I Went to the Bloomsburg Fair

You would think by now I would be use to the big difference living in Pennsylvania is versus living in California. But I am still amazed.

Last night we walked to the Bloomsburg Fair and we paid our money and walked right in. I was shocked. I didn't have to walk through a metal detector, have my purse looked in or get scanned with a wand. I just walked right in.

Then I realized, Los Angeles is on the map for a terrorist attack, Bloomsburg isn't. No matter where you go in Los Angeles, the county fair, a Dodger baseball game, an amusement park, it doesn't matter. You will go through a metal detector, have your bags checked and get scanned with a wand.

A few years ago I attended Santa Monica Community College and they installed metal detectors going into each building. I had a metal ruler because I was taking a drafting class and I would have to arrive to class 15 minutes earlier just to go through the door. What a pain that was.

Every court house in California has the same thing. In March of this year I had to go to the court house and they wouldn't let me in because I had a metal pad lock (that I used for my locker at the gym) in my purse. I had to walk back to my car and leave the pad lock there before I could get in the court house. I have to tell you... this shit is not normal. However, the people in Los Angeles are so accustom to it... and so busy... that they just can't see the forest for the trees.

I feel free here. Free to come and go without having to be patted down.

Ciao

Christmas

I usually get the Christmas holiday feeling around August. I know it sounds weird but there is a very good reason.

In my early 20's my best friend, Judy, and I would do our Christmas shopping around September. Both of us hate the idea of being in a retail store in the month of December. In New Orleans the weather can be cold and rainy during the holiday time. Combined with rude, anxious people to hoot. So she and I would get together year after year and do our holiday shopping.

Judy went to Texas and I went to California. However, hating the holiday season rush hasn't changed. Some years I get it done by September 1st. Some years I slip and don't get it done until October 1st. Since 90% of what I give needs to be mailed, I just wrap it, box it up and stick the boxes by the front door with a post-it on when it needs to be mailed.

Then the holiday season shows up and I can cozy up on the couch with a good book, bake cookies or whatever and I don't have to go out and fight the retail madness.

I am happy to report that this year's gift giving is all done, wrapped and sitting at the door ready to be mailed.

Ciao

Bloomsburg Stuff

In the Midwest there's this alarm system that sounds through the streets when there is a tornado sighting. It is a warning for everyone to take cover or get in an underground basement.

Since living in Bloomsburg I have heard this exact sound. The difference is that it isn't a tornado warning... it's a wake up call for the volunteer fire department. So like wouldn't it be better to just call the volunteer firemen and tell them, "Hey we have a fire to go put out.", instead of waking up the whole town? Shortly after the sound of the alarm goes away you hear the siren of a fire truck. Just more proof to me.. that I belong in the country.

The yearly Bloomsburg Fair is going on. I live 3 or 4 blocks from the fair grounds. I hear it all. I haven't been to the fair yet. I am sure it is like any other fair.... farm animals on display, arts, crafts, food and entertainment. To me it seems like the only people who really really enjoy fairs are children and old people. Just my observation. If I go it will be to just check it off of my list and I probably won't attend another one.

The picture is of the fountain on Main Street. It is 2 blocks from where I live. Across from the fountain is where the Farmers Market is 3 days a week.

Ciao

FaceBook

I am not the kind of person to do something just because everyone else is doing it. Hell, that's how Charles Schwab got started in the investment business. He said that if one person ran across the room to purchase a stock, ten people would follow.

I have to see how something will work for me before I do it. I know a lot of people who have spent a lot of time and energy doing stuff that everyone else is doing, because everyone else is doing it, and come to the conclusion, after countless hours and days have been spent, to discover it wasn't worth it after all.

I think I am probably one of the last people to reluctantly go onto Facebook. I really had to be talked into it.

I am glad that I did as I can stay connected with my friends in what seems like real time. I get to see what's happening in their life and at times I have even gotten to chat with a few when they have been online at the same time as I am.

I do not use FaceBook to gather friends... who aren't my friends. I am not interested in knowing what is going on in someones life that I don't personally know. I don't accept "friend invitations" from clients. I don't want my client's knowing that I went to Texas and had a great time with my sister and best friend, Luci.

I have friends who use FaceBook and Twitter to promote their businesses. More power to them. It seems like an awful lot of time and I hope it is paying off for them. It's just not something I really care to do. I post my videos on FaceBook to share.

