My new calendar shows the jewish holiday of PURIM coming up on Tuesday March 10. It reminded me of this book I read in college called "The Trial of God" by Elie Wiesel.

From a review on Amazon.com
"As with all of Elie Wiesel's work, the central premise is to explore the question of Jews and their suffering throughout history. "The Trial of God" is an interesting departure from his better-known works, in that it is a drama, a play staged during the Jewish holiday of Purim. Based on events that Wiesel witnessed while in Auschwitz, "The Trial of God" accuses the Creator of the Universe of being guilty of neglect to his chosen people. And even though the trial takes place in the seventeenth century, the modern world is very much alive in the facts and accusations."

I loved this play when I read it which was years ago, and I'm wondering if I need to read it again in honor of Purim holiday to know if my reaction might have changed with the passing years.

Check it out on amazon.com - The Trial of God by Elie Wiesel.

So here's my cynical take on what is going to happen in 2012.

Everyone says that people on this planet are developing psychic abilities as we get closer to 2012. You know, stuff like channeling, intuition, manifesting things that you want, getting one or more or all the clairs - clairvoyance (visions of the future), clairaudient (voices telling you what the future is), clairsentience (feeling the future in your body, something smells bad, etc), claircognizance (gut feeling, knowing why but not knowing how you know, you just know), etc.

So that's a good thing right? In theory yes, but in reality not really. Hollywood really is a predictor of future trends because the movie "Bruce Almighty" sort of outlined what would happen if people all of sudden got "god-like" powers.

Things kind of went haywire when Bruce played god. He didn't really have discernment, he didn't think the consequences through of what he was doing, he acted out of a selfish place with his god-like powers.

Okay, now think of having enhanced psychic ability kinda sorta similar to playing god. Don't you think that we are going to have a planet going haywire? I think that kind of world has already started.

If you've ever meditated, ever studied spiritual topics, you know that having enhanced psychic abilities requires a person to be pure, mature, and to have discernment so as not to use your abilities to do harm. You have to be in the light, act out of an unselfish place, have light down to the adamantine particles of your being, so you're not acting out of a dark place.

What if the people getting all these great abilities weren't that pure, weren't of the light? What kind of world do you think these people couldn't help but create? I mean it's not like these people are evil, no far from it, they just aren't mostly light.

To me 2012 is going to be about are you in the light and for the light, or are you not of light and of darkness instead. It's your choice. You have a choice at every moment to make a decision from a place of light and not from darkness. I didn't say good, because the light is not always about being good. The light is about making the best decision for everyone involved, and sometimes for some people it will not look like to them a good decision.

And 2012 will be about the great sorting of these two groups.

Okay, seriously, why can't I find a spiritual new-agey, chubby, happy go lucky, totally charming frat boy to love? I know this type exists, I've met them and they were all taken. DAMN!!! All the good ones are truly taken.

But I know my very spiritual new-agey, very happy go lucky, chubby frat boy is out there somewhere, looking for me like I am looking for him.

He's clean cut, he's not a dirty hippy boy, he's a guy-guy who loves football and is not wimpy and not too thin. He is sweet, totally smart, and is way smarter than me, and he is most importantly, spiritual, he's aware, he's open to everything and anything, is intuitive and is knowledgable about all the new-agey stuff and if not knowledgable open to exploring it all.

Onto to another interesting topic. One of the speakers on that panel was really, really cute. My friends and I think he was kind of staring at us, but we don't know which one of us he was looking at. Not sure if I was me because my two San Diego friends are both blonde, blue eyed and busty as all get out. They are like typical SoCal girls and so much fun to hang with.

Or maybe he wasn't looking at us at all really. I mean after all, we were sitting in the front row. The guy has been lecturing for 10 years so I am sure he just checks out his audiences just for the heck of it.

Still, there is something to him that is so fascinating. One of my San Diego's friend's son came to the Expo and was telling my friend his mom how to get a relationship she really wants. He told her to write down everything she liked in all her past relationships in red ink on a piece of paper and keep it closer to her and read it every day. This process will help to manifest a guy exactly like on the piece of paper.

So anyway, here's what going on. I never really got to meet the cutie panel guy because his lecture was sold out and he didn't really talk to very many people. The more I research the cutie panel guy the more he seems to have all the qualities I liked about all my ex's. And I don't know what to think about that. Is this someone I need to get to know better? Part of me says yes and another part of me says no.

