The Road West. 5/31/2015

May 31, 2015
It's just after 5:00 AM, and the sun is out. The temperature is pleasant now compared to yesterday when I drove into town. LOL. It was over a 100 degrees. Thank the Almighty I got my AC fixed. I didn't get other things worked on, but I got the AC fixed!

I started driving out of Minneapolis the other night after a normal Thursday shift at the Burke Center. I couldn't wait to get on the road. I had a headache most of the day, but I thought if I could get just far enough, it would be that much less I'd have to drive on Friday. So I drove to nearly the outskirts of Kansas City, MO.

The landscape in the Home Land was beautiful especially with the sunlight making the shades of green in the trees and grass much more vivid against the blue skies. As I drove and listened to the news a bit, I was really just trying to quiet my mind. I thought about the last time I had driven this far South; it was when I left MN eight years ago to finish graduate school in San Jose, CA. Like then, I packed my Jeep with all that I owned and was necessary for me to start out and getting a footing on what might be ahead. What happened after I got there and the years that followed I made a half-ass attempt to capture in a story narrative. True.

It turned out after a semi-comfortable night of sleeping in the passenger seat of my Jeep, that I was up and headache-free just after 5:00 AM. I'm not sure I read the directions wrong, but what is supposed to be a shorter trip by Google maps turned out to be me driving through corn fields, running out of gas, and likely ending up with the same amount of time driven than if I had just taken the interstate the whole way! I didn't even mention the thunder storm and tornado weather I got going into Texas that nearly ended the trip because of flash flooding and rain so thick I thought I was in a car wash! OMG. In all of that, I got to Albuquerque, New Mexico by 8:30 PM Mountain Time. I had hoped to get to my long-time college buddy's place in Pheonix, AZ, but it was just a little too far to risk on a Friday night.

Albuquerque was an interesting place. It was so interesting that I decided to get a room, get cleaned up, and go out and have a drink. Most of the people seemed to be Native American or a mix of native American, Mexican, and Caucasian. The mood was chill, and the homes looked like hobbit buildings made out of bricks with a sheets of ply wood put on the roofs. I'm not even kidding. The 'main' street had a number of really posh looking places, open area bar/restaurants, and my favorite spot-Starbucks. I returned to a brewery right next to the Starbucks I stopped at just after I got off the road. The people were interesting, and it seems I stuck out or at least my bright colored marathon running shoes did. I watched some sports event happening as I drifted in my thoughts about a conversation I had earlier in the day. I smiled and laughed a bit and that lead to a conversation with a gal sitting in front of me that heard me laugh. And, as is always the case, immediately wanted to talk when she found out I was from the Midwest because she was from Wisconsin. LOL.

I got into Phoenix late morning after an overly scenic road detour off of the interstate again! I mean...I'm gonna have to retire the Google map app if it keeps that up. But, I made it to Jon's place and got reacquainted with his six children! SIX!!! They have grown so much in the last two years since I'd seen them last; that visit was exactly two years ago when I left California for the Home Land. It's true. Nearly two years ago to the week, I was visiting my buddy after the most interesting period of time in my life...till the last three months of it that is. I also got to meet up with an old graduate school classmate that I was happy to see only after five years, Dr. Sarah!

We shared a couple of cold iced lemonades, caught up on the 'news' on classmates, and we talked freely about things she read in my blog story. She actually got to the end of it before I pulled it down! I couldn't believe it, and she agrees it should go into a book format. Hahaha. She also said she is rooting for my former and me (as others are too) because life happens, and maybe you shouldn't just leave it behind hoping it's gonna get better. You have to get to the emotions and get them out...hopefully together because in it real understanding, peace, and forgiveness can be found. I appreciate her take on the story and how it came across to her.

At the end of our meet up, we took a selfie, walked around a bit because the area isl really nice and exactly like one we'd run into each other periodically in grad school days. She was sweet and classy as always. Incidently, the more I listened to her speak, the more I thought she was from Minnesota! Ha.

