Happy Shambhala Day!

Happy Shambhala Day!

(now to get my ass to the center for some meditation!)

Losar- Tibetan New Year Celebrations

The Montreal Chapter of the Canada Tibet Commitee will be hosting Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations March 4th.

Featuring Tibetan dance performances and tasty home-made yummies (oh how I love momos), the festivities get underway at 7pm in Longueil.

For more information check out this link , email ta-montreal@tibet.ca or call 514.962-0027

Still addicted to Druide

Well now that I'm fully hydrated, lubricated and inibrihated, I'm still on the Druide bandwagon. Today my coworker had tried the Druide lotion and then had the office dog- Willis go nuts and lick his hands like they were 2 porkchops.

Another exciting bit of news is that I scored tickets to the taping of CBC's 'The Hour' when it rolls into town this March. I watch this show nightly and can't get enough of George Stroumboulopoulos' wit and vitrol. It is the ideal show for a political minded, corporate punk rock hooligan with a social conscience such as myself. So funny when I think of all of those baby boomer hippies who are off working under the confines of capitalism and how today's version are now those former mohawk-wearing, Dead Kennedy's listening rejects (such as myself).

When I was younger, I remember when a group of locals started a zine called 'Punx for Peace'- 10 pages of photocopied illustrations, clip art and articles from those teenaged revolutionaries who were bold enough to be different than the regular blue collar kids from such a small town. While checking out the forums on Moncton Locals- I saw a posting which invoked nostalgic memories of when I was but a little converse-wearing, power-punk-listening freak. Cue up - "The Way we Were"(sung in the best Streisand-esque voice I can muster)....

Soothing Druide Lotion- AAAAAAAHHHH

Since I have the most sensitive skin out there, it has been a cruel winter for my epidermis. After searching online I found a Canadian company with the goods to heal my woes.

Druide make a Pure and Pur line that is for 'hypersensitve' people like me and I just slatered some on and feel like I've been soaking in Palmolive for days.

I will be picking up the full line of products at my local health food store and the healing will begin.

Winter makes you look forward to the weirdest things!

I'd like to know how many Suzanne's were named after the Leonard Cohen song?

This thought crossed my mind after watching the CBC segment on the story behind the woman who inspired the song. Suzanne is truly inspirational in that she is still a wandering bohemian who nehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifver 'sold out'. Particularily heartfelt is her tale of the last time she saw Leonard Cohen and how he shunned her, possibly out of being shamed to see that she hadn't changed a bit while he achieved great success (Oh Leonard- I do hope that all that zen meditation helped you to diminish your ego!!!)

During one of the Shambhala levels last year, we had a raffle of a Leonard Cohen CD- generously donated by one of the coordinators - named Suzanne. What I love about this centre is the love of song- I think that each level I had participated in, someone has broken into song. Too bad my warbling doesn't really cut it...

If you are interested in the story, click here to read an interview with Suzanne.

It's time for the Zen Unbound sponsored 'Blogisattva Awards'. I spent some time last night reading through some new Buddhist Blogs which was pretty interesting.

There don't seem to be many other Canadian (or Canadian Shambhalian) Bloggers out there.

Enjoy the link. hope it will inspire me to be a 'better' Blogger.

Is there anything better than brussels sprouts? I can't seem to get enough of them. As a kid I always hated vegetables and now as a vegetarian with several food allergies, veggies are my mainstay. Funny how things turn out.

Lots of events going on at the Montreal Shambhala Centre this month. February 13th there will be a talk entitled "Creativity and Contemplation" which should be quite interesting. I hope to take some Miksang photography courses at some point. If you have a flickr account, check out the following link to see the Miksang group's work. Not sure how many of you had seen the episode of 'Quiet Mind', but it did an exceptional job of presenting this contemplative artform.

I have a zillion movies on my personal video recorder to catch up with and since it is so nice to unwind on a rainy evening with a good film, last night I checked out the bio-pic on Rodney Bingenheimer titled 'Mayor of the Sunset Strip". In case his name is not ringing any bells, Rodney is one of the best-known radio dj's in the entire world. His story is fascinating and displays how despite having obstacles early in one's life, one can transcend these situations. It also illustrates the power of music in people's lives.

I have to hand it to Rodney for displaying many "bodhisattvic" qualities as his compassion for others is genuine and presented numerous times throughout the film.

When I was just a little, budding young punk, I wrote a book review for my grade-school English class on the book "And I Don't Want to Live This Life" by the mother of Nancy Spungen, who met her end at the hands of Sid Vicious.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the overdose death of Sid which reminds me of my own misguided angry youth- mad at my family, angry with society / government/ school - you name it, I hated it...
After submitting my vitrolic book report, I received my grade from the teacher and noticed that it wasn't only a red pen circled letter of the alphabet on the accompanying pages but a 4 page note- ADDRESSED TO ME. In this note, Mr. Peter's spoke of how I should watch the path I was on and how I had the ability to make a difference in the world rather then stifle my latent potential. He scrawled the words to a Robert Frost poem to inspire me to continue on my chosen path of invividuality and 'challenging the system' but to maintain a degree of consciousness so as not to stray from the road leading to my true purpose in this lifetime.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I love artists... Those who are able to see the world through kalidoscopic fun-fur-rimmed Elton John-esque glasses rather than the basic black (so Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business') Ray Bans.

One such artist whose work I appreciate (and it isn't just because she is a friend of mine) is Roxana Brongo. She has a great way of employing digital photography with overlays of abstract elements which help to create an entirely different mood and feeling than what is initially perceived. Do check out her site as it provides a glimpse into this young artists vision and while you are at it, check out her blog to see what's inspiring her as well as what she's up to.

Poor Halifax! Over 50cm of snow fell on them today. Oh I miss the Halifax Shambhala Centre- such great Drala in that location- albeit snowcovered right now.

I can't begrudge the local center here in Montreal. It is amazing to see the synergy between French and English among pracitioners. I wonder how many centers offer multi-lingual events and teachings???

While riding the metro today I noticed that Montreal-Shambhalian Esther Rochon had an article published in this month's issue of the Shambhala Sun. The article recounted her thoughts on Shakespear's Sonnet 60 and its relationship with the concept of impermanence. Esther is a popular SciFi writer who has an uncanny way in making the most high-falootin' dharma concepts graspable for all.