Looks like this will be the last post until 2010, Im jettin to Vancouver with my ladies tomorrow for NYE! I cannot WAIT for the crazy debauchery..I have been fairly tame for the past little while.. it’s time to let loose… ruckus will mos def be served!!!!!! *evil laughter*
Anyways, around this time every year, I have often reflected upon the past year in deep thought, but this year I just can’t seem to keep my balls aligned (that was for you geenz).. Im just hella glad it’s all over. That being said, I would like to propose a toast!
May you all go forth into the new year with an open mind.. Experience all you can with all your might because it is the greatest teacher alive.. and cuz you just never know. Even as you read this right now, all we have present, is the present. It really is a gift when we can truly learn and understand that life unfolds in it’s own way, in it’s own time. May you act and live with meaning, consciousness, compassion and love… breathing in only positivity & breathing out the unnecessary.. Life is meant to be shared with those who matter to you, I pray that you find the love that you have been searching for.. in whatever form it may show up in. Cheers to new beginnings yo!
Have a safe and happy new years eve, see you next year!
Peace & Love,
justeezy xoxo
So I originally intended for this post to be for the following visuals, but of course I ended up rambling. These are nothin too crazy and the photos don’t speak for themselves too much at first glance, but alas life is random and so am I! Truth be told, I haven’t been behind the lens too much in the past month or so.. My creative energy has been directed solely for homies & fam, which is another reason why I haven’t been updating that much. Oh well, what can you do. On to the next one!
The Bride, her bridesmaid and the bridesmaid’s BFF! -Chillin @ one of our hangout spots, Redstar..
We heart Patrick! Illin outside of The Common after the November edition Golden Era party
Rice Howard Way, one of my favourite areas downtown
Geenz and I at my work xmas party.. best date ever! I think my co-workers think Im a Lesbo (disclaimer: not that there’s anything wrong with that, just a humorous thought) cuz she’s my date for everything haha.. wuteva, Im all about breaking norms! haha. Hella fun party though, we were at Yianni’s, a greek restaurant on Whyte Ave.. got to witness my boss and other co-workers dance with the belly dancer……
I copped these at my favorite local shop Foosh last week, and have already rocked them over 3 times… My homie called me a huge nerd the other day – “Sword and a shield?” he questioned.. I don’t care mang I am IN LUV. The “shield” reads “Luv Machine” on one side, and “STRENGTH positively energized” on the other… shit has more meaning when it reflects your inner steez doesn’t it?
One of the most under-rated cats in the game. His music always speaks of Love and Truth, a dying quality in a lot of today’s music (He also reminds me of fellow Canadian, Curtis Santiago – check his shit). I haven’t actively listened to the radio in years, but when it’s on in the background or a friend’s ride, my ears start to bleed, no joke. It seems like things are back to poppin on the underground side of things, and you know what? I dig. We can enjoy music in it’s truest form and on our own terms without worrying about it being overkilled by stations puttin shit on mad rotation. Besides, by now we should all know that these days just cuz you have money, fame and props don’t necessarily mean you have talent.
“The more we listen, the more we know
Let’s take a stand before taking three
For today, today is all we see”
(read from bottom up if you are a non-twitter user)
Well said, Mr. Mayer, well said… I dig peeps who are in-tune with themselves enough to break it down a little more and get more in-depth with topics that a lot of people just think surfacely on. These are the ones who will help break those chains of things that are “better left unsaid” and hopefully help dissipate those nasty little assumptions we bestow upon another and beyond that, hopefully and especially! stereotypes as well. Whether you agree or disagree with what John Mayer is saying, that is not the point. His spoken opinions at least push us to think a little more and (hopefully) develop a broader perspective! It’s a relatively simple concept, however I think that it’s tough to always be consciously aware of our feelings, actions, emotions, etc. Unfortunately it’s hella necessary if we want to survive happily on this lovely planet we call home.
