wedding blog
Category: Life

I think we finished everything yesterday.  We don't leave till tomorrow, so that means a day off today, I suppose.  Somehow, I doubt that's how it turns out.

I was in Baja in camp till yesterday.  I surfed a rarely ridden reef a few hours before we left.  It seemed to be working.  The reef is called "diapers" because it makes you poop in your pants.  I'd never been out there alone.  I ended up in a bad place and got spilled over a 25 ft section of jagged rock in a few feet of white water, like a bucket of fish getting sloshed onto a deck, except, I was a the only fish and this was jagged rock.  I cut my palm and the other elbow.  I have no idea why my head wasn't involved I was upside down for a moment.  Oh my, it was awful.  Fortuately I didn't have time to be afraid.

So I survived unscathed as far as my all important face in upcoming wedding shots, and I have some cool scars and a story. 

In camp we were without water for the last few days.  The water goes off in camp all the time.  We have a Peela for the toilet and dishes.  I was surfing everyday, but no showers and I was sweating in the garden, getting dirty, it was hot.  I think as little as I want to admit it, I've been under a bit a pressure lately. 

I got a stye on my eye.  I'm keeping it clean and putting hot compress on it a few times today.  I can get hot towel on the airplane.  I have to be agressive on this asthetic blight.  I'm getting a big pair of sunglasses too.

So I didn't cut my head up on the rocks, but now I'm ugly anyway!? 

Humph. 

2:14 PM - 8 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

thrift shop
Category: Life

The wardrobe for my Italy trip has been purchased.  I've got Armani, Polo, Dockers, Pendleton, and Lands End.  It's all brand new, none of it has been worn, I've only tried it on.  I will be constantly resplendent, (with a scruffy head).

I've been assembling the wardrobe over the last couple of months with Ellyn, my novia who lives on a rock point jutting into the Pacific in Baja.  She is an actor and singer, as well as an environmental scientist.  So she has a huge wardrobe, and she's real smart.  She has always bought all her clothes at thrift shops.

I've got four designer pairs of slacks, four major label trunks/shorts.  Tops to match each bottom, all new, all brand names.

I've spent well under a hundred dollars….to look so good, (with a scruffy head).  Never will this scruffy head ever look so good!

I LOVE the thrift shops!  I love coming out of there with a couple hundred dollars of new clothes that fit great for under twenty bucks!  I get home and try my new clothes on and look in the mirror.  I feel very smart, and well dressed.

A couple summers ago Natalie, (my favorite daughter who wants to get married at the cabin in Mexico), and I, were invited to the "Baby Blue and Pink Cowboy Ball" in Burlington VT.  I went to the thrift shop there and got a blue seersucker suit that fit me like a glove.  I got pink paint, glitter, and Elmer's.  I put the suit, white buck shoes, and a white cowboy hat on a tarp and splattered paint and glue and glitter on them all.  Talk about resplendent!  That whole deal cost about twenty dollars.

My goal was to sweat through the suit on the dance floor.  I was able to accomplish that.  The next morning I did heavy gardening in my brother's front yard, in the suit.  I wanted the neighbors to be impressed that Thomas had a gardener wearing such a wonderfully colorful suit using a chainsaw in heavy growth.  It must have been a sight!  I sweat through the coat again that morning.

Hopefully you have a Thrift shop near you.  Do a google search.  I will never buy any clothes anywhere else ever in my life.

8:00 AM - 13 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

good blues
Category: Life

I'm reading "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".  It's a very funny and pleasant read.  I go as slow as possible when I'm in a book like this.  Lot's of folks can't put a book down if they like it.  I put it down on purpose, so I can come back.

A main character in the book is Zaphod, the two headed President of the Galaxy.  He's completely egocentric and he backs into stuff just like I do.  He constantly lands on his feet in a better place than where he fell off.

My lover gave me the book, she said I'd relate.  Thankfully she understands me (self-centered, amazingly lucky all the time, the leader of the rose-colored-glasses, sunshine, and happy endings community).

Sometimes I have the blues, we all go through them.  It is the cycling of chemicals and other stuff (our bodies exist in the material world).  We float in eternity, meaning is elusive and changes all the time.  No one knows, we all guess and act grown up, but we will always be children.

I don't have the blues much, because I pretend everything will work out fine.  I don't fret.  I'm not afraid.  So I am relaxed to see the endless possibilities of life and this little ride we're on.  I simply trust what I believe, and so, I experience it.  The more I live this mystical style of life, the more miracles I see.

If what I hope is true: we are ALL children of the King!  That is what I believe and it is my joy beyond circumstance.

4:38 PM - 18 Comments - 20 Kudos - Add Comment

after the wedding
Category: Life

We are on the stretch run towards my daughter's wedding.  Just about all else has lost any real relevance.

Since I moved my bike and helmet and music books in with my "novia",  (girlfriend in Spanish, she won't be my girlfriend, but "novia" is OK), we have been learning more about each other, growing together, and prospering in joy and options.  Our options are endless.  Frankly, I believe I should run Ellyn for President of the United States!  She's way better than Hillary!  She'd have a tough run against Obama.  Hum, maybe 2012.  No problem, that's after the wedding.

