A new beginning

You know how some people hate fall because they feel it represents death and the demise of all organic life as we know it?

To me fall has always been about the opposite. The beginning of something…a birth if you will. When you think about it, fall must have been the very first season.

Seeds are created during the fall…we know them camouflaged as berries, apples, plums and other fruits, and had these seeds not existed, there would be no apple trees or blueberry shrubs…(Lets not get into the philosophy of what came first of the chicken and the egg…). Once the seed hits the soil and are buried in it, it hibernates through winter. Often winter and cold is needed for the seed to be able to germinate once spring arrives. The cold triggers something in the seed. (Don’t look at me like that. I am not making this up). So without fall and winter there would be no spring...

If you think about it like this you may actually be able to enjoy the colors that come with this beautiful season. The red and orange trees, the leaves blowing through the air all around you. Even the rain which we get so much of in this part of the world, and which offers the perfect excuse to crawl into the arms of your significant other and watch a movie while drinking hot cocoa or tea.

As much as I love that...still...to me the very favorite thing to do at this time of year, is to put on a whooly hat and a warm jacket on a sunny day...walking down the street smelling the crisp air with an apple in hand.

How ‘bout you? Do you have a favorite season? Or perhaps a favorite thing to do this time of year? I would love to hear it.

For more fall pics...check out the picture blog.

Hmmm...

10 things to wonder about on a Wednesday:

1. Does it hurt the tree when the leaves fall off?
2. Does the word 'nose' have anything to do with 'hose' or is it just a coincidence that the two words rhyme?
3. Why is nintendo's game called 'Donkey Kong' when the character is a gorilla and not a donkey?
4. Why are toenails harder than fingernails?
5. Why are women generally more addicted to chocolate than men? Our bodies are built the same way...
6. Who decided that fire is "hot" and ice "cold"? Why isnt it the opposite?
7. Why are most houses box-shaped when it's general knowledge that a ball gives a bigger volume compared to surface? Couldnt we save a lot on energy by living in marble shaped houses?
8. Why dont I live in a marble shaped house? I like marbles...
9. How come time goes by so fast when I really need it to slow down?...and then go really slow when I need to go by quickly?
10. Is 'bivouac' really a word?

I have a ghost in my apartment.

You may laugh…s’all good. But I am becoming more and more convinced about this. I guess I have always been kinda spiritual…not sure about religion and all that, but I do believe that there is more between heaven and earth than what we are aware of…I believe in energies and the possibility of an energy lingering at a familiar place after the body stops working. I do. I really do and I can say this as a scientist. -Cause no matter how you twist and turn it, that’s what I am…a scientist…at least until I’m done with my master thesis. I believe in evolution, in biology, in the connection between neurons in the human brain that makes us perceive our environment differently. What I as a person may regard as the simple expanding of a metal pipe due to heath, may to someone else be the knocking of a ghost…trapped in the wall. I reason. I use my science background to evaluate. I am boring. However, I do believe that there are happenings out there which science as of today cannot explain. This doesn’t mean we won’t find an explanation for it…we may later…but in the meantime I will keep an open mind.

I believe I can tell you exactly when I came in contact with the aforementioned ghost. As scary as it sounds I can tell you the exact spot. And I can tell you this due to the feeling I got when entering this spot. I was at the attic of the university institute I belong to. There is a story of a man getting murdered at this institute, by the use of Mercury…apparently this happened some 40-50 years ago…I honestly don’t know much…other than a man dying and someone finding a beaker of Mercury in the ventilation system of his office some years later.

Anyway, I was up there to collect some glassware…or equipment if you will…when I saw an open door to a room I had never been to. As I am curious by nature I had to have a look and entered the room. It was an old office-space with a tiny window in the roof. It had an old radio and a tiny bookshelf in one of the corners and I remember feeling pretty creeped out while standing there. You know the feeling? Chills down you spine…you know what that means if you’ve seen that documentary about dead people…what’s it called….”The sixth sense”.

I think maybe something latched onto me at this moment. Obviously I don’t know this for sure…all I know is that the next morning I had my first toothpaste incident…

I have a specific spot for my toothpaste. When I’m done with it, I put the toothpaste back into the cabinet and I close the door. I do this as to avoid knocking it off my sink every morning…also because my sink is small and I don’t want the little space that is there for soap to be filled with other stuff. Want to keep it pretty and clean, you know? But this specific morning…after my creepy loft-session, the toothpaste was back on the sink. I could have sworn I put it in the cabinet…but I figured I had probably forgotten about it and didn’t waste any more time thinking about it.

A couple of days go by and the toothpaste stays in the cabinet…then suddenly one morning its back on the sink. I know for sure I was the last person in the bathroom the night before…and I never leave the toothpaste on the sink. Every night I open the cabinet door, take out the toothpaste, put some on my brush and return it to the cabinet…I don’t even put the toothpaste down on the sink. Yet there it is…on the sink. Still I’m thinking I must have put it there…so I leave the thought alone.

