I want to start by letting you know that one of my heroes, Ken Wilber, has a beautiful and entertaining new website. Ken is arguably the most important figure in the integral movement, an avant garde I am convinced is the leading edge of our evolution. Give his site a look, even if only for the eye candy.

April has flown by for me. It seems like just yesterday I was experiencing the best concert of my life, but here we are on the eve of May. That’s a bit worrysome when I consider how much I plan to have accomplished in the next month.

During May I’ll be redesigning Frozen Truth . com, with the intent to start afresh visually and spark some movement of those sluggish cogs in my head. I have a lot of disparate tricks, ideas and methods I hope to incorporate, but I don’t have a clear vision of how the website will look as a whole. I want simplicity, accessability and fullness of information in a design that is beautiful. I’ve alotted myself plenty of time, so the test will be of my devotion and inspiration.

I’ll also be doing some reducing of my belongings again, especially my clothing. I’ve had some of my t-shirts since the middle of my high school days and they show the wear. I’m hoping to create a blanket from t-shirts as a way to keep those fond screen printed images intact and useful as I transition to a new wardrobe.

Mithra’s toilet training is coming along slowly, but I’m hoping May will be the month we say farewell to the litter box forever. One can hope, right?

I’ve had five albums in rotation this week. They’re not a group I’d associate easily, but the albums have kept me in constantly surprised and joyed. Sam Roberts’ Chemical City is a step ahead for a band that is emerging as one of Canada’s finest; it’s a mix of psych-rock and rock of the traditional variety that feels both fresh and familiar. I was missing Neil Young’s feistier side, but it’s back with his new anti-war album, Living With War, a cohesive and powerful album that has one of Canada’s finest rockers at his best. Tool’s 10,000 Days hasn’t lit me up as Lateralus did, but It’s a very solid album; by any other band it’d be a standout, but it doesn’t live up to my expectations of Tool on the initial few listens. Shawn Mullins’ New Orleans-themed 9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor is likely the biggest surprise for me this month; I’ve been a fan of Shawn for a long while, but this album is as exciting an album from him as I’ve yet heard. Lastly, I’ve been listening to Goo Goo Dolls’ Let Love In, their strongest album to date; contrary to the impression of the sappy title, it’s a well written and compelling album.

I’ve been a Telus cell phone user for nearly 5 years now for one reason: I happened to sign onto a really great plan when I first got a phone that no provider can top currently (Talk North America 30). If I leave Telus I lose the best plan for me.
Today I decided to look into getting a Treo 650 to replace my current phone. I want the phone so that I can replace my current Palm OS device and phone with just one device, and I told the first sales person I talked to as much. I was hoping to sign a three year contract and be able to get it for $99, as was advertised. I was told that I would need to add a feature bundle for $25 extra each month in order to get the phone. I would not use that additional service, so I told the two sales people as much. I asked about the possibility of buying the phone at the price it is offered without a contract, an overpriced $449.99, and not signing a contract that would nearly double my bill each month for three years. I was told that there is no way I could be sold or use the phone without sinking a ton of money into unnecessary charges each month. I said thanks and left the store.
I’ve done some of my own research into the phone and alternatives and I’m quite convinced that I was offered a terrible deal, especially considering I would be providing well over $1500 in revenue over three years with my current plan. For just $399.00 I could buy a much nicer device directly from Palm (it would only lack the phone hardware and have better features otherwise) or a Palm Treo itself for considerably less than Telus was offering it. This is a very discouraging situation for me because Telus is not only failing to meet my expectations as a long-time customer, but using pricing and refusal of service policies that are neither welcoming nor fair to customers.
I’ll be looking into other service providers in the next couple weeks to see if there are any plans that can measure up to my expectations. I’m hoping this isn’t simply an ugly side of the telecommunications industry that I’ll have to put up with. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

I’m suffering from the worst sunburn I’ve ever had in my life. It’s an incredibly unpleasant experience, the one downside to being a redhead. Aloe has been my greatest ally since last night when I returned home from the burning experience. Sunscreen is something I should never neglect.

