Friday: Prince R.I.P. & The Birthday Week: Updated 4/25 7:13 AM

It's Friday! Friday! Friday! I'm not sure about you, but as much as I want to say I'm excited, I'm more sad than anything else. Yesterday the world got the news that one of our Minnesota sons passed in his Minneapolis compound. I wasn't sure how to react to the news when I got it, but I'll touch a little bit about the legend in short (No size reference to the Artist intended) It's the lead up to the birthday week where I will be making the journey home to visit for a few days of catch up and take some time to pay my respects to the Purple One. Yes. It's true! All the tears aside, it's time for another weekly edition of Rants From A Minnesota Man in The Land of Milk and Honey!

The week was pretty normal. I mean there were the work days, and then there were the CE on-line education days. There were gym days, and there were days I watched the clouds and sun out in the yard in between everything else. It was pretty normal except for TOP GUN Wednesday (Any day I wear my white scrubs to the office is deemed a "top gun" day.). As expected, the whites in the sunlight reflected light that could be seen off in the distance. I didn't actually witness this myself, but a few of the office patients and a couple of the store vendors mentioned it when they saw me walk by or saw me eating in my normal lunch spot. Magically wearing white triggers a psychological order of priori that essentially tells most of us, "White are the good guys...white represents the light, the truth, and what is clean and what is healthy." Without getting into a talk of social conditioning, the response was funny to watch and listen to what thoughts came out of people. One guy said, "I thought you were the milk man." Another one said, "I thought of the ice cream man, " and yet another said, "I saw angels in the sky as you walked through the court." I had to laugh at that last one, but it may have some relevance. Hahaha.

Top Gun Wednesday was pretty low stress and with it moments of content ending with my trek to the gym to work off body tension from earlier work-outs this week and continue my rehab of my low-back and ass/leg pain. Yup. The leg pain is still with me, but it's improving. As is my usual routine, I played some Prince, or at least I had been in the last week getting ready for some karaoke. I drink my pre-work-out drink and make the walk into the gym just after 7:00 PM. I waved hi to the front desk manager and chit-chatted with her a bit only to walk away wondering what her story was. I laughed at myself for maybe giving her just a touch more attention than I might other front desk girls.  My former was in stretching but at a later time than usual. I smiled thinking of the Purple Rain lyrics, "It's such a shame our friendship had to end...Purple Rain..Purple Rain," and got to the locker room to ready for my warm up. I checked my calendar cause it must've be about three weeks (+/- a few days) since I've seen her. I mention the three weeks cause it's usually the time she shows up in my real-life movie after not seeing her around and concluding she moved. She looked healthy and appears to have gotten some 'nose' work done. Not that she needed it, but she thought she did, and I guess it was time. We did the 'try not and notice the other' person routine, but let's face it, it's Gold's Gym and people get noticed for shape, size, and their level of fitness, and 'we've' come a long way babe! LOL. So, went the week till Thursday morning after my normal coffee and client training session.

I was driving on the freeway listening to the radio while attempting to get my music player to play. Then I heard the announcement, "It's not confirmed, but a male was found not breathing at Prince's compound in Minnesota." I was like, "WTF," and I posted a question on Facebook to see if it was just a fluke. Then, I changed the station only to hear Prince songs playing on various other channels; it was the sign that it might be true. For whatever reasons, I was overcome with emotion. Why I would react to some guy I only knew in passing as a security manager and a few 'club scene' interactions didn't make sense to me. I pulled off the road and into a grocery store lot and watched as my FB page lit up with replies that it was true. Scenes from my childhood floated into my head of listening to Prince's song playing on the radio, When The Doves Cry, as my mom drove me to the mall. Random scenes from his movie Purple Rain played in my head. Even one of my first encounters of him when I was a night club manager replayed.

