Turn it up a little louder

Today's Topic: Your Mind and Music

There's just something that turns your mind on when you hear your favourite song or the latest trending hit on the radio, your ipod, a dance club or what I consider the best: a live concert.

This was my concert weekend of the summer: Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday night, Three Doors Down on Saturday night and finally, The Goo Goo Dolls tonight. I like to think I cross the music genres much the same as I cross the movie genres. I will listen to anything that has a good beat, great instruments or just simple lyrics. Rock, Alternative, Contemporary, Country, Rap, R & B, Jazz, Indie, Oldies, or even Classical, Yup, I pretty much listen to them all. If I put my ipod on shuffle, I could being jamming along to Jay-Z or Frank Sinatra.

The Lynyrd concert absolutely blew me away. They were incredibly spectacular. I can honestly say that Simple Man has to be one of the best songs ever recorded. And when I heard it live, it gave me goosebumps.

I know most have experienced that feeling....when you're at a concert, you nod your head, you tap your foot, you sway or maybe just clap your hands. The music gets inside you and it takes control of your body. Every movement, every beat of every second. You can't resist it or deny it. To me, it's that rockstar inside of all of us. To not be judged, to sing it loud, to rock out on the air guitar...if you love music, there really is no greater feeling. Over the years, I have witnessed a lot of great musicians do their thing. Mind you, their job. They have the responsibility of contributing to society with the gift of music. The one common denominator that connects the world. And it been proven time and again. Live 8, Young Artists for Haiti, The Hurricane Katrina Benefit and so many others before them.

Bob Marley once believed that music could actually cure all human suffering and hatred amongst us. He was so strong in this theory that he died leaving only a legacy of people who at some point, tried to connect with what he was trying to say. One love, one heart. We all come from the same blood. I think Mr. Marley was really onto something.

I was having a really hectic time about two weeks ago. With so much on my plate and the temperature outside exceeding 35 degrees plus humidity, I needed to de-stress. I took about a 45 min rad trip because I had to pick up a package for work. And in my air conditioned vehicle, I flipped through the Sirius Satellite radio channels to find something that would help me find that comfort zone. And all at once coming through the speakers, there was one of Beethoven's symphonies. It was one of those times when I was so hot and frustrated that I didn't even want to sing along or nod my head. Now I have never been a big listener of Beethoven but I listened to his second symphony for almost 45 mins. And then is struck me, how brilliant the strings were. For a man to compose such mind numbing music, such rare beauty. And he was deaf. He didn't hear the music he shared with the world. He just wrote it. He lacked what we believe to be the single most important part of creating music. And somehow, it made sense to him. Somehow without even listening to a single sound, he was able to create masterpieces and open the door to revolutionize the sounds of music into what we label today as an industry.

Yes, the mind just sometimes knows too much. Think of every song you have listened to in your life, and what that means to you. Every lyric, every beat, every single detail of a song. Music has the ability to lift us up, release the anger, the hate, the love and any other human emotion that you attach or connect to with sound. And it's something that almost everyone has the ability to enjoy at some point in their life.

Whether you create it, listen to it, sing it, shout it and just enjoy it, know that music changes with the times. There will always be a newer song and you'll never outgrow those songs that make you who you are. After all, the art of music allows us to express ourselves and someone, musicians speak to us through their words. They put it perfect harmony what we all feel. And at some point, even Kanye West, Jay-Z, Ke$ha, Kenny Chesney or Tim McGraw will be found on the "classics" channel. I just hope you can realize that music ages with you. It simply is, what it is.

You got a friend in me

Today's Topic: Toys and Imagination

I went and saw the third installment of Toy Story today and I would have to say it has been the best one so far. When Pixar first created the original Toy Story back in the late 1990's, audiences worldwide flocked to see the film, and it became an overwhelming success. Woody, Buzz, Slink, Mr. Potato Head and the rest of the toys were brought to life by the genius work of creative artists who haven't forgot what it's like to be a kid.

