”But Dylan’s Not Dead” ”Oh ... Isn’t He?”

Warning: Indigenous Australians are advised that this post includes images and names of people now deceased.

Another "coincidence" that happened to me on Wednesday night involved the movie Paul, which I went to see with my two teenage sons.

The characters were sitting around a campfire, and the alien, Paul, 
starts to pass around a joint while saying,  
“this is the stuff that killed Dylan”.
Then one of the characters says,”but Dylan’s not dead”.
Then Paul raises his eyes and says,“Oh ... Isn’t he?”.

My youngest son and I found this really amusing, because less than 24 hours ago, we both were standing from about 50 to 100 feet away from the man himself, at the Byron Bay Bluesfest.

And while he might not be as good as he once was, I can assure you,that he was alive....................... just;-)

Dylan at Bluesfest, Tuesday Night, Byron Bay

I know Bob doesn't like getting his photo taken, but what can you do when your cellphone camera accidentally goes off? 
Seems a shame to delete it ;-)

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Another 'coincidence' about my trip to Bluesfest and the movie Paul was that in the film there is a girl wearing glasses, with a dark patch over one eye, that conceals an eye that is all white, because she was born that way from birth.
Paul later on in the movie cures the eye.
The singer who played just before Dylan was a guy named Gurrumul, (see photo below) an Aboriginal singer who was born blind since birth.
And when you see his eyes, there is nothing to see accept the whites of his eyes, like the girl in the movie Paul.

Gurrumul mainly sings in his native language, but one of the last songs he sang was a song in English about being blind since birth. 
It was quite moving, and made me feel lucky that I was blessed with two good eyes.

Here's a You Tube of him singing one of the songs that he sang on the night before Dylan came on.

He has a hauntingly beautiful voice. 
I tell ya, the more I hear this guy sing, the more I want a copy of his CD ... and to think I never would have listened to this guy, if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't want to lose my spot for the Dylan gig.
This is how the universe slaps you across the back of the head and says ... PAY ATTENTION!

Bluesfest 2011, at magical Byron Bay in the land of Oz

 Kate Miller Hiedke playing Bluesfest Monday ...
but not singing "Comes a Time";- )

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Update: May 1st, 2011. 
After watching the above trailer again, I remembered one more sync that linked my visit to Bluesfest with this movie.
In the movie (and trailer above) a bird flies into their window, and they stop the camper.
The alien hops out, picks up the bird, and brings it back to life ... and then eats it, saying,"Well, I'm not going to eat a dead one, am I?"

This kind of parallels my bird story here;

The Bird that Flew into the Window

But I can assure you that I didn't eat it ... it was very much alive, when it flew away.

But the Bluesfest connection is this guy (pictured, below)

Note: see all that mud? 
It cost me a pair of shoes.
When I tried to pull my muddy shoes off, without undoing the laces, I ripped the sole off one, and ended up throwing them in the bin.
But they were my oldest pair, and I got some good mileage out of 'em ... even though their sole departed on the night;-)

Dice?

 

 

The above two designs I made a while back on my computer, because I wanted to put them on magnets, coffee cups, mouse pads etc, and sell them through my (now defunct) Zazzle store, to anyone who liked the message and wanted a magnet to hang on the fridge, or a message on their cup to contemplate over, while they drank their morning coffee.

I never set the store up to make money out of it 

(which I pretty much didn't, anyway)

They let me use the "Dice" and "Have No Fear " design for my own private use (see cup in above photo), but not to sell in my Zazzle shop to the general public, because they were considered a potential infringement of copy-rite.
But they let me sell the "Big Brother" design which I made by going over the old movie poster with Obama's eyes ... WTF!!!
So, I deleted all my designs, and closed the shop ... and told them were to shove the dice, and told them,that ... NO, I don't have Tourette's Syndrome, thank you very much. 
I SWEAR;-)

Feel free to copy the above designs, and use for you're own personal t-shirts, mugs, magnets ... or whatever.

Just click on them to enlarge the image, and save it to your own computer, then go to places like Zazzle and make your own mugs, magnets, etc.

They'll let you make them for your own personal use, but not to post for sale.

My Fridge with some of my magnet designs on it

And remember ...

“Exit, in pursuit of a bear” - Work in Progress ... ;-)

This set of synchronicities started one morning when I was shaving, and for some unearthly reason, I couldn't get this song off my inner mental turn-table -

 

I think I awoke with that song in my head that morning, although I hadn't heard it for 'maybe' 15 years or more, anywhere, to my conscious knowledge.
I used to like watching The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams when I was growing up, but hadn't seen it since it first aired, way back when?
Although I sense the song is what is really important here, and not the TV show.

