Dos Amigos

Back in early 2003, I wasn’t intently aware of synchronicity. To me, things may just turn out to be a “coincidence”. Now I feel coincidences do not exist. The deeper I dive into the subject, the more I discover about myself and the world around me.

It was the beginning of 2003 when I met my best friend, John. On a day like any other, the two of us were hanging out with our mutual friends, the Shockeys. I wanted pizza. John also wanted pizza. No one else did. That was the first time John and I ever spent time together, one on one. We walked down the street to Ripon’s number one parlor, Pizza Plus. We got our slices and began to learn about one another. I explain to him how before meeting the Shockeys, I had two friends that weren’t the nicest of people. Two kids from the “rich” part of town. I myself being from the “not so rich” part of town. John went on to tell me that he came from a very similar position. His two old friends were from that same privileged part of Ripon. It was about this time when out of the blue, the ex-friends that I was just discussing, walked right up to our booth.

This occurred at a time when synchronicities just came and went throughout my life. I never entertained the thought of these unusual happenstances for very long. Over the years, John became the best friend I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.  And over time, I began to realize that more synchronicities existed between us. Such as…

-We both have older brothers who were in the same graduating class. (In fact, they performed music together before John and I ever met.

-Both our parents got divorced around the same time. Our Dads also got remarried/started having more kids at the same period.

-Two interests that complement each other are prevalent in our lives. Film (Me) and Music (John). I was the filmmaker in high school while John was the musician.

-We both love pizza (but who doesn’t, am I right?)

At this juncture in my life, I’m convinced that if souls are indeed eternal, then John and I’s have

been friends long before this current incarnation that we are experiencing. Friends are an important aspect of this life. Generally, people feel the inherent need to get along with their blood relatives. To find someone from a different walk of life that you choose to associate with, is a tremendous feeling. And I already knew a long time ago that I will continue to be friends with John until the end of this life and the end of the ones proceeding it.

-Dom

Life's what you make it

I know quite a few people who have all said similar things. And these are people separated by time and space.  These people I'm referring to are, in the nicest way I can think of...Naysayers. I love Urban Dictionary's definition of this unfortunate sect...

naysayer

One who frequently engages in excessive complaining, negative banter and/or a genuinely poor and downbeat attitude. Naysayers are distinguished by their tendency to consistently view the glass half empty, make frequent one-way trips to negative town, and constantly emphasize the worst of a situation. They have the capacity to rant and whine for hours on end about the most insignificant inconveniences. They tend to travel solo, but have the keen ability to spread their pessimistic attitude to a group of unsuspecting bystanders and encourage others to employ their mindset. Naysayers tend to blend in with those around them rather well, granted they have learned over the years to adapt to their surroundings. However, when the opportunity arises, their true nature will be exposed and they will stop at nothing to exclude others or bring a general sense of negativity to any situation. Not to be confused with non-naysayers who fight against the negativity brought forth by naysayers, make the best of a situation and are not afraid to call out a naysayer on the spot.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I've never had a negative view on the world. There was a period in my life, that my best friend John will attest to, that was a very dark time. It was like the period in the galaxy far, far away between Episodes 3 and 4.  I had become very depressed and cynical. I can say now, it was the saddest I've ever been in my life so far. It made me uncomfortable to be around. No one WANTS to be around an unhappy pessimist. Today, I feel fortunate that I snapped the fuck out of it. My glass isn't half full. It IS full. Because honestly, why the hell shouldn't it be?

Let's face facts right now. The truth of the matter is...YES. The world can suck. It can be discriminatory, disturbing, disgusting, discouraging, dejecting and dispiriting. I would hope that no one would actually disagree with that. But, at the same time, life is a many splendid thing. It lifts us up where we belong. Without life, there would be nothing. The truth is, the planet we all live on, is Earth and while it is argued to be run by a small sector of people who don't have everyone's best interests in mind, it's still our planet. We need to accept things. Acceptance to me, seems to be the key. Once you come to an understanding of the wickedness of it all, and just lay the cards on the table, then you can finally move forward. Yeah, shit sucks, there's child molesters, greedy fucks, murderers, dog punchers, war enthusiasts, and many more monsters scouring this big blue ball of life, but hey....THAT is life.

Since all that really matters is YOUR life, then it seems obvious that people should basically live the way THEY want to live. I do believe that everyone has the right to do what they think is best for them, just as long as they're not intentionally hurting others or the planet while doing it.

I've heard people say things like:
"Well, you know, really, we're born, we live, and we die. So really, what's the point of it all?"

While that is true. We are born, we do live, and we inevitably die, that doesn't mean we have to spend the 70-90 year period on this beautiful world in a constant state of negativity and unhappiness. What a waste of time. The following is a response from a person whose opinion I greatly respect, when I asked him, "What's the meaning of life?"....

"To have as much fun as possible."

So to those people who say, What's the point? I say this:

Fun, love, happiness, sex, drugs, movies, food, the outdoors, alcohol, music, friendships, family, knowledge, surprises.

Now those are just a few of the things that I personally love about life. How cool is it that we have the opportunity to watch 'The Avengers' or eat an ice cream sandwich? There's literally millions of trees that we can climb. And that shit is totally fun. Sometimes, it really is the little things that count. So you really should ask yourself...What are YOU living for?

The following are responses from some of my friends and family when I asked what the meaning of life was to them:


"Love, happiness, success and legacy"

"Life is about experiencing everything and anything that makes you happy. To be on your deathbed
and simply say "that was so much fun""

"To cooperate with the Universe's pattern and thrive"

"FBGM"


"-To experience a full range of human emotion.
-To question everything in search of truth.
-To understand that life is not about knowledge, power, and money - but mystery.
-To choose happiness.
-To love other humans and interact with them."


"The meaning of life is to answer to the one true gift we have. FREE WILL. To fight your free will, to go against your natural instinct is sin. We as humans have a gift, free will. Be free, stay free and think free."


"All in all, life is subjective, just like Aristotle said. Define your parameters and 
find your own damn meaning. Also, having fun is cool, too."


"In my opinion there is no meaning. It's the arrogance of man to assume a grand position in the scheme of the galaxy."

""You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. -Albert Camus""

"42"

"I don't know so much about the meaning of life, but I've always felt that the purpose of life is to learn and experience as much as possible. And don't be a cunt."



-Dom

Brain Explosion

So last night, I text my friend Jason, for some music recommendations. Which by the way, he succeeded in quite well. We're talking back and forth about the songs he posted to my facebook wall. I send him a text at 12:49 am saying this:

To clear up something, my nick-name for my friend is "Lotion". Yeah, you had to have been there. Either way, this Brain Explosion sync occured 4 minutes after I wrote the words. Pretty radical.

-Dom

Keep Close to Nature's Heart

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
-John Muir

Lions

Lions have been coming up a lot lately. I read Alan Abbadessa's article on Obama as the Lion King about a week or two ago.  I heard mention of a green lion in a podcast, only to bring my attention to my painting of a green lion on my wall next to me.  I can't even tell you where I got the idea to paint a green lion three months ago.  My friend and I were talking about lions the other day and how much we both liked them. A conversation that I initiated. Last night, she visited town from Utah for the holidays.  Her and I and some friends were at the local bar, catching up, as an inside joke now, I hugged her goodbye and yelled, LION HUG!  Then we parted ways.  I was driving home by myself, listening to pandora radio on my phone. 'The Righteous Brothers' station.  She text me to say how good it was to catch up. I replied with a, "LION HUG!" text.  Not a minute later, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" comes on pandora.  Haven't heard that song in at least two years. Probably much longer.

-Dom