My last day here.

Well tomorrow I leave Num-Ti-Jah Lodge at 10:00 am, take a bus at 11:00 that takes me to the airport. My flight leaves at 5:50 pm so I will have a lot of time to kill. I'll probably get bored and end up spending tons of cash on overpriced airport beverages and snacks. My flight is supposed to land in Winnipeg at 8:44 pm, it probably won't be on time. I've never even been on a plane before (except in Heidi's dads little two seat'r, which was amazing!) so I don't know what to really expect from this flight. I guess it's a learning experience.

This morning I started packing my stuff up, the room looks so empty now. Oh well. I took a walk up to the lake and sat down on the stone beach. The water was as clear as glass, the sky cool blue. The mountains were perfectly illuminated in the morning sun, with absolutely no haze in the foreground. It was a little cold out so I was wearing a coat, but that is to be expected in October in the Rockies. There should be two feet of snow on the ground right now, but I'm not complaining at all, I love it. I took the path back, jumped the river and went into the Taj to say a last goodbye to its familiar walls. I walked next to the river after exiting the building that was now directly behind me, the fireplace being my next destination. We have a huge fire pit here with four benches surrounding it, the pit was stocked with wood for the next fire. There was bottles on the ground from the last fire pit, left behind from either a drunken individual or the lack of light at 2:00 am in the middle of the Rockies. I took the path that connects the staff house and fire pit together, it weaves through the woods to get back instead of going around to the Taj. There is a low swampy area that has old boards and the occasional door lied across to construct a shabby looking bridge. I love that bridge, it's just so makeshift it makes me laugh.
I continued on my walk through the woods to the staff house, and here we are. I have to go to finish packing now, see you all soon.

A relaxing, enjoyable, and easy day.

Shut down at the lodge, wow. I can go anywhere, anytime I want to, the lodge feels so much more like home now. Last night was really fun because it was movie night in the library, which is the old part of the lodge, we made a nice healthy fire in the fireplace that Jimmy Simpson himself built. Jimmy is the founder of Num-Ti-Jah, he is kind of a celebrity out here. We put on some Clone High which is one of the funniest cartoons I've seen. Some of us stayed in the library to sleep by the fire, some of us went back to our "homes" to sleep. The next morning (being this morning) I got up at 9:30 to take a shower, afterwards I proceeded into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee and grab a croissant. I took my breakfast into the dining room and sat down to eat. We didn't actually get started working till about 11:00, but it was the most relaxing work ever, you could tell that everyone was content and easy going. I was wrapping sets of 12 pieces of cutler and James Keelaghan was singing on the stereo. We cleaned out the entire dining room today but it was fun, and I got off work at 2:30.
Me and Tabitha were sitting by the creek beside the Taj, which is the name of one of the staff accommodations here, when she decided to jump right in for a dip. I would have joined her if I hadn't have done the same thing down by the lake two night before. She screamed pretty loud, well loud enough to hear it echo several times in the mountains behind us. It was such a beautiful day at Bow Lake, sunny and hot, one to be remembered.

A busy day.

I was out taking pictures today around the lodge, I was specifically shooting this little bridge we have here, the sun looked really cool coming through it. I wasn't actually able to take the shot for about 20 minutes because the bridge was packed with tourist (mostly Japanese, well who am I kidding, all Japanese). They would keep walking into the shot as I was about to take it, one of them actually came up to me, walked in front of my camera (on its tripod) and took the exact same picture as I was taking. He then said "looks cool" in very sketchy English and he and his two buddies ran off laughing. I didn't really know what to think but it made me laugh pretty hard.
The next people that come up to me are three Japanese girls that are taking pictures of each other (every tourist that comes through here has a camera and if not, then a cell phone camera) they just handed me the camera, gesturing that I should take a picture (free of charge I might add...hahah) of the three of them on the bridge, I did so.
One of them came up to me and said "Canadian?"
"Yes" I replied, "Japanese?"
"Yes" she said and they started giggling and then just ran off, in a similar fashion to that the three boys previous to their arrival had used.

All in 20 minutes of my day off.

On another note, the lodge has now closed down, yesterday was our Thanksgiving feast (which was huge, amazing tasting and came complete with two 11 lb. turkeys and three different kinds of stuffing). Yesterday was also our staff party, free beer, wine, pool, well pool is always free now because we have the whole lodge to ourselves. We sat around the firepit and played guitar and such. It was a good night. Since the lodge is closed I will be coming home soon, on the 14th to be exact. So I will be seeing all of you soon.

Ill post some pictures to go with these posts when I get back home.
I miss all you guys!

