More breathtaking views and drives. That building is a recording studio and thats their patio view.

Hwy 101 has to be one of the prettiest stretches of road in America. I could just drive and drive and not realize it. Texas is just one flat boring trip but the 101 is windy and full of surprises.

My hotel is just North of San Francisco in a cool little town called Corte Madera. I drove around town today and snapped some photos. Such a beautiful countryside. Flawless weather. The rumors are true.

Before I forget... The day before I left (yesterday evening) I actually approached a woman, told her I thought she was adorable and said I wanted to take her out. She smiled genuinely and told me she had a boyfriend or she would have said yes.

I felt good about that. I want to return to Austin and continue this streak of being bolder. Driving on this awesome highway is just too pretty to keep doing alone and I realized that its going to take me stepping outside of my comfort zone in Austin to meet someone cool.

Not that I am not enjoying this. But man a hottie in a sundress beside me would crank this trip up to an 11.

San Fran Part 2

I have not written in a shamefully long time.

Currently I am sitting at a Starbucks in Fisherman's Wharf. I just had an In and Out Burger and after I do a little work Im going to go snap some photos of my surroundings. Its a picture perfect day here and I have a rental car so I've been driving around a lot.

Im making the most of a mostly business trip. Today will pretty much be my only day I will have to myself. From here on out its associating with people I never would choose to in my normal life. But its so pretty here its hard to not see everything as a-ok. I saw a couple sitting in a small city park smoking a joint. I would totally do that today if I had the chance. I stopped by Golden Gate Park. They have very big trees here. I like that.

I want to say that I have learned to never fly American Airlines based on my last trip. This time around it was Jet Blue and it was leagues better. They let us watch movies for free and their snacks were good. The flight attendants were funny. The plane was roomy. Perfectly on time. Arrived early actually.

American is the opposite of all those things. Worst airline. I read in the news the other day they grounded a huge amount of planes for some reason. It did not surprise me.

Okay time to walk around. Screw work.

SXSW 2013

SWSW is in the can. As usual, I really didn't do enough but I had a decent time. Standing in line for 2.5 hours for a mediocre show and then losing the person I was there to see it with until the very end would have to be the low point.

The high point was probably last night. I just wandered around downtown with a friend. We met up with another guy and then a couple girls joined us. We ended up bouncing to a couple places (everything is crazy packed for SX). We finally finished up by dancing at my favorite dance club. Honestly nothing I couldn't have done any other time but the energy of the city is something else entirely this time of year so it was still cool.

I finally began exploring online tutorials to use my music software. Its overwhelming and I have barely scraped the surface of what its capable of. I like the idea of being self-contained in the creation process. I lose the abilities and input of other human beings but I also know that if it sucks its my fault 100%. And this is one of those things that taking the time to study can change everything. Every little sound has infinite possibilities and I know very little about making it sound professional. I have structure to what I am working with but little technical know-how to make it sound correct. I also need to get a midi keyboard because I am literally drawing the notes with my mouse which is just stupid.

Work is ok. The potential projects have yet to pay off in the way I want them to but the opportunity is definitely there so I have to be patient. I realize now that just because I have one bad month does not mean it will remain that way. A typical office job would not offer that kind of opportunity. I am sacrificing stability for opportunity. I think its worth it.

I will be heading to Nashville next Thursday to visit a friend and a girl I met through said friend. I will work from coffee shops during the day and hang with them at night. Looking forward to seeing a new city.

I flirted with the idea of moving to a new apartment but I realized my situation is pretty solid for what I pay. That and moving is a bitch. So it looks like I am here another year. I may try to sign for 6 months if they will let me.

So with work, this new software and trying to be social I have pretty much maxed out my 16  hours of time in the day. Happiness factor is hovering near content but we all know that kind of thing never lasts.

Correction

I brazenly touted that I had reached my financial goals before my 35th birthday as planned. This is not true. After breaking down my finances I fell pretty far from the mark.

I had assumed a couple good months would stretch out into a full year and this was not the case. To my credit I made more last year that I have in my life, but I am not the badass I portrayed myself to be.

Id like to have those comments stricken from the record.

So now I have 7 months to make it happen.

Star Stuff

I've been watching Carl Sagan's original Cosmos series. He brings a wonder and near-spirituality to science that completely blows me away. Every episode I say "Wow" at least 3 times.

The sheer size of the universe is mind-boggling the way Sagan breaks it down. Our time in this universe is only a sneeze in the overall timeline of creation. We are made of the exact same things as stars billions of light years away. Stuff we already know, but he paints it eloquently and makes me feel like I'm learning it for the first time.

He talks about potential other universes, the complexity of DNA, whale songs and I find myself laughing at the fact that this series is 30 years old yet I know very little about most of the stuff he talks about.

He also covers religion which ties into a conversation my friend and I have been continuing to have about Hinduism (his family's religion). Its the only religion that closely matches the true nature of science and what we know about the universe.

Maybe because Sagan is on my mind a lot, I start to notice his influence. I met a woman last night at a show and her dog was named Sagan. We chatted awhile and were both excited to discuss Cosmos.

I know I'm late to the fan-club but the guy was/is awesome.

Lies

People tend to keep doing what they have always done. I tend to fall back into patterns, familiar worldviews and easy stereotypes. My quality of life is directly affected by things that I believe, regardless if its real or not. What is real if you think about it? Is there one truth out there or is everything just a subjective rollercoaster with the only meaning being that which we assign?

These are basic 1st semester philosophy questions but lately its become pretty important to me. I wonder what kind of BS "truths" I hold onto that are holding me back from a more fulfilled life. I know some of them but are there others?

I suppose thats why I read so much personal development stuff. I can feel the weeds spreading throughout my mind if I don't continually try to stretch my view of the world. I do not handle stagnation well.

I wonder if everyone else experiences the kinds of lows and highs that I seem to go through with self-esteem, satisfaction and well being.

Sanity is only temporary.