto at 11:30pm where i bid farewell to my omie crew of neil, devi, and christi. but my evening was not over yet. i dropped my gear off, and then jumped into a cab determined to catch the tail end of pride celebrations. there were still many people walking around church street, but there were no more sound stages and most of the booths were being taken down. i still ran into some very colourful and proud revellers that littered the streets. spending the day naked by a lake with hippies and ending it surrounded by colourful and proud fagz in the big smoke...what a great weekend. i ran into some friends at zelda's on church and had a few drinks with them. we then proceeded to an after hours on yonge street where we danced until the sun came up.
i love june. i love birthday month. i am so very thankful for the people i share my life with who give my personality shape, and thankful to live in the most diverse and multicultural city in the world (it may not be perfekt but no one does it better). as i post this blog entry, canada has now become the third country in the world to rekognize same-sex marriage. i'll leave you with a quote by the good reverend al sharpton. when asked what he thought of gay marriage, al sharpton said "i have my own views on gay marriage, but those are my own views. but the moment you tell someone else that they are not entitled to the same rights and freedoms that you are entitled to is the moment you tell someone that they are less than you."
amen
i've placed pikchaz of my weekend and previous om celebrations in my pikcha archive. they will give you a window to what om is all about, but the only real way to know is to experience it. enjoy.
- normurai \m/^_^\m/Thursday, June 23, 2005
~*...the night before om re:union...*~
i don't know if any of you have had the pleasure of playing ultimate frisbee, but this has to be the most fun team sport i've ever come across. i play on a team made up of friends from the tribe board (yes, www.tribe.ca seems to be a theme with me eh?). we play in the toronto ultimate club and it so refreshing to play with a team with experience. about two years ago, my friend danielle invited me out to play ultimate with her team. i didn't think i could handle it because of the running. in '98 i busted up my knee real good skateboarding, and had reconstructive surgery on my knee. i've got a metal plate with seven screws in my leg now. i thought i would never be able to run. i proved myself wrong, and i've been addicted to ultimate ever since. think of football mixed with soccer, but with a frisbee. its such a rush.
our team is called the tribe monkeys, and on tuesday night we kicked the flickstones' ass! well, it wasn't a beating, but winning 17-10 still feels good. nice work monkees.
so tomorrow i'm going to om, or as its called this year re:union. you can go to www.sumkidz.org and find out more about the event. i went to om for the first time in '99 cause my friends roland and leanne invited me. i was a big supporter of the destiny world electronic music festival so i was a bit skeptical about attending another three day outdoor music event. boy was i ever surprised, and changed. om was more than just an outdoor music festival, it was a community. i was blown away by the people, and the mentality that they brought with them. LEAVE NO TRACE was the root ideal. if you bring it in with you, take it out. simple. and people did just that. they picked up after themselves. wow, what a simple concept. this made for a very clean and beautiful space to celebrate. and celebrate we did.
i remember running into a guy at om in '99 who was running through a daisy field with his dog. i asked "is that your dog?". he answered "naw, he's his own dog. i'm just his friend." i'll never forget that.
om is a celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year (which normally falls around my birthday, schweet). on the solstice, all of the participants at om congregated, held hands, and chanted. it takes something very powerful to get a 1000 people chanting. my first year there were 750 people at om. as the years progressed, om brought in close to 5000 people. that's where things started to get crazy. at some point in time things reach critical mass, a point where the society and mentality break down, where it can't support itself anymore. om started to get more spectators than participants. people who came expecting something without putting anything in. it also became very expensive to hold an event for 5000 people outdoors, and people began to complain about the high ticket prices. the core group who organized om had a huge task before them, organize an outdoor festival for 5000 people. it took a lot of work, and the core did not get the recognition or the compensation they deserved.
last year, the venue for om was pulled out from under them 5 days before the festival. the core had to find a new venue within days and move the entire festival, which had already begun to be constructed, to another spot. thank god they found a new place to hold the event, but it was a good 5 hour drive west of where they had originally planned. in the end, it was the people that made om what it was last year. there are no spectators, only participants. at least that's what they tried to bring out in the "omies". i've always known that. don't expect someone to do something that you aren't willing to do yourself. don't expect anything if you're not willing to put something into it.
