Made it to California!

I was hoping that I could make it in two days of driving, but 2,300 miles really should be four days. I spent the first night somewhere around North Platte, Nebraska, after hitting a serious snow, rain, and sleet storm that iced up everything. I didn't take this picture until after most of the ice had fallen off, mostly because until I got clear of the storm there wasn't a dry place to stand.



Driving through the west was gorgeous - after the Rocky Mountains begin in Colorado, there's not a scratch of boring all the way clear to the ocean.

Long drives are a wonderful way to contemplate life. It's so incredible to be able to span vast distances while encased in total comfort, with concert-quality sound blasting on the speakers, good food, a thermos full of coffee or tea (I alternated), and good weed. That does make the time fly by, and everything so much more interesting.

I said goodbye to Munchkin in Fort Collins, CO, where he'll be staying with Elena and her dog Athena. He loves them, and it'll be great for me to not have to worry about where I'm going to live while I get my job situation figured out. Munchkin loves to chase anything small, furry, and fast - Tiffany's got a cat. I'll be staying with Tiffany and her roommates while I document what it's like to try to live the greenest, healthiest, and most sustainable life possible.

That'll be quite a change from the way I've been living. When I got to Fort Collins, I was just in time to accompany Elena on her way to work at Lil' Nic's, a restaurant/bar where she adeptly runs an upstairs room from behind the bar. It's the kind of place where people go to feel classy instead of drunk, but a bar is a bar is a bar. Everyone's a lush, or else they'd be doing something else. I happily dug into the ribs, chicken wings, and potato salad - and damn, after two days of driving in blizzards, that beer was good. Okay, those five beers. We ended up hanging out with the rest of the bar staff after an early close, and went to a Thai restaurant where they cooked up an amazing feast, complete with coconut-wrapped fried bananas with coconut ice cream. Mmmmm.

I'm in the attic room of Deb and Matt's house, a narrow room with slanted ceilings running perpendicular to the orientation of the overall structure. It has the effect of segregating the room, isolating it as an oasis from the baby, who dominates the lower level. He is an amazing child, as most babies are, awakening slowly to the world around him. Maxwell communicates through subtle tics, minor gestures, and piercing wails that lead us to tiptoe around him. The only bathroom was apparently built as a second larger closet within his bedroom, within this floorplan where the occupancy and use of a human family was considered only as an afterthought. It is quaint and charming, and ideal for a childless couple, horrific for a new family attempting to work from home with a guest. That's a strong word, but I have to pee right now. This morning when I woke up at 5a to join Deb in the kitchen, she asked me to relieve myself outside on the lawn rather than risking the disruption of our prince's slumber. This kid owns the house already, and he's only 4 months old.

I love them all, and Maxwell is a joy to behold. It's a really great gift to be able to participate in their lives, and they are infinitely welcoming hosts, smart, charming people, and fantastic friends. I do love them, and life is great in California.

creating your own reality

starts with understanding where you're at.


The view of Hana Bay in Maui, Hawaii from the lanai of my hotel room. I woke up early to work, and negotiated three contracts while the sun rose in front of me. It was one of my favorite working days, ever.









Munchkin the Wonder Dog outside a peanut stand in the middle of Georgia, south of Atlanta by a couple of hours. We had a great time on our road trip through the south in November of 2006. He's such a great dog.












The arm of an old woman in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico along the boardwalk. I love taking photographs of random strangers. Their facial expressions, body language, and mannerisms give a fantastic view into their inner worlds. Everyone is at the center of their own self-created universe.






We live in a world of infinite choices, constrained by our own limitations and perceptions. Experience, adventure, education, love, and pain enlarge our perspective, giving us a greater realm of relavance in which to place the action into its context.

wow so much has happened...

(l to r) Egan, Tiffany, and Zoe Elston on the beach in Longboat Key, Florida sometime around Thanksgiving, 2006.







Well, it's been a hell of a run in the last eight months. I've been writing a lot, thinking a lot, traveling a lot, and basically living life as fast as possible on this crazy roller coaster we're on. Right now I'm in Tiffany's apartment in San Francisco with a kinetic grey-blue purring tabby cat named Finn heating my lap. Shane came in to tell me about Battlestar Galactica and the cat jumped off and ran out in a flurry of pouncing claws, barely scratching my knee.

I met with Ina and Fred from transcendentist today, and they're amazing, caring, compassionate, delicately strong and deliciously actualized people. They were so incredibly flattering, open, and dedicated to relationships that it was possible to such a truly honest conversation on a very deep level about work, life, values, spirituality and really, everything. I'm so priviledged to have met them. It's going to be incredible to work with them.

Tiffany and her friends are a spectacular example of sustainable urban living. It's such an inspiration to see them shop, work, play and live every aspect of their lives with consideration towards the greater picture of sharing a collective reality. They only buy ecologically- and socially-moral products (when possible), ideally produced locally to support the micro-economy. They co-habitate in small spaces to conserve energy consumption, resources (read: money), and increase the quantity of "community" in their lives. This is the deeper reason behind it all - it allows them to be in the highest state of being and actualization. It's truly in the moment, at love with everything. To love is to respect and care, and to understand that everything is connected is to love it all equally, for better or worse, til death do us part. Like it or not, we are married to our surroundings and stuck to this planet - at least right now. These working green professionals are trying to live the highest quality of life for the lowest possible price, so that they can concentrate on enjoying themselves as much as possible by doing the right thing, always.

It's incredible, and I'm lucky to be here.

I'm going to unfold the story of how I got here, where I'm going, and what I'm trying to do in these next few months as I figure it out. It'll be a good story, and I'm going to document and observe this miraculous place that I find myself in right here and now. Thanks for being on this ride.







Elena Tran in Chicago before leaving for Colorado, 2006.