Happy Halloween!
Have fun and be safe!

Inventory of Damages
Damages to my pocketbook that is! Today was payday. Here's where my money went tonight:
*batteries and lightbulbs
*assorted fruits and cheeses
*new contact lenses
*2 pairs of pants
*4 pairs of shoes
*2 pairs of nylons
*Brooklyn marathon 1977 t-shirt
*2 eyeliners, a lipstick, eyeshadows, and fake eyelashes
*feather boa
*garter belt (obviously part of my halloween costume)
*white patten leather neck tie
*jelly bracelets

ER makes me happy.
Whoa- I just turned around and little kitty meow meow has managed to jump all the way up on my bed. She shocks me everyday. All this naughtiness... If the squirrels in the backyard weren't hunting her, she would definately be an outdoor kitty. She has just jumped up on the bed 20 times despite the fact that I ssshhh her off immediatly. She's not getting it. Why is my kitty so bad?

Plannning my Escape Route... So I spent yesterday beautifying my resume and there are a few jobs I found that could be cool. Two of them are at companies I use to work for so that could be an easy transition. I think what I really want (but would never happen) is to be laid off so I can collect unemployment for a while and work on home projects. I know this is a rare and foolish desire to have in the Silicon Valley, but I could really just use some time to be domestic for a while. And this job is driving me into a depression of some sort. Not that I'm really depressed, but I tend to keep subconsciously sabotaging my current situation. Sherry use to not work in a work setting and they just kept her around until finally they let her go about a month and half ago. And it all worked out. Now she is a FAMOUS ARTIST! Her stuff is selling and she has 2 shows coming up. Self sabotage worked for her, but my company would never let it work for me. I really don't need that much money in life. My only bills are my cell phone and my car payment. I think the only reason I have to work is to support my car which I wish I didn't have to have. I know I have written before about how terribly unimpressive our transportation infastructure is. My car is costing me an average of $750 per month. The monthly cost of transportation via NYC subways averages about $200... a completely attainable figure if I was on unemployment. It would be even less because I could cut out the cost of going to work and back. But here I have to have that car. No debate about it! The situation here is that even if I don't work, there are still too many places I have to go to that are unattainable via public transportation. The 20 minute drive turns into an hour and a half bus ride with 3 transfers and a .8 mile walk. Ridiculous! Anyways I am about to send out this resume out for "my childhood dream job" so wish me luck!

Foxworthy House Productions presents

Alright... Weekend Recap:

Flew into Newport Beach Friday night. I almost turned around when I got to LAX, but too late. The balance on my voucher had vanished into thin air. Met up with the boys to celebrate Tim's birthday. "Boys" were our core little group and then a bunch of guys who live in Tim's apartment complex. There is this one guy Bryan who was there. He's the person that everybody assumes we know each other but we don't.
"Oh, You know Bryan" "No, I don't know Bryan" "Ya, I'm pretty sure you met him at um..." "No, I've never met him." "Are you sure?" "Yes"
So anyways I finally met him and we hit it off great (despite the fact the way he talks and his facial expressions are earily too much like Frietas'). By the end of the night we were pretending to be engaged in some ploy to introduce Sunstar to women. By the way, this was not my idea. Thus, guys are just as manipulative and play games just like women do. I personally have never came up with a stunt as elaborate as these for the sake of meeting someone. I'm sure Carrie would disagree with that statement. She remembers all the crazy things I do that I block out of my memory.

Saturday was the birthday party for my nephew. It was a pirate party and costumes were mandatory. I looked more like a gypsy than a pirate. And my neice won the Boys division in the costume contest at the pirate festival. Judges couldn't tell she was a little girl. My poor little girl. She's real cute though. Check out the pics posted Saturday.

Saturday night, Chris drove up from San Diego to hang out. Chris, Bryan, Sunstar and I hit up Pierce Street Annex. I loved this place. I wish I had known about it when I lived there. But everything grew strange as the night progressed. Boys get drunk and do stupid things... Liz gets annoyed... Boys think Liz wouldn't be mad if she was also drunk, therefore it is my fault that they do bad things. Bryan picks up a stranger on the way home... some drunk fellow who follows him home. I get there and the boys are annoyed with their new tag-along and too drunk to figure out how to kick this guy out. (Drunk Boys= rude to girls, but oddly enough overly polite to strange men). Anyways, I have to regulate this situation and get the guy out of the house. And then boys sit around laughing and telling the same lame story over and over again repetitively until I make them all go to bed. In the morning nobody remembers except me. Nothing new there. Weekend with the boys really makes me miss having girlfriends.