A day in the mountains.

You wake up at 8:30, caught breakfast (which consisted of greasy, yet hard, bacon and okayish strawberry pancakes) and then put on your hiking boots and sling on your bag full of camera equipment. You then grab a long black thing that you use for a walking stick. As you walk down the trail the mornings fresh air fills your nostrils and you no longer feel tired. Rejuvenated is how you describe this feeling to yourself.

Large rocks that only seem to get larger as you get further into the wilderness.
The sun slowly warming your skin.

You decide to take a detour off the worn trail and walk directly towards what seem to be large caves. They are very high up in the mountains so you must bush whack through trees and bushes alike.

The scent of the breaking twigs and the squish of soft moss.
The most prominent sounds being your breaths and occational passing of a brook or call of an animal.

The trees thin as you pass into the next part of the wilderness. When there are no trees at all you must look down the insure a safe foothold on the loose stone because of the long drop that awaits your fall behind you. Search the stones and the caves around the area that you have arrived in. You spot a tree that would provide a great sitting spot and stop for a rest. The sky is clear blue and the view of the valley from under the tree is amazing.

You return home.

This was your trip today before work.
The long black thing you took on your hiking trip was a pvc didgeridoo with three red stripes at the top.

A day in the mountains.

My time in the mountains.

If you know me, but don't know where I went, here is the explanation; since Sept. 2nd I have been living and working in a lodge in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. My backyard consists of glacier fed lakes, waterfalls, caves, ice caverns, glaciers, and massive mountains that await my arrival. Num-Ti-Jah Lodge is the place that I'm working at, it feels just like home, pictures wouldn't do it justice. It is always warm, there is almost always a fire roaring in the library (yes we have a library!)
Being here is amazing. I love the atmosphere, I even love my job. I am the dining room host but I also do sometimes work in the kitchen department making appetizers and desserts, I get to cook all day, its so much fun. I like working in the kitchen way more than the dining room, I feel way more comfortable in there. Its amazing how the people totally make the place. One could feel totally alone in this type of environment if they were surrounded by the wrong type of people, but there's a good mix here so I'm good to go.
I take a lot of pictures of my spare time, I cant wait to show everyone when I get home. I don't have the time to load them onto this crappy computer and then on to the slow slow internet, so you'll have to wait for when I get back to see them (ill post them on here as well).

Two days ago I signed my first mountain register (which is a little book they put at the summit of most mountains to keep track of how many people have climbed it). The mountain I climbed was Crowfoot, not little crowfoot, not big crowfoot, but TRUE Crowfoot, which is the actual summit of Mnt. Crowfoot. Its a couple hours longer than if I were to climb Big Crowfoot but only about 5 meters higher, but its so worth it. I climbed it with my buddy's Paul and Rachel, Paul had done this summit before. The register on that summit has been there since 2002 and since that point there had only been 7 entry's, which means that in 4 years I was among only 10 lucky people that have made it all the way up there. The view is indescribable. It took us 5 hours to reach the summit from the lodge and 4 hours the return back. I am addicted to the feeling of reaching the top of somewhere only a handful of people have been to, I want to climb more but the weather is really cold sometimes. The weather can change so fast when your on a mountain, especially during this time of year so I had to bring a lot of layers of clothing, but that day we had the perfect weather, even better than during the summer season of hiking. There were blue skies, and I could see for miles and miles and miles, all the way into the B.C. interior.

Well, that's all for now folks, ill try to post more often.

I miss you guys a lot, can't wait to see you!
bye!
-Matt

My bass clef tattoo

I just got this tat yesterday at Soul Survivors on Osborne St. Once it was done I had been under the needle for a little over an hour. It wasnt nearly as painfull as I thought it would have been, it kinda felt like a burning/pinching sensation. The guy that did it for me was in from Toronto for the week, his name was Matt, oddly enough the guy at the front desk when I showed my ID had the exact same birthday as me...weird. Well, here's a pic of it, I'm so happy with it!

Percussion

Last week, or was it two weeks ago...whatever, anyways I had the idea that I wanted to play my Didjeridoo and some percussion stuff at the same time. My original idea was to attach the various instruments, such as tambourine, woodblock, ect. to the didjeridoo itself, by using C-clamps. This wasn't the best idea and I quickly changed my mind while shopping at Mothers Music in Winnipeg. I bought the cheapest cymbal stand they had, an interesting and extremely useful percussion stand that clamps onto the cymbal stand. I then purchased a tambourine, woodblock and VibraTone (a cool sounding bell that you strike with a rubber mallet).
This is what it looks like:

I went out the other day and busked by Old Market Square with this stuff, quite fun!
I'll also keep you guys posted on new additions to this little kit, I think there will be many of them.