It was my first time getting him into and out of what was becoming the next Minneapolis 'Purple' themed night club scene-The Visage Club. The call came in from his personal body guard that he was approaching and needed a table to take in the scene from, which at the time included an areal show on silk ropes and a hoop. As I watched his purple limo pull up, I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't actually seen him up close. His driver got out and greeted me, and then a very small framed person got out from the back. He looked at me, and I asked if there was anyone else that would be joining him essentially hiding the fact that I thought Prince had a front man that would go in and check the scene out first before he would actually get out of the limo. It was in that moment that I realized it was him! Neither him nor his driver picked up that I didn't know it was him as I lead them up the back door and hall to the VIP booth were I watched from the distance as another one of my teammates stood near the booth to keep would-like-to-touch you people away. Eventually his very tall and super hot girl at the time showed up in another limo with a few of her girls essentially crowding out the area. Eventually he slipped out as I followed with his detail. He stopped and turned just before getting into his limo and said, "Nice suit. Have my guy call you so we can arrange some other things." I nodded in affirmation and gave the wave off. The girls eventually left. What would happen later as a result of this encounter is part of the stories of my life as a nightlife lord in Minneapolis.

As it all passed through my mental conscious again, I was emotional because it wasn't just one of the greatest musicians and artist in the world that just passed away into the night, he was a fellow Minnesota man. His childhood and my own had many commonalities, and what might have likely turn into the story we read about in the news on another black person being gunned down or put into jail or found guilty of some trumped up charge of possession or prostitution turned out much different--it turned out much different--he was able to rise above his environment and made it work for him, and he became who he was...PRINCE, and if it could happen to one Minnesota man, it could happen for others. So I am sad the Purple One is no longer with us, but what he left behind, his musical legacy, will be part of our cultural heritage forever. That's all I have to say about that.

It's my birthday week, and I'm coming home to celebrate my own aging but also the life and times of the man! I will hopefully be joined by as many of you that are willing to go have a drink or two at the VFW where I'm gonna sing some Prince, some Rock'n Roll, and maybe some blues. I'm not sure how it's gonna pan out, but I'm gonna be home for a little bit and enjoy a few days off, some family and friend time, and remember the last year as a step in the right direction. Who knows...I might even eat some cake, run the lakes, and hopefully get to visit Paisley Park to pay my respects. Till then, I guess we all just spent a little bit of time remembering and listening to some Prince. "Be well. Do good work, and come on back." G. Keiller.

#MNMAN    #MNPEOPLE    #GETADJUSTEDTOTHEGOODLIFE    #CALIFORNIADREAMING

Sunday: TOP GUN Monday & The Homeland: Updated 9:38 AM

 It's Sunday! Yup. The sun is out. The weather is warm, and there's a soft breeze blowing just enough so that the birds' chirping has more of a harmonic sound to it than just annoying. It's a pretty damn nice morning. My cup of coffee is welcome today on account I didn't feel I could stomach any just a few days ago because of bad food. Another week has gone by, and it's likely that most of you did something TAX related! Hahaha. Tax day is April 18 this year giving you the entire weekend to get them done and stamped by tomorrow for timeliness. Yes. Maybe I'll talk a bit about that this edition, and now it's time for another weekly edition of Rants From A Midwest Guy In The Land Of Milk & Honey!

The week started out pretty spectacular to be honest. This was largely due to the fact that we, the office docs, had decided to get white office scrubs to wear with all white converse low top sneakers. Yes! We politely dubbed this day TOP GUN Monday because of the anticipated effect it might have--people being just a little more inquisitive on what I do. As anticipated, it was quite the 'bright' scene. I'm not sure if it was just the brightness of the outfit or the fact that I looked like a navel officer. Whichever it was, I took it upon myself to play Berlin's  Take My Breath Away over my stereo just for effect. I though it was funny, but from my coffee stop at Starbucks to my normal walk through the Malibu Country Court, people were pleasant and a few people took double takes.

