This past weekend I got to see my first piano recital. I have never played the piano, and in fact, I have very little musical talent to boast of. It always amazes me when I see other people do musical things because it’s so far removed from what I feel I am capable of doing. I also think this keeps me from being able to appreciate it as much as other people, but I enjoy it as much as I can.

I also got to watch game two of the Lakers v. Celtics Finals Championship Series. The first two games were horribly officiated. Ridiculous calls were made on both sides, and it’s hard to tell what the reason for it was. Conspiracy theorists will blather about how the NBA as a business profits more from longer series since there is so much advertising money at stake. There is probably some truth to that, but I think it would be something of a miracle to produce any kind of evidence to support that, or any other related notion. Regardless, I have enjoyed watching the games, frustrating though they may be at times.

How much would you pay for a price of a smile?

These past couple of weeks I’ve been in a weird mood – neither happy nor sad. I think the best way to describe it is “blah.” I was in a “blah” mood, probably approaching depression, but not quite there yet. Anyway, I was working at an event with my fellow balloon twister, “Balloonloodle”. As we were making balloons for this particular event, we came across a child who was in a wheelchair.

Wow. This article just invoked all kinds of emotions in me. Frustration. Anxiety. Awkwardness. Confusion. Once all that passed though, there was a strange calm that I experienced. I mean, really, does news like this “shock” anyone anymore? While that fact is sad in and of itself, it seems that every time I turn around, something new causes cancer. Mother Nature is not so easily rebuffed, as she can be as brutal as she is beautiful.

We just finished a call last night with Jill & Dan Johnson called “Intentional Laughter – Stress Reduction Secrets” and I had such a great time I decided I needed to get some more.

I took their suggestion and went to “Laughter Yoga on the Phone.com”, as this was one of the recommended resources they gave out during the call. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find out there was a laughter session on the phone at that very moment.

Since this year started, I have been unbelievably busy every day and my schedule is already fully booked till October. I don’t know why I’m that busy, but I do know that all the good energies just keep coming into my life, which pushes me to go forward.

There is just no time to catch a cold; however, the other day I began to feel like I had the beginning of a cold. That weekend, I was scheduled to shoot a film, so I canceled all my meetings that filled every evening after work for the week and stayed home to prevent the cold from become worse.

I’ve been cooking a lot more these days than before. Maybe I’m getting older…or am starting to take this whole global recession thing seriously. Whatever the reason, one great thing is that I have a clearer idea of what I’m actually eating. Or do I? I now have an annoying habit of checking into every little detail of what I’m eating. Where are these apples from? What ocean do these sardines come from? Is my salmon really orange? Wait…what?

With all of today’s technological advances in…well, practically everything, sometimes you find what works best is a method that was used before the industrial revolution. Today, I came across an article from Yahoo called “25 Ways To Clean With Vinegar. The article basically has a list of things you can clean with vinegar. For example, you can use vinegar as an oven degreaser or to remove hard water deposits. Also, vinegar is considerably cheaper than the leading cleaning solutions on the market.

The old saying goes, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Well, if you’re referring to “Apple” products – the iPhone in particular, that is – perhaps the saying still has merit in today’s fast-paced society.

I find myself saying “There’s an App For That!” nearly every day now. With the app store touting nearly 200,000 apps, I’ve come to a recent conclusion that there is pretty much an app for just about everything you can think of — no matter how small a niche or obscure the idea.

I was wandering through the bookstore the other day and came across an excellent book called “The World’s Healthiest Foods,” by George Mateljan. I don’t consider myself knowledgeable in food at all. When going to the grocery store, I just pick what looks fresh, without necessarily knowing how to pick them. Most of the time, it is just whatever “looks fresh.”

What if life after death was known?

What if we knew with 100% certainty that we would all be going somewhere, even if it was just right back to earth and being reincarnated as something or someone else?

What if your report card was judged by the quality of people who attended your funeral?

What if you were judged by the things they said about you after you were gone?