Trip to Southern California

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I have embarked upon a trip south to the point of LA, which was routed along Highway 101 and 1 depending on which one was closest to the ocean (you may also know of them as the pacific coast highway or the oregon coast). It began 6 days ago on a stormy monday morning bright and early from the port of Vancouver, BC now I come to you from the beautiful banks of Malibu, California. I have been here for nearly 3 full days now, going around and checking all the interesting things to see in the area. Things I’ve heard about so much but have never seen. Yesterday I did the last stretch of the coast I will most likly be doing, which took me down to Huntington Beach, California where I was sucked in by a Greenpeace advocate to join the cause; I truly am shocked our Gray whale population is only 800 in the world.

While in Huntington Beach, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to get a skateboard, specifically of the longboard variety. So I found one I liked and noticed it was made by Arbor, which is a company based out of Venice, California, which just happens to be right next to where I’m staying in Malibu. After researching the location of the head office, I headed there today and this is what I got:

So, I am the new proud owner. The cool thing was the guy in the shop had the exact same board… I was like “SOLD”. 🙂 After driving around with it in the back seat for a few hours, I decided as I drove by Beverly Hills residential district, that the streets I was seeing were simply gold for cruisin on the board. So on a residential street, amongst the Bentleys, BMWs, Jaguars, and Mazeratis I tried out my new board! It was a bit wobbly at first, not being used to the trucks etc, but I managed to escape without any tumbles. The streets were simply beautiful to rock on. I would go to one end of the road at Sunset Blvd, and then cruise for a good 5 minutes all the way down to Santa Monica Blvd. I was simply cement surfing. So cool.

That was the main excitement for me today, but there was more. This is going to be my third night staying at this campground, the Malibu Beach RV Park. I think its one of the most beautiful campgrounds I’ve ever stayed at, and the prices are cheaper than most of the other places that I have stayed at along the road down. Yes, I am tenting, so they have me way up top with a birds-eye view of the whole cove. Basically the only sounds that I hear are the waves crashing. I can see the coast line for miles, which right now are lit with scattered house lights (Its pitch black out right now).

Today I also made it to the Hollywood hills, took a nap in Griffith Park (kinda just dirt and some clumps of grass), I cruised Hollywood Blvd and saw a model having a photoshoot in a phone booth, Sunset Blvd was also cool and I saw a tonne of film studios. I then took Santa Monica Blvd into Beverly Hills and further onto Santa Monica where I got a little lost but soon found my way back to Malibu. Thats just how I roll.

I ate dinner at a pizza joint in Beverly Hills, which was interesting because I was in some sort of gay district as it seemed to be only guys there holding hands. I think I saw about 5 couples of men holding hands…. I honestly don’t think I saw more than a handful of women…

Yesterday I got to hang with a cool friend from down here and watched Red Circle Underground at the AC Supper Club in Venice, CA. This band seriously rocks some major coolness. Through my friend, I was introduced to the whole band, and commenced partying with them the whole night long. We closed the club down. Totally awesome introduction to the LA art scene, and I totally learnt some cool stuff about how things roll down here. They had a burlesque show, believe it or not, that performed before the final act. I felt that RCU should have been the main event EASILY. Check them out any chance you get. They were so cool and gave me a 3 song EP! I was/am stoked.

There was also a painter in there, doing some live on the spot painting which was also totally cool. It kind of takes on one of my dreams of having art being created on the spot as it gets inspired by the music, also as part of the show. Very cool.  Who says that a concert must simply be a feast for the ears?

The point of this trip was to find a reason, to find something that has been missing from part of my existence that I haven’t been able to grasp. To be honest, I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but it sounds like it is. Maybe its just a little bit more meaning to why I’m doing what I’m doing. Or maybe its just to explore the coast. In one of my books I’m reading, I fall upon a quote all the time: “Man spends eternity searching for an understanding of himself, but never have I met a person who understands himself fully.” I think its more of a sequence of events that leads a person to enjoy their life to the fullest, and appreciate every day to the utmost possible region of gratitude. I think this is more what one searches for: A reason or will to live.

