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KOLiving the Blog....
May 05 The 10 Count for Eight BellesAh, the Kentucky Derby, such a tradition! The Mint Juleps, the Wagers, the Sun, the Hats, the incredible atmosphere in watching such a classic 2 minute race! The annual race for the roses is held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and is complete with Kentucky's best (and others) 3 year old thoroughbreds, competing on one of the few remaining dirt tracks in the Professional Circuit. This year the brilliant race of the derby winner, Big Brown had a sad, sad cloud surrounding it as Eight Belles, the over jubilant 3 year old filly ran through the finish line in second place - the only chick in a roomful of dudes - and while slowing down on the next turn, crumpled to the ground, with her jockey flying over top of her, both, lying in a heap on the grand-daddy of all racetracks. One of them would get up a little shaken, dust himself off, and assess his fallen partner. She would not be as lucky, lying helpless, and looking skyward, unable to raiser herself with her two broken ankles as props. Such an unfitting end to the 134th Derby. The traditions and excitement of the day, pent up for those same 3 years as funding, love, and care was injected into Eight Belles, came to a screeching halt as the Veterinary team at Churchill Downs made its way on to the track to attend the fallen girl. The decision to end her life seemed too fast for those that believe that nature brings us the best they have, and we have a duty to protect and care for them, at all costs. Eight Belles had been born a champion, from champion lines, and raised to be a champion, yet she was dispensed with, as her usefullness wore out at 3 years of age. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HClCiD5UDM http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/sports/othersports/05racing.html?ref=othersports http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/05/05/the-kentucky-derby-tragedy.html April 22 Racing through the Glass CeilingIt wasn't all that long ago when I dreamt of racing Indy Cars in the bigs, or at the very least, being a big shot pit mechanic to my very own Paul Newman Racing Team. I loved Robert Redford more, but Paul Newman was okay by me, and was just coming onto the racing circuit. Yes, it was grade 10. It was a year of transition, a year of hope, and the year that we would finally get our driver's license!! We had the chance to launch our new found adolescent selves out into the community, and to be all that we could be while doing it.
I had always had this strange fascination with mechanics, both the verb and the noun (especially with 'Cute', as a prefix) and thought what better 'work experience' could there be, than that of learning to work on, and around, car engines. Off I went to the friendliest service station of which I knew, only to be accepted as a Gas Jockey - the first female one that I had ever seen in our neighbourhood (circa 1980).
For six months I peered over the chief mechanics shoulder and listened to all of their non-stop cat calls as a hot driver drove up to the pumps in a hot car. Soon, I was doing flat repairs, and oil changes, and tire rotations, and while those things were interesting, I wanted to take apart an engine from top to bottom, just to understand how the whole damn thing worked. I had this inate need to know how it all worked together! Enter my brother's 20 year-old girlfriend, who happened to have a 1968 Toyota Corona that she would sell to me for 200 dollars. Even if it didn't run, this was a steal, as it would soon provide an extra room in the driveway where I would install the best sound system known to a 15 year-old (probably from London Drugs), followed by stapling black diamond-tec fabric to all of the door panels and interior roof. The bonus in the whole deal, was that I could easily take apart the engine and be no worse for wear. Hell, I wasn't even legal to drive yet! I had had the car about a week, when the sound system was completed, and the whole neighbourhood grew to embrace my favourite rock - Journey's Don't stop Believing rocked on for hours on end, as I carefully removed each delicate part from under the hood. The car was the perfect size for me and the little four cylinder engine housed all the pieces that I could easily reach, unscrew, and dismantle. I was just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, and this car was quickly becoming my obsession. That was until my Dad arrived into my 'shop' (allocated mine by the lack of any other car currently in it), and began chanting, "What in the hell are you doing? How are you going to get all those parts back together? What is the matter with you?" It seemed to go on for hours, this incessant berating, maybe because I was only 15, maybe because I was a girl, or maybe just because he didn't have an inkling toward any of it, therefore no one else could. Maybe he was right. Maybe I couldn't do it. It wasn't long after that when I traded my little project in, all broken yet sort of still running. I gave up. I stopped believing. This past weekend, Danica Patrick won the Japanese Indy 300- the first woman ever to win a professional race. After the race, she spoke of what she had to endure as a female, mentored by her racing father, where the whole family believed in her and supported her, and where she was constantly taunted by the men in the racing circles. She was only 16 years old, when she began her racing career in England; another lonely adolescent, listening to all of the boorish cat calls, and hoping that she would one day prove her critics wrong, 'living just to find emotion'. Finally she would arrive on the Indy stage as a 23 year old, and have to wait 49 Professional Indy starts before she could finally say that she had made it. "I wanted to be a race car driver so badly that everything I had to go through was just part of the process," she told the Chicago Tribune. Some will win, some will lose. Some are born to sing the blues....but you ain't one of them. Don't stop believing, and I will keep you on my 'shop' wall for inspiration!!  April 01 TechnopopI seem to always remember the infamous philosophy of Martin Heiddeger as our generation bumps in to every nook and cranny of the techno revolution. Heiddeger is one of the only philosophers that I studied that made good sense to me by saying that technology actually hinders man's progression. Now, I have paraphrased that, but in a nutshell, it is the basis of most of his teachings.
