Friday: A Not-So-White Christmas..Updated: 12/27 @ 9:47 AM

It's CHRISTMAS DAY, and due to something just short of a miracle, I made it back to the Homeland!! It's not only one of the most celebrated holidays of the year, it's on a Friday the most anticipated day of the week. That means it's time for another week review of Rants from a Midwest guy in the land of milk and honey. I'm in the Homeland, aka Minneapolis, remembering the important people-family, friends, and a fish called Wanda (J/K). Perched at one of my favorite places in Uptown watching people walk by and greeting a few that I know, I'm wondering what the rest of my weekend will go. LOL

Like most of my trips to the Homeland, either returning (like when I lived there) or visiting (Cause I'm in California now), the drive to the airport's parking lot was good. What was not good was when I was ready to pull up to my favorite gate, it was blocked of with signs that read, "LOT FULL!" As you might imagine, a small shot of terror went through my being mostly because I didn't think Parking Lot C would ever fill up! Fortunately for me, I had driven down a good 45 minutes earlier anticipating lines at the TSA gate. I pulled over, and parked so I could compose myself a little and think it through. "Do I Google, call or what?!" I wasn't sure. My original plan of parking at the Flyaway Station in Van Nuys was out because it too had filled up the day before. Fortunately, I had called ahead and didn't make the long drive out for nothing. I remember a certain someone telling me she had got there last year and had to find parking somewhere else because of its early closure. Finally, I found a lot with a few spots left; it's gonna cost me 2x as much overall, but, I got there and was gonna make it to my flight on-time.

When I finally got there, there was no traffic....anywhere! There weren't even people lined up at the security check point! LOL. I guess this was a good thing because I needed less stress to start my trip out with than what had just happened and an awkward situation from earlier in the week.

It was good week on the whole. I began what will likely be my normal number of days in Malibu. I saw the wall plaque that my name will go on that will show on the front door announcing it. Although it was an Italian deal that got the ball rolling a month ago, it just got real when one of the patients informed me that she had 'heard' from the office manager I was assuming one of the other doc's time and people. As I sat in a near by courtyard (pictured above), I just sat in disbelief about how it all came about....how I needed to be there to make the first impression...how I was there in the first place because of a lost friend and family member, and how driving all over the 'Timbuk2' of LA's dissatisfaction would lead me to submit a resume one day that was magically picked out of the 30+ resumes submitted for it. All the dots lined up again in my head as they do from time to time when I sit and just listen to what the Creator is saying to me and what the Universe is or has brought to me as 'signs' or attention getting events.

It didn't come for free, and it sure wasn't a pain-free experience, but nothing good can happen to you if you don't show up. If you don't put one foot in front of the other, you can't move forward. You cannot leave where you are by standing still even if standing still is needed periodically. "How did you end up on Dr. R's team?" Asked a 20+ year old millionaire, former Olympian turn model patient. I laughed at first, but then I was just genuine with her. "A girl and a job." I said waiting a few moments for her to stop laughing, "...I still have the job." I said with a warm smile and a confident laugh. "That's classic," she said laughing a bit more but then becoming wonder filled about the story. "You have to be willing to show up and see what happens with your best foot forward. So I did." She understood and thanking me for the prep work before her adjustment. When the day was over, I rushed home to get packed and prepared for my drive to the airport after finding out the Flyaway Station place was closed.

The Sunday before, I got to do some karaoke at one of the local dive bars where, admittedly, I ran into one of the town's girls that is also a regular karaoke singer. We've had some interesting moments whenever we've managed to sing the same night and that periodically has led to a duet, one more drink, and the periodic, "Will you drive me home?' request. Yeah. It's likely not my singing that gets me a little bit of 'rock star,' but I like to think it is! LOL.

Now that I'm in the Homeland, I feel off schedule. I'm guessing it's because the sun doesn't rise till nearly an hour later than it does in Cali. Another clue into why I was, and some of my local friends are, in seasonal depression. There's no sunlight!! To make things ever 'better,' there wasn't even snow on the ground for Christmas! Ha. What there was, on the other hand, was plenty of food to go around! Yes, it was a not so white Christmas, but it was certainly 'gonna need to go to the gym tomorrow kind of day. Hahahaha.

