Recently, two lesbians were harassed at a Seattle Mariners game for kissing in public (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/05/seattle.kiss.ap/index.html ). This event seems to have generated a lot of passionate debate on both sides of the issue and I would rather not add to the proverbial blog diarrhea. Yet I feel compelled to offer a 'stranger in a strange land' view of the situation, as it appears to me as comically misguided as it is deplorable.

While the good citizens of this country suffer through ever rising prices, the loss of their sons and daughters in a corporate war, rampant logging crisis and one of the poorest excuse for health care developed nations could muster (among many other things), it seems that they still find energy to monopolize an almighty ire regarding an innocuous display of affection. I cannot affect surprise in this matter, as I have lived through the dark days of the 'Nipple Super Ball'. Nonetheless I am still amazed at the ability of the American public to delve into the pits of moral despair when encountering phenomenon which they were told to judge as 'abnormal'. It seems that to the average Seattle citizen, a kiss between lesbian partners qualifies as an abnormality, and mandates the actioning of the nearest authority figure in an attempt to put an end to this blasphemy. I note, with a grin that said citizen did not gather the personal might to address the situation themselves and acted vicariously through a stadium usher. Ever wondered why there are stadium ushers when everyone is screaming their head out? But I digress. Back to our blasphemous kiss...

You see, the problem here is more complex than it first appears. Firstly, a grown adult is distressed by a public display of affection, and notably because this display of affection is between same sex partners. This reaction is probably born from years (maybe generations) of cultists brainwashing by religious figures who have long forgotten the message of their holy scriptures to concentrate upon man-made moral rules destined to satisfy the innate desire for misery our puritan forefathers brought to this continent. I have little doubt about their lack of reaction regarding a kiss among individuals of opposite sex. So maybe can we blame religion in this case?
That would be too easy though, as we would blame a universal human phenomenon for an abnormal human behavior. After reading some of the public comments in the article, I realized that the issue was one of education. Education of the parents, who were never taught that love is the most quintessential and natural of human feelings. Note my use of human, which tiptoes around the fact that I discard the rest of the animal reign, through self-admitted ignorance. By love, I do not mean the traditional teaching of correlatively traditional relations between male and female, but love in its purest form and thus in its most widespread manifestation. Love between strangers in a fluttering moment of assistance on the side of the road, love between parents and children, love between a pedestrian and a homeless individual, love of a gardener for a flower, love of a child for an animal, love of man for his enemy, love of passersby the time of a smile and a stolen eye contact, and yes, love between lesbian, gay or straight partners. Love is everywhere yet is not taught properly, or rather is not allowed to expand naturally, like a bonsai which growth is twisted and thwarted by a gardener’s whim. Because of this mangled education and lack of nurturing of natural tendencies, parents carry parasitic taboos that are in turn communicated to children. A father exclaimed that he feels uncomfortable exposing his children to same sex affection because he does not know how to explain it to them. Indeed, how could he, he was never taught.

So, far from wanting to join the crowd of angry puritans or outraged gay activists, I stand on the sideline and wonder how we can bring this derailed train of a society on the right track, far away from the proselytistic cult of nationalism and violence, away from the religion of the All Mighty Dollar and toward a culture of love, tolerance and compassion. Anger is not the solution, you are, if you only will.

No go and make the world a better place.

Pierre out…

I just received an email from a cousin of mine that she forwarded while expressing her outrage about its content. This email focuses upon Antisemitism in France. Here is my answer to the originator...

Reading this email saddened me, not because of the acts described within it or the mere concept behind those acts, this I am unfortunately accustomed to thanks to my past life and the daily news, but because of the following reasons:

