OK, y’all. We’ll try this again. I’m doing my best to write the current entries, as well as rewrite and post ALL of my previous missing entries dating back to November. My GOAL is to post one new entry here on the top page each day, and I’ll work on posting the make-up entries ASAP, several at a time. I DO have entries and stories for the past month or more, believe me! But it is a new year, so I thought it would be good to begin posting current entries again. Then, when I post the back entries for Nov/Dec, it’ll be kindof like the Star Wars prequels or something. Well, those weren’t universally loved, so maybe that’s not a great analogy. Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR and thanks for reading!
THURSDAY
1 January 2009
I can not express in blog-space how excited I am about 2009. The last year definitely presented its challenges, but I have come to peace with them and am actually grateful for all I’ve been through this year. I know I am stronger, better and wiser than I was at this time last year. Well, let’s hope I’m wiser!
The first day of the new year started at 6:00am when I heard my housemate Jeffrey come in from the New Year’s Eve festivities he attended downtown. I heard the door open, but the footsteps weren’t Jeffrey’s. I could tell because they were very fast-paced, very scritch-scratchy, and it was obviously more than two feet walking across the floor.
I went to see what the dealeo was. There was Jeffery closing the door, but he had a guest: a furry little white poodle-type dog who was prancing around the room, tongue out, panting, happy to be alive. “This dog followed me home,” he said. Jeffery, not the dog. I could tell he hadn’t been roaming the streets for a long time or anything, because it was pretty healthy and well-fed. I got him some water, and we checked the collar for a tag. Bentley was his name, and Jeffrey called the owner. Here’s a picture I snapped with my camera phone (of Bentley, not the housemate).
Well, Bentley was about as happy-go-lucky as a dog can be. We should all be so lucky to have this much enthusiasm for life. I sat in a chair in the living room and Bentley jumped up next to me, put one of his paws and his snoots on my leg. Jeffrey went to bed since he’d been up all night, and I wanted some extra rest, too. I went back to my room and Bentley followed right quick, hopped up in the bed with me and settled in for a little nap. Such a cutie. If only my dates were as willing…
The call came for Bentley at about 8:30am. Turns out he’d escaped the yard at 11:45 the previous night and had been wondering around all night, presumably until he found Jeffrey. There were three other dogs who were still unaccounted for. The woman who picked up Bentley was dogsitting him, but the other three dogs were hers. She had been up and out all night searching for them. What an agonizing start to the new year for her. I am keeping my fingers crossed her dogs make a safe and healthy return home. It turns out she works for the vet who does a TON of the veterinary work for the animal rescue group I am working with. What’re the odds??
It being the new year and all, I FINALLY decided: “OK, damnit! I’m going to the beach today!!” I hopped on a #333 Venice Boulevard bus and was at Venice Beach in all of 10 minutes. The ‘boardwalk,’ I am calling it – with all the shops, booths, tarot readers, street musicians and… let’s kindly call the rest a ‘unique cross section of the human species’ – was busy with walkers and gawkers. I wasn’t that interested in the shops, a slice of pizza, a henna tattoo or a seeing a two-headed turtle at the Museum of Oddities. I just wanted to visit the water.
The payoff was worth it. It was really peaceful and beautiful. Cloudy today, but here’s a picture:
I found myself wondering “How have I not lived here my whole life?” It felt very natural to me. Is Libra a water-sign? I dunno. I love the ocean: the smell of the salt water and the sound of the waves. The water crashing and the wind blocks out all the other sounds of the city… traffic, people, industrial hum. It is quite magnificent. I sat down and took some time to think about how truly grateful I am to simply be alive during this time. I can’t explain it, but I know I am being watched over. There is some greater purpose for me here, and I’m closer than I’ve ever been to understanding what that is. 2009 will be astonishing and wonderful.
