A Conversation With A Scottish Hippie

Does the title say everything? A scruffy drunk man that makes one think of William Wallace when he opens his mouth? Yes, well almost.

This past Saturday I attended a music workshop presented by David Chislett. It all took place at the Mystic Boer club in Bloemfontein and towards the end of the afternoon locals started getting their Saturday night moods warmed up. On my way out I sat down to talk to some old friends and meet some new people, some general socialising before heading home. After about twenty minutes of proverbial conversation we were joined by a bizarre looking man with an accent that stuck out like a sore thumb.

I would judge him to have been in his late 40's. He had medium length black hair, which I presume he had dyed because of the grey poking out at the roots. His face was shadowed with a two day old beard which seemed to compliment the rest of his attire; a loose fitted denim shirt, green cargo trousers, and a number of charm bracelets on his wrist. He introduced himself as Shaun, "the same as Connery but different".

Being someone who finds an interest to things foreign I asked whether or not, based on his accent, he was Scottish. His response set the tone for the rest of the evening. "What gave you that idea?", he said with sour bite of sarcasm.

Shortly after that I found myself wanting to leave after everyone but Shaun and myself were sitting across from each other. He persuaded me to stay as I had no real excuse to leave at the time. I found myself staying, basking in the awkwardness of an hour long conversation with this self proclaimed hippie who painted for a living. Unfortunately I don't take kindly to sarcasm and bad wit, and this man was spewing it all over the place. I wasn't in the mood for deep and intellectual conversations about life and humanity, he was. This means that whenever I tried to speak I couldn't put my words together properly and stumbled over myself awkwardly, looking like a blithering simpleton. Paraphrasing a long story short, this is mostly what he had to say:

• Humans are alive to destroy each other
• If you come to realise it, you are the most important person of your 'maker'.
• My ideas for writing are fairly pointless and have been done before. 

He has obviously had a lot of time to put his thoughts in order and can back up whatever he says with intellectual philosophy and experience. I found the experience as a whole a bit patronising and degrading, not the most comfortable place to be in on what should have been a relaxing weekend. Although his arguments had some good nihilistic grounding (which he felt was purely realism), I really don't see the point of such a fatalistic view of life. Negativity spreads like wild wire, and I believe existence needs meaning which you create.

I will however quote him with something a little more hopeful, which he somehow threw into his twisted view of life:
"Love absolutely, and care continuously."

Still unsure about this situation, I guess you never know what types of people will spark off a dull moment of intellectual sterilty...

The Bucket List...A Start

I would consider myself a hypocrite. Why? Five days ago I wrote about how I would only choose to follow one new years resolution for 2011 (Avoiding Health Care). At the same time I described how much I disliked the idea of new years resolutions which do a lot of premeditated disappointment; an illusion for motivation. Unfortunately the hypocrisy continues today as I have taken the idea to a new level: a bucket list.

You may have seen the movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson:

Two terminally ill men set out to complete a list of goals that they draw up in hospital; touching, clever, simple. I can imagine that the movie would have had teary eyed men and women drawing up their own 'to-do before I kick the bucket list'. My motivation has been brewing for years now. A bucket list - a list and/or schedule of activities which one creates with the hope to have completed before death. Now with all politically correct definitions aside, here I go:
 1.) Stare into the eye of a blue whale 

Laugh and shake your head all you want but no other idea has fascinated me more. As unrealistic and 'soppy-romantic' as it sounds, I dream of swimming next to and looking into the eye of one of these majestic and peaceful ocean giants.