These movies would have to be my favourite animation works ever made. I realized that like many of the Pixar movies, these instant classics aren't just for kids. The movie has such magic to it because every single person in that audience can relate to a story about toys. Growing up, I would spend hours upon hours building the most random Lego creations, only to smash them all in a matter of minutes after the Lego townspeople were invaded by evil Lego Pirates or worse; including space aliens or Jurassic Park Dinosaurs (yes, I mixed toy genres.)

But it was all part of the imagination process. And somewhere along the line, most of us all grow up and grow out of our toys and our imagination shrinks into a tiny strand of our daily lives. I wish it was still okay to play with all of my old Ninja Turtles, their van, the blimp and my all time favourite, the turtle-copter. But just like in Toy Story, like the main character Andy, I grew up and went to college and left all my toys in the box downstairs, only to forgot about them and let my imagination shrink.

My girlfriend works at a daycare, so for her, some of the scenes in the movie were priceless (especially when you see day care kids throwing their toys and slobbering over every piece of plastic they find.) It's funny because it's real life. And a part of me is jealous that every day, she gets to watch kids create a world where they control the destiny of so many toys. She gets to step back in the moment, and remember what it's like to be a kid, playing with all of your friends and making a world of toys the only world you understand.

And as I grew older, my imagination and love for toys faded. There would be the odd time where I would look back on childhood memories, and take out my old toys when no one was watching or judging me. And we were all the same, making sure no one heard us playing and making up voices for inanimate figurines and making our carpet in our rooms a jungle or a bed of hot lava. Toys become an escape from the busy routine we set ourselves up for.

Near the end of the movie, a moment happens when Andy reminds us all of the purpose his toys served in his life. And he passes on the magic of the toys for yesterday and steps into a new chapter of his life. Just like in the movie, we all have a moment when we decide where our toys head to, and only hope that some child or group of imagination wild children share in the magic of exploring worlds unknown.

It would be next to impossible to explore the realm of imagination because the mind is an incredible thing. What soothes it, what satisfies it, what makes it real or fake and how we find our comfort. But your imagination is something you should never lose. We are reminded of it through our children of the world, through our dreams, our toys and of course, our beloved people at Pixar who never forget what it's like to be a kid.

Maybe it's just me, but I think at some point we all wonder what it would be like if our toys could speak. And that itself is part of the imagination process. What would they say? What would they want? But for now, the toys get put away, the lights turn off, the lid of the toy box closes or the door is shut. And maybe, just maybe, one of these times I will be able to turn on the light fast enough, open the lid in a split second, or open the door just in time to watch my favourite toys come to life. Even if it's only for a second.

Does money make you happy? Or stressed?

Today's Topic: Money

When it comes right down to it, all it is, is coloured paper.

But it is the absolute common denominator in life. And if you haven't realized that yet, wake up.

Those who have an abundance of it spend it and those who don't have enough of it spend it anyway. Society makes it seem that all life's ambitions and dreams take money. And you never stop spending it, saving it, borrowing it, lending it or losing it. See, that's the great thing about money. It comes into your life everyday. And you don't have to spend it to have some sort of interaction with it. You could drive by advertisement with a message to spend money. You could hear a conversation where that one buddy that you have it always asking to borrow "like 2 bucks" or "20 bucks" (And that has actually been proven that those are the two most common amounts of money people ask for when they want to borrow it from someone they know)

Everything takes money. To create this effect, let's do a simulation. I am going to go through a list of a very average day and in brackets, the money you would spend (or did spend in previous days) to get through your day. When I start the simulation, I find it rather ironic that you spend money on an alarm clock because if you don't spend money on an alarm clock, you might not wake up on time, THUS, losing your job that makes you money. Anyway here it is. My typical day:

