Different Priorities

Almost two decades ago, I veered sharply away from the track that hosts the rat race, and started to cut my own paths. Nobody really understood why I did it, and some people feel they can no longer relate to me because of it.

Back in 1994, when I was 22 years old, my financial life was going pretty well, I already owned most of my fully furnished 1200 sq foot, 8th floor condo overlooking both a National Park, and the city of Calgary. I had just become the corporate sales trainer for an international electronics company, a job which included the responsibility of hiring, firing, and training about 150 people at any one time.  I was on track for a $60,000 income that year already, but on a recent business trip to Los Angeles, stock options had just been offered to me, as well as a substantial raise. The real serious money was about to come rolling in.

The beginning of my corporate life was like sitting down to play the first two levels of a video game I had been anticipating for quite some time, only to discover it was just too easy for me to invest any more of my time in. As far as I was concerned at that moment, I had already proven to myself that I was going to win the game. The constant business trips eventually became boring to me. Though the meetings were all in different restaurants and cities, I was always meeting with the same people usually we would order the same things, talk about the same business, and have the same discussions after too many of the same drinks.

I decided it was time for me to step out of the rat race for a bit, and try and live a more interesting life than I was living. Making money, talking about how to make more money, training people, and in general just getting the business done was pretty boring after a while. My father had worked very hard until the day he died, and I did not want this to happen to me.

Before I could quit my job, I decided I should sell all my stuff, so I proceeded to sell my condo and car, big screen TVs, my CD and movie collection, my couch, my stereo systems, my dresser, microwave, coffee machine, waffle maker, dinner table, pots, pans, plates, knives, forks, spoons, phones, my bed, bedsheets, and even my towels.

With everything I had accumulated with my five years of productive work since I had left my childhood home turned into cash I was able to buy my backpack, quit my job, and begin my travels.

I bought a one way ticket to India. Why India? you might ask. A very well travelled friend who had hired me at the electronics firm originally had recommended it to me, of course by this time he had actually become one of my employees, but he was still a friend, and wasn’t resentful of me moving up so fast.

One night in a restaurant as we discussed my trip to India over steak and beer, some woman at another table, chose to interrupt us just to tell us that India was a horrible place and asked us why would we go there. We asked her if she had been and she said “No”. I chose to ignore her.

Kovalam India 94

Kovalam Beach In India

India was amazing, I could type story after story here about things that I saw in India, did in India, and experienced in India that are probably well beyond most peoples imagination. So I will skip that for now, but will give a few reasons why India was the best place I have ever been, of course I could also give you the same amount of reasons why it was the worst, but here I will just add the best.

I love beaches, I love waves, and surfing, I love snorkeling and scuba diving and India has the longest coastline in the world, the beaches are incredibly beautiful and usually almost completely unspoilt. It has the oldest cities in the world, with the oldest temples in the world in it. It of course has jungles, deserts, and the Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world. An amazing history of being the birthplace of most of the major religion in the world. The first churches and temples of every major religion, always seem to be in India. Every jungle topped hill you can climb in India, has a view of ancient temples, stupas, churches, mosques, castles and fortresses, most of which are older than Western written history. It was a fantastic trip, I was present at many astounding parties with thousands of westerners in some amazing places, no one could ever understand without going there.

Hampi India 95

Hampi India in 1995

Ten months into my first trip, I returned to my home country of Canada for my brothers wedding, I had suffered a nasty parasitic infection called giardia in India that nearly killed me, I lost a third of my body mass, and looked almost like a walking skeleton, my short business haircut had grown ungroomed and uncut for almost a year. I tried to tame the hair for my brothers wedding, which had caused it to look really horrible. I guess I didn’t look as much like a winner as I did before I went traveling to at least some people. At the wedding one of my brothers friends came up to me, and said, “Why did you leave it all man? You had everything? ”

“Why did you leave it all man? You had everything? “

I didn’t know what to say to him, he had just finished university studying commerce, and I guess to him I was on a path to having everything he wanted before I left, namely Money.

I said “Everything man? I had nothing.”

I didn’t know what else I could have said, where would I start to explain to him that a life of working under fluorescent lights, and having only slight variations of the same experiences every day was not a life at all. Without the freedom to do what I wanted and go where I wanted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is just an existence.

I could not write a book about the life I used to have, but the life I have now I could.

Obviously my money could not last me forever, so I often need to work, I returned to my home country in Canada to make a living two times. Although I was able to make good money again, I was not really able to adapt back into life under fluorescent lights. I preferred working in Japan, Korea, and Thailand, although the lighting is pretty much the same, being a stranger in a strange land is always exciting.

I am blessed that I can now work on this website and write for this blog for a living. I enjoy it. I am happy. The best thing about my current job, even though I am not writing about where I am, this particular article has been written during my travels to three different countries, I have been sitting in Kuala Lumpur for part of it, another part I was on a white sandy beach on Ko Samet Island in Thailand with my son, and part of it was written on the edge of the Mekong river in Lao where I sat and enjoyed a meal as the sun set over lush green tropical Asia.