- Firstly, the level of misinformation and pseudo-journalistic myopia expressed in the email is alarming. The author emphasizes the need to remain informed, which I thoroughly agree with. I suggest we all start by turning off Fox News as a preemptive strike against brain-draining propaganda. However, the author's plea for information flies in the face of outdated events and somewhat spotty incidents. Nevertheless, the degraded nature of the reports should not in any way take away from the gravity of the actions. May I suggest we place them back in perspective though? Almost all the presented incidents occurred in suburban or urban areas considered unsafe, and plagued with a high delinquency rate. I used to live near Bondy and I can tell you that the Bronx has nothing on it! Thus, given the high crime rate affecting these areas, it is logical to consider that the amount of hate crime is also going to be considerably higher than anywhere else in the country. Also, poor urban areas are often inhabited by immigrants, many of them being Muslims. There is a well known effort by radical Muslim factions to mobilize confused youth in a fight against perceived enemies. These individuals use the same tactics that are used anywhere else in the world to inspire terror and spread hate and violence. As Sara mentioned it, France's imperialistic past came back to haunt Her and the country now has to deal with a large Muslim population that contains fringe extremist elements. So if we consider that the hate crimes are the product of fringe extremists who live in urban ghettos, how is it possible to deduct that France is a haven of anti-Antisemitism? To put it in perspective, should African nations boycott the US for all the hate crimes involving African Americans? Should Israel boycott the US because of the 1500+ anti Semitic crimes committed on our ground every year? Yes, indeed, some US citizens are also displaying anti Antisemitism! Maybe we should boycott ourselves; or maybe we should put reported information in perspective and think a while before jumping to conclusion.

- Secondly, I do not really understand how suggesting a boycott of French products is going to solve the specific problem we are facing. Given, as we mentioned it earlier, these attacks originate from an extremist, violent fringe of minorities living in France and some originate from an extremist violent fringe of the native French population influenced by the excretive theories of the neo Nazis, how can we impact the situation by applying economic sanctions to non-prejudiced, law abiding and mostly peace loving citizens. I feel that this statement implies that the French government condones these anti-Semitic activities, which is beyond insulting. Not only has France proven to be a safe haven for faiths, ethnicities and philosophies of all types, but laws are in place that severely punish any hate crime. The government is very active in solving and punishing such crimes and hinting at its condonation of hate-based acts is as misinformed as it ridiculous.

- Thirdly, I resent the suggestion that France is akin to a spider Web in the wind under external pressure. Coming from a family that has fought many wars, since the middle ages, defended innocents and lost their freedom or lives in the name of these causes, I take as a personal insult the commonly agreed, mediatic pun that stamps the French with a cowardly attitude. I would expect better from the originator of such a document than to brandish such idiotic imagery pushed by the misinformed and the ill-intentioned.

- Last but certainly not least, I would like to make an appeal to you, the readers. Please consider the fact that our world is never going to be perfect and that prejudice, hate and violence are always going to be a significant part of humans’ daily activities and thought patterns. Be ready to put your life at risk to protect the innocents, the victimized, the oppressed, not in a foreign land but right here in your streets, wherever you are. And, even if perfection is out of reach, change is possible and it starts with you. Change does not imply boycotting this group or that group, it does not involve indignant yet safe Internet diatribes against a perceived enemy, nor does it require violence of the mind or the body. Change is brought about by all of us, every day, when we open our heart to difference and welcome others as they are, without prejudice and labeling. This attitude will transcend tribes, religions, armies, factions and elevate us to what we truly are: human.

I will leave you with John Lennon's lyrics. May you bear them in your heart wherever you go

"Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace"

Now go and make the world a better place...

Pierre out...

Ressources

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/40258.htm

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/4057_12.asp

Mr. Electric Triangle is spinning his unique brand of Bossa Nova Lounge jazz on my 5.1, courtesy of Creative and I decided to get back to this blog that I have now neglected for over a week. And what a week it has been?

Besides the messy tension that has permeated my life the last four months, the last week has added the irritant of bitter, ‘midlify’, pseudo competitive people who decided to play on my turf the pathetic tribal hurray of their mid life crisis. It was bad enough that only a week earlier Catherine Harris won the senate race for the totalitarian party. I am not in the habit of pushing political views in these pages, not by fright mind you, but rather by lack interest for this clownery that pretends to run our slab of land. Yet, when somebody runs on the platform that Christians are the only hope of this country and that voting for anyone else would be like legislating sin, it is time for me to come out swinging. What the F*$# is she thinking? And for all the ones that voted for her, do us a favor and move to Afghanistan where you belong and join the Taliban … But back to my initial gripe.

