Dos Equis

I’m careening recklessly down the street, swearing at anybody who even thinks about getting in my way. I arrive at the credit union just in time to pay my mortgage before they start charging late fees ..and, in my paranoid state of mind, threatening to make arrangements for me to begin living on the street. I cruise along the shoreline with the top down trying to soothe my nerves. I make a sudden stop to parallel park ..and hear the sound of another driver calling me an asshole. I walk out on the sand ..drop my shorts ..and run into the water ..drenching the last frying nerve fiber. I still can’t seem to think straight. I walk into a liquor store ..dripping wet .. pick up a few bottles of Dos Equis ..a newspaper ..and a towel. I go back out to the beach to try and clear my head. Now something I’m reading doesn’t make sense. It says President Bush has just created the largest marine preserve in U.S history. Great, now I'm imagining things. I shake my head ..drink some more beer ..then read it again very carefully. Sure enough, he did. Says he was inspired by reading a Dr. Seuss book. The 'Lorax' reminds him of the ‘sleepy-eyed monk seal’ off the coast of Hawaii. That’s wonderful ..! My favorite Dr Seuss book is ‘Horton Hears a Who’. That’s where an elephant shows everyone how precious life can be no matter how small, humble or poor. I wonder if Bush will get around to reading that one too.

Chain reaction

There are some things in my life I don't understand ..well, actually ..many things. What I have come to notice, however, is that most things happen in cycles. For instance, I have a sleep-wake cycle ..as well a daily energy cycle. There are cycles for refreshing my senses ..keeping information flowing freely ..as well as cycles of integration going on inside my head ..keeping my ideas fresh and up-to-date. The ideas I have one day don’t always agree with one’s I have on another day. However, I don’t think of them as ‘contradictions’ ..they’re part of a natural rhythm that keeps me flexible and in tune with the world-at-large. When that rhythm is lost ..conflicts emerge. Suddenly things aren’t going the way I want ..or expect them to. Usually happens when I haven’t been keeping up the practice of refreshing my ideas. When these conflicts go unresolved too long ..they compound ..and I begin to feel at odds with the world. Harmony is lost ..and delusions appear. When harmony is lost ..friends come around offering advice ..when this fails ..and my life slides further into disorder ..doctors and lawyers appear.

Halfway home

I swear I cannot make it to the top of Franceschi today ..I break down about half way ..feeling parched and sore. I lay in the shade for a while ..then stagger over to the nearby photography school ..where there are no drinking fountains ..just vending machines and microwaves. I'm standing in front of them telling myself not to forget to bring cash next time when a student comes over and shows me a conference room where there’s a huge barrel full of ice and bottled water ..and I’m like ..Eureka. I coulda’ hugged and kissed the guy. If I had twenty bucks on me ..I would have given it to him. Next, I wander aimlessly through the photo galleries ..learn what the ‘layer-mask’ tool in PhotoShop is for ..then head back home through the County Bowl ..where the marquis reads Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler ..and I think: what an interesting show that would be ..the box office is closed ..I’ll have to check into that when I get home.

Summer time

I jump in the Alfa ..roll down the top ..slip in Melissa Etheridge and head into town. I stop at IHOP ..tell them I need a big table to spread out the morning paper ..my journal ..plans ..notes and things. Serious business. There’s a German family at a table nearby laughing ..they’re definitely on vacation. I put my eggs ..over easy ..on top of a stack of folded German pancakes ..the irony is not lost on me ..after two hours of strategic thinking I have no idea what to do next ..the sleeves on my jacket are a bit long ..just enough to make me look like a street person ..I decide to take it to Maria in the big old Victorian house at the corner of Chapala and Haley ..I drive down Anacapa to avoid State street (which is like Main street) ..passing by the library, I go "Hey, that sure looks like Anne" ..wearing blue spring colors and a matching cap ..I holler but she can’t hear me ..I cut across traffic, turn left through the intersection and drive around the court house ..wondering where she may have gone ..I look inside the library and find her over by the CD’s ..we chat for awhile and agree to meet later on and make plans for solstice ..there’s always a party in the park ..live music ..and a lot of people running around wearing funny looking clothes. Solstice is definitely my favorite holiday ..pagan idol worshipper that I am.

