My Santa Monica Life

I can't believe I am only 7 weeks away from my departure. How quickly the time has flown! I have been very busy, as you might expect, but it is no excuse for not keeping up with the Blog. I had hoped to do better, keeping a record of all that I had to do to transition myself to this new life, but the only thing to do is to renew my efforts to do more. In the past weeks, I have cleaned out more cupboards and sold more of my things. Some problems cropped up with my dental work and I have had to schedule some oral surgery for this week — best to get it done BEFORE I am in Morocco. I've gone through my wardrobe and found every single item that requires dry-cleaning and taken the lot to the cleaners (I won't tell you what the bill will be — I have to think of it as just another cost of storage). I've also had some blessed time to be with family and friends. I passed a milestone on Sunday: 58 years old now. Still more to do: research into storage options, scheduling of pet care and travel and notifications to just about everybody of my upcoming address changes.

I've been wanting to write a bit about what my life is like now, so that I can look back on this time when everything has changed. So I will do that now.

I live in Santa Monica, California. It's a nice little community in a big urban area. Mostly, Santa Monica is a very well-to-do place, so I'm something of an anomaly, in my little rent-controlled one-bedroom apartment. When I leave here, I will have to give up this apartment, because my landlady refuses to allow me to sublet. She wants to get more rent for it, I imagine. She has many properties and is very rich, and old, and I had hoped she wouldn't mind letting me keep my home while I'm serving my country for two years, but it didn't work out that way. So I must leave this apartment, and this community, most likely forever.

I work in Santa Monica, too, for a company that makes a great product. The company is Dakim, Inc. (www.dakim.com) The product is a Brain Fitness System. It's designed to help older people stave off dementia, while having fun playing games and puzzles, on a computer system that requires no keyboard or mouse, and is super-easy to use. The people who work at Dakim are some of the best people I've ever worked for (though I have been very lucky in my work-life, and have mostly worked with wonderful people). With my extensive background in computer games and multimedia, the work is very easy for me, and I'm delighted to be able to contribute to such a terrific enterprise.

Because I live and work in the same small community, I am able to ride my bike to work. Every workday, I get up, shower and dress and ride to work. In the afternoon, I often spend my lunch hour walking around the neighborhood. I ride how at night and spend the evening doing chores, watching the news, fixing dinner, and often spend time visiting with a good friend. On Saturdays I go to the Farmers' Market, where I buy fresh produce and other tasty treats. Every service and need is nearby, and I hardly need to drive my car anymore Since the economic downturn, my income has fallen quite a bit from where it was with my last job, but the income I make is quite sufficient to meet my needs and still put a little away for retirement. I have access to books and cable television and many other entertainments and distractions.

So my life is very easy and comfortable. I sometimes wonder why I'm so willing to give it all up for the unknown adventures of Moroccan Peace Corps service. It seems I have adventure in my soul, and whenever things are getting too comfortable and routine, I get restless and want to shake things up. The restlessness seems to come from some inner need to contribute something, to add my efforts to get this mixed-up world to spin in the right direction. I'll just end this post by saying that I feel strongly that I am making the right decision, even if I am somehow sad to say goodbye to my sweet little apartment, my wonderful co-workers, and my peaceful, prosperous little community.

My Favorite Michael Jackson Tribute

When the Media tells you there were tributes around the world, they really MEAN around the world: