Aloha,
Calling all Chinese friends and fans, I'm recording a Chinese friendship/peace song, so anyone who can listen to it during the process and give me feedback on my Mandarin would be awesome.
Hugs Moondoggies,
Mary :)
Chinese/Mandarin
Potato-Head Rerun- VOTE!
Current mood: 
hopeful
hopeful Category: Life
Wow,
Look how much has happened since I wrote that blog entry on Feb 4th!! I caucused and then ended up being a state Obama Delegate in my state of Hawaii.
And now I'm back in California and because my absentee ballot did not arrive in time from Hawaii, (although a letter for jury duty in Hawaii DID arrive!!), I had to register in California on the very last day possible, just so I could vote. (Don't worry, I unregistered in Hawaii, so no voter fraud here, lol)
I can't imagine not voting. I really wanted to vote for Big Island issues and fave candidates that I knew personally (Go Denny!!!) but now I'm sifting through California's props. Yuck. I'm so tired of the Potato-Heads on TV.
I need the warm ocean of Kona town. I'm trying to bloom where I'm planted for now but I miss Hawaii.
Anyway... this is the blog I wrote when I grudgingly checked back into politics in Feb just in time to caucus.
Nice to revisit where I was a very long 9 months ago.....
And know that with all that has happened, I'm still me. Still hopeful and thankful for this country.
Go out there and vote for your preferred Potato-Head Moondoggies!
Mary :)
Monday, February 04, 2008
VOTE!! Yes We Can!
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life
Usually, I avoid politics like the plague. I don't fit in, seems like I'm always on the other side of the room from everyone else anyway, no matter the room. Because I'm so conservative in some things and rather progressive in others.
I hate the fighting, spinning, manipulating part of the process.....so for most of last year I tried not to get too involved. But I knew... I would be in the end. I'm a very good citizen and I deeply love my country so of course, I vote. I had to check back in eventually, couldn't just hide at the beach or in my music room for forever.
Most of the time I listen to politicians and they just all sound like a bunch of potato heads that belong to who ever has donated to them.
We even had a governor in California who bragged that he "didn't owe anyone a thing" during the campaign, using his own money (I found that SO impressive) and then a few days AFTER the election he had a huge fund raiser and then he DID owe people for $$ millions in support. That was just so tacky.
I get so sick of it all. I could vote Democrat, Republican, whatever, it's not the party that matters to me. They are both good and both greedy.
I have dear family and friends who are sometimes wonderful and sometimes just flipping' nuts, Republicans and Democrats alike. Urgh.
I just want a candidate I can trust that will do the RIGHT things for the RIGHT reasons for our country.
Even if no one is looking.
Even if the country gets mad about it like a spoiled child.
I don't want a panderer or someone who will do anything to win.
I just want someone who understands we've had our problems as a nation, and even at times caused our own problems in the world, but still he/she is man enough to have the government take the appropriate amount of responsibility for it, (but not beat ourselves up forever and make things worse either)....
And then still....with eyes WIDE open....
I want someone who like myself, LOVES this country so very dearly. Warts and all.
I love that we can change things when they are wrong, and we have done it, time and time again. I am SO PROUD of that.
I want someone who has a clue that "the good ol' days" were NOT so good for a lot of society so we shouldn't want to go back there. (Let it go....)
Change has been a fantastic thing, many times.
I treasure that we have such a varied spirituality and belief in God in this nation and that people are free to have those beliefs. There's a couple of religions that I'm personally rather wary of but I wouldn't want them to be illegal like they are in some countries. That's just ridiculous.
As much as I might wish my personal kinda God was running this country though, all you need to do is look at countries without that precious "separation of church and state" that we take soooo for granted, goodness, such a mess when it's not there. How can you change things when a bad government says "God's" on their side? Yikes.
I just love that we can freely make noise in this country and CHANGE and grow and prosper, and that there is such a variety of wealth of talents that we can draw on.
I believe in prosperity and opportunity.
I believe in taking care of our nation first. Just like we take care of our own families first. However that looks. Including outsourcing and immigration. I believe in true personal responsibility.
I believe in business (total WSJ reading, business groupie here) and free enterprise and I refuse to believe that prosperity can't totally exist without stepping on our environment. It's not "either or" and I can't stand the Nazi's on either side.
I don't always completely trust our government but I do respect it. It's an astonishingly monumental job.