My new business venture is clicking great.  Three months of work, wondering if I was right about it working at all, is paying off this month, a wonderful success.  "That's nice, did you get the tailoring done."  Oh yeah, my acting career is going real well too.  I'm changing lives….in a chicken suit.

My younger college senior daughter has said she will have a small wedding.  She's my favorite daughter at the moment.  We're sending her to Amsterdam next week.  She met a professional soccer player there last summer.  They kissed so much her lips got bruised.  So she thinks she's going to see him.  Nope, I'm giving her a wad of cash to bring us a big party load of nice weed, and what ever else I can think of, from that most progressive city.

My former wife and her boyfriend are traveling with the old people.  I'm meeting all the college and young professionals in Rome for a few days before we go to Tuscany, and then after the wedding a group of us are spending a few days on the coast.  I had nightmares about being in the old group.  I sure am glad my wife and I are divorced, and her boyfriend is old and likes doing what old people do, whatever the hell that is, sure seems like sitting in fancy lobbies and restaurants to me…blah.  I don't think I could afford to be with the old people.

1:49 PM - 10 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Picture Blog
Category: Life

Here's some pictures from the summer so far.


These two little doves got hatched right on Ellyn's front porch.  They got pushed out of the nest July 4th after the fire works.  I suppose Mom and Dad dove had had enough.  One of them got killed by a cat.  One still hangs out around the porch. 


This is Ellyn and I before we went to Jose's Palapa, and got the lounge gig.  We are practicing everyday.  We'll be ready in a couple months.  I'm excited about the lounge act.  She thinks we should be called "Juan and Elena"  I think it should be "Elena and Juan"  We are an international lounge act.


Here's Ellyn practicing dance moves with a high tech boom box


I have to get the piano parts right, so I practice all the time too.


This is Buck.  He's the top seagull in camp.


This is Buck with a few of his "bitches" waiting for him to finish eating chips off the deck.  They are allowed to clean up after Buck.


Fishing boat, birds, and cruise ship.


Spa day, in camp. 


The chicken after a show.  I sweat through my shirt every performance.  The Chicken role is very physical.  I was offered work at Disneyland last night.  I'm holding out.  I want to be the next "James Bond".  "Bond, James Bond."  I've been practicing saying that.


I'm putting up a profile for "Slpayadora"  I will blog as a mystic chicken in show business.  It's a "Jonathan Seagull" type perspective...except from a mystic show business chicken.  I think the concept has legs. 


This is the view from inside the chicken head.  See?  It is a unique perspective.


This is the chicken (me) helping "Mother Nature" befor the show.  There's a little monkey that lives behind the umbrella.  It's the San Diego Wild Animal Park.  There's wierd animals all over.

6:02 AM - 18 Comments - 24 Kudos - Add Comment

Christmas Miracle (in July)
Category: Life

I'm starting my professional acting career this weekend.  I will debut in "The Mother Nature Poop Show" at the Wild Animal Park, North San Diego County, as the chicken, "Splayadora" , Mother Nature's side kick.  Chickens don't poop, they "splay", it's poop and piss togther.  I've had to learn a lot about poop for the show, even though I have no lines. I'll be in a chicken costume.

Like many actors, I was able to break in on the "casting couch".  I have a personal connection with the actor who developed and is playing "Mother Nature".  Hey, you have to take your breaks where you can get them.

The actor I work with is also a singer.  I had dinner over at my landlord's restaurant a couple nights ago with the singer.  I owe my landlord money, duh?  So we cut a deal for an extended lounge singing run to cover the balances, plus he raised my rent in exchange for getting the water turned on.  I've been carrying five gallon jugs to flush the toilet for almost two years now.  Jose and I work togther seemlessly, it seems.

So the singer and I are practicing for the lounge show, when we're not looking into each other's eyes, smiling.  Fortunately the singer has pipes.  All I have to do is hit the chords on the piano at the right time on most of our numbers.  I'll add "do-wahs" on some pieces, and she's teaching me to sing "Flying Me to the Moon" like Tony Bennet. 

I got a smoking jacket at AmVet's, so I'm pretty much ready to go as soon as I learn all the songs.  She's got some nice show dresses too.  She comes home glittery and sweaty some nights all ready.

No I'm not making this up.  I have had acting and singing aspirations all along and you have to start somewhere.  This experience will only make the Caroling Center better this year.  So, I see it all like a Christmas miracle in July.

6:29 AM - 10 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

news and baseball
Category: News and Politics

I check the news at about the same frequency as I follow baseball.  Once a week I check the box scores.  I've been busy lately so I've actually been following my Angels closer than normal.  They're in first place.

The news didn't look so good today.  The statements of confidence from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agencies sounded ominously familiar.  My daughter worked for Bear Stearns.

The next headline was oil prices.  I don't own a car or use a heater (remember the caroling tent?) so I didn't read that one.  General Motors has decided not to declare bankruptcy.  Some folks are still buying cars I guess. 

