I survived 4 full days of drinking only juice. Yesterday I ate a pineapple, a cantaloupe and a big romain salad with no dressing. I had hoped this juice fast would be profound or cleansing. Really it was just a test of human will power. Any of you that know me have seen my will power and when I put my mind to something that matters it is done. Now you are all saying well 5 days is not 10 days and you gave up.
  I quit because the fast was boring and didnt do much for me. I wanted mental or spiritual gains. Mostly it just tested my will to continue drinking liquids that just didnt resonate. I tried many combinations. Most always some fruit based 32oz of juice for breakfast then about 3pm i would drink another 32oz of juice usully mostly greens cause everything just tasted too sweet for me in the afternoon. Then I wouldnt be hungry/thirsty till about 8pm and then I could only stomach about 12-15oz of green juice. By my calculations this is not a whole lot of calories. So I did learn that a body really has no need for the 1500-2500 calories that come with a standard american diet. Id be lying if I did say I sorta already knew this though. Was nice to actually experience surviving on about 700-850 calories though.
  My body felt a definite detox on the first 2 days. I urinated about 35 times throughout the two days and never had a bowel movement. I experienced a total of 3-5 hours of slight head ache both days. During the sleep hours of both days I had vivid dreams and really thought this was going to be a continuing benefit of the fast. Turns out the dreams were a detox symptom and they didnt stick around the next 2 days. This was disappointing cause I feel like a lot can be discovered in your dreams. Joe Rogan talks about DMT a psychedelic drug that is created by your brain and basically causes your dreams. There are ways to ingest this as an actual drug though but the natural form was good enough for my situation haha.
  I had hoped to feel a clearness of mind or an ease in slipping into meditation. Neither of these came to fruitition. I did realize that my mind is already quite calm and functions really smooth and clean. The over the top gains I was hoping to begin getting glimpses of  never came. I really like being inside my head but the whole juicing thing was kinda like quiting smoking really. Making your mind control the urges to eat rather than allowing your addiction make the decisions. Im inside my head alot and find it pretty easy to let my mind make the logical decisions so this was only a small hurdle. I liked to control this situation but late on day 2 I basically realized mentally I could juice fast for the rest of my life. Physically though the flavors of the juice were not enjoyable. Tthey satisfied my nourishment but did not resonate with me.
  It was time to move on. Eating food again was great though. The chewing part was something I didnt realize that I missed. Also the flavors are amazing when dancing in your mouth. So much better than a liquid, so weird how different it is with the fiber part there to chew. Sticking mostly to fruits, vegies and greens but Ill probably mix in a little meat hear and there down the road. I think a diet balanced with a bit of everything is what resonates with me most. About 50% greens, 20% fruit, 20% vegetables, 10% meats. One thing I still wont have again is milk. I get a bit of dairy in cheese here and there but I havent drank milk for 5 years.
  Anyway. This was fun but mostly a waste of time. Not sure what the next bit of life is for me. Ive found a resonance with some design ideas. Gonna be doing some design projects from this Book/Blog I discovered. Think it will be a nice inspiration and maybe bring a new angle to my business. Thanks for reading and every one please remember:

    

I survived Day 1 of my juice feast. Started of wild though. I woke up to sirens and 3 gun shots. This is not normal in my nice apartment complex. Across the complex there was some sort of domestice violence. The cop wouldnt say more but they were in the complex for about 6 hours. 
   That was an unusual morning. Turns out it wasn't difficult to survive the day at all. Throughout the whole day I didnt really crave food at all. The juices kept me full. Towards the afternoon I did develop a slight headache. I came to the conclusion that the headache was from the rind of a cantaloupe. No more rinds for me.  The majority of my juice for the day was apple/pear. I found these to taste really good but by the end of the day the juices seemed a bit overly sweet. Today Im craving a more savory juice. I think i will go with something like cucumber/tomato/celery/kale.
  The most enjoyable part of Day 1 was that I felt relaxed and ready to sleep about 1.5 hrs earlier than usual. Fell right asleep and had vivid dreams most of the night. I dont often remember my dreams or find them so vivid. I think I may be able to get some lucid dreaming. This will be interesting as its something I have tried before but couldnt accomplish. I really enjoyed both the extra sleep and vivid dreams.
  Things are going well and a bit smoother than I expected. Im off to make another 2 liters of juice to get me through the afternoon. Thanks for reading.

