First Dollar... I mean Two

Well, I finally got to it. I did some paid surveys. I say, what a pain in the neck. But get this: I made a whopping $2. Two dollars! The minimum payout is $20 though, I don't know if I reach it.

On the other hand... it might be just a beginning. It sure would be nice to make at least $300 a month.

Update. It's a whole $3 bucks now! Anyone join me for a beer?

World Peace

Lake Hodges Shore (Escondido, CA).
Tomasito photo, 2009

Sometimes it seems to me that taking a slow walk around a little lake--scuffing through some sandy places--stepping aside so a few horse riders can pass--avoiding the poison oak but gathering a few wild radish leaves to cook later for dinner--sharing an orange--is really the best thing for World Peace.

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Glass Ranch

Art Patrons Examine Works at Glass Ranch.
(Tomasito photo, 2009)

Yesterday we visited an open house show by a local artist couple--Garry and Cherrie La Porte Cohen.

The exhibition was held at their house which has a nice location in a kind of hippy enclave of what looks to me like "K" Zone (homemade) houses overlooking Hodges Lake on the southwestern end of Escondido town.

Glass Ranch, they say, "is a blend of eclectic vision of glass, metal and nature worth visiting".

I think so.

There was a crowd of about fifty people on the scene to watch a demonstration of glass blowing and to nibble the cheese and crackers, taste the wine and maybe buy something for Mother's Day.

I very much like the fact that these two successful artists hire other talented craftspeople to help them. I also like the fact that their hand made creations are all one of a kind labor intensive artifacts--not imported factory copies.

Tomasito, 2009


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Depression 2009

Me--Brick Wall--Depression USA, 2009. (Tanya photo, 2009)
(Please click on photo for detail.)

So it is in Escondido, CA--April 25, 2009.

"Jobless Rate hits 11.2% in California" is not just a newspaper headline here.

"More than 2 million listed as out of work." is not just a grabber line here.

And all those empty stores in "Old Downtown Escondido" means something here.

OUT OF WORK means no work--no work means no money--no money means no shelter, etc.

Everything comes and goes--that's true as always--but it sure would be nice for something to come for a change!

Tomasito, 2009


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Questhaven... again or the Mystery of an Unassigned House

Open Sesame Trail

Well, since it was nice and cloudy day we decided to go to Questhaven to walk one of their trails. Last time it was too hot there.

Well, we walked a couple of trails. One was supposed to have "roaring waters and waterfalls". It had none since it is not winter and all the water dried out. There was a bunch of boulders though at the end of the trail where one can imagine the water flowing. Very nice.

The trails run through the chaparral hills covered with buckwheat and chamise. There was an old oak tree with a stone bench under it: a so-called meditation area.

There are a couple of trails in order to get to you should ask for a key. But they are very long and uphill and we didn't feel like walking them.

And now I am going to tell you a mystery story. Last time they gave us a map of the premises that showed different buildings marked with numbers 1,2,3, etc. Number 9 was "unassigned". So we naturally assumed that there was a house that was not assigned, in other words an empty house though it was not on the map. We wanted to see it so we asked at the office. The answer will shock you.

Well, maybe not. After all, the thing turned out to be "the thirteenth floor" type prejudice. These people just don't use number nine. The woman in the office parroted some spiel that she evidently memorized without having the least understanding of the whole matter. Pythagoras was duly mentioned of course as well as the "secret" meaning of numbers. Total BS... give me a break...

Jobs NOW

Photo, Tomasito, 2009
(Please click on photo to magnify)

Now returning to the jungle--or desert as the case may be--
31,000+ square feet of commercial space in Downtown Escondido.

Jobs--income . Work for pay. That's what is needed not next year or in six months--but RIGHT NOW.

NOT classes in how to write a better resume or click a computer! Not two years of training at some bogus college which will prepare you for some mythic high paying job which will not even exist when and if you get your expensive diploma!

Jobs. Work. Income. Right here in Escondido--and not something to be outsourced as soon as it begins to pay to wherever in the world the labor is cheaper.

And right now--not in some golden day of the future when technology will solve all our problems and when the government will take care of everything.

Tomasito, 2009


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Empty Downtown Escondido

Another Empty Downtown Escondido Store.
(Tomasito photo, 2009)

(Click on photo for detail)



What Can Be Done?

Obviously in Escondido something should be done.

Store after store is empty--but what could generate enough cash-flow to bring them--and the downtown--back to life--to make these useful spaces really be useful again?

Whatever it is--it will not be what it was--since the shoppers have gone on to other places--the big box stores and the malls.

In an earlier blog I suggested that there was a growing Mexican presence in the downtown area--and I don't mean graffiti artists, gangsters and vandals--I mean small businesses--like the bakery and fast food cafe.

JOBS--WORK for workers is what is needed.

Production of needed things--or at least decorative things.

Things that people will spend their ever more scarce money for! And I am NOT talking about the million dollar bonuses some well placed crooks are getting for nothing!

