blog

Resurgence

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:04:49 +0100

Since this blog solely serves the purpose of being an electronic collector of my thoughts and experiences, I have no-one to apologize to for the 3-4 month hiatus I have taken from writing. During this 3-4 month period time, I have done a lot of self discovery, traveling, schooling, music making, networking, relationship building/destroying, and recovering. Though hiatus' are normally a deterrent for continuous production, I believe that I received more benefits than injuries from this "brief" break that I had taken. Anyways, I have produced multiple tracks with my buddies Take One (Tommy), C-Enes (Joe), Keswick Productions (Gary), and HK-47 (Hwan); and I am still working on future projects (about 20 to be exact). Soon after this is completed I will be addressing the streets with clean marketing techniques so that I can expose myself (full frontal) to the world. Aside from being back and motivated to write again, I will be finishing up those last blogs shortly (this last sentence is supposed to serve as a reminder for me to write what I have not started writing yet).

But yeah, just got back from the beach. I'm salty and tanned (to a degree) and not ready to go to work. Life is alright, just gotta keep moving forward.

Philadelphia + Boston

Sat, 22 May 2010 19:07:41 +0100

Summer School

Sat, 22 May 2010 19:07:18 +0100

Keswick Productions

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:08:14 +0100

Salem, Massachussets

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:07:56 +0100

Pretentious Miami + Ultra Music Festival 2010

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:29:09 +0100

4 Unusual Functions of My Heart

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:27:23 +0100

(The 7 yogic chakras, interpreted by Plato and his Greek supporters)

I once read somewhere that people way back in the Greek and Roman empire era once believed that your organs induced emotional states of being, something about blood (sanguine) insinuating happiness and the bile from the spleen aggravating temperament. So due to my uncanny interest, I did some research and found a few more explanations of the once accepted/practiced Greek medicinal belief of the connection between our insides and our outsides at http://www.greekmedicine.net/hygiene/Emotions_and_Organs.html:

Heart:  The heart, being the principal organ of the Vital Faculty, is very sensitive to emotional states. Noble, expansive, uplifting emotions like courage, valor, honesty, forthrightness, altruism and compassion strengthen the heart and Vital Spirits, whereas ignoble, constrictive, base emotions like cowardice, timidity, guilt, remorse, deceit and duplicity weaken them. Love and the emotional will to live are also very important to the heart; according to Greek Medicine, you CAN die of a broken heart. The heart, being the hottest organ in the body, is also very vulnerable to hot, turbulent passions, which can agitate the Vital Spirits to such an extent that they create a fever, which can be quite high and acute; Greek Medicine calls these fevers of energetic or emotional origin ephemeral fevers.
     Lungs:  The lungs, being an important noble organ of the Vital Faculty that works closely together with the heart, are sensitive and vulnerable to many of the same emotional states as the heart, and respond similarly. The lungs need a feeling of psychic space within which to function; the phrase, "breathing room" is a common expression. The feeling of being smothered, invalidated, or denied one's psychic space can constrict the lungs and cause respiratory problems like dyspnea and asthma. Conversely, a feeling of dignity and pride puffs up the chest, and allows the lungs to expand and function properly. Negative emotions that sap the will to live are also injurious to the lungs, especially grief and bereavement; many chronic respiratory diseases and conditions develop after a major loss or bereavement.
     Liver, Gall Bladder:  Bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, which makes these two organs vulnerable to negative Choleric emotions like anger, irritability, frustration, resentment, jealousy and envy. These negative Choleric emotions are stored in these organs, and can slowly eat away at them if allowed to fester. Anger and rage can explode upwards from the liver into the head, causing a lot of havoc in their wake: headaches, migraines; red, sore, bloodshot eyes; and muscular tension in the neck and shoulders. Nervous and emotional tension and stress, as well as Melancholic emotions like pensiveness and worry, will stagnate the flow of the Natural Force in the liver, which in turn causes nervous, colicky, Melancholic disturbances of the digestive functions. This excess melancholy often accumulates under the lower ribs, giving a stuffy, distended, congested feeling in the whole chest and diaphragm area. This is the origin of the term hypochondriac.
     Spleen:  The spleen is the storage receptacle for black bile. And so, it is adversely affected by negative Melancholic emotions like pensiveness, anxiety, worry and depression, which unduly constrict the free flow of the Natural Force through the digestive system and aggravate the Retentive Virtue, producing colic, gas, distension and bloating throughout the entire abdominal area. Actually a trio of subdiaphragmatic digestive organs can be adversely affected by negative Melancholic emotional states: the liver on the right, the spleen on the left, and the stomach in the middle.
     Female Reproductive Organs:  Optimal female sexual response depends on a warm feeling of emotional closeness and intimacy with her partner. If this trust and intimacy are violated, there will be emotional trauma that can adversely affect female sexual health and response. This is not an absolute, all-or-nothing matter; there are many degrees of violation, ranging from a subliminal lack of proper tact and sensitivity in the male to outright rape and physical violation. These negative experiences will traumatize the woman, to a greater or lesser degree, depending on their severity, provoking feelings of fear and anxiety which will further inhibit sexual functioning and response. This is often called frigidity, and closes down the woman's feelings and receptivity to orgasm. Many women have had to disconnect emotionally from their sexual organs and their functioning as the only way of coping with a sexual life or circumstances that are completely unsatisfying and uninspiring. Losing a pregnancy also brings an aura of great grief and sadness to the female organs, and to the woman herself; many women take a long time to heal emotionally from a miscarriage or an abortion.
     Brain:  The brain comes last in our discussion of the emotional life of the organs because it's often the effect of humoral and metabolic imbalances arising elsewhere in the body, which send subtle vapors up to the brain to influence its functioning.  Choleric vapors agitate, irritate and inflame, provoking anger, rage, envy, jealousy, or irritability. Warm, moist Sanguine vapors can stir up feelings of wellbeing, pleasure, sensuality or even lust.  Melancholic vapors provoke feelings of prudence, caution, pensiveness, worry and withdrawal. Cold, wet Phlegmatic vapors will dull or fog up the brain, producing mental lethargy and dullness, or they will cloud objective thinking with excessive sentiment and subjectivity. However, the brain is not all effect; it can also be cause, since the kinds of thoughts that it habitually thinks can have a profound impact on the heart and its Vital Spirits, and hence on the entire Vital Faculty, for better or worse. And so, we have come full circle, and again return to the heart.

