Go Gramma, Go!

So, I think my little mummi is getting right into the groove of being a gramma now. In fact, she's quite obsessed.

However, we took a "day off" from the baby today (because there was a big party yesterday for Sao Mai's one month birthday celebration), but - still - when we drove past Bill's condo this evening (on the way to a concert) my mum waved excitedly toward his building and yelled out: "Hi Sao Mai! Hello Baby!"

I let her have her fun.......

Today was really just a chicks-hangout-day --- which of course meant a trek to my favorite spot ..... OB!!

We walked the sea wall from my dad's house to the OB Pier (see photos above), past white-sand (but surprisingly garbage-free) beaches, down to Newport Avenue.... the main hangout & last haven for hippie-treehuggers in these parts.

Both mum & I scored beautifully at various stores.

We picked up embroidered purses from "Lola Luna Boutique" and crazy jewelry from "Rags Fashion Exchange" and -- my fully favorite haunt --- many items of groove-clothing from "Sunshine Daydreams".... a store that actually occurs in my daydreams frequently ..... (see multiple bags of purchases below)....

Then, tonight, we headed up to Balboa Park for an outdoor Organ Concert under the stars.

At one point the organist got up & said that the evening was dedicated to a gentleman (in the audience) who was celebrating his 95th birthday... AND that he'd been coming to that particular park since he was four years old.

Sorta Cool in So.Cal.

So .... "Auntie Kristin" is finding good ol' southern california a bit more palatable this time around.

Maybe baby makes things easier to handle after forty years on this earthly sphere.

Ocean Beach (where dad lives) is much more than acceptable, too (!!) --- the weekly Wednesday street market being one hella cool event to enjoy (witness the fully awesome band, Old Man Hands, below ---- complete with accordian, violin, standup bass, mandolin AND they were playing wicked tunes, too! WooHoo!!)

On my daily trek into OB today I FINALLY saw the San Diego Parrots --- after many years of trying to locate them! This is a group of about 20 parrots that escaped from a pet store many years ago & have been hanging & cawing (loudly!) and surviving in the area nearby my dad's house. I was walking back from the market today & was pretty sure that I was in their general vicinity when I heard an insanely loud amount of bird noise and noticed these gregarious green fellows at the top of some palm trees.




Went to see the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" with my dad the other night at The Ken Cinema (voted "best movie theatre snacks in SD) up in the Hillcrest area... a section of town that my dad calls the "artsy fartsy" (translation: gay) part of San Diego.

It was hard to argue with his definition when, once in the theatre, I noticed that they sold "vegan cookies" and whole-leaf infused herbal teas. The movie rocked (!)--- even tho' I didn't partake of all the herbal offerings that could have been shaken onto my popcorn......


At right is a stained-glass peace symbol that is mounted on a small rock island just up the road from my dad's beach-house (in case you didn't guess how much of a hippie-haven my dad lives in......)

Not so bad here in So.Cal. this time around.

Not everyone is a Bush-loving, conservative, dreadlock-hating, dog-beating chowhound. S'nice, I guess. But.... it's still not Canada.

California Curiosities

California really just becomes curiosier & curioser everytime I visit here ..... Witness the above "Planned Parenthood EXPRESS" that my dad & I drove past today. I mean... what part of their birth control planning, exactly, is "Express"? Is there a drive-thru window somewhere? Can one just run inside & grab a handful of condoms from their vending machines?

My dad suggested that perhaps this branch is geared toward counselling people who prefer quickies & one-night-stands. Makes sense to me.


And then there was the Organic Manicure & Pedicure shoppe. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a local garage advertising Organic wheel alignments or a San Diego bank offering Organic chequing accounts.

We also passed a place that had a big banner advertising "semi-live entertainment". I guess that's better than "half dead entertainment", but I sure wish I had my camera anyway...



So, we hoofed it past the express birth control & organic salons & headed to visit Sao Mai at her quaint condo in San Diego's Little Italy section of town.


Her home is within spitting distance to San Diego's harbour with its lovely sea walk --- along which we enjoyed a sunny stroll.

Believe it or not, the photo below is of a shark that we encountered on one of the harbour docks.

Baby shark for a baby girl.....

Sao Mai did lots of sleeping today -- which inspired her grampa to join in (see evidence below).

She's officially three weeks old now and is quite cheeky about it, sticking her tongue out at her auntie and just generally being so d*%$ed cute that it's nearly criminal! AND - best of all -- she's Organic!

Inward Bound: How I survived Meditation Boot Camp

Yeah.... okay.... SO, check out THIS ten day schedule:

4:00 a.m.-------Morning wake-up GONG (!)
4:30-6:30 a.m.--Meditate in hall or your room
6:30-8:00 a.m.---Breakfast break (Yahoo!)
8:00-9:00 a.m.---Group meditation in hall (no sleeping!)
9:00-11:00 a.m.---Meditate in the hall
11:00-12:00 noon---Lunch break (major yahoo!!)
12noon-1:00 p.m.--Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 p.m.---Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 p.m.--Group meditation in hall (no groaning)
3:30-5:00 p.m.--Meditate in the hall or in your room
5:00-6:00 p.m.--Tea break (yeah.... just tea~!)
6:00-7:00 p.m.------Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 p.m.----Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 p.m.----Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 p.m.--Question time in the hall
9:30 p.m.---Retire to your own room--Lights out



Of course I wasn't allowed to bring a camera (or reading material, writing material, essential oils, food, snakes, crayons, or liquids & gels) but this photo at right kinda implies the excitement of the meditation hall at the Vipassana Centre. EXCEPT that my whole group o' tators (that's "meditators" for those of us who travel at different speeds.... now......) had mega-block meditation pillows, all equipped with super-spinal supports and lumbar luxurious pillows and just all the new state-of-the-art meditation paraphenalia.

I brought a blanket. And they had to lend me headphones so I could hear the lessons. It was very uncool. Luckily, I've subsequently read some tales from other newbie meditators & I don't feel quite so stigmatized.



So I gave the whole "meditate for twelve hours a day" schedule a chance.... for the first four days.

Then, on the fifth day, a revelation: I really don't like meditating. I figure that - maybe -- I'm just not miserable enough for meditation (or at least the method that was taught by Mr.Goenka (shown below beside his lovely wife).

Actually, he was a hilarious teacher & I probably wouldn't have stayed thru the whole course if his lessons weren't so flippin' entertaining.... at least until the last three days when they started to sound like propaganda sessions from a hare krishna bagwan-brainwashing sect or something.... (repeat after me: ignore your sankaras and ragas and embrace the dhamma of anicca... now repeat again fifty times in a slow, droning & hypnotic voice to 100 sensory-starved, sleep-deprived, malnourished 'tators.... Vipassana!!)

I know that I'm going to get in trouble from certain friends& relations for being so (notoriously) sarcastic & closed-minded and... well, basically being myself.

BUT--- the good news was that I spent the last five days meditating quite seriously on some new business ideas and very creative re-financing plans that should potentially net me about $200k within the year and possibly millions over the next few years.

Now THAT was a divinely enlightening experience!