travel tips and wisdom quips

quick, someone buy this man a beer
definitely the oldest person thus far to rack themselves on the flybar. big cheers for this 60 something retired school master from northern england for playing like a kid again in the plaza catalun, barcelona. he had me laughing so stinkin' hard. in a higher pitched william wallace (i know, he's scottish, but so is northern england) voice he was muttering, "oh, i say...look at this here. i say, i must have a go, now...hmmm?"


water has feelings?
have you ever heard of dr. masuru emoto´s research concerning thoughts/words and their affect on water? if not, you betta aks sum'n. http://www.whatthebleep.com/crystals/ seriously, educate thyself for a minute and come back.

anyway, i was thinking about this work and how sometimes i can actually feel peoples' thoughts towards me...whether they are sizing me up and condemning me or whether they are sizing me up and intrigued or accepting. and then i realized how i judge people based on their appearances without really even knowing them...so i offer a glimpse into a journal entry:

"emoto...negative thought vibration...jesus' words about not condemning anyone in your heart/head...stop the thought at the threshhold of my mind's door. do not invite it in for tea. if you want to bring hell to earth and thereby set your direction for it (suffering), then cultivate judgement, ego, fear, envy, bitterness. if you want to bring heaven to earth (the 'kingdom') and have an eternal quality of life now, then seek first to understand others, not necessarily to be understood. everyday i take a plank out of my eye. don't condemn yourself, either...you are made of 70% water."

so i have developed an exercise. we'll call it a spiritual discipline - that, if applied to my lifestyle every few days or weeks, will strengthen my 'higher self' or 'new man' or 'bad ass' or whatever it is that cooperates with the Spirit of God (i.e. unrelenting generousity & compassion). it's called "people watching". i know we all do it. some of us even watch people watching other people. but this is maybe a bit different b/c of the intention - in the same way one could eat a big mac for nourishment or only for entertainment. so the intention to cultivate is this: no partiality. meaning, that as i am watching big/small, dirty/clean, sober/stoned, rich/poor, pretty/ugly people i am doing so with the intention of seeing value in each one that i focus on. breaking subconscious habits of finding people less than. i am confronting automatic response patterns and prejudices that come up, for example, when i see an anarchist and just want to write him off as an angry lost soul. first, i have to acknowledge that i really do feel this way and then try to move into projecting/thinking/praying only good things for this person - as well as asking the Great Spirit to help me out with my crusty, impatient tendencies to be closed jerk. basically, asking for help as i work towards becoming a more merciful, understanding person. and we all know that life is a lot better when you are hanging out with someone like that. things feel on time and you feel as though you are actually a unique and interesting person.



donnie, how is your health?
thanks for asking, mom. i think i have a tiny fracture in my foot...so i amped up my vegas spirit and gambled on some new shoes. ahora, mi vida tiene un equilibrio nuevo. rusty, did roger ever get us our damn zapatos?





two of my favorite street statues found on las ramblas



street in barcelona...dudipoo below, 'taking the browns to the superbowl' - was nakey, by the way.

free travel tip of the day:

nalgene water bottles are cheaper and less shady than thai massages.

thanks to big daddy, patrick wroblowski, (boulder-colorado´s foremost jedi touch healer and the guy who helped rolf me back together for this pogrimmage) for teaching me the importance of creatively keeping my IT band suavisito. i was using a lacrosse ball, but i lost it somewhere. indeed, necessity is the mother of all inventions...it freakin' works, too - dare you to try it.

roll out those demons...