I hit up Rock Harbor Church which was great. They are doing so much cool stuff in their community. It's a shame I can't be apart of it. Run into Jason Macabee, an old elementary school friend who also migrated to the OC last year. When I lived there my crew consisted almost completely of people from elementary and high school. It is a popular migration pattern. Then mom, kitty, sunstar, and me piled into my little ford focus and made our way through the ashes to home. I don't remember the drive or if I saw the fires. I was asleep the whole time.

Sunstar came home with me to run errands. So Joey stopped by last night and that boy looks good! He is the big fitness junkie who is all buffed out but this super diet he has been on sure worked because now he is just straight chiseled. I still think he is unnaturaley big (like that pic of Arnold Schwarti...), but all the girls seem to disagree with me on that.

Ahoy Matey!
Pics of my too cute neice and nephew at his 4th birthday party at the San Juan Capistrano Pirate Festival.

5-4-3-Counting Down till I blow this joint... 40 more minutes until I make my escape. It's not just because I'm leaving town. It's kind of like this everyday. Just waiting till I can leave. And now I'm just trying to count the days until I don't have to come back at all. I think I have psycologically gotten myself so pumped on the thought of change that there is no way I can even consider staying put now. So I best be getting real serious real soon about this search for a better bolder and brassier new landscape that I can call "work".

Moving on to Plan B
Well my perfect little weekend plan had a glitch. This glitch that screwed everything all up was that the airline voucher my sister sent me expires 10/24 as in tommorrow. So I can't fly out Saturday morning. I have to fly out Friday and the last flight out is at 5:30. So then all of a sudden I am in the position to choose between here and there.

Here... great party on Friday with lots of friends, a baby shower on Saturday and a birthday bash with close friends Saturday night and maybe even a little productivity on Sunday... OR There... Go out for Tim's Birthday on Friday, Seamus' Birthday and family time on Saturday, Go out with Sunstar (haven't seen one of my best friends in months), Tim, and my sister Michelle (who I also don't see often) on Saturday, Go to my old church, make vacation quota.

So I called Chris and told him I wouldn't be able to make it tomorrow. Possibly the wrong decision but you can't go living your life in regret. So instead I went out with the boys tonight. We hit up the V-bar in Santana Row.

Me, Ben, James, Chris, & Will

I had a good time because I was with good guys... guys who impressed me with their behind the scenes conversations. I was so impressed by the glimpses of compassion, fashion, humor, monogamy and paternal instincts that peeked out of each of them. It's 1 in the morning and I have to go pack now because I'll be leaving straight from work to go to the airport.

31 Days Until My Birthday! And I think I'm going to throw another big party so you might want to keep the day open... Saturday, Nov 22. And if you are around town this weekend you may want to hit up another real big party tomorrow night at James' house in Cupertino. Don't know James? Who cares! Call me and I'll give you directions. I have specific orders from Chris to invite EVERYONE who goes to my parties in hopes for the same mad turnout. But he doesn't need me. With a promoter like Mr. Chris Friend, this party is sure to be off the hook. Oh, heck... the address is 18901 Pendergast. Mapquest it!

This morning I woke up at 5 AM and decided to get into my garage loft and go through boxes. I pulled out all those old tshirts I have been saving in motivation to finally sew myself that tshirt quilt I've been wanting to do. And I found my old high school uniform that I am using in my halloween costume. And thank goodness eight years later and it still fits! Then I spent all this time working on my hair and finally got it to look awesome... as in "better than my hairdresser" kind of awesome. So I celebrated conquering all that hair frustration by heading to the DMV and getting a new license. My old one has been MIA for about a month now.

Lonely at work without Cindy... 3 more work days without her.

Regretting Making the Cut
So I've been itching for change in every aspect of my life which is easier said than done. So basically I took all this stirring energy out on my hair. I had an appointment with my life long hairdresser (15 years together). My intention was to perm the bottom half of my hair so I wouldn't have to spend a half hour curling the ends every morning, but she explained to me that I would have to use the curling iron anyways. So I decided to get bangs. I haven't had bangs since I was in 2nd grade. Well maybe there was a brief period in 6th grade when I had them. It was the hair-bear era. Well, yesterday it looked real cute. See the pictures below... I'm smiling. I thought it was cute....

