Psychic gift shopping

A text conversation between a friend and me, while I was walking through Whole Foods:
I can understand lavender lotion and lavender eye pillows.  But I just walked by lavender almonds.
Seriously??  Where are u?
Whole Foods.
{laughing emoji}  I should have guessed.
That could be a good snack when you are hungry and a little agitated.
Ask if they have any chamomile pistachios.
Or kava kava cashews.
Those would be great!  For smoothies late at night when you're also stressed!
I think you may be on to something.

A worker at a local store shared with me one of her customer's remarks: "I do much better with my family when my pyschic helps me pick out Christmas gifts."

I was waiting in line for the bathroom at Whole Foods and a woman in front of me asked (surveying a flier), "What is tantric numerology?"  The women in front of her responded, "I don't know what regular numerology is, so I'm really not the right person to ask."

My friend was taking out her cat litter on the evening of Christmas and it ended up spilling all over her porch.  She told me, "I had litter and crap all over my porch right in front of my front door.  It didn't seem like a good omen.  At the very least, I knew my crystal-at-the-right-angle roommate was going to tell me this was really bad feng shui."

I took a walk at Ragle Park on Christmas day, and what was amusing to me was that it was the hipster-dressed solstice/pagan looking people who kept wishing me Merry Christmas.  (Not even a generic "happy holidays.")

License plate of the week:
PIN DOC

Most notable west county Christmas present:
A wall hanging of the different Chinese meridians in the body cross-represented with Chinese, Vedic or Zodiac astrology.

Happy holidays from Kwan Yin!
(note the chakras hanging in the window)

A green smoothie and epic hug to go

A friend of mine told me about her Sebastopol neighbor who is anti-Christmas and created her own holiday for this time of year.  Kwantice.  I asked her neighbor about it and got a long explanation and some not-so-relevant family history, but the gist of it being it's a combination of Kwanzaa and solstice.  Certain Kwanzaa days, solstice gifts and African drumming.  (And yes, I had to ask for the spelling of it.)

A customer at Rosemary's Garden:
"You know, there is Christmas music everywhere right now and it wears on you.  We come over to shop here and there is all this mellow music like you are in a massage.  But after a few hours of it, that starts to wear on you, too."

On a quiet Saturday morning a woman walked into the post office and another woman was standing by the office window, but it was closed.  She said to the woman who just walked in, "He is going to get a package for me, but he'll be right back and can get your package."
Second woman:  "Oh.  Thank you."  Looking down at her hand laughing, "Oh, right, I'm holding this package slip.  I just thought you were incredibly psychic."
First woman:  "Well, we are in west county."

I was waiting in a coffee shop and heard someone next to me ask the person she was sitting with, "I am saving money consciously and want to be spiritually responsible about it.  Do you know a good accountant for that?"

And from last year's holiday post:
"I don't know what to get her {for Christmas}.  She is getting back from a seven day vision quest thing.  I'm like, here have some earrings after you sat outside for four days and nights with vultures and wild coyotes."
"She sat outside for four days?"
"Yes, that's what a vision quest is.  You sit by yourself by a tree or something and don't eat anything for four days and think about your life."
"And why would anyone do that to themselves?"

A text from my friend Steve, visiting from Scandanavia and driving up from the city:
Should I wear my "CHAKRA KHAN" t-shirt or my "Whole Foods: Now Serving EPIC HUGS" t-shirt?


License plates of the week:
XXOO2U
LET LOVE
LIBRA





www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Life is good, life is gr8

Dude standing outside the library, looking at some flowers and plants.
"You can't just have some plants?  There is kale growing outside the library?"

One of two people horsing around on some chairs, sitting on each others' laps at the Barlow:
"Don't worry, we're fine.  There are different rules in this part of the county.  There's even a bill of rights that's different than other towns."
Person sitting to the side of them:  "A Sebastopol 'Bill of Rights?'  I'd like to see that."

Facebook post of the week:
"We ended up going to Di's Diner....  It was good.  I liked the guy that came into the burger joint and ordered hummus w/extra pita.  Gotta love Sebastopol."