Magically my patients were super compliant and all of the new patients, mostly female, agreed with everything I recommended for future care. This might happen normally, but there's usually a back and forth on care options, and time, and vacations in the way when it comes to the Malibu crowd. But, it was TOP GUN Monday, and everything seemed to go by much more smoothly. I spoke it. It happened. I showed an interest in one of the gals at the local eatery, and she blushed. Hahahaha. I'm pretty sure it was the smoothest, busiest day I had to include the editor of the Malibu Times Magazine inquiring if I was interested.....I wasn't sure if in her or doing a magazine interview. I suppose the magazine article would be really good advertising, and maybe it could lead people to discover my stories....the rest of my life....the one that brought me there to "them" in the first place, but hopefully it would lead them to a better understanding of how I approach life and my doctoring. It's discovery could work two ways with people that have never known real life difficulties, loss, and the meaning of finding real peace in the midst of calamity. It could be too different from them, but perhaps its perceived spirituality depth may have value to them. There is a cross-road between the road to spirituality where the wealthy that don't have to worry about anything and the poor that don't have anything to worry about intersect and their differences are null...they are essentially in the same trolley. So went TOP GUN Monday.

It's almost my birthday!! Yea!! I'm gonna be turning 39 (again), and to celebrate, I'm going to be maintaining the normal ritual of things I do on that day. This year it's on Friday, and I'll get the weekend to be back in the Homeland to enjoy it. The ritual goes that I have breakfast at one of my favorite places with one of my good friends. I have either my lunch or my dinner alone so that I can write in my journal about the last year and look back upon it to see if there was anything I didn't accomplish that needs to be in the upcoming year. At the end of the day or after the evening meal, I meet my friends or they meet me for drinks at one of the local venues and we catch up. This year, as my birthday is on a Friday, I'm gonna have people meet me at the VFW so I can sing! It's karaoke night almost every night at the VFW, and this year I wanna sing or entertain as I see it. LOL.

The rest of my time in town, I'm gonna use to catch up with friends and family that couldn't make it out for the birthday traditions. I'm gonna try and do a few things I miss doing like run the lakes (if my ass isn't hurting), bike around the city, walk around Uptown, and remember all of the life that I lived there in the Homeland. Maybe, if I can get one of my newer friends to join me kayaking around the lakes, I can check that off of my list! Yes! Fat guy in a little boat. Hahahaha. It's less than two weeks away, and it can't come fast enough because it's been awhile since the last time I was home. It'll be almost four months...and that's almost the longest I've been away from Home. I think the last time I was away longer was in my 20s...way back then! For whatever the reasons, I was gonna wait till Memorial Day weekend to make the journey, but it seems too far away. And the more I thought about it, I'm likely gonna have to decide which of the holidays I really want to be home in Minnesota for versus in California. As I'm a Minnesota man, I'm gonna err on the side of being home for Labor Day weekend for one reason-The State Fair!! So, I guess we'll see what comes of it in the long run, but for now, "Mama I'm coming home." Ozzy.

That's a wrap for the this weeks high lights. I've been contemplating posting the trilogy of my blog story come my anniversary date in May, but that's another week and another rant. Till next week, "Be well. Do good work, and come on back." G. Keiller.

Friday: The Force & That Loving Feeling..Updated: 4/11 @7:05 AM

It's Friday! It doesn't feel like it, but it was for sure when I started this blog edition. Now it's Sunday.....Sunday fun day? It's been raining the last couple of days, and the temp has been Mn-Fall-cool for the area making my upcoming visit to the Homeland seem so far away. The sun finally did come out today, and it's why I'm working on the blog. Moody weather makes me moody I guess. The Friday office day started early and ended late because of the rain and people taking it 'slow' to get around in it. I mean it's been 50ish degrees out, and people think it's cold! LOL. Well, that's California for ya. Hahaha.

The week has been, more or less, uneventful, apart from the weather and that's good. In the boredom of it, I had the opportunity to take the picture to the left from the top of Pepperdine's University campus in Malibu. If I hadn't been walking around with a bunch of things in my hands and took the picture a few minutes sooner, you would've thought you were in a floating city in the sky because of the fog. The campus is beautiful, and it's inhabitants are some of the brightest people in the world, and getting to talk with a few of the students and staff was interesting. The campus had invited the office to be a participant at the annual health fair for which I was asked to present and demonstrate a few of the newest most effective tools available for working on peoples' aches and pains. In it, I had the opportunity to correct a few of the misnomers about chiropractors in general to include the basics about length of schooling, actually being able to diagnose any condition that presents in the office (which is different than actually treating things we diagnose in some instances), and that I'm an actual physician and not just a glorified massage therapist. How I made the connection on what chiropractors do and how it relates to them as human beings seemed easy to me at the time.