Until this morning when I got out of the shower and tried to replicate what my hair dresser did the day before. Ya, that didn't go to well. I tried curling, rewetting, redrying, twisting, reparting, retrimming, straightening, and everything else, but no good. Finally I got them to kind of blend in with the rest of my hair and just pretend they aren't there. I was literally in tears with frustration. I hate my bangs. It was a complete mistake that I now get to live with for 6 months until they grow out. And I'm so disappointed that my hairdresser would give me something as horrible as bangs. She should know I couldn't handle these. She stops me from dying, cutting, or perming my hair, but she gives in on the bangs. Doesn't she know me better than that.

My mom took my car and my kitty this morning. Kitty is going on her first road trip to visit my nephew and neice. Look how big kitty meow meow has grown to in such a short time. She was as big as my hand last week. Now she is as big as my foot. I call this picture "Brown".

How to be both here and there
So I have it all worked out for this weekend. I go to Chris' party on Friday night. I don't go to bed. I go straight to the airport to catch the 6:30 flight to SNA via LAX (using the $200 voucher my sister Deb is giving me). Get in at 9:15. My mother is switching cars with me and driving mine down there tomorrow (with kitty meow meow). So I will have her leave my car in airport parking the night before I arrive (nobody can pick me up). Then I go to Seamus' Pirate birthday party (turning 4) at the San Juan Capo Mission at 11:00. I perhaps hit the beach or go see my other sister in Del Mar or go out to dinner with old co-workers (or nap from exhaustion)... this part of the plan needs some work. Then I hit up church at Rock Harbor on Sunday morning (best worship in OC and a congregation filled with cute guys) and then drive back home with mom and kitty. I'll make it home with plenty of time to hit the gym Sunday night which I will really be looking forward to after the 7 hour car ride home. I manage to be in town for Chris' party, make my vacation quota for the month, and not really spend any money like I normally would. Not bad!

All Grown Up
I went after work to visit the Lewis family who I use to work for. Aldin and Parker have grown so much. I started watching Aldin when he was 10 months old. Now he is 8. They are part Japenese and part German. Aldin has the asian eyes, but he is very fair, blond, and green eyed. Parker is olive complexion with dark eyes and brown hair. But his hair has lightened up from swim and sun and now he looks like a little hawaiian surfer. I met their abnoxious labador puppy named Espresso. And their mother Jennifer has just started a business in feng shui consulting. The boys showed off their Ninja holloween costumes for me and introduced me to their new phase in toys. I love this family. I've missed them so much.

Ps. Both boys remembered me but had forgotten my name despite the fact that I was their nanny for 5 years.

Terri is awesome! I told her how the mirror she gave me was stolen and she emailed our contact at ClubSport and asked him to ship me another one. :)
Why do I want to quit my team again? I have such wonderful people that I work with.

I hardly ever leave my office for lunch, but today... the one day I go home for lunch... And in the 10 minutes that my counterpart was downstairs, Sombody came up to my office and stole my Renaissance Clubsport Mirror that I keep on computer. I need that thing so that I can spy on who is coming up behind me and check my makeup and know when I don't want to turn around and make eye contact because it's the chatty security guard. This is the second time that the mirror has been stolen. They were given to my team in a promotional packet, but everybody else works from home, has company laptops, and doesn't use theirs. Last time I had to search my team for somebody who still had theirs. Luckily, my Sacramento girl had one and brought it to me the next time she was in town. I don't think I'll be so lucky this time to replace it. I have other interesting toys on my desk that nobody ever bothers with. Why not take my UBS boat ruler or my San Jose Marriott picture holder or my Marriott squeeze cube? Why the mirror? The one functional trinket on my whole desk. Why?

Some of my Childhood Experiences that made my youth extraordinary...
~My best friend gave me a pony at the age of 7.
~I had a three story tree fort.
~My dad had a limousine business and would take me and my friends to places like the pumpkin patch and the movies in it.
~I went to hippie camp during the summer where I would live and work on a farm.
~I became the junior high youth pastor at my church when I was only 15 years old.
~I lived in the country and played in the woods and at the creek with pets and leaves and twigs as toys.
~I ran away from home to live with my horses.
~I had an imaginary friend named Okio (because I couldn't say Pinocchio).
~I had a speech impediment.
~I had no boundaries. I was allowed to go as far as my bike could take me.
~I went to an all girl high school.
~My neighbor was the NAACP president and I would spend countless hours playing with all her African cultural artifacts.

