I had figured that most of the music I posted for this Singles series would be new stuff, but I will immediately prove that hypothesis wrong with this track. I was listening to some of the earlier Bright Eyes material this week and came across a track I had either never heard or had just previously brushed over. It’s from Bright Eyes’ second album, released in 1998.

I am in love with this song. Upon the first listen, it became my favorite song by  Conor Oberst. So please, enjoy “June on the West Coast” with me.

Download audio file (JuneOnTheWestCoast.mp3)

Ever since I heard Blind Pilot for the first time back in December, I’ve been no less than obsessed with their debut release “3 Rounds and a Sound”. It’s the rare album that enters my library that can be played literally just about every day of the week and never get boring and never lose my interest as I’m driving, singing along as loud as I can, or sitting at my desk designing. And so it was, three weeks ago, that Blind Pilot released the first teaser of their upcoming sophomore album, “We Are the Tide”. The teaser is of a track by the same name as the album, and it is phenomenal. I’ve been worried, naturally, that their second release couldn’t follow their first effort, but if “We Are the Tide” is any indication of the rest of the album, my worries have been assuaged. Please, enjoy this teaser as much as I am (and yes, I realize that it’s not the full track, so I included a good quality live version as well).

Sonny Moore – “Turmoil (Skrillex remix)” Download audio file (sonny%20moore%20-%20turmoil%28skrillex%20remix%29.mp3)

Secondly… last night was the Doctor P and Flux Pavilion show up at Higher Ground in South Burlington. Naturally, both of them killed it, but the highlight of the night went to Doctor P for throwing in his new(ish) remix of the Tetris theme, below now for your listening pleasure. I’ve heard a lot of Tetris remixes in my time, but this one may take the cake.

Doctor P – “Tetris Theme” Download audio file (DrP-Tetris.mp3)

My parents and sister are (mostly) vegetarian, I being the only vegan in my family. Despite that, I managed to drag them to primarily vegan restaurants two of the three nights we stayed in London. And, to my great pleasure, my dad found a great vegetarian/vegan bed and breakfast in Treknow, which we ended up staying at (read: gourmet vegan meals, two each day, for three days).

Tibbits

Link: http://www.tibits.co.uk/e/

Tibbits was our first culinary experience in London. I had taken some time to look up the most recommended veggie restaurants in the city, and this place was repeatedly mentioned in blogs and food websites. Tibbits does things buffet style: grab a plate, take what you want, pay by weight. Disregard any notions you have of gross buffet food that has been sitting out for hours on end. This is top notch stuff. They have both vegetarian and vegan dishes, and each dish is marked as such, as well as indicators for gluten-free, dairy-free, etc.

If I could remember what I had eaten, I would mention it here, but I essentially loaded my plate with any dish with the V next to it and blissfully devoured all of it, including the vegan bits that my family couldn’t finish. Highly recommended.

Michael House

Link: http://michael-house.co.uk/

Michael House is the bed and breakfast we stayed at while out in Cornwall. The B&B is run out of the house of husband and wife Vanessa and Simon in the town of Treknow. The location places it just a short walk down to the beach in Trebarwith Strand and only a bit further to the touristy town of Tintagel, home of the fabled King Arthur’s Castle and Merlin’s Cave.

Vanessa prepares absolutely amazing dinners (two or three courses) based on your choice from her (quite lengthy) list of available meals. A really comfortable, homey feeling place to stay, great food, and welcoming hosts. If you’re looking to see the countryside a bit, I would really suggest stopping through here for at least a night.

Mildred’s

Link: http://www.mildreds.co.uk/

We stopped here for dinner on our last night in London. At the beginning of the week I had taken a late-night solo adventure to find this place so that I could satisfy my craving for a vegan dessert. I had found it, and the desserts were killer. So, we went back for a full meal.

Mildred’s is a tiny little place nested in the heart of London Soho. They offer both vegetarian and vegan meals, and many options for gluten-free and wheat-free. I had some bitchin’ dumplings as a starter and got their special for the night as my main meal, a sort of thai-style stir fry filled with great veggies.

I really wish I’d had more time to explore the restaurants in London alone, because there are a TON of vegetarian/vegan places. Next time!

More thoughts to come on other aspects of the trip.