    

My parents recently moved away from Las Vegas where they regularly cooked me dinner or took me out to eat. I decided I wanted to do a cleanse or a fast to get myself on a more healthy path. Just thinking of this I mentioned it on Friday with no real idea of what I was going to undertake. Saturday night @RawNatasha on twitter posted a link that she would be running a 10 day juice fast starting Feb 1st. Strange synchronicity. I was immediately intrigued. Here is the Link if you want to check it out and Im sure she will do another down the road.
  Hopefully this will be a transformational experience. Im looking for some mental and spiritual leaps as well as a step down a healthier eating path. 10 days of pure fruit/veggie/green juices. Definately a mental and physical challenge. I dont really know what will come of this but Im sure Ill post a few blogs explaining my experiences. I took a few pictures of my HAUL so to speak. Purchased all the produce for the first 4 days. About $75 worth. Thanks for reading and sharing any tips tricks or personal experiences would be great.

    

Many of you that follow me on Facebook or Twitter know that I recently went to LA to see another Kim DiVine show. This one was at Hotel Cafe on January 19th, 2010. I took some video footage while I was there. I posted one song on my Youtube and I just posted another video. This one was an edited production that includes Kim telling a nice little story about how she met one of her idols Patty Griffin. The video turned out great and I wanted to embed it here so you could all check it out. Thanks for checkin this out and please check my links as well as Kim's links at the end of the video.

    

Driving back from LA my ipod was on random and this old tune from Kim DiVine's 2004 CD Here and In Between. Ive always enjoyed some of her older tunes but I really sparked an idea in me back when I heard it first and again in the car on wednesday. Im going to list the lyrics and give you some of my thoughts.

Wasted time by Kim DiVine

Just brush your eyes dry and wait
The night will fade into morrow
It will be a better day
A different way and you will say okay
Ill be okay Yeah, Yeahy Yeah yeah

The song starts of simple and keeps a steady pace throughout. Just keeping you in its warm embrace. The begining gives you a taste of where we are headed. Today is not the only thing. Do not hold on so tight. Let today flow and embrace the next experience.

And I hear your tears crying in tune
I feel your fears pickin at you but without those pains to live
You wouldn’t, you wouldn’t be here
But I know you'd die inside if you had the choice
But instead you just, you just 

With the experiences and struggles you have you just cant see the beauty of life. The contrast is there to wake you up, to make you see. But instead we all ignore whats been shown so clear. Wish it all would end, want to run and hide.

You stare at the clock but it gives you nothing but wasted time
You search to find your meaning, but its nothing you’ll find
No in this moment it will pass
Let out the air and breathe again

The first chorus gives it to you straight. How often do you find yourself looking at a clock. Counting the minutes of your life. Looking for then next thing while grasping tightly to the pain of experiences you are in but wish would pass. Struggling to find that something with meaning to fill the emptiness. Its right there, that contrast Look away and breathe deep. The first of numerous times you are told to BREATHE throughout the song.

You know the dreams inside of you
And they’re bitin on your strength
Damn all the crap that creeps to misguide you
Cause you know its only you
Its only you that can save you
So stop lookin out and look in

The beatiful dreams, thoughts, and ideas within you. They contrast much of what you see in reality. Society and media misdirect your focus to believe the answer is in the next big thing. Really the answer is you. Right there inside your mind. Stop searching for meaning and create it.

You stare at the clock but it gives you nothing but wasted time
You search to find your meaning, but its nothing you’ll find
No in this moment it will pass
Let out the air and breathe again
Let out the air and breathe again

Its easy, just like the yoga masters tell you. Be in the moment. You cannot find what you are searching for. Be in the moment. Focus your breath. Feel it in and out. Know the answers are in you.

Whoa all you have to do is let out the air and breathe again
All you have to do is take it all in and breathe again
Breathe again but I know youd die inside if you had the choice

Stare at the clock but it gives you nothing but wasted time
Search to find your meaning, but its nothing you’ll find
No in this moment it will pass
Let out the air and breathe again
Let out the air and breathe again
Let out the air and breathe again
Just brush your eyes dry and wave
The night will fade into morrow
It will change.