I loved my childhood. It was completely unique in everyway. I had so many extraordinary experiences and situations that impacted and molded the person I am today. Hardly anything was "normal" in comparison to others. And today I am in debate about my high school experience. How did going to an all girl school effect my social development? At the time I loved it. No boys meant no reason for girls to fight and every reason to have fun. No holding back because it didn't matter if you made a fool out of yourself because there was no one to impress. But maybe I needed that experience. Maybe I never really learned how to be impressive in the presense of men. To what extent was I handicapped in my ability to interact with the oppisite sex? Because I sure do feel handicapped. Especially on days like today.

Kitty Meow Meow's Big Adventure
This cat wakes up to the sound of my voice. Damn! It looks like she wakes up to the sound of the keyboard too. Anyways, she sleeps all day but the second I come home she is up and acting all inquisitive so I feed her and pack up a little bag of kitty essentials and take her down to SWIG Hall at Santa Clara U to visit Jessica. Well, it doesn't take long for Kitty Meow Meow to command the attention of half the dorm floor. Once everyone has had a chance to pet, feed and coo kitty, she then escorts Jess and I to fro yo before we bring her back home and put her to bed.
So my cat is amazing. She just got up and out of her bed, went to the litter box and did her business and then went back to bed. She is potty trained already. Yes! My kitty is so smart!

Finding Kitty Meow Meow
Today my mom was waiting for me in the parking lot at church when she heard a little "meow meow". She followed the wimpering cries to discover a tiny little kitten abandoned on the other side of the chain link fence. At the sound of our voices beckoning it, the little trooper clumsly managed to crawl over sticks and leaves to get to us. She is just days old. Her eyes were not even open and she was starving to death. With no sign of a feline family around I packed her up and headed to the pet store for bottles and kitten formula. She opened her eyes for the first time in petco.
When I was 5 years old I found a new born kitten and raised her off the bottle. Her name was Mommy Kitty and she lived to be 20 years old and just recently passed away a few months ago. And now I have Kitty Meow Meow. :) Of course, I still have my other cat Ming who is almost 19 years old. I found her when she was a kitten too. And kitty meow meow just reconfirms my potential destiny to become a lonely old spinstress living alone and loveless with just me and my cats. :(

Melanie is so good for me! She totally drags me out of the house. Half the reason I have a social life is because of her. The other half is because of Carrie. If it weren't for them I would never leave the house, let alone my room. Thursday night Mel & Gina take me to a new club, Elements. It sucks. If there were more people it wouldn't be bad though. After Mel's had a few AMF's I get them to go down to SJB&G where of course I see Freddie & Dave. But Dougie Fresh is missing from the mix... where's that boy now? We go check out Dave's new bar that he conveniently opened right next door to his old bar. Amazing that both are completely packed. Tres Gingos has a margaritaville style that reminds me very much of Sharkys in Newport Beach. One club blaring alternative/classic rock and the other blaring Hip-Hop beats. And if you aren't into either of these, he also has Voodoo Lounge at the end of the block. Put all your clubs on one block so you can manage them all at once. Smart Dave. I'd love to one day see him broaden his horizons beyond 2nd Street.
Gina, Melanie & Me


Freddie & ME & Dave
Then once again last night Mel drags me out with her and Don. Yummy Chevy's and then to Palo Alto's Q. Good times. I like that place because everybody seems to just be there to have fun and not so much to get their mack on.

