Good Morning LAX!

Picture me here at 4:30am Wednesday.

Michael and I had Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and dad last night, as I'll be in Texas with my brother's family on Thursday. Michael and Cokie will be back home in Hollywood lying on the couch in their underwear, eating leftovers, watching football on Thanksgiving.

The boys. Soon to be home alone.

They'll be fine.

Blog Slacker - Already? Man...

Apologies for starting and immediately slacking on this blog.

You don't need to hear all my excuses but I will offer in my defense that I've been in photo hell with all the pics I took during my travels this year - all four memory cards' worth, and just haven't wanted to write about my awesome summer adventures without my pics. As soon as that gets figured out, which will be soon, I'll tell you all about Jamaica, San Francisco, Massachusetts, DC, Virginia, and a lot of other fun stuff.

I've been in hard core physical therapy for my right knee, which doesn't want to stay 'on track' and has been 'going out' on me more than usual lately, causing some rather ungraceful and very painful face plants. I'm bound and determined to kick my knee's ass into shape once and for all, so I don't have to do stairs like an old lady and avoid hiking and, oh yeah, stepping off curbs. Screw that. I'm going all Tyler Durden on my knee. Don't say I didn't warn you, patella.

I've also been entrenched in political Twitter debate, and once you get me started... Well. I just need to stop that little addiction.

And I've been helping out some of my pet blogging friends with a 'Twitter Tips for Beginners' series on my cat's blog. Yes, I'm just saying it. Those who know me, know that my cat Cokie is just about the coolest ragdoll cat around. Certainly in L.A., and he has his own blog. Cokie the Cat: Hollywood Insider. (He's not allowed outside since he fell from an 80' palm tree 16 years ago.)

Cokie is going on eighteen now and wears pants because of spinal damage from aforementioned palm tree incident. He's something of a role model for incontinent cats. He wears his man pants and he wears them well. In fact, he rocks those fuckers.

There goes my Disney blog sponsorship. Oh, well.

My point here is that I've been writing something of a primer for people (or pets) who want to tweet. Twitter. Get to twittering.

If you have any desire to check out Twitter, are new to Twitter, or just want to make fun of my cat teaching people to use Twitter, head on over to www.cokiethecat.com and click on the Twitter Tips tab up top.

And no, I don't have kids. Don't start with me.

Kristin

Why I've Started This Blog

1. To have a place to collect and share my experiences - and photographs and videos of same. I've had a lot of adventures - a lot just this year - and I want to share all the things that made them wonderful.

My very sweet friends in Jamaica, mon.
I'm not sure what sign they're flying there.
I hope I'm not in a Jamaican gang now...

2. To document some of my rather unconventional history before I forget it all. I'm already skeptical about some of memories - was I actually there or did I just hear the story so many times I've invented images in my head with me in them!? And vice-versa, actually. My mom insists it was me who used to bang my head against the wall when I wanted out of my crib. I swear that was my little brother.

3. To let certain elements of my life serve as a warning to others. ; ) To give you the opportunity to learn from some of my mistakes - and me, too, for that matter.

I loved my VW van,
but I should have bought the one that was $4000 more!

4. To give my friends, family, and anyone else who's interested a place to talk about things we've found particularly wonderful, helpful, inspiring, or fun.

Volcano Birthday Cake!
Those aren't corn cob holders, they're Tikis! LOL.

5. Because I've been blogging for my cat for almost three years and my soul is yearning to express itself without any of these:  =^..^=

Cokie checking in with his 4700 Twitter followers.

According to my Jyotish (Vedic) astrologer, my life's purpose is to 'lead people from the darkness to the light.' It is quite fitting, I think, that very coincidentally, I find myself finally publishing my first post of this blog on the Autumnal Equinox, when day and night are of equal lengths, which particularly resonates with me right now. This is a perfect time to come to terms with our own darkness, in order to fully embrace the light and love we're meant to exude.

Photo from astrocounsel.us

So there it is. Thank you for reading my very first blog post on Notes For My Next Life. I'd love to hear who you are and where you're from - and what you think of this new blog project of mine. Please bookmark it, and come back to it.

I hope this becomes a special refuge and meeting place in this weird, wild metaphysical Internet space and time that we can enjoy, learn from and treasure together.

Check out this awesome visualization of a tiny piece of the Internet. That's us!

Tree of routing paths through a portion of the Internet
as visualized by the Opte Project

Peace and happy Autumn!

Kristin