Frolicking Fun Friday: Painting with Fire

My apologies in advance as I couldn't download a video about this, and the photos, taken from a girlfriend's phone, are the largest I can showcase. (I just purchased a new cellphone as one was essentially on its way out and I didn't know how to use my new one yet.)

In the photo above, the man is lying on this back on the floor with his legs up in the air holding her up in the air while they are both "fire performing." What stamina, strength, endurance, and balance!

Last Friday, albeit the weather was rather cool with temperamental rain, I am glad we both stayed to hear two bands play at the Shipyards Night Market, a farmer's market with live bands, in North Vancouver, BC (http://vancouversnorthshore.com/whats-happening/night-market-the-shipyards/).

We were pleasantly surprised and delighted when these incredibly talented, acrobatic fire performers did their magic with a band, Painting with Fire in the background. There were five of them, one women amongst them.

Here is one of the male performers:

And below is a photo of the group taken from Facebook:

What types of entertainment do you enjoy? How do you prefer to frolick and have fun?

Talented Thursday: Blogging AND...?!

Photo from www.wikihow.com


Imagine yourself juggling at least three balls in the air. I learned how to do this from an expert juggler months ago and was able to do so, albeit briefly. I was, of course, ecstatic when I did. (I have yet to practice with the ideal ball size and weight.)

I often if not always juggle balls in the air, at least three, if not four or more, in my life. How many of you can relate?

Those of you who are parents juggle tons of balls daily in your relationships with your spouse/partner, child(ren), career, home, and activities. I can understand that.

I am not necessarily speaking about multi-tasking, though I can do that seemingly quite well. Rather, I am speaking primarily as a singleton, that is being dependent on yourself for everything in your life.

That is, as in my case, working a full-time day job - I work for a nonprofit agency - commuting approximately 1-1/2 hours per day to and fro and shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. in addition to blogging daily lately (for this Ultra Blog Challenge) and commuting everywhere by bus.

Whew! Have I made you tired yet? That is only the basics! There are also errands, appointments, activities (primarily choir, community events, energy healing exchanges), and so forth. You get the drift.

If I was to tell you what I sometimes do in one day yet alone a weekend (Saturday and Sunday) or weekend day (Saturday or Sunday), I might just blow your socks off! (I do at least with one or two of my friends whom I sometimes make time for, when possible once a week.) In fact, I sometimes amaze myself in what I can do and what I am capable of. Truly!

In this way, I can so relate to my Mom who has a hard time sitting, sitting down except to eat a meal or rest her feet/legs from time to time and/or to watch some TV (usually news). She barely sits down, I swear!

Though I mainly sit at work and when I am on the computer typing/blogging at home, except with the occasional standing from time to time, I am essentially "on the go" a lot. Thus, one nickname I refer to myself as is the 'Energizer Bunny.'

Are you familiar with the commercial that aired years ago with the (Duracell) battery-operated bunny? That's what I am referring to; see the photo below. That is what I am or tend to be like generally.

It is like I am on automatic pilot at times, busy doing. Another expression I have for myself is 'busy bee' as in a bee flitting and buzzing around from flower to flower, or in my case, from one to-do task item to another. (Photo from Wikipedia)

To say I am "intense" because of this is essentially accurate; however, even though I am generally driven with purpose and passion a lot of the time (and usually for good reason, at least in my opinion), I can also 'chill' and relax. I love to play and have fun, especially during the summer, taking advantage of free outdoor music/concerts and festivals. ;)

How many balls do you tend to juggle in the air? What kind of activities and talents fill up your life?

"Word-less" Wednesday

Photo I took of a billboard last year

Quick! What's the first thing you think of when you see this photo?

And what are the top three words, phrases, images that come to your mind? Pray tell. I'm all ears! ;)

*Note: A double entendre for the title today: "wordless" as in no words, or less words than usual - the latter, my definition, which applies in this case. ;)

Part 2: Aftermath of a Brilliant Comic’s Death: Funnyman Robin Williams

(Photo I took a few years ago of the rooftop of Le Chateau, a clothing store)

According to Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Alberta (http://alberta.cmha.ca/mental_health/statistics/#.U_l5yaNGiQE), the number I guessed, that one out of five people suffer from some sort of a mental illness is correct. See more details on the link if you are interested.

To disambiguate the term ‘mental illnes’: “Mental illness is the term used to refer to a variety of mental disorders that can be diagnosed. Mental disorders are health conditions that are characterized by alternations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.” (CMHA Canada, http://www.cmha.ca/media/frequently-asked-questions/#.U_l6OaNGiQE.)

Here are some plain and easy-to-read facts and information about mental illness and some interesting statistics: http://www.cmha.ca/media/fast-facts-about-mental-illness/#.U_l7GqNGiQE.

I’m surprised I didn’t become a psych(iatric) nurse for several reasons, one of which I will refer to in Part 3 of this series. My first full-time job was working as a Medical Secretary for The Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in the Biopsychology department and The Human Brain Laboratory – no kidding, this is true – though the two head doctors I worked for did not see patients as they were both research scientists. Next door was the Addiction Research Foundation; it has changed names over the years.

What I want to elucidate is the fact that mental illness/depression/concurrent disorders is a real issue that should be dealt with and not swept under the carpet. Dealt with not necessarily with medication or medication only – did you know most act as a placebo and/or do not work for a number of clients? – but spoken about outrightly in society as we would Robin Williams’s death or better yet, the weather for that matter. An everyday occurrence, not with a matter-of-fact tone perhaps, but with openness and honesty, with genuine compassion and empathy.

Robin starred in the movie, Dead Poet’s Society where a student commits suicide. In Awakenings, Robin’s role is on in which he discovers that a drug is used to treat Parkinson’s disease, something which excites him. This seems rather ironic in that Robin "suffered" from both.

Further irony is fueled due to the name of the song and implied suicide scene is Bobby McFerrin’s popular video of his famous a capella hit song in 1988, "Don’t Worry, Be Happy" in which Robin Williams appears as several happy characters a number of times:



I’m curious, if Western society (not sure about the rest of the world) were more comfortable in speaking more publicly about death and suicide, could we, would we avoid or rather prevent suicidal deaths from occurring?

What do you think?