Summer Slurpings and Song


Sipping my third cup of Starbucks Sumatra blend (not getting paid to say that – it’s really that good!) of the day, invigorated by the summer solstice yesterday (and in spite of my pagan leanings I wasn’t arrested for public nudity) and wondering how many side comments I can place in one continuous sentence (which is apparently quite a few), my attention has turned to my blog which has been somewhat neglected as of late (and yes, the poor Oilers lost the Stanley Cup in game seven). I have also taken the next two weeks off for my summer holidays, so, with all of this coffee, I am feeling a cross between giddiness and hyper. Nothing much planned for these holidays, save a trip white water rafting, a visit from my good friend Paully and deep contemplations on why anyone would name their child ‘Cecil’.

The rain and grey skies dominated my fair city the past few weeks and it was really interesting to observe how the weather detrimentally affected people’s moods (myself included). Summer is so short and such a polar opposite of Winter in these parts as we see temperatures ranging from +40C in July to -40C in January. Moods aside, I can’t fathom how the Aboriginals and, later, Europeans ever coped in a world without furnaces and gortex! It’s funny to see how lost folks, in our present day, become when the power gets knocked out for a few hours. There is no stronger testament to how we have de-evolved as a species as it pertains to survival.

We are so out of touch with our natural “selves”, though, more often than not, we can see our predatory elements far too often. Then again, as we have evolved, perhaps it is unfair to say that we are no longer “natural” as we have become what we are based on who we are. Perhaps it would be a fairer statement that we are still our ‘natural selves’ but a very dependant and weak species. I suppose that destruction of our “normal” urban habitat and economic creations would be as severe to us as the destruction of grizzly bear habitat or putting chemicals in a lake, affecting fish stocks. As Darwin might argue we are descended from the fish, we are very much like fish in a tank, polluting our environment and desperately in need of a water change!

On the Green front, my wife and I have decided to donate $10/month to both the Stephen Lewis and David Suzuki Foundations. It’s not much, but, aside from trying to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle, it is something. Reading reviews of Al Gore’s movie plus my usual diet of left leaning Green writings is both depressing yet hopeful; depressing on where we are and where we are headed, hopeful in that it’s not too late to make a difference. It’s just a shame that people are too consumed by their lives to bother with the environment – that we need rock stars and actors to make giving a damn for ten seconds trendy as in the Live 8.

Anywho, that’s my 30 seconds on the soap box.

Think I’ll go now and hammer out a few tunes on the guitar. My writing has really suffered as of late. Here’s signing off with the lyrics to the last tune I wrote that basically says “don’t worry, be happy”:

Big Time Seller

Devil’s in the house of the rising sun
My friend went crazy then he bought a gun
now he counts to his final day
when he’ll blow his ex and kid away
it’s the craziest shit I’ve ever heard
she messed him bad, left him disturbed
after it happens he’ll make the news
then along comes another to fill his shoes

CHORUS:
Tragedy is a big time seller
sold by those that are just too yeller
to show anyone there’s beauty in this world
empires built on pain and sufferin’
but it’s all take, they ain’t given nothin’
Blind you from the beauty in this world

In the middle of genocide and useless slaughter
My wife bore me a beautiful daughter
didn’t know where Rwanda was
she sits and giggles just because
life to her is what she sees
almost feel bad that she’ll learn to read
I cherish her innocence every day
feel sad she won’t always think this way

Tragedy is a big time seller
sold by those that are just too yeller
to show anyone there’s beauty in this world
empires built on pain and sufferin’
but it’s all take, they ain’t given nothin’
Blind you from the beauty in this world

I like Seamus Heaney, my wife’s passion for flowers
that patch of green by the office towers
people who are in a festive mood
walkin’ round my house in the nude
life is full of little pleasures
no need to search for buried treasure
security’s holdin’ my daughter’s hand
and walkin’ past the new-seller’s stand

Tragedy is a big time seller
sold by those that are just too yeller
to show anyone there’s beauty in this world
empires built on pain and sufferin’
but it’s all take, they ain’t given nothin’
Blind you from the beauty in this world

If all you read is the Star or Sun
Then I understand why you’d buy a gun
with all those crazies in this world
it’s enough to make your toenails curl
somethin’ other can be had
in contrast to this world gone mad
smell a flower or make a date
or if it’s cold old winter then masturbate

Sex and skin is a big time seller
sold by those that are just too yeller
to show anyone there’s beauty in this world
empires built on exploitation
and measuremental exaggeration
Blind you from the beauty in this world