The NO part says that, okay, he's got all the things you like in all your old loves but do you want to go down that road again, haven't you already been there, done that and it's never worked out, what makes you think it will work out this time, isn't that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

The YES part says, it doesn't matter what you think he might or not be, the guy is interesting, you could learn something from him, like how to combine the practical and spiritual, and he does have interesting things to say, and you never know, he's not quite what you want, not in a million years ever, but you never know.

So I think I am like having such a school girl crush on her very intersting professor. Haven't had one of those in years and it's kind of sweet, kind of stupid, kind of fun, kind of weird, and hopefully harmless. It's just a crush right?

Check out the video from the Conscious Life Expo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJl41hUgymM.

I felt like blogging today only because I am supposed to be working on my screenplay so I can submit it to this website, and blogging feels like a lovely distraction right now.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is on right now, and they just had the scene with the spiders which always gives me the shivers. I hate spiders, real or imagined.

I had what I think could be termed a life-changing experience last month, although the jury is still out on how much a life change it will be.

On February 2 I received an email about the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles which was happening on Valentine's Day weekend. On a whim, I decided to fly down to attend because one of the tour guides from my Peru/Easter Island trip, Sean David Morton, was lecturing on Sunday. I was also thinking that the people who were on my Peru/Easter Island trip would also be there, and it would so much fun to see them again.

I am such a whim follower that I bought my plane ticket, booked a hotel room at the Hilton LAX where the Expo was being held shortly thereafter. It is so exciting and fun for me to fly somewhere to check something out that I am interested in, even if just for a couple of days. I hope I never lose the thrill of exploring new things.

We have the same version here in San Francisco called the New Living Expo and I've been attending this event for years, but I've never been to a similar event outside of the SF Bay Area.

Sure enough, there were two women from San Diego who had driven up to see Sean, and it was so great to connect with them again. We became very good friends on our tou, and even though I exchanged information with everyone, I never got around to connecting with anyone. Now we are all emailing each other, which is so cool because we will at least stay connected that way.

And it was fun to see Sean and Melissa his wife again, even though I saw them several times last year since Sean is up here quite a lot to lecture.

So anyway, my two San Diego friends and I were sitting in the front row for Sean's lecture and then we decided to stick around for the next event which was a panel hosted by George Noory of Coast to Coast AM. The panel was on Prophecy and featured Sean as well as others talking about what will will happen in 2012.

The end of the Mayan calendar is not that far away, so everyone is talking about it and theorizing about what will happen if anything. It's all so interesting if you're into these kind of inquiries.

Anyway there was this guy there, David Wilcock, who really impressed me as someone who is trying to combine both the science of what is going on along with the spirituality. There are a ton of so called spiritual people out there talking about 2012, but no one has really combined the science like David.

That combination of the science and the practical with the spiritual seems so life changingto me, because I do just like the spiritual aspect of things and kind of leave the practical stuff alone. You know the practical stuff is all the things I do to live like have a job, pay my rent, work out, etc. It would be just so amazing to combine the two worlds together. I think the people who combine the spiritual and practical together are the ones who have jobs and careers they love, jobs and careers that they feel they were born to do.

So that's my life changing moment thing - how do I combine my spiritual life with my practical life. This is what I get when I named 2009 my year of alignment. I have to align my spiritual and practical lives, which will never be an easy task and will I feel be like walking on a tightrope over a vast chasm where you can fall into the abyss either way.

Someone told me that it's a good custom to name your year, so using my intuition I am naming 2009 the year of Alignment. I think this means I need to align my life with what I want, like being in a relationship again.

M-Square passed on in May. The man was interesting but like any stressed out executive, he didn't take care of himself and had the worst nutritional habits. I'm sorry but pizza and way too many drinks does not make for a healthy life.

I was very saddened to hear about him going, but I know he has moved to a more a peaceful and happy existence.

So it's time as well for me to move on to find another love.

I have not been blogging in ages. I have not been in the mood, but all of a sudden today I felt the urge to blog.

Let's see. Yesterday I drove down to Pacific Grove to hear Marc Gafni lecture - http://www.marcgafni.com/.