Cosmic Charlie

When stars flare-out at night ..they send invisible waves of energy washing up on the shores of Earth ..unseen but not unnoticed. Cosmic Charlie sees them ..or rather, he feels them ..like ripples of water bathing his skin ..as he sits outside his hut and watches the night sky ..high up in the Himalayas. “Another star bites the dust” he says to himself “Shiva is dancing like a wild woman tonight”. You see, to Charlie ..the night sky in not an empty void ..it’s alive and vibrant ..a colorful dance of cosmic beauty. He lies naked, stretched out on a rock, and lets the celestial rhythm pass through him ..replacing the worn out cells of his body. They can make him large or make him small. However, by daybreak ..he’s usually back to normal shape. Charlie hasn’t eaten in days ..doesn’t need to. He lets this cosmic exchange take place without interference ..replenishing his body ..cleansing his senses ..and refreshing his mind.

Aerial snowboarding

A flying wing is the ‘holy grail’ of aerodynamics. It would be the fastest and cheapest way to fly ..capable of taking you from Los Angeles to Europe in a little less that five hours ..and at half the cost. If you’ve never seen one ..it looks kind of like a boomerang ..and moves like a snowboard. Point it forward, it speeds up ..turn it sideways, it slows down. It would be the first plane to zoom like a fighter ..and float like a glider. First thing they gotta’ do ..in order to keep it from tumbling head over heels ..is make it behave like a snowboard. To do this, they have to load the onboard computer with everything that a snowboarder knows from years of experience. Things like the feel of the board .. changes in surface conditions ..body motions ..timing, etc.. So, don’t be surprised to see a bunch of geeks crashing down the slopes this winter. And don’t be too tweaked by this new type of sponger ..it may have some dead presidents to trade for what’s inside you head.

(I keep track of developments in biomimicry ..I'm weird that way)

Biomimicry

I am a true believer in the benefits of ‘biomimicy’. Biomimicry is the practice of overcoming obstacles by looking for ways in which nature overcomes them. For example, psychologists are learning how to treat depression by studying the traits of people who are resistant to depression ..computer scientists are developing speech recognition systems by studying the way people communicate in real life. I used to advise all second year psychology and computer science students to take at least one course in ‘naturalistic observation’. I’m reading today’s LA Times where researchers in the field of medicine say that biomimicry may be the only way they have left to fight life-threatening diseases like cancer and AIDS. The AIDS virus is a changeling ..it mutates so fast that doctors have a hard time developing drugs fast enough to recognize them. Vaccines don't work because antibodies can’t see them either. They’ve got sort of like a Star Wars shield protecting them. However, we are beginning to see that not everybody who gets the infection suffers from the disease. It turns out that the best chance we have of fighting AIDS is by looking for naturally occurring substances in the body that give these people built-in immunity.

Europe 2005

German Biergarten: Sister Nancy, Me, Saint Teresa and Dad

Online privacy

I’m not sure whether to be more concerned about online privacy ..or the incompetence of the Justice Department. They want Internet companies to tank up so much raw data (two years worth of online chat, email and websurfing) ..when they need information, it’ll be like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hydrant.

Sisters in Jade-Land

My niece Jade and sisters Jenny, Teresa and Patricia captured in a photo-manipulation

Goofiness

Click on picture ..maybe twice

Ozzz

Just a cheery lookin' mate from down undahh

Two nudes

My feeble attempt at doing something along the lines of Maxfield Parrish ~ Please click on picture to enlarge

Ocean view

Jim is in town today ..we’re sitting outside the restaurant at Arroyo Burro beach ..and he asks me if I’ve read ‘Da Vinci Code’ yet ..like he recommended years ago ..no, I haven’t ..I instinctively avoid ‘trendy’ literature ..but I am attracted to new ideas ..especially ones that challenge the established order of things ..and I know that DaVinci Code has a world-class premise ..it's also refreshing to see ‘information’ being treated as ‘holy grail’ material ..with all of the life-giving properties that that entails. I say, you know Jim ..I’ve been around the ocean most of my life ..and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that King Neptune has a hidden ‘grail’ full of information as well. What kind of information ? Well, if you believe that life evolved from the ocean ..then it makes sense that the secrets to sustaining life ..and curing life-threatening diseases ..are floating around out there ..I mean, would we have come this far if there wasn't something out there mopping things up ..?

California poppies

There’s a lightening storm passing through my head today ..disrupting my vision and rearranging the view. I can feel the ground shake underneath my feet ..as I go through the doorway ..and run down the street. California poppies and eucalyptus groves. I stop on a bridge above a lagoon ..and watch brightly colored sea water moving below. I walk aimlessly down the streets of IV (a sleepy little college town by the sea) ..lots of bicycles, birkenstocks, paisley covered halter tops and surf board shops .. students with sand in their hair and feet ..curve around me as they pass ..looking so fresh and pure ..it’s like worldly concerns don’t reach them here. Another lightening storm ..I duck through a bar door ..order a beer and start a friendly conversation ..which takes an unexpected turn and goes no where. I walk out on the bluff and watch the waves crash ..I close my eyes and feel the storm pass. Around sunset I hear somebody say: “Hey dude ..cha’ figure it all out yet ..?”