Funny, this kind of bleeds into a conversation a homie and I were having.. we were talking about Karma. About how some people get overly obsessed with this concept that they start ignoring the whole intention of Karma in the first place (ie. “I am going to send a nice bouqet of flowers to my boss’ wife because she is going through a rough time.. yo this is dope! This is a perfect opportunity, I can show her how compassionate I am!” rather than “I am going to send a nice bouqet of flowers to my boss’ wife because she is going through a rough time, I want to show her what compassion is.” OR alternatively “I really want to throw rocks at this car but I better not otherwise bad karma will be returned to me” rather than “I really want to throw rocks at this car, but I won’t because hurting other people will not ultimately fix anything” haha). Intention kind of came up.. While I agree with what JM says, what about those people who have real good intentions but their actions don’t always align up? Does that mean that they actually didn’t have good intentions to begin with? I believe your actions will always 100% align with your truest intentions. Maybe you think you have the best of intentions, but once you dig a little deeper you realize they were instead a little bit more selfish than intended. It’s all good, we’re all human.. as I said, as long as we are conscious of things like this, they become aware in our presense.. and as long as we are aware, they can be resolved and eliminated. Can you dig it?!
My homie and I have been having “relationship discussions”, and one of the questions he asked me was “Should you waste your time dating somebody you can’t see yourself getting married to?” When contemplating my answer, I started asking myself what Marriage is to me. For the past 5 years, I have wavered back and forth between “If I love somebody, I don’t need a piece of paper or a wedding to dictate that.. why fall under society’s pressure to get married?” and “If I love somebody, I would want to announce my union to the world!… possibly with a wedding and a piece of paper?” haha. I see both sides. I love what Marriage ideally respresents.. but now that the divorce rate is 50% or something like that, it also scares the bejeezus outta me. How do you really know?! “You just do,” Married people reply. Err, thanks. All I know is, Marriage ain’t what it used to be. It used to be THE goal in life.. but as the world changes and more opportunities arise, marriage takes a side-step to the many other goals people have in life. With that in mind, opportunties create experiences.. experiences cause people to grow and change.. and this may shift priorities around a little.. so whose to say that the commitment to one another won’t shift as well?
Oh well. At the end of the day…. *shrug* Iono! Im still lost on this topic so I just let my thoughts drift to something else. I am open to marriage, and I am open to common law.. and I for sure as hell am open to Singledom. Who knows what the future will bring. All I know is I am quite content in living in the present and just playing my deck 1 card at a time. Do feel free to leave me your comments on this though.. I know some of you have more insight on this topic than I do.. so tell me! Leak your knowledge on to me! haha
If you visit justeezy.com often, then you will know that this is my shit right here! This is probably my favourite song off the album.. after “Soundtrack to my Life” haha. But 3:06.. Drake.. really?
“People told me slow my roll, im screamin out f* that!”
Sidenote: I’ve always wanted to pop champagne and spray it everywhere…
Sidenote #2: I dunno about you guys, but the past few years I’ve been kinda apathetic towards NYE. Because 2009 has been such a raunchy year, Im hella stoked to celebrate the end of it with a huge banger and welcome 2010 with open arms.
Sidenote #3: 3:45 – is probably what I looked like on Saturday @ BFF’s work xmas party
“Word word, now wait a minute now before you jet it to the curb
Start to make affections, which is good not the hurt
But it, it aint me, and I, I ain’t blurred
I’ma still just chill with you
Maybe things could change if you change your view
If not then I guess it is cool
just, to keep to yourself and adbide by the rules, right”
*snicker* sorry Saleem. I just had to post this.
I know Saleem because he was the door guy @ Backroom back in the day. Eventually he didn’t have to check our IDs anymore cuz we had become regulars haha. Now he is the door guy @ The Common! Love the loyalty.
This is Justin. 1/2 of Foosh & The Common. Good shit he is. Can never thank him enough for throwing killer parties and being one of the firsts to introduce “streetwear” (if I can even call it that) to Edmonton.
This is Patrick. aka 1hundo I think he looks like a turtle. Hella good and talented fella. Check him out man, this young’n is the future!
11.27.09 * Golden Era * The Common * Flicks courtesy of 1hundo.ca
But more then anything else, what I really really really yearn for every night and think about before I fall asleep, is Love. Forreal. I didn’t really start pondering what it really meant to me until as of late. Love… or rather exuding love is a tough thing. This goes beyond the love you feel for another, beyond compassion, beyond anything you and I can and will ever comprehend. The Love Im talking about is Universal Love. Before I go into this, I want to talk about self-realization. Exploring through self-realization is never an easy thing, but mandatory. Because we often identify ourselves in relations to our interactions with others, whenever we come across an issue with someone close to us or not, we immediately tear our inner world apart. “What did I do wrong?” “What is wrong with me?” This immediate inadequate feeling that overshadows everything can usually lead us to 2 paths: we either sink deeper in that feeling, let it build and fall into a state of resentment, anger and guilt (which can rip anybody alive).. or else it can (if you choose to!) lead you into this “manifestation of Being”.. it basically makes us more positive people. How? Well, let me tell you a story.