I don't look for conspiracies around every corner yet I still know that the Tuskegee Experiments were real and beyond wrong. Bad stuff happens, and not always just so "the government can keep us safe so we don't really want to know anyway". (Come on!!!)
We CAN love our country with our eyes wide open. And we should.
I pray daily and sincerely but it's mostly a private thing yet it still informs my core beliefs. And I think the best thing for people is to be self sufficient and not be raised to be dependent or to worship consumerism or worse, to be cannon fodder.
Oh crud, with that last term I do kinda sound like my hippie dad, yikes (disclaimer here, wasn't raised with him daily, just summers lol). (Love ya Dad!)
But seriously, one thing he always told me that still rings so very true...."follow the money".
It says so much about a situation when you find out who got rich off of it. Or who will get rich. Look into WHO'S donating to what cause or candidate. There's the truth.
Eeewww, I hate that needing to be suspicious part. But nope, I've checked back in again, it's official, listening to the potato heads, getting ready to vote.
It would be so much easier if I definitively fit into some little club. I could just follow their little programs.
But it's okay. It's a very Mary thing, being slightly or even rather out of step, I'm used to it.
I can hang, I love and respect people on both sides, truly.
I think both sides' politicians are silly and vain, manipulative and stupid and greedy at times but I also believe both sides sometimes have candidates who are very wise and absolutely have their hearts coming from the very best places.
Some would call me naive' others Pollyanna, wishy-washy or worse. Whatever. Guilty.
I just don't demonize either party and I'm extremely uncomfortable when other people do. I can be pretty equally annoyed by both. And I also have hope in both too.
And yeah, I know there are Independents, and Libertarians and the Green Party and so on.
I look at it all. And just like the other two, they also often sound kinda like nutty potato heads to me.
So for just a little while things have finally calmed down enough for me to have faith that at least who ever I invested my heart in was going to be around long enough for me to vote for them (been down that road, ouch).
So I've watched debates. Watched all the potato heads talk, talk talk, strut, strut, strut, blah, blah, blah. Got annoyed, sometimes inspired, went through the process.
Prayed, prayed, prayed.
I love people and I believe they are basically good and it really can all work out in the end for the best. And we really are all in this together. (Can You tell I was in Up With People lol?)
I've had my heart broken in politics. I've had my heart broken in life.
What's the alternative? Not caring. Yeah, like that would even fit into my anti-apathy kinda brain, let alone my idealistic kinda spirit.
So I've picked my favorite potato head. For now.
Still watching, still praying. But he's my potato head for now in the primaries.
Good luck to him and me and to you, this wonderful country. And may God bless this process for the long term good of our nation.
http://my.barackobama.com/YesWeCanvideo
AWESOME Music VIDEO!!!!
Love,
Mary :)
Everybody's Everybody
Everybody gets afraid sometimes. I get off the phone with friends and it seems like everybody's mourning and missing what life felt and looked like seemingly just a couple of blinks ago.
But hold on to YOU. Have a good cry now and then if you need it. I do (I miss Hawaii). Then it's back up and on.
Decide who you are and resonate at THAT. Things are scary. But you don't have to answer the pattern.
Yeah, I found myself getting too angry, yelling at the TV, lol, no kidding. Just like I've made such fun of OTHER people for doing....And then I just realized whoa!, no way, I don't have to be THAT.
I beat my OWN drum!
Love and light, baby.
I educate myself, I vote and I pray and I give.
And I go outside and see how beautiful the day is... and I love the ones I love.... and it doesn't cost a dime.
And yeah, I can still so laugh at myself. (I am rather quirky huh?)
Like a half hour ago I lost my cell phone in the house after JUST talking to a friend, and so of course I called it from the home phone but then realized the cell's ringer was still turned off... so I looked, and I looked and looked, and started to laugh at my ditzy self... (what other choice do have, really?)
And then I finally find it where I dropped it by the computer...
And, "oh, I've missed a call.... hmmm... restricted number?... who could that be???... who do I know that does that?...hmmmm?..."
Duh, er, it was ME... calling, trying to find the phone silly!! (and by the way, I didn't even put that block on my number, it was a mistake by the phone company long ago, they were supposed to give me caller ID instead, but I've never gotten around to calling them and fixing it.)
So times and budgets (and the amount of time one gets the luxury of surfing) inevitably changes. Life ebbs and flows but we are still US!!! Don't lose that. Don't give that away to anyone.
There was a terrible tragedy today in LA today, that made me weep for quite sometime, I have to say. So senseless, so scary, so sad. Because someone couldn't see how many blessings he had.
