Beaten Paths

Good day to you and you and you over there, I see you. You made it to March 31, 2023. It’s been a bumpy ride, this last part of March. The weather has been wild, and so many things that I wish weren’t true, like another school shooting… I have been staying quiet on FB, one of the most popular social media platforms, I have yet to delete it or sign out forever, because there are some memories that I do not want to forget as some of the people on my friends list are no longer around. 12 or 13 years ago, when my high school friend Christa emailed me from New Zealand, her new home, she mentioned Facebook and said that I should join so that we could be friends on there. She was my first FB friend. Anyhow, the first few years of being on that platform, I had only a hand full, like maybe 5 “friends”. The reason was that my username was Jane D’oh and I listed nothing else, not even a photo of me. In 2009, I took a position at a company based in Encino, CA that outsourced work. Also, I made new friends, in both the Philippines and India, because of this. My team was based near Chennai, and I am still in contact with a few the people on that team, because of FB. So, with the coaxing of a coworker, I came out of the FB shadows and added my real name and that is when people I had not seen or thought about in years started contacting me and then I had a 100 or so list of “friends”. I over-posted about most things and such, mostly about my love of the Los Angeles Clippers and lots of pictures. Still, I have a love/hate of FB and most social media. Although, I do fancy Instagram, because it is mostly photos and videos and mostly because my feed is cats, surfing and food (on my personal account). Yeah, there are musicians and entertainers that I follow but still, most of the things I see are geared toward my flavors of the month, again, cats, food, surfing, music and such.

This was in La Jolla, CA in 2010.

Anyhow, why I am bringing these things up is because I got a message on Facebook, late Saturday evening, from a friend I met at the job that I spoke of, the one that outsourced. She forwarded me a news article detailing the crash of a helicopter in Hemet this past Friday. Sadly, she also mentioned that Dennis was on that chopper and had died along with his friend, the pilot. For me, reading those words hit me hard. I had mentioned him once before in a post about my one and only surf experience and how my boss had paid for three days of lessons in La Jolla at Surf Divas. Up until that point in my working life, I had many bosses, too many bosses. Mostly, I have forgotten the mean ones, the ones that made my life and everyone else’s lives miserable. I had been working at said company for over a year and even though I had three weeks of PTO time off per year, as was in my contract, I had not taken any sick time or used PTO time because my one client was super demanding. I had an office all to myself, and one time I was surfing the web and checking out Surf Divas. It was after normal business hours, and I was there late in the office that day, probably month end stuff. Dennis, quietly walked into my office and looked at what was on my screen and saw the Surf Divas website. He asked me about it and then he said, “give me their number so I can find out more about their company”. He ended up purchasing three days of surf lessons for me and made sure that I was able to take a week off. It was the best experience and hope to try surfing again. I am sure that there are many stories like this as Dennis was a giving person and even though he was quiet and intense when he was working, he did take time to remember little things you may have mentioned to him. One time he yelled out my name, to come to his office. I did, as he wanted me to hear a few Dead Kennedy songs that had come up on his play list. He and I often spoke about punk music, skateboarding and BBQ. I’ll have to make it to that place in Texas he mentioned that he took a helicopter to get to it because it was off the beaten path… My sincerest condolences to his family and friends as I am sure his presence will be missed by many.

Here is a little listening music for this post.

Dennis, although he did not know it, was my reason to go into that job every day. He was my work crush, I knew he was married and never really was pining after him. It was easy to leave that company after Dennis had sold his portion of the company and left. This is probably why my friend Felina message me about the news so that I could find out about it from her before I saw it on the news.

Hubby and I have been puttering around here and there. The weather has been, well, I guess, exciting? This winter has been extra cold here in the CV and probably in a few other places in California and well, frankly, Mother Nature has been toying with us, like maybe she is menopausal and agitated. I’m not sure what to expect this summer with the weather. Will it be like the last seven or so summers, with 3 months of 100 plus degree days and one to many 120-degree days or will it be mild and humid. For now, I am going to keep enjoying these brisk days and the blue, cloud filled skies.

This shot was taken from the eastbound side of the 10 FWY just before the Palm Springs exits. You can see the reflection in the bottom of the photo.

April 1st is tomorrow and April Fool’s Day. I am sure that I will not be pulling any pranks this year as I will probably be too tired tomorrow. Tonight, I will be hanging out at the Tack Room with Hubby as he is playing with the Ghosts of Kelso. I can’t wait as it is always a fun night and maybe I will get a chance to dance a little.

A few photos from last week at the Cantina.

The weather, as I mentioned has been cold and that actually was a plus this past week as Hubby and I checked out a few more Desert X exhibits that were located in Desert Hot Springs, CA. There is still a full month left to view the exhibits. Below are some of the snaps from the exhibits.

The photos above were taken March 28, in the late morning hours, before the sky was too high in the sky. All three exhibits required some physical activity in order to see them. I complained a little but was glad that it was chilly that morning as the sun was shining and warmed up our various walks to get to the exhibits. I do recommend checking out these exhibits because of the locations and the effort it takes to see them. There exhibit that we really had to work for as the exhibit was at the end of an uphill, rocky and uneven trail. Halfway to it, I almost turned around and went back to the car. My legs were feeling heavy and I dragged my foot a bit. Anyhow, we kept going and that is when I turned around and saw the gorgeous view.

I love old trees and this desert has plenty.

I think that the one thing Desert X has accomplished is showing off the beauty of the desert as well as the talent of some artists you may have never heard of before. The last exhibit we checked out, did not include a walk or hike, we were able to do it from the comfort of our car. Something the artist will never get to experience as he is no longer living. We drove south on Gene Autry and then made a U-turn on Via Escuela. I took out my phone and started recording. Below is the Instagram reel. I got a little choked up, as viewed the photos of Tyre Nichols. He was murdered, in Memphis, Tennessee by a group of police officers. As an aspiring photographer, or human being that carries a camera, getting to see your work on a marquee or in a public place is the best feeling, ever. I just wish he could have seen this…

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Time to get some sleep! I started this post yesterday morning and have been working on it off and on. Happy to report that it is working and is so much faster than the old modem. Yay!

Thank you, dear reader, for visiting. May you have a fabulous day, night, weekend, wherever you be. Hugs.