this year's om has taken a new turn. participants are required to be members, holding each person accountable for their actions and making it mandatory to contribute to the community financially and through volunteering time. some people felt that this approach was elitist, that it excluded people. i think its a great idea. it keeps the numbers down, filters out the people who refer to the om mentality as "hippie shit", and holds each person accountable for their own actions. i could go on and on about om, and maybe i will in future. but what i've learned from on is that it is possible to create a sustainable future. it is possible to pick up after yourself. it is possible to live and celebrate peacefully with your fellow man. om is the most inspiring place i've been to, it inspired me to act. it has changed my life. i can't wait to contribute and celebrate again this year...even if it means that i miss toronto pride celebrations. i fukkin love pride weekend, but i love om just a little bit more....just a little.
yes, that is an om logo in my dredi knight brand. i was trying to figure out how to include the om logo with dredi knight. i first thought that i could replace the e in dredi with the om symbol cause it looks like a number 3. but what if people didn't know what it was, and assumed it was a 3? they'd go to dr3diknight.com then it hit me. there it is, right in front of me. dredi knight dot cohm. and if people got confused the first assumption is that it is a dot com. the om symbol used is also my own version of the symbol. i also have it tattooed on my shoulder. yup, it changed my life that much. to me, om means that everything is occurring perfectly at all times. it is the sound of the universe, the sound of oneness.
to see pix of my first om, just go to my pikcha archive.
i'll see you after om.
namaste
- norm \m/^_^\m/
our team is called the tribe monkeys, and on tuesday night we kicked the flickstones' ass! well, it wasn't a beating, but winning 17-10 still feels good. nice work monkees.
so tomorrow i'm going to om, or as its called this year re:union. you can go to www.sumkidz.org and find out more about the event. i went to om for the first time in '99 cause my friends roland and leanne invited me. i was a big supporter of the destiny world electronic music festival so i was a bit skeptical about attending another three day outdoor music event. boy was i ever surprised, and changed. om was more than just an outdoor music festival, it was a community. i was blown away by the people, and the mentality that they brought with them. LEAVE NO TRACE was the root ideal. if you bring it in with you, take it out. simple. and people did just that. they picked up after themselves. wow, what a simple concept. this made for a very clean and beautiful space to celebrate. and celebrate we did.
i remember running into a guy at om in '99 who was running through a daisy field with his dog. i asked "is that your dog?". he answered "naw, he's his own dog. i'm just his friend." i'll never forget that.
om is a celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year (which normally falls around my birthday, schweet). on the solstice, all of the participants at om congregated, held hands, and chanted. it takes something very powerful to get a 1000 people chanting. my first year there were 750 people at om. as the years progressed, om brought in close to 5000 people. that's where things started to get crazy. at some point in time things reach critical mass, a point where the society and mentality break down, where it can't support itself anymore. om started to get more spectators than participants. people who came expecting something without putting anything in. it also became very expensive to hold an event for 5000 people outdoors, and people began to complain about the high ticket prices. the core group who organized om had a huge task before them, organize an outdoor festival for 5000 people. it took a lot of work, and the core did not get the recognition or the compensation they deserved.
last year, the venue for om was pulled out from under them 5 days before the festival. the core had to find a new venue within days and move the entire festival, which had already begun to be constructed, to another spot. thank god they found a new place to hold the event, but it was a good 5 hour drive west of where they had originally planned. in the end, it was the people that made om what it was last year. there are no spectators, only participants. at least that's what they tried to bring out in the "omies". i've always known that. don't expect someone to do something that you aren't willing to do yourself. don't expect anything if you're not willing to put something into it.
this year's om has taken a new turn. participants are required to be members, holding each person accountable for their actions and making it mandatory to contribute to the community financially and through volunteering time. some people felt that this approach was elitist, that it excluded people. i think its a great idea. it keeps the numbers down, filters out the people who refer to the om mentality as "hippie shit", and holds each person accountable for their own actions. i could go on and on about om, and maybe i will in future. but what i've learned from on is that it is possible to create a sustainable future. it is possible to pick up after yourself. it is possible to live and celebrate peacefully with your fellow man. om is the most inspiring place i've been to, it inspired me to act. it has changed my life. i can't wait to contribute and celebrate again this year...even if it means that i miss toronto pride celebrations. i fukkin love pride weekend, but i love om just a little bit more....just a little.