Everybody's uncertain these days but everybody is also blessed in so many ways.
We all are having our ups and downs. But find joy in the important things. Material stuff... well, it's "just stuff". It was never meant to fill us up.
I count my blessings and try to bloom where I'm planted.
I know who I'm voting for, I don't have to get so angry at the news. I can stay ME through all of this nonsense.
I'm still a WSJ.com junkie (although I am trying to stop), Obama delegate who loses guitar picks and my phone, every time I turn around. And I can still sooo laugh at my goofy self.
And love the ones I love. And thank God for my blessings.
Be well and safe and don't feel alone out there.
Because you're not.
Hugs Moondoggies,
Mary :)
But hold on to YOU. Have a good cry now and then if you need it. I do (I miss Hawaii). Then it's back up and on.
Decide who you are and resonate at THAT. Things are scary. But you don't have to answer the pattern.
Yeah, I found myself getting too angry, yelling at the TV, lol, no kidding. Just like I've made such fun of OTHER people for doing....And then I just realized whoa!, no way, I don't have to be THAT.
I beat my OWN drum!
Love and light, baby.
I educate myself, I vote and I pray and I give.
And I go outside and see how beautiful the day is... and I love the ones I love.... and it doesn't cost a dime.
And yeah, I can still so laugh at myself. (I am rather quirky huh?)
Like a half hour ago I lost my cell phone in the house after JUST talking to a friend, and so of course I called it from the home phone but then realized the cell's ringer was still turned off... so I looked, and I looked and looked, and started to laugh at my ditzy self... (what other choice do have, really?)
And then I finally find it where I dropped it by the computer...
And, "oh, I've missed a call.... hmmm... restricted number?... who could that be???... who do I know that does that?...hmmmm?..."
Duh, er, it was ME... calling, trying to find the phone silly!! (and by the way, I didn't even put that block on my number, it was a mistake by the phone company long ago, they were supposed to give me caller ID instead, but I've never gotten around to calling them and fixing it.)
So times and budgets (and the amount of time one gets the luxury of surfing) inevitably changes. Life ebbs and flows but we are still US!!! Don't lose that. Don't give that away to anyone.
There was a terrible tragedy today in LA today, that made me weep for quite sometime, I have to say. So senseless, so scary, so sad. Because someone couldn't see how many blessings he had.
Everybody's uncertain these days but everybody is also blessed in so many ways.
We all are having our ups and downs. But find joy in the important things. Material stuff... well, it's "just stuff". It was never meant to fill us up.
I count my blessings and try to bloom where I'm planted.
I know who I'm voting for, I don't have to get so angry at the news. I can stay ME through all of this nonsense.
I'm still a WSJ.com junkie (although I am trying to stop), Obama delegate who loses guitar picks and my phone, every time I turn around. And I can still sooo laugh at my goofy self.
And love the ones I love. And thank God for my blessings.
Be well and safe and don't feel alone out there.
Because you're not.
Hugs Moondoggies,
Mary :)
zzzzzz
So wiped out but so happy. WeSpark is always the best mix of just the best people on Earth. Much mahalo to all of the wonderful artists that did so much for the unplugged party... and Jo-Ann Geffen it was flipping fantastic to see you girl!! I'll write more, I really should wind down somehow and go to sleep. zzzzz
Moose
Moose was very sick and in the hospital until this evening. Now he and his brother, Bear are at another vet boarding through the weekend when I get back from Santa Barbara.
The boarding vet tried to convince me that since Moose needed to be watched the twins should be boarded separately. I convinced them that my Bear, alone without his brother would go totally neurotic and take their building down. And so they are rooming together. That's best. They cuddle and clean each other's ears and fall asleep snuggling.
They are so funny. My twins. I rescued their mommy when she was pregnant in Feb 2001. 10 days later she had 7 puppies in my garage. BIG puppies. They all survived despite what she'd been through and all ended up with fantastic homes thanks to a rescue group that helped me out.
To the best of my memory (as an adult anyway), I think I've rescued 32 dogs. Thankfully always found their homes or great new homes for them. Usually within 2 weeks. People should put collars and tags on their dogs, they are much more likely to get rescued by the general public.
I do have to say that after rescuing the pregnant mommy and placing her and 5 of the 7 puppies, I did respectfully ask God to please never ask that from me again. It was tough. And so hard letting go of the puppies too. But again, all now in fantastic homes and of course all spayed and neutered.
