These past few days have been super chill. All I’ve done is lounge about in sweat pants and watch sci-fi movies or listen to music. Awesome. It’s too cold outside to even bother going out. New Years Eve is tomorrow night and I’m super excited. It’s still my favourite night of the year.

I don’t know. It all just happened when one of his songs came on in my car. I was by myself and pretty floored by the melody and simplicity of it. Then I found the entire album and heard Solamia Somalia (Woah, I actually first typed “Solamia”). Man, why didn’t I know about him sooner? Weak.

Just to be an ass, I’m going to say he’s way better than k-os.

I’ve just started to consider what I will buy for people this Christmas. I’m one of those last minute types of people anyway. In my work for UNICEF Canada, I’ve had the pleasure of marketing GUCCI’s partnership with UNICEF this holiday season.

GUCCI has designed a series of products, available at all Canadian locations, of which 25% of the proceeds will go to help less fortunate children around the world. They’re also championing the book, Snowman in Africa by Michael Roberts. The illustrations in the book are great, and I love the irony of the plot. 100% of the book’s profits will go directly to UNICEF and aid them in doing their work.

If you’re someone who wants to find the perfect gift and do something great for those less fortunate, you can take a look at some of UNICEF Canada’s other charitable gift ideas at www.shopunicef.ca. There are a whole range of ethically, environmentally and socially conscious gifts available.

Three years old today! Crazy. This rounds out my entire blogging adventure at, like, almost eight years.

There are some awesome changes being rolled out in the next week or so. I’m re-working how this space can work better for me, as well as define new roles for interaction and engagement. Fun stuff–at least in my head it is.

On that note, listen to this song. It’s been stuck in my head for the better part of the month, and I just can’t help how awesome Tom Jones is in the chorus.

Ali Jafri is a guy I met back when I was lending whatever arm or leg I could for Ed the Sock and his show. Every now and then Ali will leave me some random tidbit from Youtube, or if I’m lucky, he’ll run into me waiting for the streetcar and offer me a ride to the subway.

He’s just finished his first short documentary, and to be honest, I’m really proud. Double Lives: Lost in Transition focuses on the secrecy and taboo subject of the double life within South Asian communities. It’s about people who are caught between cultures and deals with the lingering question of identity. It’s something I’ve dealt with in my life, and still do. You can view both parts below:

I just pushed my way through John Mayer’s latest release, Battle Studies twice. Overall thoughts:

1. The album is less bluesy than his last effort
2. He’s moved back to the earlier college/Hollister wearing stuff
3. If anything, this album seems to be a sequel to Heavier Things
4. Stand out tracks: Perfectly Lonely; Friends, Lovers or Nothing; and Mayer’s Cream inspired cover of Robert Johnson’s Crossroads
5. The album has some great harmonies going on

I give it an overall 7/10.

Yesterday was SWEATPANTS SATURDAY. A day where you do nothing or everything in a hoodie, sweatpants, and ridiculously comfortable and warm socks. I can’t get enough of it. On top of that, I went on a bit of a crazy shopping spree. I dragged Elena to Future Shop and Best Buy and HMV so I could grab the following:

1. A shitload of DVDs from the value bin at HMV
2. A combo DVD/VCR player
3. A new TV

Ended the day with sushi at Issmi. Still not in love with the idea of sushi, but I enjoyed what we ordered last night.

Watching some football now. Anyone else see the Colts scrape past Baltimore?

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Elena and I spent last weekend in San Francisco. My grandmother has been in Toronto since the end of August–she’s just hanging out around here for about 6 months, and she wanted to visit her family in Sacramento. We took her to SFO so she could get picked up by her sisters. She’s spending the rest of the month in Sacramento, and Elena and I had the rest of the weekend to explore San Francisco together.