Adventures with Wood
So step one to making my tv stand was to get the wood I bought cut. Home Depot couldn't do it because it was a precision cut (rounded on one side). So I go to my dad's house after work to see if he has one of those electric jig saws so I can do it myself... literally a 5 minute job. Also at my dad's house is Kevin (my handyman) and Wade (who lives in dad's garage). Their eyes light up when I explain what I need. All of a sudden these men are scurrying around the garage in search of extension cords, flashlights, saw blades... it's like their lives has purpose...they have a "Project".
It went a little something like this:
1. First they evaluate my wood and debate with me over my design of this tv stand (15 min).
2. They set up this huge fancy dancy jig saw (all the while telling me how awesome this piece of machinery is and how it will cut this wood in 10 seconds)....1/2 hour of set up.
3. I find my old backpacking backpack in dad's garage. They set up the air pressurizer to blast the dust off of it so I can take it home.
4. They spend 5 minutes delicately (and quite perfectly) cutting the precision cut needed for the project.
5. Then they bust out the sander and sand down all the edges for me and round them off (so as not to tear the fabric that I am going to cover it with)...20 minutes.
6. They spray it with sealant to water proof it just in case I spill anything on it... They tell me it will dry in just 2 or 3 minutes. I go inside to help my dad figure out his cell phone.
7. 20 minutes later I come out and the wood has been spray painted black and is drying. At this point I have to leave to get to the fabric store before it closes.
8. I come back 40 minutes later and the paint is still slightly wet. O-well. I take my piece of wood which now reeks with that paint smell and take it home to air in my garage.
So I didn't build the tv stand last night as planned, but I do now have the most perfect piece of rounded off wood. It made a 5 minute project into a 2+ hour deal but the experience of watching these 3 bachelor men jump into action to help little ole me was priceless. I think they were thrown off into thinking I'm helpless because I was wearing a cream colored business suit.
They were adorable though.

Today I had good karma... kinda. I was a very good girl last night and was very disciplined and today I was rewarded kinda. Back to this pic of the governor. I think it is disgusting. This is not the way the human body is suppose to look. I don't find all those muscles at all attractive. And look at how insanely small his waist line is. He looks like a circus sideshow freak. Now I have muscle bound guy friends that tell me how the girls really dig the huge muscles and all. I don't understand this because I don't know a single girl who is into that. Who are you out there? And what the heck to you find attractive about disgusting veins protruding from below the skins surface and bulging hard bodies? Which by the way are no good for cuddling up with... who wants a rock for a pillow?!? Anyways, I am off to try and build myself a tv stand. Wait, let me consult my post it note to do list. Is that really what I'm doing tonight? Yep, that's right. Hmmm. Well, upside: I get to hit up the fabric store after I get the wood cut.

Let me present our new governor. I'll just refer to him as "The Terminator" because I don't even want to try to spell his last name. Personally, I am very embarrassed by how this state has recently become a political laughing stock. This is not what I voted for today. But I'll do my patriotic duty and give my support to the clown that the rest of you all elected and I'll begin with sharing a little campaign slogan that Sunstar came up with a few months back. It is a direct quote from one of his all braun no brain movies. “Come with me, if you want to live.” Sunstar even made a poster with the pic and catch phrase for Joey to hang up at his office. Which doesn't suprise me out of those two fitness groupies. But other people whose opinion I respect alot also confided to me that they were on the Arnold ban wagon. Am I missing something here? I feel like I'm the only one with the sense to stop laughing at the joke and irony and really look at the big picture and how this may affect our state (or at least our reputation). I almost voted for the ultra conservative Tom McClintock just to maybe send a sense of balance out there. Granted Minnesota has a wrestler and I don't think they have gotten too badly for that stunt. But they also don't have the rap sheet that Cali has. If you have any doubts about this recall making California a complete joke just click here.

New Hope for Dyslexic Population
"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Good news for Sherry!

Organized Living!
Once again I was feeling claustiphobic in my own bedroom. I was drowning in clothes and papers and product. And I think I wasn't very fung shui in my set up. So the whole entire weekend was devoted to creating a remedy. On Friday I bailed on going out and watched football at home alone instead (believe it or not). After NY I could use a down weekend and I was inspired to get rid of everything! It was good to see that my "East Coast Ambition High" hadn't completely worn away. I only managed to gather 2 garbage bags full of stuff to ditch though. Saturday morning my mom made the mistake of stopping by. I put her to work immediately shuffling things around in the garage and bedroom. By the end of the day all my furniture was rearranged, and I just needed to rebuild my cubicle shelves in the garage for my clothes. This morning after church I dragged my mom to home depot, target and starbucks (I still hate coffee, but I am all about tea now... preferably camomile or peppermint). $300 later I have all types of silver and iron organizational accessories and a room that is looking quite liveable. My printer miraculously healed itself. I merged my desk and vanity. I doubled my mirrors in the room. And my bed was finally given the central location it deserves. I am trying to break myself out of this habit I have of sleeping on just one side of the bed. I'm single. I should be using my whole bed. I want to be able to sleep in the middle. Also this weekend I upgraded my cable package. I stayed up til 4 in the am the first night having it. This will be the end of me. G-nite!