Later, my buddy Jon and I grilled chicken, we took in the heat some, and eventually the day came to a close with period conversations on things eternal..I mean he's a senior pastor of a church, so I am always interested in what he has to say. "You have the power to heal physically, and the power to give life or take it verbally," He said to me in the process of it. "You may have done some permanent damage verbally, but you can bring life to it to it again and restore life where it was taken." He continued to say, and I agree with him. It's, in part, why I'm driving to California...to help foster healing in my former's life in not only my life, if she will allow herself to believe and have enough faith in me. All I can really do is show up like I had said so many times before with no action. Today is the day, I am rectifying that problem. Cause I'm the same, I don't always believe what people say, but I do believe what they do. So, today, I'm finishing the trip to California late afternoon if things go smoothly, and if I don't get sucked into an after church luncheon! LOL.  Stay tuned.

Minneapolis, MN Wednesday 5/27/15

It's Wednesday, and I was gonna post a sunny picture of a Minneapolis classic piece of art, The Cherry & The Spoon. But, as I drove down Hennepin, there was a serenity about it being almost car free that I thought was more real. As you can see, the streets are still wet. There is visible standing water in various places cause it rained all day yesterday! Ha. I guess we really got luck with that last minute sun appearance on Monday afternoon. This is Minnesota though. So, we can appreciate a little rain, and I usually hear someone say, "Yea.. We need it. We're low in the lakes." I hear this and other types of comments like it, and I think they have no idea what low water or a drought might actually look like...golden!

Everything is golden brown and not some shade of green! I'm mainly making reference to California where things are golden from being dried out this time of the year...at least in the south lands. Up in Northern Cali you get more of both, green, golden brown, and shades of grey, and they have an ocean of water but not enough rain. So, I'm taking in the green and taking pictures of it cause the color of things gives the sky some character. All the blues, greens, purple and white in the clouds are so much more vivid against the horizon of greens, and brick colored buildings. I suppose this is one of the things that make the Home Land our Land. The place people say is 'up yonder'! The place where people are stoic because the weather has shown us to not only how to wrap ourselves up to stay warm but to also shield our real person with niceness so that we keep ourselves 'safe' as it is! Yes.

Minnesota niceness goes along with Minnesota passive/aggressive tendencies. The passive/aggressive component isn't too far off from Mexican culture where things happen to us, and we just happen to be innocent bi-stands with no control over any of it. Hahaha. "I didn't drop the glass of coffee all over you. The cup fell from me and you just happen to be there!"  Is exactly what that looks like. You gotta love it. It reminds me of old TV shows where someone is breaking up with the other person, but, "It's not you. It's me," when it is really them, and it is really you making the call! LOL. Passive/aggressive is a culture all unto it's own. One has to acquire the skills to actually have the outcome play in your favor when you're caught in it. I'm definitely not good at this part of life. I usually just tell people they're missing something, not doing it right, or just plain wrong, and then tell them to google it a 'right' way of doing things. Maybe the 'google it' part is how I'm passive! Just sayin.

It's HUMP DAY, and the week is already almost over! Having a three-day weekend is nice cause you actually get two days to relax versus the standard 1.5. Cause you know how it goes! You work M-F only to be exhausted to really enjoy a Friday so you do things on Saturday and maybe Sunday early. Come midday Sunday, you're already thinking about it....what needs to happen for Monday to start up again. Now you're starting to worry half way through your 'second' day off, and that just takes the relaxation out of a two day weekend and really making it a 1.5 day weekend. Having three days is really ideal cause now you not only get two days off, you get that extra half day to worry about your week's first work day! It's true. Try it. I'm sure most of you agree after last weekend...less all the rain.
That's the news from Minneapolis, 'where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average." G.F.
Blog background sound today is by The Doobie Brothers' Listen To The Music.

Minneapolis, MN 5/26/15 Fog, Rain, & Sunlight?

It's another fabulous Minneapolis weather day with fog blotting out the normal view of the City, the Twins park, and building lights completely out. It's strangely comforting on the other hand. The air is easy to breath, and it felt good on my face as I made my way out to my Jeep.

Yesterday ended much better than the day started on the other hand! The morning was slow and dreary, but the wind started to move the weather system through to reveal the sun and all the unusual heat that comes with it up as of late. It was beautiful. I almost ran the lake, but I seemingly couldn't find the will to do so. Ya know. I drove over to Calhoun. I got my gear on. I started to stretch, and I thought that I might just walk a bit to see how things were moving. I walked over to the volleyball court to watch and stretch. Then, I thought, "Well, I'll just huff it over to the Biffy, and then I'll get started." But, no. I just walked back to the volleyball court. I was too sore....everywhere.