Today has finished with a smile on my face. Sometimes it only takes a good mood to turn things around. I was sitting on the beach, playing my guitar and watching the sun disappear behind the mountains and a very nice girl after a while was leaving, loading her kid into her car. I think her sister or friend had another 3 in tow, and we started talking, and as she was leaving, she came over and offered me a half of a bottle of French Champaign. I was totally floored by the kindness of this girl, and I wish I wouldn’t have been so speachless and flustered to have offered her a gift in exchange.

Today has filled me up with non-stop similar such kindness’. LA has reminded me that life takes a smile to make it better, and trust me, life is worth smiling. That is all.

Posted in: North America, Traveling \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

My How Time Flies

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I’ve been thinking lately about how the speed at which time flies to quick. Ideas and plans, designs and goals come into ones head at break neck speed, and in-spite of all the plans and precautions, they still slip by.

What brought this on was looking at flickr photos, and realizing that I’ve got old photos that I’ve promised people I would post. But its not just that, theres ideas involving light painting, plans to read books, arts to check out, the list goes on.

Sometimes it works itself into such a frenzy that I begin to find a panic button badly in need. I always look to the folks at exerciseandmind.com , where they have great ideas on how to keep the mind focused. Its tough though. Sometimes you just want to follow your day(s) dream. In a way, I guess that this is a good thing. Ideals, ideas, goals, etc. are always changing in the path of life, and so should your direction. I guess for me its just sometimes sad, or I feel that I’m forgetting something when I don’t look into projects I’ve got in mind.

I recollect various interviews where the interviewee says something along the lines of: ‘I’ve been working on this project for so long now, its taken x years to get everything together, but its finally here and its so worth it.’ I can totally relate to this. Its just something that happens.

I guess the secret to it all is to keep lists to remind yourself of what needs to be done.

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Band of Skulls @ Venue, Vancouver BC

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I had the ultimate pleasure of seeing the Band of Skulls preform at Venue, downtown Vancouver BC on Sunday night. It was an awesome show. As of late, I’ve been trying to focus on my own thing and not go to as many concerts as I’m used to for sometimes one has to focus more on creating than being influenced. Sometimes the balance is needed.

The Venue is a nice and small venue, newly done over from whatever it was before, I forget now. I thought the sound could have been turned up, but thats just me..

To open up the show was a band called Saint Motel. They ruled. They are a band from California who could rock and had character. Really fit the bill, sometimes you get opening bands that are kinda not all good, but these guys were rocking. Check them out any where and any chance you can get. They had this totally cool video on repeat in the background, clearly they put in some time to make it, it had a bunch of vancouver references. It was very sexual in content, which increased desire! Their drummer really killed it with some amazing drumming. I thought he was spot on the whole night.

The second opening band was Silver Starling. They are from Montreal, and at least one of the members is from the group Arcade Fire, Marika Anthony-Shaw I believe. Marcus Paquin could really sing and did present a lot of leadership on the stage.  Check out their bio on the page listed. Pretty cool webpage. They rocked, and truly did give me the feeling of an Arcade Fire-esque influenced band, but this is to be expected, since they do play the same scene… somewhat.. or did… Listen and tell me what you think?

The main event. Band of Skulls . These guys rocked. Came out, put together a great show. I read an article on the show, and the guy was complaining that ‘once they get more professional, they wont find the need to turn their backs to the crowd’ bullshit. Me, I dig that, it means their really trying to groove together, their really feeling it. Russell Marsden was frequently playing with his amps feedback, trying to get it right, and wammying away with splendor like a guitar hero he will go down as.

Emma Richardson just plain out rocks. Her voice is just as beautiful as Russell’s is but more controlled. Russell seems to have more finesse if you will. But Emma is like what you’d expect a Ramones sister to be like: tall, long black hair with bangs in the front, and a seemingly shy or sublime demeanor to her.