At the height of his career, just after the second world war, I don't think that he could have seen the techno revolution that was coming. Technology to him, may have been transportation and television, which I would have to agree with him, are not that spiritually enlightening, however, when it comes to the information age, there are many vices, and de-vices, that are!
RIM has just announced the pending release of the Blackberry 9000 - an IPhone rip off to many, but nonetheless, a communication device, that when used in moderation can light a path to enlightenment. Unlike the annoying texting and other crackberry pieces of the Blackberry pie, the 9000 will have a bunch of extra memory for storing data - blogs, stories, pods and poems written on the fly - and accessible by disk, as well as Wi Fi capabilities allowing information to stream to anyones fingertips.
Published authors have a one-up on those that are not, and that is that they have actually written down something. The new all-in-ones afford that luxury to many; squeezing in an hour or two of writing when others would simply be away from their desks.
As the North American sleeping hours decrease en masse, these new tools may help to squeeze a little more out of the day, without having to stay up later. That's the theory anyhow...whether or not you find that path to enlightenment depends all on your Techno-balance....don't trade in face-to-face time for it, but if it helps you get some thoughts out, an invention in, or something published or produced, GO FOR IT!! March 14 Behind the BenchIt is a strange dichotomy of personna. An all star, outstanding athlete, now past his or her prime, taking up residence on the bench. The metaphoric coaching bench. When that athlete is of the calibre of greatness, such as Wayne Gretsky, the world hones in on their new position and analyzes it in a similar way as they did when that ex-player played. I have watched hockey for a long time - close to 35 years I reckon, and I have never seen the F-bomb dropped more frequently than I have lately, from the 'new age' coaches. The camera pans to the bench ONLY for a nano second and the lip reading is frantic - it appears to be close to the ONLY word in the vocabulary; to the refs, to the players, to the other team. Shocking that such greatness has to be followed up with such unintelligent banter. Sad, really. March 12 Let it BeThe Beatles had something going back in the 60's when they coined such prophetic and inspirational songs as Let it Be, Across the Universe, With a Little Help from my friends, All you need is Love, Here comes the Sun, I Wanna hold your hand - the list is endless! Story after short story of hope and love. McCartney the optimistic ray of sunshine, Lennon the worldly realist so wanting to Imagine the possibilities, but so disturbed that the world would not buy into them.
Forty years later since Lennon and McCartney first hooked up in a pub in Liverpool, their songs and their dreams of peace and vision live on. Lennon's vision ended prematurely and if he were still rocking it out today, I can't help but think that he would think that the world has not moved more toward peace and harmony. More toward friendship and humanism, devoid of religiose ideas for the afterlife, instead, living each day for today.
Their music inspires millions still; every language, every culture, every race, we all believe in the world that could be. The world that should be.
Life is very short, and there's no time
For fussing and fighting, my friend. I have always thought that it's a crime, So I will ask you once again. Try to see it my way, Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong. While you see it your way There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long Let's work it out together. February 05 We are the change that we have been waiting for....Barack Obama shouted those words in his speech from Illionois, after he had taken a number of states as his own. What a great saying. Wow, we, the people, can change things. We the people can say no. We, the people can choose change over status quo. I hope his message turns into action!! February 01 A Dream TicketWhat if Obama and Clinton teamed up for a dream ticket? Would the black and the women's vote be at an all time high - united for a common dream?
The Democratic debate just finished, heating up the race for Super Tuesday, where the majority of the states will choose their Democratic and Republican candidates. As I listened to the debate, I could not help but see the similarity between these two well spoken lawyers. Obama was most engaged, as Hillary answered questions, and his nodding head bobbed in agreement with most of her words. Clinton was a little more 'poker faced' as Barack answered the questions, but an observer could easily tell that they were aligned....even if their words spoke the contrary.
How great would it be, to see them BOTH win? Their visions of change, and their ability to implement such change should be all the more reason to team up and clean up the mess that the last 2 terms has left.
Tuesday should tell the story on which one will lead and which one will support!!
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