Friday: Starbucks, Spring & The Stars! UPDATED: 3.30 @7:15 AM

Ta-dah!! It's Friday! Friday. Friday! I can't even believe how fast this last week went by. It might be because I slept through most of it when I wasn't working or trying to get a half-ass work-out in to minimize my left sided ass pain! I literally mean half-ass for those that don't know I've been struggling with sciatic pain the last four weeks or so. I'll touch a little bit on that topic along the way. The week has proven that no matter how accurate the weather apps are, they just don't seem to get the sun in or out matter straight. Prince's record label contacted me because of my car karaoke session, and, "Why can't I shake this damn cold I've had for the last two weeks?!" I'm not sure, but I have an idea, but it's time (in the voice of Bruce Poffer) for another weekly installment of  Rants From A Midwest Guy In The Land of Milk and Honey.

It only took six hours before Prince's record label sent me a letter that said I was violating their copyright with my video snap-chat of me singing Prince's I want to be your lover! I mean I thought I gave the guy credit, I wasn't selling it for profit, and more importantly, I was singing for fun! I wondered if they thought I was looking for some compensation all things considered. Not to mention, I was rocking it! LOL. Who knows. What ended up happening is that I had to remove it from my Instragram account after I sent them a letter explaining why I didn't think it was a big deal for the reasons mentioned above. "They" haven't replied to my response to their 'take it down' letter! We'll see. Ha. Incidentally, David Bowie's people haven't bother to contact me nor did Madonna's, and I have their actual videos rolling with no credit to them other than it's them! I guess.

This week's photo is from the seat where I sit in periodically at Starbucks when I'm trying to get a things accomplished. Yes! It was a pretty view this morning with the sunlight finally breaking through the clouds; it gave the entry a bit of an welcoming appearance. As is always my plan, I try and make small talk or sometimes real life conversation with the regulars that I see. It's the same number of people that are either retired and just getting their day started or they're on their way to work essentially doing the same-getting a cup of Joe to get things moving. Whichever the case, both groups are usually happy to see ya when you walk in and almost always have something to share. It ranges from anything about their job, grand kids, their kids, and in a few occasions, they want my medical opinion on something. I usually give a little direction on some topics with the anticipation that I might need theirs when the time comes. Between real estate guys, bankers, and a couple of finance people, I should have most of my retirement needs handled. Cause that's coming sooner than later...I hope!!

Speaking of retirement, my name plate finally came in yesterday, and it was put on the wall outside of
the office I work out of as of last December. Yes! It's a small sign of achievement because the people that walk into our office you all know from movies, the music you listen to on the radio, and watch on TV. It wasn't what I was originally looking to be, a chiropractor to the stars,  but it's what happened to me while I was reaching up towards the heavens with my right hand and index finger...the sign that I'm just part of the plan and I'm doing my part the best that I can. Hahahaha. The picture of my logo (The Finger Pointing Up.) was later given to me in a picture board of applied wood by a very thoughtful person. When I see it hanging on my wall, I'm reminded that the plan often is different than what we want it to be when it comes to people--they have a role to play in our lives as much as we do theirs. You never know if you're helping them get to the next part of their lives or that they're helping you keep on track in yours. Which ever the case, it's important to realize that we need to hold on loosely to them, appreciate them for who they are, and why it is they came into or out of your life. I will admit this is difficult at times because of our humanity.

There is a comfort that comes with having a routine and seeing some familiar faces along the way; it gives one a sense of belonging, a sense of stability in an otherwise changing world, and in some instances makes life, well my life, seem normal. Normal. I guess that is a very relative word when it comes to me, but I'm just as much human as the next guy, and some days I need a little more regimen to keep me on track. Today's coffee stop was pretty fun. I took that fabulous picture above, and I got to make some small talk with a gal I've been eyeing out for the last month or so. I finally introduced myself to her the week before last and got the scoop on her. Turned out she's not a lesbian like the old man breakfast club suspected. She is smart, in really good shape, and a ginger. Remember, I'm from Minnesota where gingers run freely in the plains and at the U of M. It's a well know fact that Gingers only come one of two varieties: really good looking or not! LOL. That might be a little bias, but I've been around the block enough to know that all women (or men) are not created equal or we'd all be happy, divorce would never happen, and the Kardascians wouldn't matter.  But, all those things happen and people can't seem to find other shows to watch. So, call me picky if you need. Admittedly, after the last serious relationship I had, I'm staying away from blondes with green or blue eyes or any Midwest girls for a while. Hence, the interest in the Ginger at Starbucks, but maybe just a break altogether from dating.

