Do It Go

The dessert is usually something with cream or syrup, and the thicker the better.  There has never been a sad customer after eating a dessert as decadent as these, so they say.  These days, however, it’s never too late to begin, but because I was on a roll, I decided to go with the flow, and the flow here was definitely going uphill.  This kind of backwards logic was certainly getting to be enough for me, and I started to feel a bit like a letter in a poem by Vattacharda Chandan.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, is another one of those witticisms that are really not altogether witty, when you get right down to it.

The curries were always a process, however, and when that part begins, there’s no telling where the world will go.  You can usually depend on something that, for me, is like heaven, but there might be someone taking you up on your request for extra spice, and throwing in a touch of something rather difficult, but always enticing.  The restaurant with Indian food is always going to be my favorite, no matter which one it turns out to be.  Somewhere in the middle of things, however, I was sensing that I was part of a literary experiment, where things were in reverse order.  It seemed a bit odd, like that episode of that tv show about Harold Pinter, where George was stuffing saris in sacks, and the rest was a sneeze or so.

Time is certainly a different element in poetry, in all cultures.  It is certainly connected to its relationship with music, one that’s been getting further and further away with some of the new experiments.  However, with Vattacharda making work, there was also a sense that the music  was back, even in the highest experiments that worked for the greater good of the avant garde.  India or Singapore, we are all in this together, after all.

Tags: restaurant with Indian food, Vattacharda, Vattacharda Chandan
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When I was finally in New York, after having to cancel the same trip three or four times, I had the opportunity to have a lunch with a remarkable man who was a friend of a friend.  He had been traveling in some of the same circles that I had, so I was told, and we would have a lot to talk about.  I really didn’t have very high hopes, but considered it a meal, and a meal is always welcome, and if there were to be good benefits outside of that, it was extra, but would nonetheless be welcome.  I had not considered that this might be a conversation in which the direction of my life would be changed.

I consulted my favorite site and we arranged to meet, and I arrive ten minutes ahead of schedule, which was how I always do things.  I was born a little early, and it’s a habit that follows me still.  When I arrived, I found my table, and decided, just this once, to have a double shot of espresso while I waited.  Usually, I begin the day with one coffee only, and may have a tea later, but that was the limit of my caffeine.  I don’t know if there’s anything for me to worry about, but I’ve always felt suspicious about those who indulge too much in anything.  When he finally did arrive, I already felt like I had broken a rule, and this gave me a secret over him.

He was very self-assured, and even gregarious, and although that sometimes causes great suspicion in me, this time I found it somehow complimentary.  He asked me about my recent troubles, a marriage that crashed on the rocks, and a few health problems.  He had been through the same things recently, but I already knew that.  Then he started to talk about foils, and how we have another version of ourselves, a darker or more benevolent version, somewhere in the world, and it’s possible to meet ourselves at moments.  I didn’t think this was interesting to me at all, being of the mind to avoid narcissism, and cultivate humility in my own garden.  He went on to explain how he had been in touch with a Qabal, and they were exploring certain things that had great potential, he felt, and he proceeded to speak to me about this for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.

Tags: foils, my favorite site, narcissism
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Hawaii is a great place to travel with kids. There are lots of hotels which have made a point of making sure there are kid friendly activities. You may not be able to take one of those cruises to Hawaii, but you will at least be able to check out one great island all weekend and there are lots of things to do in Hawaii. The Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa is one of these hotels. They provide activities for a fee that will keep your kids attention the whole day long with educational activities and excursions, even providing lunch. The Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is really neat with it’s large pool areas full of slides, and secret lagoons scattered around the salt and fresh water swimming pools. There is also an electronics room where your teenager can play games of all kinds. At nights in the summer when you are all together, there is a theater program that everyone can enjoy right after eating at any number of the restaurants right nearby. The best one by far, however, is the Kona Family Resort. Their children’s activities are free, last all day, and they will even take them off your hands for dinner if you have romantic plans for just the two of you.