Perhaps it’s just the annual reawakening of nature that we experience here in the Northeast, but springtime often seems to bring about or instigate these type of days. The Spring season, with its alternating periods of rain followed by precious days of sun and warmth, are gems during this time of the year. Today, and really the whole weekend, was one of those gems. For indeed, laying in the grass while the sun makes itself a part of you, can be called nothing other than simplicity. Idle conversation about nothing other than what comes to mind, cold drinks, a bike ride in the dying light of the day… it is difficult for me to express the contentedness that these type of days bring. It’s truly amazing to experience the simultaneous nature of the sunshine and warm weather instilling life in both the plants and in us.

I’ve thought a lot about how unique our situation is here in the Northeast with regard to the changing of the seasons. It makes me wonder, for instance, if the springtime would come as such a joy if not preceded by winters that usually are wished gone by their last throes. Yet… come the end of Summer, I’m usually ecstatic for Fall and all its wonderful colors, apple season, the return of cool nights and thoughts of the swiftly approaching season of beautiful snowfall. I heard recently that Burlington was polled as the “happiest” small city in the country. Sometimes you wouldn’t think so with the amount of griping about winter you hear from February through mid-April. But I think what I’ve started to realize is that maybe the harshness of the winter is a contributing factor to that happiness. Would warmth not become stale if continually present? At least in my opinion, the seasons balance themselves out in what they provide. Summer seems a unending promise of beach days and cookouts and swimming until mid-July when the temperature hits 100 and you can’t move without sweating from every pore of your body. Winter starts out as a magical season where snow is the most beautiful sight you’ve seen, until February when you walk outside and the hairs in your nose freeze.

When it comes down to it, I think the season cycle keeps me much happier year-round than if I lived in a place where the seasons were less defined. Can you imagine trying to get excited for Christmas season and having it be 70 degrees outside? It just seems odd to me. Recognizing that the distinct definitions of the seasons in our part of the country has been a part of our childhood, and undeniably carries with it memories, smells, sounds and tastes, is healthy for us.

It seems I’ve wandered away a bit from my original topic, but I think it really all ties together. The simplicity of enjoying the change of the seasons is… bliss.

(photo elegantly captured by @craigwinslow)

Sprung (Spring 2011 Mixtape)

1. “Theme From R*A*S*H” – Los Campesinos
2. “In Love, Not Limbo” – Of Oceans
3. “Go Do” - Jónsi
4. “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” – Noah and the Whale
5. “For What It’s Worth” – Maggie Eckford
6. “Aquariums” – Everything Absent or Distorted (A Love Story)
7. “Finding Something To Do” – Hellogoodbye
8. “Death as a Fetish” – Starfucker
9. “Amy’s Room” – We All Have Hooks for Hands
10. “Generator ^ Second Floor” – Freelance Whales
11. “Helplessness Blues” – Fleet Foxes
12. “I Should Go” – Good Old War

Download (ZIP, 90.7 MB)

All songs property of their respective artists. If you want any song removed, email inspireme@withawe.com. Photography for album cover taken by Flickr user masochismtango.

Groceries/Beer

For the most part I buy my groceries at City Market, and almost everything I typically buy is in bulk. Being that I live in Vermont, I have no excuse (nor a want) to drink beer produced by a corporation like Anheuser-Busch, so that front is completely clear. The biggest thing I can think of as far as food goes is the occasional stop at a gas station to pick up something to drink or munch on. I eat pretty healthy, but I’m certainly guilty of soda and chips once and a while, and unless you’re in a grocery store (and even then, only co-ops usually), it can be tough to find a local brand of soda and chips on the road. Cutting corporation-produced chips and soda out shouldn’t be a big deal, and is probably just a healthier choice to begin with. Another on-the-road situation is stopping at a place like Subway if there are no other options for an actual meal. It doesn’t happen too often, so not too big of a deal.

In the past month I have not purchased any food items directly produced by a corporation.

Electronics/Hardware

After thinking more about this one, I’ve come to the realization that it’s almost impossible. Manufacturers of electronics are almost exclusively corporations: Apple, Microsoft, Asus, Sony, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Dell, Motorola, Panasonic… just to name a few. I would love to be able to say that I won’t support any of those companies, but in some cases I won’t have much choice.

Gas

There’s not much to say for this category. Gas companies are corporations. All of them, at least around here. The best I can do is not support (with the exception of buying the actual gas) the convenience stores which always accompany the gas station.

Restaurants

I’d hate to live in a place where this wasn’t easy. Burlington has a lot of great places to eat for when I do feel like going out. The closest I would come to choosing a big business would be Boloco, but they’re certainly not considered a corporation.

Banking

I am happy to say that I recently became a member of Vermont Federal Credit Union! With that, I am now a member of two banks, still having an account in Connecticut, and both are locally owned (community owned in the case of VFCU).