Anyway, I had the computer on and decided to check my e-mails, in the middle of my shave (I assure you that I don't have ADD;-) and there was an e-mail from Red Wheel/Weiser, the book publishers, promoting one of their books called,

Bear Speaks: The Story Of 7 Sacred Lessons Learned From A Montana Grizzly

I thought what a great sync that was, and that this was surely a sign that this book was important and that I just had to get a copy and read it.
So I ordered a copy and eventually read it ... and to be honest, I thought most of it was garbage ... it was just barely (bear-ly;-) better than Anastasia by Vladimir Megre ... which is pretty much pure con-artist garbage.
At least Carpini isn't trying to write novels like she is setting up carnival games for suckers to to blow their money on.
Never-the-less, it is still a poor read, and a waste of money.
But I did love the painting of the Grizzly on the cover by 
Pat Olchefski-Winston.
She certainly is a fine artist, and I think I'll be ordering a print of that painting, when I get a little spare cash. 
When I was Google-ing  stuff about Grizzly Bears, this link came up to a story about a short film being shot in Tasmania (if anywhere in Australia is 'deep inside the forest to a door into another land'...that would be most of Tasmania) called Exit, in Pursuit of a Bear

Bear is the offbeat tale of a disillusioned, passionate woman, thirty-something Madeline, who is surprisingly unsurprised when a grizzly bear drops by her house one day.
The bear - part fantasy, part terror to her - is a silent but potent influence, as the two enjoy a rather one-sided conversation that prompts Madeline to embrace her darker impulses.
Inspired by the absurdist Shakespearean stage direction,  
'Exit, pursued by a bear', the film takes its stylistic cues from films like Donnie Darko but is most influenced, says Brown, by the televisual genius of Dennis Potter.
 I thought this film sounded intriguing, but try as I might, I just could not find any footage at all on the net, not even a preview (I still haven't).
I Googled Exit,in Pursuit of a Bear for what seemed like hours and found no footage whatsoever. 
But I did find a little treasure of a site called Do What You Love, where they interview people doing what they love.
And one of the people they interviewed was Monique Germon, who was responsible for art direction and costume design on the film 
 Exit, in Pursuit of a Bear.
Do What You Love interview: Monique Germon

Now, this site, run by Beth Nicholls, is all about following your path, and doing what you love.
The blurb reads,"Because life is more interesting when we open our hearts and minds.

Because we are happier when we discover our passion.

Because magic happens when we follow our dreams.

Are you doing what you love? I hope you will find some inspiration here..."

In the interview with Monquie, it says;

"In 2000, Monique moved to Tasmania, a small island at the bottom of Australia, and ‘something strange happened’ - it was as if all the audio connections transferred to visual ones, and Monique become visual in a way that she’d never experienced.  
She began a fashion label, started styling and opened a gallery/store."

http://story-thestore.com/

"Monique says she is not a mad seeker anymore, and believes that it is especially important for those who are looking at expressing a unique voice in the world to find the source of inspiration for their art inside of themselves.

STORY is ‘A Tale in Two Parts’ – an online store & blog. 
I created STORY as a side project to support other creatives as well as myself, so I could take on other projects that needed me elsewhere. 
We exhibit the work of artists, designers & brands who revere the authentic and produce items of an exceptional standard.  
As its bio states, “STORY reveres authenticity above all & pays homage to this as a style unto itself”."

Now, to me this is what freedom is all about, making a living doing what you love to do, and not having to do what you don't love doing, to make a living.
That creative cabin above with the pictures hanging off it,

from Monique's website, in my mind bridges the connection for me, of the idea of freedom, which I would feel so emotionally, whenever I saw and heard the start of the Grizzly Adam's TV show. 
That log cabin in the woods always represented freedom to me.
The idea of getting away from it all, and doing what you wanted to do, and not what society told you what to do.

FREEDOM.
Something that I don't find in my current job situation,  
(unless I'm looking out the window at the building next door). 
And it's not that I want to go live in a log cabin in the woods, either.
It's just having that sense of freedom to appreciate life and be creative, rather than move stock about with a forklift, all day and everyday.
And I'm not wingeing (complaining) about having to do that job ... it brings in the money, and is better than having no job ... but it's not my life purpose.
It's just a way of getting by, to pay the bills ... and I want more ... but what? 
My rational mind thinks,"What more can a poor boy do?" 
Be happy, and be thankful for what you've got!"  
But my right brain is thinking,"This is boring me, do something more meaningful with your life, stupid, before it all slips away, and all you have to show is a retail company's pay slip, for an epitaph."