Zen ceremony

For Steve’s passage (see post titled ‘A passing’ below) ..I’ve prepared a short zen ceremony to be performed at the unity church later this week. They let you do that there. When traveling someplace new ..it is good to have a guide. Like most things in zen ..it is meant to be simple so it doesn't obscure the way. All that is needed is a bowl of water ..candles ..incense ..food items ..and flowers. It goes something like this:

• We perform this ceremony to help guide Steve on the path to his new home.
• We call on Steve to break the bounds of karma ..leave selfish desire behind ..and enter a world beyond birth and death ..delusion and suffering.
  
• We offer water to cleanse the lenses and reveal the path to existence beyond.
  
• We offer light to illuminate the path to existence beyond.
  
• We offer food to remind us of the cyclic nature of life on earth.
  
• We offer flowers to remind us that life is as transient as dew.
  
• We say goodbye to Steve in clouds of incense ..may it’s fragrance help him pass beyond the clouds that hide heaven from our sight
  
• We recite these words in hope that Steve is now at home in peace.

A passing

When Steve was a teenager he had the longest blond hair I’d ever seen ..and it shined. He looked like a rock star ..like the actor Gary Busey. Remember Busey’s son Jake in the movie ‘Contact’ ..? That was him. I remember high school ..some jocks were picking on him ..he told them that it would come back around someday ..after that they left him alone. Go figure (..?) He used to sell drugs ..but was getting paranoid ..said there were snitches everywhere. Then he disappeared. I didn't see him again until we ran into each other in college one day ..by accident. He was studying to be a counselor ..so he could help teenagers with drug problems ..he didn’t have to study hard. During college, Steve fell in love with a girl named Jody ..but she broke his heart ..and he took it real bad ..even dropped out of school. Still, Steve was as strong as an ox ..and had a kevlar constitution. He completed every one of the LA marathons he ran in. I remember one night he drove to San Francisco ..drank a gallon of burgundy wine ..got three hours of sleep in his car ..was sitting on the john when the starting gun went off ..and still managed to complete the San Francisco marathon with a time good enough to qualify for the Boston marathon. In July of 1991, the both of us met in Oracle, Arizona ..just outside of Tucson ..where his friend Janais Caprallis was chief architect for the Biosphere. We got a tour of the place just before they sealed it with ..rainforest ..monkeys ..savannah ..and all. Afterwards we had a big barbeque at Janais's ranch in the Catalina mountains. Man, we felt like cowboys on the wild frontier. My health and running practice took a nose dive around then. In 1993, Steve drove up to Santa Barbara and helped me get back into shape. Afterwards I ran in a 10-mile race. It was my personal best.

I’m so sad you’re gone buddy. I really love you. You will be missed.

Little red spider

I’m having my car reupholstered. I’ve never done that before. Some people say I ought to take it to Mexico and get it done ..others say I ought to just get rid of it. It’s almost 20 years old ..I guess that’s sounds like a lot ..but I’ve been holding on to it, not because I’m sentimental or anything ..but because it’s just so much fun to drive ..it feels like a skate ..I lean ..it turns. It even has a removable hard top from the factory ..also cherry red. I’ve been offered thousands for the top alone ..apparently you can’t get them unless you already own this particular model alfa even though it fits them all ..so they tell me that if I sell them mine ..I can go order another one for myself at a fraction of what they’re willing to pay ..they tell me they have friends who’ll be willing to offer me the same deal. I always say no. In fact, you can’t even buy this model alfa in the states any more. One time a guy came up to me off the street and offered to buy the car for however much I was willing to accept ..without haggling ..he pulled out a big wad of hundreds. I figured he was trying to impress his girlfriend, who was much much younger ..so I said OK ..seventy grand ..which is way way more that it’s worth. He knew that ..but I guess his girlfriend didn't ..because she's going like: yeh yeh ..I want it I want it.