Tragedy Hitting Home
My friends and the California Rivers. It's been our obsession all summer long. It started probably around April when Christopher bought a raft. Every chance we could get, every weekend, sometimes taking days off just to hit a new river. And then last weekend four of my good friends went without me. I'm glad I wasn't there. There is only a one month span when they release water down the Feather River. On the last weekend of flow, the river was full of kayakers, rafters, and water sportsmans of all types. Brian brought a fifth... a friend from work... a friend that had never rafted before. And in a bad rapid, the raft flipped tossing everybody. Everybody took a beating struggling to reach shore. Some were rescued by fellow rafters on the river who witnessed the spill. But when count was taken something had went wrong. Where there were 5 was now only 4. Brian's friend had been caught in a current that pulled him into an underwater cave which became his grave. They were not able to find his body until the next day. They had to stop flow into the river to calm the rapids enough to recover his remains. I don't know his name. I never met him. But he was one of us. The river that we played in and lusted for took the life of one of ours. Tonight I pray for his family and I send out my condolences.

Birthdays! Today is the one month birthday of my blog so I am taking it public. It is also the birthday of my major high school crush, Mike Buckelew. Happy Birthday Mike (wherever you are)! And it's also Matt's Birthday and he'll be spinning at Cardiff tonight under his alter ego of MJ GAMEZ to celebrate! Sherry's birthday is coming up too, but I don't know exactly when. All I know is her party is this weekend. Wish I was in NYC still to help her celebrate. Happy Birthday Sherry! I wish you super birthday powers that make the scary art store guy not so intimidating and that you never find yourself with out a date to a hardcore punk concert again. And then next Friday is the birthday of 2 of my favorite boys... Jerome and Teak! Teakers is the most fun guy you will ever meet. That is why I miss him so much now that he never is around anymore. And Jerome is my childhood friend/ pretend brother. We looked alot alike as kids and he told everyone in summer school that we were brother and sister much to my protest. However, our looks are the only thing we have in common. Our paths split when we were still just kids and his led to incessant trouble. Unfortunately, last I heard he was once again being held against his will by the county. I'll have to call his parents to find out to what address I should mail his card. Hmmm. Other October birthdays... Tasia, Helen, Patty, Eliza, and Seamus.

New York was almost like going to a different country. It certaintly is a completely different culture. The daily differences in life are amazing. Some lend themselves to my liking and others make me greatful to be living where I do. But I did catch a glimpse at why these east coasters have such a regional self pride and why they consider the lifestyle of us westerners... well, stupid!

What I admire most and wish we had here was their amazing transportation infastructure. That one thing alone changes so much of their world. And our lack of an equal can be blamed for many of the western features that east coasters find so disgusting in us. My cousin-in-law seems to reiterate this notion of the fat, ugly, stupid, over sensitive, wasteful west coast population. Well, let me tell you that without that magnificantly efficient subway system hyping up their infastructure, their population would develope alot of the very same characteristics.

Sure we buy alot of excess stuff and are wasteful in that aspect, but at least we are obsessive about a clean environment and recycle religiously. I would be a minimalist too if I lived in their community. Here we live for the weekend run to costco or ikea so we can do our mass bulk shopping blowing hundreds in just one shot. But it is ludicrous there because you only buy what you can carry home and their homes are so small and without storage that you can't have anymore than the essentials around. But shopping is easier there because just about every store you need is in between the subway stop and your 6 block walk home. And our western population wouldn't be so fat either if we had to walk as much as they do on a daily basis. And then I realize for a second how it must be for them in the winter when you add the snow and rain and harsh winds to the whole factor. It reminds me of a "When I was a kid I had to walk..." type of story. No wonder this region of people can be hardened callous and rude. Not to say that they all are, but they don't think twice before they pipe up and give you a peice of their mind every once in a while.

And all that walking around town provides so much time for self reflection, to contemplate the world around you, observe people and systems around you and evaluate all things. You find the time to not only see the need and create the dream to fill it, but the time also to develop the plan, etch it into your mind and future, network it into those around you, and actually build a coalition to bring it to fruitition. NY made me so motivated, but now I am back to my world with no free time to just think. I found more peaceful silence in 5 days in that loud city than I had found in the last 9 months since I moved back here from Newport Beach. God bless New York and the dreams it harvests.