On the road.

This is just an experiment of mine, I went out to wander the streets of Oakbank to take pictures of interesting things, but none were found. I then turned my head downwards to see the road and the cracks and gooey filler that holds them together. I actually found these to be quite interesting, and the fact that they were are imperfections that we have tried to fix made it even more interesting. These were not intended to be beautiful or artistic when weathering broke apart the road, or when the workers filled the cracks. I hope you see a few shots that peak your interest or can appreciate the artisticness of this project, or maybe you can appreciate the complete and utter randomness.






















Tell me, what is your favorite shot? (just number it from the top, being 1)

Crayfish...ing

Yesterday, a couple buddies and myself decided to go out to the gravel pits for some ol' fashioned crayfish huntin', Craw'Daddies they call 'em in the south, where the sport is much more popular than here in southern Manitoba. We geared up with our ice cream pails and butterfly nets and hit the banks of the blue waters. We lifted rocks, we scooped up crayfish, we lifted rocks, we scooped up crayfish, we worked our ways in teams of two around the edge of the water getting as many of those little lobsters as we could, sometimes resulting in a pinched finger. After the process was complete we had collected probably around 60 - 70 crayfish, later to be boiled and eaten.

This is a picture of them before we cooked 'em up, still alive and snipping!
Dave looking a little discusted with our catch.


About to toss 'em into the boiling water.

THEY'RE TURNING RED!!

They ARE red.


To shell the crayfish, we broke off the tail (which is the only edible part of them, besides the claws which are too small to eat), this is the remainder...

This is all the meat we got from those little guys, not much is it...but its pretty gosh darn tasty with butter and garlic!!!

This is the four of us before we began eating the small treat of the days labors.

I think we did pretty good for a buncha Oakbankers and boonie boys, what'you think?

On Fire

My timelapse videos.

Timelapse is wiked, its one of the things that I love doing most with my camera, I should invest in a laptop so I can just hook the two together so I can just set up the shot and let the computer take all the pictures. I have uploaded some of them onto YouTube.com, there not the best quality because I had to decrease the file size to fit them onto youtube, but anyways...here they are:
Stormfront
Some People

Conveyor Belt at Dusk

Drace gets published!

You can all check out my bands music now! As of yesterday we now have 3 songs recorded, and thanks to a young recording artist named Jake McFaddin (Goosebump Records). You can give it a listen at www.myspace.com/draceband.

...and in the leaves they played

lay out

Night Flash

and the flames touched the midnight sky...

BBQ

BW Fire

Fences left and right...

This one is fun to look at, see how far you can follow the fence.(above)

Fire In Oakbank!

This is a house fire that took place in Oakbank on Sat. the 18th. I was lucky enough to have my camera near by to take these shots.

This is about 20 minutes into the blaze. It has now moved from the garage, where it started, to the roof. You can see the roof bending on the left as it collapses. (above)

A little bit of the aftermath. This is the garage where the fire started.(above)

This truck was parked about 5 Ft. away from the fire. The headlights, paint, and all the plastic on the car are melted.(above)


After the fire in the garage was put out, the firefighters started to spray the roof down.(above)

In the garage you can see the car on the left, completely blackened by the flames.(above)

Firefighters getting ready to enter the inferno.(above)

A Wedding

This is a friends wedding that I was able to get some training at.

Mine

Hovering Barrel

Pickle

The Wheel

Can't Wait for Summer

This picture reminds me of the wonderfull summer and fall days, mmmmm.

Double

This picture is weird, if you look at it the way it is positioned it may look like an old piece of farm machinery, which is exactly what is it. If you look at it sideways, it kinda looks like a weird bench on a deck. Can you see it?

A Brave Soul

Driven In

Matt's Playing Poker

For this picture, I combined 4 pictures into 1. I took them all from the same tripod position, this is the finished result, pretty cool eh?

The Prairies

Old Olde

St. Mary's

Ants

Road Jam

The Fix.

Off Into the Horizon

Jen's Art

luck

This picture was sheer luck, me and Kodi (the other guy taking the pic.) just happened to shoot at the EXACT same time. the odd thing is, in his picture, my flash wasnt going. This picture could be easily re-created by setting you're shutter speed to a slower setting.

The Lonely Tree

Black and White

Hustle and Bustle

Much In Use

In the dark swampy ditch, a beautiful blade of brilliantly lit grass grew

Three

Old soap

the Old and the New, the Aged and Long Forgotten

Experienced Metal

cold

Archives

Illuminated Petroleum Despensing Stations

Morning Dew Drops

.Reflection Of.