Do you ever have the impression that you live amongst people who pursue their agenda over, around and through you and that, having been told to be the polite, suppressed (I hesitate to use the word emasculated, it hurts) and ‘comme il faut’ (check it out, culture has never hurt anyone, except Western culture pushed on the Mid Easterners, obviously) you let them get away with it? Added to this castrating education, laced with a puritan attitude toward demonstrative anger, is the fear to be seen as a loose canon, at work, outside, in public and among acquaintances. The fact is, the real you is inside screaming with frustration that these gray bullies who push their way and get ahead in a rat race that their epitomize. The real you is left crying behind the iron mask of your tamed personality and has no recourse but to dig inside, bringing in its wake ulcers, cancers and neuroses a plenty.

I am not a role model, and neither am I one of the tame ones. But yet my true self can only breathe through the crack that was left in the door. So tonight I encourage you to kick the door open and inhale a freedom long lasted for. Feels good doesn’t it? Now, I am not preaching an epidemic of erratic behaviors, or rude demeanors, but rather a rash of self assured smiles, pointed remarks, grounds held firmly and personal flair for human relationships, fashion, music and life in general. The choice is simple: spend your life being what everyone expects you to be or decide to be on the outside the person you are, and have forever been, on the inside. I will listen tomorrow for the noise of exuberant, direct, joyful and irreverent outbursts. Watch for the opening door!

Go be yourself and make a better world.

Pierre out…

There are so many human beings on this living ball of molten rock that one cannot dream of meeting every one of them. While I try to approach every new encounter with an open mind and an open heart, I often walk away feeling that nothing came out of the exchange. Don’t get me wrong, I have met many great people in my 40 something years on Earth and I am looking forward to continue walking the trails and saluting strangers on the way.

Maybe is it that I do not bring enough to these encounters; maybe is it that I often parade as more of an open heart vagabond that I am really am? In the end, of the people I read about and see in the media, there are very few I want to meet, not being the groupie type anyway.

But today I forever lost an opportunity to meet a guy I would I traveled far and wide to just shake hands with: Steve Irwin. Many of us remember the grinning daredevil that always made us cringe and never failed to amaze us. I never met Mr. Irwin, my only ‘contact’ having been a sympathy email sent to him when the media gave him a hard time about him feeding a croc while holding his child. Nevertheless, he fascinated me with his good humor, his fascination for the animals that populate the Earth, his gift to enroll us in the conservationist movement by showing the world how beautiful these creatures are and how important it is that we exert our power to save them. I felt drawn toward this charismatic figure because I knew he was ‘the real thing’ amongst a society of poseurs, wanabees and mask-wearing shells. I love the man because he genuinely loves life.

I find myself in this uncommon grieving mood and wanted to share it with you, serendipitous reader. Let us not forget who the ‘Croc hunter’ is any time soon. How about ever? Please give to a conservationist organization today, go to the official Croc Hunter website (www.crocodilehunter.com ) and give some money to the zoo, do something to save wildlife around your area and never, never let it go when these morons who believe they have a holly dominion over the Earth think nothing wrong of destroying ‘inferior’ lives. All lives are equal, all lives are sacred and taking one by negligence, greed or just laziness is as despicable an act as it comes. I agree that we have dominion over this world, but as protectors, as guardians, as providers of hope, safety and life.

Please drop a line of sympathy to the Irwins at http://www.worldtributes.com/tributes/steveirwin.php

Well, it looks like the remote possibility of shaking Steve’s hand will not occur in this life. Hopefully, some other place, some other time…

Go and make the world a better place.

Pierre out…

Today I met my favorite tropical storm; the one that is more wet firecracker than gods’ fury. Waiting all day for Ernesto, I enjoyed watching the jungle we call a yard sucking all these heavenly tears, comforted in the rhythmic torpor and the delight of being inside looking out.

So, Ernesto is gone and I send him off with a second glass of Shiraz. I was just going to have one but Norah Jones’ ‘All your Love’ mandated a second one. ‘In vino veritas’; if only that were true.