I wake up in the morning (alarm goes off: $50.00 for an i-pod dock) and I get up to brush my teeth (toothpaste and toothbrush: $6.00) When I went to purchase my latest toothbrush, I went for the manual because the automatic toothbrush was out of my price range. And I realized that I'm not too lazy to move my arm in a horizontal motion. I wash my mouth out with the cool minty Listerine (mouthwash: $5.99) and next up is my wardrobe. Because I work construction, it doesn't have to be super high matinence at work (socks, boxers: $15.00, t-shirt and jeans: approx $60.00) Luckily, it's the summer time so I don't have to spend that extra money on the sweater. So I have now been up for ten minutes and I have already spent $136.99. Yes, you read that right. I'm not a big breakfast guy (unless it's the weekend) so it's usually a banana and granola bar (fruit and bar: $3.00) I grab my keys to my vehicle (truck's approx resale value: $10,000) put on my boots ($89.99) and I'm out the door. Luckily, I don't need gas today (company provides: no charge) so I show up to work with my hardhat and gloves (company provides: no charge)

...At this point I could bore you with logistics (but I won't) because technically I didn't buy the machinery that I operate...meaning I am not spending my money.

Time for lunch! A good ole sandwich (bread, lettuce, cheese, meat: averages around $10 to eat. All those ingredients usually makes me a week's worth so $2.00 a day) followed by a drink ($2.00) and other snacks ($5.00). My lunch keeps cool in a nice blue cooler ($15.00) and a variety of containers ($8.00).

So then I come home, make a meat-vegetable-potato meal ($15.00) with my pots and pans ($40.00) and use my brand new cutlery ($60.00) with a glass of milk (glass and milk: $4.00) and watch some TV (bell satellite TV: $85.00) but I get to watch the movie network and realize that the extra $21 a month on my bill is so worth it because I have never actually seen The Hangover until now. And it looks even better on a 42 inch plasma ($800.00).

From here on out, it hard to figure in the cost of a bed with bed sheets, pillows, etc etc. Or if I fall asleep on my couch I purchased a while back. For very simple math, let's just say $1000 was spent in order to sleep.

And now I brush my teeth again and take a rinse of mouthwash ($11.99) and it's lights out.

Many of you may not have read that all, but to total up your days spending in order to get you THROUGH the very plain and modest and most average of days, I hope you are sitting down because to do all this, I just spent $2275.97. I didn't include the price of the truck. And yes I realize you don't spend $1000 a day to sleep or $800 a night to watch t.v. BUT, I did at some point and that means I spent that money at some point to have some sort of comfort level.

But over $2000 a day. Just to live up to a standard lifestyle. And I realize everyone's situation is different because you may not have to buy all of your food or you might commute instead of drive but you you become so routine to life that you forget that it costs a lot of money just to brush your teeth. Or shave. And how deluxe do you take your shower? How much do you spend on soap or shampoo in a day? A week? A year? A lifetime? Wouldn't it be amazing to see your life's calculator? And just watch all those numbers go up one after the other?

Do you know what the saddest and most depressing of all of this is? How much money is spent on people who die. Funeral costs, a casket or a container for ashes, the headstone, etc etc etc. You spend your whole life trying to make money to get ahead and then when you die, you go broke covering the cost to be put six feet under. But it's the right thing to do. In NO WAY, am I trying to be rude, politically incorrect or heartless. I'm just saying, doesn't it just seem to be even just a tad ridiculous? So I'll complain and then someday, I'll do it anyway. I'll spend all that money just to be put in the ground for eternity.

I dare you to take a piece of coloured paper that we call money and deface it in some way. But that's illegal right? What about burning it? We've all heard that it's illegal to burn money. So if I walked up to a cop with a lighter and just set a $20 bill on fire right in front of his face, he would have to arrest me? Because it's illegal? WOW. I am going to try that.

So whether you spend it, save it, borrow it, lend it, invest it or burn it, realize that at the end of the day, it's just paper. And realize that it does control you but you have the power to manipulate it however you want. And boy, does that feel good.