The last bit of the song is so strong. Repeating  Breathe Again, Breathe Again. Take it all in, experience it but Breathe Again. Everything in the world will pass. Let it all flow through. In the end of the song we are back at the begining and we have found our different way. Breathe in, Breathe out and it will change.
  I haven't talked to Kim directly about the song but its from 2004 so I imagine it may be far from her mind by now. I just flowed my opinions here and gave what the song made me feel. I always wonder if I over analyze stuff but I think thats the point of music. One person chooses to put their ideas out there in song and you experience it, feel their intentions and draw your own feelings out of the moment. Thanks for reading.

Check out more of Kim's music and information at www.KimDiVine.com 
Or some of her videos at her Youtube
You can sample the song Wasted Time and also purchase it at CDbaby.com or Itunes

 

    

I feel like my mind is opened to a great energy again here in California. Today I hid my face from it. I smile with joy while feeling lost. Looking for sympathy or caring never comes from begging for it. That being said I felt like listing some stuff I dont know in hopes that someone will find a tidbit of joy from this.

    

   Avatar has been hyped as the most amazing piece of filmmaking in years. The marketing has been EVERYWHERE. Mostly because it has to be. The film cost over 300 million dollars to make putting it in a category above all movies that came before. Probably the most expensive film ever made.It does not dissapoint.
  The thing that makes this movie special is that it was filmed on another planet. The entire film was shot on the planet Pandora. Now you are saying WTF there arent other inhabitable planets yet. Well James Cameron(Writer, Director) knew this so he built the planet Pandora. Within a computer they built an entire new world. Every single detail from the beings that live there(the Navi) down to the bugs that glow in the forest at night. This is amazing and has sort of been done before in video games. The thing that makes this amazing is that after creating this world they took real actors into it and filmed a movie. They used a technology called Performance Capture. Similar to motion capture but they actually filmed scenes inside of the computerized world. As the director is watching the actor he can see the actual world that is on screen however the actor is standing in a giant gray warehouse surrounded by lights and equipment.
   At first thought it reminds you of other movies with fake characters that just seem cheesy and you can see the CGI of everything. I saw the movie in 3D Imax and I will tell you that from the 1st second of the movie I was completely convinced everything was real. No detail was missed. I fully believed the alien beings were real. There are times as I watched where you actually see pores sweat on their skin. Its nothing less than EPIC. I found myself sucked in and really being a part of the movie. I felt emotionally invovled throughout.
   The story is not especially original but that does not take away from the brilliance of this movie. Americans have run out of resources on Earth so they travel to Pandora to exploit their planet. The native Navi people stand in the way of getting the resources. Military force is used while scientists and people with a heart realize the beauty of Pandora and its people. A war between the beings as well as your emotions roller coasters you through the film ultimately ending in a some what predictable fashion. All the while you are such a part of the world and the peoples lives that rather than seeing a story you are living it so the effect brings a new life to a standard idea.
  Without a doubt this movie is the most EPIC film I have seen in the past 20 years, if not my entire life. The beauty and awe of the graphical accomplishments are unmatched. The 3D IMAX version is proabably the best use of this format yet. Ive spent $11 more times than I would like to admit seeing a movie that didnt live up to that price. This one feels like I got a $50 experience for a huge discount. It is 2hrs and 40 mins long and when it was over I felt that if they had restarted it again immediately I would have sat through the entire film again.  Please go out and check this out. If not for the science fiction story, the graphical accomplishments, or the everyone else is doing it factor. Do it because this will be one of those films like Star Wars that you look back and say "WOW remember when we saw that in the theatre"(Not that I ever did but now I have Avatar). Watch it, NOW!

 

    

Im starting to really enjoy talking and getting to know people. The situation doesnt come up nearly enough for me though. To get really good at socializing and communication you have to do it regularly. Practice makes perfect comes to mind. By just making the effort to talk to people, regardless of the results, I feel empowered.
   A day where I make a new aquaintance always feels like a success. On that note I dont know where to find people to talk with. I dont want to go back to the bar scene. Im not interested in typical meeting places and talking with smokers or drunks. I just dont resonate with these people any more. A comfortable place for me is a poker table but socializing at a poker table usually affects my poker game for the worse. Also the poker table contains many people with who I do not resonate.  These days Im looking for interesting beings who are self aware and obviously conducive to communication.
  Ill be honest I havent searched much for where I should be meeting people. I talk to whoever I can but its tough to get into an extended conversation at places like Best Buy or the grocery store. I have a need to have some conversations and get to know some new people. Just wanted to share my experience and what Im going through right now. Thanks for reading. Hit me up with some ideas.

