Kiss Kiss - Silly Fish.

So Long Good Buddy

Turned in the Jetta. Surrendered my license plate. Got a new drivers license.

Come full circle and am carless once again. The last time I was sans car, I lived on the isle of Manhattan. I like this island better.

After I got my new drivers license I couldn't stop looking at it. It really looks like me. I mean ME.

Florida me, complete with sunkissed skin, wavy long hair and a dash of highlights. Don't think I've ever seen a pic that really reflects who I am like this one which is probably part of the reason I keep staring. The DMV is my new Glamour Shots.

Hell, the Jetta looks pretty good too! So long good buddy, you rocked.

R.I.P. Beast - 1996 - 2011

Day Off.

Much needed.

Peru

Book a trip, have a monsoon kayak tour.

God bless nice boys with boats and jet skis...and one in particular. I discovered that everyone needs a rescue from time to time, including me.

The description read early this morning for today's events was: the "winds of change" were going to be blowing hard.

Holy crap, that's an understatement.

Waterlogged and exhausted after trying to herd people to safety, I started to wonder how I was going to do it all. I could hardly get myself pointing in the right direction and moving, let alone a group.

As I struggled I kept hearing, "Don't fight the water. Go with the flow. Surrender to it."

I did exactly that and just when I thought I was sunk, an army showed up to help me right when I needed them. I was no longer having to fight it all on my own.

People showing up...Winds of change, indeed.

Just 'cause...

Keep running into cool dogs.

I loved how this guy camouflaged into the concrete.

Memory Lane

The Jetta got its death sentence this week.

I found out just how attached I was to my car and my mechanic was equally as surprised as I was.

"Really?" with a look of shock was the response I got from him when I told him I wanted to have it checked out one last time. "Really?" was the response when I told him how attached I was to it. He obliged and as I watched it sputter and conk out as it was driven into the garage, I already knew the answer.

"What do I do with it?" I asked meekly.

"The junkyard." he said matter of factly.

I had to hold back the tears and when he told me he'd take care of it for me, I quickly took him up on it. I told him I couldn't bear to watch someone haul it to the junkyard. Thanked him for looking at it and cried all the way home. Oh good lord, it was time to mourn the beast and all that it had ever done for me.

In cleaning it out for its destruction, tears quickly turned to laughter as I found a whole array of pictures and trinkets from out 13 year stint together. My favorite was a bumper sticker that said "Can't Sleep. Clowns Will Eat Me". I had no idea where it came from but it made me laugh out loud.

Pictures of where I'd been starting when I got the car - my exodus from New York, up till now. So much has happened. I could see the progression from then to now. A couple things I realized, there's been a lot of road traveled and I had a lot of random adventures. Had fun with the cleanup and am ready to let it go. In Buddhism, they say that something cannot truly transform until its destruction so I will be thinking of that as it goes off to that big car wash in the sky.

Riding around town on my bike has always been my main mode of operation. Right now spring has sprung with lots of vibrant blooming trees. I love the fallen decomposing flowers the best. They're so beautiful.

As I was taking pics, this shmoopy German Sheppard came up to me. He looked like he was wandering so I called the number on his collar. His owner was at work but chatted with me like I knew her. She lived just across from where I found him and her kids must have not locked up the fence. Could I please bring him over to her apartment so the kids could get him?

As I walked him over looking for his home, he beat me to it and pushed the fence in letting himself back in. I love that about this town. Even if you don't know someone, it feels like you do.

Had a couple cool things happen at work this week.

Usually you chat up people about their vacation and what they do. I've never really had it happen in such depth to me this week. Just going about my business at the restaurant and after a patron complimented me on my necklace he asked what I did. I told him this and the tours but he pressed on. "What else?" he asked.

"Well.. I'm an artist." I said

"I knew it!" he exclaimed happily. "You have that vibe".

It took me back a bit. I've been pegged a lot of things but never an artist unless they've seen me in action. He was a musician and he totally got the whole restaurant gig and side jobs that artists usually exist in. We had a good chat and I gave him some places to visit to get his culture on.

Next up another couple asked me how I ended up down here. I shared the cliff notes version and we got to chatting about how Key West really had something special. How people were so nice and interesting. It amazed me how these people got it. They seemed deeply touched by the community and planned on staying here next winter. I also gave them some favorite places to visit and check out.