 I couldn't believe how stiff I ended up being after helping out one of my friends pull up the old kitchen floor for replacing. I was just gonna give a few pointers on how to saw the floor into patterns of manageable squares, break out the hammer and crowbar and start yanking. Again, I was just gonna help by showing how to operate the saw and get around tricky spots, but then it happened, I helped cut the first line into the floor. And like most guys with a power tool in their hand, I kept on cutting....because I didn't want anyone to mess it up. It was like Couching Tiger, Hidden Mexican!

A couple of hours later, wood dusted hair, and one air mask, the entire kitchen was up and out. I only felt O.K. about it because everyone else was doing the same thing when I look around the neighborhood. People were power-washing windows and walls, cutting the lawn, digging holes for flowers, etc. I guess that's what happens on Memorial Day. People do house projects. People start to get their homes ready for the upcoming season. Then there is the rest of the holiday's events...remembering the fallen and the ones still standing for our nations's freedom.

As the days dwindle down for the week, cause now it's a short work week because of the holiday, all the last minute things that I continue to add to my ever-growing 'need to do' list is waiting for me on my dash. Yup. There it sits... looking at me as if it wants to have a conversation on how best to get it all done before the end of the week. And it's likely the weather, but I'm just not all so interested in doing anything at the moment. I think I'm just gonna sit here for a bit and enjoy my warm cup of 'joe' and take in the passing traffic on Hennepin making its way downtown. I suppose most people will talk about what they did, where they did it, and whom they did it with..ya know the pretty typical non-dangerous, conversational material that people allow themselves to have with people they kinda know but have to keep just far enough away because it's work kinda of talk. Yup. That's what today is about for everyone. I'm sure I will do the same, but I've also been busy writing. I've been writing this blog, a few notes, and one letter (email). I've been writing, then rewriting, and ultimately never finishing the same letter. Hoppiolla by Sigur Ros (Click on the link to hear Life Sound Track music). If I get it done soon enough, I'll post it. I guess that's the news from the Minneapolis grind at Starbucks where the women walk in with yoga pants on, the men are trying not to notice, and the children usually are usually left at home just in case. LOL.

Minneapolis, MN 5/25/15 Are Dreams Glimpses Of The Future?! Updated 7:35 PM

The rain has been falling the last day or so, and it's pretty typical of the holiday, Memorial Day, and I made some commentary about it on FB. But, today, thanks to the rain, I thought about writing a little bit about dreams, dreaming, etc.

I believe it was in my second day of writing the Minneapolis, Mn 5/20/2015 post entry, that I mentioned I had been having a conversation in a dream with my former, short-stack, and that it was likely just the fact that she was coming into town that brought it into my conscious. In that dream we were working out the issues we had created and what might be appropriate solutions, issues, etc. We discussed all of it while we held hands in my dream. It was something that happened all of the time in our real life, and even though it is a small gesture, it comes with more than the security of holding onto someone close to you, it comes with acceptance of who you are as a person...a human being with shiny and not as shiny parts. It's a good thing when someone holds your hand.

Admittedly, when I remember dreams, I try and take inventory of what happened in them or what was discussed. I forget most of them, but every now and then, my dreams will affect me in a ways I can only explain from days past. I'm a old Bible generation guy, and the Bible is full of stories where people were being given direction in their life at that ever so critical moment in time via a dream. Kings, shepard boys, prophets, your every day person had dreams that either needed interpretation or at least were given some meaning so that they had an idea of what the future may hold.

I believe there is something to them...dreams, and I, at times, take time to write down the gist these types of dreams...especially the vivid ones that involve loved ones. When I was reviewing my text messages from the last number of months ago between the girl and me, I came across a text conversation where she had had a dream. It turns out that dream involved having a baby that she never got to see because she worked all the time as you can see above ( Pics of that conversation were removed cause I couldn't crop us out.). What was interesting was that this conversation took place more than two to three weeks before we actually knew we had things to really talk about in that department. So, I don't discount dreams or what happens in them very easily, but I do put them in the back burner of my mind because you never know what the Universe is telling you.