I know some people have their reasons for now spaying and neutering but if you ever knew the statistics of animals being put down at animal shelters (and yes many purebreds too), it would break your heart.
Looks like my Moose is going to be fine. Big vet bill, but thankfully he's okay. It could have been so much worse. Life is good and God is good. And come tomorrow night I'll be making music with my friends in Santa Barbara!!
The boarding vet tried to convince me that since Moose needed to be watched the twins should be boarded separately. I convinced them that my Bear, alone without his brother would go totally neurotic and take their building down. And so they are rooming together. That's best. They cuddle and clean each other's ears and fall asleep snuggling.
They are so funny. My twins. I rescued their mommy when she was pregnant in Feb 2001. 10 days later she had 7 puppies in my garage. BIG puppies. They all survived despite what she'd been through and all ended up with fantastic homes thanks to a rescue group that helped me out.
To the best of my memory (as an adult anyway), I think I've rescued 32 dogs. Thankfully always found their homes or great new homes for them. Usually within 2 weeks. People should put collars and tags on their dogs, they are much more likely to get rescued by the general public.
I do have to say that after rescuing the pregnant mommy and placing her and 5 of the 7 puppies, I did respectfully ask God to please never ask that from me again. It was tough. And so hard letting go of the puppies too. But again, all now in fantastic homes and of course all spayed and neutered.
I know some people have their reasons for now spaying and neutering but if you ever knew the statistics of animals being put down at animal shelters (and yes many purebreds too), it would break your heart.
Looks like my Moose is going to be fine. Big vet bill, but thankfully he's okay. It could have been so much worse. Life is good and God is good. And come tomorrow night I'll be making music with my friends in Santa Barbara!!
Bounce
Everything is changing..... and so we bounce, Baby bounce....
Miss you Big Island
Miss you Big Island
Maui is incredibly beautiful but I am sooo homesick for the Big Island, I can't even tell ya...
I'll be popping back sometime in Oct-ish to pick up stuff. I'm gold on Hawaiian Airlines so they allow me 3 bags so maybe... I wonder if I can fit my friends and my surf spot into my suit cases?
It was a great life there. I know I'll be back for good one day.
Again, Maui is of course one of the most beautiful places on Earth, truly everywhere you look, it's a post card. And every Hawaiian I meet here, just like BI, so sweet and soooo living the aloha. I love this state! Plus I'm going to see my rock-chick bud (who I met on my very first trip to Maui in "97!), Gail Swanson play at Mulligans on Friday. Yay!! Gail so rocks!
Today was waking up way too early, reading the WSJ, and then a healthy morning jog, barefoot on the sand (so firms the calves quick) and then I made my office on the laptop under the gazebo (plugged in there too) at the Kahekili Beach Park (well technically Alii Kahekili Nui Ahumonu Beach Park but the locals also call it old airport park).
Take a dip in the ocean, do more annoying business on the computer and the phone, repeat... and when it got too nutsy on the phone... I would just gaze out across the water at the islands of Lanai and Molokai and thank God for this is time, I'm in Maui, enjoy. :)
But I still miss BI... my friends and my surf board are still there... crud.
I'm back in California next week (hint, maybe for a while). This gypsy life might be getting to me.
Hugs Moondoggies,
Mary :)
Maui is incredibly beautiful but I am sooo homesick for the Big Island, I can't even tell ya...
I'll be popping back sometime in Oct-ish to pick up stuff. I'm gold on Hawaiian Airlines so they allow me 3 bags so maybe... I wonder if I can fit my friends and my surf spot into my suit cases?
It was a great life there. I know I'll be back for good one day.
Again, Maui is of course one of the most beautiful places on Earth, truly everywhere you look, it's a post card. And every Hawaiian I meet here, just like BI, so sweet and soooo living the aloha. I love this state! Plus I'm going to see my rock-chick bud (who I met on my very first trip to Maui in "97!), Gail Swanson play at Mulligans on Friday. Yay!! Gail so rocks!
Today was waking up way too early, reading the WSJ, and then a healthy morning jog, barefoot on the sand (so firms the calves quick) and then I made my office on the laptop under the gazebo (plugged in there too) at the Kahekili Beach Park (well technically Alii Kahekili Nui Ahumonu Beach Park but the locals also call it old airport park).