Two people meandering by the musicians at the Farmers Market:  "I am so happy to be alive.  I am so blessed to be able to buy organic produce at this lovely market.  I am so happy to be walking around downtown chatting with all these beautiful people. Life is good."
Woman walking with him:  "I think you put too much maca in your smoothie this morning."

A reader emailed this to me:
I was picking out a drink at Whole Foods and a fellow shopper said, "What happened to the acai berry? Remember a few years ago you couldn't buy a drink without it?"
Then the worker said:  "I think it was replaced by chia seeds.  Which have been replaced by anything that says 'gluten-free.'"

A friend's previous roommate had been a grower, who also loved to use spritzers.  My friend told me, "Her car always smelled like this funky combination of lavender and weed."
Me:  "Well, that would be very... relaxing."
My friend:  "Yeah, now that I think about it every time I was in her car for more than an hour I always wanted to take a nap when I got home."

Favorite sweatshirt of the week:
Ask me about the health benefits 
of the chocolate bar I'm eating


License plates of the week:
GR8 EAGL
INTEGR8




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Mintless mochas

After the last blog post Jennifer, the supplement goddess, relayed:
"The ice cream girl gets the same questions as the vitamin girl!!  I guess all the retail folks get all the same type of questions.  Got to love our town!"
And a friend who used to work at a Sebastopol cafe also agreed:  "The number of questions people would ask to order a muffin or a chai.  Vegan/gluten-free/organic/local/naturally sweetened/non-gmo/sustainable...  I could go on and on."
And at the Dhyana Center I heard two men discussing where you could find non-gmo popcorn.

When you take homeopathic remedies, you have to preclude mint from your diet. I was talking to someone about toothpaste options without mint at Whole Foods when a woman recommended fennel (yes, fennel) toothpaste to me.  She bemoaned, "I didn't think I ate that much mint, but now that I can't have it I'm going crazy.  No chocolate mint ice cream, no mint tea or gum. But the worse is going into Starbucks.  Now all I crave is the peppermint mochas.  My practitioner told me I need to take my health issues seriously, and I said, 'I have given up my favorite holiday coffee and my toothpaste!  What more do you want from me??'"

I was waiting in line at the gas station and not really paying attention to the women in front of me. But they were saying something about lighters and signs.  I assumed, in that preoccupied-with-something-else kind of way, there were lighters by the cash register that had a word or phrase on them.  But as I paid I noticed the lighters said, "Virgo... Pisces... Aquarius..."  They were indeed lighters with signs on them.  For those moments when one wants to convey one's astrology while lighting up.

The movie Awake (about Yogananda) is playing at the Rialto.  One Friday afternoon there were quite a few movie-goers.  As I was leaving I heard a woman remark, "There are a lot of people here today."  Her friend replied, "And most of them are coming out of the yoga movie.  Not the Ben Affleck film."

And from my sister (via Facebook):
You know you've lived in Sebastopol too long when you read:  "So-and-so channeled their profile picture" instead of "changed their profile picture"...  Of course it didn't really say channeled, I just read it that way.


License plate of the week:
OHM M G





www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

More west county morsels, gluten-free

An acquaintance of mine, sitting at the library on his computer:  "I do not want to make my own veggie oil.  I do not want to sell veggie oil.  I do not want to start a revolution. All I want to do is go buy some veggie oil for my car.  This shouldn't be so hard."

A teenager I know works at a local ice cream shop.  She has complained more than once about all the questions various customers have when they come in.  Are the ingredients local?  Is the ice cream gluten-free?  Dairy-free?  Sugar-free?  (She wants to reply to someone that asks for dairy-free, sugar-free ice cream that maybe they should eat something besides ice cream.)  One woman, in addition to asking several questions, wanted to know if the picture of the cow on the wall was the milk source.  (It isn't.)  And in fact, where does this cow reside?  Another couple were surprised there was milk in the chocolate sauce.  And one woman lamented, "I can't believe you don't have gluten-free waffle cones."

I love when people email or tell me about their Sebastopol moments.  From a reader:
I was playing at the park with my son, when some kids got angry when he moved some of their piled dirt.  They said, "Stop ruining our compost pile!"