I don’t make a lot of money doing this, I have to take the second class train, and buses where ever I go, but at least I am going somewhere. This to me is more important that being some rich corporate big wig.

I mentioned to a good friend of mine what my brother’s friend had asked me about “Giving it all up”, and he said to me something that seemed to explain the situation completely.

He said “You and him just have different priorities, that’s all.”

Maybe he was right, maybe that is all it is, just different priorities.

I have traveled a lot since then, seen a lot of things, and taken a lot of pictures, these are two of my favorites.

Mentawin People of Siberute 1995

Mentawin of Siberute

Khmer Jungle Temple Angkor Cambodia 1995

Khmer Jungle Temple Angkor Cambodia

Analysing The State of the World Through Statistics

Reading the news from day to day as I do, hearing about wars, violence, corruption and poverty all around the globe, and having witnessed a lot of it with my own eyes through travel in the third world. Sometimes I get a little desperate about the apparent state of the humanity.

A friend of mine recently shared a YouTube video of Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes, I watched Han’s before on TED, and he is definitely an excellent presenter of what you would normally think is a very dry subject, but when presented as it is in four minutes as this video does, it is really quite amazing.

Have a watch and enjoy.

Now don’t get me wrong and think suddenly I think all is right with the world, of course it isn’t, but it looks as though we are all living longer, and that is definitely a gauge that we are all going in the right direction.

What Happened To Disco ?

If you are from North America, you would likely answer the question “What Happened to Disco?” with the statement “It Died”, but for people from everywhere else in the world the story might be something a bit different.

I am posting this story here not because I have some need to wear white bell-bottom rune stone encrusted pants, and point simultaneously at the floor and the sky as I think I look incredibly awesome in the middle of a multicolored dance floor, but because I think it is an interesting bit of history that is worth reading about, and also that the music at the bottom should be listened to at least once by everyone.

I, as a Canadian born in the 70s, was raised by my fellow Rock and Roll countrymen to hate Disco, it was the definition of uncool, and other than owning a Village People albums when I was about six, I have pretty much avoided the music for most of my life.

First a little bit of history here about what happened to Disco in North America, where it did indeed die a very fast and painful death. For a while Disco was very popular, peaking with movies such as Saturday Night Fever, everyone just could not seem to get enough of music that seemed destined with its rhythm to make you get up and dance.

Unfortunately, for Disco, it became too popular too fast, many radio stations started switching from Rock to Disco to try and cash in on the popularity, and that created a backlash against the music.

The beginning of disco’s end in North America can be traced back to a series of events that happened in 1979 in  Chicago, USA. A popular DJ in named Steve Dahl was fired from local rock radio station WDAI for refusing to play disco music, he then got a job at rival album-rock station WLUP and began his anti Disco campaign.  Dahl created a mock organization called “The Insane Coho Lips Anti-Disco Army” to oppose disco.  Dahl with his broadcast partner Garry Meier continually mocked and scorned disco records on air.

On Thursday, July 12, 1979 Dahl, Meier, and Mike Veeck (son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck), Jeff Schwartz, WLUP Sales Manager, and Dave Logan, WLUP Promotion Director, devised a promotional event dubbed Disco Demolition Night. People were allowed to bring unwanted disco music records to the White Sox game in exchange for the admission fee of 98¢ (representing the station’s location on the FM dial, 97.9). The records would be collected, placed in a large crate in center field, and blown up by Dahl.

The turnout for this promotion far exceeded expectations. White Sox management had hoped for around  12,000 people, but an estimated 90,000 turned up at the 52,000-seat stadium. Thousands of people climbed walls and fences attempting to enter Comiskey Park, while others were denied admission.

The crate on the field was soon filled with records, and once the staff stopped collecting any more from the crowd, the spectators who realized records were shaped like frisbees, began to throw records from the stands during the game, often striking other fans. Some people also threw beer and firecrackers from the stands.

After the first game of the double header Dahl, dressed as a soldier, entered the field with bodyguards. He led the stadium in a chant of “Disco Sucks” and then after a countdown, detonated the crate of disco LPs, the explosives tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and a small fire began burning. Dahl, Shark, and the bodyguards hopped into a jeep which circled the field once and then exited. Thousands of fans then rushed onto the field. Some started small scale riots, and lit more fires. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked, the bases were stolen, and the field was destroyed. The scoreboard flashed, “PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS.”, eventually the chaos was ended by Police in Riot gear, six people had minor injuries and thirty-six people were arrested.

Soon after the event, speaking the word Disco was almost treated as a  swear, and eventually North American disco died.

However, in the rest of the world Disco continued, and has over the last three decades changed considerably, the lyrics are mostly gone, and it has mutated into what is often called Trance  music, it has even made its way back to North America and is often played again in Night Clubs, and at Raves.

Since most people will never hear this on the radio stations back home I decided to put a few examples of this music here, fellow North Americans, I have posted nothing but Rock on this website, and will probably continue to do so after this post, but this is some music that you best have a listen to. I was introduced to this music by Europeans in 1994, and do enjoy it. However I enjoy lyrics with music, so rock is still my favorite.