If you stayed at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa in Maui you will probably need to look into some things to do Maui while your kids are enjoying a range of activities including Olympic games and scavenger hunts. If you wanted to you could bike across the island, looking at the beautiful landscape as you do, even find one of the many wonderful restaurants as a place to take lunch. You will also be able to find a number of great operators who will be happy to teach you how to dive and operate the diving equipment so you can explore the oceans in a whole new way. At the end of the day, when you have your kids back, Maui is known for it’s legendary Luaus and is a perfect family friendly place to eat dinner and celebrate with each other the wonders of the island. If you later want to all go see some history together, this is the place to do it, with some wonderful nostalgic plantation towns. Hawaii has a great atmosphere for the whole family.

Tags: cruises to Hawaii, Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, Luaus, things to do in Hawaii, things to do Maui
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If you’ve gone to the trouble to rent a room in one of the boutique hotels in New York City, arranged for theater tickets on Broadway, even looked into a few tours of the city’s sights, all you may have left to worry about is food.  Where to eat?  Obviously, New York is one of the great places in the world to find food; there are restaurants on every corner, many of which are already categorized by price, by cuisine, by service, and so on.  But if you want to do something unique, why not try a food tour?

Maybe it’s not surprising that in a city that offers everything from tours of the Statue of Liberty to ghosts, that food is included.  There’s several options here.  Foods of New York Tours is just one of them.  With this company, you’ll find guides who are friendly and knowledgeable, who will take you around to the best culinary treats of New York while walking through the streets.  These tours last from two to three hours and are conducted weekdays and weekends.  You might like to try an East Village Food Tasting and Cultural Tour, or a Taste of Chinatown.  How about an Exotic Southeast Asian Tour.  There’s even a Multicultural Wine and Beer Tour, and, for the health conscious among us, a Vegetarian Tour.

Other companies also offer up food tours, which you can easily look up, such as the Food on Foot Tours.  Many food tours are about gourmet offerings; Food on Foot is about good but inexpensive food.  It’s a highly rated attraction that combines a walking tour with some subway travel to allow you to find the variety possible in the East Village, a tour called the Midtown Mix, and its world famous Sweet Tooth Tours.  Each one of the places have included an option for vegetarians, so no one’s left out.  it’s a great way to see New York and get something to eat at the same time

Tags: boutique hotels in New York City, Food on Foot Tours, Foods of New York Tours
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Becoming a lawyer is a popular choice for people who have an interest in law, but knowing how to become a lawyer is where it can be hard. This can be a guide to take you on your first steps toward becoming a Phoenix lawyer. You will need to complete an undergraduate degree before you can go any farther. It doesn’t matter what you study, as long as you can pass the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) later. Law schools can be very challenging to get into as they set very high standards for incoming students and many people want to become lawyers. Luckily for those who live in Phoenix, Arizona has some of the best law schools with degrees in Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, Corrections and even Advanced Legal Research. If getting to one of these schools is too hard on you, you can go to the Kaplan law school and study from home.

You want to make sure you don’t get a law school that won’t teach you what you need to know for the bar exam in the state you will be practicing. Each bar exam is different and you will need to know specific information for your bar exam. However, no matter where you are, you should learn in law school aspects of the American legal system,such as torts, civil law, criminal law, and legal communications. If you go for a more specialized degree, which can be recommended for Phoenix lawyers, law school may take you a little longer, but it will be easier to get hired in the area you are most interested in. When you are ready you will have to pass the Arizona State Bar Exam. If you pass that, the Arizona Supreme Courts will do a review determining if you are ethically and academically fit to practice law in Arizona before admitting you into the legal system as a lawyer.

Tags: law school, Phoenix lawyer, Phoenix lawyers
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Phoenix’s rather uneven performance art scene is still a scene, no matter what the disenchanted locals might say.  There are many who live here who complain that no one is doing any interesting and innovative work, with a few exceptions.  These exceptions will vary from individual to individual, but the general consensus is that Jeff Falk and Leslie Barton have been the most interesting artists in the past, and still are today.  But there are always a dozen more to add to the list, so something interesting is happening here, and it’s enough to warrant venturing out for some art weekend and getting a reservation in one of Phoenix’s best hotels.