And that’s really it as far as things that affect me on a day-to-day basis. Buying groceries is certainly the biggest way in which I’ve been cutting our corporations, and even there it’s not been too hard. So here’s a big middle finger to big business… I don’t need you.

Bill Fucking Murray (Source)

Love (Source)

Brewsters Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture (Source)

Sky Garden House by Guz Architects (Source)

Paths Through Fog by Cole Rise (Source)

Daft Punk (Source)

Heavy by Kim Winderman (Source)

Vulnerable by Hengki Koentjoro (Source)

Come June I’ll be moving residence again. I’m excited to move a bit further into the downtown area so I’m within walking or biking distance of everything I need. This summer, even more than last, I’m setting a goal to use my car as little as possible, both to conserve gas, which seemingly has started pushing toward $4.00/gallon again, but also to simply allow myself more time to spend out of doors, away from work and monitors.

Last summer was a bit of a disappointment as far as hiking, camping and climbing. The 6 days spent on the Appalachian trail was a superb experience but left my knees in rough shape. I’ve been doing my best to build muscle and strength in and around my knees since then, and this summer will hopefully allow for much more activity than last.

Hiking/Camping

I wanted to do this last summer, but, as I mentioned above, my body was having none of it: hike the tallest peaks in Vermont. I’ve found a pretty solid list of peaks, so I think I’m going to start working through those as soon as it’s warm enough and enough snow has melted off the mountains. There are hiking trails on nearly all of these peaks, and most can be done as day hikes, and even if not, there are camping sites to use on most trails.

Climbing

Last summer I didn’t get outside to climb nearly as much as I had planned, and I’m hoping to change that this summer. I’m doing my best to get a climbing crew together, so if you’re in Burlington and you want people to climb with, speak up!

Skydiving!

As mentioned in my ongoing bucket list post, The Life List, this summer I’ll be embarking on my mission to become a licensed skydiver and (eventually) base jumper. I’m not sure how many classes I’ll be able to afford this summer as they’re pretty expensive (around $200 for each, seven in total), but I’m excited to just experience it for the first time.

I could undoubtedly go on about other things I hope to be doing this summer, but you’ll hear about more as it happens, so I’ll leave it at that. Bring the warmth!

(Image courtesy of Flickr user NeilsPhotography)

We usually chuckle at the remarks of extended family or friends of our parents when they say how much we’ve changed since the last time they’ve seen us. It’s not something we notice. I remember several times my parents seeing an old friend of mine for the first time in a few years, and remarking on how much they’ve changed, and not being able to see the same change in that person. Even so, these type of remarks are typically referring to a change of appearance. It seems that a change in personal philosophies is something we notice even less unless we truly stop and look hard at our personal evolution.

Because when you think about it, these changes happen in a flash. Minute changes to our worldview and moral stances happen every day. And how could our views not change constantly? Between advertising and peer influence and personal experiences, we become balls of clay from a young age, our surfaces and our consistencies reflecting the outside forces working upon us. Whether a conversation, movie, book, dream, advertisement, news article, or piece of art, a single instant is all it takes to change our shape.

And so, as I stood looking at myself in the mirror, I was suddenly mystified at how I had become who I have become. We change as people so quickly that we rarely look at ourselves objectively and wonder how it is that we arrived at our moral and philosophical views. How is it that I came to follow a vegan lifestyle, or call myself an atheist, or ascribe to a humanist worldview? On the surface it’s easy enough to say that it’s because I care so deeply for animals, or that I trust rational thought over blind faith, or that I innately believe in the goodness of all people. But deeper than that surface level, there are so many other things that led to those destinations. Roads running parallel to one another, coming from all different places, intersecting and weaving, merging and splitting, and eventually becoming one and arriving here: Michael Fowler, year 2011.

This post isn’t about some great discovery. I didn’t suddenly realize anything profound regarding my own moral and philosophical evolution. I just… wonder. Wonder how, and just plain old wonder, in awe of the complexities and expanse of our brains. Nevermind feeling humble compared to mountains and oceans and the universe… we should all feel humbled by the fact that we, as a human race, will probably never fully comprehend the capabilities of our own brains. How is it that nature has created such a complex thing as to not even be comprehended by its own user?

But then again, why would we want to? Without these mysteries there would not be nearly as much fun found in such simple yet complex mysteries.

I’ll leave it at that.

(Header image courtesy of Daniel Lobo on Flickr)