yes, that is an om logo in my dredi knight brand. i was trying to figure out how to include the om logo with dredi knight. i first thought that i could replace the e in dredi with the om symbol cause it looks like a number 3. but what if people didn't know what it was, and assumed it was a 3? they'd go to dr3diknight.com then it hit me. there it is, right in front of me. dredi knight dot cohm. and if people got confused the first assumption is that it is a dot com. the om symbol used is also my own version of the symbol. i also have it tattooed on my shoulder. yup, it changed my life that much. to me, om means that everything is occurring perfectly at all times. it is the sound of the universe, the sound of oneness.
to see pix of my first om, just go to my pikcha archive.
i'll see you after om.
namaste
- norm \m/^_^\m/
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
[ [ The Debaucherous XXX Birthday of a Dredi Knight ] ]
wow. what an incredible birthday week. so incredible that it has taken me this long to get my review of my birthday week online. please bear with me as i'm trying out different blogging software. i'm feelin out my options. let me know what you think.
so this is my first real entry for my blog on www.drediknight.com what better event to launch my site than my XXX birthday. funny, i never thought i'd live to see 30. i don't know what it is, but i've learned that i'm not the only one who thought they would not live to see 30. turns out i've never been more excited for a birthday than my 30th.
celebrations began on wednesday night, the eve of my XXX. i went to my first activate wednesday jam at footwork. in an attempt to recreate the energy and vibe that was activate wednesdays at element, the activate boyz moved venues to the new footwork as element had closed down. but what made activate wednesdays the best midweek party that toronto had to offer was the people and the venue. combined, the people and element made a great duo. element was a perfect size for wednesday night debauchery, and the people were always out in full force. i didn't get that at footwork last wednesday, so after a few drinks my friend keli and i left. it was 12:30am when we left, a half hour into my birthday. i was a bit disappointed that my birthday was starting off on a less than favourable note (i do love you though keli!), but i wanted more. so on our walk home i stuck my head into every club and bar on queen street to see what was going on. i ended up at system soundbar for my friend roland's wednesday night breaks/down tempo night. it was there that i ran into my friend cory and his beautiful friend olivia who was visiting from new jersey. there weren't many people at system, but i had the company of two beautiful souls to spend the first hours of my birthday with. we ended up at cory's place where we enjoyed each other's company and listened to some incredible beatz. olivia, if you're reading this, toronto looks good on you. i had a great time getting to know you. you should definitely come back here to live.
after a brief nap, i made it over to dreadmaster drew's to get my locks tightened. i normally get my locks tightened every three months. imagine you were being swung around by your hair for two hours, that's what its like to get your hair tightened. but daam do my locks look good. its been a year since i got my dreads done, a one year anniversary for my three year hair plan. yes, i planned out my hairstyle for three years. i knew what hairstyle i would have, what colour it would be, and when it would happen. it all lead up to getting dreadlocks last year on my birthday. it started at om in 2001. i had three red mohawks at om 2001 for four daze. then i shaved my head. after one month, i bleached my hair blonde and then never touched my hair again for almost two years. i let my hair grow out, and because i bleached it when it was very short, the tips of each hair was blonde. yes, i had to go through the dreaded mullet, but i embraced it. its tough when your hair isn't long enough to be put into a pony tail. then i dyed my hair red, which really only coloured the blonde tips red. i had a lot of fun with red tipped hair. in spring of 2003, i had my friend keli cut my hair for the first time in almost two years. it was cut to shoulder length and i began to style it like a samurai (or a normurai), a single pony tail on the top with the rest of my hair hanging down. then on my birthday of 2003, i bleached blonde the part of my hair that was not in the pony tail. i had seen a hawt asian guy with this hairstyle a few years ago and i was blown away. i used to have my hair half blonde half black, but split down the middle. this half and half style was something new for me, and i couldn't wait to rock that style. it even looked hawt with bunz. there just aren't enough boyz walking around with bunz in their hair in my opinion. then on halloween of 2003 i dyed the blonde part of my hair red . red is a hard color to keep red, but it sure looks hawt when its fresh (which is only for a couple of daze). on my birthday, 2004, i got dreadmaster drew to twist my red and black hair into dreadlocks. i chose him because he came highly recommended from other dreadz. he uses a special twisting method that he developed over the past 20 years twisting up locks. he uses no product when twisting locks, no wax at all, just a special knotting method. his locks are the nicest i've ever seen. my hair was a challenge for him because it was so healthy, but he did an excellent job. i am now a dread. alright, now you know about my three year hair plan. yah, as you already know i'm not your average dude. hairstyles aren't necessary but hella fun.