One of my favorite aunts and uncle had kidnapped my grandmother leading to my invitation to join them. I feel it's their way of keeping me on my toes whenever it is I might be in town. It was a kind gesture that I took them up on as it was likely my only chance to see them, find my grandma, and eat a 'first' Christmas dinner before having dessert at my brother's place.

At both places, people opened gifts. It's the holiday tradition that I have
mixed feelings about because of the commercialization of religious convictions, but I admit the part where families put aside differences, travel great distances, and openly share what they have with you is warming and something I readily support. I guess that's it beyond super cars, a pool party where people informed me that I look so much different when I'm not black!! LOL.
Be well. Do good work, and remember 2016 is just around the corner. Hahahaha.

Friday: White Christmas, Moments of Joy & Thoughts For 2016 Updated: 12/19..11:59 AM

It's Friday! Friday! Friday! T.G.I.F.! Hahahaha. It's another weekly review of a rant from a Midwest guy in the land of milk and honey! I've been tracking the weather in the Homeland, and it's actually pretty warm, relatively speaking, for this time of the year. The five day forecast says it will be cold enough for snow to fall next week maybe giving us a 'White Christmas'. When I check the five day for Cali, it's gonna be near or below freezing the days leading up to Christmas! Yikes!! I mean, people will actually have a reason to be wearing those NorthFace coats, hats, etc. I've seen people wearing those like they're going out of style, and I'm still walking around in long-sleeve shirt and jeans! LOL. I will likely be in the Homeland (You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. I'm telling you why...Santa Claus is coming to town.) getting what is gonna be warm weather for us, and that means people will be out doors and not hibernating in their homes or wherever it is they go to get relief from the cold, lack of sun, and seasonal depression! It might be just like Spring! 

So, the week... As is the season, I've been attempting to capture the "Best Of" photos for this last year and put them on a Holiday postcard of sorts to let people know I'm thinking of them but to also commemorate what happened,and more importantly, what I am hopeful will happen in 2016. Yes. There are 'universal' laws that say if we can think it into being, it can be, but we have to allow it to exist first in our minds. We have to change our perspectives on things, our behaviors, and other people, the way we perceive they are doing or not, so that we ultimately can free them to be human and indirectly ourselves to improve and just maybe enjoy more of the moment. 

It is true that if we want to change we have to allow the opportunity for other people to also change, and that may mean we have to allow the possibility of going back and dealing with some hurts and pains that we've learn to run away from or ignore, and in doing so we've set up, albeit largely unconsciously, self-defeating patterns in our approach to other people, our work, and our ability to dream and invite in what may very well be the life you and me want to have, live and enjoy. Most of these thoughts I've written about in some form or another, but I felt reaffirmed in my belief about the interconnectedness of all things and people and how one affects the other directly and indirectly when I attended a "Laws of Attraction" seminar. I thought it was more about being single because it was being promoted by a "Singles" Meet Up group, but there I was with a number of people clearly a decade or more older than me, which I always find disturbing that the group is for 30's and 40's but essentially retired or near retiring people are showing up. This has happened to me twice. I'm gonna have to start going to the 20's groups so I can end up with people close to my age! LOL. 

Recently, as in the last week, I've been speaking casually with a few of the people I see regularly at Starbucks. One of them eventually informed me that she read my blog story (The last part of the three part series.), and informed me that she felt it was, "..for lack of a more neutral word, creepy!" I laughed at first because I knew the reaction was because the first two stories hadn't been read or even the last one for the details that lead to a certain number of possibilities about her behavior in my absence. I politely informed her that the part of the story that is missing in the blog will be added to the actual published addition; it is the part that talks about my December 2014 visit; all the surprising ultra-private things I discovered that like Vince Van on Wedding Crashers I was delighted to find out about my girl friend like his 'Stage-Three Clinger' but ended up not knowing what to do when the discovery was not mutually appreciated. It is the key corner-stone of the story, and it is the part that brings it all together and why everything happened, in part, the way it did. The story in it's completeness is about hope, understanding our humanity, and holding on to things more important than the past. I'm eager to have it all done because it will hopefully be the end of the beginning of healing for all of us. 

In a book that I continue to laboriously work through (Started back in February) the depths of, Brenne Brown's Daring Greatly has changed my thoughts on a lot of traditional things I think about when it comes to being vulnerable. In short, she says that we can only truly experience the deep, desired feelings of existing and being in a relationship when we are vulnerable enough to being hurt. It's not the logic we grow up with, but it is because of our logic that we miss out in the very best we can be and enjoy in the people we invest our lives in. 

One of the recent topics I'm going over is the sensation of joy and where her research participants say they most readily experienced it. "People would often point out that it was the simple things in life and their relationships that gave them joy. One woman said she felt joy when she came down stair in the morning to find her husband in his same spot reading the paper while drinking a cup of coffee. Another person said he found joy when his wife would laugh at random things he wouldn't of thought of as funny."  She goes into other examples and how it, joy, can more readily be experienced. After I read this section, I was left thinking about why I smile or laugh at things from my recent relationship cause it's been on my mind more so as of late (Likely cause I'm finally reading the damn book like I was supposed to last year.). A number of things came to mind that could fit the idea of joy of things that it can be found in, and I laughed because they are the things I wrote about in my story not knowing that the reason behind them was because of the sensation they gave me time and time again-joy. I got to experience joy in the midst of all of it and even before things changed between us. Perspectives can change if we know to let them change, and when they do, so does our perspective on the people in our lives, what they do and why they do things. 

Take a moment and think about something that special one does or says that gives you that sense of being apart of..belonging. Maybe you have taken a moment to tell them about that activity or thing they say or do or maybe you haven't, but when they do acknowledge it. This could very well be the beginning of your experience of joy (one of the many I'm sure) with that person. Maybe you should share it with them...tell them, "When you do such and such a thing....When you laugh at this such and such a thing...when I see you do this such and such a thing, it makes me feel connected to you, and it gives me so much amount of joy when it happens. Try it. You never know what might happen. 2016 may be the year you grow personally, relationally, and financially, but it starts with being there in the moment and capturing it and as many as you can!  This is it. Till next week or I come across a reading epiphany, "Be well. Do good work, and be merry." 
#GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife #Whatsmissinginthispicture #Californiadreaming #MNMAN

Friday: The Holidays & Climate Change, The Struggle Within Us..Updated 12/16 10:24 AM

It's Friday! Friday! Friday! T.G.I.F.! LOL. It's another weekly review of a rant from a Midwest guy in the land of milk and honey! Yes, last weekend and the week proved to me that it is the season. Christmas trees, Christmas music, and even Christmas plays have essentially covered every store front and empty lot in the town. What's funny is that it was 87 degrees the other day and an even 43 degrees in the Homeland; it must have something to do with global warming that is apparently not really happening depending which political party you listen to on the radio as of late. The fact of the matter is that the weather is getting warmer, and I can appreciate it for what it is until we can't ignore the effects it will have on the food we grow and catastrophic events that have been killing off large populations of the world. I suppose that's a topic for another day, but it's real folks, and you need to be ready.

As it turns out, my housemate is a gunsmith and finally got me to agree to go to the shooting range with him the other day. I'm usually reluctant, as of late, to handle any weapons because I really don't care to remember what I can and can't do with them. But for reasons that I couldn't quite put my finger on, I agreed. Out of his arsenal, we brought an AR15, a Glock, and a 1911. What started out as a warm up distance of 15 feet soon grew to 40 feet and then 50. Accept in the case of the AR15 that ended up dysfunctional due to trigger issues, I managed to nail the bulls-eye 90% of the time. I attribute this to not actually using my own firearms where I might've been closer to 95%. Admittedly, I thought of the very short list I keep in my living will instructions and felt at peace with letting those debts go. "I'm gonna get you sucka!" is what I thought as I squeezed the trigger. Yep. I wasn't always a doctor, but I'm glad I became one so I could put down the 'proverbial' sword and maybe live a normal life--one that's more abundant. 