Apart from that dreamy cardio barre shaped peach that walked in through the outdoor, another gal has been walking into the place (Starbucks) this week. A tall, nerdy and conservative looking gal that has long brown hair, and wears kinda professional gear. I say 'kinda' cause its so far been skin tight pants, hot boots, and an almost too low cut blouse (Prince is more conservative.), which makes me think that when the eye glasses come off, and the hair drops down, it might be time to take the freaky train down town. I caught myself in there somewhere mid-thought because all of it reminded me of another nerdy looking, eye-glass wearing, long haired conservatively dressed gal--the Minnesota nurse I lived with a few years back. LOL. And, we all know she turned out to be a freak (This Unbelievable Life). So, I let the moment pass with just a "hello" and a laugh as the old-man breakfast club sat down the way watched for the entertainment value of it! Hahahaha.

That being said, the non-verbal communication that was happening between us and other people was thick. A lot more of it the last couple of weeks even in my getting over being sick. Women either alone or with a dude are talking to me at the gym, Starbucks, and other places. It could be that I'm an Alpha, and it radiates from me, but I think it's that time of the year--Spring. Yes, it's even Easter weekend this week, and I couldn't even tell cause the weather has more or less been the same, but in it the subtle changes one notices the seasonal transitions. It's the time when people decide if what they've been doing all Winter is going to work for them into the next season. It's the time when they begin to show-off all the hard work they put into their gym time routine. It's the time of the year to start fresh and maybe with someone new. I suppose it's time to start wearing white again! LOL. Finally, I can wear my white gear! It really is happening though. When I think about it, it's when I've met most of the serious girls in my dating world: Spring and either at the gym or at a local Starbucks sitting on my ass doing what I'm doing right now...typing this blog. So, we'll see. It'll be my birthday soon and time to have things set for the Summer; it's gotta be better this time around. I mean it can only be better. Whatever happens, you'll read about it right here! Till next week, it's been another waste of your time reading about a Midwest guy's rants while taking in the sun, fun and life in California. Till next week, "Be well. Do good work, and come on back." G. Keiller.
#GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife #Californiadreaming #Whatismissinginthispicture

Friday: The Luck Of The Irish: Updated 3/21 @ 7:46 AM

It's actually Friday, and I'm actually posting a Friday edition on Friday! Yes! I mean I usually do, but the last couple of additions had gone out on Sunday.It must be how the month of March has been going for me....long and tender (sciatic issue). So, I guess. LOL. This last week, I was out for the count most days from a Flu/Cold like illness I picked at the end of last week; it had me in bed a few nights with 100+ fever. Yikes. In between sleeping and hacking a lung out and buckling over from additional pain down the leg with every cough, I did some other work and got a few things crossed off of the 'To-Do' list.  Hahahaha.

I'm happy to say that the sun came out yesterday and lit the way for St. Patty's Day. I didn't make any effort to be in the middle of crowded bars with drunk people, but I drove by a few places to see how the town's people here in Thousand Oaks do it! In the Homeland, where we pretty much use any holiday or celebration as a excuse to put up large beer tents, put an Irish band on stage, and drink way to much, is probably still going to keep partying till the weekend. Eh, I don't blame them even with the mild Winter season this time around. More than a month of no sun has a way of changing your demeanor and personality, and that's why I continue to leave..more regular, all year long sunlight! I know. I should talk about something else! So, it's FRIDAY and time for another weekly review of  Rants from a Midwest Guy In The Land of Milk and Honey!

After a few days of not getting anything done, especially stuff at the gym, I decided to try and do a little bit of catch up. Yup. I finished replacing the last of the suspension myself with a few specialty tools from my buddy. The jeep still needed some alignment work, but after it was all said and done the water pump finally died. Hahahaha. As one of my friends said, I'll be driving a 2016 Jeep soon if I keep on replacing things broken and functional; it's better to be a little ahead of if than stranded on a highway or mountain road somewhere, and I really just enjoy doing some of it...repairs and maintenance. It makes me think of those old Chevy commercials with the guy and his girlfriend deciding if he should fix his truck or get a new one in light of his girlfriend essentially saying that he needed a new one. This is the commercial where you see the girl standing alone and the guy driving off in his truck. LOL. It's what I think of when people say I should get a new one, which I've considered, but I wouldn't get rid of my jeep if I did. When it makes it to 300,000 miles, I'll retire it and use it as a hobby vehicle. Ya know...some things run deep.