I have a favor to ask from you, serendipitous reader. If you read those lines, pour yourself your favorite poison and muse for a little while on your life. Ask yourself if you are doing what you want with whatever wink of time you were imparted, ask yourself what happened on the way to who you were to become, ask yourself why. Then start planning a rectified course and set sail at dawn. Tonight is for drinking and smiling, in no particular order. I find it important that less people think, say or sometimes shout ‘That’s it for me, as good as it gets’. Go pursue your dream, your love, your aspirations, your somewhere that gleams of all the hopes, delusions, fantasies and mirages that make life a stop motion succession of ‘nows’ worth living. I do not promise that it will be easy, or will even happen. But what do you have to loose. Fall, get back up. Fall down 10 times and get back up eleven. Gray souls stay down and learn to like the ground.

Go make the world a better place.

Pierre out…

Chill Out! Why? Because life is far too important to be taken seriously.

I know, you have heard this before and it has become one of these platitudes that only reinforces your sulky attitude. Now take a second look at it, a real deep look at every one of these words and what they really mean. Life is not important because your mere existence (more on that later) depends upon it. It is important because it is a gift, an opportunity, an insanely precious chance to experience a world of wonder beyond imagination. On this discovery journey, one encounters joy, sorrow, laugh, cry, pleasure and pain and all these feelings participate in shaping the soul, enriching it till it glows with its own life force and enlightment.. Does your current attitude fit this description? Mine does not but I am working on it.

Now let us revisit the fact that life is too important to be taken seriously. I thought, at first that this statement was so right, so ‘new agey’ in its lucidity that it belongs on the walls of my humble adobe. After many years, I realize it is wrong, in a way, and here is why. You, dear reader, may consider that you live your life seriously, obey the laws, respect your boss (what a pejorative name) and authority because this is the right thing to do, project cautious and reasoned behavior in your financial and love life, embrace societal values and are wary of those who decide for alternative ways. I am sorry to say that this kind of seriousness, defined as “Being of such import as to cause anxiety” or ‘Too complex to be easily answered or solved” is nothing but a useless shell that you build around your life so as to appear in control, professional, in charge. Truth is, you are not and that is both a good and a natural thing. Life should be taken seriously as in “Carried out in earnest” or “Deeply interested or involved”. Existing is not being serious about life; it is merely reacting to or witnessing a 100 year long decay (that is if you are unlucky). Living is a pro-active, deeply involved, wonder-filled experience. It takes work, dedication, risk taking and empathy.

Let us redefine this old adage: “Life is to important not to be deeply involved in”.

So next time you want to answer a greeting by a stare or decide to ignore a love story because it is unconventional; next time you feel like leaving Cube Ville behind but do not dare; next time you wake up in a corporate structure full of empty suits you respect because of their empty titles; consider if you want to fear life or live life.

Remember, chill out … or fuck off!

No go make the world a better place.

Pierre out…

With the relative torpor of the holidays, it was easy to rest one’s mind, relax one’s habits and fall in the crowd of excuses that form the funeral procession of good intentions. Thus this blog laid dormant for 2 months. It was going to take an earthquake to shake my lethargic abandon and, for good or bad, this earthquake happened: South Dakota challenged women’s choice.

I first want to say that you will not read my personal opinion about abortion in these lines. The reason is fairly simple; not being a women and never, in this life at least, having to face this choice, I do feel I lack all the elements necessary to cast an enlightened judgment on the subject. You may of course disagree… I have been told many times that not being a woman is not the problem, that the fate of an innocent life is the problem. Granted, this may be, but I just refuse to get dragged into an argument that involves more faith than reason.