2.) Play my guitar somewhere on the streets of Spain:
The culture and life (at least what I have been fed in the media) of the Spanish people interests me. A deep love for Flamenco has drawn me to pick up a guitar and (attemp to) bring a taste of this into my life: 

 

Unfortunately reaching the likes of Lawson Rollins (trust me, you want to check him out!) is a bit far fetched right now, but nothing stops me from having a good old jam on my Yamaha 6 string every now and then! Believe me I would love to tell you that one of these men above, so graciously  having a 'fiery finger dance' on their guitars was me, but this video was taken on May the 25th, 2007 outside a cathedral in Barcelona.  Which brings me to my next point:   

3.) Attend a football game here:

Any 'foreign' fan of La Liga will dream of watching the beautiful game played most majestically in La Furia Roya (Red Fury - Spain). FC Barcelona has been a particular interest of mine for quite some time now - not only evident from the view of the majestic 98 000 seater - Camp Nou above (which takes my breath away), but also an appreciation for the creative and beautiful displays of football in the way the club plays the game. 


4.) Attend the Kokua Festival in Honolulu

Does one really need a reason to go to Hawaii? Well the Kokua festival, if any, is mine! Jack Johnson, my all time favorite musician, co-founded the Kokua Hawaii Foundation (doing some good for the Earth) with his wife in 2003. Since then six concerts of the finest in folk and soft rock have graced the shores of Honolulu to raise funds for the Kokua Hawaii Foundation. The Kokua Festival has seen performances from Jack Johnson, Matt Costa, Ziggy Marley, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Willie Nelson & The Planetary Bandits, Ozomatli, and Anuhea (look out for her), to name a few. If a day full of smooth and funky music is not enough motivation; I know that supporting a good cause is to get myself to Honolulu sometime soon!


5.) ...
?
(There's still time)
Perhaps running a marathon or climbing Mount. Kilimanjaro is an option? Maybe, but as you may have noticed I put years of thought into my (growing) list and as soon as something pops up that I feel the need to do, I will start dreaming again. Hopefully (with some 'monetary boosting') one day I can start ticking these off. For now, like most young and aspiring writers, I dream on...

Avoiding health care – My only 2011 resolution

I have always been an anti-fan of New Year’s resolutions. In short, I define them as false pretences that temporarily motivate productivity; ultimately leading to disappointment…Okay in a broad South African context I see New Year’s resolutions as “tjajarag”! I have avoided talking about these overplayed party topics until now because I cannot bear to hear or read about them myself.  After nine days into a new year I must confess my intensions of staying true to one particular goal: avoiding health care.

Now as the hypochondriacs and medical experts shake their heads it must be said that I have had nine days to think this through. 2010 was a year in which I spent more time following through with hospital visitations than I had leisure time to begin with. The medical aid company (whose name I will keep anonymous) were thankful for my “hospital hell ride” of last year. In the past twelve months I had doctor visitations for colds and flu; allergy checkups; cortisone injections for allergies; right hand tendonitis checkups; right hand tendonitis x-rays; hepatitis scares; and multiple digestive infections with migraines, dehydration, antibiotics, specialist consultations, colonoscopies (not for the faint hearted), more antibiotics, probiotics, and dietary restrictions. The embarrassing health cherry on top hit me towards the end of December 2010. I was told that with all the antibiotics, probiotics, toxins, and chemicals I was on, some type of infection had ironically developed in me as a result.

Thankful as I am that I can afford and obtain good health care, I can’t help but deliberate on the capitalist influence involved. With thousands of rands spent on visitations and medicine it must asked if the health care system puts one in a loop to exploit their willingness to pay? Understanding that health care workers have an ethical code to seek the best interests of their patients, I cannot help but point out a subtle flaw in the process of health care. Without a G.P. one is moved around in a hospital system from one location and doctor to the next without adequate information, in what seems to be a race with efficiency and productivity. At times I felt like an animal on a conveyor belt being tested by several doctors. All the while the medical fees were piling up with my medical aid company delighted with the progress. The entire system’s capitalist interests seem to out-weigh the personal interests of those that fall into it.

And so I declare that in the year of 2011 I shall avoid (as much as possible) being part of a cattle system in the health care industry. I refuse to be labelled a hypochondriac and genuinely felt that way last year.

P88                                                                                                                                                                                  

P.S. My family doctor – Sorry. All doctors contributing to ethical health care in South Africa (include my family doctor) – Thank you.