Plugged in

It is my belief that a dedicated surfer knows more about the ocean than any well-trained oceanographer. It’s not because the surfer is more intelligent or anything ..it’s because he’s ‘plugged into’ the conditions of the ocean ..they make a bigger difference to him. Now, I’m no Joe-great surfer ..but I bet you I can see more shades of blue in the ocean than say ..a farmer from Nebraska. Living on the West Coast has fashioned my perception ..and tuned my senses to the signals of the region. It’s subliminal. I can generally tell what a day at the beach will be like ..the night before. For instance, when I hear trees creaking at night ..I know we’re in for cool dry weather the next day ..the ocean water will be greenish-blue and the surf will be fair somewhere farther up the coast ..like around El Capitan. If I can hear the sound of sea lions barking at night ..it means it’ll be a warm, windless day tomorrow ..and generally good surf up and down the coast ..from Rincon to Refugio. On the other hand ..indigo-blue skies ..sharp stars ..and a clear line on the horizon ..tell me there’s going to be an offshore flow ..making the air crisp ..the water glassy ..and the surf tubular ..a most excellent day to dodge work. I like an offshore flow.

Mystic transport

Here's another theory of consciousness ..I may have caught a glimpse of this one time ..I call it ‘mystic transport’. It’s like going through a gate where there are no doors ..into a passage without walls ..then down a stream and into a pool of consciousness that spreads out past the barriers that ordinarily exist between you, me and other people in the room ..like a motion picture where the line between actor and audience disappears ..the scenes go backward as well as forward ..and time loops around so that the past reappears containing elements of the future.

Sense of proximity

I have another theory that says we can look even farther than the periphery ..and tell when someone is approaching ..or even thinking about us ..at a distance well beyond the means of ordinary senses. I call it a sense of proximity. In prehistoric times, it was part of a perceptual system that picked up early warning signals ..but atrophied with disuse. Who knows, there might still be remnants of it laying dormant in some people.

Peripheral vision

My theory is that we all have the ability to look into the future ..a few steps ahead of the conscious-making operations of the mind. What’s out there is mostly raw sensory-data .. energy, vibration and stuff like that. What we consciously perceive is what the senses have been conditioned to let through ..like a semi-permeable membrane. Young children, who haven’t had so much conditioning ..experience more. Older adults, who think they know it all, are less receptive ..and consequently ..experience less.

Theocracy in the USA

I think the Bush Administration has set medical science back at least a decade. Although 10 years may not seem like a long time, when you consider the speed of scientific advances these days ..that puts us back to about the middle ages. It wasn’t that long ago that many of the cancers which are manageable today were considered a death sentence ..things like Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma and breast cancer come to mind here. Bush has moral issues with stem cell research, genetics and the theory of evolution. I’m sorry, but, as offensive as these fields may be to him ..myself and many others would not be alive today without the progress they made possible. Evolutionary science has provided major weapons in the fight against debilitating diseases. As someone who has survived cancer can attest ..these theories are ‘valid’ by virtue of the fact that they ‘work’. What better test is there ? I don’t care if they confound the minds of religious dogmatists. Denying the obvious is willful ignorance. It is an example of government-by-theocracy when the president demonizes scientific research. There is no place for that in a modern, technologically advanced, society. I am afraid of what two more years of his administration might bring. I do not want to live under the rule of evangelical Christians. Believe me, it is not a step in the direction of moral leadership ..we have Christian militias in this country who act just as uncivilized as Islamic terrorists. Remember Oklahoma City ..?

The road to recovery

I have a nasty cold ..it feels like I’ve been hit by a truck ..must have happened sometime around Thursday ..I should’a seen it coming after driving miles and miles of coastal road with wet hair and the top down ..on the other hand, it could have been something I contacted at the clinic when I stopped by to say hello ..lots of hugs and besos there ..or maybe it’s just my karma ..who knows ..there’s no end to the possibilities my mind conjures up when I feel this way ..so I stock up on lemons and tea ..Chinese hot and sour soup tastes good spiked with beer .. I turn my bathroom into a steam room and soak in warm water. I get absorbed in photoshop to help take my mind off things ..which is probably the reason I’m not very good ..it’s not really meant for the brain dead. Before I know it, it’s 4 am ..so I go to bed ..where I experience wave after wave of crazy thoughts ..like maybe I caught the bird flu virus ..or my neighbors are conspiring against me ..or my family is trying to disown me (they treat me like someone with Tourettes) ..or maybe my house is going to collapse from deferred maintenance ..and, at this rate, I'll never learn to speak Spanish ..how am I ever going to meet the right woman in this town if I can't speak Spanish.

Singapore girl

A photomanipulation using the
human form as subject and
the Sahara desert as background.