They were mostly curious about how I made the decision to jump ship and come down. It came out so easy it surprised me. I told them I wasn't happy working in corporate life and decided I wanted out. I wanted to find what made me happy. Life's too short to be unhappy in waking life. You've got to find what you love and do it. Things get so much easier after that.

Seems simple enough but sometimes it's a long hard road to it.

I forgot how long it's taken to get to this place and how foreign that old life now is. You don't have to be a corporate drone. In fact these days I think it's harmful to your well being.

Been setting some new stuff up. Got a couple paintings I had hanging in a local shop and decided that I finally needed to take my own advice to people and sell online. That's in the works as of this week too. Its been a rapid clearing of the decks left and right. Everything has been working in synch. It's all flowing naturally. No push. No pull. I like it.

And each week there is a new skill to be learned. This week - how to get rid of a drunk guy hitting on you.

I'm surprised I never thought of this before. After work drink and down time with some friends at the Parrot, one drunken dude came right up and wouldn't stop. I tried to talk to him to like a normal person and that lasted approximately 2 minutes. The guy I talked to in those two minutes was nice and actually sweet.

The drunken frat boy that wanted to get laid and wouldn't quit was not. As he kept pushing, I realized this wasn't going to ever end. So after he complimented me about being one foxy lady, I asked him what he would think if I told him I had a penis.

The look of shock was priceless.

"No!" he kept saying as he stared at my crotch.

"Yep." I said. "My name is Gary and I like to tuck and roll."

I took it one step further and told him to come see me Sunday night at 801 when I moderate Drag Bingo.

The calm I had been looking for post-work lasted about 5 minutes. Then to my surprise he kept at it. The only time it stopped after he told me he had a boat for about the 500th time was when he mentioned he was 30 years old.

"No, you're not." I said laughing "You are at least 36 if not older."

"I'm 30." he said very seriously. So seriously I actually thought he sobered up briefly

"Really? Prove it. Let's see some ID." I challenged him.

"I gotta go." he said bolting for the door.

Spring Break 2011 and the first person I bust for lying about his age is an overgrown frat boy who thought my name was Gary.

Key West, I love you.

Big Sam's Funky Nation

Saw these guys at the Parrot randomly on Wednesday night.

Dumbfoundingly good. Love that the Parrot continues to have awesome trombone players.

Happy

And tired. Holy bejezus, season has officially kicked in.

This past week, got some major water time including a tour with a charter group. When I asked them what they were down here for I found out that they were here for an Anesthesiologists convention. "Oh, so you put people to sleep!" I quickly commented. "No we wake them up!" they corrected.

That should have been my first clue that this tour would not be my normal cruise shipper tour. One lady kept asking all kinds of crazy questions and when she started asking about the possibility of Native Americans living in the mangrove trees. I asked her "You mean like Indians?". I decided this wasn't going to get any better so I started pulling all kinds of bullshit out and you know what? It's not easy to bullshit facts with a lot of doctors who wake people up. It is entertaining though.

My co-guide had a look of shock on her face as I described things left and right. At one point I yelled out "Go Seminoles!" to divert more Indian questions. They were a nice group and several came up to congratulate me on surviving the tour.

Oh Otis, how I love thee. I am currently enjoying the Otis Redding channel on Pandora. We listen to a wide range of music at the restaurant but I really love it when Otis starts playing. It speaks to me.

Gotta love a play set with some soul along with Lionel Ritchie and the Johnny Cash live San Quentin prison album. Otis has been a shining star but this week he was slightly eclipsed when I got to try an egg custard ice cream with bacon that Jose made for a special. Holy crap, is bacon ice cream the shit.

Seriously thinking of putting the beast down. I realize I've become quite attached to my car. Although it may not be pretty and is pretty much held together by rust, that thing has gotten me out of a lot of jams in my life.

I know I've been prolonging the inevitable in giving it up especially since I really no longer use it except for a weekly grocery run. Heads turn and everybody clears out of our way as it squeals mercilessly into the parking lot.

But something just won't let me trash it. So many road trips, moves, escapes. Good lord, I love that damn thing. It's helped me run away at several key times in my life. Always been there for me, like a friggin' safety valve.

As it sits in the road, melting away I know it's time has come. It's one more thing from my old life to go.

I thought about it hard today and realized this great thought...I don't need to run anymore. That in itself is the biggest gift I could give to my beast of a car.

Will probably make my mechanic laugh when I bring it in one last time for the final prognosis but gotta do it. I've got to give it one last chance to survive before I put it down. It's the least I can do since its done exactly that for me these past years.