The Daily Routine

What's next face?  check it out. it's my new look in the mornings...i am adjusting to a new schedule on all fronts...new job, new rehearsals, new workouts, new ideas. it's all part of the plan i suppose, but i make that face alot...it's not really a specific face or expression and can be used for all sorts of expression, such as, "holy crap now what", or "i hope this shit works!",  or "ooohhh, i did not see that one coming." and so forth...funny how things tend to happen like dominoes, one after another and so it is that i am number one domino right now and its kinda fun, and kinda scary and kinda cool all rolled into one.  The challenge is maintaining all things that are important to me along the lines of creative, fun, relationship, and personal time...i guess that is the challenge for most, but these days it's new to me so i am continuing down the road of what's next?  i think i'll make that face at some point today...you should too...

Love and Understanding.
J

Take a Step

Looking up in life has its rewards...stars, sky, clouds, birds, trees, jet streams...seeing the things that exist in a world above us is the metaphor for life that keeps us hopeful i think. I like looking up. I also like looking around and out and down. Try it. Stand in one spot and look in all directions and notice the difference in each direction. It's a bit like that great scene in Castaway with Tom Hanks near the end of the movie when we see him literally standing in the dirt intersection of four roads looking down each road and, although the roads all look similar, we know each are different and the not knowing is the scary part. The risk of seemingly taking the "wrong" road is huge, but there is no wrong road, there is only the road and that road takes you down the path you were meant to be on even though it seems like random chance or specific choice or guessing. The world has presented us yet with another chance to walk down our own road and to do it standing tall and strong and with a knowing that sometimes the roads will be hard and difficult, but in the end that road will teach us something through its twists and turns, and rough pavement, and oil slicks and two ton trucks coming the other way. Not unlike riding a motorcycle down a road with turns that present themselves in a way that is so perfectly planned yet so unknown and if you are in perfect stride and trim and rhythm you adapt to the terrain and the speed and the fear and doubt to get through one turn and onto the next turn with grace and a smile leaving behind a quiet triumph of the spirit and soul and a crowd of love and wonder and awe because you simply did it.  You simply showed up and travelled with the others on the same road for a small moment in time and you did all you could to be good and kind and loving, even on the days you would have killed a kitten or stomped a dove or driven off a cliff...you didn't; and so your road took you up and away into the sky and mountains and trees, all of them caressing your fire and passion for the moment you turned left instead of right, and carried on and on with fierce love for all around you and most importantly for yourself...for your own spirit and sweet essence of life that gets you up in the morning without knowing exactly what the purpose may be or why, and takes you to a place every day of wonder and sadness and hope and despair, and gifts of the soul that may or may never be opened or realized, but they are there stored up in the eternal world of your own mind and heart. So get up and look around and listen to the quiet beat of the heart and then take a step...it doesn't have to be a big step or a step in the "right" direction since we know there is no such thing. The mere act of taking a step is the perfectly designed momentum to move us through anything and that is the perfect design of life.  And that is the perfect moment. And that is the perfect direction. And that is the sweetest step you can take.

Love and Understanding.
J

Three Years of Joy

This is my wife. Her name is Nita, but I call her Tita Bella, Tita, Wife or Weef, depending on the moment.  Those are the bikes we rented in Calistoga for our five hour wine tasting tour to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We love to ride bikes together. As a matter of fact the very first date we went on was on bikes five years ago right here in Santa Monica and not far from where we live now... some of the most amazing times we have spent together have been on our bikes.  Three years ago we rode our bikes on our honeymoon in Sonoma for five days over mountains and rivers, to the sea, and through the trees and up the hills and down them too. Two years ago we rode our bikes all over Colorado for 543 miles during Ride the Rockies where we rode up mountain passes of 11,500 feet and down them freezing our butts off, sleeping in tents and eating mexican food galore.  We have ridden countless miles together and I am willing to bet the miles would add up to crossing the united states together on two wheels...so as you know, for me, that is a lucky thing since I have ridden my bike almost all my life and to think that I somehow managed to marry a woman who also loves to ride is beyond me.  Today is July 11 or 7-11...the day we were married three years ago in Kauai with all of our close friends and family together in the sand in a circle standing in awe at the love and support all around.  It's wild to think that was already three years ago!  Time has a funny way of just flying by and whenever we have a chance to just ride our bikes together like we did, it brings it all back to a simple moment of existence where two people find each other in this wildly complex and complicated life.

People often ask, "How is married life?", like it's a dangerous way to live or something...i am here to tell you its better than an African Safari.  Better than bacon wrapped dates.  Better than sledding.  Better than the 5th coffee of the day.  Better than wind in your hair. Better than a warm fire on a cold day. Better than brown sugar in oatmeal. Better than shaving your legs and then getting in fresh sheets. Better than Raging Waters. Better than Disneyland. Better than chocolate covered nuts. Better than cheeseburgers. Better than stand up comedy. Better than soap operas. Better than winning the lottery. Better than garlic and butter. Better than jumping rope. Better than being tan. Better than opening night.  Better than a sunrise. Better than a sunset. Better than ice cream.

As of today I have lived for 3 years with my wife, or 36 months, or 168 weeks, or 1095 days, or 26,280 hours, or 630,720 hours...but it seems like only the first bike ride....which to this day seemed like an eternity...I love you wife.