Yerbic

Northern Ice

Hurricane

..probably still comfortable

Nature Rules. Decaying.

(none)

Bzzz

Cabin

Prairie Sunset

Clutter

Once Useful, Now Forgotten

they clash and rejoice

People amaze me, I look at them and they are all so very different, and we make connections, certain people mean something to certain people.
Connect, that's what they do, they join up in some sort of harmony.
Similar to the notes you hit on the piano or guitar, they fit together like lock and key and become a mechanism of their own.
Just like the notes that ring true, there are notes that do not agree, with that comes people that do not agree.
Clashing like a semi-tone chord, they argue and complain while with one another.
Rejoicing like a perfect fourth, they smile and love one another.

Find your way...

True friendship come when you are surrounded with the people that love the things you love. You will at some point be friends with them, it is inevitable. I have experienced this, you all will experience it, or you already have. It is wonderful. Life is wonderful when these things happen, enjoy it while it lasts! ArtSpeak was a place where I could be myself, and myself I did be, and become. The same people with the same mind set as me were most likely thinking the same thing at the same time. These people were amazing, talented and heart warming people, they were art loving, musical, and themselves. It is in these times when you find yourself, and when you find yourself you will grow. I grew that week, only four days long, but I grew most than I have in quite some time. I couldn't believe that I was having this experience with these completely random people, and it felt like it had been years of friendship. Then it was over, and just like that I was packing my bags up, alone in my room that I had shared with two strangers and a friend. Laughter in the distance was the indicator that people do not know how much they will miss this experience when it fades out of their life, only to be left in memory and by the markings on last years calendar. These people will have grown this week, for the better, and when they go home to their regular lives they will be reminded during that time at the end of the day where your brain compartmentalizes its information. They and I will now seek these personality types more, and more, and before you know it, your friend base will change and you'll find yourself in a new world. Don't loose your way.

MDS #9

Dream Type: Lucid!
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: high, including emotions and insight
Dreamscape: Desert
Characters: none

This is the first dream that I have ever felt an emotion in that wasn't fear. The emotions were extremely intense and strong.

Seeds sitting on the ground, the cracked dry desert ground. All but one of the seeds shrivel up and die, giving their nutrients to the single remaining seed. It begins to sprout and grow, I feel happy and content and decide to wake up.

There were no characters in this dream, besides the seeds. It was as if I saw this dream from God's perspective, an ever watching eye, silent and patient.

MDS #8

Dream Type: LUCID!!!!!!!!!!!
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: low, but lucid!
Dreamscape: nowhere
Characters: My hands

This is my first lucid dream!, its uninteresting for you, but not for me. The whole day I recited my dream mission of looking at my hands in my dream, while knowing I was dreaming. I accomplished this in a nap after school, I was super tired and needed the sleep. As I went to bed I lay perfectly still while thinking of my mission. Until I accomplished this goal I had a series of flash-dreams which are about 4 or 5 quick vivid dreams in a row. The next was the lucid dream.

I am writing, but cannot see my hands, almost as if I were looking up and away from them. The whole room was completely pitch black, so I could see nothing, yet. I thought to myself, I'm dreaming right now! I recited my dream mission to myself and slowly raised my hands until I could see them. They are very hard to raise up, as if a huge burden was placed upon them. When I saw them come into view it was like I had never dreamed before, like I was actually seeing things not just imagining them. My hands were bright and very detailed, I could see all the curvs and lines, all the nails and vains. I feel happy and since my mission is complete I wake up.

That was my lucid dream. Imagine you had gone through your entire life without opening your eyes, simply imagining things as you touch and hear them as. Now imagine if one day you just open your eyes and see everything for the first time. Or if a blind man just was able to open his eyes and see for the first time. That is what it was like to lucid dream for the first time. Amazing.

MDS #7

Dream Type: non-lucid
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: low-medium
Dreamscape: pro-hardware
Characters: Me, Eku, My grandparents

I'm at pro and there are two new gas pumps, my grandparents come to use them with their truck. Grandma tries to fill it herself but spills diesel all over the car and herself. Me and Eku go to get gas for a truck with 2 guys in it, they offer Eku weed but he has a gram already. We get into the cab of his truck and drive around in mud.