Some places you should definitely check out:

1. Mama’s: An awesome breakfast place in North Beach. They’re really good and really popular. Get there early if you want to try their food. We waited about 45 minutes but it was worth it. The place closes at 3pm everyday.
2. Tadich Grill: The oldest restaurant in California serves awesome seafood. Again, really popular. The staff there is awesome–they’ve probably been working at the restaurant for decades.
3. R&G Lounge: A popular Chinese place in China Town. Try their live deep-fried crab with garlic, ginger and hot peppers.

Every now and then I volunteer my time and my writing to TalentEgg.ca. They’re a career hub resource for new and current grads seeking guidance on the real world after school. They have a content partnership with Toronto’s newest commuter mag, TONight Newspaper. I’d never really heard of the paper–or seen it for that matter–but a friend alerted me that an article I had written for TalentEgg was featured in Tuesday night’s edition! Sweet!

Cassandra from TalentEgg was kind enough to scan me the feature. Click the photo to enlarge.

I don’t edit this content. If Sagar can’t speak english, that’s his problem.

What if I were to tell you that there is a voice inside your head that never shuts up and pretends to you be you, but isn’t actually you? You would probably think I’m crazy.

A few months ago I started reading the works of Eckhart Tolle. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tolle, he is a spiritual teacher who preaches that most human beings spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. As such, he argues that the only thing necessary in order for one to achieve spiritual enlightenment is to transcend thought.

I know, easier said than done.

Can you recall a time when you were staring at something beautiful, a sunset on a lake perhaps, and for a brief second, there was a certain unique stillness, an unmistakeable inner peace within you? That was you living in the moment. Of course it didn’t last, and you likely weren’t consciously aware of what happened. In reality, that was actually you escaping your mind.

Life tends to pass us by while we’re busy thinking about how not to allow life to pass us by. So here is a new spiritual practice for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously. Accept the moment, as it is, right now. When you accept it, no matter how imperfect it may seem, all the inner conflict within you disappears, you will find yourself at peace.

Thoughts are very powerful, they lead to emotions, and emotions lead to reactions. Reactions lead to conflicts. That’s why there is so much conflict amongst human beings.

Everyone is familiar with the Buddhist saying: No self, no problems. Buddhists believe that all pain is creating as result of desire. What they mean when they refer to “self” is your mind made image of you, something that is conditioned by the past, and never satisfied, at least not for long. In actuality, that is not you. “You” are something much deeper. “You” are an energy that is one with this world and the truth of the matter is no thing or person in this world can affect “you.” When you think something has, it has really affected your “self” — your mind made image.

Your life is always right now. When you think of the past, you can only remember it now. What you remember is an event that happened in the now, and you remember it right now. When the future arrives, it will arrive as the now. There never was and never will be a time when your life is not right now. So why not embrace it? Make friends with the moment, and then see what happens.

For the longest time in my life I used to externalize my own happiness. I would depend on other people, objects, or places to make me happy. The problem with that way of living is those things cannot give you true joy. Yes, they can make you “happy”, but there is a fundamental difference between being happy and true joy. Happiness does not last for long. When something makes you happy, it will do so for a brief period of time, and you will then start looking for something or someone else to replicate that effect.

Once you begin to realize that no object or person in this world can provide you with lasting fulfillment, everything changes. You will still meet and interact with people but are able to accept them as the passing and imperfect creatures they are, there is a sense of joy deep down which always remains unaffected by what happens around you.
Do you find yourself worried a lot, or anxious about the future? You’re likely creating situations in your head, which is leading to anxiety. The truth is you cannot deal with those situations, because they do not exist. They are figments of your imagination. You can only deal with the present moment, and that’s all you’ll ever have to deal with.

So what’s left when we’re not wound up in our thoughts, worrying about the past or being anxious about the future? Stillness, inner peace, joy.

Some years ago I was speaking to Matthew Good about young kids trying to “make it” in the music business when he remarked to me: “If it’s not enough for someone to play music in their bedroom by themselves, it will never be enough.” I never quite understood what he meant by that. Looking back on that conversation now, he couldn’t have more correct. Ultimately, everything we do in life should be about the journey, not the destination.

Carpe diem, they say.