He wrote a book called "The Evolution of Love" and was giving a lecture in three parts on his book. This is his wikipedia entry:

Mordecai Gafni (born 1961) is an American bestselling author and former Modern Orthrodox rabbi, who was once associated with the Jewish Renewal movement. In 2004 and 2005 articles in Haaretz he is described as promoting a balance between the erotic and the ethical in Judaism. He is best known for his teachings on the relationship between spirituality and eroticsm, and his claim that all failure of ethics result from a collapse of Eros. Eros is defined by Gafni in his teaching as interiority, presence, yearning and interconnectivity. He also is described as promoting the integration of the feminine god head with the masculine god head through their integration in the lived life of every individual.

Gafni is a very good lecturer and he gets really deep and makes me feel like I am back in college.

I have been watching football all day and posting photos to Flickr. Check out my Flickr page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brenda_sf/

I said I was going to post this photo back in June, so here it is. The live map from the LA bus.

At the Pemtimento Cafe at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The food here is exquisite and expensive but so worth it. The food at this restaurant makes me think I'm eating in SF, it's that good.

I am into champagne phase and had a glass of Pentimento sparkling wine with my warm chicken and pear salad. The dressing was amazing. The food here is sublimely gourmet without being too overbearing. I love eating great food in different cities.
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Live fron Los Angeles. I'm on the 156 bus heading south to visit LACMA. The LA bus has something called TransitTV. It's a computer screen with a Windows Live Local map powere by Virtual Earth that shows you on a live map the route the bus is driving. How cool is that! SF Muni should have this.

I took a pic of it and will post it when I get back to SF.
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Sitting at 13 Views, the bar at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. It is bloody hot in San Francisco today and it seemed a waste to go home. I was going to go to a work cocktail party at Cosmopolitan, but when I got there there was a person there I didn't like so I left.

Now I'm here having a champagne cocktail. I am for whatever reason into champagne cocktails. I just downed a really bad chicken quesidilla with the worst mango salsa, and now I'm a little tipsy because my champagne cocktail had vodka in it.

This is fun. I haven't gone into a bar situation by myself in years. Hotel bars are the best. No one thinks anything of a single person drinking on their own. They just assume you are a business traveller and it is acceptable for you to be on your own eating and drinking at the bar.

I have to go home and watch America Idol now. The party is over. But there's always tomorrow. A girl could get used to this.
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If price doesn't matter to you and you want an amazing water view and you live in San Francisco, you have a few options. You can live along the Marina, you can live on Coit Tower Hill or you can live in a highrise somewhere in downtown SF or along the Embarcadero or even south of Market. But if you want Baker beach, the view of the Marin headlands, and Golden Gate Bridge, you want to live at Seacliff.

I'm on the beach typing up this post and on my left side are these amazing houses with big windows and steps that lead down to the beach. Most houses have large balconies where one could sip one's coffee in the morning and watch ships enter the bay and sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is my new neighbourhood ... not bad. And I'm just a ten minute walk away and up three long flights of stairs.
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Here's my Easter Island iconic photo otherwise known as Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui.

Here's my iconic Machu Picchu picture taken with my new camera.

I haven't been posting since January and something happened to my blog page. Instead of figuring it out, I just picked a new template and lost whatever I had before.

This blog is just like my real life. I have moved from the Sunset section of San Francisco and am back in the Richmond. I lost my semi-ocean view and friends tell me Baker Beach is a 10-minute walk from my place. I haven't been to Baker Beach in years.

This is my first night in new apartment. It's 100 square feet smaller than where I was previously. Your real estate dollar doesn't go quite as far here since I am on the edge of mansion row. I think Senator Diane Feinstein used to have a house in this neighbourhood, or was that Laurel Heights. Robin Williams used to live close to here as well, but I think since his divorce he moved to Marin.

Maybe I'll go back to posting now. My life has been crazy so far this year. I was in Peru and Easter Island from February 13 thru March 2, and then after I came back I had to look for a new place and now here I am. What a whirlwind it's been. Hopefully now I can settle down and start writing and blogging again.

I went to the japanese new year ceremony at the asian art museum on december 30. I was so intrigued when I read the following: "As in past observances, a 2100-lb., sixteenth-century Japanese bronze bell originally from a temple in Tajima Province in Japan and now part of the museum's permanent collection will be struck 108 times with a large custom-hewn log. According to Japanese custom, this symbolically welcomes the New Year and curbs the 108 bonno (mortal desires) which, according to Buddhist belief, torment humankind. It is hoped that with each reverberation the bad experiences, wrong deeds, and ill luck of the past year will be wiped away. Thus, tolling heralds the start of a joyous, fresh New Year. "


Here are my pictures of the bell. I took these pics with my new canon sx-100 camera.