In the popular book titled The Alchemist, main character has a repeating dream over a few nights. It was the same dream on different nights that would end with him waking up. In that dream, the boy is about to discover something he's trying to find or understand in the dream, and it ends and he wakes in the exact spot each time. He didn't think much about it until one day he decided to ask someone who knew of dreams about it. Afterwards, he determined to do something different with his life and chase after the meaning of his dream. He sold everything he had to get a ticket on the next fairy over the ocean into an unknown land where he was a stranger. He was far away from his homeland. And because he was new to doing things of this nature, he was inexperienced in this new life...or ignorant of all the dangers that await him in his very immediate future. He found that he was robbed, nearly enslaved, homeless, and hungry. Yet, he believed that he had a reason to carry on in spite of his bad situation. By all practical measures, he should've given up because he was broke and could not buy himself a ticket back to his homeland and start over again.

What happened in the story was that he found enough calm in himself to look around and take in what his environment was telling him, and he started to work with what he had, his hands and his willingness to be resourceful and make the best out of a bad situation. He found himself a job for really what was just to be in exchange for food, but it turned out to be more than that. The man he continued to work for from that day onward grew rich because of him, and they both prospered. One because he was willing, and the other because he was able to read the signs or omens as they were called in the book.

Eventually, the boy earned enough money to not only buy back what he had lost the very first day of his endeavor, but he could also buy 100% more. You think he might've just gone home, but he didn't. He remembered the dream he had had, and decided to pursue it because it had grown silent in all his effort to survive. It was always there inside of him waiting for the right moment to remind him of what he needed to do next. Remembering it brought calm to him, and he decided that he needed to follow through with pursuing the meaning of that dream. If he didn't, he would always be in agony thinking about it...that dream and its possibilities.

The dream was the impetus to do something more than he could've achieved by staying home; it was more important to follow...even if he failed, which he did a few times before he got to it--the realization of that dream. Had he chosen to do nothing, the dream and it's memory would have driven him into bitterness because when people are given a task or a driven to see things other people can't see and do nothing about it, they are not serving their purpose...they are not responding to their so called calling in life. He knew he could always return home if he needed, but why when he could now go and chase after something he could never lose if he found it. "He is no fool that gives up everything he cannot keep to achieve the one thing he can never loose (The Bible.)." Although in the story he was after a hidden treasure, he was really after the internal peace that followed in his heart when he got to do what was ultimately his part of destiny.

It took him time. It took lots of courage. It took some believing. It likely took some pain...pain that was becoming greater than the pain change. He experienced loss, but he also experienced love in his pursuit, and it further empowered  him to go forward. It even took a wee bit of faith and a personal belief that he was right. He went to the ends of the Earth to find himself but also what it was he was looking. It just turned out that what he was looking for was exactly where he had started. We learn at the end of that journey that it was needed to refine his character and to open his eyes to see what was right under his nose the day he decided to chase after his dream and live out the meaning of his life. ...The Lonely Shepard.

There are other principles that come out of the story that are important to mind including feeling worthy of accepting your dream and its achievement because people may feel undeserving of what they have worked so hard to attain. They see all the other people around them, some of them close, that also tried to realize their dreams but for one reason or the other fail and decide to not get up again. We see and feel we should maybe not accept it, our dreams realization, and kind of just want to stay in the group like everyone else, but we need to realize it is our calling to accept our achievement. We need to not just for us but for the people around us, our real loved ones, that want to see us succeed and be happy. We move forward so that they too can indirectly participate in our success. They need us to succeed as much as we need to because it gives people hope. There are those that may still not like that you achieved and they didn't, but they eventually become neutral. The people that achieve their dreams, according to the author Pablo Cuello, are warriors of light. It is them, that help bring hope to the lost and give strength to the weak.

There is a part of my person that believes in the interconnectedness of people and human kind and the spiritual part of our person where the above plays out. A good example of that is when people that are close experience things the other is experiencing when separated by great distances. A mother knows her child is experiencing a bad event, or when expectant father's experience the pain and discomfort their significant other is feeling (there is research on this when living in the same space) but in a completely different place. We can become connected to a person via our spiritual person over time and experience, but there is reason to believe that we maybe be connected to one of them before we knew them in person, and why people say that time stopped for them when they met their significant other. But, then the body, it's memory experiences, and life. I suppose it could also be any number of things, but I believe.

