Sick and 1984

The term "sick" has morphed over the years. It used to mean bad, in the non-Michael Jackson, sense. Calling someone sick in '84 would get you a cuff about the ears and teeth. I'm sick right now - being sick is not sick; in the current sense. I'm considering the Dutch wine cure: drink wine until your cold is gone. Could work.

1984 didn't end in an Orwellian blast. For me 1984 was the beginning. That was the year that I bought my first tape/album: Van Halen 1984. It still holds up as a very fine album. An album full of classic hits and a few rare gems too: Jump, Panama and Hot for Teacher...yeah! Getting your first rock album is moment of passage. I'm glad that my first album, bought with my own dough, was so nice. Shit...Culture Club would have gotten me a solid boot circle - so I made the right call. Van Halen 1984 - a most sick album. This is the album that launched my total love of music - just slap that tape into my yellow, sporty, Sony Walkman - very choice.

What right of passage is there today for the youth of our nation? My first legal download? Crazy times. Send me back to 1984...besides maybe I would not have to drink so much wine.

Snoop Bloggie Blog

There are moments in life that just seem to transcend. You feel this deep feeling of rightness. Pure goodness can do this for me.

- cold beers in an icy pail, bbq smoking, wind in the trees.
- a perfect song as I roll down an empty road
- strumming a flat top guitar and finding that sweet chord

What is your moment? Joseph Campbell called this a place of bliss. Zen Monks would pause and compose a haiku. Maybe...modern society needs to snag these moments and recognize them and give them their due credit, value and worth.

Certain songs can do this; I listened to the new Tragically Hip album this morning on the way to the wheel of which I'm a cog. I could barely work - I was drunk with euphoria. I came in telling people to convert to the church of Gord Downie. Read: get these tunes right now.

The thought that I'm having is what makes these moments so great? What causes this huge connection with the universe? Cool shit though.

Also, it is an impossible concept to teach. Kids don't really get haiku...but hey maybe they will someday; when they have one of these moments of super clarity and rightness.

Go get one of these moments for yourself...find your place of bliss.

Being Grown Up

Being an adult is rough one. As a kid I always bounced back from a lot of the evils that befell me. Kids tend to move on; stare at the Star Wars poster on their bedroom wall and watch toons with a bowl of frosted flakes.

Somedays I'm reaching for my PS3 controller, the Bible, a book of old philosophy, beers with a chaser or some tender tunes from a great band. Nothing seems to really set my mind at ease. But hey maybe a few transcendent moments will help.

I'd trade it all for a big rock solid faith...maybe.

The journey is the thing though. Right?

Okay, last couple of days two teens that I know are dying of cancer, and one student of mine from a couple of years ago has schizophrenia. Brutal - not like a catch phrase - but really brutal. These kids have to pack their lives into a short little span.

I'm stuck thinking about these folks and their kin. How do you hold up? Being a grown up, in a way, just means loading up the burdens and bearing on.

Do you give this burden to Jesus? - I wish it was that easy. What does that really take?

Pick a metaphor: life is a burden, life is a journey, life is ...distractions, life is growing up...