///TRIPOUT///

While browsing through film posters from the late sixties, I discovered The Trip whose sidebar suggested Psych-Out which led me to The Joshua Light Show whose comments suggested I watch it while listening to Divine Moments of Truth--which all had me trippingthef*ckout devoid of any actual external chemicals. But.. maybe this is just me.

///AZNALIENS///

Another amusing conversation of Joe Rogan's:

B: I think Asians are aliens.

J: They could be, right.. maybe that's why they're so hot.

B: Aliens landed & had Asians. The Asians nowadays aren't aliens, but they're a breed of aliens.

J: Maybe they're more alien than we are. Maybe there's different formulations. Maybe that's what all the different breeds of humanbeings are.

B: Or they're pure! We're just muts & they're pure!

J: Well, definitely Asians are more pure. There's billions of 'em & they look very similar. That's incredible that they managed to do that. I guess they probably look at Europeans in a similar same way, but the differences with the blonde hair & red hair & brown hair.. Europeans come in all different colors & sizes. But you go Korean to Japanese to Chinese, it's all black hair, it's all real similar skin tones. Goddamn there's some similarities in the Asian cultures!

B: I would love to be Asian, I think.

Venus as a Boy

Bjork

///SISTEMA///

"... music, vitality, energy, enthusiasm, & strength ..."

Jose Antonio Abreu founded El Sistema in 1975 to help poor Venezuelan kids learn to play a musical instrument & be part of an orchestra. Thirty years on, El Sistema has seeded 102 youth orchestras -- & many happy lives.

"In its essence, the orchestra & the choir are much more than artistic structures: they are examples & schools of social life, because to sing & to play together means to intimately coexist toward perfection & excellence, following a strict discipline of organization & coordination in order to seek the harmonic interdependence of voices & instruments. That's how they build a spirit of solidarity & fraternity among them, develop their self-esteem, & foster the ethical & aesthetical values related to the music in all its sense."

Kids Transformed by Music

Jose Abreu

We can use El Sistema as a model for evolving our Earth. We are the instruments & we have the voices, but in order to progress toward an infinite future, we must work in whole harmony. To overthink things is to be ignorantly rational & thus irrational. If we open up enough, to feel what needs healing in this world & what we need to do is not a difficult task. Step out of the box & into the triangle, so we can become a circle again.

///KHOYA///

"We're harnessing energy from the sun!"
By combining mythology, magic, nature, joy, childhood love, & technology, Khoya takes us away from the indoor trap & brings us back to the ever-sparkling outdoors. I would get an iPad just to play with this app. We are all children at heart.

Khoya

Shilo Shiv Suleman

///ORGANIC///

This past trip to the Philippines, a couple of friends & I spent one week in a small fishing province by the name of Pandan. It was no Boracay, but that's precisely what I adored about it. It was a humbling experience to say the least, not to mention the lovely, loving company I was privileged to be with.

 We bought fresh, unprocessed, untreated produce from the local market tended by the most helpful, amiable natives, & prepared them in sublime raw arrangements, pairing each meal with coconuts gathered from trees just steps away for juice. It was eye-opening, mind-opening, heart-opening, & it led me to become deeply aware of the true beauty of nature in its rawest form. Conversations I sat witness to danced circles around topics to do with taste, energy, & love. Like how the chemical &/or emotional treatment put into food must somehow reflect in the person that consumes it - from a pesticide-covered fruit to a violently slaughtered pig. The phrase 'you are what you eat' certainly rings true; we will feel as fresh & positive as the foods we consume. Or how we have become so accustomed to such unnecessarily, overly rich tasting foods - from heavily salted french fries to MSG-enhanced stir-fries. If we become more aware whilst eating, chewing, tasting, we can begin to taste the natural flavors each food produces on its own without the addition of excessive enhancers.

 To be entirely honest, I was half-expecting myself to come back to Los Angeles & just go back to my old pre-packaged, fast food diet. Surpisingly, much to my penchant, not even with much thought, I seem to have naturally evolved my eating habits so they somewhat emulate the meals & juices I was treated to in both Pandan & Manila by my friends (plug: see my juice journal here). Since then, not only have I become more conscious of what I put in my body, but also on my body. Food & beverages are put directly into your body; lotions, soaps, perfumes, & shampoos are soaked into your skin & scalp; toothpaste & floss enter your body through your mouth. One would like to believe that the big corporations have your best health at interest, but they don't. All they are interested in is making money for their own material benefit.

