A little bit 'o shakin'

Just felt my first earthquake since moving back. Just a 4.5, and not very close to my home, but hey... I'll take it.

I love Southern California.

Guilty pleasure music on a Fizziday

I've been in a sappy mood all week. Sappy moods require sappy music, and I haven't been able to get this song out of my head:
A friend suggested putting on Mom Jeans when listening to this, and honestly, I really have no room to argue. Still, I like the song because of the daydream it brings to mind. My daydreams are a lot like scenes from a movie, and the scene I see in my mind's eye when I hear this song is more than a little cliché.

I'm driving in my car, top stowed, down the California Incline onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Of course I make the light at the bottom of the hill, and curve right out onto the wide-open road. The camera pulls back as I drive off into a sunny morning in Santa Monica.

Cheesy, right? I know. But I love it, and I will re-enact the scene when I get there in June. I can't wait. I miss my home.

A nifty little secret.

Not many people know this about me, but I'm quite prone to emotional ups and downs. I'm nowhere near manic depressive, but I'm also a lot more variable than the even-keel public persona that I try to maintain.

I've gotten better over the last few years, and I can think back to one day in particular that was a landmark turning point for me. It was a sunny, warm, glorious summer afternoon about 4 years ago, and I was driving home from work at UCLA. I had all the car windows down, the sunroof open, and I was stuck in some especially bad traffic on the 405.

I was pissed. Frustrated, angry, mad at the traffic, annoyed that I couldn't make progress, couldn't get home.

Then, something clicked in my hamster-wheel brain and I tilted my head back to look at the sky through the open sunroof. I felt the warmth of the sun on my face and a wave of something like a tickle of energy flow through me, all the way down to my feet. The beautiful blue sky, the toasty sun, and not a cloud in sight. Right then, I remember thinking one thought, clear as a bell:

"I choose to be happy."

And that was it. Just like that. The change in my mood was so sudden, I even felt a bit giddy. Like I'd discovered a nifty little secret. The best part about this little secret is that even now, years later, I can think back on that day whenever I feel down or pissy about something that shouldn't be getting me down or pissy and that memory will snap me out of whatever funk I'm in. Just like that.

This moment is one of my fondest memories of California.