if you ever get the chance to drive up the california coast with your partner/significant other, i highly recommend doing so. there is a difference out west, and it doesn't only involve money and cost of living. there is a difference, i believe, in what matters. meaning, what matters to alot of people venice beach doesn't mean anything to people in the midwest. and usually what mattes in many parts of california is making sure that quality of life is always good. even with a job or without one. with loads of money or just makin it, i saw smiles across the board. i saw freedom. i saw people, yes, still in the race race, but they looked a lot healthier and, if you surf, you are cool in my book.

visit a lonley desert and scope out the oasis.

bathe in an ocean that purges new life into you.

hold conversations with the broken, worn-out, and confused.

i put my ear to the river and i hear a mighty water coming down from the mountain. i sense it is coming in faster than i thought, and that i had better be prepared to be washed away again to a place that sings of beauty.