Halii's Blog

2012-01-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

Do you realize that our world is at its breaking point? Overpopulation is rampant, and it’s because people think it’s wrong to use methods of contraception and won’t let women choose when to start a family. As of October 2011, there are now seven billion people in this world, and then some. Seven billion mouths, many of which we cannot feed. It won’t be long before widespread famine, dehydration and disease start killing off more and more people. Do we really want to bring more children into a world which is in the midst of a population crisis?

Personally, I’d rather be dead than unwanted any day.

Unwanted children grow up in abusive or neglectful households and grow up to become criminals, or they are put up for adoption and have the heartbreak of knowing that their real parents did not want them.

I’ll share a fun fact. Abortions were legalized in the U.S. in 1973. About 20 years later, in the 90’s, there was a steady decrease in the crime rate - because people were not having unwanted children, and the children who would have otherwise been born into families who didn’t want them, didn’t exist and grow up to be criminals at 20-something.

Making abortion illegal is a huge step back in women’s rights. Sometimes it’s just not the right time to start a family, and it would be irresponsible for a person to do so. Like if a girl gets pregnant in high school. She has her whole life ahead of her, but instead she will have to spend the next eighteen years taking care of another person when she’s barely even grown up herself.

Abortion is not murder. Murder would be killing a living, breathing, BORN person who you can look in the eyes and they are aware of you. Murder is in cold blood.

Abortion is more like sparing a child from a life of being unwanted or sitting around in an adoption center feeling like a puppy in a cardboard box.

Furthermore, if adoption was made illegal again, there would still be abortions - the dangerous kind. The drinking pennyroyal tea until you miscarry kind. The rusty coat hanger kind. That can be fatal to the woman. If you’re okay with a woman subjecting herself to something painful and potentially damaging herself forever/killing herself because the fucking federal government tries to say what’s right and wrong to do with our bodies, but you’ll still stand up for a fetus that hasn’t breathed a gasp of air, then there’s something wrong with you.

People need to stop creating more children that we don’t need.
There are already not enough resources to go around.

You can think what you want, pro-lifers, and you’re sweet for believing that an embryo is already a sentient being, but do not encourage politicians to go backwards in time and make abortions illegal again. Think about all the women in your life.

We should all have the right to choose. Your choice may be different than mine, but that doesn’t mean other women shouldn’t be able to go through with having an abortion if they feel that it’s necessary, whether the reason being is for their career, for their health, because the baby has an illness, because they were raped, or just because they aren’t ready to be a parent.

Stand up for women’s rights. Our government is corrupt enough as it is - don’t let it decide what a woman can and cannot do with her body.

http://www.aclufl.org/take_action/download_resources/info_papers/15.cfm
http://www.overpopulation.org/
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/

Feeling lost?

2012-01-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

Many of us, especially those of us just embarking on our own journey into the world, often feel lost and incomplete. I originally wrote this as an answer to someone looking for help on Yahoo! Answers, but I liked it so much, I decided to post it on here. This is what I think to myself, when I'm feeling lost and alone.

Any void you are seeking to fill only exists in your mind. No amount of traveling, education or fulfillment of your dreams and aspirations will ever make you feel completely whole. Just look inside of your mind; begin to meditate. You are whole, no matter how incomplete you feel.

Begin to relish every moment of life; stop and smell the flowers. Let every stroke of paint you brush across the canvas be the most beautiful stroke of paint you've ever seen. Let every note you play or sing reverberate throughout your entire being and even your soul. Admire the shining beauty of every raindrop on the window. Learn to love yourself and be self-reliant. Learn to let go.

Realize that every answer you've ever set out to find is within you.

You are the creator of your thoughts, and as their creator, you can dismiss them. Dismiss all thoughts of negativity and apathy; or even better, channel them into art. Welcome those that are happy and appreciative. Direct these positive thoughts toward helping others. You can start small, with just a smile, and progress from there. Donate money, blankets or even just some canned food to the local homeless shelter, where you can see the people that you are helping. Generosity provides deep fulfillment on a spiritual level. Helping your fellow man is a humbling and kind gesture.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

― Lao Tzu

Happy 2012!