Most people are surprised to find a thriving scene, and everyone changes their mind about the place being a cultural desert.  There are some who are mining the desert to find flakes of gold still, and there are also a few diamonds in the next generation of artists.  One of these, surely, is Natalia Jaeger.  She’s just finishing an MFA from the School of Art at ASU, and her exhibition, Visibly Quotidian runs up until Valentine’s Day weekend.  In Arizona, that’s also statehood day, and that’s an interesting interjection into the local identity.

Any attempts to broaden the scope of the locals is met with great resistance on the surface, but there is a solid core that breathes a sigh of relief and rebellion.  Jaeger’s work is challenging, and extremely erudite.  With a broad vocabulary in philosophy and theory, along with an astounding knowledge of the tropes of art and culture, she expands notions of just about anything that comes into her artistic gaze.  The worlds she creates speak of otherness, nourishment, and longing, and reflect a deeply felt view of knowledge and things.  There are more reasons why she is an exception, but those are necessary and sufficient.  Her work in live art is a tremendous experience in destablization, and she is so charming and vicious that we don’t even notice the rug has been pulled, or sometimes, never existed at all.

Tags: Natalia Jaeger, Phoenix's best hotels, Visibly Quotidian
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Do you want to know what is one of the most romantic places in the country, if not the world? I would have to say that it’s West Palm Beach, Florida. And oh sure, I know that you may not believe me or that you might even stop listening, or reading as the case may be, at this point but if you’re willing, or should I say really interesting in finding out why this is true, stay tuned. Exactly, I thought I’d have your attention. Or maybe your just being curious, who knows, but whatever your motivation for continuing you’re about to understand why West Palm Springs could jump start your love life.

So, it turns out that a dear friend of mine, and I stress the friend aspect of the relationship. We were never romantically interested in each other and I stand witness to the fact that two heterosexual members of the opposite sex can have a platonic, in the laymen’s definition, relationship with no complications from romantic attractions. Anyway, Steve, my friend, wanted someone to go with him to Palm Springs where he needed to make the final agreements on the sale of his grandparents house. Since we could always count on each other for anything, and I had nothing else to do, I agreed to go. Plus West Palm Beach sounded exciting and I thought a few days in the Florida sun would be great. And believe me they were. We had separate but adjoining rooms, which was great for privacy and also inspired late night conversations.

So, it turns out one night we were free to just kind of do whatever and we decided to go see an outdoor jazz concert at the Meyer Amphitheatre. What an amazing night that was. The sky was clear, the stars were out and the jazz was incredible. Great jazz always had a way of reaching right into your passionate heart and it certainly did this to both Steve and me that night. It was like something unexpected struck and infected us. We saw each other in a different light and it’s like all of my friendship love and affection for him burst into this romantic attraction that I couldn’t deny nor understand how I had never felt it before. And I could see in Steve’s eyes, that were completely new and different that night, that he felt the same. And it was so powerful that we can never take it back or see each other any differently than we did that night.

Tags: adjoining rooms, Great jazz, Meyer Amphitheatre
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For a perfect escape from winter and for true relaxtion, there are few better places than South Florida and the city of Miami.  With just the click of a mouse, you’ll find a place to stay that provides luxurious spas and some of the world’s most dazzling beaches just outside the doors.  You might be content to stay at the hotel all day and never venture out to the internationally known South Beach and its Art Deco District.  You might be perfectly content to stay by the pool all day and not even see the ocean; however, for those who like to explore the world a bit, you’ll find that Miami has a great number of fascinating places to experience.  Here’s five places you should take a look at while in Miami.