What I really feel strongly about, though, is the fact that this country was founded upon a concept of freedom, which includes freedoms of and from religion. Thus, I do not see why we should consider a Judeo Christian view of a topic when drafting laws, which is exactly what is being done in South Dakota. The fact that a category of the population thinks, because of their faith, that abortion is not acceptable does not make it a crime for those who do not embrace their particular faith. Once again, I am not saying that abortion is or is not acceptable for me, just that I do not wish to infringe upon others’ choice. Just what kind of arrogance is needed to think that one’s opinion is the only valid one? Did I just sleep through a long trip and have I landed in one of these Middle Eastern theocracies? Maybe is it time for our nation to tell the theocrats that their particular breed of Taliban is not acceptable in the United States of America. Then there is the ‘rational’ argument…

Many ‘pro lifers’ maintain that the infant is a being since conception and thus has rights, just as any other human. This leads us to the question: when is a fertilized egg a human being? Once again, I will not get into this debate, considering that it clearly is impossible to determine who is ’right’ or ‘wrong’ the issue resting upon belief rather than mere facts. I will however raise the point that many ‘pro-lifers’ I talked to are in total support of the war. I am not sure I understand the ability to conciliate this vehement fight for an unborn life with the blind acceptance of the legalized extinction of life that is war. Of course, being non violent makes me biased but I cannot help but wonder what the difference is between the fetus and the grown individual in their right to life. Just because someone belongs to another faction does it make their life less worthy of living? Only in self defense would I raise my hand in violence and even then, I would hesitate to kill. After all, life is the most precious commodity and how can we show the way to peace if we were to allow our actions to contradict our words. Also, what about those of the ‘pro-lifers’ who admit being in favor of the death penalty?

So next time you express your fervent opinions about the right to live, think about the entirety of your beliefs and try to be coherent. This being said, in our country, personal freedom always trumps religious laws and so I encourage you to raise your voice in disagreement if you feel that the recent events in South Dakota constitute a threat to the American way of Life.

As an alternative, check out ‘The Prevention First Act’(Senate Bill 2458 and House Bill 1073) and take action at http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/ppan_pfa/wxwdx8w215kt5we?

Now go on make the world a better place.

Pierre out.

Driving to work one morning I was listening to my favorite radio station, NPR (please listen and contribute to http://www.npr.org ). As often, a bit of news captured my interest and immediately involved my heart. Somewhere in the US, recently, a dying man asked his wife to divorce him in order to avoid being responsible for the ½ million dollars debt his medical treatment generated. She refused…

It is not often that I hear a story where love triumphs over greed, evil, whatever, and I was closed to tears as I imagined the situation and its meaning. A great sadness overcame me as I realized that this single bit of news probably represented a low point for our entire culture. Such values as love, faith, effort, hope, cooperation are pushed at the forefront of our media-saturated national scene on a daily basis. Entire campaigns are run over who is more virtuous than whom and even blatant lies and extreme social positions are forgiven in the light of an advertised strong stance on said values. Then such situations as the one described above occur and the true face of reality, in all its obscene ugliness is revealed.

I come from a country that has a national healthcare and where this coverage works. I am not saying it is flawless and solves all health related problems, just that everyone is covered (with the extremely small exception of a few administrative loopholes). I often hear on US television that such a solution would never work in our country, that European countries are much smaller and thus present a unique situation. Unfortunately for these mouth pieces, I studied global health coverage in my early university years and can tell you that such statement is completely wrong. Global healthcare coverage works better as its base grows in size. Granted, the Baby Boomers are likely to create an overload, for some time, but will not bankrupt the system. I believe the key to the national resistance to such a solution is based upon four misconceptions:

- Global health care is considered a ‘socialist’ measure. Get over it people, this is just a word and it is about time that the brain washing message of the McCarthy years is left behind. By socialist, understand ‘with a social goal’. Now how is this bad?

- A global solution will increase taxes. Considering how much insured people are now paying for their plans, I am pretty certain that the same money can be added to taxes and would result in an even exchange. I must admit that I do not have data about this fact and am just basing my remark upon the fact that 25% to 30% of HMO costs goes to administrative expenses, including the insane salaries of their CEOs.

- Why should I pay for someone else’s coverage? It is true that some families will not pay taxes toward the global health coverage. However, as we live in a large community named the United States, cannot we find it in our heart to share the wealth so that others ‘lives can be preserved? Or have we grown so self-centered that such a perspective repulses us?

- Insurances should be allowed to make profit. Free enterprise is a fundamental American value. True enough, but health is a fundamental national issue and should not be abandoned to capitalistic greed. One’s life is and will always be worth more than mere money and I consider it a basic governmental function to help preserving citizen’s health. Hence the need to a national, government-managed system.