And I am not suggesting that the current owners of these downtown buildings start scooping up the money their fathers and grandfathers earned by getting here the firstest with the mostest either.

What I think we need is more work--more employment for the many of us that must have some income now--and not just a government hand-out or more layers of tax-paid bureaucracy! Just honest, paid WORK!

Tomasito, 2009


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Questhaven

The church has no altar inside

Today we bring you news from Questhaven. Questhaven is non denominational Christian church founded by Flower Newhouse. They seem to run along the same lines as Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas (see my previous posts).

Well, the church and its surroundings are located in the dry hills. It was very hot today, like 100 degrees so we did not feel like walking one of their trails.

The church is executed in a typical instant American church style architecture, quite ugly. The other buildings look exactly the same. The landscaping is good though and there is a typical maze that you can walk with a great distant view.

The maze offers a wonderful distant view

They offer retreat facilities where you can rent a room for the same price as an average motel room. You must bring your own food though.

We met a couple of women there and they were very nice. They gave us a ton of literature with propaganda that overloaded my BS quotent for today so I still feel a bit weird. We mentioned pranic healing as it turned out they run a pranic healing clinic there. We might want to go but it's only once a months.

It is not a monastery like we were led to believe but a church with a staff living on site. A good place to walk.

Surprisingly they have a few Hindu style statuettes scattered in the landscape. Yet when I mentioned Deer Park Monastery (see previous posts) they pulled back and said they have never been there. They did not seem very interested. I wonder who installed the statures.

Self-Realization Fellowship

Self-Realization Fellowship Bookstore

Self-Realization Fellowship is a "spiritual" outfit founded by Yogananda, one of the first yogis to bring yoga to America. he wrote a book An Autobiography of a Yogi, which is a very good read and one of the few books that gives an insight into yoga from the inside, so to speak. Another good book is Living with the Himalayan masters by Swami Rama, but that deserves a topic by itself, so I won't go in it.

Anyway, in case you are not familiar with this organization, it seems to operate like an ashram (as close as you can imagine an ashram in America, of course), they have monks and nuns, a few centers 3 of which are in Southern California. They even offer retreats for people who are interested to learn more but they are a bit expensive. We wanted to go twice but every time something would happen to prevent our going.

It seems like the organazition took over the town. They even have their own church that they call meditation chapel. Actually their whole idea is to explain that yoga is just like Christianity and they try to explain very complicated Hindu concepts by comparing them to Christian terminology.

They have wonderful bookstore where you can buy all the stuff: books by Yogananda and his followers, incense, essential oils (my favourite), even some Indian style clothe and musical instruments. They have actually expanded their bookstore recently as a way to earn more money.

Yesterday I had a chance to play one of the so-called tibetan singing bowls: these things are amazing, they produce such fine vibrations that fills the air around you and you can feel them in your body. It takes some practice to do it right though. A very nice helpful clerk showed us a few bowls and even demonstrated the difference between "new" and "antique" bowls. My recommendation: go for antique. They are more expensive but I think in the long run it's worth it.

Yogananda Garden

The best thing about Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas is their small but very charming garden. It is situated right on the cliff of the ocean and it is full of flowers and trees. They try to make it feel like real jungles.

So if you pass through Encinitas, stop by in this garden and in their bookstore. You won't be disappointed.

Encinitas

Today we went to Encinitas. Actually we drove to a job interview in Clairmemont. /start rant It was a cattle call type interview. The man was 20 minutes late. he had bleached hair. The interview blew off because "I had too many jobs" and didn't stay in one place for too long". So what? People who don't stay long in one place don't have to eat? The idiocy of bureaucracy really gets to me. When I returned home I shaved my resume a bit.

Heed this advice. I had to be hit with it twice. Some people are just slow learners but I am willing to share my experience if it can help somebody. So don't put more than last 3 jobs on your resume. /end of rant

Where were we? Oh, yes. We took the way back through Encinitas and stopped there to walk familiar ground. We have not been to Encinitas for 10 years and were curious to see the changes. Well, half of the town was turned into the shopping centre that has not been there before. They are also digging a huge hole in the earth, presumably to build more offices or another shopping centre (as though they do not have enough. Here's the picture of this monstrosity.
Encinitas is also a headquarters of Self-Realization fellowship: a brand of yoga that poses like Christianity. Well, actually yoga studios, massage, acupuncture and like businesses are very popular there. And it's okay, nothing wrong with that. But when I see this
To me it's a mocking of any true spirituality. This thing was there 10 years ago but back then I though it was cute. Now I think it's irritating and undignified.

Shopping Mall Dumb 1

Get the teen-age buck @ the mall! (Tomasito photo 2009)

Shopping Malls=Dumbing Down Centers

1

One of the greatest concentrations of ill-will and stupidity presently visible in the USA and, unfortunately, in much of the “developed” world are the shopping malls.

These monsters have destroyed almost all conventional small towns by providing huge parking lots outside, but not too far outside, of said towns and maintaining carefully controlled areas where “shoppers” can mindlessly wander---free from the hassles of exposing themselves to sunlight or perhaps panhandlers or street thugs and to be happily separated from their money in national chain stores which are identical in every shopping mall.