There is a struggle that goes on in all of us that has been happening since the dawn of time; it is the struggle between the better and worst parts of our humanity. Our basic person is largely uncivilized and barbaric when put to the test. All of time, we have worked on becoming more refined, learned to socialize between cultures, and develop the more socially appropriate parts of our person that often reflected in what kind of personality we have. There is no doubt that certain types of personalities have a greater propensity to be 'uncivilized' as there are others that are wired to be protectors, and some that are born to lead as well as follow. Some of us have an obligation to lead while a number of us to protect and the majority follow. I'm at times unsure where I fall in all of those categories, but it is a struggle some moments more than others given certain situations and people. Every day is different, and the more I listen to the news and the shootings that are happening all over the country and in the world makes me wonder if its time, again, to remember how to give people their options while pointing a weapon at them. Like most extreme situations, my training takes over my normal human response. I'm emotionless. I think. I react tactically, and I take action. The situation is handled, and I usually walk away smiling like I just got off the beach after a few ice teas with some chips and guacamole. It's good in extreme situations but bad in relational ones. Hahaha. :/ 

After we ran out of ammo, we left, and to my surprise a blue, Italian car with a Minnesota plate was in traffic with us on the way back. I smiled (Cause I focus on the better parts of the experience), and I actually waved because what are the chances of actually running into someone on the freeway in traffic. Very Slim. Bruce Started to play..One Step Up. "Same sad story that's a fact, one step up and two steps back. When I look at myself I don't see the man I wanted to be...somewhere along the line I stepped off track." When I look back at it all, she was a good gal doing her best to improve and just be, and I am grateful I got to share some the experience with her. And, then the piano keys began playing in my head shortly there after..Dion's It's all coming back to me now... 

On a different note, the Malibu gig is working out pretty well with what has become my early transition into it. I was going to begin providing days of service in January, but it worked out that I could do it sooner, and I love the drive, and the office. The lead doc has plenty of experience and the patients are really nice. Thus far, I've only received good praise from the patients I've put my hands on there, and this is a good thing because up until I arrived, they'd been getting adjusted by one of the best chiropractors in the region. And if they feel I'm doing as good of a job as the lead doc, that means I'm not to shabby of a chiropractor. I partly thought this might be true before because of the patients that began following me around the area when I worked for the 'corporation,' and its true, that some people just hadn't been adjusted before with good power or skill, but in the end, the numbers told a story that I had no idea was happening. Adjustment by adjustment, patients were leaving their 'established' doctor to find me and only me after the first or second visit. It's true, and I guess that means I learned a thing or two in my very short six years of practicing in comparison to the 20+ year experienced docs. LOL. That's a wrap...I might add a section towards the end of the day, but I'm waiting to see how today goes. Hahaha. #Whatsmissingingthispicture #GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife #Californiadreaming 

Friday: Christmas Lights, Memories, Malibu, Entitled Women.

Friday! Friday! T.G.I.F.  Hahahaha. It's another Friday  weekly review of Rants from a Midwest Guy In The Land of Milk And Honey and Weekend Wrap Up. Yeah, I know it's Sunday, but so many things happened last week on Thursday and Friday that I couldn't quite wrap my hands around all of it and what it meant. Today has improved after a good, hard workout, sleep last night, and a good cup of coffee. I'm feeling I have a better grip on parts of it. The week included some dating experiences, a job transition, and dealing with the darkness of the days being so short....they suck the energy right out of you.  That being said, they also bring people together to share a few moments of fire and lights.

The week got interesting when I made it out to the LA Zoo, and I was fortunate to be out with one of my newest local LA girl friends that suggested the event, got us tickets, and made the whole thing worth the while. The light shows, displays, and music totally brought me back to "Christmas" down town San Jose from graduate school days largely because of the lack of snow or cold! LOL. Listening to the music and hugging someone special made the season more personal than just a passing commercialized holiday. It was a good night, and it ended with a tasty bowl of Beef Stew PHO in Burbank.

