future

People often fail to achieve their goals.

It's not because they don't understand what their goals are. People are dreamers, they spend a good chunk of their day closing thier eyes and letting their minds wander to a life where their dreams are all reality.  We can all do it.  We all know where we want to go.

The problem lies in another place. Well, really in two other places.

The first is the path needed to get from here to the goal. This is pretty clear to most people, they know deep down that they don't really know which turn to take or how it might affect their overall route. Still, people often think that if they just drive and drive, sometimes with vigour and effort, then they will eventually reach their goal. These people need to either sit down and draw a map, or buy a GPS.


The second problem is trickier to accept. But, the reality is that far too many people just don't know where the heck they are right now!

the one I love

much of my love drives from a simple question:

How would I react if the one I love was hurt?

It's the worst thing I can imagine. Being helpless to help her while others hurt her makes me simultaneously detest war and violence, and want to appreciate the time I have left to spend with her.

Goals

Goals should be positive.

Don't have goals like do this or don't do that.

Have goals which are more to the heart and will drive you.

For example:

"Help make people happy" is better than

"Be nice to people"  because this is not sepecific and there is no real outside way to measure it.

it is better than:

"Don't be an asshole"   because this is avoiding something.  There is no achievable result.

An even better goals might be:
"Go above and beyond to help make people happy"

This goal is great because it has a measurable result you can feel immediately - going above and beyond, and also the outside measureable one.

Now, this is all just stuff that I came up with on the spot. So don't take it seriously.

Living in Vancouver

The truth is that life in Vancouver is pretty easy.

The weather is tolerable in the fall and spring, not bad in the winter and amazing in the summer.

People here have easy access to all they need to live - shelter, food, clothing, and medical care.  It is safe here - crime, especially of the violent sort, is surprisingly rare.

Of course, there are those people, who through challenges in their lives, are unable to claim the resources available to them.  Many of these people live on the streets of the downtown eastside.

This is a reality that I have learned by living here. That no matter what you have in front of you, the challenge always lives within.

People here, and everywhere, create challenges appropriate to their level of needs. At the bottom of our city, people are challenged with solving the problem of how to get that next hit. In the middle, people worry about their RRSPs and house payments, and the top, they worry about their businesses and image.

The girl at the club who is having the worst night of her life because her girlfriend left the party early for her ex boyfriend feels every bit as much stress and anguish as the homeless man who just lost a $10 bill to the wind and the waters of Coal Harbour.

The point I am getting at is that we have all we need in this city to live, and so we get the opportunity to create our own challenges, desires, and interests. Unlike the hundreds of millions around the world who are truly only concerned with basic needs such as food, health care, fear of rape or war, and protecting their children, we get to indulge.

That is what Inventions and Dimensions is to me.  Inventing interests and passions through art.  Creating new dimensions of emotion and experience through art.  Giving more meaning to life through Art. Why?  Because art is one of the most powerful ways that we can create connections to each other through shared experience, interest, and intrigue.

Art gives others the opportunity to start a conversation with us. It gives us the chance to challenge our ideas of the world. It gives us the ability to meet the artist in a way by contemplating their thoughts and ideas. To me, art isn't about colour or style, it is about the emotional responses that it triggers and the experiences that it gives way to.

My biggest hope is that through the art that we help to put out into the world, more people can connect, think, and live their lives in the richest way possible - to help them take advantage of all they have here and live life without the need to invent problems and crises.

Childhood

When I was a kid, I spent my time playing hockey, listening to music, trying to write stories and rap songs, trying to play the keyboard, trying to do graphic design, trying to sketch, trying to make videos with my sisters camcorder.

When did I drop my creative side.  Een if I was never too great at any of those things , I wasn't terrible at all of them, and at least I enjoyed them.

Time to get back?

Lost Wallet

A forty five minute search this morning ended with a defeated shrug. I had lost my wallet sometime on the way home from the bar last night.

It was an emotional search. 

Casual at first - "now where did I put it last night?"

Slowly becoming more frantic - "if I don't find it soon I'm going to be late for work..."

Then anger - "where is the damn thing!"

Then defeat - "it's ... gone."

The walk to work this morning was filled with thoughts about my wallet - where exactly did I go, did I remember taking it out anywhere? I decided to call the bar we were at last night when it opened on the off chance that it was turned in. We were outside on the patio - pretty much on the street, so it would have been an easy grab for many of the passers by looking for a quick buck, but there was a chance nonetheless.

I thought about what may have happened to my wallet, someone may ave grabbed it, taken the cash, and then thrown it in the garbage. Someone else may have actually walked it down to the local police box, maybe someone else has the wallet right now and is trying to figure out how to contact me. I hoped that a good person who was willing to take the effort had found the wallet. Or, at least I hoped that someone who really needed the money found it.

Then, my thoughts turned to self-flagellation at having being suitably inept as to have left the thing somewhere in the first place. How stupid was I anyhow?  Maybe I should just quit my job today, as I certainly didn't deserve to get paid for anything that I was capable of - they could surely do better.

Anyhow, at this point I realized that thinking and worrying about my wallet was wasting valuable time.  How could I take this experience and turn it into a positive one?

Well, the answer eluded me.

But! I forced myself to realize that life is what it is and you are where you are. No point in dwelling on the wallet.  Just buy a new one, get new cards and get on with the day.

How to be a great person

Everyday, a new tip on how to be a great person.
Sometimes a sentence, sometimes more.
Sometimes a quote, sometimes not.