my birthday party this year was off the chain. my friends danielle and ron helped organize a party full of the best people at fez batik. celebrations began at 6pm, even though i didn't arrive until just after 7pm. there were over 260 people on the evite list. i was hoping for a response of about a third, maybe 90 people or so. 139 people responded to the evite. i was so excited to spend my birthday with good people. as i get older, i've learned that i don't have time for shitty people in my life. and it was evident that i did not invite shitty people to my birthday party. we had the patio booked and filled it with the best people. i was pleasantly reminded how incredible the people in my life are, they give my personality shape. danielle, you rawk! she even put up posters on queen street encouraging people to come to my birthday party. there were drink specials and a live band playing. unfortunately we did not have control over the beatz (sorry linzee, turtle, jeremy, dave), but the people made up for it. man, was i ever shmammered. my quote for the evening was TOO MANY BIRTHDAY DRINKS AND NOT ENOUGH NORM! the rainbow of alcoholic beverages took its toll on me half way through the night, and i had to retire to the bathroom to purge myself. i then proceeded to hide out in the back drinking water prepping myself for the next onslaught of "happy birthday man, let me buy you a drink." i was pretty good for the rest of the evening, asking for only one type of alcoholic beverage in an attempt to be nice to my stomach. beer seemed to do the trick...yah, it got me right wrecked.
wow do i ever keep some good looking people in my life. i guess like attracts like. my friends danielle and john even had shirts made that said "who's norm?". my friend sue even dressed up as me. its an interesting feeling being me eh sue? you immediately stimulate the dredi in other people. glad you enjoyed the window into my life.
i got a shirt made for the evening that said "sleeps well with others". i'm such a pleasure slut. then my friends kiki and bethany gave me a pin to wear that said "tame me". my friends know me too well. and no, i don't even think i'm tamable, but if you're up for the challenge i'm always down. the evening was filmed by jason and hilda (thanks guys). people left birthday messages for me and answered a simple question. "who is norm to you?". clips from that video will be up on the site once they have been edited. in the meantime, you can view pix of my birthday debauchery in the pikcha section of my site.
thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate my birthday with me. you give my personality shape, and i'm blessed to have the fukkin kewlest peeps to share my life with. thanks to danielle and ron for organizing the best birthday party ever. thanks to graham for helping danielle plaster queen street with posters. thanks to elsbeth and regan for taking my drunk ass home, holding my head out of the toilet as i worshipped the porcelain god, and even helping me brush my teeth. you guys rawk!
if you wanna see what other people had to say about my birthday celebrations, just head on over to tribe magazine for a review of my XXX birthday shenanigans.
and finally, thanks to you who are reading this blog entry. without any of you, i would not have anyone to share my life with, or anyone interested in following it.
the rest of my birthday weekend was just as top notch. i attended a private play party on friday night (teehee), a baby shower for my friends steve and kate on saturday, followed by the fetish masquerade. the theme for fet was samurais, shoguns, and geishas. oh my god, i was in heaven. so much asian silk on too many hawt bodies *drool*. thanks for joining me kiki! you looked fukkin hawt! on sunday i had brunch with my sister in the gaybourhood at zelda's. god i love that place. then we watched batman begins (the best batman evar), and then i ended my bday weekend chillin at toronto's best weekly event, the promise cherry beach soundsystem.
this summer will be epic for me, it already has been. its like i've been waiting in line all year and i'm finally getting on the ride. and what a ride it is. stay tuned for more adventures of this dredi knight. only two more sleeps until om
namaste
Friday, June 03, 2005
~*...getting on the ride...*~
this is the first post as my entry into the blogosphere...my first official step in changing cyberspace. actually, i've already changed the world. my mom once said to me that i alone couldn't change the world. i refused to believe her, because if i've influenced at least one person to think differently, then i have changed the world. and if you're reading this right now, i've influenced you enough to bring you here. thanks for giving my personality shape.
