New Life Adventures - what lies ahead???

Today as I sit here at work, surrounded by a pile of papers as I work on some super important documents from London, I find myself thinking of all those around me who are struggling, heck we're still waiting to hear that the housing association will "accept" me and daughter Megan so we can live in the lovely manufactured home we looked at! it's like, who knew that it would be that much trouble for the privilege of living in a "trailer park." Okay, my friend Margaret advised me NEVER to call the place a trailer park -- it's a "community!" anyway, who knew we'd have to give our life history and then some just so we can live in this community even though the chick who owns the home has already accepted us? Then I realize that several members of my immediate circle are also going through mega life changes... new adventures lie ahead for ALL of us... landlords are selling houses like crazy and people must move... The Greens in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, is being worked on and I'm afraid they'll knock down my favorite tree...so many changes. Nothing ever seems to stay the same, everything and everyone keeps moving. My childhood friend Barry Hirrell says they'll probably find some of his old plastic Army men buried in that park... and I'm sure they'll find lots of other items such as cars and glass bottles with notes in them that we buried... remnants that remind people we were there...everywhere we go, we leave a mark.

then I think of Jim...who is fighting for his life right now at that hospital on Geary St. in San Francisco where my mother had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor back in the '70s. and how wonderful and compassionate he is...taking in all of our stories when he read them as if they were his and really FEELING them...I never forget sharing stories with the gang and with Jim at Adair's house...and the LOVE of this awesome family, everyone coming together to be there for Jim. and Jim's input was always so real and heartfelt...he loves everyone. and I think of my Dad who says he's beating Parkinson's Disease! and I realize how much I love him and I remember all of our adventures...how my Dad insisted I read Adair Lara's columns -- the stories about her life and family in San Francisco. Reconnecting with old friends from the past yet clinging to the present...

yet amid the stress, there is still lots of fun to be had and ukuleles need to be played. last night I sat in on Mike Sult's guitar class to reconnect with old friends...and then attended the Big W jam -- and we sang and played and I lent my friend John one of my ukuleles because he took his apart. Word to the wise, never take apart your only ukulele! I now cannot imagine my life without one close by!!! Seriously! But he'll get it back together again. And Saturday there's Ukes on the Loose...life is pretty good.

and through it all, I'm waiting to hear from a trailer park! hehe!

New Beginnings!

new beginnings?

Life doesn't always work out the way one would expect it to.

Today Megan actually went with me to set out on a journey -- to find ourselves a new place to live. We were bailing from the house on the hill..I need a place I can afford on my own without subtenants and roommates and drama, and closer to work of course. Megan brought Sydney-the-dog along which could have been a good thing or a bad thing, and we had at least six different places lined up to check out today...all good commuting distance from Megan said she could cover up her tattoos if she had to...

Our first stop was a manufactured home in one of those parks -- I had sent an email to the people who advertised the two bedroom two bath home -- because the ad said to send an email and tell a little about myself! Well, that just opens the floodgates for me!!

anyway, I attempted to be strategic with a goal of finding a place to live SOMEPLACE. I mean, new tenants (my coworker and her husband!!!) are already set up to move into the house on the hill and we have to get out. Yes, it was my choice -- but hopefully it's a good one.

Anyway, so Megan used her Google maps on her cell phone to get us to this rather large mobile home park. I'd never lived in a mobile home park and yes, I admit that sometimes I did think of "trailer park trash," but I also knew that some of these parks were super nice and cool. And why not check this place out? the price was right!

who knew that in spite of two different GPS applications on our cell phones and "Siri" on my iphone who was hopelessly lost and confused right along with us, that we would be utterly and completely lost amid windy roads that went around in circles back to the same place we had been before.

"Didn't we see that house before?" Megan asked as we drove by a lovely yellow manufactured home for the fifth time. The numbers went up on one side, and down on the other. It was all just a big mess.

We did notice that the park was filled with lovely trees and there was a beautiful park and swimming pools and a large clubhouse, but if only we could find the place we were searching for.

At one point, I completely stopped on the road and Megan said, "I give up!!!"|

We can't give up now. We're so close! We attempted to call "Susan" but she didn't answer her cell phone. I shudder to think of the frantic message I must have sent her. Not only were we lost, but we most likely would never even be able to get OUT of this insane "manufactured" home park (I get confused, is that the same as a mobile home park?) -- the street names were not labeled. But I've also been lost in apartment complexes -- some of them are very big and scary and it really can happen.;

But, finally, as if out of nowhere, Megan yelled, "That's it! That's the right one!"