So, I'm sure now that the Grizzly is my little mascot to the idea of FREEDOM and creating a living from living off of my creative abilities, rather than just being a cog in an uncreative job, that Homer Simpson could probably do just as well as I could.
This also brings me to another dream I had months before, 
about the dead movie actor Charles Bronson.
I dreamed that I was driving a forklift, like the one I drive at work, on a narrow ledge about 40 stories high in the air, and 
Charles Bronson was doing mickey flips off my raised forks and landing back on them, while I was almost frozen in terror by the height, and this guy's death-wish (for want of a better word;-).

 

Now, this dream really hit me for some reason, and I knew at a deep level that there was an important message here, but what? 

I don't even really like Charles Bronson as an actor, so that threw me for a start ... why was he doing mickey-flips on the top of my forklift?

It had me puzzled, but I was determined to find out what the significance of Charles Bronson was to my life.

I started Google-ing his name and looking up his movies, but nothing about the actor or his movies felt significant to me, on a gut feeling level.

But two things did seem to speak to me on a gut level, in all my Google-ing.

One was a movie called Bronson about the notorious British prisoner 

(although I had never heard of him at the time) 

which was winning awards at minor film festivals around the traps.

The other was a book by Po Bronson called
What Should I Do With My Life?
Here's a link to one of the sample chapters from the book
'What Should I Do With My Life?',
called "Synchronicity or Not?"
I haven't read the book at all, but the message to me seems pretty clear. 

In the chapter Synchronicity or Not? from the above link, Kat James comes to the conclusion that; "many people in her shoes would have taken the double salary in order to save up for the leap into garden design, believing that money is the path to freedom. 

She didn’t, and she’s found that true freedom comes from the confidence she can live within her means, whatever those means may be.
More importantly, her sense of purpose and meaning aren’t tied to her pay, because she’s getting so much psychic income from her calling."

Getting back to the movie Bronson, I thought this movie was brilliant when I first saw it, because even though it's about

Britain's longest present day incarcerated prisoner (someone I feel sorry for, but aren't really a fan of), it's also on another level about a person who is not just a prisoner, but in a sense his own jailer, as well.

So,'maybe' the Charles Bronson dream, and the

Grizzly Adams theme song are related in a way.
The Bronson dream is saying, 
"stop being so scared and take a leap.
What do you want to do with your life, anyway? 
Drive forklifts until you can't drive them anymore more, or do something that will reward your spirit and make you grow?
After all, you really are the prisoner of the jailer 
(which is also yourself), so it is really up to you whether you are going to let yourself out, or not, isn't it?"
And the Grizzly is just my subconscious saying follow me, look what these other people are doing, it's time to leave your mental prison, and boring job, and head for the woods of creativity and live in the forest of your own, and the worlds creativity.
Unfold those new butterfly wings and fly, it's time to break out of that chrysalis you've made for yourself over 23 years, and be free-er than you've ever been before in your life.

UPDATE: 29th April, 2011.
I've been working my way through a series of pod-casts at http://www.stevepavlina.com/ 
I usually put one up on the computer and listen to it while I have a shave in the morning (usually before going to work, no less).
He has 23 (!?!) free pod-casts on his site, and I've been going through them in numerical order.
Today oddly enough, I've reached pod-cast 20  
(Creative Self-Expression)
 http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/09/stevepavlinacom-podcast-020-creative-self-expression/
Synchronicity is all about timing, and this couldn't have been timed any better, as far as this post is concerned.
Here's a direct link to the pod-cast, if you would like to hear it.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/podcasts/Pavlina-020-Creative-Self-Expression.mp3
I would encourage you to take a look around Steve's site, as well.
It could be well worth your time.

East Meets West Meets Me

Brisbane, 1986

I come face to face with this Pope (John Paul II), in Brisbane, 1986, when he toured Australia.

It was under the most weirdest of circumstances, too.
On November 25, 1986, my Catholic neighbour asked my mother and myself, if we would like to see the Pope come down the street in his pope-mobile, as he made his way to the QE II Stadium for Mass.

Not being Roman Catholic (although I am a Liberal Catholic ... which is a very different, although similar branch of the religion in many ways), we didn't think that much about it, but had seen him a lot on TV, so thought "why not?"

Looking back now, it was quite surreal.
There would have been less than 100 people scattered over a 1/4 of a mile, down our street, and there were only the four of us standing on the corner as the Pope came past us, looking right into our eyes with a cheerful wave and a smile.
My mother was like a teenager who had seen her favorite pop idol and kept saying "he looked right at me with the cheeriest smile and gave me a wave" ... which he did, and he did the same to me and my neighbours.

