When it rains in Southern California it’s news. When it rains as much as it has recently, it is history-making news! I am a native Californian. I was born and raised in Northern California and moved to Los Angeles to go to UCLA. Since I’ve been here, I can’t remember more rain than what we’ve had this season. Yes, we needed it. We were dry, facing another drought. Lake Arrowhead was dangerously low, something like 21 feet low. And yet with one fell swoop of a storm that’s all been made up. We’ve got plenty of water – miraculously! But now when will it stop? We’ve already seen devastating landslides in La Conchita and other areas in and around Los Angeles. When is enough really enough? And what does all this water mean in the metaphysical sense? I find it interesting that in Australia, where they are still having their summer, they are having powerful rainstorms as well. And then there’s the recent Tsunami. All this adds up to a lot of water all over the world. Water represents emotion, cleansing, tears. It can also mean a re-birth. So much has been happening that maybe the world needed this bath in a philosophical sense. While it’s not the world-wide flood that Noah endured, maybe it is a signal to us for the need to start over again. What are our priorities? What choices are we making? When politicians are able lie their way into office, and killers grace the covers of best-selling magazines, what does that say about the level of awareness in this world? So many things are just upside-down. We have professional athletes who make an insane amount of money, become role-models for our children, and are found out to have been taking illegal substances to improve their performance in the game. Meanwhile we pay our children’s teachers a pittance, we’ve eliminated programs to keep young people involved in activities, and have let our school buildings run down to poverty level standards. Health insurance is so expensive that many families can’t afford it – and health care in general is such a racket with the pharmaceutical companies and hospitals in cahoots with the inurance industry that doctors can’t pay off their student loans for risk of risk losing their malpractice insurance. We’ve got Hummers clogging up the highways – with one person driving alone inside! Children are hungry. Animals are killed for their fur. The universe is crying, and it’s not difficult to see why. ]]>

Prior to the official announcement of nominees from “The Academy” here are my
picks for Oscar’s top slots (and my pick for the winner*, and who I think will win
+): Best Picture:
Finding Neverland*
The Aviator +
Ray
Million Dollar Baby
Hotel Rwanda Best Actor:
Jamie Foxx – Ray +
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator
Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda*
Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland
Jim Carrey – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Best Actress:
Uma Thurman – Kill Bill 2
Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby* +
Annette Bening – Being Julia
Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake
Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Best Supporting Actor:
Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby*
Clive Owen – Closer +
David Carradine – Kill Bill 2
Jamie Foxx – Collateral
James Garner – The Notebook Best Supporting Actress:
Natalie Portman- Closer
Laura Linney – Kinsey +
Cloris Leachman – Spanglish*
Sophie Okonedo – Hotel Rwanda
Meryl Streep – The Manchurian Candidate Best Director:
Martin Scorsese – The Aviator* +
Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
Marc Forster – Finding Neverland
Zhang Yimou – House of Flying Daggers
Taylor Hackford – Ray Best Original Screenplay:
The Aviator* +
Hotel Rwanda
The Incredibles
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill 2 Adapted Screenplay:
Finding Neverland*
Million Dollar Baby
Spider-Man 2
Sideways +
The Motorcycle Diaries Best Animated Picture:
The Incredibles* +
Shrek 2 Best Foreign Language Film:
House of Flying Daggers* +
The Sea Inside
A Very Long Engagement
Maria Full of Grace Best Costumes:
Phantom of the Opera* +
House of Flying Daggers
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It’s always entertaining living with teenagers. Annika, Greg’s 14 year old from Australia, stayed with us for 3 weeks over the holidays. One day Brian, my 15 year old, says to me: “Mom, they’re having that KROQ around the world concert again! I want to go! Green Day is playing in Bulimia!” Annika starts laughing hysterically. I do a double-take. Bulimia? “It’s Bolivia!” Annika shouts across the room. Okay – later in the day we’re actually listening to the radio station, and KROQ is playing in Scotland. These are the kinds of things you have to write down to remember so you can all laugh about it again when they’re older. ]]>

When I got the news this morning that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had split up I felt sad. I don’t know these people, and yet I still feel badly for them. Is that crazy? I think a lot of us thought of this “golden couple” as a standard for American romance. It was the first marriage for each of them, and they certainly look beautiful together. But who is to know what goes on in any relationship besides the people actually in it? Sure, the tabloids can speculate, and fans can lap up the gossip – but happiness, and compatibility, is such a personal issue that only the people involved know the truth of the matter. I wish Brad and Jennifer all the best. Even under the best of circumstances, when a split is amicable, it is a change to adjust to, and it can be stressful. Many of us have experienced this and can relate. My advice would be to spend time with friends and loved ones, and to consider this a new beginning. ]]>

