Last year Bob Dylan compiled a song list for Starbucks’ Artist Choice Series. In addition to offering up a keen selection of country, blues, and jazz, he also supplied notes and commentary as to why he held the songs in such regard. BUT, the best part was the forward.
He wrote, "When I was asked to put together this collection of songs, I wasn't sure what to do. So I just grabbed a bunch of things I was into recently. Some people have favorite songs, but I've got songs of the minute -- songs that I'm listening to right now. And if you ask me about one of those songs a year from now, I might not even remember who did it, but at the moment it's everything to me.”
I bring this up as today’s lesson: Nothing is final. One day you’re high. The next day you’re low. You might have a funky, expressive, or awful haircut today, but soon it will grow into something else, something new and random. Maybe you grew up liking pop music and boy bands, but now you like a specific mash up of Electronic & Classical. You might decide you don’t want to smoke cigarettes anymore; that it’s just not who you are. Maybe you were a staunch republican but now have curiosities about the well-spoken and well-organized Democratic nominee. Perhaps you were madly in love last week, but woke up today feeling comfort in solitude, without a desire to be held.
Everything is fine. Not finAL.
We tend to instantly identify with “things.” And we believe in so much, when in fact, a belief isn't known to be true. It's a hope for the truth. We hold grudges because of what someone said when we were young. We store hurtful words and replay them in our minds until we think it to be true. And some of us believe a TV commercial and think we need a faster computer, a smarter phone, a stronger pill, a more relaxed-fit jean, etc. We think that certain things, thoughts, or actions make us who we are and sometimes we become addicted to those thoughts or behaviors and then become too afraid to let them go.
I write (but don't post) a lot and many people may assume I have every self-published word memorized or that I live these shared thoughts constantly. This is not the case. My brain doesn’t reference myself very well actually, and I’m sure I contradict myself every other day in one way or another. One day I feel like I have all the wisdom of the world and the next day my soul wears thin and I stutter just ordering ice cream.
And everything is fine.
Because I trust in the ever-changing climate of the heart. (At least, today I feel that way.) I think it is necessary to have many experiences for the sake of feeling something; for the sake of being challenged, and for the sake of being expressive, to offer something to someone else, to learn what we are capable of. These meanderings, rants, and blogs for instance, provide a great deal of comfort just sharing it, even though I put a part of myself on the line to be criticized.
Oh well, Courage is triumph of the soul is guess.
So remember, You have the right to change your mind.
About anything.
Anytime.
This is not the ending.
P.S. – No doesn’t mean forever. It simply means, “Not right now.”
And on the topic of Not right now, whatever happened to you in the past is not happening now.
You will be safe behind your honest decisions and mood swings.
I promise.
-megz
Friday, October 10, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
I baci di cioccolato - A recipe for Chocomole
Grazie. I present you with a famously delicious recipe. Here I have simplified the portion for your convenience and practicality. Enjoy.
What you'll need in the bowl: 2 Ripe (soft) Avocados -- 20 yummy dates -- Some Coconut Oil, Agave Nectar, Vanilla Extract, and Raw Cacao.
What you'll need on the radio: I prefer Italian, Flamenco, or Reggae. Funiculi, Funicula always puts a bounce over the cutting board. However, Bob Marley goes well with this tropical delicacy.
Halve the two Avocados and mush up all the green goodness. You may throw away the seed but save the skins as those will be used as serving cups later.
Then throw on a heaping spoonful of Coconut Oil. This is a must as it will really dress up the dessert and surprise the tastebuds with something more exotic than you'd anticipated. (On a side note, you can use cococut oil for cooking everything. It's a super healthy alternative, especially for those who still cook with left over bacon grease.)
Add one spoonful of raw Cacao PER avocado. Too much cacao could make the goo bitter, so be modest.
Now stir it up... little darlin' stir it up. If you have a kitchen mixer, try to harmonize with it. Otherwise mixing with a knife and fork will help you get those dates down to a smoother dimension. 
What you'll need in the bowl: 2 Ripe (soft) Avocados -- 20 yummy dates -- Some Coconut Oil, Agave Nectar, Vanilla Extract, and Raw Cacao.
What you'll need on the radio: I prefer Italian, Flamenco, or Reggae. Funiculi, Funicula always puts a bounce over the cutting board. However, Bob Marley goes well with this tropical delicacy.
Halve the two Avocados and mush up all the green goodness. You may throw away the seed but save the skins as those will be used as serving cups later.
Chop chop chop the dates again and again and again. About 8-10 dates per avocado should do the sticky trick. A food processor makes this task super easy, but doing it by hand can be meditative. Careful you don't zone out and add fingernail or blood to the recipe. There's already plenty of calcium in the pudding.
Squirt/Pour/Drizzle in as much Agave Nectar as you'd like. I like to do a few tablespoons to start and then add more at the end if the mousse isn't sweet enough.
Just a drop of Vanilla will do.
Then throw on a heaping spoonful of Coconut Oil. This is a must as it will really dress up the dessert and surprise the tastebuds with something more exotic than you'd anticipated. (On a side note, you can use cococut oil for cooking everything. It's a super healthy alternative, especially for those who still cook with left over bacon grease.)
