What can I say? I am on a spiritual high after seeing U2 live for the first time in my life. The circumstances leading up to this moment are remarkable.

Backtrack to 1987, when I was 22 years old. I was in the top floor of a University of Victoria dorm room. All my floormates went to see the concert except me. I don't know what was wrong with me...I guess I thought I was too good for concerts? They weren't my thing????

I'll never forget 1982 when "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" played on our rock 104 Fm radio station in Kelowna, BC. The radio announcer said, :Listen tot his Band. They are something special, up and coming, and we'll be hearing more from them in the future." Boy, was he right!

Anyhow, I'm about to have my 40th birthday this June. When I found out they were playing in Vancouver, I knew I had to go. This time, I would not snub them.

Only one problem...I have no credit card. Only another problem..both shows sold out in 6 minutes. I prayed that there would be  contests to win. I went online and listened to JAck FM, Rock101, and 102 Mountain FM. I phoned in the previous Friday to Mountain FM after hearing a U2 song, only to find out the last possible entry was called in two hours earlier..I had missed the boat.

Meanwhile, throughout March and April, I periodically babysat my landlords' dog if they went to Vancouver (I live in Whistler). They would always ask, "Do you need anything from the city?" I would jokingly reply, "U2 Tickets!" We would both laugh, as I certainly wasn't expecting them to find me some. Heather said to me, "Well, you never know. When you put it out the Universe, the universe will provide!"

On Thursday at 3:00, right as I was dismissing the children, I recieved a knock on my door from the principal. She told me there was a "Heather" on the phone. I was discombobulated, but walked down the hall to accept the call in the office.

"I have a U2 ticket for you, and you're not paying for it! said Heather on the phone! I was shocked. I told her we were about to have our teacher meeting, that the inspection from the government was tomorrow, and that I had $8.00 to my name until April 30, when I could cash the cheque. I also said that I had no way to get down there. She said, "We'll loan you our vehicle." Well if anyone here knows the Sea to Sky highway, you may realise that I was a bit intimidated to drive a Nissan pathfinder through that and then through a big city. I asked, "Can you phone me back in half an hour?"

I was in shock. I told my colleagues and asked them what to  do. I didn't want to leave them in the lurch. I had no way of paying for a bus ride ($69.70 one way with Perimeter) down there, and the buses didn't run that late on the way back. A parent who had her two children in my class overheard this, and said, "let me see what I can do." She made a few arrangements, and then offered to drive me there and back for God's sakes! I tell you, I had my own stretch limo there and back. I was treated like a queen, and had $8.00 to my name. Tracy even phoned ahead to Samurai Sushi to bring it along for our "Dinner on the Road."

MY GOD!!! I have never worked at a school where everyone, including a parent, encouraged me to drive two hours on a school night down to a Rock Concert and back again.

The concert itself was unbelievable. It was so awesome to see each of the four guys walk the "ellipse" and have a chance to shine. Bono has a great sense of humor as well as serious messages about eradicating the world's poverty. He brought young people up on stage to honor them, as well as show off a lady's large sign that said, "I've just ditched my wheelchair. Will you dance with me?" He called her up, and some weird backpack/skirt contraption she was wearing kept falling down, so he kept pulling it back up for her and tying it about 2 times! It was so funny! Another time he found a balloon, held it to his chest until it popped, and said, "I'm going to pop every one of these I find!"

My computer is so slow here I'm going to lose everything i worked at, so I'm sending this now. More later!!!

Angie

I am reading this book called "Grass Dancer" by Susan Power.

"Hey, Hey, what - an- ey,

Hey, Hey, what - an- ey,

Hey, Hey, what - an- ey,

Heyokenah, Heyokenah!"

Each line goes a little bit lower in note, then the "yo" in Heyokenah goes higher.

Just honoring my heritage. Most of us in Canada have some aboriginal blood. It was inevitable. My ancestor, James Swain, was one of the crazy Hudson's Bay Company Factors recruited for the Orkney Islands. I guess they figured the windswept freezing cold of the Orkneys in northern Scotland enabled those who were born there to acclimatize to 40 below weather near what is now Churchill, Manitoba.

Well, according to my Aunty Janet, my ancestor came over, and would've been frozen like a statue in the Hudson's Bay area if it hadn't have been for the aboriginal people. It sounds romantic, like a beautiful native woman gazing across the snow-driven, frozen beachscape at the grounded ship, and the shivering men hunched over as they looked for firewood. In reality, it was probably much worse, and there were probably many more deaths by freezing.

