2005 California

June 28, 2005

Hola Senors y Senoritas,

A bit of California influence for you. I hope this letter finds everyone happy and healthy and in God’s good graces. Time sure has flown since I last wrote and all sorts of interesting things have transpired. But as usual there’s not enough time to share it all, so I’ll just give you a window’s view into my happenings.

I trust everyone’s fourth was a blast. It certainly was here. Californians definitely go all out celebrating Independence Day. Here at the condo we could see and hear fireworks go off several nights prior to and post fourth of July. But when the 4th rolled around, WOW, it was like none I’ve ever experienced. I felt like a little girl watching in awe of the excitement.

Well before nightfall people were shooting of fireworks. But when darkness fell, people went loco. For hours, all around us and all over the city and as far off on the horizon as I could see, huge plumes of bright white and green and red and various other colors exploded against the night sky and the air reverberated with KABOOMS and BANGS and POPS and CRACKLES and ear piercing WHISTLES. People were out in their yards and in the streets shouting and laughing and having a great time. Sirens wailed all night as firefighters spent the evening hard at work racing from one fire to the next. I finally had to put earplugs in so I could get to sleep. Wild!

The temperatures reached the three-digit range and it’s blazing hot. The wind here blows rather aggressively, which you’d think might lend even a minuscule amount of relief. It doesn’t! The wind scrapes across the skin and eyes like sandpaper and dries the sinuses making it uncomfortable to breath. I try my best to find ways to escape the heat.

Fortunately the other day, a friend extended an invitation, to my daughter and me, to spend the day on his speedboat at Lake Castaic. What a great way to spend the long, hot hours. When we arrived at the lake and eased away from the dock, the numerous other boats and the jet skis, Chad opened up the throttle and tore across the water. After flying around the lake, we made our way into a little cove, where several others were anchored. We spent a leisurely day swimming and eating and listening to music and visiting with fellow boaters and laying in the sun. At days end, we flew around the lake again to conclude a perfectly spent day. I want a speedboat, they’re such a blast!

A group of us recently hiked up to Devil’s Chair. The heat was intense and miserable that day, but we were determined to go the distance. We hiked up switchback after switchback after switchback to these crazy looking pink and white and yellow and black and green rock formations. When we reached the top, we could see down into the valley where the city lay in the distance.

To help divert our attention from the miles ahead and from the blistering 110 degrees, Chad led us all in song. This athletically built 6’2” man led us in rounds of Row, Row, Row Your Boat and verses of Ninety-Nine Bottles and choruses of Old McDonald. While Chad sang the chorus to Old McDonald, the rest of us alternately sang out the animals residing on the farm. I’m sure we were a sight; a group of grown-ups hiking the trail singing children’s songs and making animal noises. It was fun, though. He also entertained us by singing love ballads in a beautiful tenor and singing Tony Bennet and Frank Sinatra tunes in a funky Femi soprano sounding voice while lending a heavy metal twist to them. He had us busting up laughing. It was great!

The beaches here are fantastic, though not because of the aesthetics. In my opinion the beauty of the Oregon Coastline is far more preferable to the California. But I love the energy in the coastal towns here, especially in Hermosa and Santa Monica. Fun! There are people everywhere. All up and down 3rd street Promenade, in Santa Monica, there are street performers juggling and playing music and singing and dancing (I love the Salsa dancers) and there are artists drawing portraits and caricatures and people are eating and drinking in the outdoor cafes as others bustle in and out of shops.

On the Santa Monica Pier, the Ferris wheel and the Roller Coaster are running non-stop. There are shops and artists and vendors and fishermen lining the pier and you have to squeeze your way through the mob and progress is slow. The beaches, both in Santa Monica and Hermosa, are festive and alive. We’ve witnessed a couple weddings being conducted on the beach while activity buzzed on all sides. Volleyball players and bicyclers and joggers and roller bladers and surfers and wake boarders and swimmers and dog walkers and baby strollers are in perpetual motion as far along the beach as you can see. Sunbathers are sprawled out everywhere and beach umbrellas add color to the scene. It is easy to meet people and engage in conversation, I love it.