Continued from last Friday's Rant on Spiritual versus the Religious Spiritual.   
I left off last week on the note that we want to believe the people we like more than the ones we don't like or would prefer not to be like because clearly, in our opinion, one of the two groups of people have something we want. It could be fame. It could be a better house. It could be a better job. It could be they have a more attractive mate or better looking, smarter children. Whatever it is, it's something that we want to or we allow past our logic center and accept whatever comes out of these people's mouths as truth when in fact it may not have anything to do with it. Most of the self help seminars promote changing your mental attitude about yourself first and then the things that you feel you want. I will admit that some of this is good stuff. If you don't strive to improve yourself, you may not be able to be in a position to move onto better and more desirable things. There is something to be said about 'fitting in' to some degree for other peoples' comfort more than your own. I find that when one has evolved, learned enough of the right things, and is able to apply them in a way that has a positive outcome for yourself and your environment, you maybe ready to grow even more.

Personal evolution begins with the understand of how you think, why you think it, and your willingness to challenge old beliefs and truths that were passed down to you by society, your family, and your peer groups (namely church groups). It is important to understand this aspect of yourself well enough to know how it is you come about making decisions, the values that you use to make them with, and ultimately how you move forward when in all circumstances..good, bad, and other. Knowing yourself is the beginning of freedom and beginning of understanding the world around you rather than you in the world and what the differences are. We cannot escape the basic tendencies we all come with as human beings. We continue to have the need to be loved, understood, and accepted and how we go about fulfilling those needs is largely influence by our environment. Having a more complete understanding of both, you and your environment, is the key needed to master both. And when you're able to master yourself and understand how to master your environment, attaining more of what you want is much easier and all things become a bigger possibility. It's true. 

It's been more than once I was told, "You're a lucky guy." I usually laugh when I hear it because it seems like it's true. The more I've thought about it, it turns out that it could be the randomness of life giving to me or me living my life so that more good things can happen to me, but it has not always been good. It just seems like it. Perhaps when 'lucky' things happen to me it just seems like it compared to those peoples' lives because it's not always been rainbow's and butterflies.I usually say it's my job to show up so I can see what might happen. I say it because staying home or not doing anything will result in exactly that--nothing or worse because the world will happen to you and more likely not in a manner you want it to. 

So, we are obligated to do if we want to change. This is much harder than it seems because we easily get caught up in living life or maybe just surviving it. It's too hard to see the big picture or even more basic to understand yourself when every moment of your time and energy is going to just trying to make it. I guess this is more true in some professions more than others. Labor intensity robs you of the opportunity to think while less physical jobs or brainless ones may allow for too much time for you to think leading you into potential regret, depression or apathy because you're situation may not so easily change, and this is when it's important to know yourself. 
TO BE CONTINUED......  

Friday: Spiritual Vs. Religious Spirituality & Moments of Clarity.

It's Fridaaaayyyyyy! Well, it's really Sunday again. LOL. The weather was mild, there was definite moisture in the air, and it rained like a monsoon downpour on Friday. The picture to the left is out of my office window. Normally you can see mountains in the background, but it was not so much the case on Friday with the thick rain coming down. And much like everything under the rain, I've been under the weather myself. Yikes!! Sometime last week, one of our 'sick' patients came coughing into the office convinced she needed chiro care to help her get better. What she needed was to go get anti-biotics. Yes! So a few days of being in bed, and drugging myself up for the few hours of work that I could do, I made it to the end of the second week of March! 

If I recall correctly, I was here in California running a marathon and facing some pretty big life choices with my then significant-other last year. Apart from all of the feelings one has when they find out they're gonna be father, facing record-breaking heat for a 26.2-mile run, and the all-encompassing sensation that I was connected to everything and everyone in my life all at the time came over me, it was a momentary connection with the Universe, and maybe the Creator; I could only conclude I was exactly where I was supposed to be in my life plan, and it was a moment of clarity. I'll get into that in a bit. But, it's time for another weekly review of  Rants from a Midwest Guy In The Land of Milk and Honey!

Last week, I was talking about our humanity, or rather the basic survival instinct we all share and cultivate in different, more socially palatable manners. Some of us call it being cultured, while others call it living a 'insert religious or spiritual belief' centered living. There is and always has been a perspective on being or living a spiritual life. People defer to this, being spiritual' as the option of choice when asked if they're religious and prefer not to be labeled. Just for purposes of clarity on the matter of religious versus spiritual, I'm gonna chat a little bit about both and where they overlap. For those of you that do not know, I'm a formally trained AOG missionary, which is likely the most charismatic proselytizing group in the world today operating in most countries around the world covertly and also in plain traditional missions style work. I also have been mentored by a doctor of Jesuit theology for the last 20 years of my life. My mentor would tell you my evolution in understanding the matters of God, the world, and their interplay challenge most conventional approaches religion and being a 'spiritual' person or the religious 'spirit-led". So what's the difference between being spiritual versus being a religious spiritually lead person?

