After careful consideration, endless rereading and long self examination, I realized that my previous blogspot was a bit too----smarmy? ---is that a bit too harsh?---or maybe soporific?---certainly sophomoric. Anyway----simply just not me. An entertaining idea but a bit too ---one way. SO----bon voyage.....arrivederci......a hui ho.............
For those of you who read the old one and gave it any time or interest, thank you. I found myself, for lack of a better term, trying too hard. My intent has been to entertain and provide a space to allow me to comment, reflect and share and I am hoping that this new "spot" provides all of that. We shall see..........
I chose the title because there are times that it seems that my whole life has been "By Design." Or somehow connected to creativity and design. In hind sight, I must admit that there was, most of the time, no plot or plan. Over and over it was simply intuition that sent me on my way. Back in the spring of 1972, my brother Dave rode his motorcycle out to see me at a farmhouse I was living in out near Pontiac, Michigan after the demise of my rock band and college career. We stood in the dirt lane leading up to the house and he said "I'm thinking of moving to LA." "Me, too" I said and that was it. Done. Life changing. Goodbye to youth and school and old pals and family. Just like that. Looking back it seems so bold and assertive but I had no idea what I was getting into or what lay ahead. Hadn't even given it a thought. Just---gone!
I really had not even planned out what I was going to do when we GOT there. I had unemployment checks to survive on at first and thoughts of developing my music, but when it finally came down to needing to make money, I simply made some jewelry and showed it to a store in Hermosa Beach, California. Instant career. I found a job with a jewelry manufacturer in downtown Los Angeles and moved to Hollywood to hang out with some new found friends and I was suddenly making jewelry for people involved in the music and movie industry.
What a great time and life! Hollywood and the city of the fallen angels in the mid-70's. And while driving down one of those endless freeways one day, I saw a billboard that said "Tahiti for $685" and I thought, "I could go there, " and so THAT part of my life began. That simple, really. My first paid vacation from my job and I was off to change my life---again! Years later, while sitting at my friends bar in Moorea, I would often answer the oft repeated tourist question of "How did you get here?" with the simple truth---"I just bought a ticket."
