Shaken and Stirred

An earthquake isn't the best form of alarm clock that I know of. I would much prefer something a little more soothing and that doesn't freak the crap out of my cats.

I actually was drifting back to sleep as I had decided after my alarm went off at the normal 5:45 that my aching feet from an event I worked yesterday didn't need to hit the treadmill quite yet. The shaking started and it rattling the windows pretty hard. A little before the shaking started, I heard the cats scurry from their shelf-perches. Then they all ended up in bed with me. Chef, on the other hand, didn't wake up at all. That man can sleep through just about anything.

But the earthquake was just the start of a jarring day. It wasn't particularly bad or remarkable or even unusual in the sense that nothing happened that was out of the ordinary. But for some reason I was a little shaken in more than the physical sense today.

I thought of a question on my way out to my car. Pondering life and art and all those things that only seem to pop into my head when I'm trying to think about other things, less important daily duties, I thought to myself: Do you have to sacrifice something for your dreams?  Is that a prerequisite?

I honestly don't know the answer or am not sure there really is an answer. Do you have to sacrifice family to be a true artist? Or a career to have a true passion (assuming it's not in that career field, of course)? Clearly, there's no secret formula to making dreams come true. Other than luck. I'm a firm believer that luck (or timing or coincidence or faith or whatever you believe in) plays a bit role in making things happen. And yes, the harder you work the "luckier" you seem to get. I've heard that.

But I guess I found it appropriate on St. Patrick's Day to wonder: Is it luck or sacrifice that plays a bigger role in making dreams a reality?

What Tsunami?

It was 6:30 this morning and I was in my car on my way to work for a 7:30 conference call. I get a text and look down to realize that my phone has three new texts from three different people, a missed call and a voicemail. It turns out we all thought that a tsunami was heading towards me.

But it wasn't until I got a text from Chef that I realized there was a tsunami heading my way. That's what I get for watching ESPN's Mike and Mike in the morning instead of the news. As you all know by now, we got lucky. Only a three foot impact hit the beaches of Ventura County. I actually work in Ventura County, but the people at work weren't really shaken up about the tsunami either. Interested for sure but not overly worried. There was an undeniable odor of salt in the air this afternoon after the waves hit.

Chef and the apartment were 100 percent untouched. The only good side effect of the event was that traffic was lighter going home. I guess people stayed home today because of the warning. There were two things about today's warning that got to me:

• It took family and friends from landlocked Indiana and Tennessee to let me know what was going on in my county. In my defense, the two hour time difference was to their advantage.
• There doesn't seem to be a good warning system for major events here. I can only imagine how it's going to be when the big one hits. Whoosh.

Thoughts are with those who actually got hit by the tsunami and affected by the earthquake.