In modern day, the traditional roles and understanding of what God is and necessarily what He or She does or is doing has changed. We are no longer subject to, at least in most developed countries, the antiquated notions of God as an angry being and people, we're unable to converse with Him/Her without the help of an intermediary. An intermediary is someone in a better position to stand between us and the Almighty on our behalf. The present-day belief even among the Christian conservatives is that God is as accessible as the air you breathe as long as you're willing to submit to the belief that there is only one way into the afterlife, if you happened to be concerned with that part of your unforeseeable future, and that it is through the intermediate person known as Christ through which you establish a living relationship with that more or less clears up an unearned debt passed down to you by the first man and woman. With this traditional approach to the Almighty, we are essentially born stained and need to be cleaned up before we have an opportunity to attain the afterlife. I'm leaving a lot of the basic Easter story details out because what is more important is what you do from that moment forward till the day you die. Because in it, our life-time, we either maintain our ticket to life ever after or we loose it. 

We are subject to a life-time of having to make the right choices or at least more of them so that we maintain our "Salvation" or that special relationship through Jesus Christ that is our 'salvation' needed to get into the better afterlife. In Christianity, you get a helper to undertake this life-long struggle called the Holy spirit that is the third part of the three-pronged "God" idea. The Father that creates, His off-string Jesus, and His Spirit. The spirit fills one's life at the point we decide that we will submit to the almighty that we are fallen and need to be saved from something (Ahh, it's the almighty himself we're asking to be saved from..), sin and that we cannot do anything on our own make-up or to use a more technical term, we cannot atone for ourselves. This is what is often referred to as being the "Born Again," experience.  Now, in the aftermath of having entered into a salvific relationship with the Almightyvia his son Jesus' work on the cross, we believe we now have a new purpose in life, as if to say that before that we didn't, but maybe that's just semantics. "Born-again Christians" are to live every day with guidance from the "spirit" so that we are more likely to make the right choices that will ultimately lead us to the end of our life's journey into the ever-after foliage of heaven. Some people may call this God's plan for your life. This is what religious spirituality is; it is the taking on of one of the numerous Christian communities beliefs and ways of living believed to be the most biblically appropriate but still modern ways of living out your life-long struggle to the grave hoping that at the end of it, your life, you continue on into the after-life. With the help of the 'spirit' and our community of believers, we do our part of the plan also know as God's plan for our lives not only for you but everyone you are in a community with to bring into reality the ultimate all-inclusive plan for everyone. In there somewhere is the notion that we have free will, but I beg to differ on what 'free will" really is versus what you actually get. 

Much different are those people that call themselves 'spiritual' when it comes to claiming to be religious or not. The 'spiritual' belief that there is a higher power, a creator (maybe/maybe not), or a force all around us, in us, and in all things is constantly moving and shaping your life. This approach to life, by and large, is to respect all things because you, more or less, have an equal or similar part or value to everyone and everything else. This also loans itself to the idea that all things are then interconnected because we are all essentially created the same with maybe different functions but to be respected appropriately because of our spiritual interconnectedness; this concept is also found in the Christian-based believers with the exception that it is largely disregarded due the human condition and the 'superiority' complex. These folks may or may not take on a formal religious ritual of things in daily life or in a calendar year so as to have some routine because we are creature of ritual and routine. These folks may believe in an afterlife but are not concerned whether they will get there or not. These folks believe that what is important is the here and now and returning cycle of energy put out by them that returns, eventually back to them-also made reference to as Karma. They also believe that if they stay tuned-in, they will have more or be more clear of what, the universe of interconnected knowledge is trying to convey to them through either life events (tragic or positive), people (positive/negative), acquired knowledge at pivotal points in their life. 