I left my apartment at noon on Sunday and walked toward Point Pleasant Park. It was a warm and beautiful day, one of the nicest so far this year, so I was compelled to spend the day outside. I had a pleasant walk there listening to some Integral Naked talks.
I walked in a loop around the park and then moved off the paths and wandered for a time. I eventually found myself walking amid some trees by the shore and moved onto the rocky beach. A woman and I noticed each other there and exchanged greetings before she informed me where I had been walking.
“Did you know you were just walking over a burial ground?” she asked from her reclined position on the beach.
“I was?” I asked, with genuine surprise.
“Yes, did you feel anything odd there?”
“No, not really,” I replied
We talked about some history of the park and I learned the woman had travelled here from the U.S. to take part in the designing of the rebuilding of the park (It was damaged by hurricane Juan several years ago). We talked for a while and I sat down (where I would be burning) as we proceeded to talk at length about a large number of topics.
She was a truly facinating and engaging woman who knew aspects of local history I hadn’t. I was facinated to learn of her life and insights on all we ended up talking about. I could certainly sympathize with her deep discouragement with the way America is heading; this was her second time fleeing the nation of her birth in hopes of never having to return there.
For three or four hours we shared conversation on that beach, often talking of shared political views, social, environmental, and historical insights, stories of friends we had known and our own life trajectories. The immigration mess in the US came up, which was something Gaby had been addressing in her blog. The woman’s work with the UN and immigration gave her some insight on the situation I appreciated.
After some time we started walking out of the park, as she had to leave. We went exploring a bit off the paths again, where she showed me an odd placement of stones that could indicate a grave of some sort. She mentioned finding what she thought was an aged human bone in the park one time before, and soon after that day we found another bone revealed by an uprooted tree. It was an old ring of a bone, and she suggested it might belong to a dog. After handling it gingerly, I placed it back on the ground.
I’m so thankful that I stumbled upon her that day. I had one of the most rewarding conversations I’ve had in the past couple of years and met someone I imagine I’d be incredibly unlikely to meet, let alone talk with for hours. Synchronicities like that leave me wonder-filled in the face of the Mystery.
The sunburn is rotten, terrible and wholly unpleasant, but offset by the memorable time I spent there in the sun, I have to consider it worth it. I certainly wouldn’t choose to do things differently if it meant losing out on that chance.

Later that night I met up with Brian Larter and some of his friends to see Silent Hill. The film was visually and atmospherically brilliant. I haven’t seen a creepier or more well crafted horror film before. However, the dialogue was horrendous. Moments that should have been somber and powerful were lessened by expressions that had the audience breaking out into laughter. If more effort had been placed on that aspect of the film, it would undoubtably have been a very fine film instead of one fatally flawed. I might have to watch it in a foreign language to be able to see it untainted by the Lucasian blunders.

I’m enjoying Sketch-It immensely and I hope you’re all checking it out! The second sketch I requested was posted yesterday and it’s a badass sketch of myself. I make an angry cartoon, but I’m impressed. Also of note is a drawing of my friend April along with one of her friends looking like two devious spies. From referring April I have a free sketch promised to me, and I decided to have one of my friend Vanessa made. Sketch-It, I love you!

Good Earth Day and a joyeous Vernal Equinox everyone! Now this is a holiday I can fully embrace. Much like I’ll be hugging a tree in a couple hours. I’m thinking a birch this time. I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on ways to benefit the earth, as will I.

So far my experiment with Mac OS X has been mediocre. I’m not especially fond of the GUI, but it’s a step up from XP. I’m still getting used to using it, but it’s not as intuitive or immediately pleasing as Kubuntu and Ubuntu were for me when I first tried them. Mac fans, am I missing some key insight that will unlock just how wonderful this OS is claimed to be?