Add one spoonful of raw Cacao PER avocado. Too much cacao could make the goo bitter, so be modest.
Now stir it up... little darlin' stir it up. If you have a kitchen mixer, try to harmonize with it. Otherwise mixing with a knife and fork will help you get those dates down to a smoother dimension.
The recipe should fit perfectly back into the Avocado Skins. Whatever's left over you should eat with your fingers right then and there.
Add your favorite garnish and let cool in the fridge. Some prefer this dessert the day after as all the flavors congeal and the whole thing becomes more like a pudding.
Have fun. Get messy. Be creative. And if this can be done in a hotel room, you can certainly pull it off in your own Cucina.
Have fun. Get messy. Be creative. And if this can be done in a hotel room, you can certainly pull it off in your own Cucina.
Ciao. Arrivederci gente bella.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
This is the ad that won the gold medal in the print ads category at Cannes Lion, and quite rightly. It's powerful for sure and hopefully effective.
The fine print that you probably can't see at the bottom reads: "In India, every year 1.1 million unborn baby girls die before they're born. To stop female foeticide, contact... "
In this country abortion is practically celebrated. The battle for the woman's right to choose has overshadowed the very definition of the act. Fetal homicide.
When the procedure is explained so bluntly in an ad like this, it sounds horrifying. When they mention that a specific sex is being targeted, it sounds even worse.
You could argue that this is certainly outrageous in that it is happening without question or choice. But would giving the woman the opportunity to choose to have the same procedure done make it any less outrageous? Would it make the unborn child any less mutilated? Any less dead?
This is certianly a touchy subject for a lot of people, but it has never been one that I've shied away from. I've gone back and forth between being totally against the idea of abortion to being certain that I am not one to tell anyone else what to do or how to live. The middle for me is hoping that with the choice or not, people would come to a common understanding that it is killing, that it is wrong, and that it shouldn't be done.
Now it may seem a bit naive or utopian to describe or even hope for something like that to happen. God did give us free will, but look what we've done with it. All I'm saying, free will or not, is that I think God had in mind a better way for us to live and, given the choice, we're not choosing the better way.
While I have seen the likes of this ad before, reading it still upset me. My question is, can anyone who supports abortion in America, or anywhere, really have the audacity to be outraged by this ad and what is going on in India and elsewhere?
http://commercial-archive.com/d138bfd7bb6f0663dcc71c6b82557c00/2008/mayjpgs/Aadhar.jpg
Thursday, February 14, 2008
happy thursday
the tradition is that st. valentine is honored for continuing to marry lovers without the approval of the church. he was busted and beheaded on the 14th of february. supposedly he wrote letters to his jailer’s daughter and his last one was cleverly signed, “love, your Valentine.” years later, a king recognized this and sent the first love letter on this day.
centuries after that, someone got smart in the americas and copied the cause for correspondence for their own coital curiosities, thus giving hallmark something positive to cash in on.
if you're wondering what hallmark-ish gift to get for your significant other, you're wasting your time. valentine’s day is to be shared and if your partner is expecting something from you to keep the game going then they suck. if you’ve done something wrong and you think your big dinner plans are going to save your relationship then you’re still wrong. valentine's day should be about the celebration between two people and everything they understand about each other.
i become sympathetic for my old friends, who i still look up to and bless and love the best i can without contact, being as time apart has created in them a resentment and a misunderstanding, confusing their past with their present and has put faces on their pains rather than allowing themselves to simply be, create and grow, and not deny themselves anything. i hug them in my thoughts as i do all the people who’ve turned on me over the years, for reasons often unexplained and unexplored on my part. i’m reminded that it’s rarely me who changes, but my friends, and love must go on in directions where it’s needed and where it gives me the greatest joy when i share it.
i like to think of this calendar event occurring because of birds. birds choose their mates in mid-february. we look up to birds. we envy them. so, we eat candy in hopes of getting some kind of a lift.
it must be in my blood to go back and forth with what this day of love means to me. i make it the best of both the beheading and the beloved to be.
happy beheading to you and yours, may you be successful in finding your bird...
peace and love and better understanding
your valentine if you don’t have one
megs
centuries after that, someone got smart in the americas and copied the cause for correspondence for their own coital curiosities, thus giving hallmark something positive to cash in on.
if you're wondering what hallmark-ish gift to get for your significant other, you're wasting your time. valentine’s day is to be shared and if your partner is expecting something from you to keep the game going then they suck. if you’ve done something wrong and you think your big dinner plans are going to save your relationship then you’re still wrong. valentine's day should be about the celebration between two people and everything they understand about each other.
i become sympathetic for my old friends, who i still look up to and bless and love the best i can without contact, being as time apart has created in them a resentment and a misunderstanding, confusing their past with their present and has put faces on their pains rather than allowing themselves to simply be, create and grow, and not deny themselves anything. i hug them in my thoughts as i do all the people who’ve turned on me over the years, for reasons often unexplained and unexplored on my part. i’m reminded that it’s rarely me who changes, but my friends, and love must go on in directions where it’s needed and where it gives me the greatest joy when i share it.
i like to think of this calendar event occurring because of birds. birds choose their mates in mid-february. we look up to birds. we envy them. so, we eat candy in hopes of getting some kind of a lift.
it must be in my blood to go back and forth with what this day of love means to me. i make it the best of both the beheading and the beloved to be.
happy beheading to you and yours, may you be successful in finding your bird...
peace and love and better understanding
your valentine if you don’t have one
megs
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Nope, and i'll tell you why...
