Life is a beautiful adventure. Even the tough parts.

So finally coming out of the post-breakup funk (after 1.5 years) and getting a little clarity about what all transpired, I can see that everything that happens in life is an opportunity to grow. And if we look at it with the adventurous spirit of a child with our hearts and minds open, then life unfolds in beautiful ways.

Does this cheesy inspirational message sound like its coming from someone who might have the "l" word at the tip of her lips again?? (And by "l" word, I am referring to love, not lesbian...which was never on the tip of my lips).

I was dating a myriad of successful, handsome men. Sometimes up to 4 different dates in one week. I was having a blast, but knew that none of them really provided that something special that made me feel like my last relationship had truly been a stepping stone to something better, deeper, more fulfilling. Until....

Arnaud.

I was intrigued but unsure about him. I was ready to lump him with the others - great fun, but perhaps not a long-term match. And then this weekend, he went somewhere deeply intimate (this is not a sexual innuendo). He gently pried into why I had a wall up. And when I gave him my honest answer, he didn't run away. In fact, he hugged me harder and looked into my eyes more deeply.

I don't know where this is headed exactly, but I can tell you where you can find Arnaud and me this coming weekend. In the jungles of Costa Rica. Mmmm hmmm...where they only have solar electricity. At night it is so dark and so quiet, there really is only one pasttime for a young couple in their secluded bungalow...

And no, Niki, I will NOT come back married.

I'm back...by popular demand!

Ok, my bestest friend in the whole wide world has said a few times now that I should document my misadventures in a blog...

Well, ladies, await no longer...

I am resolved never to run for political office, so let the documentation of misadventures begin (again)!

I had a phone date with a lawyer tonight. And my general conclusion about lawyers...they LOVE to hear themselves talk. I mean, they absolutely LOVE it. Is this something they teach in law school?

Well, I love to hear myself talk too. So I'm just not sure how this one is going to work out. But we have a real face-to-face date scheduled for Friday regardless.

And tomorrow I have a sushi dinner date with another lawyer. Am I trying to punish myself??

“God made man stronger but not necessarily more intelligent. He gave women intuition and femininity. And, used properly, that combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met.” ~Farrah Fawcett speaking the good truth

Toodles!
Kim

Open your eyes

In Germany...

I visited German cemetaries - mostly soldiers from World War II - Nazis, if you will. But they were so young - almost all of them were 15 or 16 years old. They never lived life. They died fighting for a cause that many of them never understood. I cried. I teared up at the American and British cemetaries, but I cried at the German cemetaries. How many people come to pay respects to their graves? Probably not many at all. Many would say they died a shameful death, and I am sure there are those who committed shameful acts. But I can only assume that there were so many (and there were an immense number)who died scared and unsure exactly what they were fighting for. So young. It breaks my heart over and over again.

I looked at videos tonight of children killed by the Israeli airstrikes. It breaks my heart a hundred times over. I want to take their pain away from them. I want to protect them. I want to make the world right for them.

And then I watched a memorial video to Israeli soldiers. It broke my heart too.

Lives unfulfilled. Potential unrealized. Goodness murdered. No matter what side of the "border" they find themselves on, they find themselves wrapped up in pain and anguish and an unescapable destructive cycle. WE find ourselves wrapped up in a destructive cycle.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
- Mahatma Gandhi

What difference does it make?

Find your love and compassion. Live your love and compassion. Be your love and compassion. Love and compassion are not reserved strictly for those who are "right" in your eyes.

Just think about it all for a minute...and then move on.

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H. L. Mencken

That's it.

Everything is Wrong
-- By 'Everything Is Wrong' I mean EVERYTHING. I look around me - I'm typing on a plastic and metal and glass computer perched on a desk made from cut down trees and toxic paint. I sit in a building made of wood and bricks that were taken from the earth on a street made of poisonous asphalt that was laid over an ecosystem that had thrived for hundreds of thousands of years. I'm clothed in cotton that was saturated with pesticides while it grew and treated and dyed with toxic chemicals while it was being processed. All of my possessions were made hundreds or thousands of miles away and shipped in styrofaom and plastic wrap via gas burning engines and destructive road and air ways to me. My food, although organically grown and completely vegan, is shipped from where it was grown to my local stores and is often packaged in paper, plastic, metal, and toxic inks. I know tons of people that eat meat, smoke cigarettes, drive cars, use drugs, etc., even though they know these things will ultimately hurt the quality (and length) of their lives. I live in an apartment building where no one is on a first name basis. I know more about idiot actors in Hollywood that I've never met than I do about the woman who lives next door to me (and is probably more interesting). While walking to work I inhale toxic exhaust from cars sitting in traffic.

To make sure that eating 3 cans of oven cleaner will make you sick, or to make sure that pouring nail polish remover into your eyes will hurt you, we torture mice, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. We use toxic chloring bleach to keep our underpants white. We cut down the rainforests to drill for oil so that we can drive to the video store. Do you see what I mean? Everything really is wrong. Even the back-to-nature people still drive cars and use products made from materials ripped out of the earth. People struggle all of their lives doing work they hate just to be a functioning member of a system that is wasteful, destructive, and unhealthy.

What I advocate is this: a sensible, pragmatic, and non-destructive approach towards existence. We need to re-evaluate our practices. Just as it doesn't make sense to hire an elevator operator to run an automatic elevator, it doesn't make sense for billions of people to drive to work alone in their cars. It doesn't make sense to consume animal products. It doesn't make sense to use pesticides on agricultural products. It doesn't make sense to derive power from nuclear, coal, and petroleum when we have solar, hydro, and wind power. It doesn't make sense to maintain destructive systems just because people earn their livings from them. It doesn't make sense to pour billions of tons of toxic chemicals onto our lawns so that they'll look pretty and green. I could go on but you're probably either bored or overwhelmed by now. I advocate change; massive, massive change.

Basically we should stop doing those things that are destructive to the environment, other creatures, and ourselves and figure out new ways of existing. That's it.

- Moby

I love Saturdays

This is the first Saturday that I've had in a while where I did absolutely nothing. I am loving it. I could have easily not have gotten out of bed, but I did finally decide to take a shower. Lazy Saturdays are key to recharging.