Anyhow, James Swain and another man by the name of William Sinclair were in and around York Landing. I was researching the Sinclair family name last summer, as it can be traced to the St. Clair name and the Knights Templar. If any of you out there are related to a Swain, let me know!

Back to Grass Dancer.

Have you ever felt the warm. blustery wind of the high desert on your face and in your hair? Have you ever heard the drums of the Buffalo nations beating like thundering hooves?

Well, I have!

I have been to Pow Wows in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mount Currie, BC (by Pemberton). I also sat near the Pow Wow grounds on the Taos , NM, Pueblo, and walked under the arbor poles in a giant circle. In the three summers I was there I never made it to an actual Pow-Wow, but looking at Taos Mountain was enough of a rush for me!

I tell you, a person can stay there all day, either parked in a lawn chair or entrenched in fresh green grass under the arbor. The smell of frybread, coffee, and woodsmoke fills the air. The strong singing of the men can be a high, strong falsetto ("Hey yah Hey!") all the way to a deep base in one group around the huge drum. They all hit the drumskins in unison, and it's quick, like a heartbeat.

Even quicker, as fast as a handclap of a flamenco dancer, is the drumbeat of a Native American Chuch (Peyote) drummer. That will be for another day, another blog.

Anyhow, today, on this second to last day of March, I honor the spirits of the wind. The Pow Wows are probably already starting in the warmer climates of the southern states. The Mount Currie Pow Wow is usually on the Victoria Day long weekend, May 21-23, usually a week before Memorial Day in the U.S.

P.S.: My Dad's birthday was March 29, yesterday. He is 67 years on this planet. Wah-tah-hey, Dad!

Many more.

P.S.S. The song written at the beginning is phonetically heard from the Mt. Currie hand drummers, and is not meant to disrespect them in any way. I felt like I was home when I heard it.

Love Angie

I was lying on my couch looking up through my basement suite window to the clear blue Whistler sky on this Sunday afternoon when I thought of....addictions. You see, I have a friend whom I love and admire very much. The only thing is, he is addicted to being mistreated by his partner. Why is this? Why do Earth Angels choose to be the 'rescuers', the 'helpers', the 'nursemaids'?

Life is too short. We need to enjoy good food, good friends, good music, and each moment in peace.

I find that I can get into ranting negatively about this person's situation until it becomes a broken record. When we gossip or talk negatively about a back sheep or someone's 'black sheep ' activities, it drains our energy and lowers our thoughts. Just try it. See how you feel after you talk "concernedly" about a friend. Does it make you feel any better?

On another note, what about each of us? Do we have addictions that we are not aware of? "Well, I'm not hurting anyone," you say, as you crave those peppermint mentos or 5th cigarette of the day. Take food, something I have an addiction to.
"I'm not hurting anyone" I say, as I ....................(whatever, you fill in the blanks. It could be ice cream, a second helping, sugar-coating on anything, etc). We say, "I'm not hurting anyone, I need to eat anyways, and I'll just be hungry in two hours if I don't eat now."

Now, that's a Hypoglycemic's Anonymous statement if I ever heard one.

I believe that everything we do and say is broadcast as light and sound waves to the end of the universe. Nothing is stopping it. Earth is a busy, noisy planet that way. If we are constantly giving in to our desires and need for quick-sugar gratification, what are we broadcasting to every other human in the world?

No wonder the crows mock me as I walk along the road each morning. HAW! HAW! They say, as they rub their beaks on the telephone wire. Creatures of opportunity, they seek what they need and scavenge for the rest.

On a more serious note, as I was lying on my couch I saw all the street people and drunken bums shooting up and crawling in filth, all over the world. They represent the darkest of our desires, and there is not one of us who is afraid of that part of us which would drag us down to that level--no home, no meals, no clean clothes, no clean body, no friends---just abandonment and loneliness.

Coming full circle: Maybe that is why we have addicitons in the first place--abandonment issues. Not feeling loved, cared for, desired, not having others see our greatest potential that we know we have and know we are. All we have to do is look inside, even if it takes looking in the mirror at our naked physical selves before looking deeper.

Remember, we were all created from one cell, from an orgasm. No wonder we crave it and want to go right back there. We are products of a glorious climax. Yippee! We ARE sex! We ARE love!

Angie