When the question was finally asked, "How can chiropractic benefit me as a healthy person?" I paused and asked everyone to pull out their mobile phones and raise it into the air. "How many of your phones don't work?" I asked and asked them to leave their hand in the air while everyone put their hand and phone down. "Take a look around you. Do you see anyone with their hand in the air signifying that their phone is broken or not functioning?" The answer was, "NO. Everyone has a fully functioning phone." Now let's talk about one of most import parts of your functioning phone that makes your functioning phone either useless or super handy...your data!" And I went on to talk about how important it is to have enough speed and data to not only be able to send information to the rest of the world but receive it and how frustrating it is to us when we see that circle of 'sending' still sending after a few seconds or even a minute because the connection isn't good or more importantly, the ability for our data to go and come has been hampered by something...I usually call this Tmobile, but everyone has the experience at some point with whatever carrier.

At the point where people understood that even with a functional phone, it was essentially useless or not as useful if they were not able to send or receive data...they had become, more or less, handicapped because of that inability. Sure they could function and use various other programs on their phones, but the most important one, the ability to communicate all of their most important selfies stopped when they had run out of or had interference in its conveyance of data.

"This is why chiropractic is important to you as fully functioning able bodied people. We usually don't think that anything could be better with us as long as we can eat, sleep, and live or are pain-free, but we are much like mobile phones and the way that every individual operating system in our body communicates to itself and then to the world around us, i.e. sending a selfie, is largely improved by how fast we can send and receive our own internal data via the nervous system. If something is slowing that data down, we are essentially in that standstill, waiting for the 'sent' message to finally show up and this is where chiropractic is beneficial to you. So why not have a fully functioning data supply happening within you at all times?" As the crowd laughed I went on to tell them that less than 50% of the people that walk into our office are in pain; they are there to keep the data supply constant, even, and steady via the various things we do as chiropractors to include the adjustment. So went that day in the week.


The rest of the week was me getting together my new set of office scrubs! White will be the office "event" color. We wear scrubs at the office I work at instead of the shirt and tie look. I understand why docs dress up, but we do a lot of actual hands on stuff, and the scrubs fit the role better. That being said, we have essentially a few different colors that the docs and the staff wear. Fortunately for me, I kept my original scrub gear from my days of working Beverly Hill that have my logo them, "Get Adjusted To The Good Life." We have a few of the royal colors but not white.

I made the suggestion to wear white scrubs considering the office colors and dynamic, but the lead doc wasn't sure it would convey the right message. When I asked him further about it, it turned out it reminded him of a movie that came out in 1975 with Jack Nicoleson where the 'crazy' people in the movie wore white. I laughed the day he came in and had seen another doc wearing white scrubs because it had essentially changed his mind on the matter. Then it dawned on me that if we wore white scrubs with any kind of metallic stitching, we would look like Navel officers walking around the Malibu Mart area outside of our office. This prompted me to start playing all of the Top Gun music videos like Take My Breath Away, and You've Lost That Loving Feeling. That being the case, I spent the last week finding the scrubs, getting the white All Star tennis to go with it, and getting the top embroidered for this Monday's debut of the Top Gun Office White Day. LOL. I'll take a picture of them on us and show you how it goes, but so you have an idea, I put a shot of the black and white scrub set above with the logo just above. Hahahaha.