Take a dip in the ocean, do more annoying business on the computer and the phone, repeat... and when it got too nutsy on the phone... I would just gaze out across the water at the islands of Lanai and Molokai and thank God for this is time, I'm in Maui, enjoy. :)
But I still miss BI... my friends and my surf board are still there... crud.
I'm back in California next week (hint, maybe for a while). This gypsy life might be getting to me.
Hugs Moondoggies,
Mary :)
WSJ
This an awesome article from the Wall Street Journal. One needs to read the whole thing. I think it's a wonderful sign that I found it this morning at the source I did.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122161053317045669.html
In these exceptionally uncertain and trying times for all of us, we can't afford to only get our information from a few sources. We have to have real information to make the choices for our futures.
Sunday evening, I braced myself, being aware of what was to come Monday morning. Being in Hawaii, it was a relief to know that I'd wake up 6 hours behind everyone else and what was gonna be would be by then. But being aware it was coming made the realities that followed much less scary. Anytime any sector is foolish, or artificially booming or failing, it all ripples out.
Foolishness and greed on many levels has lead to a crisis. And corrections are painful. But in the 90's Japan's government helped their banks hide their similarly bad choices, which much delayed the needed correction - which in turn MUCH delayed a true recovery.
We wouldn't want that.
Some state's systems clog their courts with their foreclosures, delaying the inevitable and also delaying their housing market's recovery.
Some state's systems let the process happen, as painful as it is. And in the end, the banks have to face the foolishness of the fairy dust that if things were just slanted the right way, people really could afford as much house as they wanted. And unfit loans could be tied up in a cute ribbon and sold as A paper.
If they did too much of this foolishness, they fail. Just like we do with our own personal financial decisions. Fannie and Freddie were thought to have too large a shadow to let fail. The shock to the system would have hurt too many of the innocent. I don't know about all that. They could have just paid better lobbyists.
Stay informed. From multiple sources. And if people sound like greedy goofballs, or not that upright or just not that bright, well BELIEVE it. Don't drink the Kool-aid.
These are tough times for many, don't look to blame, keep moving, stay informed and try to make wise personal choices. And VOTE!
It's all growing pains. Corrections have to come before recoveries.
I think it will all be okay in the end. If that helps any. :)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122161053317045669.html
In these exceptionally uncertain and trying times for all of us, we can't afford to only get our information from a few sources. We have to have real information to make the choices for our futures.
Sunday evening, I braced myself, being aware of what was to come Monday morning. Being in Hawaii, it was a relief to know that I'd wake up 6 hours behind everyone else and what was gonna be would be by then. But being aware it was coming made the realities that followed much less scary. Anytime any sector is foolish, or artificially booming or failing, it all ripples out.
Foolishness and greed on many levels has lead to a crisis. And corrections are painful. But in the 90's Japan's government helped their banks hide their similarly bad choices, which much delayed the needed correction - which in turn MUCH delayed a true recovery.
We wouldn't want that.
Some state's systems clog their courts with their foreclosures, delaying the inevitable and also delaying their housing market's recovery.
Some state's systems let the process happen, as painful as it is. And in the end, the banks have to face the foolishness of the fairy dust that if things were just slanted the right way, people really could afford as much house as they wanted. And unfit loans could be tied up in a cute ribbon and sold as A paper.
If they did too much of this foolishness, they fail. Just like we do with our own personal financial decisions. Fannie and Freddie were thought to have too large a shadow to let fail. The shock to the system would have hurt too many of the innocent. I don't know about all that. They could have just paid better lobbyists.
Stay informed. From multiple sources. And if people sound like greedy goofballs, or not that upright or just not that bright, well BELIEVE it. Don't drink the Kool-aid.
These are tough times for many, don't look to blame, keep moving, stay informed and try to make wise personal choices. And VOTE!
It's all growing pains. Corrections have to come before recoveries.
I think it will all be okay in the end. If that helps any. :)
Okay, I just made my sweetie laugh so I have to put this in here.
I'm working like crazy on a zillion projects right now and I said sitting at my lap top, in Maui, which I didn't even see today by the way..."If I got paid just for working my ass off - well.... I wouldn't just have a skinny ass!" He thought it was funny.
I'm working like crazy on a zillion projects right now and I said sitting at my lap top, in Maui, which I didn't even see today by the way..."If I got paid just for working my ass off - well.... I wouldn't just have a skinny ass!" He thought it was funny.
See you...
On my way to the mainland this morning... so homesick for the island already. Can't be everywhere I want to be at once. See you in Laguna Beach and L A in July and August! Lots of new songs too!