Change

Change, everybody wants it and hates it, fears it and loves it and loathes it....
Change, it's everywhere and every way and everything and everyone...
Change, it's here and now, then and there, before and after, forever and always...
Change, there's no stopping you, you are the one and only invincible...

Change, they are calling for you, they are running from you, they are trying to predict you...
Change, you are a breath of fresh air in a hot and humid fish market...
Change, you will not leave me alone when I have not slept for days...
Change, you never give up, you never give in and you always change your mind...

Change, you have a unique way of doing things...
Change, sometimes I think we are friends but sometimes I think you forget me, but...
Change, I have learned that you are a friend to no one and every one...
Change, you must be the master of love-hate relationships by now...

Change, you always leave and you always come back...
Change, I never know when to expect you, but I always do...
Change, you make life real, you make time tick, you make the show go on...
Change, I miss you when you are away but I can only handle so much at once…

Change, I wish you would just tell me your secrets; I can't handle the suspense...
Change, why should I decide, you are going to do it your way anyway...
Change, it's always one thing after another, after another, after another with you...
Change, sometimes you are killing me, sometimes you bring me back to life...

Change, you love the unexpected, surprises and coincidences, you are quite serendipitous...
Change, you thrill in provoking the status quo and revel in the pranks that you play...
Change, you really are quite a character full of unpredictable quirks...
Change, you love to meddle in every one's business, you could be an incredible gossip...

Change, you make me feel confused and overwhelmed and yet sometimes relieved...
Change, you are like the ocean, so vast and deep, undiscovered and full of all kinds of life...
Change, you are so fascinating, words really cannot describe...
Change, there is no canvas big enough to paint you, no eye can see your far reaching effects...

Change, you are a web that connects everyone to everyone else...
Change, you are common ground for mankind, you make exceptions for no one…
Change, you make me a better person, you know how to change people…
Change, you are the great editor, red pen in hand marking up the drafts…

Change, we see your shadow in your actions but you cannot be caught…
Change, people will always go after you and they will try to use you, but…
Change, you go where you please, you are always here, there and everywhere…
Change, you really are the only constant…

Raincoats

Perhaps the confusion started with the final scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the part where Holly Golightly is wearing her khaki trench coat running through the alley yelling for Cat and getting soaked in the rain. There is a certain timeless look that I love about these coats. The original design is attributed to Burberry, created for the men in WWII. It became a popular style for men and women soon after. There are now hundreds of versions of this coat in all price ranges and qualities and styles. I have even owned a couple of versions myself (sadly leaving my first one in the airport a few years ago) but it wasn’t until this year that I discovered something else… A real raincoat, I mean one with a hood! It’s actually quite ridiculous that I never owned one before. And that I fell for the ads, mixing up “trench coats” for “raincoats” because they certainly are not the same. Trench coats are just really cute coats that advertisers like to put on models holding umbrellas and call them raincoats just to confuse us- often times they are not even water resistant. I know it’s not as cute or fashionable but this rainy winter in San Francisco has made me so happy to finally have a raincoat with a hood! (With thanks to Eddie Bauer for being so practical.) I don’t have to worry about forgetting my umbrella or only having one hand available or predicting if it will/will not rain today. Now I just can’t figure out why nobody else is catching on? I have seen girls every day wearing their adorable trench coats but their head is getting soaked, there goes the hair and make-up! Or they forget and leave their umbrella on the bus or at work or forgot to bring it at all. Somewhere along the way they got confused about trench coats and raincoats too. I still love the classic trench coats and they are perfect in San Fran for the other ten months of the year, but I have certainly learned that a raincoat is not a raincoat without a hood.

Fitins & Fitouts

I was thinking the other day about two kinds of people- those who like to fit in, and those who don’t. And how the two seem to always be at odds with each other. It’s kind of a complex little world of social phenomenon that comes into play. … Let’s just say you have a small town in the Midwest… you have a group that has been there forever, doing what their parents did, and what their parents’ parents did and so on…Going to the same schools, living in the same areas, enjoying the same hobbies, cheering on the same teams, and mingling with the same crowds… these are thick legacies not to be broken. They are living that same life that they saw modeled for them- it’s comfortable and familiar and they know what to expect and it’s probably a pretty good life. There is nothing wrong with this. It would probably be quite a little Utopia if it weren’t for that “other type” of person… These are often called the “black sheep”, the “rule-breakers”, “outcasts” or “outliers” or “misfits”… (Ha- “misfit” perfectly defined as “one who does not fit in.”) These are the people who like to be different and have a natural instinct against conformity of any kind. They relish in their uniqueness. It’s the classic story about the son or daughter born into a family from the “Fitin” group who feels restlessness with the world around him/her because he/she feels more akin to the “fitouts” and wants to be different… There is a conflict of interests that follow, the social pressure from the Fitins make it difficult because once you become a Fitout it’s difficult to go back because now you have already done something “different.” The Fitins are not usually very accepting of the Fitouts because they are unfamiliar, unpredictable and just “different”. They talk amongst themselves about how weird or bizarre they are and about the unimaginable or peculiar things that they do. And although the Fitouts do not seem to be so consumed with the Fitins and their predictable ways, they too are guilty of critiquing their lack of originality and sometimes shallow focus. They are usually cordial but the bottom line is just that they don’t understand each other. It’s funny though because sometimes you might have a Fitout that just doesn’t like the Fitins in their area because they just don’t have the same interests… so they break away and find a new area, a new group where they “fit in” and soon this new group with common interests and histories create a new generation of Fitins. It goes both ways because life always does. Sometimes you have somebody who is a Fitin, they actually like the life, the style and the people and everything that all of the other Fitins like in their circle… but this Fitin wants to feel different so they go among another circle with a different history/culture and ways but they hold to their roots rather than changing and relish in the fact that they are different now but they didn’t have to change who they were, just where they were because they are still just like everyone else where they came from but their new circle doesn’t really know that. And there are so many Fitouts who are actually Fitins but they won’t admit it, because sometimes people do something “different” just to “fit in”- it seems a little contradicting but it’s surprisingly common. So often people are trying to fit in with one crowd while trying to fit out or make a statement against another…. So maybe we are not all one or the other but a little bit of both at different times and places and social circles. It may depend on who and what you are exposed to, and most people don’t realize that these things alter their choices and can define who they are. So many people say that they “don’t care what people think” because they care the most- and say that just because they want people to think that they don’t care… which clearly means they really do care if they make such a big deal of saying it all the time. People like to talk and point fingers and make judgments and make up silly unwritten rules to place each other in categories- just to make it easy for them to typecast one another rather than getting to know each other. Nobody is all or nothing and no two people are exactly alike even if they try to be- we see and feel and taste and think and hear and imagine different things, different colors or angles or pitches or tones or flavors or temperatures or emotions… we are each uniquely crafted as individuals from the moment we enter this world. If only we could embrace it, and embrace it in each other and realize that it’s that very individual uniqueness that is the one commonality that can help us understand one another.

Organics

I have always been curious about how "Organic" and "Free Range" are definted and how various items qualify to carry these titles. How can you trust that they really are what they claim? I am still unsure- unless you go right out on the farm and see for yourself. Anyway- this Youtube video shares some interesting insight on all of the "Organic" items "Made in China"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y