After he went up the road, we jumped the back fence and were home again.
How many people in the world could literally have the Pope come to visit, like some great spiritual ice-cream man?

Dali Lama with a St. Bridget Cross

Also that year, the Dali Lama of Tibet came out and toured Australia, and I went and saw him in Brisbane city, (in the park right across from my church, oddly enough) and looked into his eyes as well.

I see the Pope and Dali Lama as both great men, but nothing more.
They may have more stressful jobs than you or I do, but deep down, they aren't that much different to you, or me.
They are/were just two human beings living on the same planet, breathing the same air, and trying to make the world a better place ... like we all should be doing.

The Dali Lama appeared in the park across the road from the Church I was attending in the 80's

"Hey, fella ... is that the Pope coming down the road?"

Synchronicity Happens: Part 1

I don't know where to start this post really, as I'm not sure which syncs are just a passing curiosity, and which syncs are really relevant to something important down the track in my life, and for others (like you who "just happened" to stumble upon this post by accident ... or maybe some hunch ... or some link from some other synchronictic web-surfing you may have been doing to get here).

But I like to think it is all relevant, and who am I to play some editor in the world of synchronicity, for which there can only be one real editor anyway ... if things really are synchronized in this universe?

Take my body for instance.

Who synchronizes all those cells, synchronisticly doing what they have to do to keep me alive?

Some force (or program) must be.

It can't be all random chance, or should I say"luck", because I couldn't imagine that would have gotten me to where I am now, do you? 

And I can't imagine that I am directly responsible for keeping all those cells coordinated, like in bringing the different elements into a relationship that will ensure efficiency or harmony.

So, if I'm not doing the organizing for my body cells, who or what is? 

I seem to have some influence over some functions, like holding my breath underwater, so as to prevent my body cells from dying, because I choose to consciously override the automatic breathing pattern keeping my body alive, until I can safely get it to a source of air, which just happens to have the right mixture of gasses, supplied randomly by a 'chaotic planet' ... and of course, I'm sure you can think of plenty of other examples where you can override an"automatic" body function, because you decide to.

The point is you do seem to have some control over it, but you don't seem to have total control over it.

Most of that control comes either from some mysterious force, or just total random chance. 

Our bodies are a lot like our lives. 
We seem to have some control over our life, but most of that control comes either from some mysterious force, or just total random chance.
We all have different theories as to what it is that controls the course of our lives, but no matter what we each think it is, there is no denying that something is definitely in the room, when you start to experience synchronicity in your life. 
And you can call it a tusk, or a leg, or a tail, or you might get lucky and guess that it's an elephant, but from our vantage point, we don't really know.
We might grasp some piece of the overall truth, but still it's a bit hard to see the totality of the situation from our observation point on this little speck of blue, floating in an entire universe of mystery.
I think the best we can do is acknowledge that there definitely is something in the room. 
It's just that it's too big from where we are, to tell what it really is. 
Others will tell you there's nothing in the room, even if they get swished, poked, or trodden on. 
They will tell you the room is empty, and that maybe you have a substance problem, or mental defect, which is sure to make you imagine things like pink elephants;-)

But no matter what you believe is in, or not in the room, here is no denying that ... synchronicity happens.

Meaningful coincidences happen a lot in this world, which leads me to believe that life, (all lives) are part of one living system much like our body, which can sometimes seem chaotic, but overall is being coordinated by some mysterious, seemingly intelligent force. 

 

Take the photo above for example, as a small selection of synchonistic things that have happened over the last week or two. 

I frequent a blog site called Synchrosecrets and often comment about the weird syncs that occur in my life (which seem to be way too many lately).

Anyway, there was a post at this blog-site called,
Synchronicity and Creativity, and it talked about shamanic meditation with drumming, which I thought was a "coincidence",  because just before I read this post, I had sent away for a book on shamanic drumming (which includes a CD of shamanic drumming).
Plus, James Redfield's book The Twelfth Insight, mainly because I had talked about getting The Twelfth Insight, in a post below this one, on my blog here.

The shamanic drumming book was just a total random selection from over 200 books on my Amazon wish-list.The book I was really after was The Twelfth Insight.
I just thought I may as well get 2 books rather than one, and save a bit on postage.

The only thing that had surprised me by the selection, at first, was that on my last trip to Byron Bay (see posts below) I had bought a little $20 drum (see photo, above) and was keen on learning to play it. 
But when I saw Trish and Rob were talking about the class they had conducted on shamanic drumming that night, I felt I had to tell them of my random book selection  of   
Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide by Sandra Ingerman.