I hated Disco for the girly voices coming out of men, the outfits, the glitter, and the posing. Thankfully all of that has gone away over the years. Love it or hate it it’s no skin off my back, this is what will great you in most clubs in Europe as you open the door, so crank it up and imagine you are walking through those doors when you hear it.

It’s None Of Your Business What Other People Think Of You

Almost two decades ago, while I was traveling around Vietnam,   I came across this phrase in a book I was reading,  “It’s none of your business what anybody thinks of you”. After contemplating the phrase for quite some time, I ended up adopted it into my life, and through it I have made quite a few very positive changes. On occasion I have advised others of its wisdom, and  usually have been met with arguments rather than acceptance. I am told with great certainty that I must care about what others think of me, but how can I explain to the majority that this is untrue? This is just the way most people think, but definitely not the best way to live your life.

Now don’t go and read this wrong or something and think that I don’t care about others, this is not true at all, I care deeply about many people,  and even mankind in general, I just don’t care what their opinions of me are.  In the immortal words of Popeye, “I am what I am”

Popeye, He Is What He Is

He Is What He Is, And That’s All That He Is

When I was younger I was always looking to others for the definition of cool, I wanted to wear the same types of jeans, shoes, and sunglasses as them, I only wore the clothing with the “cool” brand names, used to get my hair cut by the  same people who cut all the other cool kids hair, exaggerated a story now and then, smoked a couple of cigarettes, and even used to do incredibly stupid things such as carry my brand name backpack only on my right shoulder and not two shoulders every day, just because that was the “cool” way to do it.

The most damaging part of this “quest for cool” comes when we turn into adults however, and start using credit cards. So many people seem to go into debt these days, just to try and seem like a winner, many of these people buy nothing but overpriced clothing, the latest phones, and often buy a very expensive car or house they can not afford. Some people end up going so deep into debt, that they become stressed out wrecks, which is felt by all those around them, they often become bitter individuals people try and avoid. In fact, they eventualy become the very definition of “not cool”.

Some people try to use lies to try and impress others, the history they give you is a sham, they are nothing but regular people pretending to be better than they are, and striving to appear better than you. The fiction these competitors of life tell the world, if they are believed, raises the apparent bar of success for everyone around them, assuming those people also subscribe to the belief that they need to impress others.

Some of the real jerks will try and pull other people a step or two down on their imagined competitive ladder, to place themselves on top, where they feel they need to be. In their minds they are the winner, but no so much in the minds of those around, who usually choose not to speak up, afraid they themselves might end up on the verbal chopping block.

The most insecure of all may use all of these methods to try and “Win”.

I know this may be surprising to some, but how cool you are is actually about how relaxed and in control you are of the various situations in your life, not the logo on your shirt, or the lies you weave.

The easiest way to be cool is just to save your money, don’t tell stories you think people want to hear, don’t be bad to others, and express your opinions. Even if your opinions are not popular ones, people tend to prefer being with interesting people that have actual beliefs rather the common, stressed out walking billboard type of competitive “Yes Men” that are trying so hard to fit in.

Bling Boys

We Cool, Cuz We Got The Logos and the Bling

I do agree there actually are some pretty good reasons to occasionally care about what some others think about you, for instance, forgetting your manners might cause some people to try and punch you in the nose. Also its very hard to get a promotion at work, or a new life partner if you are not willing to put on a nice outfit and comb your hair, but most of the time, why would  you care about what others think?

Some people even care about the opinions of strangers, you must admit its a little nuts to care about people who don’t even know your name, right? I mean you probably will never see them again anyhow, so what is the point in impressing them?

Although your true friends will always be your friends regardless of your apparent stature, you should not become too strange, your friends will likely still care what others think, and if you start wearing shirts made from newspapers, and pants made from garbage bags, they might be a bit shy to be seen with you in public. This is not an idea to take to the extreme, but thinking this way to a large degree can be very beneficial to your life.

It’s None Of Your Business What Other People Think Of You

The Universe, God and Everything Else

There are many different theories on the creation of the universe, all religions throughout time have their own opinions on the subject. True believers are often willing to argue about it and sometimes even get furious enough to fight wars in the name of it.

Personally I subscribe to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism as shown here:

Flying Spaghetti Monster

Master of Creation

Most people grow up believing the same things their parents did, especially if the opinions are shared by others that live around them, and taught to them as fact.

However Stephen Hawkins has an idea based on what we can supposedly “observe in the universe” that it all came from some kind of “Big Bang”. Why don’t you have a short listen to what Mr Hawkins and Carl Sagan have to say, and see if you think it is possible.

The video is only 10 minutes long and definitely should be watched.

I found personally his works have now become so main stream, I almost bought into his theories…but no, I will not to betray Mr Spaghetti Monster. How can you ignore the facts,  we have photographic proof that he is the one pushing the planets around.

Spaghetti Monster Sunrise

Actual Photograph of the Creator Moving Our Universe

Go to top
Translate »