In there, that 3rd dimension or intangible side of our person does not see time as we do in the flesh and blood, but rather is sees all of time as one single event with nothing separating our beginning and our end (Hawkins). If you think about from that perspective, if time was to be removed from in between all the events in our life from birth to death, everything would happen at one time. Maybe this is why the Universe is all knowing because time doesn't apply Him. So, I think dreams are the visions the spirit side of our person sees and we experience as dreams...along with everything else that creeps into our subconscious. So just maybe..maybe we should take a moment and remember our dreams because they maybe a premonition, a glimpse of things to come or things past, and what we need to be doing in the here and now. Thoughts from a Minnesota man in Minnesota, 'where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and the children are above average." G.F.

Minneapolis, MN 5/24/15 Memorial Day Weekend Sunday: Updated 1:07 PM

Lake Calhoun.

It's another early morning in Minneapolis, and the sky is grey and clouded. It's really likely going to rain today, which I guess after a few days of it not raining and some sunlight coming through the clouds giving hope that I might just make it around the lake a second time, is O.K.! That being said, I woke up just after 4:00 AM in some minor chest discomfort. I guess I should've skipped that last pork chop at yesterday's family potluck. It took me a good chunk of time to get back to sleep only to get up and try to run it off. Must be that pork chop....

As most family gatherings go, people ask or just talk about what's going on in their life or yours depending on who's at the table. I'm sure this is happening to the gal too, considering she's not been home for a while, but, yeah, people want to know things..even if they're not asking. Sensitive topic when it comes to family matters, and family does matter even in the distance and present silence. I continue to promote that I wrote my blog story, The Pursuit of Happiness, to explain some misunderstandings between my now former and myself and why things went down the way they did, but I also wrote it because of how people get defensive about their loved ones and how their positive or negative presentation of their other significant creates 'mentalities' about them in the people that love us..even if those perceptions/mentalities are mostly cerebral and not all real. I also wrote the story as a factual sequence of events and activities as a defense to what was becoming a perpetuating negative whirlwind around her, me and us that hasn't or won't allow peace in us or between us. I saw it coming, and all I could do at the time was write as it was happening to keep it all as correct as possible. It makes it hard to feel good about a person or what happen between them and you when some other third party person is calling every 5 minutes because they feel your life is in danger. Really...! Come on... So, you can imagine some social cleansing of the minds needs to be done one way or the other, but at the end of the day, it's about what we need and what we want individually and agreed upon as people moving forward devoid of outside opinion. Enough of that topic for today! LOL. 

The weekend is almost over, and it has rained way less than it was forecast to. We could say that we've had really good State fair weather because most of my perceptions of weather are based on what would be ideal State Fair time. As a kid, from the crack of dawn to the end of the day, I worked in the food stands at the fair working my way up from dish washer to a back up cook, to a lead cook, and finally a concession manager. In that time, the weather either makes for a really good day or a really not so good day. Hahaha. I enjoyed the sunny days that were cooler for working, but on a non-work day, I could care less if everyone seemed to be stuck to each other. It's what people go to the fair to do, watch, and wonder about...the 'togetherness', sharing food, and likely drinking a few alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (in no real order) before trying to remember which shuttle bus you came over in. It has been good to be home for the fair in years past, and I will be happy to do it again!! Sure, I'll miss the bitter sweet interchange of weather, music, and the emotions they drive in us, but I have a date with destiny on the West Coast that I'm a year overdue on. Like most of my life, I better show up and see what happens. Cause I know if I don't nothing can happen at all. That's the today's grind from Minneapolis,"where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." G.K. 

Minneapolis, MN 5/23/15

May 23, 2015, Starbucks on Hennepin.

It's just after 7:00 am, and I'm watching the sun disappear behind some darker clouds. The light is still strong and just warm enough to balance the cool breeze blowing on my face. Rain is likely today. You can taste it in the air. You can see it in the horizon, and smell it. Well most of us Minnesota people can. It's something you grow up inherently learning how to read....the weather. A Minnesota person can usually tell you if it's gonna snow, when it's gonna rain, and how humid it is outside by standing outside a few minutes and looking at the clouds. There are even some of us that can tell you how much time you've got before the rain is gonna drench you by simple licking then end of our index finger and putting it in the air! It's true. We are pseudo weather experts. Ya have to be in the transitional weather seasons of Minnesota. Hahaha.