So, I wrote a comment about it, and then Rob replied with this comment, "Well, guess what? The CD I was using for the drumming in the class that Trish wrote about came from THAT book."

Now that's a much bigger sync right there ... what are the odds?

Trish also mentioned in the post that she, "immediately thought of my favorite TV shows – Lost and X-Files,  for instance – and wondered how the writers had come up with their initial ideas and then executed them, extended them over multiple seasons and episodes, keeping the characters and plots intriguing enough for viewers to tune in week after week, season after season."

The funny thing there is that I also hang around Christopher Knowles The Secret Sun blog, and he got me interested in 

The X-Files, so I bought a copy of a book he co-wrote called,
The Complete X-Files-Behind the Series, The Myths, and the Movies (see photo, above).
I had pulled the book down off of the shelf, and was thinking pretty much along the same lines as Trish was, except I hadn't watched  
The X-Files before, apart from maybe one, or two shows, here and there. 
And this was within hours of the post she put up.

Trish then mentions F Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
I had only recently read my only ever Hemingway book,  
The Sun Also Rises (a sun is painted on the drum I bought) and was just starting (and am still reading) The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, plus I had picked up a "Great Gatsby" coffee cup (see photo, above) at a bookshop, across the road from the cinema, when I saw The Adjustment Bureau the other day (see post, below).

Another sync that happened the day after I had finished reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, was I started thinking about the bullfighting scenes in the book, and thought it's a wonder I didn't hear of more bullfighting deaths in the news.
The very next day, the photo above, of the bullfighter copping a horn through the gob, appeared on the front page of our local paper

(and in most papers around the world, also). 
Talk about timing!?!

I had also been reading Andrew Colvin's book  
The Mothman Photographer II, where he talks about his and other's sightings of the Mothman,and his theory that the Mothman, the Garuda,and Thunderbirds are probably inter-dimensional creatures, who appear in our dimension to pass on a message ,or a warning, or to guide in some way.
And while I have never seen a Mothman, it does have some ring of truth to me when he talks about Thunderbirds and Garudas. 

 

It struck a note with me when I read this transcript from his book; 

"The Greek letter 'Psi', as in psi-plasma is very similar to the outstretched arms of the Garuda. It's much like the Christ symbol, too. There's a bunch of stuff that relates to Psi that I found very synchronistic this last week". 

The 23rd Greek letter - Psi.

 

"Today, what used to be called 'the ether' is called 'psi'. 

The etheric medium for psychic phenomenon has a basis in Greek symbolism. 

And there's something about the Garuda. 

I've already established that Buddhists and Hindus consider the Garuda to be the god of spaces, vibrations, and gaps. 

The same is true of the Greeks."

I'm not really big on Christianity 

(unless you're talking Gnosticism), 

but I did get married in a Lutheran church and remember fondly, 

the playing of my favorite hymn, 

The Lord is My Spherd 

It's a hymn that I never get sick of hearing, and is based on Psalm 23 (for those of you who didn't know).

My Garuda from Thailand, on my desk.

I bought a small Garuda from Thailand, over the internet, a few weeks ago when I was reading Andy's first Mothman Photographer book, so I could place it on my desk. 

I thought it would look good in between Darth Vader and C3PO, since the Garuda was meant to be the god of spaces 

(Star Wars/Space ... get it;-) and a messenger to warn the good, of the the bad news heading their way ... maybe?

 Anyway, I was struck by how much the Garuda figure looked like the C3PO figure (I mean the pose and golden colour of the two figures ... not so much the resemblance ... see above photo) and how much Darth Vader looks like Mothman (click on the photo to enlarge it ... this Vader figurine has red eyes, like the Mothman).

The Mothman stuff is very intriguing 

(read Keel's and Colvin's stuff), but I feel there's a bit of disinfo surrounding Mothman events as well. 

What really peaks my interest, though, is Colvin's connection with Thunderbirds, Garudas and the Mothman. 

It may be just a Jungian thing, but the more that I look into the Garuda legends and the Thunderbird stories, the more I feel this is the right track for me. 

Just reading about the Garuda on Wikipedia; 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda                                                    

I was struck by the fact that the Brahminy kite is considered to be the contemporary representation of the Garuda in India, and that they are found in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. 

The breeding season in South Asia is from December to April^.

In southern and eastern Australia (were I live), it is August to October (I consider this period [gut feeling] to be a very crucial time for me this year, on many levels). 

The Aboriginal word for the Brahminy Kite by the way is  Boonooroo.

I just synchronisticly came across this post about a Brahminy Kite and a synchronistic experience realating to it.