2012-01-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! Here's my new D.I.Y shiny!

I kicked off the new year at a friend's party, with a big kiss from my honey. So far, all I've done is sleep, eat, play Skyrim and pierce my cartilage. Awh yeah.

I've come up with quite a few resolutions for this year...

☺ Stop procrastinating. (Yeah right. I'm procrastinating right now.)

☯ Become more dedicated to yoga and eating healthily.

♫ Record at least an EP's worth of songs.

♕ Graduate and go to college.

⚓ Cut back on partying.

♥ Make it to our 4 year anniversary. (Easiest one on the list!)

What are your plans for this year?

I'm thinking I want to keep posting YouTube videos (with original songs), and get a permit to 'busk' or perform on 16th Street in Denver. I'm hoping I can start working again and get a car so that people don't have to chauffeur me around. And of course, I'll be graduating in...

4 months, and 14 days.

Yᴇᴀʜ Bᴜᴅᴅʏ!

After that, who knows what'll happen? That's why I like the future. No one knows what tomorrow brings. I'm just hoping that 2012 is a good year, and that everybody finds their own bit of enlightenment.

Just a little update. :)

2011-12-08T23:01:00.001-08:00

Hello, world! I'm a happy freakin' girl today. Would you like to know why?
Probably not... well, I'm going to tell you all anyway.

I've got a wonderful ~~boy~~ man in my life who just turned 18 last week.
I'm looking into scholarships and college.
I'm excited to go to Hawaii with my boyfriend and his family for Christmas.
I've got a package coming in the mail.
My friend DJ Durlin made a dubstep remix of my song, "The World Keeps Turning."
(Look him up on Soundcloud, everybody! I normally don't like techno, but he's good!)
I might go snowboarding this weekend.
Today, my choir went to an adult day care center to sing Christmas carols and...

I had the most enlightening experience! When we finished singing, the director told the girls to go around, shake hands with people and say "Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, thank you for having us," et cetera. I was making my way around the room talking to people, and I came upon this very elderly, petite woman. She didn't say anything (in fact, I'm not even sure that she spoke English). When I went to give her a handshake, she firmly took my hand in both of hers and just stared into my eyes. It was almost as if she looked right through me. Her eyes were tired, gray and wistful. It sparked something in me. I felt a connection to this woman I had never even seen before. It was amazing.
I was so inspired, I even wrote a song for her.

It's time for me to get some rest, I have a lot of studying to do for finals. Gotta graduate so I can move on with my life. Only 5 months and 9 days until graduation.
... AAAAAAAAHHH!

An Interesting Read

2011-12-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

This is the information era. With all of this info that is available to us, why do people still believe that we need elected officials to make our decisions for us? The days when it took two months to ride to Washington to deliver the voting results of a particular area are long gone. We don't need representatives who only do what's best for them in their current situation and forget about the 'little people.' We have the technology to make decisions for our country straight from our phones. We need to cut out the middle man. What I'm saying is NO government.

I know this sounds weird to you, because all of our lives, it has been drilled into our heads that there is no other way. What I'm talking about would still be a democracy, but it would be run literally BY the people, for the people. Not by the rich, for the rich. There would be no rich, because the other thing I would cut out of the equation is money, and capitalism.

If it weren't for the corporate assholes dangling necessities of life such as food and water above our heads and forcing us to make them more prosperous just to survive, our world would not face many of the problems it does today. If the population were regulated - say, one or two children per couple, and not letting people live to be so damn old - we would have enough resources to go around. We would also need to start building houses, cars and such for EFFICIENCY rather than intricacy. We do not need to build houses with tons of wood and nails. There are plenty of other ways to build a comfortable, environmentally friendly, and inhabitable home without all of this.

So how would we live without money?