#1 - most of the people in this country vote without knowing thing one about the person they're voting for or why they should/should not be elected into office.
#2 - a lot of people vote based on name recognition alone, which is one reason why i believe that a vote for hilary is a vote for bill; invariably from someone who knows the last name and thinks he ran the ish out of this country and will do it again, if only behind the guise of his wife.
#3 - i'm not too sure i want to choose sides in a voting match to determine whether a BLACK man or a white WOMAN gets to be the first first.
#4 - i think the media chooses the president; simply based on who they choose to talk about, how much, and in what way. they describe people who might have a good chance at changing things as radical and they build up those who will only maintain the status quo; practically supporting just another form of dynasty. the presidency is being passed around like a party joint from the Bushes to the Clintons to the Bushes and maybe back again.
#5 - to illuminate the quasi-apathetic take i have on the whole thing; i just don't feel like driving all the way to the island to cast a vote that, at this point, won't really make a difference as far as i'm concerned.
no sense in complaining if you're not doing anything to try and change what you're complaining about. but if someone that i don't like gets elected i'm not going to feel better knowing that i didn't vote for them nor am i going to feel bad thinking that my one vote would've gotten someone else into office. not entirely selfish either as i don't put much weight in my one vote affecting anything for the greater good, or worse. not complaining, just throwing my two cents around. at least, what my two cents happens to be for the moment.
#2 - a lot of people vote based on name recognition alone, which is one reason why i believe that a vote for hilary is a vote for bill; invariably from someone who knows the last name and thinks he ran the ish out of this country and will do it again, if only behind the guise of his wife.
#3 - i'm not too sure i want to choose sides in a voting match to determine whether a BLACK man or a white WOMAN gets to be the first first.
#4 - i think the media chooses the president; simply based on who they choose to talk about, how much, and in what way. they describe people who might have a good chance at changing things as radical and they build up those who will only maintain the status quo; practically supporting just another form of dynasty. the presidency is being passed around like a party joint from the Bushes to the Clintons to the Bushes and maybe back again.
#5 - to illuminate the quasi-apathetic take i have on the whole thing; i just don't feel like driving all the way to the island to cast a vote that, at this point, won't really make a difference as far as i'm concerned.
no sense in complaining if you're not doing anything to try and change what you're complaining about. but if someone that i don't like gets elected i'm not going to feel better knowing that i didn't vote for them nor am i going to feel bad thinking that my one vote would've gotten someone else into office. not entirely selfish either as i don't put much weight in my one vote affecting anything for the greater good, or worse. not complaining, just throwing my two cents around. at least, what my two cents happens to be for the moment.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Best Society - Philip Larkin
When I was a child, I thought,
Casually, that solitude
Never needed to be sought.
Something everybody had,
Like nakedness, it lay at hand,
Not specially right or specially wrong,
A plentiful and obvious thing
Not at all hard to understand.
Then, after twenty, it became
At once more difficult to get
And more desired - though all the same
More undesirable; for what
You are alone has, to achieve
The rank of fact, to be expressed
In terms of others, or it's just
A compensating make-believe.
Much better stay in company!
To love you must have someone else,
Giving requires a legatee,
Good neighbours need whole parishfuls
Of folk to do it on - in short,
Our virtues are all social; if,
Deprived of solitude, you chafe,
It's clear you're not the virtuous sort.
Viciously, then, I lock my door.
The gas-fire breathes. The wind outside
Ushers in evening rain. Once more
Uncontradicting solitude
Supports me on its giant palm;
And like a sea-anemone
Or simple snail, there cautiously
Unfolds, emerges, what I am.
... i could post his poetry all day long
Casually, that solitude
Never needed to be sought.
Something everybody had,
Like nakedness, it lay at hand,
Not specially right or specially wrong,
A plentiful and obvious thing
Not at all hard to understand.
Then, after twenty, it became
At once more difficult to get
And more desired - though all the same
More undesirable; for what
You are alone has, to achieve
The rank of fact, to be expressed
In terms of others, or it's just
A compensating make-believe.
Much better stay in company!
To love you must have someone else,
Giving requires a legatee,
Good neighbours need whole parishfuls
Of folk to do it on - in short,
Our virtues are all social; if,
Deprived of solitude, you chafe,
It's clear you're not the virtuous sort.
Viciously, then, I lock my door.
The gas-fire breathes. The wind outside
Ushers in evening rain. Once more
Uncontradicting solitude
Supports me on its giant palm;
And like a sea-anemone
Or simple snail, there cautiously
Unfolds, emerges, what I am.
... i could post his poetry all day long
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