What really inspired me to write this post is my joining Etsy a couple weeks ago, & chancing upon an incredible abundance of natural, organic, handmade, & lovemade products. In particular, a replacement for my regular Colgate toothpaste in the form of Peppermint Himalayan Toothpowder by a shop called Goddess Naturals. This simple combination of xylitol, Himalayan salt, baking soda, & peppermint essential oil has gotten my teeth cleaner than they have ever, ever been. My teeth are literally squeaky clean after just thirty seconds brushing with the powder, as opposed to having to brush with regular pastes for at least three minutes, & it's completely natural. Xylitol not only prevents cavities but also treats existing ones &, teamed with Himalayan salt, strengthens teeth with a very wide array of nourishing minerals. As well as this toothpowder, Etsy has introduced me to endless listings of gorgeous, organic soaps, lotions, lipbalms, hair products, perfumes, deodorants, & hand sanitizers, among plenty other treasures.

Last semester in English class, my professor led us on a journey through food literature, & included in our syllabus was Michael Pollan's Food Rules. A lot of useful, witty little tips are packed into this tiny book, but one I will leave you with & you should apply to both food & body products is:

"Don't eat [or use on yourself] anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce."

we are stardust

we are golden

& we got to get ourselves back to the garden

///MIFLOW///

weeknights at my windchime windowsill

hearing the city's sights while i sit still

loosely rolled & fiercely lit

lies a feeling that will never quit

sensing that i don't belong, but i fit

right here, i fit

in farness.. but i'm near

nestled in the clouds so clear

ridding of my fears so i can love

all that's beneath, surrounding me, above

a flow that pulls me back to nature

& i'm so sure that i've found her

that i feel her & i'm with her & i'm in her

the inner self that i've explored

the dimensions betwixt i have soared

with patterns that entwine my mind

fulfilling me more than times combined

three tenses do not close me in

cos i've flown through space & time within

i've flown through space & time within

i lie here thinking 'bout how stars don't lie

each of us is one of them, in a mirrored mirror sky

with three eyes wide we will see

how it was always meant to be

away from self-destruction, awaken

break down man's constructions, forsake 'em

it's vibrations that we're made of

swirling lights of music, starstuff

a tail of red, a crown infinitely white

focus on the center, take flight take flight take flight

here the leaves are brown, but somewhere they are green

reflecting the circle of life in you & inside me

we are all prismatic energy

rainbows bright in synergy

a rose quartz shows us love, it's there for us to feel

if Eros creates hurt, an amethyst will heal

if daytime is a shining night

then shadows are but blinding light

release the negative & positive we will grow

don't hold it all in, just let go & flow

don't hold it all in, just let go &

flow, flow, flow

Cosmic Love
Herman Smorenburg

///ZEROH///

look. listen. feel.

& every face is like a mirror of my own in one way or another

the universe without, the universe within; in nature, of nature; in stillness, & in motion
~ photos from rhg, me, cesca, el hiero ~

zeroh shoes

z e r o h

///DOME///

The Dome Advantage

() They are much stronger than conventional structures as environmental stresses are distributed evenly throughout all points. Thus they are able to withstand earthquakes & very strong winds. Geodesic domes are constructed using series of triangles or hexagons, adding additional strength to the dome shape.

() They are cost effective as they use about one-third less material to construct & can be built very quickly. Domes are so light they require no foundations, & stressed skin domes have no framework at all.

() They use less energy to keep warm or cool as they have approximately one-third less outside surface area than conventional structures. The less outside surface area, the less energy needed to heat & cool.

() They have a more open feeling to them than box structures due to the lack of corners, also giving the dome better air circulation & better acoustics.

() They blend in with nature with their organic shape, & their flexibility also allows them to be built semi-underground if desired.

