I really feel like we're setting ourselves back as people and as a society because our approach to debating and arguing is really skewed...
Watch Chasing Daylight. Now.
I think everyone should watch the following two clips. They're recordings from Chasing Daylight, an up-and-coming band comprised of a fe...
Alright, I admit...
Time to admit stuff I've never really wanted to admit. I hear it can be quite liberating. I actually love the saying Live Love Laugh....
Zipadedoodaaaaa, zipadeeday
You know, getting up early to take a shower, put on your best pair of perfect butt sweatpants and a cute tank, straightening your hair only ...
Is the beer half full or empty to you?
It often seems like I have the best of times when nothing turns out as planned and everything seems to be going wrong. Two nights ago, I spe...
Dear Nestle:
I just bought a tub of jam-packed Peanut Butter Rolo ice cream, and it was fucking bullshit. Clearly, you and I have a very different defin...
OBE and my experience with SP
Clearly, I've failed the ten post challenge. It's alright, it was honestly preventing me from talking about the things I wanted to t...
Day 9: 9 things I like or seek in a guy
Again, random order: 1. Honesty 2. Humility 3. Humour 4. Inner geek 5. A good dependence/independence balance 6. Spontaneity 7. Enga...
Day 8:8 artists I've seen live
In no particular order: 1. Paul McCartney With: Shanel Belanger, Gabriel Bertrand Where: Plaines d'Abraham, Quebec 2. Hedley (x2...
Day 7:7 more achievable items on my bucket list
Yes, I want to go skydiving, to see the seven wonders, and to shake hands with my idol. However, when making my bucket list, I decided to ad...
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I really feel like we're setting ourselves back as people and as a society because our approach to debating and arguing is really skewed. We see it as an opportunity to be proved right and incite others to adopt our reality or our point of view. It's so easy to refute another's arguments by systematically taking the ones that aren't as coherent and focusing on them, while ignoring the ones that successfully challenge and defy our views. Arguments often take a turn for the worse with nonsense, ridicule, and intimidation, both parties eventually engaging in a sort of meta-argument. Even when we are sticking to the content, we're using everything from emotional appeals, to sarcasm, to exaggeration. We chose our words in a very particular way in order to influence people. It's almost never purely informative. Simple rhetoric proves nothing. As Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote, "We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the way in which is has been expressed is unsympathetic to us."
I think the model of debate that we seem to cling to partly due to our stubborn, self-righeous, opinionated nature is grossly inadequate. Argumentative discussions shouldn't be all about forcing your opinion on others. It shouldn't be a You vs Me thing. I think arguing should be more of a You + Me thing, you know? Two or more people collaborating in order to get one step closer to the truth. Everyone involved offers a helping hand in the quest to being better informed.
We need to realize that there no such thing as being unbiased. We all see the world differently because of our varying social, economic, and cultural standpoints. By using the experiences and technical expertise of others, viewing every piece of information with an open mind, the bias meter starts to go down as the objectivity one goes up. By accepting that your views may be right or wrong and constantly seeking not to prove something, but to gain awareness, congruent information and conflicting evidence, you and the person with whom you are arguing may still have diverging points of view, but you will be better able to support them in an objective manor.
So, instead of attacking or belittling those who think differently than me, I pledge to consider and weigh out every single argument they offer and respond accordingly, appropriately and consider their words carefully. I will see the debate as a give and take information/experience-based exchange with someone who is on the same side as me, in this crazy, life-long battle against misinformation, preconceived notions, misconceptions, stereotypes, fallacies, illusions, delusions.. But I digress. Just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter.
I think everyone should watch the following two clips. They're recordings from Chasing Daylight, an up-and-coming band comprised of a few of my friends. The two songs are acoustic covers of Kings of Leon and The Animals.
Members include Dustin Montpelier, Valerie Boivin, Justin Trottier And Gabriel Bertrand. They're super talented and fresh and I think everyone should know about them! I believe they're working on covers right now because they're just getting started but hopefully we'll get to see some original work soon! Also, Valerie and Justin are playing for the Sudbury Telethon Saturday, December 3rd at 9:40pm. Stay tuned!
Time to admit stuff I've never really wanted to admit. I hear it can be quite liberating.
- I actually love the saying Live Love Laugh. Its overuse does not disconfirm its powerful meaning. Really, truly, wholeheartedly living, loving, and laughing, are three things people should be doing way more often.
- Sometimes, when I hear someone singing, I start to cry, because I can't sing and I would give up all of my talents for a decent voice.
- I've never actually watched the entire Rocky Horror Picture Show from beginning to end. I don't really have the time to, but I feel like it's the sort of movie I should have watched. So I constantly quote the first 30 minutes of the movie because it's all I've ever seen.
- I get a little rush of elitism when I understand a passage from a book or a poem that no one else gets.