    

Going through life doing the same things over and over and not learning anything doesnt  serve your best intrest. Certain things you learned when you are young still apply today. You knew when you turned 18 you had to get a job and find a way to support yourself. Live on your own, feed yourself pay bills. Some of us waited till after college to try this but you know what Im saying.
  Doing simple day to day things everyone needs to survive. Eat and get money so you can keep that place you call home and eat again later. Beyond that everything is kind of optional. You can do pretty much anything else as long as you keep these first few things in check. Most people can accomplish this on their own without a problem and its usually just second nature if you live in a developed country.
   I might be assuming to much here for some but this is whats been rolling around in my mind. If you spend your life dependent on others to get the money and the food then arent you almost slacking at being a human. Without knowing how to provide your self the basic needs of being a human what are you? If you stumble about day by day asking others what to do next, depending on a specific person to give you your happiness, food or housing then what happens if its all gone.
 You should be able to just start from a blank slate and go. Its self awareness, self suffiency, basic human instict. Things you just have to understand about being on this earth. Shit aint free and your life is about you and Google is your best  friend. If you want to live in a tent out in the woods then its up to you to make it happen. If you want a mansion in the hills then go get it. 
  Assuming you had everything exactly as you thought you wanted. Then  one day the people you knew all disappeared, your job and life as you knew it were gone. Standing on a street corner with $500 in your pocket and no obligations. Some might party, some might run but most of us would try to make a plan. A way to parlay $500 into a home, food and more money.
 Would it be acceptable if you threw the money on the ground, rolled in the dirt and screamed and had a fit? This would certainly work okay if you wanted to to go live in a cardboard box behind the local appliance store. Since you would be dirty and broke. Not the best plan of action.
  If you want the best for yourself then its not acceptable in any terms if when you finish this fit covered in dirt and left your cash strewn about and walked straight to the Mansion sales company asking for the keys to your house and a job in the corner office.  Maybe you thought that would work the first time but if you actually tried it once would you go to another mansion sales company while broke, covered in dirt and ask the same thing? Hopefully you all thought pssh no way, its obvious thats not gonna work. Probably a better idea to clean up and buy some nice clothes then go to that sales company. Certainly its still not going to work though right but you are giving your self a better shot at it by using basic thought.
 Why is it that so many people in our society do not learn anything. They spend years and years of their lives incapable of making their own life work. Doing relatively the exact same thing over and over wondering why it isnt working out. Running in circles Claiming torment, bad luck and everyone but themselves. Stop, look at the things that are problems for you, there is most definitely an obviously answer to why things are continuous problems. If you are broke, find more money. If everyone hates you, love them. If everyone ignores you, talk to them. If nobody helps you, help yourself. Believe me your solutions are there and they are this simple. Try something, learn from it and move on to the next option. You can discover the path that works, you mind will lead you.
  I have went through many different situations where Ive done the same thing over and over. Once I stood outside of the situation I was able to deduce the next step or the next focus. Why cant every one just find their way, it seems so easy most of the time. Maybe Im just blessed with the ability to survive the simple stuff. My personal struggle is to stop using happiness as an excuse for  loneliness both of which are heavily present in my life every day. Good luck in your journey. Analyze, learn and develop.  Realize we are all just energy, vibrate it at the right frequency and everything will align.