So today, I have an umbrella, my sunglasses, some bug spray, and a rain hat..just in case I get to go grilling later. It's Saturday, and I might make it to a karaoke stage somewhere here in the Cities, which I was gonna do last night, but I passed out on the sofa after two margaritas...big ones (medium ones.). I'm a light weight with some hard liquors. Hence, the soft-serve chocolate dipped cone...my sober up remedy!

The streets were less busy than I anticipated last night, and then I remember this is the weekend people go "UP North" to the "cabin" so they can do yard work, day drink, and share a few dogs over a bonfire. Ahhh. Yesss. It's the beginning of the Summer season, and the smell of burning wood has already started to mark the air with that all too familiar scent and sound of crackling wood; it brings back memories of holidays past, places far away, and people...people we love to be around or that are no longer with us... Skinny Love by Bon Iver

I usually canoe down the St. Criox in Taylor's Falls this weekend and do some tent camping, but not this time. This year, I'm grilling with the locals and staying in town where I can hit a few birds with the same stone. It's my last weekend here for a while, and I want to remember why I keep coming back and why I'm leaving it....again. The bitter-sweet love of the Home Land. I always tell my guy friends in Cali that, 'in Minnesota..all you have to do is close your eyes, spin around a few times, and reach out and grab a gal. Chances are she's beautiful, down to Earth and potentially interested." They laugh at me when I say it, but then think about it for a bit as if maybe...this is the answer that they've been looking for considering. This is almost true! LOL. That's the news from Minneapolis "where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average." G.K.

Minneapolis, MN 5/22/15

         May 22, 2015  Memorial Day Weekend

It is a beauty outside today. I'm obligated to run the lakes at least once today. Yes. Yes, I am. It wasn't too many years ago that I made it home from California for this very weekend, Memorial Day weekend. It turns out it was raining the Friday I got in, and it eventually lead me to Kieran's Irish Pub on Block E where I formally played the role of a night lord when it was known as Bellanote. LOL. People have a tendency to return to places they know and are familiar with when looking for relief. The rest of that story you know because it was there that I sat next to two gals our for a birthday dinner--one of them was Missy, the Minnesota nurse and the character from my first blog story, This Unbelievable Life. That's not me shamelessly plugging my blog story but rather the segway into why I posted the picture I did above--rooftops in Minneapolis. You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC

One thing you as a Minneapolis person will notice is that if the sun is out everyone is out. And they usually do this on a rooftop or a patio if needed! The number of rooftop areas that have sprung up over the last three years is indicative that we want to be out and up as high as we can go so we can see what we can see. We even wait in line to do so; this part hasn't changed any. Whatever it takes just to be up high, free to see what we can see, while we drink, eat, and laugh. This is what Spring and sunny days are about. We want to see our friends, enjoy the sun together, and not freeze our asses off buried underneath all those layers of clothes. I think this is why people do hot yoga..so they can actually see and remember what people look like in the Spring and Summer months as motivation to stay in shape, to keep a positive attitude, and smile. "It's gonna be over soon." LOL.

I guess the number of months of not being able to freely be outside builds up in you a need to be out. We call this "cabin fever" but I never really understood what that meant as a kid considering I grew up in the projects a significant part of my earlier years and in the hood the rest. Eventually you get that people have a second home somewhere they have to drive to on the few or couple of days they have off. And in those days, they usually spend maintaining it so that by the time they get to the 4th of July, it might be ready to enjoy for a few more weekends before they have to pack it up again....for Winter. Yes. We love this ritual. We love the sweating. We might even say we enjoy the mosquito bites!!! Just kidding. Maybe if it were called, "taco truck' fever or "corn on the cob" fever because this is when it starts..the Spring, I would've understood it to be the time that people can go outside and not turn blue! People love it though. I love it, and having lived in a place where it's nice out all of the time, you can see coming back to it, how much the sun and the weather affects a peoples' mentality, their conversation, activities, and health. That's the new from Minneapolis today, "..where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and the children are above average." Keillor.