Thank David K. Osborn from greekmedicine.net for this one. Tremendous insight into the origin of our internal/external relationship which we have been able to dissect more completely with advancements in neuroscience and psycho-experimentation.

Anyways, where I was getting with this was that I can actually feel sensations in my heart due to emotional reactions to thoughts or situations. OK, so the four sensations are excitement, warmth, painful stabbing, and melancholy... how I piece these together will be difficult to comprehend to some but most people should be able to relate.

Excitement. Whenever I am excited (whether it be an adrenaline rush or hormonal stimulation) I tend to get a tingly feel which seems like my cells are flickering and tickling my heart. Example: whenever Crista makes me feel special (by spending all day talking with me, doing a huge huge unnecessary but necessary favor for me, or just by being her and turning me on etc.) I get that feeling in my heart and it sends shivers through my body at times. I love this feeling... though it is more rare than the others just because of the nature of beginnings to lifetime relationships.

Warmth. Like the passing of hot coffee or chocolate down your esophagus and through your large intestine/stomach, except in your heart. Example: Whenever I am relieved of having a situation almost turn horrible and having it turn out quite OK, like if I pour decaf thinking that it's caffeinated coffee and find a caffeine pill sitting unattended by a coffee pot which I quickly utilize to correct the mistake... which by the way has never happened but I thought it would be cool if something like that did happen. This feeling is more of a secure one, providing me with the support to let me know that I am in fact OK.

Painful stabbing. Like the twisting of your liver once you have overdosed on your alcohol intake for one night, except it is like a stringed pull of all 4 chambers resulting in a closing of the 4 valves in your heart. Example: A shocking feeling of disappointment or regret usually provides the jab. Like when I was arrested in Ohio and it felt like my heart dropped, it was actually just such a shocking event that I think all the blood from my heart kind of went to my brain and for a brief moment it felt like I was having a heart attack. This feeling sucks, plain and simple... and if strong enough I have a feeling it can induce a stroke of some sort.

Melancholy. This one is special, it feels like your blood is moving slower than you can imagine while part by part your heart is dissolving into your body and continuing a circulation with no origin. Example: When I feel: misunderstood by/like I'm on a different playing field than/ the rest of the human beings on planet earth it gives me a tremendous feeling of depression, which hollows out my insides and makes me feel obsolete. Luckily, I am accustomed to this sort of feeling due to the chemicals I have ingested during my experimental moments (which has resulted in a mild case of Serotonin Syndrome). This feeling is one of commonplace, although it isn't the healthiest feeling in the world it has been a feeling that has brought modesty and gratitude to my life.

The Greeks had the idea nabbed down, but assigned the weirdest cause and reaction relationships to our daily feelings. Well off to a superhero costume party now, will take one or two photos if I'm feeling gay enough. Peace.

Oops...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:57:03 +0100

(The Monarchs beat The Sharks 4-3 in OT)

Sorry for the delayed post, I'm a jackass sometimes. I get so caught up in vacations sometimes that any sign of work usually repulses me to the point of near regurgitation... and we all know that that is never good. What I did promise was to give you a look into the city of Winnipeg, Canada. I will now present you with the qualitative differences I noticed between us and our top hat (Canada).

1. Winnipegers seem to be kind and optimistic (maybe because it is a mass Mennonite city but I'm not sure), something that average citied American's aren't usually cited for. I've never been so overwhelmed by someones happiness until I arrived in Canada, even the bank teller was psyched out about having me as her customer who wanted to exchange US$120, she gave me all denominations of the Canadian dollar (loonies being 1 dollar coins and toonies being... 2 dollar coins... the rest of the coins matched our American ones essentially, just with Queen Elizabeths face on them).