so birthday month begins. its like i've been waiting in line for the past year and am now just getting on the ride. so many people are geminis. i like to call us fourth quarter babies, cause we were conceived during the beginning of the fourth quarter. i enjoy looking at astrological signs from the perspective of when life began, when someone was conceived, as well as when we first inhaled through our nose and mouth.
just got back from musa on the corner with omies. jackie brown was having her first weekly event there, so there were nuff peeps on that patio drinkin and listening to beatz. i'm listening to shawn escoffery's days like this. "i love days like. i love days like this, its here. here comes the sun." i love that song, so perfect, and that groovin bassline. if you're gonna download it, grab the spinna vocal mix.
i was at my boy klubmasta will's place earlier in the evening after meeting some peeps from the tribe krew at the new tortilla flats. come to think of it, i spent a good portion of my evening with netizens i know by their online nicks first before i knew their real names. but the rush i got from being at will's place will not be forgotten. we were planning our trip to burning man. i am going to the burning man festival. no wedding is going to stop me this year. i belong there. i can't believe i haven't gone yet. that's changing this year.
i finished the list for my birthday evite. man that took me a long time. i'm currently at 260 people on the list. i'm hoping a third of them show up to my party at fez batik. its going to be an epic launch of http://www.blogger.com/www.drediknight.com i sent off my bizcard designs today for my dredi knight cards. i decided to leave my cel phone off the card and only put the website and my email address, somethinglike@phenormenon.com. if i want you to have my cel number, i'll write it down. otherwise, come find me online.
hmmm...how do images work here. photobucket is takin a while to load, and i'm not familiar with hello. i guess i've got a lot of playing around to do with with this app and my blog.
dope. simple html. of course it is.
i might as well end off this first post with my thoughts on me. i'm often asked "who are you?" or "what are you?" to which i respond either i'm in love with myself or i'm a dredi knight. i seek balance by embracing both sides of the force. i'm the kewlest guy in the world because i'm a reflektion of what goes on around me, and i roll with the fukkin kewlest people.
may the force be with you.
- dredi knight \m/^_^\m/
so birthday month begins. its like i've been waiting in line for the past year and am now just getting on the ride. so many people are geminis. i like to call us fourth quarter babies, cause we were conceived during the beginning of the fourth quarter. i enjoy looking at astrological signs from the perspective of when life began, when someone was conceived, as well as when we first inhaled through our nose and mouth.
just got back from musa on the corner with omies. jackie brown was having her first weekly event there, so there were nuff peeps on that patio drinkin and listening to beatz. i'm listening to shawn escoffery's days like this. "i love days like. i love days like this, its here. here comes the sun." i love that song, so perfect, and that groovin bassline. if you're gonna download it, grab the spinna vocal mix.
i was at my boy klubmasta will's place earlier in the evening after meeting some peeps from the tribe krew at the new tortilla flats. come to think of it, i spent a good portion of my evening with netizens i know by their online nicks first before i knew their real names. but the rush i got from being at will's place will not be forgotten. we were planning our trip to burning man. i am going to the burning man festival. no wedding is going to stop me this year. i belong there. i can't believe i haven't gone yet. that's changing this year.
i finished the list for my birthday evite. man that took me a long time. i'm currently at 260 people on the list. i'm hoping a third of them show up to my party at fez batik. its going to be an epic launch of http://www.blogger.com/www.drediknight.com i sent off my bizcard designs today for my dredi knight cards. i decided to leave my cel phone off the card and only put the website and my email address, somethinglike@phenormenon.com. if i want you to have my cel number, i'll write it down. otherwise, come find me online.
hmmm...how do images work here. photobucket is takin a while to load, and i'm not familiar with hello. i guess i've got a lot of playing around to do with with this app and my blog.
dope. simple html. of course it is.
i might as well end off this first post with my thoughts on me. i'm often asked "who are you?" or "what are you?" to which i respond either i'm in love with myself or i'm a dredi knight. i seek balance by embracing both sides of the force. i'm the kewlest guy in the world because i'm a reflektion of what goes on around me, and i roll with the fukkin kewlest people.
may the force be with you.
- dredi knight \m/^_^\m/
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