We both peered out of the car at a lovely yellow "manufactured" home that actually looked quite inviting. Yellow is a good color. My favorite color. A guy who was working on something outside the home waved at us and guided us to a parking spot next door. Apparently you can't park in the street in these types of parks -- only in carports, driveways and designated parking areas.

I immediately felt at home when I walked through the door into an entryway and saw a large inviting living room filled with windows, a lovely little kitchen and that room beyond hte kitchen, reminded me of a "sun room." Yes that's the name of the room with all the windows! It took us a moment to find "Susan" who was cleaning a bathroom. She came out to greet us and I immediately felt like I knew her from someplace!

She showed us the inside and the outside -- the yard and the side yard and the storage sheds that were like miniature rooms -- the beautiful roses, and the master bedroom with the huge bathroom -- MY master bedroom I said.

She told me she played guitar and ukulele and was a musician -- she taught music to kids. GO FIGURE! :) We immediately hit it off. She wanted to meet Sydney the dog. Megan and I looked at each other. Uh oh, will she bark at Susan? No, Sydney ran right up to her and immediately had fun running in and out of the doggie door while we talked and filled out applications -- I was wasting NO time -- I wanted this beauty. I felt like it should be "our" house already. We talked about our lives like we were old friends, Susan and I -- and she said she had a good feeling about us and wanted to rent the place to us if everything checked out.

My heart sank. It always scares me to hear this, if everything checks out -- not so great credit -- I have to admit it. but no I can pass a background check. I'm not a criminal. I have a good job. I can pay the rent, and now my commute to work will be a breeze! it felt more like a home and you didn't even feel like you were in a park -- but in your own place.

Susan invited the neighbor over to meet us -- what a fun, nice guy he was! He wanted us to get the house too, even offered his computer so Susan could do the background check right there! That is a good sign. And I told him about how we were hopelessly lost driving around the park -- he joikingly said that five years ago he lost a girlfriend who got hopelessly lost and she probably still is. We laughed and I couldn't help but think of the MTA Song -- but will she ever return, no she'll never return and her fate is still unlearned, she will ride forever in the mobile home park, she's the girl who never returned!

We all laughed when I twisted the words...!

and all those other places I was supposed to check out on my one and only designated apartment hunting day? Well, I never got to those places. We hung out at the home for at least four hours before reluctantly leaving. We wanted the place so bad -- we didn't even want to look at any others or apply.

I told Susan I'd wait anxiously to hear back from her! So we are crossing our fingers and thinking positive thoughts and whatever else we must do.

this is not the first time I've wanted a place -- but this is the first time I've felt that this could be a place we live at for a very long time. Like years or something like that.

we only got a little lost leaving the park... here's hoping for the new home in North San Jose right off 237 and Zankar...

Happy November Novel Writing Month!

Happy November Novel Writing Month!  Every year I hear about it and I get caught up in the excitement! Yes, I can write a novel in a month -- sure, no problem. I write stuff all the time -- not all of it good, but yes I do write. So the month is upon us again and I realize I've fallen horribly behind on my blog about my musical adventures -- I suppose that could be considered sort of a novel, yet not a novel. Maybe it's a memoir about a chick with a ukulele who dreams of becoming a successful writer and FINALLY get that book published that she's written so many words for and talked about.

Sure, I can write a novel in a month. Why not? So what if I have a crazy, full-time job and I must move before the end of November and I still don't even have a new place to move to yet. And then there's the thing of running around with a ukulele -- which warms my heart and soul on so many levels that it's difficult to explain. It's like my friend Sue said -- sleep is overrated!

So, in honor of Nano, I'm simply going to relate the stories of the ukulele and music adventures as it intertwines with daily life and has also become a big part of my daily life -- not just mine but many other people as well. I'm not sure if I'll get to 50,000 words and I'm not going to stress over it.

But I know one thing for certain. Every day I'm going to write something in my blog. I'm not sure how much or what it will be. Some of the entries will be "back dated," but they will be new, fresh words, new stories...new adventures. We were talking about this in my screenplay writing class tonight -- about how would one ever find the time to actually write a novel in a month when we were are also working on our screenplays. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. On top of everything else I'm doing, I'm writing a screenplay. How's it going? Pretty good. I'm making progress, but it seems to be going agonizing slow... NANO represents frenzy, things happening as quickly as possible. I mean, don't you have to be "quick" or frenzied when you're writing an entire novel n a month?

So, happy November Novel Writing Month! It's a little after midnight...Halloween has ended and a new day has begun.