Buckminster Fuller invented the geodesic dome in the 1950's. A true, true visionary of his time & forever. He believed in & lived by:

() Ephemeralization: doing more with less

() Synergetics: parts of a whole changing & working together

() Sustainability & Selflessness

() Spaceship Earth: a world view expressing concern over Earth's finite resources & the wish for everyone to act upon it as a harmonious crew working toward the greater good.

"I am not trying to imitate nature, but to understand her."

"People should think things out fresh & not just accept conventional terms & the conventional way of doing things."
"We have to respond to what the environment is doing."

"We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship & our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody."

Buckminster Fuller knew how to live life fuller. A beautiful man. Rest in peace, in love, in light, in harmony*

Unison

Bjork


~ thank you to geo-dome for much of the info ~

///TRENDING///

To my own delight, perhaps others' as well, I've been really rather productive despite my new one-legged state due to last week's foot surgery. I've been painting, music-ing, reading, stretching, juicing, baking, cooking, & smiling a lot more than before. That last trip to the Philippines really changed my perspective for the more positive. I'm more aware of the inner & outer, more appreciative of all things, more comfortable in my own skin & situation. I surround myself with a lot of loving vibes these days, & life is just.. pleasant. Speaking of kitchenwork, I've not been obsessively keeping up with fashion news lately but I did happen to see this collection which got my full attention. My life recently has been all fruits & veggies, & apparently so has Dolce & Gabbana's. I would love to wear all-over fruit prints, ideally in the form of contrasting outfit #1.

Dolce & Gabbana SS12 RTW

OH & let me take this opportunity to link you to my new juice journal!

Makati, 012212 - rhg

///ECOTRIBE///

Sabina & I envision near-future province living (intermingled with province hopping) & tribal ventures. The inspiration seems to have stemmed from the innate desire to wear the most grand of headdresses all day everyday without feeling like sore thumbs (farewell, city life), among a plethora of more serious wants & needs. These headdresses will likely be rather weighty & will necessitate perfect posture & graceful movement (& perhaps overly developed neck muscles).

missgdesignsshop

More importantly: eco-friendly, fully sustainable, off-the-grid, dome-shaped homes with microbial systems are part of this vision. From bird's eye view, our village layout will resemble the Flower of Life, to emphasize biophilia & universal oneness.
~ we are all connected, with one another, & with nature ~

I feel it's a natural inclination to want to go back to one's roots.

Some ideas & inspiration (thanks in part to Sabina for sharing <3) by Domespace, Eco-Dome, Earthship, & Philips.

- Created with untreated, locally available, recycled materials.

- Soft on the eye with an emphasis on flow; organic, familiar, curvilinear forms with no right-angles thus fitting with nature.

- Domes with an almost extraterrestrial feel that maximize living space & are able to withstand any & all natural disasters.

- Power, water, climate, sewage, & food all accounted for within the dome's cyclical system.

- Skywards windows for sunbeams, stargazing, & moondreams.

- As much integration with nature as possible without quite becoming full-on Mowglis.

Domespaces can be rotated by remote to compensate for weather or to satisfy aesthetic wants. For example: towards the sun in winter or towards the shade in summer; facing the beach or facing the forest.

The roof is shingled with untreated red cedar which is rot-resistant, & the dome shape directs rain or snow downwards & away.

The organic dome shape allows for the maximum use of space & the maximum spread of sunlight & protects against earthquakes & hurricanes.

Eco-Domes are constructed with tree-free earth mixtures. 

They are designed with the sun, shade, & wind in mind for passive cooling & heating.

Interconnected living - soil, soul, self, spirit, sky, space.

Earthships are built with recycled materials through & through.

They are fully sustainable & totally energy independent, so goodbye utility bills!

The Microbial Home Probe is an integrated cyclical ecosystem where each function's output is another's input, thereby minimizing waste.

"Our world is sending us warning signals that we are disturbing its equilibrium. A drastic cut in our environmental impact is called for. This Probe explores how the solution is likely to come from biological processes, which are less energy-consuming & non-polluting. We need to go back to nature in order to move forward.
...
While the electro-mechanical age may have caused the problem, it could also help us find the solution. Technological development has enabled us to mimic nature’s processes. Now all that is lacking is a collective change in consciousness to take us into a Biological Age, one where materials can repair themselves & where by-products are no longer waste but fuel for other systems. We are going to live through this epoch change whether we choose to or not. Failure to adjust our thinking, & with it our behaviors, will force the earth to exercise its self-correcting mechanisms over us."
- Philips.

