I don’t always get into the small talk with my customers - and when I do (sorry to say) I don’t always remember the smaller details - like where some of you are all from - what you do for a living - if you live alone or with roommates or if you’re married or whatever else. Some of you volunteer the info because some details add to our play time - but there are other details that just fall by the way side I guess. I’m sure you all know tons of valuable information about me: my recent smoke cessation (4 months now - and it feels closer to a year for some reason… had a smoking dream the other night. I had just one cigarette - and while I was smoking I was thinking to myself that I wasn’t reallllllly cheating since I had just had one and hadn’t bought any. I remember thinking also that it tasted really good - which is really bizarre. I haven’t tasted a cigarette in a long ass time - but I just know they still taste MARVELOUS. It’s okay - don’t try to talk me out of it - it’s something I can live with and I don’t wanna be like those other recent no smokers who lie about how awful smoke smells and how yucky the taste is. The other day I walked past a person smoking in line at the movie theater and I did the whole slow motion move while inhaling deeply. Mmhm - still smelled fuckin fantastic, too. I’m NOT even gonna lie) , my fear of kangaroos (the whole pocket thing freaks me way out… even stuffed kangaroos - and yeah - even “roo” from Winnie the Pooh. Don’t care if it’s a cartoon kangaroo or a real live creepy one - they freak me out!), and my Minnesota roots being somewhat displaced now on the West Coast - California to be exact.

It’s strange that I’ve lived here for quite a while and still have not taken advantage of all the things to do here. We have absolutely gorgeous beaches, great music halls (Disney Hall is OUTSTANDING!), wonderful theaters (as in The - a-ter - not movie theaters! lol), even better museums and then there are the great forest fires and over 100 degree heat waves.

We’ve had some out of town guests for the past week and I’ve been really trying to look at things through their eyes. It’s been exhausting doing all the things that they want to do daily - Universal Studios, Disneyland, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Newport Beach, Manhattan Beach, Rodeo Drive, The Zoo - tar pits and then taking in a few movies in between. But while exhausting I’ve really discovered just how much I really like it here. Yeah it’s dirty and superficial at times (most of the time!) but there are so many things to take note of and write about and absorb. Things like Venice Beach which reminds me of a beach interpretation of a busy NYC street somewhere in Manhattan or somethin’. The amount of weird at the beach is exciting. I took Jackson there with me today and we walked from one end to the other - just taking in …everything. The crowds would gather around the more interesting events; some tribal dancing thing over by the basketball courts - some dj station asking the “best weave” wearers to raise their hands - The Real Live Venice Freak Show that I couldn’t quite get myself to attend and also the clown in a bright rainbow wig who also read palms. Every other minute you would have a deja vu experience as you passed by another sunglasses “hut” - or pizza by the slice - or Jamaican bracelets and hats…things that you broke down and bought 30 minutes prior because you failed to recognize that the same things would be for sale 10 more times during your walk on Venice Beach. Jackson had a wonderful time picking up various gross objects in his mouth and avoiding people’s feet and Pit Bulls on too long leashes. I wondered how it felt for the people to live close to the beach - with in walking distance. Did they ever get tired of the noise and crowds and cars trying to park in their little driveways? Can people grow tired of being envied?

Any how - the guests are going tomorrow and things will be back to normal. I plan on tucking my tired ass into bed in a few - resting my weary feet. Jackson needs a bath tomorrow because I’m sure he’s carrying too much Venice Beach on him for my liking (*grin*) - and I’ll probably be taking a nice long walk in the evening and going to bed tomorrow around 10PM or so. You can catch me (if you can) tomorrow before that time. I am sure it will take a few days before I get my schedule back to sort of normal. I’m logged in at least 4 hours every day/evening … just sometimes pretty damn late as some of you have noticed. I know it’s not the optimal schedule - and I know that some of you are missing your little CeCe terribly. Nothing lasts forever, remember? I needed a bit of a break - I’m putting things back into perspective - and as many of you have noticed - I’m becoming my old self again. Albeit a bit wiser and less compulsive about my working hours. It will all even itself out - you know that whole continuum thing that we fall into as adults (wink).

This is not at all what I was planning on writing about - but it is what it is. An update of sorts - a bit of some rambling… a little bit of a shout out to say I’m still here… enjoying my life for the most part, dreaming, writing, discovering, walking, loving, working, playing. Growing.

will talk soon.