In fact, they both had that feeling to them. Russell was singing through his hair the whole night, but this did not effect their show at all. In fact, it was great to hear some awesome music coming out of the speakers. Like I said before, I wish they would have turned it up.

I was standing right next to the stage the whole night, right by where all the commotion of set-up/take-down went on, so it was kind of fun to see all the band members scurry around setting up, breaking down the set. I’m a musician so I like to see how they do their thing.

I found that all three bands I was wanting them to play more songs. Keep on going, extend the songs, do a freek out solo, etc. etc. But thats just me.

All in all, it was a great Show. I’ve seen a lot here in Vancouver, and this one is one of the cool ones. All three bands impressed me, I had real close seats, only for a few songs there was an annoying girl beside me flinging her hair stupidly so that it would hit me, but I made it known I would appreciate her to move the hell away from me. I think the boyfriend knew I was annoyed and he kind of dragged her to the side after a while.

I always wonder if a band looks out at the crowd and gets to know the people directly around them. I guess in the end were all human aren’t we?

Posted in: Concerts, Reviews \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Charlotte Gainsbourg @ Vogue in Vancouver

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For my birthday, which just happened to be on the same night that Charlotte Gainsbourg opened her American tour in Vancouver, I had the pleasure of being entertained by said jewel.

You may have read my earlier post where I gave a brief review and a little biography, but this time I saw her live in concert. Odly enough, I wrote that blog before I had bought the ticket to this show.  Oh was she ever beautifully magnificent.  A lot of her songs she found herself holding the mic off the stand in her hands, intimately close where she could whisper her lyrics into the mic, just like I love her to do. Really, it perfectly topped off my day and sent me into a blissful haven.

Sometimes, at these shows that are sitting down, you get people that stand up directly in front of you, annoying you and their cheeryness….. but at this show, I think she controls the mood greatly with her persona so much so that everybody is just sitting there mesmerized by her. Very delicate and… hmm. Maybe its her French accent.

When she came out, you could hear people in the crowd gasp as they looked on at her, amazed by her presence, persona.. all of it combined. She came out with these striped pants, that had leather pockets and back side to them, which were bizarre in the most incredibly sexy way, and yes, I’d love to know where she got them from. She also had on this thin strip of a black scarf like thing that just hung around her neck, contrasting with her white tank top.

Her band was a pretty amazing crew. They all had character, even the bass player hidden in the back corner, and all playing with instruments of all sorts to get the sound of Charlotte. She had this fuzz pad thing, not sure what its called, but depending on where you touch it, and how you touch it, it creates space effects, which in my mind give her sound extra goodness.

The opening act that came on was AM, who were pretty damn good. I had heard about them before going to the show, and when I was there, I really enjoyed them. I love when a band pulls out the uke, which they did, and swelled my heart.

Another band came on after them, which I’m not sure was a official band with a name, but they fooled around, I suspect in pre-arranged song format. It was one of the guitarists for Charlotte and a DJ playing with knobs and a laptop. I forget their names, but I really enjoyed the singing of the DJ. I hope he start singing more. This act really bordered on a electronic act, if it weren’t for the fusion guitar that was being belted out. There were times where it was a little hard to handle, but others where I was quite enjoying it.

The whole night, all three acts were very soft spoken, personable, and cute. They all seemed very humble, and I most definitely would jump at the opportunity to meet any one of them again. If your reading this trying to debate whether or not to go to the show, GO. Buy your ticket now. Its just a shame that you all weren’t able to catch the show on Sunday April 11th with me, because it was the perfect venue, Vogue Theater, and a perfect night for myself, and I’m sure all the rest of the folks in the theater.

A cool fact that Charlotte mentioned is that the night I saw her, was her first show in America of the tour, her first tour, and her first time in Vancouver, so needless to say I felt incredibly honored. For more of her tour schedule, and to see if she’s coming near your check out her webpage. Charlotte, if you happen upon this blog, I wish I could shower you with big hugs in thank you for what you’ve given me, keep on truckin girl.