the 4/4 effect

People are much like music, have you ever thought about this? I discover a new band, lets say Moses Mayes, and get super acquainted with them and then I discover a new band through that band, such as Broken Social Scene. It's like a huge chain that I am tethered to, I cannot help but follow it, it leads me to new people and groups and subliminally effects my mood. When I meet a new person, they lead me to new people and eventual friends. There are a plethora of amazing people, music and bands out there to be discovered and the possibilities of them leading you somewhere completely off the beaten track is infinite.
With this, making music is just as amazing as discovering it, and it is also very similar. When I create music it fills me with something so different from any experience, so unique it feels to me that I long for it. When I'm sick, really sick, I go play music and it actually makes me feel better, like I was never sick, and as if I do not have a care in the world. My emotions flow smoothly out from my fingers to the strings of my bass, guitar, or piano and are expressed in frequencies and melodic lines, sometimes there not melodic, but that is a representation of my mood at the moment. Whenever I play it's a representation of my emotions, I'm putting it all out there for everyone to judge. I'm unloading my pack for all to see and whatever people think of what I'm doing is okay with me, because I am my music and my music is me. When I learn more about myself my musical skills in turn get better. My lines become more creative and less repetitive.
When I meet a new person or discover a new band they change my personality subtly which then changes my music and the way that I play. Therefore, every single being I meet effects my music and has a part to play in it, you are my music and my music is yours.

MDS #6

Dream Type: non-lucid
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: low
Dreamscape: random places
Characters: only me

I am on some raft and have the decision to go to the desert, a tropical country, a little sandy island, and almost every other type of place imaginable. I choose to go to a tropical island, I have the ability to make things into rocks and throw them really far.

That's all I remember from last night.

I wish I was able to invite people to my dreams, or to visit others dreams. I would always dream with other people, imagine dreaming with your best friends and experiencing all the things when dreaming with another person.

love+devotion=beauty

Years and years of manual labor, creative thought process, love and architectural planning result in a beautiful building, this was the old way. Weeks of machine based labor, "get it done quick" attitude and architectural planning results in a ugly building, this is the new way. Look at the older societies in Europe, there are breathtaking castles, churches, bridges, and even streets, all cities are unique in one way or another.

Venice has waterways to serve as access to the dwellings of its inhabitants.(top)







Spectacularly simple masonry work blesses the eye when in Greece.(left)






The monks in Catalonia squeezed there monastery in between two mountains, they named the site Montserrat. Civilized culture dates back to the first hermit monks who built huts at Montserrat around A.D. 900. By 1025 a
monastery was founded.(right)

These are just a few examples of the timeless beauty that the world holds, why don't we take the time to create this kind of art now? It's because of our need to rush, to finish things as fast a possible, and because of this I don't believe the same quality goes into our structures. They are bland, boring, and utilitarian. Most of them don't serve as any type of creative expression or visual beauty. These structures are the product of our new aged society. Sure some of our buildings are interesting and "artsy" but not in the same way as before. We are thinking of here and now, we have no respect for the future beauty of our country. This way of thinking is slowly coming to a halt, but it has taken us about half a century to figure it out.
Churches from the past are a thing of beauty, it would take hundreds of people hundreds of years to see the result of their work, some of them would put their heart and soul into it only to die before seeing the finished product. All of this for a place to worship God. Such devotion, love and respect for a worship place is simply not seen in today's world. Compare these two pictures from right here in the Peg.


Springs
Church(left)





Knox United Church
(left)


The one on the bottom is much more esthetically pleasing and will be around for many more years to come while the one of the top will probably be torn down in a decade or two.

Being in these places of old is like being in a piece of art, you get a feeling of devotion that fills your entire body, you can feel the labor and time that went into it, if you have not experienced this, you have not yet lived.

MDS #5

Dream Type: non-lucid
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: high
Dreamscape: A small town on the coast
Characters: Random people

I am in a small town in a cold climate, it is on top of a huge cliff that has a view of the entire ocean, the cliff is made of ice and every once and a while a wave will come and make the ice cliff bigger and closer to the town. A man says to the us that once the ice reaches the town a deadly massive storm will hit. No one believes this man, they believe that he is crazy. His daughter is committed of a crime that she did not commit after her father dies, now the whole town hates her. The priest of the town discovers that she is innocent and tries to tell the church. They aren't listening to him and then he yells " She is my ho and I am her pimp!!" and then runs though the door and deeper into the church. Every singe person is outraged by this comment and runs after the priest. When they catch up he explains that he was just getting our attention to tell us the truth. The next day in church a young girl sits and waits to confess, she somehow convinces the priest that the storm is upon us. The water and clouds are rising up and up and everyone is in panic. Everyone goes into their houses. Me and the mans daughters go into our house and close all of the windows up, I just get the last one closed as the storms cold blast reaches our little town, the frost gets all over the window but we are safe inside. I can see the storm from where our house is positioned and it is the most beautiful spectacle, the clouds are billowing upwards and the icy water is spraying up on the rocks of our town. They spray upwards of 1000 Ft. the water rose, the clouds look as solid as stone but they flow like water. The water and clouds burst over the ice wall and upon the town...

