I saw this video a month or so ago and it struck me so deeply. I emailed it to people and verbally told as many people as possible that they NEEDED to watch this. I came across it again on someone else's blog this morning and realized that I, too, must archive it in a more permanent way. So here it is, again:
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
I love that someone had this idea and followed through with it in such a mind-blowing way. 42 countries in 14 months! The dancing is so dorky that I can't help but laugh every time! The music is perfect for this project- uplifting, sweeping, energizing, and perfectly synchronized to every moment being shown. My favorite part, hands down, is the scene from India- it's so majestic and colorful and the music at that particular moment just brings me to tears.
Every time I watch this video I pretty much laugh with pure happiness and cry with an overwhelming sense of hope for the world. This man was lucky to have brought joy to so many lives. It was only a brief moment of time for each of those clips and all the people involved, but stringing them together it creates a feeling so much bigger than just the sum of it's parts. Isn't that a wonderful summary of life?
This is definitely why life is good... I don't want to ever forget this.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Seduced by potatoes
Alright, that title needs a little explanation. I've been meaning to write about this for several days, if not weeks... random smells-- I'm fascinated by them.
Where does a whiff of perfume come from when there's no visible person in your vicinity? How come that smell so often reminds you of someone you once knew? What are the odds that today at work I would be brought back to two very distinct times in my life, smelling both Dustin's cologne and the perfume of one of my elementary school teachers within twenty minutes of each other. Random.
For the past few weeks I've had to drive by a construction site near my home, and almost every day I smell potatoes. It makes no sense to me. Prior to construction, this area had been one of those usual parcels of land-- nothing all that beautiful, just something you passed on your way to somewhere else. They knocked it down to build-- get this-- another housing development. The smell of potatoes is so strong you have to wonder if this was an old farm back in the day and they're digging up remnants of the past. And here's where this blog entry's title comes in: There's something about the smell of potatoes for me... or maybe it's just the dirt... I don't know, but it makes me happy. In a strangely oxymoron-ic way, the dirt smells clean... fresh... crisp. It smells simple.
There's another parcel of land further down the road that is just an empty field with a chain link fence marking off it's boundaries. There's one of those pubic notice signs on the fence that states something too small to read from the road, but I suspect it's a sign of more construction to come. And every time I pass this area, I smell the strongest scent of sweet grass. It's like a tiny meditation every time I pass it, causing me to breathe deeper and become more aware of my surroundings.
The doldrums of work were interrupted for a brief moment by good memories from my past. The disturbing sight of construction was eased a little by the fragrant smell of vegetation. Is this natures way of soothing us? Are all of these scents readily available to us from somewhere beyond in order to ease any bad feelings of the moment? Do they really come from the outside or do they get conjured up from somewhere within ourselves? So many questions...
So basically, life is good because of random smells:
-that cause me to stop and notice the moment that I'm in... right then and there
-that take me back to good times and good memories
-that cause me to ponder deeper things about the inner workings of life
And most of all, life is good because of unanswered questions. I kind of like making my own stuff up to explain things!
Where does a whiff of perfume come from when there's no visible person in your vicinity? How come that smell so often reminds you of someone you once knew? What are the odds that today at work I would be brought back to two very distinct times in my life, smelling both Dustin's cologne and the perfume of one of my elementary school teachers within twenty minutes of each other. Random.
For the past few weeks I've had to drive by a construction site near my home, and almost every day I smell potatoes. It makes no sense to me. Prior to construction, this area had been one of those usual parcels of land-- nothing all that beautiful, just something you passed on your way to somewhere else. They knocked it down to build-- get this-- another housing development. The smell of potatoes is so strong you have to wonder if this was an old farm back in the day and they're digging up remnants of the past. And here's where this blog entry's title comes in: There's something about the smell of potatoes for me... or maybe it's just the dirt... I don't know, but it makes me happy. In a strangely oxymoron-ic way, the dirt smells clean... fresh... crisp. It smells simple.
There's another parcel of land further down the road that is just an empty field with a chain link fence marking off it's boundaries. There's one of those pubic notice signs on the fence that states something too small to read from the road, but I suspect it's a sign of more construction to come. And every time I pass this area, I smell the strongest scent of sweet grass. It's like a tiny meditation every time I pass it, causing me to breathe deeper and become more aware of my surroundings.
The doldrums of work were interrupted for a brief moment by good memories from my past. The disturbing sight of construction was eased a little by the fragrant smell of vegetation. Is this natures way of soothing us? Are all of these scents readily available to us from somewhere beyond in order to ease any bad feelings of the moment? Do they really come from the outside or do they get conjured up from somewhere within ourselves? So many questions...
So basically, life is good because of random smells:
-that cause me to stop and notice the moment that I'm in... right then and there
-that take me back to good times and good memories
-that cause me to ponder deeper things about the inner workings of life
And most of all, life is good because of unanswered questions. I kind of like making my own stuff up to explain things!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Carefree Weekends
Life is good for carefree weekends. Staying up late on Friday nights, knowing you can sleep late Saturday morning is the best! We spent some time on Saturday with my family at a picnic, stopped at a garage sale or two on the way home, stayed up late again knowing we could sleep late on Sunday (best feeling in the world!), moseyed on out of bed at noon, finally took advantage of the little corner deli not far from our house, shared the picnic table outside with a friendly kitten named Tiger, went on a quest through back roads to find more garage sales (using a map to find our way back!) and finally settled in for a dinner at home on the barbeque. Carefree indeed!
More reasons why life is good:
Having a boyfriend who
More reasons why life is good:
Having a boyfriend who
- loves to stop at garage sales as much as I do
- encourages back road exploration
- doesn't freak out, but instead laughs, when I have to make several three-point turns to get back to where I was supposed to turn in the first place
- gets matching face-paint tattoos on our arms that have our initials painted in a heart
- and then poses for pictures as we all laugh
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