Minneapolis, Mn 5/21/15

May 21, 2015

                                                                                                                      The sun is actually out today. The air is cool, and there's a lite breeze blowing the smells of Spring by. Being up at the crack of dawn you hear things that would normally not be audible from all the hustle and bustle of people and cars. The sounds of the leaves rubbing up against each other as the wind blows, the sound of birds, and squirrels in the tree branches-you hear the City as it is when it sleeps..and starts to wake. This is one of the days that makes us forget about the Winter and believe that Summer may actually be here...finally!!

I had to figure out where a random sound in my front left tire well was coming from and was sitting at Tires Plus in  uptown to to do it. It seems that they might have the best idea on where as they just put on my new tires last week. Turns out is a minor repair that can wait a season unless it gets super humid in Cali, but I doubt it! LOL.

The Jeep is almost road ready. I guess it's always road ready, but I'm packing it with all the essentials that I need cause I'm playing for keeps, again, and I might not make it back. I've been everywhere with my ride, Legend, from the East coast to the West and from the North lands to the Gulf. It has taken me into and out of snow storms in the mountains, through deserts, cities, and the country sides. Whatever the weather, extreme heat or petrifying cold, my jeep has been there waiting to take me onto my next endeavor...the next stage of my life. LOL. I'm gonna send the Chrysler corporation the story of my Jeep in my life. Hell, with 244,000 miles on it, ya never know, they might send me a new one. Hahaha.

And, if you happen to be wondering, "Yes," I'm thinking of the gal. Why wouldn't I be!? She's gonna be here tomorrow. I know because I bought her the ticket to be here for reasons past. And I also know, like the days I would come into town, I didn't have enough time to sit and just relax because everyone wants your time, everywhere, and without regard to the fact you only have a few days. I always said to her, "They can fly out and see you if they really want to see you, and not just when it's convenient for them." Which means they will or you're gonna be forking out the money to come back into town to see them. Just sayin. Miss You by the Rollin Stones.

I guess. I used to come into town to see people that wanted to see me and do things that I actually like doing here like the State Fair, Canoeing down the St. Croix on Memorial Day weekend, Al's Breakfast in Dinky town, go to my favorite marshal out gym, run the lakes, camping in Interstate Park, and watching the leaves turn color in the Fall. Sure, I would even fly home to see the snow...for a few days, but then be really happy to get back on the plane to fly West. In between all of that I would remember all the things that had lead up to that very moment in time, sometimes taking a deep breath and getting somewhat emotional, and find the peace in it knowing that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. "All things are one, and written by the same hand." Don't get me wrong. I love the HOME LAND; she has always been good to me and why I always came back to her in my years of traveling the world; it is why I will come back to her in the time that follows...to remember, to cherish, and keep on keeping on. Even now. I guess it's time to get my 'lethargic ass' around the lake. Hahaha.

Minneapolis, MN 5/20/15

May 20th, 2015

The sun is just starting to pierce the cloud layer. It might actually be a half sunny day today. I only knew this because the little light I do get in the AM wakes me; it's something that I can't control very well. If the sun is up, I'm up. Sure I try and stay 'resting' under my comforter, but my brain turns on if it hadn't been going during the night, and last night it was going. It happens from time to time where in my dreams I'm having a fairly detailed talk about something. We're trying to figure out what to do or what happened in what seemed to be some past event. This morning, it was more of a "what should you do" when you get into town this weekend.

Yeah. I was conversing with the 'girl' in my dream even though we haven't talked in a while. We both were going to be flying in this Memorial Day Weekend to share the news of our lives with the people that mattered most to us. But, that part dream is over....the part where there was a family, and living arrangements being made, and plans for the future being drawn out. I'm mostly O.K. with it. I'm not as O.K. with the silence between her and me because of all the hype we both created between us, individually, and the hype we created socially; it seems impossible to retract what we tell our friends. Why? Because our friends are protective of us. They will take whatever you tell them that is negative about 'that person' and make it into a filter that never really goes away...even if you make a case for reasons to believe otherwise; they always thing the other person is taking advantage of your emotionality of the situation. So we as people need to be careful with how we convey the other person because the backwash is often hard to deal with...but you have to eventually. I know this because even my mentor was taken back by my removing my blog from the Web so the girl and me might have a bridge towards reconciliation--this doesn't mean we're gonna get back into a relationship. It, at a minimum, will hopefully become a peaceful and positive experience when and if we do see each other as it always had been when we started out. You need people you know or you can trust enough to get by in California. Cali is big, beautiful, and difficult and lonely when you're in it on your own and everyone is telling you that you made a mistake in going, and you start to think they're right, when in fact you just need to root some, and it is nice to know someone, anyone that's from a place you came from...here....Minneapolis in California.