We could create a distribution system which assures that people get plenty of what they need and want in the areas the resources need to be sent. Food, water, health care and shelter? No problem. You want a snowboard because you live by the mountains? Apply to get a snowboard, they'll send you one. You want to drive a nice car? You can drive it for a specific amount of time before it goes to the next guy. You want to go on vacation? You get put on a list, and you get to take a vacation when you're up. We have the resources to do this if the population is thinned (by natural means). The reason we can't do all of this now is because of those assholes at the top of the pyramid.

This system would hopefully eventually be worldwide. The greatest part is, nobody would need to rig it to benefit themselves, because if you can get whatever you want, why do you need more?

The rich are the problem. The world needs to cut them down and put them in their place.

Another question I am frequently asked when I talk about my political view is; how would people be motivated to do anything if they didn't earn something for it?

People are motivated to do things in the first place because they have a passion for them. Think of all the people who would be doctors if they could afford to go to school to become one. With this system, education wouldn't cost anything. You could be whoever, whatever you want.
Some people choose their career based on how much money they will make from it. If money wasn't an issue, people would choose to do the things they love; the dreams and aspirations that modern people drop because they aren't fruitful.

Please, feel free to comment on this post! I would love to hear what you have to say.

The World Keeps Turning

2011-10-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

The World Keeps Turning by Halii Green

Yes it does...

I've been thinking a lot about the future. It's crazy how you turn 17 and all of a sudden, the world just comes hurtling at you. At least I have someone to look toward the future with! I would never have fathomed that being a teenager would be like this as a kid, but here I am, looking into apartments, stressing about my GPA and thinking about how damn expensive a college education is. Wow, I'm growing up. :(

Speaking of which, I should probably go do my homework.

“Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

One love!
Halii

It's been a while...

2011-09-05T23:04:00.000-07:00

I really should be getting to sleep, but I just realized that I have a blog that I've been ignoring for over a year! So, hello blog. A lot has changed in my life since I last wrote.
I'm going to a new school, living in a new house, and still with the same handsome boy. I'm getting into yoga and meditation lately, and as I have always been and will forever be, I'm singing. :) Here's my latest YouTube video. It's not an original, but something much better; George Gershwin's "Summertime."
Beautiful song. I hope you like my rendition, it's mostly based off of Janis Joplin's.

I really need to get on my game. Life is coming at me fast. Before I know it, I'll be moving out. I've got so much on my plate. I don't know when I'll write again, but I'll try to come up with things to blog about more frequently. I find it a nice outlet, and maybe there's someone out there who wants to read it.

Yet another video! Became. It's a wonderful song, off of Atmosphere's new album, The Family Sign. Take a listen.

I need to get some sleep. Night.

One love,
Halii

Facts About Marijuana

2009-12-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

Marijuana is a taboo in our society, albeit one that is slowly becoming less and less controversial as it becomes more embedded in our culture and more uses for it are discovered.

Did you know that cannabis is the number one cash crop of the United States? Between 2003 and 2005, marijuana raked in an average of $35,803,591. {http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr2/cashcrops.html}

Did you know that marijuana is a treatment for asthma and glaucoma?

Did you know that marijuana soothes pain and nausea with far less side effects than prescription or over-the-counter drugs?

Did you know that if you vaporize marijuana rather than smoke it, it has virtually no long-term side effects?

Did you know that marijuana is illegal because of racism and the campaigning of big-business owners whose industries were rivaled by hemp products in the early 20th century? {http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/}

Did you know that in 2007, researchers at Harvard University discovered that tetrahydrocannabinol, the active chemical in marijuana, cuts the growth of lung cancer tumors in half and significantly reduces the ability of cancer to spread?

Did you know that marijuana can assist people with insomnia and anorexia?

Did you know that marijuana is still considered a Class A drug with no medical uses even though so many have been proven?

Did you know that in a dispensary, the only marijuana they can sell is that which is grown in their own state? This means that it makes money for local businesses and the state, making dispensaries incredibly helpful to a state's economy - especially if taxes were to be placed on cannabis.

Did you know that pot prisoners cost America $1 billion a year?

Did you know that 847,863 people were arrested for marijuana-related reasons in 2008? The police are wasting their time preying on peaceful potheads when they could be using that time and effort on finding and arresting real criminals.