A Personal Symbology

Now, if one of these birds flies into one of my windows, it will just freak me out. 

Considering that I have never even heard of these birds, before reading this article. 

But, reading about the Brahminy Kite reminded me of a movie that I saw a while back (by a synchronistic turn of fate) called Kes.

It's about a young English working-class boy who spends his free time caring for and training his pet kestrel. 
It's not the sort of movie the Disney Studios would touch, but it is a good movie, although maybe not some peoples cup of tea. 
Anyway, there is a scene in the movie;

where a teacher picks two teams to play soccer against each other, with the teacher being the captain of his team (Manchester United) and the other team being (Tottenham Hotspur, or Spurs,  for short).

The mighty Spurs mascot;-)

Now these are two real English football clubs, with Spurs "coincidentally" just happening to be the team I support in real life. 
Manchester United are known as the Red Devils, and Spurs mascot is a cockerel  (see photo on left) 

[does that pose of the mascot remind you of the Garuda's pose?]

If  you watch the clip of the soccer match, you will see that 

Spurs beat the Red Devils 2 goals to 1.
Which from my personal point of view (sync wise) would mean that the good guys {Garudas} beat the bad guys {Devils}.
Not only that, but the site I found this picture of  the Spurs mascot was on a charity site called,"SOS Children's Villages", with the slogan "A Loving Home for Every Child". 
Which is the exact opposite of the child's home, and school life, in the movie. 
Another curious picture I found on this website;

Spurs have the WOW factor!

was this one (above) of a fancy-dress competition held at half time at a Spurs game.
Pictured are a clown/trickster, Buzz Lightyear {"to infinity and beyond"}, an alien, Chirpy {Garuda}, a queen and ... maybe a man in black?-) 
Just about all those characters have links in some way to the Mothman/Garuda/Thunderbird phenomena, except maybe, the queen.

Blue Alien in the States

Blue Alien statue on my desk from the States.

Seeing the alien, and and having read about the connection between sightings of the Mothman, and how Garudas and Thunderbirds are considered to be similar creatures. 
It got me to thinking about the Blue Alien I bought from Cynthia Crawford, which traveled by post to half way round the world, and now sits on my desk. 
Now, maybe I'm just a human Bower Bird (for the male Satin bower bird,the favored color is blue), but that colour blue I find very soothing and spiritual, and hence is just about my favourite colour.
Bower Bird Blues

(interestingly enough Wikipedia states that Bower birds are related to Catbirds

[I wonder if they collect cats, too?-] )

I bought this sculpture off Cynthia, not because I have had contact with some Blue Acturian alien, but because on some deep Jungian level, this figure really speaks to me

(not literally ... not yet, anyway;-)

The best depiction I can find of the dream car.

Type of wheels,colour of wheels, shape and style of car, but there was no number, and the colour was more the colour of the Ford Thunderbird pictured down further.

I took this photo at my Mother-in-Law's place last week, so these are probably some of the birds my Father-in-Law  used to feed, when he was still alive. Ironically, I caught a bird in flight, which makes it look like a spirit bird. Spooky!

On October 30th last year, my Father-in-Law died suddenly with a heart attack which took everyone by surprise. 
That story is related here at

John and the Wild Parrots

... but that's only part of the story. 
A few weeks later I came across a book called 
When God Winks:on New Beginnings by SQuire Rushnell, which I purchased from Amazon, because I liked the cover with the white door opening into a green field (which I saw in a dream).
While reading it I came across a story about how 
America's Funniest Home Videos came about, through a series of syncs, and that SQuire was actually one of the guys responsible for getting the show on the air.

So, then I went to see if there were any YouTubes featuring SQuire, so I could get an idea of the man behind the book. 
And I came across this one;

In it he relates a story about Emmett Kelly and his daughter, which I found ... well ... spine tingling. 
I've always loved pictures of this sad clown on a subconscious level anyway, as I've grown up through the years. 
But I  never knew anything about him (until now). 
And to make things even weirder, the night before I checked out this stuff on Emmett Kelly, I had a very vivid dream, where I was being pushed up a hill in a pale sky blue (my favourite colour BTW) toy car by my dead Father-in law, but I was an adult like I am now. 

And I had to sit on the boot with my legs astride the doors, as I was too big. 
He pushed me up the hill, and then I coasted down the hill, by myself, and into a house, which in the dream I believed to me mine and my family's.

I wanted to buy some sort of model car to place on my desk, so I would not forget that strange life like dream, but try as I might I couldn't find anything close. 
Then after reading about Emmet, I was so impressed with the story of his death, that I wanted a sculpture of Emmet to remind me of all the synchros.