Ricky Williams Commentary Ricky is taking an 18 month program at The California College of Ayurveda.  Ayurveda is known as a holistic health care system.  But it is so much more than that.  Ayurveda is the “science of life” and it teaches us about the world, and about
ourselves.  This is a good place for a guy like Ricky to be right now.  He spent many years
working towards a life as a professional football player, and eventually found that
it was unfulfilling for him.  He was wise enough to understand that the fame and
fortune were not making him happy, and for the most part that the responsibility that
camewith it was making him miserable.  So, he quit.  Unorthodox?  Yes. Unpredictable?  Yes.  Foolish?  Some people would say yes, but I say that he was
brave.  It is courageous to go follow your heart, rather than societal expectations.
Sometimes it takes that leap of faith to venture out into the unknown.  And the
unknown is full of potential. What happens next is up to Ricky himself.  Ayurveda will help him find his place in
the world, his “dharma” or “purpose” in life.  Maybe it will be in the world
of holistic health care, and maybe it will have something to do with sports after
all.  Meanwhile, what is important now is the journey that Ricky has embarked upon.  It’s
a journey of self-discovery, one that we all come to at some point in our lives.
Because his choice was so extreme, from life as a multi-million dollar football star,
to attending classes as just another student, his journey has gotten lots of
attention.  But we all make choices everyday.  These choices help to shape our lives, and lead us to where we’re going.  At we making conscious choices?  Are we
listening to the yearnings of our heart? Ricky has been open about his use of marijuana.  He doesn’t seem to have any plans to quit.  But as he continues on his path with the study of Ayurveda, he will find
that he doesn’t need to smoke.  Ricky will discover a strength within himself that
he will not want to dull with the use of drugs.  Ricky shows many of the symptoms of
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.  He is intelligent, and restless.  He has 3
children from 3 different relationships.  He is impulsive.  He is gifted.  I think marijuana is a means of self-medicating, so that he can mellow out.  In Ayurveda,
AD/HD is basically a Vata imbalance.  When Ricky learns other ways to balance his
Vata, he will be better able to take care of himself.  Right now the marijuana is a
habit, or a crutch, but as he continues living an Ayurvedic lifestyle he’ll find he
doesn’t need any crutch.  He’ll be healthy in mind, body, relationships, career
– in every aspect of his life.
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When I started this blog, my intent was to write a little something everyday… so much for those plans! But isn’t this so true of everything these days? Life just gets in the way. Or does it? Are we really doing what we want to do? I guess this is the big philosophical question. There are a lot of blogs out there. I guess I thought that if I kind of put my journal entries online that it would spur me to write more. I’ve kept diaries on and off over the years – but since I’ve had kids it’s mostly been off. I’d start… and then pick it up months later and forget what the heck I was talking about way back when! So, here we are. New Year’s Resolutions time. Mine is to write in this blog once a week. I think I can do that. What are your resolutions? Let’s talk about it. Post to the discussion board and we’ll share! ]]>

I admit it.  I’ve watched “The Bachelor” since the very beginning.  Something about
it got me hooked, and now it’s one of those guilty pleasures I can’t seem to shake.
But lately, what started off as fun and fluffy has turned in to more of a car wreck. The premise is awesome – it’s the kind of Cinderella story that every girl loves.
The prince goes around trying his slipper on every pretty maid’s foot in attempt to
find his true love.  And keeping all the maidens locked in the castle together while
he goes through “the process” makes for interesting side stories when cattiness and jealousy come into play.  After all, there’s only so much of one prince to go
around. Yet alas, the fairy tale has gotten old.  We have seen other sides to the prince that
we do not like.  We’ve seen uber-popular “Bachelor Bob” set new records with sloppy kisses, only to dump his chosen lady-love mere days after gracing the cover of People magazine.  And after professing his hesitancy with commitment from the highest mountain, he plunged head-first into happily-ever-aftering with a beautiful soap opera star.  Hearts were broken, but Bob was forgiven.  After all that, he’s a
married man now, game over. Then some cocky football player used the show for his own person PR campaign.  The girls were young and outrageous, taking shots from a beer keg and falling down silly all over themselves.  We weren’t suprised that the romance didn’t last there.  It was all for play, and we knew it. And now we’ve got this new guy, a 40 year old professional Bass fisherman.  There areladies vying for his attention, seasoned veterans of the dating wars, most in their
thirties.  This isn’t a game anymore, this is combat.  And it’s pretty nasty.  I don’t know when I’ve heard as many words “bleeped” out of one person’s mouth on
prime-time television!  Where are Jerry Springer’s bouncers when you need them?  This is hard to watch.  Can these amazing, beautiful women feel so desperate that theybreak down in tears for all of America to witness?  Over some guy they’ve known for 2 weeks?  Come on, people!  They’ve seen the show, they know how it works – and yet,the drama continues. By the way, this time around, I’m rooting for Mary to get the guy.  I can’t see her
go through heartbreak a second time. I think it works better when the show is in “Bachelorette” mode.  There are been
two Bachelorettes so far, and both are in happy relationships with the men they
chose.  Women just make better decisions.  And men can handle competition more
easily.  At least that’s how it looks on “reality” TV!
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I wonder how many people work at home on Saturdays… Probably lots! It’s a great day for me to get things done, because the phone isn’t ringing as much, and I don’t have to drive my son to school and activities – and my soap operas aren’t on to distract me! ]]>