As it's really Sunday, I feel it's appropriate to share what my Saturday night was like because it seemed relevant to one of my core life beliefs--that all things are connected and what affects one person directly can affect another indirectly. It turned out my housemate had downloaded the Star Wars movie and had it playing last night. I was out with one of the girls, but eventually we stopped back home, and she planted herself on the sofa to finish watching the movie. I'd seen it when it came out, and I remember the various things I thought as people were experiencing the full gamut of emotions directly and indirectly because of what the movie calls the force. Hans Solo in the movie says that it is the substance all around us and in us and everything in the galaxy that struggles to keep a balance of life which ultimately plays out as the struggle between good and evil. It just made me wonder, as I have over the last year, how much of my sentiments are just my own. How many of my own emotions and sentiments are experienced by others directly and indirectly. Maybe one day we'll know how much of it, if any, is true or just optimistic believing. If anything good comes my way on the topic, I'll share it here. Till then, "Be well, do good work, and come on back," G. Keiller.

Friday: April Fools' Day & "Everything Happens For A Reason..." Updated: 5/25 05:15 PM

It's Friday April 1st, and that means it's April Fools' Day. So keep your ears and eyes open because someone maybe pulling a prank on you!!! Well we made it. I made it to this day, and fortunately this time, I'm in California for it. Yes! The week has been long I suppose for the historical activities of the week last year for me but also because March just took forever to get through! I mean, "Is it over yet." Week 1. "Are we still in March?" Week 2. "Come on already, April?" Week 3-4. And finally, it's actually here after Week 5!! It's been a long road to April, and Spring is in the air. The flowers are budding, and people usually wear shorts here in Cali, and I'm guessing people are out in T-shirts and shorts in the Homeland in the 50 degree weather!!! LOL. You know what people say, "Everything happens for a reason." I guess. Maybe I'll touch on that a bit and explore other things because now it's time for another installment of Rants From A Midwest Guy In The Land of Milk and Honey!

Well folks it's finally here--Apirl. I took the day off to remember the year and the day for all that it means in my personal life. I'm going to do a few routine things like grab a cup of Joe, maybe hit the gym, take a look at my jeep and cleaning him up, and sometime towards sunset I will go down to Zuma and watch the sun go down and write in my journal about today. Hopefully it'll be nice and not too windy. In either case, I'll likely grab a bite at one of the local burger shoppes if they're aren't too many people from the office there cause it is a locals' hang-out. I suppose I'll let ya know.

They say everything happens for a reason. I've heard this phrase more this week than any other that I can remember. After the last time I heard it yesterday, I decided it was time to 'take it in' and listen to its meaning and how it applies to my life the year (s) leading up to now. Not too long before that, I was sitting at a Starbucks in West Hollywood when I lived here back in 2013. I was still healing from my original cancer surgery, struggling with my life on the whole because of it, and counting....I was counting what I had to work with in relationship to a job, finances, my health and the relationship I was just out of a few months before it (This Unbelievable Life.). At the end of the day, all of it added up to me leaving California a couple of months later to move home to MN where I was waiting for health coverage to do some more surgery and treatment, but none of that happened. What did happen was I met a close friend of mine, the Fin, and found myself working for the Burke Center were I was essentially learning an entire new arena of chiropractic care-Personal Injury and all of the nuts and bolts that come with it. Little did I know I was becoming an expert at case management and, more importantly, improving my adjusting skills via the 100s of people I saw every week. It would later lead to the office winning multiple awards.

As time moved forward, the dollars grew and so did my prospecting endeavors in California. I had planned on returning after I got through my health dilemma and made enough cash to transition over. What began to happen, in spite of my on-going efforts, I got comfortable with my uncomfortable life. I mean I had enough. I had a gym to go to. A place to live. I had a few new friends and most of my old friends. My family lived in the area, and I knew places and was familiar with and to almost everybody. It happens when you grow up in a big, smaller town and your a former nightlife lord. Somewhere in there and in between things, I knew I was not done; I had something different to do somewhere else.It was why I left for California in 2007 and why I felt I should return. I could feel it growing every day and the weather didn't help--discontent. The coldest Winter in MN history of my life-time as it turned out. The more I looked for 'opportunities' that would ultimately lead me back to California, the more I wanted to erase the memory of it because I wasn't sure if it was what I was supposed to do (Recovery: Surviving & Reconstructing the Dream.), I had my basic needs met, but everything happens for a reason! Right?!