I did obtain a temporary position with one of the temp agencies I signed with. After running through a series of tests that ranged from math, computer, personality and ethics, as well as several others, and then interviewing, within 3 days the Valencia Agency placed me with the City in the Engineering Department working on the computer and helping with communication between the Developers and the Engineers.

The job was a lot of fun, although not especially lucrative. (The CA wage vs the cost of living is perverse. I was not ignorant to the cost of living here but the wages were a bit of a surprise.) I enjoyed working and having a routine again and I also enjoyed learning new things. But what I enjoyed the most was meeting and interacting with a lot of nice people. My boss and I hit it off right away. He has a quick wit and enjoys a good verbal sparring. He’s a hoot. On my last day of work I was sent off with handshakes and hugs and well wishes and email addresses and requests for pictures and postcards and I was asked to play tour guide to future visits to Alaska.

One of the topics of interest at work that drew more attention than I wanted was my unattached state, hence, my availability. Margie, one of the engineers I worked with, deemed it her responsibility to find a soul mate for the new girl in spite of my polite refusals at her attempts. She derived amusement and outright laughed at my discomfort when she singled out the eligible that worked for or conducted business with the City.

She gave me a rundown of their qualifications and accomplishments in spite of my efforts at waving her off. My boss also dropped not so subtle hints at possibilities when one of the single engineers and I were in the same vicinity. I was told, on several occasions, that romance is easily found working at the City. These declarations were then followed with personal testimonies of their own or of other’s experiences. Sergio also wielded Cupid’s bow and Ray, after running through a list of admirable qualities he thinks I possess, puzzled over my single status and directly asked me why I am. I’ve been asked this before and each time I am asked I wonder how I am supposed to answer.

I can give a multitude of answers to this question which range from the flippant that evokes laughter and hopefully staves off further probing to the highly personal; I’m too old, I’m too young, I’m too picky, I’m not picky enough, no chemistry, heading different directions, too much history, under developed character, maybe it’s my destiny, maybe my love is on his way and I need to exhibit patience or maybe . . . it is because the current prevailing mentality among people is that they only want the euphoric beginnings; they do not have the stamina to gut out the tough times that inevitably find their way into life. This perspective is not male specific, women share this mindset too; which is part of the problem, it’s cyclic.

Relationship and self-sacrifice are synonymous, whether we like it or not; and not many want this when everything’s so free and easy these days. Although people like the thought of having someone in their life on an intimate level, they really do not want to risk emotional vulnerability or to exert a little perseverance. People sabotage the heart’s desire with the self-imposed inability to trust and with the fear they may do time for someone else’s crime. The risk of investing resources, emotionally or monetarily, seems far too great. For the return - may be use and abuse and depletion of what was once possessed, there couldn’t possibly be a return that leaves us in the black, could there? So, relationship is rendered cheap. We skim the cream off the top, take the fat and leave the lean. It’s all so uncomplicated and disposable. “I’ll take an order of free and easy, please. Hold the commitment.” “That will be $3.00, please.” “Wow, that was cheap!” (And not so filling!) A little sardonic, maybe, but unfortunately all too true.

With the emphasis being on the single person finding someone to fulfill and complete them - which most always meets with disappointment - for fulfillment and wholeness really come from within, is it any wonder society speeds down the freeway to promiscuity? Not only must the visceral needs be met but the psyche’s appetite needs satiating as well. Someone has to affirm, “Please, tell me there is not a R tattooed to my forehead. I’m not a reject. I’m not! Or, am I?”

Whatever the reason for my single status, I am endeavoring to employ the principle of “being content in whatever state I am in,” though this is not always easy. For there are times I consider the sweetness of companionship. But, I find that being single is a good state to be too. In fact, I have discovered that I’ve more peace and happiness FLYING solo than in any other state I’ve survived. And truth be told, I am never really alone and I am very well loved. I truly am. Life is good.

Well, on this soapbox note, I am stepping down and signing off. Life is too short to fret about the what ifs and the have nots. Yesterday’s gone, tomorrow’s not yet here so let’s live and laugh and love right where we are. I begin my migration north this coming week, So I’ll keep you informed of my whereabouts and happenings.

Adios Amigos, Amigas,
Nannette