It was a Friday. Fathers Day. I was hella stoked that my BFF was FINALLY coming back into town from her string of traveling adventures. I called her immediately, expressing my excitement. Sounding tired but happy, she told me she was hella tired and was going to goto bed, but would see me the next day. I didn’t see her until Monday, at the hospital, ICU, unconscious and ballooned up from all the fluids being pumped into her body (but somehow still looking gorgeous? I don’t get it!). Long story short, she had caught Necrotizing Fasciitis, in simple terms Flesh Eating Disease. I didn’t know what to think, didn’t know what to feel, couldn’t even express myself to anybody else as her family wished to keep it confidential. For the first 2 weeks she was in the hospital, I kept a smile pasted on my face, as I was immersed with inner guilt because it felt like I was lying to everybody I knew… on top of feeling like I had lost my best friend. You have to understand something about me.. whenever I feel something I need to share it with my core peeps..BFF especially. The fact that I couldn’t, totally restricted my heart and soul. In those 2 weeks, I had never felt so lonely in my life… felt so misunderstood. The one person in my life who accepted me as me and understood everything about me without judgement was out of reach … it was unbearable. I felt this on top of being in a constant state of worry.. BFF was going through a lot of surgeries. At the very same time, multiple friends were going through break ups.. whining and complaining about normal things that people who go through break ups do. Being the “Dr. SHu” I am, always up for dissecting relationships and aiding my friends.. I thought this could potentially distract me. But not this time. This time I couldn’t even bear to listen. “STOP IT!!!!” I wanted to scream.. “THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS! THERE ARE FAR WORSE THINGS THAT PEOPLE AROUND THIS WORLD ARE GOING THROUGH!” But of course I couldn’t.. and felt so ashamed that I even thought those things.. and felt guilty for not being able to be there for my friends in the way I knew I should. I knew this had nothing to do with them.. break-ups are just as hurtful. The stress was soul sucking. I didn’t allow myself to feel or even cry because I knew I needed to stay positive.
Well, that horrible feeling vanished the day I watched “Transformers”. As the movie begun, I noticed that somebody had BBMed me. “Hi!” said BFF. She was okay! The next day Kristi & I paid her a visit. I was so nervous, and feared that I wouldn’t know what to say to her.. I was scared of what she would look like. Again, that fear disappeared as soon as I saw her.. lying in her hospital bed in this little white spaghetti strap “dress” made of gauze. Girlfriend looked fly! I saw her almost everyday for the next 4 weeks.. and let me tell you, I always left the hospital feeling higher than a kite, more positive than I had ever felt in my whole entire life. “How is that possible?!”, I pondered. “As she lays alone in a scary hospital room every night, not knowing what the next step is, not knowing when she can be released.. how do I feel so happy?” By then, my own personal life kind of took a side step, and I had just broken up with my boyfriend.. but yet, I still felt hella positive.. how the fawk!?
I owe it to universal love. As soon as you see yourself as “one” with everybody else in this world, it makes existence a whole lot easier. When you view yourself as seperate.. thinking along the lines of “nobody gets me”.. “I hate that this is happening to me”.. you immediately trap yourself into a selfish, unconscious, blind prick. I believe that this will set you back in life. How do you achieve things, interact with people authentically when you’re not feelin “real” with yourself? Nobody wants to live life feeling shitty. People just find it too difficult to dig into their closet of skeletons to find out WHY they are feeling shitty.. and doing shitty things.
For me, it was realizing that at least ONE person in this whole entire world has shared something with someone else in this world. Somebody in this world had gone through their BFF almost dying. Somebody in this world has gone through similar things as I had in their previous relationships. Somebody in this world feels a little lost sometimes, just like me. We are all connected. And even just thinking along these lines, has allowed me to be more compassionate and understanding of others on another level. It has created more awareness. It has made my personal dreams clearer. I no longer feel lost. I want to constantly improve myself and my “being”. I now have complete peace with everybody and everything in my life.
Utilize love in everything you do.. and it will get you very far, I promise you.
What does Love mean to you?
Peace & Love,
justeezy.
p.s. BFF is obviously all good now, and has grown SO much as an individual because of this situation.