General Petraeus was confirmed.  He replaces Navy Adm. William J. Fallon as chief of U.S. Central Command.  Fallon resigned last month following news reports that he was at odds with the White House over Iran policy.  The news reports said Fallon didn't want to rush into a military confrontation with Iran  (I read Esquire)

If the Republicans are evil, like the Democrats say they are, I suppose we'll see some action against Iran before the election so McCain will win.  

I think the Boston Red Socks are the Republicans of baseball.  Sorry, that was harsh

5:01 PM - 8 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Dear Pixie,
Category: Life

Dear Pixie,

I'm fine dear.  I have a feeling you are having a wonderful summer too.  I need to have a July caroling night.  I know that. 

I spent two weeks moving my wife in with her new fiancé last month, she's still unloading boxes. I moved my helmet and bike pump into my new girlfriend's house last weekend.  I brought the Beatles book too.  I didn't move in just to be like my former wife, it just turned out that way.

I can't call my new girl friend, "my new girl friend". It makes her mad.  She doesn't like the term.  She wants to be called my "woman" or something.  OK, fine, she's my woman.  We sing, garden, cook, walk, ride bikes, swim, work, sleep, eat, and smile into each other's eyes a lot.  I surf in front of her house or mine.  She left a coffee cup at the cabin.  So she's kind of moved in over there too.

My daughter's wedding is approaching like a freight train.  She's having her bachelorette party this weekend.  We call her Bridezilla behind her back.  Nobody would say it to her, we are all afraid of her. My college daughter is putting on the party.  She's under pressure this week.

The new business engagement I began at the beginning of summer is grinding forward.  I haven't seen dime one from the project, but that's fine I'm not doing it for money.  It's something I've been told to do by the Lord.  I don't understand it; I'm just doing as I'm told.  I get depressed if I don't, so I do.

I hope you're having a good summer too.

Love,

John

5:43 AM - 24 Comments - 22 Kudos - Add Comment

seven conclusions

I've been experiencing much. I fell in love with the woman of my dreams, I've been helping my former wife move in with her boyfriend, launching a business project, preparing for my daughter's wedding, and sharing my other daughter's observations as she experiences life on her own in a big city.  The surf has been good too.

There are some firm conclusions I can report.

Love is good.

Serve the ones you love, most.

Saying nothing, is better than saying something bad, and saying nothing, can sometimes be even better than saying something good.

Best to say nothing if you're mad.

Leave the spreading of bad news to others, broadcast good news.

Others and I don't do these things all the time so I try to forgive others and myself quickly and move on.

And finally: If the surf is firing, stay out till you can't surf anymore.  The surf isn't excellent most the time.

10:37 AM - 17 Comments - 18 Kudos - Add Comment

quarter a wash
Category: Sports

Blogs are down at my space for the moment, so I learned to open WORD in my daughter's Apple, now I have spell check!

That sentence would have made no sense at all 1978.

We are history, the reality show, with sound track.

I sat in front of the TV last night and ate ice cream. I watched the Beverly Hillbillies. Jed and Jethero widdled on sticks and had a man to man talk about women. Jethero choose warm cookies. They couldn't say he was gay then. The commercials I watched were all modern and about various drugs and cleaning products.

I'm watching Diesel, my daughter's 160-pound dog, this weekend. He's had surgery on his anus. They ripped him a new asshole. He has the largest head cone available on the market adjusted out to it's largest size on his poor head. He's amazingly positive about it. I love Diesel. He's like me. We both naturally settle into upbeat, even if we've had our ass kicked.




The waves have been firing in Mexico. I had eight sessions in the last five days I was there. I made just about every wave I took off on. I surfed great, best in my life. My surfing is defined by my wipeouts more than by waves I make. I'm not that good a surfer. I can get down the line, take off late, it is utility, not picturesque, but my wipeouts are visual candy.

My last wave Tuesday morning Aussie Mark was paddling back out in the channel and had a lodge seat. Mark is a big fan of my wipeouts. I took off backside into a double overhead barrel. I made the drop fine but I didn't get far enough around on my bottom turn. The wave was sucking over me so I bailed into the face which was moving up and over. I was in a river heading six more feet up, over the top, and tossed out, oh, about six feet too. All together about an Olympic swimming pool of water I was involved in, being tossed out like dish water, I was a left over spoon.

There is uncertainty in these moments. A bull rider probably feels the same when he is thrown off the bull, or an NFL quarterback as he sees the 300-pound man blasting towards him in his peripheral view. "Oh my, this isn't good." "Will I live?"

Fortunately for me I didn't land on my board nor did hit me in the Olympic washing machine we both shared for about five seconds. It takes awhile for all that foam to calm down so you don't hurry to the surface after you've been rag-dolled. You must remain perfectly calm and use no energy at all while your being pounded. The moment you panic, you have just a few more seconds to live. There is no room for panic under water in an Olympic sized washing machine.

After I lived. There were another two ten-foot waves I had to get pounded by behind the one I wiped out on. When all that spanking was done, I decided to quit for the morning. I had to go back to work anyway.

Here's my ass from a similar wipeout last summer. My board hit me twice. If you look at the bruise it looks like an X. This is also my first ass shot on the internet.

12:07 PM - 17 Comments - 18 Kudos - Add Comment