RULES - Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 8 facts/things/habits about yourself, saying who tagged you. In the end you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.


Yipee... Yoster tagged me.... always pushin' the good vibe!

1. I can sit on my hair.... and I've had my hair cut only once in all my life.

2. I learned to surf at age 10 at my family beach house in Baja (K74) This is my magical childhood memory.

3. I've lived in at least 10 different locations in 8 years... (Upland CA, Riverside CA, Santa Barbara CA, Minneapolis MN, Pittsburgh PA, Brazil, Fullerton CA, Laguna CA, Oxnard CA, Berkeley CA). Thank goodness I'm chillin' here in Berkeley for a while....

4. My favorite ALO show was a mud party in Isla Vista celebrating Earth Day 2000.... ; )

5. I sold my truck in order to travel to Brazil for 6 months after graduating UCSB in 2002.

6. My dad died of Leukemia suddenly when I was 10 years old.

7. I've gone to 6 schools (UCR, UCSB, UCSC, CSUF, UCB, CSUEB), but only have 2 degrees (BA Geography, MS Env. Science)

8. I backpacked the CA wilderness for 12 units of UC school credit during Spring 2000. It was considered "study abroad." That was a sweet deal!

Tag ----->> Yer It!
Lulu, Mark Star, Ms. Jessi Junk, Craig, Rickie, Gabster

XOXOX

When I close my eyes, I see this beach. An old cedar hanging on to the eroding cliff. Her evergreen branches transform the silhouette continually. Sunsets behind the Crystal Ship. This is my favorite beach. A long stretch of sand with an occasional abalone or sandollar. An abundant reef, crystal clear sometimes. Winter swells, rain, and rainbows. A horizon of endless clouds. A glass covered ocean majestically patterned with large drops of rain. Warm waves peeling perfectly into the cove. Memories....

I was given the opportunity to travel to Savaii, Samoa as a graduate researcher to participate in an ethnobotanical research project in search for an AIDS cure. Prostratin, the chemical compound in Homolanthus nutans, may provide a key for AIDS drugs. I gathered geographically different H. nutans plant samples from around the island of Savai'i. Today these samples are being examined for concentration variation of the Prostratin compound. Maybe someday we'll find where it grows in high concentration, provide economic incentive to preserve the ecological integrity of the region in which they are found, and cure AIDS with a wild plant from Samoa.....

I grew up at K74 in Baja. This little piece of paradise is where I learned to ride the waves. Baja taught me of Mother Natures wild glory and powerful spirit! At a young age I saw my first bat ray floating gracefully on the ocean floor. I was snorkling with a creature much larger than me. I learned to pound fresh abalone and boil live lobsters that were gathered from our front yard. The local people thrived off this stretch of coastline. Adventures were easy to find. 3 little ladies on a deserted Baja Beach. That was Bliss.
I wonder how things have changed since those days? 10 years have passed since those "good ol' days." I know the abalone and lobster are hard to find nowadays and they certainly aren't as cheap as they used to be. My stretch of virgin sand, now has a large marina with a deep passage slashed through it's middle. Next, the natural gas facility will be built.... right where I stand in the photo below.
During our lifetime, there will be monumental change on this Earth. Can we guide this with a sustainabe plan, or have we lost all hope?