This morning the toothpaste was back on the sink. It has been a couple of days since the last incident. Just long enough for me not to think about it anymore. I am now convinced I put it in the cabinet and something else has taken it out and put it on the sink. I do find it amusing though…if you are going to get a ghost in your house, it is nice to get one that is obsessed with toothpaste as opposed to someone/something that wants you dead. It’s all good…I can share my toothpaste with whatever it is that wants to play with it. But I would prefer if it would put it back into the cabinet when it’s done with it. I’m also thinking I may be going insane as I caught myself saying out loud this morning: “It’s ok if you want to borrow it…but please put it back in afterwards…the toothpaste goes here!” *pointing to spot in the cabinet*

I do have to laugh…it is delightful. I will see if the ghost follows me when I move next month. Perhaps if it stays, the next person living there will allow it to do whatever the hell it wants to with the damn toothpaste. I on the other hand, want it in the cabinet.

Change

It's certain and unavoidable
it's necessary and always true.
Occuring when you least expect it
offering a path to something new.

Unnerving and fear of the unknown
yet perhaps the bearer of a clue.
A further insight and perspective
to the very essence of what is you.

Felt unwanted, known as negative.
Regarded as something to get through.
A "painful" time in one's routine life
a perfect chance to change this view.

Sometimes life altering and severe
yet usually a chance to renew,
to rebuild and to rediscover,
to see the world and to feel it too.
To always remember the good times
knowing the joy of a foot without shoe.
Remembering summers in the grass
running barefoot through the morning dew.

Perhaps it is the actual change,
and not the love, we should pursue.

Waving the Red Flag...

There is something Ive wanted to talk about for a while now…but Ive avoided the issue…Mostly because I predict it may piss some people off. –And I don’t like to cause a conflict. Nor do I wish to seem inconsiderate. But it is starting to piss ME off…so I need to get it off my chest.

There seem to be a general perception that organic food and clothes are nothing but a positive thing. Positive for our bodies, positive for our environment and generally the concept that is going to save our planet. Organic is the new charity case everyone wants to get in on. Our clothes should be organic and our food should be and if you don’t agree you contribute to the destruction of our planet. Period.

I find it odd that this organic food is going to make us healthier. I work, as most of you know, in a grocery store, and there is a general agreement among my coworkers that the customers buying nothing but organic all look paler and generally unhealthier than the average customer. It could be a coincidence. Of course.

Now, if you are reading this you are probably wondering where Im going with this…I sound like quite the schmuck…I know. And the reason you are feeling that way right now, is because you believe what the papers tell you. And you wont necessarily be wrong…there is a lot of truth in the general perception of organic products.

It has become common knowledge that artificial fertilizers introduced to soil cause many problems…one of which is algal blooms in lakes which kill fish and other organisms by asphyxiation. There is no arguing this. Also; avoiding the spraying of cereals and other food products reduce human-introduced toxins in our food. It also reduces the amount of human-introduced toxins in the soil…which inevitably affects various species. I am in no way denying this.

However.

What I would like you to consider, is the requirements behind organically grown products. A farmer which grows his cereal organically will need a much larger field to grow his crops organically than he would need had he used artificial fertilizers. He is in need of a certain volume on his harvest in order to sustain himself and quite possibly a family as well. Plants grow slower in poor soil…they also have less mass when grown without fertilizers than they would have with. Hence, the farmer needs a bigger area of land. He will also need to switch between fields to allow one field the rebuilding of nutrients…possibly by letting cattle graze here…but while this is taking place he is utilizing the other field. Translated: he needs a lot of land. This may in many cases require deforestation. Deforestation removes animal habitats.

Of course the presence of human introduced toxins is a no-issue with organic food. -But what about the naturally introduced ones? There is a reason farmers started spraying their crops to begin with. That reason is mold. There are also various bacterial infections one has to deal with, but mold may be the most serious one. -Serious enough to cause death in humans as well as cattle and other animals. Organically grown food does not have protection against these infections and require a much higher level of control. –A control we know tends to be sloppy…just look at the milk issue in China for instance.

My point is:

Organically grown food isn’t necessarily better for the environment…nor the human body. It certainly can be, but that depends on what type of organic food you are eating. We know for instance that nuts and especially peanuts are very susceptible to mold. Organically grown cereal may be better for the soil and the organisms living there…but what about the ones that used to live in the area before it became cultivated?

And what about areas in the 3rd world struggling with poor soil? If everyone decides to eat nothing but organic, how will they be able to sell their crops? Could this increase the division between the 3rd world and the industrialized part of the world?

The way I see it, the best solution may be 50-50. Switch between organic and artificially grown food. Wear clothes made out of organic cotton…but not only that type of clothes. You are of course allowed to stay organic in every way…but don’t say you are doing it for the environment.

You have a personal right to be selfish…but know that you are.