And from a friend of mine, who does childcare:  She told me about two six year old girls who were meeting for a play date.  One said, "I brought dress up clothes!"
The other one countered, with equal enthusiasm, "I brought kale!"

A worker at a local café said to me:  "Hippies, hipsters.  Two very different things..."

My toddler niece, looking at some pictures on the wall at a friend's house:  "One goddess, two goddess, three goddess, four goddess...."


License plate of the week:
BADGURU




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

If you're going to be a ninja...

Friend of a friend, on the side of a large group talking.  "There was a lot of pumpkin carving at our place this week.  I had to meditate on it for a while, but a snake theme came to me."  Scrolling through pictures of jack-o-lanterns on her phone.  "My son said it wasn't scary enough, so I ended up having to make it into a rattlesnake."

Young tweener sitting outside Whole Foods to his mom:  "I decided I want to be a ninja this year. But a ninja that uses their powers for good."
Mother:  "Like for what?"
Boy, after a thoughtful pause:  "Like for the environment or something."

A local practitioner was describing her Athenian goddess costume to a friend of hers.  "I am going as a priestess of light."
Her friend observed, "Oh, you are going as your aura in the 12th dimension."
"Yes, exactly!"

A co-worker told me she overheard a conversation about conspiracy theories in front of Hardcore Cafe.  One gentleman said, "Just say it really fast and you will get it: Ebola...Obama...  Ebola...Obama..."

Explaining something to a friend of mine, who lives in Sebastopol.  "All right, well there are two types of moms in Sebastopol, the soccer moms and the yoga pants moms-"
My friend, laughing, "Okay, that should go in your blog."

At a local school, on a board with some photos from movies is a picture of Glinda the Good Witch (from The Wizard of Oz).  On a post-it under the picture it reads:  "Glinda is from Sebastopol."


And for those who did not catch this post a year ago, several people have told me it is their "favorite Sebastoblog":
Halloween with a Sebastopol twist
http://sebastopolgal.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

Foragers, joyagers

One dude standing between Slice of Life and Whole Foods to another dude:  "Don't go foraging for food around here.  You are just going to come back with sprouted nuts and kale."

Someone who read my blog entry a while back about customers getting confused with the recycling/compost/trash bins at Whole Foods emailed to let me know that there is a new wood structure that holds all three bins in front of the store now, but none of them are marked.  "It is hilarious to watch people walk up and just stand there and stare at unmarked bins.  I noticed a few people just walk away with whatever they had, or just put things on the ground.  One woman put some trash in her purse rather than put it in the wrong container."

Mother to her son in a cart at Whole Foods on a Sunday (during Farmer's Market):
"Oh come on, now.  We are just going to go across the street.  It will be fun.  We can count how many men with dreads we see."

Milk and Honey customer, picking up a bumper sticker that read What would Kali do?  "She would poke your eyes out and lick your brains, that is probably what she would do," he informed me.
A few moments later, a female customer eyeing the bumper sticker asked, "Who the hell is Kali?"

A friend and I were in the walkway between the library parking lot and Main Street, and she pointed to "Planetary healing through cookies" (under the Sebastopol Cookie Company window).  She remarked, "Why does everything in Sebastopol have to be about global healing?  Even cookies!"

At a small store on Main Street:
Cashier, after trying to ring something up several times:  "I don't know why this isn't working."
Customer:  "Maybe we should not have been making fun of the eclipse."
Person in line behind them:  "That will do it."


I have been asked by more than one person if I am making these license plates up.  The answer is no, although I noticed them very peripherally before starting this blog.  This week they have been popping up all over the place:
JOYAGER
CRAC POT
LITEN UP
MINDFUL




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Retro and retrogrades

You know you've lived in Sebastopol a long time when you can listen to a conversation that ties together laundry and karma and you are not fazed by this.

A shopper at Milk and Honey to her fellow shopper:  "Well, she's not the hippie-clothes, yoga pants type.  And she doesn't like the retro look, either.  I'm not sure we can find anything on Main Street for her."
Fellow shopper:  "Does Rite-Aid carry clothes?"
"I'm not sure, but that may be our only hope."