- When I say it doesn't bother me that I don't have anything in common with normal girls because I would rather hang out with guys all the time, I'm lying. I love my guy friends to death. But I honestly want nothing more than to fit in with girls.
- I can't tell the difference between good wine and box wine.
- I am a recovering strategic manipulator.
- My favourite Led Zeppelin song is Stairway. But when people ask me, I tell them it's either Ramble On, Going to California, or Black Dog, because saying Stairway makes me seem like it's the only song I know. It's just so iconic. I do that with a number of other bands but I really need to stop.
- I've been such a fake in the past that I now struggle to genuinely be myself. Part of my struggle is admitting things that go counter to the person I've been trying to present myself as for, like, ever.
- I actually think I'm good-looking. And I don't think there should be any shame in saying that. I don't think I'm Aphrodite or anything. I'm just content with my looks and I think it's a bad habit to deny it. Also, girls who know they're pretty and constantly complain about how ugly they are diminish the credibility of those who truly can't stand to look at themselves. As a result, everyone just ends up looking like attention-craving narcissists fishing for compliments. Not cool.
You know, getting up early to take a shower, put on your best pair of perfect butt sweatpants and a cute tank, straightening your hair only to "throw" it in the nicest messy bun the world has ever seen, doesn't count as not caring. It doesn't qualify as not having gotten ready. It's not an example of a lazy or an ugly day.
You want to know what counts as an ugly day? What I look like right now. I got two hours of sleep last night. I fell asleep in the same jeans I'm wearing and they're falling off because I was too exhausted to put on a belt. I didn't put my hair in a ponytail, I kept it in yesterday's ponytail because it's too knotted to let it down. I had exactly five minutes this morning to choose between brushing my teeth and taking off my flaked makeup and I chose dental hygiene. I'm wearing a baggy sweater that I absolutely detest over a tank top that doesn't even remotely match anything else on me. I also started a cold, my eyes are red, and my nose is peeling. My mascara's everywhere, my face looks gross, my hair looks like a cross between a caveman and Cruella Deville.
You think you're having an ugly day? Take your tight little sweatpants and shov'em.
It often seems like I have the best of times when nothing turns out as planned and everything seems to be going wrong. Two nights ago, I spent a lot time getting ready and excited to go clubbing with girlfriends I hadn't seen in forever. I was stoked because I hadn't gone out in so long and I was really looking forward to a good night with the girls. A friend of ours dropped us off at the bar at around 11:30. The lineup was humongous, but we figured we wouldn't be out there much longer than forty minutes. We were very wrong. An hour an a half later, we were still outside in line, wearing nothing but mini-dresses. I was truly colder than I had ever been. It was now nearly 1. One hour left 'til last call, and the club was at full-capacity. The lineup hadn't budged in almost fifteen minutes. Finally deciding to call it quits, we chose to go defrost and drown our sorrows at the nearest establishment. We didn't care where we were going, as long as it was inside. Don't think it's possible to sprint in a dress and heels? Think again.
When we got to Peddler's, a small irish pub, we were happy to feel our extremities once again, but we were miserable. What a waste of a night, we all thought. There was a little over fifty minutes left 'til closing, our pre-drink buzz was long gone, we were still shivering, and we weren't at the club! The first thing I did when I got inside was make up for lost time. I ordered a shot of tequila, a whiskey sour, and a Coors Light. 5 minutes later, I started complaining. And complaining. I had the right to do so though, didn't I? I mean, considering everything we had gone through throughout the night? It wasn't until the last half hour that I realized I had been choosing to be miserable and angry, and in doing so hadn't paid notice to the great live band covering everything from Journey, to Big & Rich, to Britney Spears. Instead of staying in my seat and sulking even more, I joined my friends, who were pretty well the only people in the entire pub dancing. I chose then not to let even some of the shittiest two hours ever ruin my last half hour at the bar. And so we warmed up, pubclubbed, had a great time, and did what everyone knows you should do when things go wrong but hardly anyone ever does:
we quit our useless bitching, and imposed a great time upon ourselves. As those tired, over-used, yet horribly under-applied sayings go, we found the silver lining and made the best of our situation.
I just bought a tub of jam-packed Peanut Butter Rolo ice cream, and it was fucking bullshit. Clearly, you and I have a very different definition of "Jam-packed". My boyfriend and I ate the entire thing in one sitting and I think we found a total of eight Rolos.