Did you know that one cannot overdose on or become physically addicted to marijuana?

Did you know that marijuana is far less harmful than legal substances such as alcohol and cigarettes?

Did you know that the first Ford Model T ran on ethanol made from hemp seeds?

Did you know that our founding fathers smoked marijuana?
"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country."
"Some of my finest hours have been spent sitting on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see." - Thomas Jefferson

Did you know that marijuana is one of the healthiest cures for depression, right next to a healthy diet and exercise?

Did you know that hemp can be used in cooking, made into paper, rope, clothing, hemp seed oil {frequently used in lotions}, non-toxic diesel fuel, cellophane, dynamite, detergent, non-toxic paint, varnish, and many more useful products? Complete legalization of marijuana would have the potential to turn our economy into a fruitful one.

Did you know that you can build a whole house out of hemp products?

Did you know that marijunana is environmentally friendly?

Did you know they're still leaving out all of these important facts when they teach the children of our country about marijuana?

One love!

Love

2009-11-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

What is love? It seems like the meaning has been lost lately.

It seems that love and materialism have formed a close bond in the last few decades. With celebrities and their money, rappers and their chains, young people look at these stars and think, "Oh, so that's what the world's about. Money and material objects." They make it a goal to love cars, love clothes, and they forget to love the people in their life. The example the stars set, with their prenups and enormous houses, cause unrealistic and selfish goals in the people that look up at these materialistic, plastic idols. Children grow up like that now, without a deep-rooted sense of what love is.

There are two kinds of love. There's "I love you" and there's "I'm in love with you."

"I love you" love isn't to be handed out like it's nothing. It's admiration, adoration and deep respect. Love the people that are close to you, and if there's someone you see who doesn't have that love in their life, bring them closer and spread it to them. It's a feeling, it's an attitude, it's a moving gesture. It can be felt toward friends, family, humanity as a whole, nature, and really anything or anybody you feel like loving.

To be in love is an exclusive thing. It's the feeling you get when you're with someone and you realize that they're your absolute best friend, you're soul-bound together, you can see right through eachother and you know exactly what to do to make this person smile. It's not a feeling of neediness, it's not a deep infatuation. It's something you know was destined to be and something that you know will stay with you forever, even if the person doesn't. You can close your eyes and almost see yourself with this person years from now. Being in love is far past just loving someone. It's seeing every one of their flaws and beauties and loving them for all of it. Trusting someone with all your heart, putting all your eggs in one basket even if you know it's risky. Above all, it's a feeling of perfect comfort and peace when you're with this person.

This is my proof. [:

Love is the best feeling, whether it's between friends, spouses, family members or lovers. Throw away the 'love' and attachment to your material items and prioritize.

One love.

Child Labour

2009-11-19T16:20:00.002-08:00

As we all know, there are child labour laws here in America. Here, there are no more sweatshops and no more young children working 64 to 80 hours a week. Most Americans, however, are oblivious to the fact that the clothes on your back {and the couch that you're sitting on, the toy your dog is chewing on and the television that you're fixated on that feeds you your daily propaganda} were made by the small hands of children, working the same excruciating hours for American companies in other countries. We hear it all the time - Made In China. But how often do we think about the condition of the people making these products?

The main cause of child labour is poverty. Poverty causes disease and malnutrition. If the children's parents can't work or have passed away, they make the money - whether they're four or fourteen. These children are sold as prostitutes, made to quarry, mine and do crippling and monotonous factory work, among many other jobs. Rather than working in sweatshops, the children are in the streets selling goods, working in agriculture or are hidden deep in the squalor of overcrowded houses.

This child labour is not only in China. It's in India, Liberia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Mexico, Kenya, Argentina, Brazil, southern Europe and many, many more. Even some of the rich and powerful countries of the world still have child labour. 13.2% of children from 10-14 are subjected to child labour - that's 73 million children. India is an example of the severity of this problem, with the statistics being 60 - 115 million young children employed to do dangerous and degrading jobs. 26.3% of the children in Africa work, which is the highest percentage of all of the continents.