2. In Manitoba, yearly car inspections occur only during the time of purchase but the minute it is sold it must be inspected. In 18 states + D.C. have annual car inspections. Why it matters? It is important to have routine safety check ups so that Toyota-related incidents do not go undetected for extended amounts of time, cars maintain a visually bearable appearance, and you can catch amateur/rotten car thief's.

3. They have a 2 dollar coin, we don't.

4. Winnipeg is more culturally diverse than your average American city, mind you I have no statistics to back this up, but from what I was able to absorb through my retinal receptors there were multi-cultural shops and people everywhere. I actually ate a Bison samosa at some Nepalese place, go figure.

5. I'm assuming that because consumer taxes were slightly higher when I was in town that they pay a lot more than we do for universal healthcare, trade (imports), education, and city maintenance (but who knows, 70% chance that I'm more than 50% wrong).

6. Winnipegers seemed to be more individualistic and less affected by media propaganda/manipulation. This contributed to their down-to-earth ways/straightforwardness... one person told me I looked like I haven't slept in weeks while another told me I looked handsome as a movie star, both quite sincere thoughts which I am glad they shared to my face to be honest :).

7. Canada goes by the metric system. Gas in Winnipeg is 95 cents per liter, and my newly met buddy's car has a 60L tank (diggididamn), the speed limit was 60-90 km/hour in most places... so around 40-70 m/hour here, and the temperature is in celsius (OMFG).

8. All the pot in Winnipeg was ridiculous, I don't think that shwag nor mid-grade exist in the these parts. Purple stuff.

9. There is a lack of scene and commercialism in Winnipeg, a marketing redoubling of effort must be made to possibly provide a stronger argument for more city development (I did see some but it was mainly residential units).

and 10. The cold is cold, all ye in the U.S. that complain about cold are vageenas. When I was there I felt spring kicking in, but a week before I arrived there were recording of -7.7 degrees centigrade (18 degrees fahrenheit) temperature... I would've been experiencing some cryonic shit.

10 1/2. I just remembered that the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior labels for high school and university students does not exist in Winnipeg (and I'm assuming Canada in general), it is just 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade.

Overall I had a great, chill time with my old buddy Sandy (whom I grew up with in Singapore and shared many experiences with) and his friends (Andrew, Bonn, and Marc) up at University of Manitoba... which interestingly enough has a school student population of about 50,000, which makes it the second largest city behind Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba... 'twas a good time guys.

That's that... until I can muster up some more observations that I can share with you fellas.
Sounds good, aye?

"Oh Canada..."

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:20:24 +0100

I usually forget the rest after that. I never really gave any attention to the full lyrics of a song I used to directly associate the country of Canada with every time I heard anything that had to do with Canada. Now that I am about to be in the country I might as well recite the full lyrics once to myself:

"O Canada!

Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all they sons command.

With glowing heart we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."

Phew, glad I got that out of the way. Well tomorrow I will be in Winnipeg, Canada (in the province of Manitoba) to visit my good friend Sandy and to get a taste of real Canadian life. Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal are also on my list, but they will have to wait for another time. I will take photos and update you on the impressions I get and the differences I see while I'm there. 'Till then, asalamalakum.

HELP! THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THE FLIGHT TOWER!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:43:49 +0100

Yadadadadadadadada. Nonsensical people love to set an example of/critically destroy other people even in the milder situations in life. Now call me careless, but the huge deal that was made about the kids that were let into a JFK flight tower one day after another is a form of media murder. I was able to catch a brief video of the occupants of the flight tower during the time and it appeared, to me at least, that there were a couple of other employees in the flight tower at the time, including the man who brought each kid into the booth (don't worry, they are saying that one kid was his son and the other not so sure of but I think I heard that he was a friend of the son). From the audio records of the day you can hear a child OK'ing flights for take off using words like "adios" and "roger", and though some pilots had no idea, other's were able to catch on and played it off like it wasn't a big deal at all. The intent I was able to draw from this situation was one of sheer education, it seemed as if the father was just trying to give the young kids the experience of being in his workplace which just so happens to be in an extremely interesting, complicated, and scenic setting. Now don't get me wrong, I definitely think that if the child was unattended in the flight tower and had no source of queuing, we would have a problem here... but really?

The father was definitely overlooking the kids actions and supervising/commanding the kids every move. From the audio records it sounded as if the father told the kid to OK certain flights which takes a mere word of mouth to express. Besides, you would think that the pilots would have enough deductive logic to realize if there were other planes in the runway... but I guess you could argue that some planes may not be at the angle to see other landing/moving flights on the runways. Regardless, give these guys a break... I guarantee you that the employees in the flight tower (including the father) would have definitely assumed control should the child have mistakenly OK'd certain flights. But I do understand how an example must be made here because now that they (father, boss, and children) have been placed in the public eye, consequences must be taken account for and a national message must be sent telling American's that it is not OK to have children in the flight tower. Maybe if journalists and news reporters didn't scour the country looking for minor issues to expand upon, this problem wouldn't have been a problem, but some way, some how... the media managed to take control. Badaboomboomboom, on Episode 4, Season 1, of Six Feet Under and I dig it ;)