The first place would be South Beach itself; this isn’t just about the beach, but about shopping and entertainment.  It’s quintessential Miami.  For number two, I’d say take a trip out into the Everglades.  This National Park is one of the nation’s most unusual, with 1.5 million acres of swamps and jungles and prairies, it’ll definitely take more than an afternoon!  Three and Four?  Go check out the wildlife at the Sequarium and the Miami MetroZoo.  It’s ideal for families, as is the Miami Museum of Science.  I’m a big proponent of this fifth place to go.  If I have a chance to promote the world of science, I want to take that opportunity.  Currently, the museum is featuring Cabaret Mechanical Theater, which are about forty mechanized and amusing puppets that activate at the touch of a button.  There’s also the planetarium here, too, which has some amazing programs that provide a look into outer-space, with over five different planetarium shows a day.

Whether you lounge in your room, hit the beach or the stores, or take a hovercraft into the Everglades, Miami has something for just about everyone.  If these five spots don’t work for you, there’s plenty more.  And doesn’t a trip to Florida sound pretty good, especially in February when the temperature outside is thirty-three degrees, and in Miami, it’s hovering in the seventies!

Tags: Everglades, http://www.hotelsmiami.com, Miami Museum of Science
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Cape May is such a beautiful city in an amazing environment. It is well known as one of the best birding locations in the nation and reports of over 400 different species of birds have been documented. The population greatly bulges during the summer months when vacationers and bird watcher fill the Cape May resorts and hotels. The beaches become filled with shoppers and café diners who are enjoying the views and local offerings. One of the popular activities many tourists are interested in participating is finding a Cape May Diamond. This is frequently considered to be one of the special souvenirs found there and they make great gifts to bring home to friends and family members.

The diamonds are actually quartz crystals that have arrived on the beaches by courtesy of the Delaware River. These small pebbles begin in the rough and tumbling waters of the river and as they make their journey toward Cape May the are smoothed and softened in the process. However, it is common for finders to take their “diamond” to a polishing shop and really shine it up for jewelry or other display options.

It was originally believed that the diamonds were pieces of glass that were a byproduct of the numerous glass manufacturers in New Jersey. It was thought that the shards and or discarded pieces found their way into the river and turned up on the Cape May shore. This however is incorrect and it is accepted that the diamonds are actually quartz crystals that have been partially smoothed and polished for the eager pebble seekers in Cape May. And while most of them remain in their found state there are a few that are able to be polished to the point of bringing out a brilliant natural shine. Most of these crystals are about the size of a baby’s tooth when they are found though there have been some that are reported to be as big as or even slightly larger than an average sized marble. Whatever size and condition of the quartz crystal you might find on your vacation in Cape May they are certainly exciting to discover in the sand and they make a great souvenir.

Tags: Cape May resorts and hotels, Delaware River, quartz crystals
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Every city has its legends.  Baltimore is one of the most historically rich cities in the United States, and therefore, is filled with myths and legends, some of recent origins, and some of times very long past.  In the summer of 1951, one such legend created the catalyst for an episode of what could be called mass hysteria in the city.  People who lived in the neighborhood of O’Donnell Heights were locking the doors of their houses, and staying in their Baltimore luxury hotels the minute the sun went down.

There were many newsworthy stories at this time in history, the Cold War and the Korean War had been in the headlines for months.  But during the summer of ’51, news of a mysterious stalker bumped everything else off of the first page.  The two newspapers, The Evening Sun and The Sun, may have been in part to blame, as the two competing papers fanned the flames of the community’s panic.  Ask anyone today who is familiar with this time, and no one has been able to understand the furor that was caused, how it got just so big.  By the time police investigators began looking into the reported sightings, the entire town was in a panic, and the mysterious stalker was blamed for everything from minor break-ins to stealing children from their beds in the middle of the night.

On any given night police would receive more than 200 phone calls of alleged sightings, but no one was ever actually attacked.  Some teenagers were arrested that summer, for petty pranks, but no phantom.  People who have looked into the case years later, speculate that there never was a phantom, that the mass hysteria was fueled by the dueling newspapers, and that peoples’ imaginations took over and ran a muck.  It’s like the old boogey man story, no one has ever seen the boogey man, but small children will behave when the boogey man is mentioned.  It’s the power of the imagination, and what a strong power that is.

Tags: Baltimore luxury hotels, power of the imagination, the neighborhood of O'Donnell Heights
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