So, one day as I was looking at 'chiropractic job' opportunities attempting to appease the restlessness in my person at my local Starbucks, a person showed up in my life for the first time. A blizzard was finishing up dropping snow everywhere essentially stalling the traffic on most of the major road ways. It was because of this that a short girl pulled off of the non-moving traffic road to sit and wait it out over a cup of coffee. Everything happens for a reason. When she got around to sitting next to me, she recanted how she was fed up with the weather and how, in her attempt to maybe change her life's circumstances, she had started interviewing with companies in California. In fact she had just flown back the day before from an interview that looked positive. It was then that I informed her that I was doing the same and had been in the process of picking the right one, so I could return after my last year of health rebuilding. She laughed. We laughed, and in the end I told her she should leave the mess we were both surviving just outside the doors if she could, "..get the hell out if you can. You can always come back home if you don't like it, but you'll never know if you do till you try." She took those words to be a sign because why would some guy she found attractive, that had also lived in California and was working his way back at the same time she was be sitting there on the one and only day she had ever driven down that road to go to work but had to because of the snow. Everything happens for a reason.

Without having said anything of where it was I planning on returning to or that I had CE credits to do in Thousand Oaks, she ended up temporarily living in the very place I had envisioned returning to because of my history with the town but also because it was a lot like the suburb that I had been working in my time home--Edina. So, it was no surprise to me as much as it was to her that I knew the town and showed her around it in her first few days of her arriving. She decided it was time to take a chance accept that the job notified her she had to start 30 days sooner. That pretty much gave me no time to know her well but enough time to decide I should because sooner or later I was going to be there in area somewhere, and so the story went (The Pursuit of Happiness.). We dated. We got to know each other a little better, and in it we learned somethings about the other that we were both working on improving and why we, ultimately, both needed to leave the  Homeland. It's too easy to do nothing and just fall into the place people want you to fall into or feel is 'best' for you and let yourself believe that it's what life is supposed to be like for you never really questioning the status quot, but everything happens for a reason. Right?!

We decided to run the LA marathon independently but trained together for it, and in there somewhere we lost each other. Then it was over as we worked through really difficult relationship stuff together. In the end, the relationship had ended before the LA Marathon 2015 even began. What I thought was one of the bigger signs that I was supposed to return to California had just disappeared and now I was struggling to decide if it was just a dream to return California after cancer survival or just a delayed reality that I let linger too long. Well, a new sign had come into the picture. She discovered we were expecting just a few days after the relationship was over by almost 3 months. In the aftermath, some of her behavior and thoughts made more sense in light of that fact. It was the sign for not only her but me that it was time to move forward in my planning leave Minnesota. What we knew as misunderstandings and difference in our relationship we would put aside and work through with someone else but for now we would operate as teammates. We were thrilled. We were afraid and uncertain it was the right thing to pursue, but everything happens for a reason, and I felt peace about it. Shortly after making the decision to move forward, the doors in my life began to open as other began to close, and in it, I knew with or without the relationship I had to listen to the signs and leave, and a good thing I did.

Eventually, one job would lead to my present. The girl would go
her own way after we both lost our reason to continue forward together today, April 1st. It was a sad day and one that I definitely could've done better with. I needed to be here for the rest of my life's path plan to unfold because it wasn't going to happen for me otherwise. I had to be home all that time to learn and become the professional I am. All the events and various connections that moved me back into the direction I needed to go happened as they needed to. It was not easy lots of the time, but everything happens for a reason, and we have to be diligent enough to hold on to the right things, people, and our own humanity's desires loosely. Our life plan maybe different than what we think. I've come to learn though, that if I look for the peace in me and around me, I can hear and see what the signs are telling me...the Creator  is speaking and the Universe is lighting the path. It may very well be the truth that things do happen for a reason, and we don't always see what those reasons are when they're happening to us. All things are one and written by the same hand. There it is.













#GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife #Californiadreaming #Whatismissinginthispicture