Thursday, April 21, 2005

A glimpse thru the looking glass

Living at Cxxx Bxxxxxx is always interesting. Especially when we are renting out the property for 10 days in a row. Michelene Berry is a well known yoga teacher in Santa Monica. Her retreat began today. That makes for a long day for this camper. I manage the outdoor spaces. I rome the estate with my checklist and make sure everything is ready for the guests. At 1:30 I become the parking manager. At 5:00 I turn in to a musician and perform with Tony for the Yoga class. Today had some added energy because Tony has announced that he is leaving the estate and moving to LA. This is an exclusive by the way.

The reasons behind Tony's abrubt departure were explained to me earlier by Tony himself. He's an amazing musician who has mastered the tablas, the guitar and singing. Tony's a great guy to have around and a great friend. He's originally from Lebanon. He's a former sniper. He arrived in the U.S. and soon began living in a monastery. Bill courted Tony for 3 years to come here and live on his estate. Now he's bolting after being here less than a month. I'll miss Tony, he always has upbeat energy and words of wisdom.

Another hot item on the Casa burner is Skip, once again. It turns out that it wasn't the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, it was a mouth full of false teeth. Bill's going to call a council where he announces that Skip's getting kicked off the land. The ongoing saga continues. Bill rehashes their parnership every year and always says thats the end. Skip is probably pretty used to it by now. Bill always talks about quitting caffiene as well. Upon awakening this morning, Bill downed a big cup of coffee. In the meantime, I'm sleeping in Skip's hovel, driving his old Toyota and watering his houseplants while he's off in the state of New York raising Hell.

Some of you may remember Daryl. He was featured in a post a few months ago titled: Daryl falls like a tree. Well, I guess his recuperation has gone pretty well. He does not have full use of his left wrist and arm but it's at least 90%. He's been hanging on the land more often now and seems to be in a much better frame of mind. I guess it doesn't hurt when you are about to go out on a date with a cute 21 year old asian girl. Daryl looks to the sky hands in prayer and says: "Thank you God." Soon after he fell off the cliff, Daryl put a "Please drive slowly in the Ojai Valley" bumper sticker over his "2003 Black Rock Desert, Nevada" Burning Man bumper sticker.

Then there's Michael "don't call me Brownie" Brown. He's been cranking out some amazing paintings which have turned the yoga studio into the yoga studio gallery. He's always painting. He's the youngest resident and has one of the best deals. He's hooked me up with 15 gigs of music, yo.

Devin is sharing the internet zone with me at this point. When I walked into the basement he was on the phone with some one conducting business. This guy puts in a lot of hours managing various aspects of the estate. He has a big yellow lab named Scout. I just spent a few days caring for this dog while Dev was up North wine tasting with Bill. Scout's a great dog but he smells. I still pet him a bit any way but then I have to wash my hands.