* SCUBA diving has been a source of a lot of personal enlightenment. Diving is fun for me. You just need to be in on a couple of dives with me. You don't have to go down every single time I do.
* My efforts to visit every STATE in the UNION continues in 2010; The Northeastern States. If you like 7 day road trips, that's a huge plus.
* License updating and upgrading has been successful for me throughout 2009. This particular area of MY life remains challenging for the ensuing year. Students welcome. However, I have unusual study habits; usually in public places or on public transit with the cellular phone ringer turned off.
* I still don't live on a boat of my own... yet. I'd love to live on a 50 foot vessel of my own. Something like a very seaworthy motorsailor.
* Collecting all the recording by www.yamashirogumi.gr.jp is growing slowly. My love of Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Maui, are because of memories to be renewed.
* I am considering committing myself to at least three international trips in 2010. Do you have a current passport?
* Diana Krall, Sting, Tony Braxton, Crystal Lewis, Chris Botti, are some performers I want to see "live" in the near future. What concerts do you enjoy?
* I plan to attend one event in Las Vegas in 2010. I don't gamble. I enjoy watching what happens to people as they gamble.
* As an undevoted Epicurian, who innately practices the rituals of utilitarianism, I find Americans have missed how wonderful it is to pleasure the mind; Laying out on hot lava rock on Big Island among the petroglyphs with only that being the goal for a couple of hours. Conversing in a speakeasy in San Francisco about how few people even vaguely realize the scary part of E=mc2. I'm not open minded. I believe to be "open minded" one has to accept vague discussions accept, what is potentially, the unreal.

Baaba Maal; Da Lata; Nina Miranda perform Distracted Minds. Although never want to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) ever again, the cinematography and the performances were a relief.

A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Aww. Why the long face?" I own all the Ice Age DVDs. Seldom watch TV. Own Miami Vice, JAG, and Japanese Animae and the Matrix. I enjoy reading books written by William Shattner. Star Trek suits my fiction tastes just fine. My favorite fiction series is by C.J. Cherryh; Foreigner.

I was the unofficial teacher's aid in my Astronomy class in college when I received a phone call for the instructor announcing the Challenger explosion. I had been employed in the Astronautics industry and some of my work was directly for shuttle missions.

I want to climb Mt Fuji again. I think in August. Leave on a Tuesday, and depart 4 days later for Hawaii. Then back to California taxes.

I love drinking bottled water. At first I denied it. Now, I'm open about it and will share my bottled water with anyone; Propel Fitness Water, and other Gatorade products are typically in easy reach. As for weird liquids like Red Bull, I seek out the newest products and try not to guzzle 'em where people can see me.

There was a discussion about if I qualify as a marine mammal; I decided not to boast and suggest it is actually about being able to survive IN the sea and not merely about hanging out on the beach.

My prediction for Polar Bear survival is depressing. Let's not talk about that for a while.

Berkshire Hathaway, the companies of Rupert Murdoch and the trend of locals everywhere to shop at SBUX or MCD over the locally own cafes worries me. Stonewood Coffee & Tea (Broken Arrow, OK), 901 Columbus Cafe (San Francisco, CA), Element Coffee (Camarillo, CA), Macy's European Coffee House? (Flagstaff, AZ), or the Coffee Plantation (Key West, FL) are such better choices.

Ah! Coffee! Fresh, hot, single bean coffee! Some people don't drink Merlot. I don't drink mixed beans. Back in the day (um, 1995) Starbucks coffee was pretty good. Starbucks is to good coffee beans, what McDonald's is to the double decker hamburger. (McDonald's didn't invent that; Bob's Big Boy did).

Tonight I cooked chicken brests in olive oil and added some delicious things after they browned nicely. The Lundberg family farms organic mixed wild rice is delicious although it's like drinking a stout beer-- the first one's enough and I'll be lucky to finish the second round. Fortunately, rice doesn't affect my driving.

I'm going to visit Alameda, Oakland, Fresno, Bakersfield, Santa Margarita (Oops maybe that's Santa Maria), Rancho Cucamonga, Marina Del Rey, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Covina, Riverside, and a few other cities early January. Some of this is about "business" and some of this is to see some old friends and close family members as soon as possible! There are boat rides involved and a district conference included. A costume party too. One hotel, and at least a few motels. Home housekeeping is due so I have to catch up on some of that.

First dates are easy; go to a cafe or something. I've tried going to the movies, plays and such, and find it distracting for a first date. People can't really talk and share together during a show. Clubs are okay if they're really big so we can chat at a table or go up close to stage and dance.

Second dates? That's more difficult; "Oh, yeah! She's so Sweet and Loving! What am I supposed to do?"