More bell.

I was going to vote for Hilary until I saw her commercial out here in San Francisco comparing her to Bobby Kennedy. That commercial irked me so much that I voted for Obama.

If I was a democratic party strategist, I would be freaking out because Hilary did not win a hands down victory on Super Tuesday. I dont' think that woman is electable in November. If I had to choose between her and John McCain, I would vote for John McCain. I'm not convinced that Hilary should be president.

It's sad. I should be celebrating that a woman could be president but I am so not!!!

My prediction is if Hilary wins the democratic nomination, she will ask Obama to be her Vice President in hopes that both of them can win the presidency.

But Im still a happy voter because it looks the three San Francisco propositions I voted for and against are winning, and that has never happened ever. So there is room for a voting miracle sometimes.

I am finally getting around to listening to my cds to figure out which songs to put on my ipod. I am listeing to Al Green's 14 greatest hits and I feel like I am turning into my mother because my mama loved Al Green. What a freak! I am putting my mother's music on my ipod. Heck, I already have the Eoors on my ipod, mummy's fave rock band, so why not some Al Green.

I'm listening to the song "Let's stay together" and it's occuring to me that this is a great song to have one when you're trying to seduce someone and I've never used it. I think one could do a totally hot strip tease to this song, dressed up in hooker heels, stockings, garter belt, and a matching bustier type outfit. Acutally I think I saw this scene in a movie only the woman also had a matching mask.

I only want songs on my ipod that I think I want to listen to on the way to work or going home from work, because that is when I mainly use my ipod. And I hate just downloading the whole cd because I only want my personal favourite hits on there and nothing else.

I forgot that this cd has Al Green singing "Take me to the River". It's a great song no matter who is singing it.

A Wall Street analyst said this "The economic news keeps getting worse. Just today, equity markets around the world took their biggest hits since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Three weeks into the New Year, and over $5 trillion has been lost in global stock markets.:

$5 trillion? Where is is this money coming from?

I think in the financial world things are getting really scary out there. Not that the NY Post is the best rag in the world, but check out this story about Wall Street firms starting to hand out the pink slips - Blood on the Street.

I got a dejavu feeling like it was the dotcom crash again when I saw this this headline -
Yahoo expected to cut hundreds of jobs. I see the Yahoo bus on 19th Avenue in the City every morning picking people to take them to Yahoo in Mountain View. I wonder how long before Yahoo cuts that bus service.

And then I saw this article about retired people in Japan - Half of Japan's Elderly Poor Won't Get Pensions, Nikkei Says. I can't believe that this kind of stuff is happening.

And you know people at work act like nothing is going on, like if you don't talk about maybe the recession will go away. The financial markets are in free fall and no one cares. I'm just happy I sold all my stock in the summer of 2007 while the Dow was still in the high 13,000. I missed the 14,200 Dow high, but at least I got out at 13,800 instead of trying to get out now. Half of my assets are in conservative funds. Maybe not the best way to make money, but at least I'm not losing any sleep or money worry about losing money because the markets are dropping little by little every day. I heard one Wall Street analyst say that the next few years should be about presevation of capital and not growth.

They say this is how it happened in the depression of the 1920's. The markets deteriorated slowly and by the time everyone figured it out and trying to get their money out of the banks, it was too late. And I'm like, thank god I bought into that gold fund in 2004. I should have known something was up when by 2006 the price I had paid to get into the fund doubled. That's where the other half of my assets are, in gold. Got rid of all the silver, which kind of bummed me out, only because an opportunity came along to take full advantage of gold's phenomenal growth. One analyst is predicting gold will $2,000 and I'm like I bought gold stock in 2004 when it was $400 an ounce and now it's trading above $1,0000 I believe. Those natural resources stocks I bought also doubled when I cashed myself out of the market.

Such crazy, crazy times ahead financially. Food is so expensive. I don't know how families are makiing it. My dentist told me that in El Salvador the local people are really hurting because Americans have stopped buying up the land and spending money. My dentist said when people with enough disposable income to buy property in South America start cutting back, you know the economy is in a ton of trouble.