MDS #4

Dream Type: non-lucid
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: medium
Dreamscape: Value Village
Characters: Dave N., Jake, Myself

I am at value village with Dave and Jake, we are looking at jeans when Jake spots some sweet short ripped jean shorts. I run over to check them out with Jake, on the way over we see a bunch of lighters, some are like BBQ lighters but zippo's in one. As we check them out a V.V. employee asks us we need some help. "No", I say. There are also some brand new lighters on a carousel next to me, they say things like; Musician, Engineer, ect. Stuff like job titles and occupations.

MDS #3

Dream Type: non-lucid
More than one dream?: nope
Complexity: medium-high
Dreamscape: MTS center
Characters: Keith Duma, Jody W., Quinn (from elmhurst), Myself

As I enter the MTS center with Keith I realize I forgot my tickets to the show. I go home to get them and get back just in time for the show. We sit down in the balcony to watch the concert. It is a jenga concert as well as an amateur singer-songwriter concert. The first jenga game ends and I walk down some stairs that lead outside where people are jumping. Me and Keith then go back in to see more acts and bad singers. I once again walk outside where people are jumping. Me and Jody build a foot high ramp out of 2 by 4's and do tricks by jumping off of it. I go and get my childhood snowboard which has no bindings but plastic grips, as well as a pull string. It is also rocket-powered. Me, Jody and Keith sit down on it and start zipping around the giant Christmas ornaments in the farmers fields. Then glow so bright when the sun rises or sets. We are going around to look for "snow build-up", as Quinn put it. We get into some grass and the board stops.

MDS #2

Dream Type: non-lucid
More than one dream?: yes, two
Complexity: 1) medium-high, 2) low
Dreamscape: 1) OBC (Oakbank Baptist Church), 2) Dave N.'s apartment (he doesn't own one)
Characters: 1) Me, 2) Dave N.(nuefeld)

Dream 1
I am sitting at OBC at a murder meeting for a mans wife, she died. I brought a stack of cd'd there and the man speaker uses one of them to help himself explain about the murder.
I am in a older mans apartment and he has bells above his bed, they are like fire bells, but made of brass. The man from the meeting starts to move things with his mind. He moves something really close to the man in the beds face and then hits him hard with it. The closer you can get the object to the persons face the more force it builds up when you release it. A bunch of us in the room huddle around the hurt man and someone starts to randomly hit the bells on the wall. I guess he hit them in the correct order because a will right behind me opened up and there was lots of blue metal cabinets. The hurt man feels ashamed because they have bones of his dead wife in them, he is still trying to solve the murder.

Dream 2
I am in Dave N.'s apartment and there is a bright light on the ceiling. The cord going to the light is sagging down so a girl in the room gets a staple gun and staples the cord to the roof. A guy grabs the gun and staples way to much staples on the cord. Dave then removes the staples.

diet pop and baby chairs

*gulp, gulp* *crunch* "Ahhh". That is the sound of (sorry for being stereotypical here) a fat person finishing there diet Coke with there Big Mac and Fries. Somehow they think that the "diet" in the coke will counteract their obesity, or maybe the 5000 calories that the mac packs. If you want to loose weight GET OUT OF MC DICKS, or at least have a water. Maybe the companies producing water should come out with diet water, no there'd be nothing different with, it would just make people think that they are loosing weight..classic placebo affect. Sorry about sounding mean here, but its just that I've seen too many large people drink three or four diet pops instead of having one regular pop.

I was at church the other day, and this baby in one of those bed chairs that their parents always carry around kept on looking at me. I kept thinking to myself, "Man, that looks so comfortable, she had the shade cover up, some toys in there, the bed was shaped to the contour of her body, and she was wrapped in swaddling clothes, what more could you want?" Then it hit me, when I get older, I'm just going to buy a giant baby bed chair thing. I actually can't wait, it's like the ultimate bed, if it's supposed to protect our babies, and it does, then why not take it to the next level? You'll see, in just a few years people across the country will be installing baby beds into their houses, ones with plasma monitors in them, phones, the works!
Oh yeah, swaddling clothes are amazing, it sounds soooo good. I'll get me some of those too.

My Photoshop Time

I was fooling around with photoshop as I usually do and tried something different out. This is a picture I took of myself that I changed.
Here's another one:and another, more cartoonish:one more:
I can make one for you, with a tag of course. Free though. I can also make a tutorial for this for those who have adobe photoshop.