In more tech thinking, my cell phone contract is coming to an end in a couple days and I’m considering signing a new contract and getting a new phone device. The Palm Treo 650 is very appealing to me because I have a lot of Palm OS stuff on my Clie and generally like the OS more than the Windows alternative. Plus, I could use it with my laptop as a modem if I’m ever desperate to use the web. Maybe a GPS addon in the future will have me Geocaching, an activity I’ve been itching to try.

Friday I began a training project with my cat Mithra. I’m going to be using “How to Toilet-Train Your Cat” to be rid of his litterbox for good. Mithra may be evil, but he’s going to be a well-trained manifestation of evil.

I’ve been thinking that I should have a kilt. I do have Scottish ancestry, so it would be fitting for me to have one. It must be black, of course, so I’m considering some of the kilts offered by Utilikilts. The denim kilt seems like a nice choice. The real question should be, are my scrawny legs something to bare?

The three days off I just finished weren’t restful, but I enjoyed them still. I was happy to have gotten a fair amount of neglected work done and also spend some time with friends.

On a whim I decided to go forward with a major redecoration and rearrangement of my apartment. For the longest time I had a living room I used infrequently and wasn’t especially fond of visually. Seeing that Mithra had damaged the sheer curtains I had up, I figured it was time to pick out some that would be durable and match my tastes better. Through this I ended up with an entirely new layout for how I’ll use my apartment and an environment I’m much happier to be in.
Black is a colour I’m very fond of, as anyone who knows me will attest. My wardrobe is black and I prefer it in things I surround myself with. It just suits me. I was rather excited to find black PVC curtains at a local store and soon had a radical change for my apartment happening.
That room now has black PVC curtains on the windows and an entrance set of black cloth curtains, making it a cozy white and black space. It’s a romantic, dark room that is great for my daytime sleeping and gothy sense of style.
The former bedroom is now a desert and sun-themed room that will serve more as a living room. I moved my bed and items from my bedroom into the living room and moved much of the living room furniture to the other room. I enjoy the contrast this room gives to my apartment, creating a rich sense of balance. I also enclosed my kitchen with an entrance curtain. The overall feel is now much less open and more atmospheric.

The geekier folks among you know that it’s now possible to run Linux, Windows and Mac OS X on one computer. I’m going for that holy OS trinity on my laptop and hope to have it finished in the next day or so. I’m excited to have the ability to use Kubuntu, Tiger and XP. That flexibility is something I think should be something we demand from software and hardware companies; it’s empowering for computer users to have real, quality choice in what OS and programs we use. I think I’ll still favour Linux, but it’ll be nice to try the Mac offering.

Other than looking into the triple OS install and redecorating, I spent two nights gaming with my friends Nathan, Rob, Andrew and Allison and then met with a friend to exchange books and chat today. Sleep and rest haven’t been part of my schedule for a while, but I’ve been enjoying being busy.

Earlier this week I found Sketch-It, a site where one of a group of artists will create a sketch for you for just $1, through Taylor’s gtmcknight.com. Some of the money collected for the drawing goes to charity, some to the artists and some to keep the site going. They’ll draw just about anything and release it under a Creative Commons license (I do so love CC, in case you didn’t know.).
After a few minutes of deliberation, I had decided on what to request. “I’d love to have a sketch of my cat Mithra sitting on my laptop, like this photo.” Today I received a comment letting me know that my sketch had been finished. I followed the link to the site and discovered the delightful “Mithra Wants a Mouse” and the accompanying description:

Was it worth a buck to have holy-evil Mithra immortalized as a sketch? Absolutely. Thanks Artistic Enigma!

If you’d like to get a sketch done, let them know you found out about the site through mine and I might get a free sketch, just as Taylor will because I mentioned him. It’s a great idea and a very fine realized blog, so you can’t go wrong with Sketch-It.