- Doctors have worked hard and should be able to make a profit. Of course, but then consider, as I mentioned it before, that 20 to 25 percent of HMOs cost goes to administrative expenses. Doctor’s salaries are not in question here, they should be justly paid for their high level of skills. Health insurances, on the other hand, add nothing to our society well-being and could be replaced completely by a federally-run, non-profit, system.

When it all comes down to it, from corporations to individuals find it hard to spend money for others,. We have grown into egocentric, wealth-centric citizens who sympathize at others’ problems yet do very little to solve them. Truth is, we are all in this together. Next time you pledge your faith, values, good intent, think about all those who are dying and ruined because of medical costs, think about families sent in tragedy because they could not afford an easy cure, think about how ridiculously fake any righteous statement sounds in comparison. Health is one’s most important ‘possessions’ and no politician will have my attention until he/she offers a viable, solid and driven plan for global health coverage.

Good evening and happy new year to all of you out there.

I promise I will not bore you with the usual New Year crap, resolutions and all. After all, I opened this hailing frequency to move away from the usual. On this New Year’s Day, I just want you to promise me to live a richer life. Love harder, work smarter (NOT LONGER), play harder, taste every little bit of life till the flavor runs out, then pop another. Make this telephone call to this long lost relative, start a new hobby; ask out the guy/gal you have been dreaming about for weeks, start something good, and stop anything that affects you negatively. All these little ripples will change the world and the image reflected when the water finally settles will be a happier, deeper more meaningful one.

Remember, it all starts with you.

Pierre out…

Whatever we do in life is often the result of a combination of circumstances jolted slightly askew by decisionary patterns inherited from our background. Simply said, we end up places that we never knew we would visit.

Where I am, where you are today in your life, career, hobbies is not as important as where you wish to be. Indeed, if you are reading these words and are a 16 hour day accountant for a powerful Manhattan firm and are delighted with your job and life, this is where you are meant to be until further notice from your persona. On the other hand, if you fit the same profile yet come home every night just to swallow a combo of anti depressant and bourbon, maybe it is time to change your life. It all comes to a matter of awareness. While it is perfectly acceptable to live in the ‘system’, it is crucial to be aware of it.

One’s life path runs parallel to one’s aspiration and destiny. I use the word destiny as in ‘The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined’. Aspiration here is the keyword due to the fact that destiny is unknown until it is accomplished, making it as useful as a bottle of steak sauce at a vegan party. SO ask yourself ‘What do I want to do with my life?’ ‘What am I good at?’ ‘Do I like what I am presently doing?’. I any of the answers to these questions emphasizes a discrepancy between what is going on and what you wish for, it is time to act upon it. Now, don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that life is supposed to be perfect. In a sense that would make it boring. What I am insinuating is that your life is too valuable to be wasted in doing something you are not particularly good at and that does not bring you satisfaction.

It is often useful to ask yourself what the impact of your life will be upon the world. Will you leave a positive, negative or neutral impact? I tend to think that the worst of all three is the neutral one, for it denotes passivity and lack of engagement. The negative impact can be corrected more easily, in my humble opinion, for it only encompasses redirecting energy. In a neutral state of being, energy is not present and has to be generated first. Generally, the more human-oriented your activity, the more impact you will leave. Indeed, humans remember, testify, emulate and thus act as the vessels, the continuation of your impulse, just as you may be someone else’s.

Please, as you wrap up this read, take a few minutes to consider where you are, where you want to be, and if these two places differ, get up and start walking…

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: ‘we are one and the same’. I am not talking about you and I, or even you and your neighbor, or significant other (more on that later). I am talking about you, me and everyone else. At the simplest, yet deepest level, we are one. ‘Impossible’ says you ‘I am me and I know it. See, I can look at my image, touch my body. And I think, I think therefore I am like this dude said a long time ago (that was Descartes – NFTB)’. True enough superficially, however, when you examine what makes you, maybe will you notice that it is what you think, what you do, what you like, dislike, wear, choose. This ego that the media cajole in hope that it will do what is expected, buy what is manufactured and fear for itself so much that it will not stick its head out, ever. This ego is but a perspective and a reliquary of the self centered societies that have presided over the human race for thousands of years.