Within the last 30-45 days I have had 3 friend invites from guys I dated like 25+ years ago. I only accepted one as a friend invite as he is married and has two lovely daughters and really just wanted to reach out to a friend from the past. The other two are divorced and looking for someone to date. I have to ask, "Who the hell looks up people from 25 years ago?" There's roughly 6 billion people on the planet. Can't they find someone new to date? I am in a relationship and even if I weren't I definitely don't want to go back to the past. Just me.. my thing.

I don't Twitter and don't think I ever will. However, I have learned.. never say never.

Ciao

Vinyl Records

If you are a baby boomer there is no doubt that you are lugging along, through life, a box of vinyl records. Why? I am asking you, just as I have recently asked myself.

I have iToons so I have songs on my laptop and my iPhone. I haven't had a way to play the records for over 25 years. And yet, I have moved them from one place to another. And let me tell you.. they are super heavy.

So are you saving them because you think that they may be of value one day? I can tell you right now that if that happens you might be long gone from this world. Just look on eBay, everyone and their mother's trying to sell their vinyl records. Right now there are 139 people trying to sell Rolling Stone vinyl albums. The prices range from .99 to $49.00. My albums are worthless. I listened to them a zillion times and I am sure one would hear scratches and static as loudly as the music.

So now I am going through the box and going to iToons to download the songs I really want. And the other thing about vinyl albums is that long long ago you may have had to purchase the whole album for one song. After that the vinyl records will go to Salvation Army, which by the way has a very large selection of vinyl albums.

Ciao

Florida's Calling...

Okay so I thought it was weird in June/July while packing in California and I would get these "waves of Christmas". Like warm, fuzzy feelings, with a slight vision of Christmas passing through me. It lasted only a matter of seconds. And it only lasted 2 to 3 months.

For the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing "waves of Florida". It's crazy. I have been to Florida a lot in my lifetime. And I wouldn't pick it as a place to live.... high humidity... giant mosquitoes... hurricanes, etc. But for some ungodly reason I have been having these feelings that float right through me associated with a slight vision. Like for example I can be sitting in the car going somewhere and I will have this feeling... I can feel it physically... like I should be, could be, am going to be, standing in a kitchen frying fish in Florida. Or I can be walking down the street talking to my guy about the beautiful houses here and then it will hit me...another wave... I have a feeling, with a slight vision, that I could be, should be, am going to be (I don't know which) sitting in a bar in Key West, Florida drinking a bloody mary with a spicy green bean in it.

It's wild!!! I hardly ever talk about Florida, except to mention; I have friends who live there and I have been there before. And these waves come about randomly at times of no relevance.

I told my guy that I wondered..... Lets say that in the future I made a trip to the Florida Keys and I decided to go into a bar and have a bloody mary with a spicy green bean in it, when the drink arrives will I have a feeling of deja vu? Will, I sit there and feel like this has happened before? And will that deja vu feeling be associated with the waves that I am experiencing now?

I definitely don't have the urge to run down to Florida. However, I am sure that in the near future a trip could happen and then maybe I will find out what the waves mean.

In the meantime, I am ebaying, ebaying, ebaying... translated means.. simplifying, simplifying, simplifying ;-)

Ciao

The Leaves Have Begun to Change...

The weather has begun to change here. It is in the 40's at night and the 60's and 70's during the day. I love it.

Another thing I noticed about Pennsylvania is that people have yard sales in the middle of the week. You can be driving down the street at 11am on a Tuesday and people have all their stuff out on the front lawn and they even have attracted a crowd looking at their stuff. It's wild. In the south and California people only have yard sales on Saturday and Sunday.

My creative endeavors have been temporarily put on hold. I have got to get rid of a ton of stuff before next Spring. I absolutely do not want to move another thing that is unnecessary.

I also have decided that my next move will be my last move in the United States. I am going to purchase a home and that's it. I will purchase a place in Europe in the next few years. And then move between the two properties.

Another thing I have decided is no more buying anything new... except of course mattresses. I got a thing about mattresses. Any additional furniture I need will be purchased from the thrift store and refinished. That way when I exit this world all ya gotta do is call the thrift store to come and pick it up.

I have been putting stuff on Ebay for 1 month now. I am making headway but still have a ways to go. I am hoping I only have 2 more months of Ebaying and then I can pull out my writing projects or work on my videos.

Ciao