I’ve been thinking of investing in a new laptop bag sometime soon. My current messenger bag is fine, but when I travel this year I want something with style, safety for my laptop and comfort. The messenger bag will likely take on the role of carrying less precious items. I have two candidates for a new bag, a black shuttle bag and the Booq PowerSleeve. The PowerSleeve is the one most appealing to me because it looks compact and comfortable.

When I satisfy my wanderlust, it might be aided by a very cool site by the name of Can I Crash? The concept of the site is to facilitate the sharing of couches (spare rooms, etc.) across the world of blogging. It sure beats staying at a hotel, because it’ll be more likely to foster a genuine friendship while being considerably cheaper, even with my amazing Choice employee rate. I’m thinking of signing up to open up my home, though I know my fouton isn’t the greatest bed.

Speaking of that fouton, I’ve offered it to my dear friend April for when she returns to the city later this month. I’m excited for her to be living here in Halifax again, and it will be nice to have some company for a while. We always have grand times when we hang out, so I only expect more zaniness in the coming weeks.

The stretch of consecutive works days was getting to me, so on the afternoon of the eleventh day, Wednesday, I was so very thankful to have an afternoon of bliss. Giving up half the sleep I’d normally get, I headed out with my friend Ashley on a walk to Sir Sanford Fleming Park, one of my favourite pieces of Halifax.
The day before I’d decided to get ready for Spring and Summer by purchasing a new pair of sandals and sunglasses. I left my apartment wearing both and was thankful that I did. The weather out was absolutely perfect. I can’t remember a day that felt so right to be out it; it was warm but not at all uncomfortable.
I met with Ashley at the rotary and started walking toward the park. We’re both generally quiet people, so it was mostly a time of comfortable silence. It’s actually somewhat rare for me to be so quiet with most of my other friends, but with her it seems natural.
We spent a couple hours exploring the area around the Dingle tower, the park’s forest pathways and beyond into another park area and along some streets. I had a great time just exploring the woods, climbing huge boulders, leaping across a brook on stones and just blissing out in the beautiful setting. I needed that sort of joy and I’m glad I found it in perfect weather, a wonderful place and in good company. From the photos in my Spring gallery it may be hard to ken just how magnificent things were. I swear it was the most beautiful Halifax has ever felt to me, aside from company-induced magnificence.
I came home sunburned, but it didn’t phase me in the least.

Thursday I finally had a lone day off. To celebrate I decided to splurge on three items at a local store. I now have a stonewear sushi set, a maraca (I’m ready to provide some sha-na-nas and shake it!) and a new abstract wood necklace. Sushi is one of those foods that has grown on me greatly in the past year, so having suitable dishes and presentation seemed an appropriate addition to my minimal kitchen. Since becoming a vegetarian my food palate has expanded and my experiences with food more rewarding. Part of it is just being mindful of what I eat, and another is the experimentation I’ve pushed myself into.

Later Thursday I hung out with Nathan and Andrew, preparing for a bit of role-playing. Friday we actually got together with Rob and had a D&D session for the first time in months. For those gaming geeks out there, I was playing a wild elven druidic advenger. For those non-geeks reading, I was playing a silly acting game with dice.

After the D&D session Allison, Andrew and I went out to a Mexican restaurant I hadn’t known existed. Mexico Lindo was small, welcoming and somehow odd. It was a pleasant atmosphere, all told. The food was excellent, certainly the best of this style I’ve had at a restaurant in Halifax. The bean quesadillas are especially good, as is the fresh papaya juice.

I finally gave in to the momentum of the rest of the internet and started using del.icio.us.

It’s a very useful tool, and i’ll be featuring it in the rebirth of my website. For now, you can find some of my favourite links in my profile.

What a week it’s been! I’ve been working a week straight and I still have 4 days left in 11 days of working every day. I’m getting to the point of being drained, so Thursday can’t come soon enough. In good news, I’ll have the 16, 17 and 18 off. Does anyone want to get together during that period?