As a side note, I’m slowly starting to go to concerts again. Its been almost a half year since I’ve stopped, to hopefully focus on my own artistic interests, and it was a really nice way to get back into it again. I am trying to keep it to shows under $30, which Charlotte wasn’t! Neither will Jack Johnson, but what can you do…

Did anybody else go to the show? Love to hear what you thought about it.

Posted in: Concerts, Reviews \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Feeling Good

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I came across this article today and I thought it would be best if I came out with a feels good blog too. Cause today feels good, and thats just the good truth of it.

I’m sitting in the living room, got some Gnarles Barkley playing, and I just turned up the bass. Life is good.

 

Enough of the that silly talk.

To feel good is essential to living like a champion. Some people start dwelling on things that they cannot take any sort of control over. To be more specific, some folks start to dwell on things like why can’t ‘this person’ change and do this, why can’t ‘the teacher’ change the curriculum to better suit me, why can’t ‘my roomate’ not slam the door anymore.

You may notice my placement of quotation marks in that previous paragraph; cannily placed by yours truly. It was placed there to pull your attention. It was placed there to hopefully pull your attention to the point that one  shouldn’t look for an answer to the question in a source that is outside of their own circle of influence. Yes, I am stealing this from The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey. Mr. Covey points out that there is a circle of influence that everybody has around them. Primarily people we have direct influence on, mainly behavior. Think people like parents and siblings.

A lot of stress can be accumulated from worrying about the wrong thing. I once read something that brought to me the idea of  productive  procrastination. This is basically as it sounds. For example, sometimes one can find themselves fretting over things that they don’t want to do, so they get distracted with little things. Much like what your probably doing now: procrastinating and reading this! 🙂 Either way, I would probably call this productive procrastination because this article aims at focusing on learning the mind, in new and exciting ways. Or, like I believe, it can reinforce facts that you’ve already either known, or feel like you knew. That could be some kind of a paradigm shift if you care to look at it in that light.

The secret to solving this stress and moving into the feeling good place,  is brainstorming, or at least throwing the worry or stress factors around in your head, thinking: “What is it exactly that I’m worrying about?” Soon, yes I promise you, soon you can make a list of things in your life that need to be focused on so that you can reduce the amount of stress, increase productivity, make yourself self happier, and love life a little bit stronger.

I was just about to say that even in the end, the devil wanted to be happy. But then, I am probably influenced by television programming thinking that the devil ever wanted to be happy… Perhaps he only had a interest in doing the baddest, most hate filled things he could think of. So.. bad example.

Remember to focus on things in your life that you can change. Things that you know that you have an influence on, like happiness, being cheerful to people around you, giving support to people around you, having no doubt about your intentions in life, and going for them. What I do to stay focused, is write myself little notes to remind myself of what to focus on, a to do list if you will. Also, I have a quote of the week that inspires me to do what I want to do.

Do you have some ideas on how to make this system more successful? How to continually be a content person at peace with the world? A person who feels good?

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Chicken au de Rouge -or- Red Chicken Spaghetti

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Tonights dinner was what I call Chicken au de Rouge, and yes, I do think I’m fancy because I put a French twist to the title. It consisted of fried chicken with a red tomato paste on a bed of spaghetti. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and its a recipe I stole from my girl Sare, but she’s nice like that and doesn’t mind sharing a bit.

Ingredients:

  1. Onion (2 slices)
  2. Carrot (1)
  3. Mushrooms (4)
  4. Orange Pepper (1/2)
  5. Red Pepper (1/2)
  6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Spices:

  1. Sesame seeds
  2. Poppy seeds
  3. Paprika
  4. Ground coriander seed
  5. Basil
  6. Oregano

To start off with, get some water boiling for the spaghetti. While your waiting for this, I emptied two cans of tomato paste (little small ones) into a pot, and put the heat on very low, leaving it to simmer. I added about 2 cans of water to this mix over time, stirring the entire sauce constantly. Take 3 cloves of garlic, mash them up into a paste, and add this to the sauce. Also, take about a tablespoon of basil, tablespoon of oregano, and two cloves and add them to the sauce to give it flavor. Don’t be afraid to go crazy on these spices for you cannot have to much. Stir it lots. At this point I put a lid, very loosely and crooked, on top of the paste, just to keep the pot from spitting out the paste all over, not to keep the steam it at all, in fact, you want to let it breathe. Stir this frequently to keep the paste from burning on the bottom of the pot.