MDS #1

MDS stands for Matt's DreamScape a.k.a. my dreams written down on this site. When I get up every morning, if I remember my dream, I write them down on a piece of paper, this is the first step in achieving lucidity. Lucid dreaming is, as I said before, knowing you're dreaming while you're dream. Once you become lucid in your dreams, they become extremely vivid, imagine a dream as vivid as what is happening to you right now. Now, try to make you're room or basement of wherever you are, try to make it all blue and then try to fly out you're window...any success, didn't think so, and if you did have success then you're most likely lucid dreaming this right now... or you have superpowers. The point of this is just to have fun while you're dreaming, do anything you want, meet someone famous, fly around outside, punch president Bush in the face, you know, all the usual fantasies. Until I reach this point in my dreams, they could be boring, fun, weird, nonsensical or even completely pointless. This is the first of the MDS series even though I've been recording my dreams since the beginning of summer, think what yah want.

Dream Type: non-lucid
Complexity: low
More than one dream?: yes, 3
Dreamscape: 1)A fat lady's house 2)Infront of popcorn video 3)Osborn St.
Characters: 1)Jen(my sister), a fat lady 2)Dave Guenther 3)unknowns

1) I am sitting with Jen and she has to give her book, Life of Pi, to some fat lady, as we enter her apartment I go underneath the table that they are talking at. I can only see the fat lady's legs, she is wearing a purple dress, her legs are really fat.

2) Me and Dave are in front of popcorn video and an aboriginal man tries to sell me his car. The car is in very good working condition and it also has very nice teeth. I turn the man down.

3) A friend of someone I know invites me over. "I have dial-up and email" she says. We are in her massive house on Orborn St. Her lesbian friend is there.

That was all from last night, not to sure what they mean, or why that car had teeth. Ha, well, stay tuned, there's more to come.

BOOOOOM!

..and then I heard silence followed by deafening rain and consistent thunder. The walls shook and I lay in awe of natures dominance over us as a human race. I then got up from my bed, grabbed my camera, and crept into the living room where my mother and father would soon join me. I then unplugged my ipod from its charger, as a power surge could fry it, and lay it safely down in a tiny wheelbarrow full of stuffed bears (don't ask). I then found that sheet lightning is almost impossible to take pictures of, especially when its so consistent and directly above you're house. I'd assume that almost every person in Oakbank and surrounding area was awoken by that storm, and I hear that The Peg got it worse then us! That's a cool feeling, that everyone was stuck in there houses, no power, at 1:30 in the morning. Getting back to sleep after the storm was surprisingly quite an easy feat. I lay my head down on my pillow and entered the sweet world of my dreamscape. I absolutely love dreaming, I am starting to be able to control my dreams, where they take place, the general mood, and sometimes the outcome. Although I do not realize that I am dreaming while I am dreaming (lucid dreaming) I still enjoy my time asleep.
I will start to post my dreams on this site, as I write them down when I wake up in the morning. More on that and dreaming in later posts.

evasive nature, caught.

As I lay under the stars last night and contemplated all things unknown to me I felt a wonderful feeling, one of awe and wonder. People of the city can't begin to understand what they're missing. The northern lights danced and glowed so bright that the moon seemed dull in comparison, they changed from green to yellow, and from yellow to white, and from white to red and blue. "I want to see them up north," I thought to myself, "where they illuminate the snow and erase the stars."
The longer I looked at the stars that night, (and the longer my shutter of my camera was left open) the more they were accentuated. The bright became HOT and the dull became bright, I saw an array of stars twinkling like never I had before. I am inexperienced compared to many in the art of photography but I managed to get my hands on some decent pictures that night. Taking photographs of the stars and northern lights is like trying to catch fish (with you're hands of course). For this first one I drove out to the corner of Vernon and Springfield, this spot has handed me some nice shots in the past and I've developed a certain relationship with it. I stood there listening to the crickets and the odd bird call as my right index grew sore. About ten minutes later I released the shutter with hopes that my first attempt in photographing the night sky would be successful. It was! This is the first of many midnight photographs. The first of anything usually leaves you with a good feeling, one of excitement. I felt like a frontiersman of my own personal exploration, of a singular branch of life, being photography. I'm not going to lie, its a good feeling.


(the res. on this site isn't the best)
The stars look as if they are rotating, but it is obviously us that is spinning. In this next picture you can see how far they (or rather, we) moved.


(the camera shook a bit)
I will post more on photography later. Thanks for reading.

