R+Gentle-le+Tea+Nuts-ts

ARGH!!! en CHINA!!!
2007.....has come upon us like i think katrina did...you knew it was coming and you knew it held potenially big things but just didnt prepare for it adequately......at least this is true for me.....Time is just way too fast for me to process....but theres no humanly possible way to stop it or slow it down.....so what is left to do...just prepare oneself as best for the future as one possibly can and at the same time enjoy and live in the moment one is living at the present and try to meditate and learn from mistakes in the past.....wousers.....its all a bit overwhelming to be human in this world ( or at least just in NYC).....I just came back from a month long stay in South America and many matters of the heart, mind and soul have been forced (and desirebly so) into perspective...I wouldnt want to bore you (Myspace land) with a lot of personal details that would come back to haunt me or a lot of psychoanalytical babble but I did experience a lot and did a lot of thinking while gone....thats the funny thing about travelling outside your world....the furthur you physically are from it the closer your mind and heart is to it...When you are away from yourself...yourself will inevitably find you.....Your vision is changed..things (like in car mirrors) seem smaller than what they were before and other things that were once hidden can then be seen....i know I'm speaking too out there but bear with me....if you will...when you see children at 3 /4 in the morning begging in the street and walking with their bare feet, elementary schools that look like theyve been bombed in a war, political graffiti yelling at society the voice of the unheard, openly acceptable acts of racism, indifference to suffering and obession over the trivial...for me these things were hidden before....you are forced to look into your life.(and its surroundings) .and define what and who you are..(your purpose)..and decide what to do with what is given to you...but whatever it is I have learned that there must be a progression , a moving forward. We can not let Time consume us and live each day complacent and allow it to do with us what it will. If we as living breathing souls do this we are not truly living but rather we have become rotting flesh harboring... nothing inside. Or better put a waste of space on this earth....brutally put ,yes, but necessary, absolutely. This is the nature of the thoughts that scurry through my mind. I began this year sipping wine on a balcony overlooking the crashing of the dark waves on the Atlantic and the bright moon reflecting upon it. It was the most beautiful sight. Beyond me was the horizon with its twinkling city, below me the empty beach and a pool beside it, and amonst me, a crowd of strangers from near and far. At one point I just stood on that balcony staring at the same moon my family would be seeing and watching the loud insesent waves crash on the rocks. I felt like I was not really there. and although I was in such a big crowd I felt alone. It was quite surreal to be honest. And then I noticed a some guy surfing on those crazy night time waves. I thought he was insane because he washed up so close to the rocks but he kept at it all night. Thats how he spent his New Year; surfing in the dark. As corny and cliche as it might seem, I took this image of this kid surfing in darkness as a metaphor for how life can be or perhaps should be. That kid may have very well crashed into those rocks for how close he was to them but he didnt seem to care. He kept going back into the water paddling along; trying to catch that perfect wave and ride it until it washed up to shore. And he went in again, without stopping.It was really amazing. He caught a few good ones too. If we can all courageously live our lives the way he surfed I suppose there would many more satisfied beings in this world. In any case, this is one of the first images of 2007 I will keep forever in my mind. I have obviously accumulated more but I wont bore you more than I have already. I will just end with this.and fittingly so.HOPE. My hopes for this year are many but among them the hope that I have changed and will continue to change as a human being and as a living soul. Everyday I hope to live with ambitions for the future (the perfect wave), meditations of the past (wipe outs), and appreciation for the present (paddling along). Thank you all for your patience and for reading my insane babble. You are much too kind and I pray God may bless you for it. until 2008.peace be unto you. and hang 10!!!