If you’d like to know what I’ll be up to at any time, you can take a look at my new calendar. I’ll have my work schedule, special events and anything else I want to share listed there as soon as I learn of them. Now my dear local friends can plan their lives around mine.

In the next week or so I need to decide when to take my 2 weeks of vacation for the year. One option I am considering is to go to Burning Man in Nevada from August 28th to September 4th. A second option is to take two weeks off at the start of November, when my apartment lease is up, and travel somewhere else for a while before moving to a new home. I have a few favourite destinations listed in my 43 Places profile that I’d like to visit. I’m currently leaning toward a November vacation, but I’m still trying to figure everything out. I’d love to hear your suggestions in deciding this as I’m really quite torn. My wanderlust is boiling at the prospect of wandering, but I want to be sure everything works out well.

With all this thinking of calendars and time, I now have Stars’ “Calendar Girl” stuck in my head. It’s such a brilliant tune!

I must admit I have an obsession with social networking. I think it’s a wonderful avenue for meeting facinating people and have met some of the people dearest to me through one form or another of social networks online (Live Journal being the first for me, half a decade ago). Consumating is easily the most fun of all the social networking sites I’ve tried, combining some cool concepts with a community of geeks to make a lively and engaging experience. If you want to join, you can do so though this invite to be automatically added to my “hot list”. Please do give me a thumbs up, if you’re so inclined. You can just view my profile, if you’d like.

I think it’s safe to say it’s flattering to be pleasantly dreamed about and also to be tagged such heart-lightening things as “fabulousfriend”, “wordsmith,” “too_awesome,” and “your_hair_is_amazing.”

Last night was incredible, absolutely incredible. I haven’t had a more wonderful concert experience in all my life, and I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the finest performers to grace the stage. Broken Social Scene are Canada’s pre-eminent band, a secret kept from even most of my fellow Canadians. How lucky am I to be aware of them and to have seen them perform with nearly every member present?

Before the show Nathan, Pegah and Jana arrived at my place, where we drank tea and talked for a while. Sadly, Allison and Andrew were unable to join us and Pegah began to feel ill before we reached the venue. We had to leave her armed with my umbrella (it was a rainy night) at the bus stop and head on as a trio.

We arrived at the Forum and got inside as Bedouin Soundclash were beginning their set. They put on a very good show, a reggae-punk-other stuff mix that got the crowd worked up and impressed me enough that I’ll likely pick up their album soon. They’re a band to watch in the future, that’s for sure.

After an intermission, Broken Social Scene took the stage, took control of the crowd (they had us in the palms of their hands before they even appeared) and blew us all away from the first note. There was no lull in the 2.5 hours set, which was filled with alternations in band makeup (a band with 17 members and even more collaborators has a lot of pieces to move around) and so many beautiful songs I couldn’t keep track. I was energized, inspired and completely moved by the experience. It was the closest to a holy experience I’ve had in a long time. Concert crowds have always been my version of a congregation, and performers a conduit to the divine.
It’s hard to convey just how astounding the show was in plain language. It’s like a mystical or transcendant experience in that it is so beyond words and common experience that it’s hard to convey. “If God made music, it’d be slightly less beautiful, moving and grand,” is one way I explained it. Nathan made it more simple with, “BSS are gods!” There was a beautiful chemistry among the band, who obviously have a deep bond, that projected into the music and made it incredibly powerful and moving beyond the technical mastery of musicians in a cohesive zone. It was beautiful, holy and alive.
Near the end of the show, there was a bit of a mantra chanted that went something like, “Our mission is to take good music outside of Canada!” It’s my hope that all my friends and passers-by outside these borders will be similarly moved by BSS, the associated bands (Stars, Apostle of Hustle, Do Make Say Think, and a host more) and the wave of other astounding talent launching from here; I imagine you’ll be thankful to have a chance to experience what I did last night.