United States | I am an Interculturalist

We often come across seeming ludicrous decisions in our life, things that do not just make sense. An example that occurred in my life recently was an edict from a local council not to use the overhead projector in a facility we hired even though we were willing to pay more money if necessary. This meant we would have to fork out several hundred dollars to buy one , money we do not have while the projector in place sat there unused.

My old mate Steve who I used to stand on the barricades with is a councillor for the area, an anarchist and a man who does not take kindly to ridiculous regulations. He believes that council employees are there to serve the ratepayers, something that council employees sometimes seem to forget in their day to day actions. So I wrote to him and he has got the CEO on to it, so No may not mean No.

I got this new sense of power from watching Amanda Palmers amazing TED talk about the art of asking, heres the link 14 minutes of transformation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMj_P_6H69g, when do we assume and not ask, how many opportunities have we let go by by saying in our mind I know the answer to that, I know it took something for the person in my last relationship something to break down my already always listening that relationships don’t work. In the end my attachment to this koan was so strong she left.

So what areas do I now ask in I never used to before?

1. In the area of contribution, I no longer think thats impossible because….. The help is always out there, you just need to be open and keep on asking.

2. In the area of Giving, If I see that someone needs assistance I will give generously of my time and money if that is what is required. Recently I could not attend a friends fund raiser to travel to Bali to attend a workshop and I contacted him to donate some money. he suggested I buy a ticket and that he make it available to someone who could not afford to come.

3. In the area of Love, I have struggled with self love my whole life and up until last year was a handshaker not a hugger. I broke through this at a retreat I attended and am now asked to give hugs and complimented for the loving hugs I give people.

4. In the area of Wisdom, I have always had an inner wisdom but I was very unwilling to share it, being an introvert and all. This blog is a result of a breakthrough in that area and my 800 plus Facebook friends, many who I have obtained on the recommendation of others.

Thats enough, Namaste my friends until next time

Most of the people I know use iTunes, i recently sold 500 CD’s to my brother in laws mate for $50 – he has a son with Down’s syndrome and they go to markets and sell vinyl and CD’s as a father/son thing as the son really enjoys it. They were sitting in my garage gathering dust as I listen to my music on iTunes.

How do we as music fans source our music these days? I have over 300 musician friends on my Facebook page, My friends Kavisha Mazzella calls me a patron of the Arts as I sponsor many crowd funding campaigns and have many an obscure Australian CD through this practice. I even have a Haitian folk singer Leyla McCalla album Vari-Coloured Songs through this practice, Its beautiful but would never had sourced it except for having seen it on Kickstarter. Her name called to me so I sponsored her on a whim.

Another method I use is Op Shopping, You pay between $1.00 to $3.25 a CD which gives you the opportunity to buy several and if one of them doesn’t work out I recycle them back to the opshop after putting them on my iTunes anyway. I recently got the best of Crowded House for a dollar using this method, I gave it to my sister Ruth to listen to in the car as I know she likes the Finn brothers music, cheap presents and much appreciated.

Another site I like is Bandcamp because musicians get more money than from iTunes and being played on Spotify. I have 83 albums in my collection courtesy of quite a few Disturbed Earth CD’s. My friend Dean Richards composes under the name Disturbed Earth and sells his wide range for $3.00 an album, I have eleven at the moment, some more listenable than others, I think I’ll buy another two after writing this. I became a friend with a musician called Yesod through band camp who lives in Missouri as he contacted me and asked me why I was buying his music, I had to tell him I had got onto it because I liked the name of his band and album covers.

My brother Hugo is an announcer on http://www.3RRR.org – his show is called Frank and is on Friday mornings from midnight to 2 a.m. He is my older brother and I must give him credit for my wide music tastes and I do have quite a few CD’s he has burnt me in my collection. I try not to access music through burnt albums although I copy CD’s from the local library but never copy them for other people.

How much music do I have on my iTunes, 16 days, 7 hours and I always listen on shuffle so I am pleasantly surprised track by track. Namaste my friends, until next time.