"The Methane Bio-Digester is a kitchen island that includes a chopping surface with waste grinder & gas cooking range. In the device, bio-gas is produced by developing gas-generating bacteria cultures that live off of organic waste. The bacterias' gas is collected & burnt, for use in the built-in cooking range & lights or sent through to heat water pipes & be used in other components of the Microbial Home."

"The Larder is a dining room table that doubles as a food storage system & evaporative cooler, similar to a kind of natural refrigerator. The center of the table is composed of inset terracotta boxes, whose outer surface is warmed by the hot water pipes from the Methane Bio-Digester. The compartments vary in wall thickness & volume, providing spaces of diverse temperatures for storing different kinds of produce."

"The Paternoster is a plastic waste up-cycler that uses mycelium fungus to break down plastic packages & bags. Enzymes within the fungus can decompose the plastic, utilizing the material for food & thus producing edible mushrooms (as long as the inks on the plastic do not contain toxic materials). Mushroom cultures are grown in glass & inserted into a holster wheel within the device. Each week, plastic grounds are mixed with the mycelium."

"The Urban Beehive is designed to facilitate domestic beekeeping. Installed into an exterior wall, one side of the device offers an integrated flowerpot below an entry tunnel for the bees. As the creatures fly into the main hive, they find a preexisting honeycomb structure on which they can build their wax cells. The glass shell permits the entry of orange light, which bees use for sight, while rendering visible the interior structure & work of the bees."

"The Filtering Squat Toilet requires no external energy, saving water by using a special flush mechanism. 
The device filters excrement to the Methane Bio-Digester for use as energy."

"Bio-Light uses either bioluminescent bacteria, fed with methane & composted material from the Methane Bio-Digester, or fluorescent proteins to generate light for the home. The lamp structure is a wall of glass cells suspended in a hung or freestanding steel frame, filled with biological cells. The low-intensity light generated requires no electricity."

Ixchel Lara

"pursue a new beginning, sibling, we need to evolve"

///DIMENSIONS///

Di Mensional Trip
the reality molecule.

the pinecone, the pineal gland, the third eye, the portal.

"there is no solidity! a form that appears solid is actually created by an underlying vibration."

"it is possible that crystals, plants, & human beings may be, in some way, music that has taken on visible form."

we are vibration! we are music!

beautiful vibrational patterns of bright bright energy sprouting eternally in perfection.

we are all energy, affecting energy.
sympathetic resonance & sound healing.

"believe, there is good out there."

the universe has got your back.

what our senses & minds are truly capable of; a fully uninhibited, unjudged view of the universe, above & within.

a reminder of incredible potential, a secret infinite pocket awaiting discovery.

the paradise we came from & where we're gonna go.

experiencing a timeless unforgettable place reminds one that we've all the time in the world to do everything we want & need to do.

time is nothing. don't let it hold you back, get you down, or stress you out.

we all have an artist within us, an unbounded vibrant creative imagination. we're mathematical explorers with a comprehension for perfection.

the material realm is not the only realm.

don't limit your consciousness, expand it.

open your eyes.. all of them.

"the basic stuff of the universe is a kind of pure energy malleable to human intention & expectation; our energy affects other energy systems."

it's not peer pressure but moreso universal influence.

"the goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with nature."
humble yourself with the universe within; be humbled, be harmony.

every man & woman is a star /// you in the universe /// as above, so below.

"transform your understanding of the physical universe, heighten your sensitivity to beauty, perceive the energy."

everyone everything everyplace everyenergy is filled with & capable of creating beauty.

beautify, be beautiful, & be beautified /// love, be love, & be loved.

we, us, everything around us breathes this infinite pattern of beauty, adds to it, is in harmony with it. it's just there, silently behind everything we do, everything we are, waiting to be tapped into & realized. we just need to relax, be calm, be open, give in, & flow.. & beautiful things will unfold naturally, inevitably, infinitely, for us to experience & feel.

from infinity into infinity*

Ixchel Lara

"don't worry about me," she replied. "i'll be fine."