Well, the truth is that the rawest level, there is no difference between you, me, the passing beauty you linger to watch, the bird on the balcony or even the coffee table that sits so faithfully in your living room. Want some proof? Ever walked in a room just to see your mood dive or elevate instantly, ever fell in love, ever cried with a friend. Some call it empathy, some call it sensitivity. All it is really is the manifestation that we are one with all that is around us and thus are able to ‘feel’ what others feel as it is us who is feeling. Because it is…

By the way, as promised a few paragraphs ago, let’s concentrate on the ‘significant other’ concept. What makes this person significant? Probably that others are insignificant, as we are driven by our ego to ignore what is not directly relevant to our life. The significance of the relation lies in the fact that we (sometimes) feel this unity between this particular person and ourselves, and become one, as we should be with all things. Maybe is this a vestige of our natural sense of order, of our lost meaning of life.

Do me a favor and next time you are amongst other living beings, stop your ego for a few minutes. Stop your self centered mind, source of want, need, resentment and fear. Stop the mind train and just be. Contemplate the life around you and feel what it feels. Be a blade of grass wavering in the wind, be the bird calling others from its branch, be the baby in the stroller. You are them and they are you, we are one.

When you polute your mind with thoughts of hate, revenge and other toxic products of our everyday life, remember that others feel what you feel and that you thus leave the world a worse place. Love, laugh, help, grow. You are the secret.

Pierre out…

Ever felt you were at a turning point? Ever felt that whatever you were going to do next, minute, hour, days, weeks is going to shape your life to a greater extent than the last 5 years or so? Ever felt is about time to wake up and smell the winds of change? Well, I have, just about 5:12am this morning. The last few weeks, I have hesitated to post some thoughts on this blog by fear that someone would read them, by fear that someone who knows me would decide to mess up my life because their little mind would not accept divergent ideas, by fear that what the media bombards us with comes true and my life spiral into some kind of Kafkaian nightmare from which only desolate and lonely death would deliver me. And this morning I woke up from another bad dream and thought ‘F@*# that’.

Have you realized that all around you an atmosphere of paranoia has been woven so as to engulf your mind into a complex cocoon of apathy, comfort and fear on a background of patriotism? After some bastards took down the towers in NYC (‘Two towers down but still in the game’ Beastie Boys – The 5 Boroughs), it was all about terrorism and how our nation was under physical threat of destruction and mayhem. This gave us a war and a Patriot Act that erodes our constitutional rights to a point where ‘A Brave New World’ has become not a work of fiction but an alternative possibility. Then came the fear of SARS, the bird flu and whatever world catastrophe comes next to decimate the population. Whatever the extremists would have left alive, the pandemic was going to destroy. Be afraid! Be very afraid! But whatever you do, do not stop being plugged into the media! After all, how else could you be fed your daily dose of fear? Lately, private media providers have been under attack by the FCC and ‘well thinking’ politicians. Soon the attack was extended to bloggers, who started getting fired right and left for expressing themselves about work, their environment and politics (check http:www.eff.org for bloggers’ rights resources). Now that we are well on our way to being scared to death about our future, our freedom of speech is under attack. After all, the concerted effort to dumb down the population has not completely succeeded, and some dangerous thinkers remain that have to be suppressed, least they contaminate individuals around them. Government entities and organizations are being ‘briefed’ around the country regarding the danger and consequences of blogging. Frivolous law suits strike at bloggers in the hope that the financial burden and stress will convince them to stop expressing themselves. Bloggers are told that they were not hired because of what they expressed on their site, etc, etc… FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS INHERENT TO OUR COUNTRY AND IS AT THE FOUNDATION OF IDEAS FLOW AND CULTURAL PROGRESS.

Time to stop the madness, time to check the fear at the door, time to speak. Any one who reads these lines, please start a blog today, express yourself, explode on the page, change your world by colliding ideas, spread the love, spread the frustration, initiate change. IT ALL STARTS WITH YOU. GO…

Pierre out…

Let us start loud and ‘fresh’ with ‘Midnight Club – Dub Edition’ for the Xbox. While this is not a new product, it is well worth your interest if
- You like racing games
- You do not necessarily care for realistic action
- Long games are important to you
- You like to drive like a maniac through traffic (while evading the law).

