Perspective: On Top of the World

by skybound.

I am about to travel abroad. I'll be away for THREE weeks.

I've been meaning to blog but my head has been in so many places this past month that capturing my thoughts and free time at a common time is like catching fairy dust. I catch magical moments here and there in my head and in a blink I'm transported to a new world...

Such is the way of the ever-changing NOW.

I'll do my best at finding an internet cafe and time to escape to write ;) I'll be returning a couple of days before my birthday. Friends, keep an eye out for the EVITE; the theme is ART & SOUL.

I chose the sky-diving picture because it's been sitting in my head that Life is like sky-diving. If you haven't jumped out of a plane, I highly recommend it. You'll never be the same. It's given me an analogy to look at life through.

I used to be afraid of heights. That sky-view was appreciated but I would get unsettled. I would get dizzy and feel out of balance despite trying to enjoy a spectacular view. I wasn't born afraid of heights but I found moments when I couldn't enjoy a moment because an irrational discomfort would overtake me when climbing spiral staircases, taking off in airplanes, going on a rollercoaster, etc. This uneasiness sometimes got to me while sitting on a swing or a swivel chair.

And so I decided that jumping off a plane was a good way to snap myself out of this weird thread of my mind.

Being in that space of thought, the world looked like this from that day on...

I didn't want something in my head to get in the way of my experience of Life.

I found that other people jumped out of planes everyday for a living and loved it.

There's comfort in knowing that I wasn't going to be the only one jumping out of a plane.

The view up there is more gorgeous than I have words for. I stood at the open door 13,000 feet above to enjoy the view before jumping.

I felt in control. No, the open door wasn't like a vaccuum. It was just an open door.

I freefalled for a minute at 120mph before the parachute was released. My stomach didn't get sick and i wasn't cold. I actually laughed all the way down because I was so shocked at how nothing i expected happened.

I floated down for over 5 minutes and was taken back by the utter silence and beauty of seeing the world from another perspective. Everything is beautiful when one has a better view.

That was the greatest lesson i came down with.

Everything is beautiful when one has a better view.. Everything was beautiful in the first place, sometimes it's helpful to see it from another place. Sometimes it's life changing to see it from another place.

I never had a sense of being out of control; I didn't feel compromised by the altitude, the temperature nor the people in the plane. The only thing that could've drove me into uneasiness was my own thoughts.

I didn't make time to be fearful because I wanted to enjoy the moment. it's not everyday that I jumped out of planes for my birthday.

FEAR is;

False
Expectectations
Appearing
Real

and being present to the excitement, fun and adventure didn't feed that monster. I landed on the ground after a leisure and inspiring float down back to solid ground.

So when i feel afraid, I sometimes take myself back to that skydive and I remind myself that life is beautiful... i just haven't found my view.

I'm working on my documentary while away. I'm working on being present with myself before a camera. I want to create something beautiful.

It exists and I will find my view.

JNET

I Dare the Waves to Claim Me

I wished to have studied the violin so that I can pose for pictures such as this.

I've spent many moments on the rocks at La Jolla like this in the past daring the ocean to have a few words with me. It never crashed close enough.

I rarely go to the ocean now. It was once a place I went to when I was only sad or angry and it was near home and gave me another roar to hear beyond myself.

For the life of me, I can't remember what got me so upset in the past... Maybe it was just teenager angst.... most likely following a walk-out from a disagreement with my mom. I don't indulge my emotions in such a way anymore. Anyway, I now live 30 minutes from the beach and not 10 minutes. And I don't walk away from uncomfortable conversations. I just go into my head.

I had an interesting evening last night with someone who is determined to make himself special to me.

"Do you have emotions for me?"

"What is that like? I think emotions can be excessive."

"Do you miss me when we're not together? (silence) ..... Hmmm... You've never been in love, otherwise you would understand. That's fine. What is it that I always tell you?"

"You tell me many things..."

"Everything is FIXABLE"

I'm still trying to recall the talk but we got sidetracked into another conversation. But something settled with me from that conversation and that was that this person is really working at getting to me. I'm still wondering what he meant from "everything is fixable." I text messaged him. Maybe I'll get an answer before I finish this blog entry.

The waves of life are trying to have a few words with me.

I had a similar conversation with another person and the flavor was reminescent in spirit though different in words.

Splash!

And yet I stare at the vastness that is the ocean of life and listen to the pulse of sound hum but nothing touches me. Still the ocean is alive and I can't help but listen.

This just came to my e-box:

It's like one big hall of mirrors, isn't it, JNET?
Except, of course, that the halls of time and space reflect what you choose to think.

Hmmm....

JNET

Disneyland AGAIN... and again.

by mittens oh my!.

I spent yesterday with Wookie and his family and had a great day at "the happiest place on earth", Disneyland. We were in true form of family silliness and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly being with one another.

For those that don't understand the Disney phenomenon, are reacting with violent anti-consumerism sentiment and think that Mickey Mouse is the anti-Christ, let me give a window to look at the Magic Kingdom through my eyes.

Ahhhh... mom and dad ... they were young and enthusiastic and doing the new parent thing and planning a trip to Disneyworld was something they enjoyed more than we were conscious to realize. I have pictures of my brothers and I with monogrammed Mickey ears holding balloons. I have a random memory of watching a blue mickey balloon stray off into the night sky while a brother cried...

by megpi.

Moving to the west coast made Disneyland a regular place to trek to with out-of-town visitors, ocassional school field trips, a day out with friends (without parents) and later on for dates.

I've spun in the tea cups with my brothers and with my bestfriends. I've watched friends perform on their stages and television shows. I've been on Space Mountain with my mom and my grandmother. It's a place where memories of the past collide and each time I return, another row of color is woven into the tapestry of nostalgia.

by Don Bailey.

So yesterday as my brother filmed our upteenth boat ride through the "It's a Small World" water river, he narrated his Blair Witch styled version as we all improvised along. Now we just need to edit some scary music into the mix.

What is Disneyland? It's a theme park, an amusement park where rides are for little kids and big kids. It's a place where you are surrounded by people who are stories themselves; some are having their first visit or their only visit, and some have been there a dozen times. The more you go, the more you build memories that you never seem to outgrow.

It is a very surreal place to walk alongside the child you once were. But that child teaches me many things... the most important lesson is that that child is always present and that growing up doesn't erase who you are...

JNET