By now, the water should be boiled, put the spaghetti in there, and keep it boiling. I don’t use salt in the water, but do as you choose.

Turn on the chicken now. I spiced it with some sesame seeds, poppy seeds, paprika, and some ground coriander seed, along with a splash of extra virgin olive oil to keep the texture nice and juicy and non-stick. Stir occassionally.

Take the time now to cut up your vegetables. I cut my onions first, so I could put them into the chicken right away to get them roasted a little. I used half a red pepper, half an orange pepper, 4 mushrooms, 2 slices of onion, and 1 carrot.

I wait until the chicken is just about finished cooking, that is, there is no more pink showing on the chicken. I stir the chicken occasionally, so when it gets to the point of almost done, there is only about 1 or 2 chickens that have a slight bit of undone (pink) to them. Flip those pieces showing pink so they cook, wait about 2 minutes, and then at this point add all the veges to the mix, and cover the pan with a big lid to let it steam cook for a few minutes.

The spaghetti should probably be done by this time, so strain that and set it to the side.

When the chicken mix has been steaming for a few minutes, remove the lid, and pour the tomato sauce (that you’ve been stirring constantly!) into the chicken and vegetable mix.

At this point, I don’t like to let it cook for to long with the sauce in there, I like each thing to keep its own taste, and I like my veges to be a bit hard. I keep the heat on low, so the sauce doesn’t spit everywhere, and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, until I get to hungry to wait any longer, and then serve!

As you can see, I added some cucumber slices, and red & orange pepper slices to add some gourmet appeal. I’m trying to remember the old axiom: “Appearance is everything.” Its a long and slow battle trying to make dishes pretty.

I’d love to hear if you make this, see any pictures, and how you liked it if you try. Any suggestions on how to change the recipe?

Posted in: Cooking \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Jambalaya – Yumm

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So tonights dinner consisted of my own rendition of a Jambalaya. It was amazingly delicious, quite possibly from the sausage juices, more great meat found at Devicks Ranch.

To start off, I put the rice on as usual. 1:1.5 rice:water combination. For myself, it takes about 1/3 a cup to make enough rice.

Then, I chopped up the sausage into little slices, and put them in the frying pan, which I turned on at the same time the rice came to a boil, turning the rice down as low as it goes after it came to a boil.

Then, I chopped up my garlic and onion, putting them in as quick as possible with the sausage, allowing them infuse their flavor into the sausage.

At this time, get a little water boiling below a steamer for the peas or corn to come.

While waiting for the frying, chop up a carrot(1), mushrooms (4), and red pepper (1). Wait until the last 5 minutes to put these vegetables into the frying pan with the sausage. When all the vegetables are in the pan, put a lid onto it for a few minutes to steam the carrots and red-pepper a little, to reduce the crunch just a tid bit! 🙂

At the same time the chopped veges go into the pan, put the green peas (1/2 cup) or corn on to steam for a few minutes.

When all things seem done,  pour the rice and peas into the frying pan with the rest of the Jambalaya; mix it around getting the rice soaked in the sausage fat! Yum. And presto!

Hope you all enjoy, more great food ideas can be found at Exercise and Mind! Let me know how it turns out; I’d love to hear.

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Fast Completed – Mission Accomplished

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So, My fast has now been accomplished. It was a great journey, and I really felt good about doing it. Although, the last 2hrs was probably the hardest. I ended up starting to cook my dinner at 630 (end of fast was at 7), thinking that I’d be done making dinner by 700, but it turned out I finished making it by 645, SO, I had a very insistent roomate who persuaded me to not eat until 700 exactly, by his clock. That part helped me wait until then.

