“The attraction and superiority of California are in its days.
It has better days & more of them, than any other country.”*

There is no doubt that California is the land of the bizarre. We have earthquakes, smog, floods, high winds, fires and a freeway system that is full of crack pots in golf carts and drive-by shootings. You can read about us in the newspapers or see us on television all the time. And if you live anywhere else in North America you think California is the land of craziness. In New York they call this the land of the fruit cakes. Here we think we are normal, but it is a lie. We have the glitz of Hollywood and everyone has a guru or is into some strange cult or therapy group. And this certainly includes me! Yet I love California with a passion and would never consider living anywhere else. You just have to protect

yourself, by moving to the desert, taking up meditation or becoming a Hackey Sack or Hat Trick champion. Did I ever tell you that my son Shesha became a Hackey Sack Champion, for the whole world?

Indeed, California is the most exciting place on earth. Where else can you go surfing in the morning and snow skiing in the afternoon, in May? Where else can you find vast deserts, beautiful beaches and lofty mountains all under the same roof. California sets the trend for the rest of the continent and much of the world. This is the seat of the high tech revolution that has spread across the world. The clothes fashions that you wear started two years before here in California. The moment I set foot in California I knew that I had found my place. For sure I was a weirdo and California was waiting to embrace me. Unfortunately during my first visit here in 1976 I could not remain. I was too young and not yet prepared to make California my home. I had to return to my winter exile in Canada until I was ready. Indeed, California was ready for me, but I has not ready for her. I would have to wait another decade before I could settle into my exciting home. This is life in California.

*Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher.