fear and worry. no thanks.

I was so looking forward to today.  All weekend long the forecasters in southern california prepared us for the storm of the century, or at least the year.   A day in Los Angeles where the weather impedes your life, doesn't happen very often.  And what a better day to have that happen. Presidents day.  A day off.  50 degrees. Raining. A roaring fire.  What could be better? 

I watched people on the news sandbag their store fronts on Ventura boulevard fearing the worst. I watched newscasters who stretched from the beaches of Ventura to the mountains of San Bernadino broadcasting what might happen. rain. snow.  flooding.  the worst.   I watched an overly tan weather man tell me how bad things were going to be and to expect no less than four inches of rain in twenty four to forty eight hours.  I watched and prepared and anticipated the worst.  I was so caught up in the weather that my husband and I went to the grocery store to load up on groceries in case we couldn't make it out of our house for two days.  We bought into it.  The fear.  The worry.  The what ifs.  I was morbidly into it.  Excited by the challenge of bad weather, of weather at all.   

And while it did rain through most of the night and a little drizzle in the morning, by 1:00 in the afternoon the sun was muscling its way through the gray sky and blue sky won.  And by 4:00 there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  

How does that happen?  Two things come to mind. weather men are not supposed to be good at their jobs.  There is no other job in the world where you can be wrong time and time again, put people through hell, because of what you are telling them and be asked back to work the next day to possibly do it all over again.  I understand we live in Los Angeles and weather is hard to come by here, but for god's sake, how do you predict the storm of the century and the sun shines for half the day.  

Then it dawned on me.  We put a lot of faith in our news people, and what they are telling us, for the most part,  is be afraid. Be very afraid.  I don't think that they are blowing smoke up our ass about the economy, however, I do think there has been a fear mongering technique that has been happening for quite some time.  I for one am very afraid.  And I am turning it off tomorrow. No more news.  

Fear and worry. No thanks.  whether it's the weather or how the economic system as we know it, is crumbling into a million little pieces,  i am not buying into it. rather I will tune my radio into a different frequency one with a larger bandwidth that has room for all of life's cumulus clouds, lightning strikes and sunny days, but like the weather man's prediction, there's no way to predict.  You just prepare for whatever may come the best you can.  

Perspective.

I have a lot on my mind tonight. As usual. But instead of festering I am going to blog, which I haven't made the time to do in the last few days. And feel not good about it.
First of all, Wiley, my sweet husky who I took in to get fixed, is doing great. He is the best and in one day and many treats I taught him how to sit, shake and lie down. Tomorrow we will learn how to make mac and cheese.

I could talk about my dog and the parties I went to over the weekend or the amazing party that was in honor of my book, NOTE TO SELF in LA on Thursday and the 120 people that showed up to Me and Ro on Melrose Place to buy a book and jewelry, or both, or the fact that I got into my first facebook fight with a guy I went to 6th grade with, BUT I am not going to talk about that.

I just watched Obama give his first press conference and talk to us about what in the world are we going to do in this country to get us back on track and not fall into the great abyss of the great depression. Scary shit. I have faith and I continually try and focus on all that we have instead of what we don't have. But this is unsettling and these are troubling times. How did we get here??? So many reasons!!

For Perspecitve I pick up a photo album that I made from our trip to AFrica this past summer. That's is perspective in a way that can only be found by opening your eyes and your heart to the world around you. There is great suffering all around us. But in that suffering you can find a way to relieve it if you remain open and in action.

I also watched The View today. Among other things. Yes. I did. I tivo it and love to see the ladies bicker when I have a free moment. Diane Sawyer was on to talk about her special on Friday night, 2/13/09. She's so beautiful and eloquent. I was on Good Morning America three weeks ago talking about my book, NOTE TO SELF. Which when I see what other work she is doing, it only makes me appreicate her more, and feel so much gratitude for the opportunity to go on her show. What I saw made me weep. The poverty in the Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee is that of Africa, only the people are speaking our language. They are young girls and boys, men and women of this country who have been forgotten and are hidden behind poverty and mountain dew mouth. As Diane said "their Horizon is their front yard." While so many of us have an endless horizon theirs is filled with garbage and despair.

When I watched Obama speak tonight I thought about those people in the Appalachian Mountains and closed my eyes to send them a prayer. To them, this recession is nothing new or different, but they won't be immuned to its effects. And their nothing will become less than that. Where that leaves them, nobody knows.

I want to do something about this.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/diane-sawyers-view-on-poverty/288230380814016827

Wiley Blue made it.

He's fine. His manhood is intact and he is recovering.. back to his old tricks of pulling the toilet paper off the roll and into the hallway, or playing chase with my running shoe in his mouth. Or just staring. Staring at me brushing my teeth, trying to understand the strange noise the sonic care makes as he cocks his head from left to right. He also likes to stick his head into the shower and lick the drain and my legs. He's a wonderful treat and I love him. 

I love animals. All kinds of animals. But dogs seem to find us when we need them the most. I believe Wiley Blue is that kind of dog and spirit. He's not here for fodder or idle chatter. He's here to do something big.  Wonderful.  He was dropped out of the sky. special ordered from some weird Dairy Queen in a hat may I take your order person. 

Here' s a picture of him in all his glory. 

Trust me. I will be writing about my other pups, not to mention every other subject known to man,  soon.  He's just the newest addition to the family. 

love, andrea