I started eating slow, and continued that way the whole meal. Taking breaks. I didn’t want to eat anything to fast as to hurt my stomach. The whole time eating I could hear it sweetly calling my name in happy lamenting.

My stomach grows hungry again as we speak. This might clear the fridge out this hunger…

So I’ve learnt, as I’ve stated before, that I will not die from starving, and that I can survive. I now know what its like to starve, and I’ve gained this valuable knowledge about my body.

I’m not really sure what else I’ve learnt. I didn’t do soul searching, or meditating, it wasn’t about that this time for me. It was more, I guess, about cleansing my body from badness, and to gain a new understanding of how it works. No, it was not about getting skinny, I’m very fit and lead a very healthy life. Yes, I follow exerciseandmind.com very rigorously.

Anyways, I’ve survived, and will live to tell my friends, family, children, and grandchildren about it.  Yai!

Does anybody out there have any other thoughts on fasting they would like to share with me? I’d love to hear!

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Hr. 60 of 72hr Fast

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This morning I’m not feeling like doing a whole lot. I’m really starting to feel my body getting weak. It’s almost like a drunk feeling, maybe its some kind of diabetes yelling at me? Who knows, wish I knew more.

Getting up to quickly makes my head go a little bit light headed (more than usual!), which probably isn’t the best thing in the world either. I’ve been talking with people about my fast lately, and a lot of them are saying that I’m just being stupid, and whats the point of it, which is a very hard question to answer. How can you explain instinct and primal urges? Can you explain how you get the urge to have sex? Is “she’s just really hot” a good enough reason? hmm.

Suppose I should get some homework done today. Its really hard for me to focus these days. I feel like I should be doing something spiritual to go along with this, but it just seems daunting to focus on not focusing if you can get my drift.

Today is a horrible gray day, suppose I should be thankful that the outdoors aren’t calling my name, for I don’t really feel like going outside today. I’m kinda in a slump lately, which probably isn’t the best thing either for my state of mind for doing this fast. Oh well, I’m a strong fellow, I can put my mind over any matter, and I WILL BE HAPPY ABOUT LIFE.

Any suggestions on something I should try while in the late hours of my fast?

Yesterday I noticed that I started to smell a little bit. More than I normally do 😛 . I guess this is any of the toxins that are choosing to come out of my body. I imagine that today might be about the same. I’m curious how its going to be with regards to that. TBD.

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Hr. 48 of 72hr Fast

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Today was much more of an active day than day 1 of the fast. I had school for about 4 hrs, and have just finished cleaning the kitchen. Yes, I’m getting ready for cooking again!

I’m learning lots of things about myself, even after 2 days.

  1. I’m a human being, and I am capable of of not eating for 48hrs so far (hopefully 72).
  2. When I get hungry after not having lunch and my stomach grumbles, thats all mental.
  3. No, I will not flop over and die if I don’t eat. It will be a slow process.
  4. Certain things loose their validity (ie. negativity, grumpyness, hostility, and remedial conversations.)

This morning, while ironing my shirt, I heard my stomach grumbling. This was the first time since I’ve started my fast that I’ve heard my stomach talking to me. Nothing major though, just the morning blues it turns out.

Now, my roomate is sitting next to me with the wrap that he’s just made, smelling of roasted garlic spice and boy oh boy does it smell good. Also, today I sat down at school right next to the pizza lunch going on. I suppose not the best places to sit while on a fast. But, my mind is stronger than that, I will not take the salted nuts he’s just offered me, I will take my stand and wait another day. Yes.

Nothing else really to note here. Slight light headed’ness. Last night I had a headache, but I’ve been getting those lately for some reason. I guess you could say that it was part of the motivation to start the fast. I noticed that today in class, my legs fell asleep when resting on my knee a lot quicker than usual, but I honestly expect such things to happen when I don’t feed my body food, and also that when I walk for a long time the bottoms of my feet hurt a little bit.

So, so far, all is good. I’ve been dreaming of double chocolate cookies all day…

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