Hurry up were dreaming

So I was listening to the new M83 album today titled "Hurry up were dreaming". M83 is a French musician named Anthony Gonzalez and he is largely inspired by the 80s. The song "Midnight City" came on and I immediately started bopping my head. The heavy use of re-verb and vintage synthesizers definitely projects a sense of nostalgia, which is why I love this album so much. Any Whom I started to think about the 80's even though I was born a couple years after the decade ended. I started to think about how cool it would have been to be a teenager growing up and watching the thriller video for the first time, or hearing the birth of Techno music. I can’t help but feel that there is a part of me that romanticizes a decade that I was never part of, but a lot of my favourite music are from the 80s or was inspired by it, and many of my favourite movies are from that decade as well such as the "Breakfast Club" or the "Karate Kid" . I can certainly make do without the fashion sense, for instance the spandex or the leg warmers everybody seemed to be rocking, but I guess it was a time to be outrageous, and wild. Any ways as I listened to the rest of M83s album, if someone would have told me the song titled "Steve Mcqueen" was from 1982 I would have believed them, Anthony captured the essence of so many things I have only been able to experience from watching movies or looking at a photograph from the past, he was able to paint a picture and took his listeners to a "dream" like state as the title of the album suggested. Some of the stand out songs included "Midnight City", "Reunion", and "New Map".

A Lesson I Learned In Life

Its always those bright sunny days, the trees are bright green, you can hear the ice cream truck in the close distance, everyone is having a good time, and I think to myself what can go wrong? Its difficult to single out one life lesson I have learned, but one particular lesson I have carried with me through out the years is that things very rarely go the way you want them to. Life is very unpredictable and you never know what is going to come around the corner. You should definitely carry yourself with confidence, but always be ready for disappointment, even from people that are dearest to you. My parents divorced when I was 12 years old, I very seldom saw my dad after that, but he always kept in touch, usually around the holiday months. One particular Halloween I recall he had promised to take me to Fright Night, when the day came around I didn't hear a word from him. I don't know what came over me, but I continued effortlessly to dial his cell phone number, only to get the same answering machine message. After that day, I realized that even your parents break promises, I always knew he wasn't perfect, but from than on he continued to go back on his words and I rarely saw him again, even on holidays. At first I wasn't prepared for the disappointment,and now that I think back the endless calls made me seem desperate and desolate, but I was a kid and ill never know if someone was on the other side of that cellphone ignoring my calls, or maybe he had something more important to do. Although I do know now to expect the worst and hope for the best, its kind of like wearing your seat belt driving head onto a light pole at 100 miles per hour, if your protected, the inevitable impact wont be as harsh.

Personal Goals

As a child and even as a teenager, a lot of my goals were far-fetched, and some were even fairy tale like. I was unaware of the various curb balls and side tracks that life throws at you. I refused to think realistically as my mother put it, if all that meant was working as a mechanic or a plumber (nothing against these professions it’s just not for me!) I guess you can say I was unfocused, and didn't learn the meaning of goal setting and following through with things until later on in life. Like a lot of kids I didn't learn from being told what to do, it was more of a lengthy trial and error process, perhaps it was just the course of growing up and maturing that made me learn to make compromises as well as get more organized, but nonetheless I woke up one day and a light bulb went off in my head! I was always involved with Music growing up, and I had my eyes set on becoming a DJ. Now that my musical goals are coming into fruition I have learned to adjust my goals accordingly. First I obviously had to buy the equipment, but then I realized that in order to achieve my long term goal I had to do a dozen smaller ones, that would help in the process. I had to become good at public speaking, I had to create a financial plan, I had to create a marketing plan, I had to learn the ability to make decisions quickly. None of these things came easily for me, I recently just completed my business plan, and I am still working on completing my other goals. One important thing I have realized is my weaknesses; I don't see my short comings as losses (after all terrible things happen to everyone), only as areas where I need some improvement, I guess what it all boils down to is being persistent, passion and patience, the first step is figuring out what you want to do!

De Niro's Game

De Niro's game named after the famous actor (you guessed it ) Robert De Niro , is one of my favourite books of all time. I remember the day I came across this book, I was working a 12 hour grave yard shift, as a security guard somewhere in Whistler, and needless to say I needed a way to pass time. So I headed to the book store, I cant really remember what drew me towards it amongst the hundreds of other books but somehow we managed to find a way to each other. De Niro's Game is a coming of age story about two young men , amidst a war in Lebanon. Rawi Hage whom this novel is by did a great job of creating the tone of the story, and he left a very raw and vivid image in my mind, as I read along. Rawi was able to paint pictures with words perfectly. What I found most appealing about this book was that some of the characters reminded me of people I knew growing up, George was living life in the fast lane, indulging in drugs, driving fast cars, and simply put not caring about the world and its consequences. While Bassam the protagonist worked long hours for little pay, and hoped to leave the war torn city one day. The Two boys lived rugged lives, while dodging bombs just to go to school or to grab a bag of chips from the local mini mart. Neither of the boys were model citizens, but that is what I found fascinating about this book, it didn't shy away from the fact that they were products of their environment, they did what they had to do to survive. I was also reminded that teenage guys are the same wherever you travel to in the world, no matter what the conditions are, we all like to chase girls, and dress in cool outfits, and we all get in trouble once in awhile "Boys will be boys" as the saying goes. Any ways to talk about the plot any more would be giving it away, and I encourage everyone to read it. This book was definitely a page turner, and I finished the book after only two shifts.

My Thoughts On The Canucks Riot

I had the "pleasure" of being in down town, on that eventful day, that turned out to be a nightmare for the city. It was a beautiful summer day, and the down town core was packed with hundreds of cheering hockey fans. As I walked past Granville and Cordova I heard one drunken man shout "We will riot if they loose, And We will riot harder if they win!" I guess you can say that it was a loose loose situation for the city, and its difficult to argue that "Vancourites" don't have rioting in their blood due to past events such as the guns and roses concert in 2002 and the Stanley cup finals in 1994. As I hurried to get out of the madness, I was asked nearly a 100 times by random pedestrians as to where the nearest sky station was, and I realized, that this wasn't just a Vancouver issue, many of the rioters were suburbanites from Surrey, Burnaby, And Richmond, just looking to blow off some steam,looking for a way to let out all of their aggression of their outer city life, but in the end we all paid the price. I definitely think that some situations call for a riot , in Greece they recently rioted after taxes were being raised massively, amongst other things. In Libya citizens took action after they had enough of a tyrant ruler. The point is, is that these things meant something, they were fighting for a cause. Maybe it was the sense of defeat, the feeling of coming so close, or the hooliganism attached to most major sporting events, but its time Vancouver was given a reality check . As I headed home that day, I got a text from my 14 year old autistic cousin who told me "There's always next year, I am going to stick with my team!" It was a delightful message in an otherwise chaotic day, if only the rest of the public saw it that way.