4.16.09. Some days go by so fast, you can still remember waking up. At the office i have my hands full- everything goes by the clock, how much can i squeeze in before the top of the hour? It still hasn't sank in that this is it. A new life in July- independence day, the start of all new beginnings. I'm fired up and ready for another adventure.

3.29.09. My neighbor’s moving out. Heard her clearing out the couch and flat screen tv. Vacuuming up a storm, place is all but empty now. I may have to do the same seeing as how pink slips are flying… country music takes me back to my younger days- it’s bizarre, why? Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 10, country got me in its grip- oh susanna, I’ve been working on the railroad, the square dancing- maybe that’s it- the square dancing during p.e. at montclaire with that lil' suzy q… bought another American book- this one about the civil war. Flag cross song gun.

1.01.09. Last year during Christmas time Matthew was in China studying and praying at a university in Tsingtao. This year he was back in California and we unpacked presents together in the living room. He got me a book about a nonprofiteer in Pakistan who made schools for Muslim girls in the countryside with his wife for a living. On Christmas Eve we gussied up for Pa’s Christmas choral performance on Blaney. In the church, I recognized some faces I hadn’t seen since Montclaire. The songs were familiar and sung with heart. There were many warm and cheerful faces from the neighborhood enthusiastic about wrapping up another year in sunny California.

The brothers Rocks made several obligatory trips to the Valley Fair shopping emporium for window shopping and actual shopping. Apple store, shirt stores, cafes, Best buy electronics and Borders booksellers. The mall crowds were plentiful despite reports in the newspapers about consumers pinching their wallets this 2008 Christmas cycle. We dined out on occasion, at the pancake house in Saratoga, Mexican taquerias, and the Stanford outdoor mall on Page Mill road. Hadn’t been up there in years. The streets were real clean and green sycamores line the neighborhood front lawns- very refreshing compared to what I’m accustomed to here in LA. In 2008 I’d made a number of trips to Garden Grove to get a feel of what life will be like in July of 2009. It will be better that’s for sure. It will be a place where I can be proud of my country, where others fly the stars and the bars on their front porch. Got my guitar and my suitcases are packed, just waiting for the July train.

An email to Rush:
Dear Rush, I'm 43. I have listened to you since 1988. You've changed my life; you have shaped my views; you have given me hope amongst lots of challenges. I met a girl I never thought I would meet. I fell in love with her and her family. We discussed a few political issues, and I knew we were opposite, but I supported everything she presented to me....She came in one afternoon and heard that I had you on the radio. She left the next day without saying anything. She called three days later to break it off, saying that if I listened to you, I was too right-wing and she could never be with me. I loved this girl and her family, no matter what their issues were... I will never change my core beliefs. I have never personally judged a loved one for theirs."
- Christopher

Said Rush:
Your heart may be broken, you may be in pain you have never felt before because love is one of these emotions that we cannot control. We can't go out and decide on the spot, "Hey, I want to be in love," and do it....You're trying to figure these people out; you're trying to figure out their intolerance. There's no rational explanation for it. You will go nuts trying to understand. The best that you can do is to understand they have a false sense of superiority, they think they're smarter and better than everybody else.