9/08/2009

Not-So-Happy Birthday to Me


Still celebrating birthdays? Whether young or old, birthdays are special--a celebration of the day you were brought into the world. Still, as we get older do we celebrate less the gift of life?

This is something I'm currently struggling with. Today at 11:52 I turn 25 years old. Wow-big whoop, huh? Do you remember what your 25th was like? What emotions do you recall coming to surface?

“It's a little sad.”

25, single, with no house to call my own. Pretty decent financially without major rent, etc. from living in the city, but how can I get my life to move fast-forward without losing precious time?

It's tough, and I have to think to myself, "Can I be happy with nothing to my name except a family?" And then I have to ask, "Would it be enough for 'her'?"

9/04/2009

Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence.


Ever exclaimed, "What a coincidence!" or heard that sissy version, "What a co-inky-dink!" and became speechless? I have.

Whether you were dreaming of Chinese food only to find a voicemail from your spouse asking what kind of take-out you would like for supper or your birth date shows up as a customer's order number, we have all experienced them at one point or another in our lives. Those completely unrelated events which come together at the same time. Coincidences.
“I don't believe in coincidence.”
Cymatics is the study of sound and vibration in visual form. A pinch of salt, for example, on a surface affected by various audible frequencies can be manipulated to form patterns. These patterns represent an emerging trend of expression and have become an art form over the last decade.

Alva Noto is a musician who practices the use of cymatics as an artistic medium. Noto creates music through the use of electronic transmissions--a fax modem or telephonic beeps and clicks, etc. He uses mathematical logic to add rhythm & blues or hip-hop grooves to his music. Think of it as the industrial metal of the Euro electronica outfit, perfectly choreographed. Quoting Noto:
“It is such a complex matter we live within, it is impossible to track logic and decision making really, so therefore each choice can actually only be seen as coincidence.”
I take this to mean that the patterns in life we cannot explain, we label as "coincidence." Quite simply because we have no other explanation. I could go all religious, and I will, and state that God works in wondrous ways. I could also say I am a victim of comic culture, stealing the lines from Batman (loosely quoted): I don't believe in coincidence.

Do you?