Pedestrian traffic is allowed INSIDE the mall—and safe walking space is provided IN the parking lots, but shoppers must have cars to reach the mall parking lots.

This eliminates those shoppers who don't have cars—well, who cares about them anyway since they obviously don't have the money to spend on the frivolous trash sold in the mall chains.

Tomasito, 2009


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Mexican Solution?

Empty Storefront, Escondido. (Tanya photo 2009)


More About Empty Downtown Escondido

We have noticed that there has been a change in the demography of Escondido since we first visited about ten years ago.

In that decade it has become a LOT more "Mexican".

And a few of the smallest downtown storefront shops--mostly off Grand--but not FAR off--are now a Mexican Bakery and a Mexican fast-food place.

They must generate enough cash-flow to survive in the lowest-rent part of downtown.

Tomasito, 2009


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Empty Downtown

Empty Downtown. (Tanya photo, 2009)

Empty Downtown Escondido, CA.

Downtown Escondido is nice.

There are trees lining the main street (Grand Avenue) and the buildings are neat and clean--maybe a bit old--but very serviceable.

But as I said earlier--there are a lot of empty stores. And the places that are still in business are not the kind that generate a lot of pedestrian traffic or cash flow.

The problem is not unusual, of course. The high-volume stores have moved out to the parts of town where they can offer huge parking lots to the masses of shoppers who drive everywhere.

The traffic is not extreme in downtown Escondido--there are off-street parking lots and there is usually space right on the thoroughfares--but the masses prefer to spend their money at the easy parking--no walking--acreage away from the town center.

Too bad for those of us who LIKE to walk and who enjoy the kind of down-home ambiance of an earlier day. But we are certainly not spending those masses of dollars.

But I DO wonder what good use might be put to all those square feet of empty buildings.

Tomasito, 2009



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Dark Monitor

Yesterday as I turned my computer on I noticed a very strange thing. My monitor all of a sudden became quite dark: not dark on the point of unusability but certainly too dark to look at the digital pictures. I scanned my computer fro viruses and found 1 trojan (after a quick scan) and nothing after a full scan performed afterwords.

I don't think it's a trojan but I mention it as a thing that has happened at the same time.

It is very strange. By accident I found out that than tweaking the gamma set somewhat brightens it up but it is back to dark after restarting or a period of inactivity.

And yes. my monitor brightness setting is set to maximum.

If anyone knows what the matter with it and be willing to tell me, I'd appreciate it very much. It's really weird.

Deer Park Monastery. Part 2.

Today we went again to Deer Park monastery: a Buddhist community and retreat that welcomes guests every Thurday and Sunday. We went earlier so we could participate in so-called walking meditation.

Well... walking meditation as the name implies is when you walk and meditate at the same time. The walk is very slow so I caught myself gazing at the plants which I would probably do anyway. A nun who gave a little introductory talk before the walk said that we participants should feel like one body, eh... not gonna happen with total strangers on the first day.

The walking was interrupted for no particular reason like every 5 or 10 minutes. I guess those are "the moments of mindfulness". So I'd say it was all right, nothing really special. I am the kind of person who does not fall into ecstatic rapture just because a bunch of Buddhists do something that is dictated by common sense. Here, I said it.

After the talk was the usual "dharma discussion" who was led by the same guy who were there last time. The usual alcoholic anonymous type of talk. Nothing really funny. And then the meal... Sometimes I wonder if people visited them less frequently if it were not for the meals.

Silent meal reminded me of the people eating in the homeless shelter: the same kind of concentrated look about them and silence. The food was not particularly good to my taste but then I am an excellent vegetarian cook even if I say so myself.

One mystery became clear. The was a dish there (nasty!) that tasted just like meat. Well, it turned out to be fake meat or not meat at all but some kind of tofu derivative. That is the closest meat tasting tofu I've ever tasted. Though I must admit I do not like tofu and soy product in general but it might fool people who like meat. I certainly could hardly tell a difference and my taste is pretty sensitive.

This time the dinner was held in a dining hall with people sitting on chairs (much better than in siddhasana like before) and for some reason they kind of rushed through it this time. No complain from me though. No sir!

After dinner we walked the same path this time laughing and talking and taking pictures of the plants. And that was it!

Scones

I went to see the Stone of Scone
But all I found was the scone of stone

Anonymous

Scones that are about to be eaten with tea
The last of the scones

Only the crumbs are left

PICNIC

Picnic! (Tomasito photo, 2009)

Never mind the economic disaster!

The sun is out and the sky is blue

and it's PICNIC TIME in Southern California!

HOORAY!


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Downtown Escondido Empty

This is a test of a new font--my own hand drawn printing.

To read it you will have to click on the body of writing
which will increase the writing to a legible size.
This is only a test and I will continue to use the old faithful font for updates.

Thanks!

Tomasito, 2009


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