How I was riding the dream car ... exactly.

Then I came across this;

http://www.ronlee.com/emmetts_ride.htm

That is pretty much the colour of my dream car, and the way I was riding it in the dream. Although the style is slightly different, but it is all too close to my dream, not to give me those spine tingles.

I still hadn't found the right shade of blue of the the car in my dream, so I scoured the internet for hours, trying to find a model car, that I could buy, to remind me of the dream car. 

Then I came across this car (see photo, below)                                                         

Ford Thunderbird (1966)

That Ford Thunderbird is just about the exact colour, if not the colour, of the dream car, and those silver wheels, too, are like the colour of the dream car's wheels. 
So I bought it, and it now sits on my bookcase, in front of my 'Crazy Frog' radio/figurine (which is the same shade of blue, oddly enough).

Why so serious?-)

Here's another sync. 

I just ducked out to get the mail, and what should be there? 
My Tottenham Hotspur [Spurs] jersey, which I ordered about 3 weeks ago, from London (notice the bird on my chest, and the cat [Puma] on my shoulder?
The image was taken by me looking into a mirror, so the image is mirror reversed.).

Sorry, I just had to stick that newspaper/mirror joke of mine in there, while I had time to reflect on the shot above, of me in the mirror;-)

Now getting back to the Ford Thunderbird.

Two things that spooked me about the Ford Thunderbird, that was the exact shade of blue as the car in my dream (which is the reason that I bought it in the first place) was the significance of the name "Thunderbird", which only struck me when I  realized that the thunderbirds of the Native Americans are mainly depicted as predominately blue, like my alien sculpture.

And the second thing that hit me was the year 1966, when the car was made, was also when the Mothman phenomena was occurring, according to John Keel's book, The Mothman Prophecies. 

With "The Silver Bridge" collapse occurring in 1967. 

I've always been fascinated by stories of the Thunderbirds and how they were often supposedly sighted before, during, or after thunderstorms, suggesting that maybe the storms create the right conditions and energy levels for these beings to enter our dimension and show themselves to the earthbound viewer. 

Maybe something like a star-gate is created under certain stormy conditions, which helps such beings appear to us for a time? 

Anyway,I've always liked the shamanic appeal of the Thunderbird beings and the Native American tales of Thunderbirds and kachinas. 

Thunderstorms are a very powerful energy source, so who really would know what is capable of emerging from them? Here's a paragraph about the Blue Star Katchina prophecy from a site that talks about  a lot of interesting stuff. 

"Hopi Blue Star or Blue Kachina Prophecy

An ancient Hopi Indian prophecy states, 
"When the Blue Star Kachina makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge". 
This will be the Day of Purification. 
The Hopi name for the star Sirius is Blue Star Kachina. 
It will come when the Saquasohuh (Blue Star) Kachina dances in the plaza and removes his mask.

Note: Reality is a metaphor in which we quest to find answers to the greater truth of who we are and why we are here. Something in our souls tells us that change is happening on a global consciousness level. The blue frequency is part of that. Sirius is Isis - Return to the feminine of higher frequency energies - Rebirth of Consciousness. Blue links to higher/future frequencies of consciousness as we spiral up through the patterns of Sacred Geometry. Blue - electricity - our reality as an electromagnetic energy grid program. Blue: Indigo children, the blue alien lady, Isis, the Pleiades, Sirius, blue galaxies, blue chakra, blue ray and ascended master, and much more that will come 'out of the blue'. "

 It's all very interesting stuff to me,very spiritual

Who doesn't marvel at the sight of a storm and all the energy generated by it? 
One reason I've always loved the sight of big white ghost gums, is that they look like an upside-down lightening strike, where they are reaching out, trying to strike the sky.
There just seems something very special about these trees to me.

Thunderstorms, I love the feeling of being outside right before a storm hits. 
It's one amazing, spiritual experience. 
Some Native Americans believe individuals who had been struck by lightening and survived often become Shamans  for they had received the power of the monster bird.

Just ask Dannion Brinkley;- )

Dannion Brinkley

(I read his book, Saved by the Light years ago, and have to say it's worth a read)

The above photo reminds me a lot of a Van Gogh painting, showing that everything is energy and movement, and that nothing is static, not even a still starry night.
It has just as much energy buzzing around the viewer as a thunderstorm, but because it appears to be almost silent to our ears and still to our eyes, we just don't notice all that energy, right in front of us. 

The painting depicts the view outside his sanitarium room window at night, although it was painted from memory during the day (sounds a bit like this blog, did I hear someone say?- )

Since 1941 it has been in the permanent collection of the 
Museum of Modern Art in New York City. 
Reproduced often, the painting is widely hailed as his 

magnum opus. 
It sure is one of my favourite paintings.

Writing about Modern Art, brings me to this sign outside of the Gallery of Modern Art or GOMA, as it's known as here in Brisbane.
It is probably the most favourite icon of mine, in all of Brisbane (or Brizvegas, as it is affectionately called by Brisbanites).

I think we need a building like the Seattle Space Needle (although we sort of have one like that already called the Sky-needle) with this sign on top, illuminating the Brizzy nightlife;-)

You can learn a lot though art, Modern or otherwise, and this is how I see Brisbane ... and the world really, as one giant Modern Art Gallery, with treasured pieces scattered around everywhere, right in front of my eyes.
Every piece contains a message, you just have to appreciate the piece before it's time for the exhibition to close.

Life is a work of art, so make the most of the tour, while it lasts.

It's also like a Fun-arcade with lots of little prizes to collect along the way, if only you are prepared to have a go. 
You just have to stop thinking like a loser, or thinking that it's no use because the game is rigged.
The only way you'll know for sure is to give it all you got, and see what prizes you'll get when you cash all those tickets you've collected, to be handed over to the guy behind the counter, at the end of your playtime.
Only then will you know whether it was all just a big rip-off ... or worth your while. 
But when you look back, either way, I think you'll see that you had fun trying;-)

Life is also a bit like a crop circle. 
It's mysterious and there is great debate as to how it all came about, and everybody thinks that they have the right answers to the mystery, but maybe we're missing the point to it all. 

The real answer to the crop circle mystery?- )

We have to see it for the great artwork it is, and the messages that are encoded, to be experienced in the art.

Would Van Gogh's work be any less meaningful because it wasn't made by aliens (maybe he was a contactee ... that would probably explain a lot?-)

Great artists like Van Gogh sacrifice a lot to get the message across.
As do a lot of great modern artists.
Some are rewarded well, and for some the only reward is that they got their message out there.

We are all artists when it comes to life, and no matter how bad our art may seem to be to us.
There will always be somebody out there who loves it.
So, the goal of life is to make the best art you can, to inspire the most people you can ... but at the end of the day it has to be about what inspires you.

Gallery of Modern Art exhibit.Brisbane, Queensland
Shades of "The Great Gatsby", maybe?

Don't play to the crowd ... play to yourself ... because if you like what you see, hen others are sure to as well.
You have to be the only critic that matters.
Great artists don't let critics run their life, they just make what they feel compelled to make.
At the end of the day it is only that little voice inside that counts, as far as critical acclaim goes. 

Like Salvador Dali said:

If you take note of that little voice inside 
(not the one that says "kill the president"... you still have a brain to use,as well;-) 
and the little, or big synchronicities that come into your life, I think you'll find that life will be more rewarding and meaningful to you in the long run, and that you will feel a sense of peace, mission and adventure in your life.
Anyway, I know that's the way I feel by following this mysterious path.
All I can say is try it for yourself, your life is no less magical than mine, I can assure you.
Make your life a great work of art and listen to no critic but yourself. 

Sorry that this post has meandered a bit more than even the Brisbane River does, and probably flooded a few brains along the way, but it's more a post for myself than anybody else, and I just wanted to capture my thoughts, before they floated out to sea (alas, some did).
If you got something out it, I'm glad, but I'm only taking a leaf out of Mike Clelland's book (a person I admire deeply for the work he is doing), and trying to make sense of my own weird journey on the roads of Oz, by recording the less personal, but still deeply meaningful "coincidences" that come into my life, while still keeping some semi-anonymity at the same time.

Cheers / l'chaim .

To Life!

Painting of the Brisbane River by Katy Edwards

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P.S. 
As I was watching The Great Gatsby (1974 version), I thought it was amusing that the tents, or marques that Gatsby has up on his lawn, are patterned with orange and white stripes, just like the Penguin book cover and coffee cup.
Take a look in this YouTube snippet of the movie.

See photo, third from the top, to see the book and cup, that I'm talking about here.

UPDATE: October 25th, 2021

I've been going through this blog from where I am in 2021 and trying to tidy up the old posts where I can by replacing old music videos where GOOGLE has pulled them, or closed old "illegal" You Tube accounts (which is a Fool's errand really).

I'm rather pleased to see that I still have as much hair on my head as I did back then (although starting to go grey ... not that I give a f@ck to be honest, as I've been cutting my own hair for years anyway:-) and that I can still fit myself rather comfortably into that Spurs jersey, which I still have.

Pity Spurs haven't won anything worth bragging about since then though:-(