The game allows you to purchase/win and mod many vehicles and present a variety of cities to race in, most races taking place at or near night (hence the name in case you don’t follow). The driving is anything but realistic but I admit to liking this flavor better than the Grand Tourismo type. If you played Burnout, you will feel right at home, sans the capacity to explode the crap out your opponents (I keep on trying wall takeout on the drivers). I like the capacity to modify your rides, even though I hit the auto upgrade more often than not, being far from a grease monkey myself (a web monkey, yessss). Also of note if the fact that you cannot run over pedestrians, all of them being adept acrobats who jump out of the way while admonishing you. I never like to hurt innocents so thanks to the designer for taking care of it for me.

San Diego is my current home base and I am finishing up the local races before heading to Atlanta (Detroit is still locked). BTW, make sure to get several types of rides (tuner/muscle/sedan/truck/bike) to be able to race in ALL the events. Some are restricted to one vehicle type.

I’ll get back with you as I discover more about the game. In the meantime, go buy it, Taochi told you so.

Vroom Vroom Vroom Vroooooooom.

Well folks, after a few days of silence, here I am back on track on a Sunday night, hungry, nauseous and vacillating on the brink of yet another visit to the toilet. If you guessed ‘hang over’ you were wrong, we’ll see you next time for another game of ‘Guess What Makes Pierre Sick?”. Seriously, I swallowed some ‘bowel cleanser’ a few hours ago in prevision of a nice coloscopy exam tomorrow morning and after doubting the liquid for a litle while, I am a convert. So I will keep this blog brief.

The reason I decided to share this with you dear reader is because there are too many individuals outside who would rather die a painful death of rot gut than having a long tube inserted up their anal passage. They are just not ‘into that’. Time for a reality check: ‘If you were told that your life could be saved by a 40 minute exam during which a professional insert a tube-mounted camera up your ass, would you do it?’. How much do you devalue your life that discomfort, a day of eating jello and hard candy and the ‘shame’ of having medical staff explore your ‘poop chute’ is worse than death? So for you out there who are still hesitating, get an education at http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/screenforlife/ and talk to your doctor. He/she will tell you if you should get checked. Just do it, a pain in the but weekend in exchange for more life spent laughing your ass off… Where do I sign?

Pierre out ...

PS: I really hate Jello, no matter what 'flavor'. What kind of sick F did call that 'flavors' anyway.

December approaches with large strides and yet, I cannot feel like Xmas is months away. In fact, by the feel of the weather, one could say that Fall is in the air. As the years past, I have felt the lack of seasonal changes with increasing unease. After all, my native France had all these seasons where they are supposed to be and while we often cursed the heart of winter for its glacial presence, we welcomed snow as a sight to be treasured and always looked forward to warm summer nights, cool spring showers and the wonder of fall’s leaves ballet. The comings of fall and winter have been linked d for a long time to bouts of depression but I suspect that the lack of seasonal patterns is also a source of depression. After all, what good is summer is it can never be compared to winter. Black needs white in the Tao and so sunny months need dark ones. I just does not feel like Xmas outside…

On the other hand, as the cycle draws to an end, my heart feels the Xmas tingle and looks forward to lights, trees, hot chocolate and fire side discussions with those I love. I guess that what I lack in snowy displays I get in the glow of my family and friends, a glow that lightens each and every day of the year. So if like me you miss a white Xmas, find refuge in the tradition and rejoice that the most important part of this holiday, love, surrounds you. Maybe next year will I fly the Big Apple or to a snowy resort with the tribe, so that for once my inside feeling an be matched by my surrounding…

And for those in search of novelty, check out this upside down Xmas tree (http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2005-11-07-christmas-trees_x.htm ) Lots of things have been said about the usefulness of such a tree. I say it just leaves more room for presents. That is what our society seems to be all about these days.

Dinner is now ready for consumption. I love to cook as much as I love to eat the result.
Pierre out…