So I don't discount all of the content of dreams. In these situations, the one that I had recently wrote about in my other blog, Get Adjusted To The Good Life, it is best to start over every day you are in and move forward with no intentions other than being real, honest, understanding, and full of good will towards anyone involved. I've personally learned, even in this series, that life is too short, and at times can be taken from you early. So, why bother trying to keep a negative outlook on people..especially the ones you love.

So, it's Wednesday, and I have to go be a doctor for the day. I'll put on my game-face. I will be pleasant. I will sing a tune or two. I will be precise with my diagnostics and care plans for my patients. They will have a great experience and want to come back when I prescribe for them to do so. I will say, "Yes," more than, "No." I will laugh and smile. I will think of the things to do in the sun if it stays out long enough for me to enjoy it at the end of my day.
Red Light by Jonny Lang

Minneapolis, MN 5/19/15

The Seasons of Change in Minnesota... May 19th, 2015

My alarm didn't have to wake me up today. Rather, the nearly uncontrollable amount of shaking work me up today. Shaking. I left the window cracked open to get some fresh air last night not thinking that we were going to get near freezing temperatures. It was just after 5:00 am when I finally decided to crawl out of bed to close the window and put on some sweats to regain control of my body shaking. "Soon enough I'll be having to turn on a fan or something so that I'm not sweating at night," I laugh to myself looking at the four green bins sitting on the floor half full or half empty depending on how you take your coffee. 

Inhaling the cool air, I understand why we like the seasons! Well the seasons of transition from the Winter's bitter cold to the more fresh and soon to be humid season--we like this part the transition! I guess we like the hot days of summer also, but I think that part goes by so fast we miss it because we're so worried about getting everything we think we need to get done because it's "nice" out. There are cook-outs, bonfires, street fairs, music festivals, beer drinking events, the State Fair, Grand Old Days, 4th Of July fireworks, the Uptown Art Festival, Pumpkin carving, roof-top socializing (which is all we really prefer to do), and yard work. No change of season here is complete without the mandatory amount of yard preparation for the season. It gives us something to talk about when we're not talking about the weather. But, the part of the season when the air is cool and crisp without the humidity, this, this is the part we really like as much as the time when the air begins to cool again and the leaves start to turn color. We like the part where things go from dull brown or grey to an array of green...even if the sky stays grey most of the day most days. So, we really just like the color against the grey backdrop of the sky and the every changing cloud cover! It is beautiful. LOL. 

 We like this part of the season because it's just a little bit warmer under the sheets or comforter than it is just outside of them...there on the other side of our sheets is a cool, at times, cold air waiting to bring you into reality giving you goose bumps from your skin reacting to it. But there, in the warmth and comfort of your bed under your sheets, alone or next to someone, it's warm making that very last part of your conscious sleep so much sweeter. Until, at that very minute you thought was most important to start your day, the alarm goes off, and now you have to reach out from under the sheets letting the cold in to shut it off, or hit the snooze button! Some people do that. LOL. This is what we love as Northlanders...people from Minnesota. This is how we start our days on days like today.

Maybe, we think of more important matters that only register in our unconscious mind only making it into our conscious one when life-changing events happen to us. There is a beginning and an end to things, and like the seasons, we too have a beginning and an end. The stuff in between those two specific moments in time, the time from our birth to the time we return to the Earth is an orchestra of events we call our life. We start growing up and eventually go through elementary school, junior high, high school, maybe college, and whatever we do to live in between it and after our 'education'...all the substance of things we do for meaningfulness is the color we bring to the tapestry of life that we involve ourselves in here in Minnesota or where ever the wind blows our seed. Like buds on trees that start small and green, we eventually blossom and show our color(s) against the very constant cycle of weather and seasons we enjoy in the great state of Minnesota. We live. We shine. We blow in the wind. We get rained on. We take on some snow, and eventually our color begins to fade. We change. We start over to blossom again until our season, our life season, is over.
There it is.