It was just one night before that I was uncertain how the weekend would go because I had began the process of switching out of the corporate chiropractic job into a more exclusive, private practice in Malibu. When the time came to make the drive over Malibu Canyon, the Mamas and The Papas' California Dreaming started to play. The mountains, the cliffs, and the windy road that eventually opens up to the ocean were the signs that I was in the right place, and that everything that had lead to that moment in time, albeit, some tragic,. This was only confirmed by the business partner that said, "Everything happens for a reason, and somethings we just have to leave in the past so we can embrace the future, and yours looks bright." The day ended with my drive back home, which was one of my fastest drive times ever because of the distance--short. The year is changing soon, and so will the outlook for things future. It is, at times, strange to think about it all, but the band keeps playing on so we move forward.

I was out on a "meet and greet" with a gal I met on-line. After a little bit of back and forth, we mutually agreed to meet and determine if we could have a conversation, maybe be attracted to the other, etc. Most of the time, this happens instantly if you just happen to be at Starbucks and a gal walks in off of the street and asks if she can take the seat next to you! LOL. But, the on-line dating thing has that one extra element of 'surprise' that's hard to account for until you meet the other person. So there I was after some significant news was presented to me at one of the local places I usually grab a happy hour beer at because I'm cheap. The woman shows up, and determines to grab a glass of wine. As we talk, much like I would some other person I'd meet at the bar counter to make small talk, the woman goes on to tell me that she makes well over 100K per year, had just finished her second marriage, and had one of five children staying at home with her. I thought that I might've not shown up if I had know that information, but she was cute enough in her picture, but not as much in person. She went on to tell me that she was having trouble getting men to take her out on a second date or an initial one, as we were really just meeting to decide if any dating was going to happen, for reasons she was unsure of beyond her stronger personality. I laughed. We laughed, but then she finished her glass of wine, and asked me if I minded she got another. I laughed informing her she could have as many as she wanted if she was going to pay for them. She looked shocked, and informed me that it was more gentleman-like of me to offer to pay. 

At this point I asked her why she felt that way only to inform me that it was traditional. I responded that if we had agreed to go on a date, I might've picked up the check, but we were just meeting on a mutual interest to decide if there was an interest, and that I was not going to pick up her second drink just based on the principle of entitlement. "You make a 100K, and you want me to pick up your drinks?! LOL. Why?" Her response went into more detail to include that she was interesting, fun, and had worked hard to be in the position she was in allowing her to engage in the level of conversation we were having. I laughed and politely informed her that she had it wrong because clearly I was attractive to her, I was able to engage in the same level of dialog with her, and that I too had to achieve in order to be in that exact position. "I might as well pay for the chic's drinks and apps siting next me because she was fun too, a perfect strange, and actually makes less money than you and was actually interested in meeting me even after I told her I was here to meet you! LOL. Should I pay for her drinks also?! No, just like I'm not going to pay for your second. My extension of curtesy ended when you informed me about all your kids, your second divorce and the fact that you didn't bring them up because you knew most men wouldn't bother...so you really should pay for my drink and app.!" I laughed. Payed for my drink and her initial, and left but not before giving my card to the gal that was sitting next to me..no kids, never married, avid gym goer. It's a California thing that women make a bunch of money, but they still want yours too with no incentives. Please ladies at least make it interesting. Hahaha.  

Christmas is here along with all the music that was created for it. I admit that I really enjoy most of it and the expressions people make while listening to it. As most of my mornings go, I was working on this very blog piece at my local Starbucks while the music played. The years of Christmases past came to mind including last years when I was living on the South side of Minneapolis. It was cold and snow those few days of bliss, and I had a visitor from California visiting me part of it. Yes, this year will be different. It's likely gonna be 70 degrees sunny Christmas Eve and Day. I'll be in the Homeland for it just like I was last year, but at the end of the week, I'll be leaving. Although, I left at the end of the week last year as well to come to California to job/client prospect. How life changes in an instant, but the memories of it keep on going on and on. I suppose it's time to send out postcards. I usually try and keep up, but considering all the newness of things present, it may be in order. Until next week, happy holiday shopping and Christmas related stuff.