Yet here we are supporting the employers of these children, who are payed very, very little for their agonizing efforts. Something to think about.

One love.

© Halii Green.

Similarities In All Religions

2009-11-19T16:20:00.001-08:00

All religions are similar.

Every religion was originally created for two reasons. The first, a set of rules and laws when there were no established governments (the old religions, not like Rastafari and Mormonism). Then the other being that because the people wanted explanations of the things they didn't know, as people tend to want, such as what happens when you die and the story of how the universe was created.

Religions tend to advise their followers about morals. Fasting, abstinence, the Ten Commandments, the Qur'an, the Torah, bible stories, the eightfold path, the five pillars of Islam. Hinduism recognizes Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) as an avatar of their deity Vishnu. Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all essentially the same religion, except for the fact that they all follow different prophets and have different names for their monotheistic gods.

They share many of the same stories and origins. Christianity came from Judaism, of course. All of the Christians were Jewish before Christ was born.

All of these religions teach their followers to be kind, embrace their fellow humans, keep themselves healthy, et cetera. However, most of the believers of those religions don't abide by their own rules, yet another similarity.

Religious beliefs are undoubtedly a bane of society today. Think about it; now that we have governments and we have morals as a society, the only reason we have religion is the need to have those deep life questions answered. Overlooking the fact that there are so many similarities between all of the religions of the world, we fight over our beliefs.

It's time to put an end to the fighting and the ignorance. There may or may not be a god. We may have been created and we may have evolved. Maybe we have been reincarnated. By whatever means, though, here we are, and although we all have different beliefs, they are all very much the same - just like we are.

One love.

© Halii Green.

2012 - Not The End, But A New Beginning

2009-11-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

Many believe that the year 2012 will be the year of the Apocalypse. Some theories even claim that the Mayan calendar backs up the theory that the world will end. However, the Apocalypse has little to nothing to do with the Mayan culture. What the Maya were foretelling is not the end for humanity, but a new beginning - a rebirth.

Time as we have all learned it today is inaccurate. Today, we follow the Gregorian calendar and a 12:60 timing frequency. The time we go by does not correspond with the real time that the Earth itself follows. Many ancient peoples, such as the Mayans, the Egyptians, the Druids and more used what is called the 13-moon calendar. The 13-moon calendar uses 13 cycles (months) of 28 days to break down a year, with one day of renewal before the beginning of the new year. This calendar is simple, obvious and follows the patterns of nature.

So what does this have to do with 2012?

Every 26,000 years, the Earth completes one wobble. The 13-moon calendar refers to this wobble as one cycle. During Earth's wobble, it passes through each of the 12 zodiac constellations for about 2152 years. Each zodiac we pass through represents one month of a Cosmic Year, otherwise known as the equinoctial cycle. Right now, we are passing through the constellation of Pisces, which represents self-undoing. Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac - so at the end of each cycle, we undo ourselves and create enough chaos so that humanity can reach the next level of life on a do-or-die basis.

The cycle that we are in now began on August 13, 3113 BC, according to the Mayan calendar. This time is accurate for the beginning of history; the first Egyptian dynasty having begun in about 3100 BC, as well as the first 'city' of Uruk in Mesopotamia. The Hindu Kali Yuga, which is the Hindu name for the age we are living in, began in 3102 BC. With the great amount of observation these ancient cultures put into astronomy, all around the world with no communication between these peoples, the same calendars were created.

The end of this cycle, then, is December 21, 2012. We will start a new cycle and drift into the Age of Aquarius, which is meant to be full of peace, wisdom and harmony. There is a large chance of many natural disasters occurring at the beginning of the new cycle, due to the fact that Earth's wobbles cause climate change. There will possibly be an enormous solar flare in 2012, and although it could be powerful, it will be too far away from the Earth to damage our world itself. However, it could cause disturbances with our satellites and cell phone service.

It's as simple as working humanity through the needed chaos that lies ahead. We are moving toward peace and enlightenment in the new cycle. Only time will tell exactly what will happen, but whatever happens will be monumental.

One love.