Note: after reading this a second time, I want to apologize in advance for the possible overuse of parentheses. I have a hard time leaving the irrelevant out of my writings and find my justification in the fact that the brackets/parentheses indicate the lack of direct relevance. Actually, this is my personal blog. I can bracket the entire thing if I wish! [{(Jokes)}]
I've been reading a lot about the out of body experience (OBE) lately. Until recently, I didn't believe it to be doable because I associated it with ghosts, spiritual travelling, and the movie Insidious. However, I've been doing much research on the matter and from what I've read, OBE is merely the sensation that one is no longer attached to his or her physical body and the feeling of floating over and looking down on it, whatever the cause. Now, I'm not saying that the phenomenon as explained by the numerous texts I've been consulting disconfirms the notion of astral projection in any way. Little is currently known about the process through which one attains OBE, but the fact that it has been known to occur spontaneously during near-death-experiences (though it can happen in many other instances and can be self-induced) tends to point toward an actual leaving of the physical body.
While I was searching for methods of self-induction, I came across many research papers, experimental reports, and tutorials, nearly all of which stated at one point that sleep paralysis is central to a successful experience. PERFECT!
I know a great deal about sleep paralysis. This is because it's been the source of much panic at an early age. It happens when, at sleep onset or upon waking up, you are fully awake but find yourself unable to open your eyes or move move any part of your body. I actually remember the first time it happened to me, and I recall panicking my way through the following steps at the approximate age of six years old:
- I slip out of a dream and into consciousness. My eyes are still closed. I feel my bed underneath me and I can hear everything going on.
- I hear the sizzling of a frying pan and I smell bacon; mom's cooking breakfast. I want to get up and go eat!
- I realize that I can't get up, move my limbs, or open my eyes. What's going on? I don't like this. I conclude that though I'm awake, my body must still be sleeping.
- I flip out and try to get myself out of it. I violently try and shake my whole body until it starts actually moving. It takes much time and effort. Finally, I free myself. As I will find out later on, the violent panicking actually worsens matters and can extend the state.
I used to think that these entire episodes weren't real, that the fact that I could hear, feel, and smell what was going on was but my senses transcending my dreams, much like a song on a clock radio becoming part of a dream. When I realized there was more to it, I accepted it as something wrong with my body that I just had to deal with. (for some reason, I never sought help or information on any abnormal behaviour or phenomenon I experienced from the time I was a child. I wish I had, for many of my problems could have been assessed, dealt with, and possibly eliminated instead of becoming larger, more serious or inconvenient problems later on. Side note rant over.) Soon, I started learning not to panic, as this was happening more and more often (it still happens, about once every few days, usually on restless nights). I quickly developed my own strategies for coping. If it happened at night, I would just remain calm in my paralyzed state, clear my mind, and let myself fall asleep, at which point I would nearly always lucid dream without doing a reality check. If it was morning, I would wiggle my fingers and toes while rolling from side to side in my mind, until my mental movements became physical movements and I was paralyzed no more.
Little did I know that my curse of sleep paralysis was an aptitude sought after by OBE enthusiasts, as it is the first step to the experience. In the past week, I learnt that to achieve this goal, you need to get yourself to the paralyzed state, but instead of falling asleep, you must trick your body into sleeping while mentally staying awake. Rather than remaining unable to move in your body, you're supposed to remove yourself from your body using certain specific strategies. I'm trying it sometime this week, so I'll be blogging about the method I used as well as the results yielded. Stay tuned!
Again, random order:
1. Honesty
2. Humility
3. Humour
4. Inner geek
5. A good dependence/independence balance
6. Spontaneity
7. Engaging conversation
8. A winning smile
9. A positive attitude
... And much more. I just picked the first things to pop in my head.
Oh, or he could just look exactly like George Clooney.
In no particular order:
1. Paul McCartney
With: Shanel Belanger, Gabriel Bertrand
Where: Plaines d'Abraham, Quebec
2. Hedley (x2)
With: Mom first time, dad second
Where: Sudbury Arena
3. Coldplay
With: Justin Trottier, Connie Trottier
Where: Ottawa
4. John Mayer
With: Justin, Connie
Where: Ottawa
5. U2
With: Justin, Connie
Where: Toronto
6. Great Big Sea
With: Mom, Dad, Shanel, Zackari Trudeau, Justin, Connie, uncle Ian, aunt Linda
Where: Sudbury arena
7. Jack's Mannequin
With: Maxine Vincent
Where: Dallas Night Club, Kitchener
8. Barenaked Ladies
With: Dillan Gravel, Zackari, Maxine
Where: Massey Hall, Toronto
Below is a picture of my friend Shanel and I at the Paul McCartney concert.
Yes, I want to go skydiving, to see the seven wonders, and to shake hands with my idol. However, when making my bucket list, I decided to add some easier-to-obtain goals to make the every day things seem exciting, rewarding, and worth commemorating. Also, if I do fail to carry out my other dreams, at least I'll have checked off a few numbers. These include:
a) Try every single sub at Subway
b) Go change-diving in a fountain (That's me living on the wild side)
c) GO TO COMIC CON
d) Have gone to 40 concerts
e) Do Karaoke night
f) Get married
g) Turn an apartment into a huge blanket fort and have a no healthy foods allowed rule (relive my kidness)
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