One observation I've seen in my travels around the world (44 countries) is the proximity of this belief among the most affluent in society and the very poorest relatively speaking. The affluent aren't concerned with where they will live, what they will eat, and what they will do, per se, so they have time to become a little more transcendental in their approach to the spirit life and their development of it in them. On the other end of the pole are the very poor because they may worry about where they will live, what they will eat, and what they will do usually because they have little or no real control over those decisions. I believe that it is this acknowledgment, they have no real control, that the poor are also able to arrive at being more transcendental about their lives necessarily opening their minds and spirits to higher types of value systems. They achieve it...moments of clarity both the rich and the poor alike. The exact opposite populations of people essentially cogitating at higher levels of spiritual processing because they are not concerned, relatively speaking, for the things most people worry about when we perceive we have some control over our circumstances; it's everyone else still caught up in the middle of those extremes that have the most difficult time. We would likely not take the time to listen to the impoverished people because by most of our standards, "If they were in tune with the big picture, they wouldn't be in the situation they're in." But, if someone wealthy or famous says something of the remotely spiritual nature, we're a little more inclined to listen, "..because they have it figured out...look at what they got." The value system, the deep, dark secret of our system of valuation used to measure the worth of someone's words is always leading or way wheather we like it or not. But in the end, the poor essentially gleam from the universe what the wealthy do because they both have let go of their concerns about needing to control relatively speaking. We just want to believe the people we like more than the ones we don't want to be like have the answer!

TO BE CONTINUED.....

There you have it folks, another chunk of your life just passed you by hopefully increasing your interest just a little more, but we'll see. Till then, "Be well. Do good work, and come on back." G. Kieller.     

Friday: The Survival Instinct. Updated 3/10 @ 7:44 AM

It's Friday! Friday. Friday..well Sunday in all reality.The power cord to my PC died the other day, and it's not an easy one to replace it turns out. LOL. The weather is cool, the fresh smell of rain is still in the air, and it's breezy! It's the end of the first week of March, and hopefully your week was as good as mine. Butttt, it's at least FRIDAY and time for another weekly review of  Rants from a Midwest Guy In The Land of Milk and Honey! 

It was UFC Fight Night with Holly Holmes and Conner McGragor fighting a couple upwards bound champs, and it turned out to be a double upset for the night. A few of us had been looking forward to it like the millions of UFC fans around the world. For me personally, I was hoping Conner got his ass handed to him, and he got it alright!! Holly pounded Tate until she put her to sleep in the last round to become the new champion!! Both girls are hot! Strong is sexy!! What a bad night for Holly. The gladiators of modern day history...men and women alike. Why are we so involved and entertained by it? Why after seeing blood all over the place, eyes closed shut from pounding, and essentially animal-like behaviors drawing our attention?! It should be obvious, we love it!! But more importantly, we're all still animals with animal-like instincts, and whether we want to own up to it or not, there is apart of who we are, and that part of being responds to the "heard mentality" and our survival instinct. Yes. It's true. 

It seems like it's a thing of the past that the strongest, the people with the best gene pools, potentially most fertile people, and best worriers got to have the riches, the best looking mates, and essentially the cream of the crop. Everyone else get to divide what remains , if anything, and then except (or not) where it is they fit in the pecking order in the game of life or surviving it as it maybe. We don't like to think of life being unconsciously lived this way, but the fact of the matter is it is. Because of the way society has evolved, no one really has to strive to make it past the basics: somewhere to live, something to earn a living with, and maybe, if we're lucky, someone to share the time. Yes, we've bought into or perhaps been talked into contributing to the whole by "doing our part" and find happiness in it while all of the fruit of our life's toil really goes to a few other people that figured out something most of us haven't. The mathematician that got a noble prize for developing the model of economics based on a 'social sharing' concept is likely to blame.

He figured out that if all of the boys in a room go after the same 'desirable' girl and ignore the fact or fail to see that she has friends, only one person gets his needs met or wins the prize. Rather, he opined that if we ignored the most desirable girl and focused on all of her friends, everyone gets a proverbial piece of the pie, and the competition of the fittest goes away because everyone will have had their needs met by having nullified the lure of the most desirable. This works out fine in some economic systems, but the most desirable person or people still exist. The question is, "Where did they go?" And, "Did that animistic instinct disappear?"

The answer is simple. "No!" And, "They're everywhere we look...all those most desirable people." It's right there inside of every single one of us!! It's true, and we know it to be true by the very way we feel after we watch certain kinds of movies and tragic events like a car accident or the way most people will, for a moment, take notice of a really good looking gal or guy in a room. We eventually recognize this part of ourselves exists, but we rationalize it away and how we should go about dealing with it; we call this being apart of society and being cultured or 'not being tempted' to include the religious folks. For sure there is a need for order and civility, but what has happened? In those two categories, we begin to believe that we have to suppress the animal nature of ourselves. We need to be content with what we get. We shouldn't look over the fence and 'lust' after things that other people have, etc. etc. My question is, "Why not?" Why should we settle for what is handed to us and not desire different, better, or improved? How did all of 'those' people get to relish in the 'finer' things of life, and we get to support their enjoyment of it by how we live our lives trying to be like them! Hahahaha. This is still true...
TO BE CONTINUED....