 

    

Many of you may know that I experiment with my diet here and there. Recently I spent about 2 full months eating 85-95% raw everyday. Because I was working a lot it made it really easy. I would eat all fruits, vegetables, and greens for breakfast and lunch. In the evening I would have another big salad or smoothie. Sometimes I would splurge with a cooked meal here and there but never before Pm.
  Over the course of two months I got down to my target weight of 170lbs. This was not happening before I focused on eating mostly raw. This was really rewarding and felt like a big accomplishment. That was until my experience over the course of the last week.
  During the Halloween weekend I somehow ended up eating approximately 40 pieces of candy. I hadn't eaten more than even 1 piece of candy in a whole week previously. This put me on a sugar rush for the weekend. Sometime Sunday I began to come down. Started feeling tired and basically like everything was a bit off. My stomach turned and gurgled. I just wanted more sugar. I needed something different from the fruits and veges. I did what a person on the Standard American Diet does. I went out and had a cheeseburger and a frosty from wendys. Then I bought my groceries for the week which included cheetos, fritos, teddy grahams, mini oreos, pringles, sliced turkey, bread and canned fruits. 
  Monday morning at work for break I had my turkey sandwich, canned pineapple, pringles and teddy grahams. Felt just like old times, say 5 years ago. About 40 mins after break I felt horrible. A basic loss of energy. A churning stomach and gas. As the day went on I felt my body struggling to keep a simple pace that I had done for 2 months. Though I could see right in front of me what was happening I couldn't bring myself to trash $80 worth of groceries and buy what I knew I should be eating. Monday night I soothed the tired and by this point slightly annoyed body with 4 taco bell crunchy tacos. Great idea! I felt wonderful for about 1 hr and then I went to sleep.
   Sometime Tuesday after lunch I was at complete breakdown. Not so much physically as my body had kinda adapted to dealing with the crap food. Emotionally and mentally though....holy crap. I was forgetting stuff that needed to be done. I was breaking drill bits. Things just wouldn't fit together which only led to more sadness, disgust and overall bad attitude. As the week went on through wed and Thursday it was just amazing. My thoughts spiraled continuously into more and more negative ideas. Sometime on Thursday I found myself using thought processes that I used to do about 5-7 years ago when I was a smoker/drinker/SAD dieter. I was in a depression that was really disturbing. 
  Complete disbelief had come over me on Thursday night. Anything that anyone said or did just didn't resonate with me. I was annoyed with people at work, family, friends and even the nicest comments seemed to make me sick. What had I become? Truth is I became all that dead food I was eating. I could never see this contrast previously. The gradual change to more raw food seemed great but I really couldn't compare because so much had changed for me in my life.
  Today I ate 100% raw again. I could just feel the detox all day. Slowly flowing through all the stuff that messed with me all week. Culminating in the world serving me an amazing release of energy. I had to drive in traffic to pick up my paycheck today. It was ridiculous. People driving horribly EVERYWHERE. As I was sitting in a long line of cars getting up to a light. I was about to finally make it through the light on the 3rd cycle(7mins) when inexplicably the van directly in front of me stops at the green light. Everyone almost smashes into each other as I screech to a halt behind him. Laying on my horn, flailing my arms going WTF? I continue to honk, wave, and point at the light "ITS GREEN BUDDY".  Not moving the van, he was obviously alive in the van and the engine was running. I presume he would move when it turned green again. I'm still irate though. 2 more mins pass and the light changes again and this effin guy doesn't budge. Now its not only me with the horn but about 15 of the cars behind us as well. He proceeds to sit through the entire light again. I felt an amazing rage and when I realized there was nothing I could do but sit there. The horn didn't work to move him. I was like 1 inch behind his bumper as were the successive cars in the line cause of the situations of our initial stop. 2 more mins and finally BAM he is movin like a bottle rocket on 4th of July. Full gas racing up to like 55mph in a 45mph zone. Me close behind going WTF is this guy doing. The next light turns yellow as he is flying. I brake calmly about 5 seconds before he even noticed the light change. He slams the breaks and skids fishtailing into the intersection to the point where his van is at a 45 degree angle.
  Enough of that story. Sorry for the tangent. Anyway, I felt a huge release in this moment seeing that guy sideways in the intersection just sorta like clicked something in my head. I was like wow how did I get to this point. Anger is not my thing. Normally I would have just laughed this off. My body is still detoxing but I am starting to feel great again. I stocked up my fridge. Ate a great smoothie. Got these amazing Giant Pomegranates. Things are back on track and I can now say without a doubt "We become the food we eat". I want to put only living foods into my body. I want to become more alive. Be a part of the earth. Expand, grow and really live. WIsh I could say that includes more posts on this blog but nobody can tell when the inspiration will come. Enjoy your life and think about what you eat. Thanks for reading.