...my random thoughts

This is one of those times where you just need to transfer some of your minds contents onto paper, or in this case, digital text.Whatever, that's what I have passing through my mind most of the day, it pertains to, to almost everything I can imagine, you start getting sad because of some stupid thing, just whatever. It doesn't matter. Just live the day your sitting on, that one day on the calendar to the fullest. If you never try to live the day to the fullest then all your doing is just letting yourself down. It's like writing a test half assed then the test is over and there's nothing you can do about it. Life is one big test, with tons of answers, but you don't have to know the answers to everything,you just
have to try to answer the questions and you will feel fulfilled. If I can do that I may have achieved happiness.

just imagine, imagine if you met the most amazing person you could think of, someone that just seemed to be made from the same cast as you, they understood what you strive for, what you live for. No words would need to pass between you but if they did they could only heighten the moments between you. Now imagine they re-defined everything you knew, just because of there certain attitude towards life and the way things happen, and why they happen. What would you do if this person left you and just was gone out of your life, what the hell would you do..do you try to be with them or what, or do you just face the facts that they are gone, but...Wouldn't you wonder what they were doing everyday, and wouldn't you wonder what you're life would be like with them in it. At the same time, there are millions of people that must be able to provide this feeling between you and them, why cant you just forget about this one
person, why worry, about one. Would you rather have that person with you all the time, or would you just rather they be on there own. But maybe if the person was on there own they would choose to be with you, and your paths would somehow intertwine. Would you rather forget about that person if you could never be with them, or would you just cherish the memories that you experienced together, memories that hurt but at the same time, memories that no other person on the face of this earth could reproduce with you. Somehow forgetting sounds easier than it actually is, you know? And it also sounds less appealing the more you think of it, because you will realize that you would trade nothing for those memories.

when you look at people in cars and stuff, what do you think, like, they all have there own little problems that they care about, don't you feel small now. They are so caught up in there problems that they don't care about you, or maybe some of them are thinking the exact same thing as you are, is that possible, that some random person in the mall or driving beside me is think, what's he name? What does he do?Where's he going? Maybe ill just follow this guy around all day and find out all this stuff about him, will that make me happy, make me realize how self centered the entire world is and stuff. Why cant we all just know everything about everyone, we would be so happy and sad and everything at the same time. You'd see that some people are just so so happy, people from Africa or 3rd world countries, and you could finally know why, why there so happy, and what they have that we don't, maybe its music, or something maybe its the fact that they don't know a better life like we do, is that possible...can innocence make people happy, I think so. I think id rather not know about TV and about what true comfort is. Knowing all these thoughts would make us so sad though, you'd know about everyone's problems, everyone's sorrows, but that could somehow benefit you, maybe. Is that what God feels, cause he endures everyone's thoughts at once..He must be so sad, but happy, but how could God be sad, is that possible? Maybe? Sometimes I wish I could know ones thoughts but at the same time I feel so opposite to that.

have I ever met someone at the wrong time in my life, and if so, what could be different about our relationship if I met them at a better or more ideal time, under more ideal circumstances. Maybe I've already met the love of my life, or my best friend or someone to help me through something at the wrong time, that kind of scares me you know. Am I thinking to much, is this wrong to wonder these things about my own life, maybe ill just not think about hard things anymore. I wish I was really really stupid and didn't have to think about things like this, think how sweet life would be then, you could just coast through without a care in the whole world, and just not really care or wonder about hard topics and issues. But at the same time, I would hate that, you know, I like thinking about stuff like this, but the question is, does it bring down the randomness that life offers, and does it effect the way that I live in turn? Because of these thoughts, can I still enjoy stupid things, id like to, id like to wonder about every single woman I meet, and if they are as wonderful as the ideal. That fact could keep ones drive going, the fact that you couldn't ever know what's going to happen tomorrow. Even if its all planned out and you have absolutely no intention to have anything different happen, it might, it could, so live.

some peoples eyes are wide open, yet they fail to see a thing.

that feeling, one last time

Well, school is almost on the go and I am not ready once again. They mucked up my schedule and I need to go in and change it, so now I'm on the waiting list. Don't you just hate waiting lists, I do. You just know that there is absolutely nothing you can do to speed up the process of them reaching your name, and most of the time, you were the one who got yourself into the mess of being ON that list. Procrastination is why, its why your sitting here reading my blog, its why I'm writing it, and its why my name is 100 spots farther down that waiting list than the 99 people above me. It happens every year to me, I dunno why, am I naive to think that it wont happen again, maybe. I should have made an appointment with the counselors before I got my sched. Now I've got that feeling, one last time.