Facebook remark from my sister, in a commentary about yerba mate:
"Imagining my life without EmpowerMint (which, by the way has 'evolved' because it's new name is 'EnlightenMint') ..."

My sister has also devised a new game in the neighborhood near downtown where she resides, How many Buddha statues can one count on an evening walk?  (One evening she counted seven.)

In line at Community Market:
"Is Mercury in retrograde?  How do you find that out?"
"You can look it up on the internet.  Although I usually find out about it standing in line here or at Whole Foods."

A woman was complaining about her infrared sauna not working.  She was quite emotional and went on about it, this being an overwhelming problem in her life.  After she left, an acquaintance of mine noted:  "Well, there are third world problems, and first world problems.  And then there are Sebastopol problems."


License plate of the week:
AMTHYST


"Mercury Retrograde Body Mitten"
And if you missed this circulating during the last mercury in retrograde, it is hilarious!  (I am especially fond of the unicorn hair marinated in lavender oil.)
http://sextile.com/2014/06/13/mercury-retrograde-body-mitten/

Fries and fixes

I was standing behind the counter at Milk and Honey and a woman was waiting to purchase something.  She asked how my weekend was so far, so I felt obligated to ask how hers was going. She replied, "I"m having a pleasant day.  Getting my Sebastopol fix."
Going from polite conversationalist to Trolling Blogger, I of course had to ask what she meant by that.
The woman lives in Sonoma.  "I only get over here a few times a year, but I love it.  So far today I've been handed a flier about soul painting, listened to a discourse about the health benefits of maca by a young couple and discovered a new store named Karma.  Where else would you find a clothing store named Karma?"
(Unfortunately she did not still have the flier.)
"Oh, yes," she added.  "And I drove past a lavender-colored RV on the way into town.  With mandala blankets hanging in the windows."

According to a teen I was talking to outside of Rite-Aid:
"There are two kinds of students at Analy.  Those who walk to Safeway for lunch - most of them.  And those who walk all the way to Whole Foods."
(And during the school year, having been in Safeway, I can say there is a subset who never make it further than the Starbucks counter.)

A friend of mine from her visiting friend:
"This morning driving through downtown I couldn't help but notice how many people were walking with yoga mats under their arms.  How many yoga studios are there in this town??"

Favorite text to me, from a friend at Community Market last Thursday evening (during the weekly street fair):  "Leaving now.  I think we may have seen the zen hula hooper."

A woman seated outside Slice of Life:
"Baked french fries?  Who wants baked fries?  What is the fun in that?"  She puts her menu down. "If I wanted something healthy, um, I'd order lentil soup."


License plate of the week:
BAT LVR
(And there was a bumper sticker of bats soaring in front of the moon, just in case one wonders if this car belonged to a baseball enthusiast.)




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Coexistence and covens

I was standing outside Attico with a friend who was waiting for some people.  As they walked up she told them, "Be careful what you say to her.  She does a blog about Sebastopol."  Which, of course, always puts everyone at ease.
A person in the group said he had a question for me, as a Sebastopol "expert" (his description, not mine).  "Where do all these 'Coexist' bumper stickers come from?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest."
A woman standing next to him said, "We went to several places looking on Main Street, and nobody had them.  And no one knew where we could get one."
First guy:  "Whoever sells them must be making a fortune.  Every other car that drives by around here has one."
A man standing behind me added, "And it is kind of ironic to see all these Coexist bumper stickers in one of the most homogeneous towns I've ever lived.  But I guess that's beside the point."

I have been in a women's group for eleven years.  One member recently moved into a new place and we did a house blessing for her.  Since we have done it so many times over the years, we decided we have become quite good at doing them.  One member said, "We could make money off of this.  'Rent-a-Coven.'"
We came up with several advertising phrases:
Need some lovin'?  Rent-a-coven.
Want some sage and drummin'?  Rent-a-coven.
Ghosts in your oven?  Rent-a-coven.

A funny comment was made to me about an emoji for a spiritual name and I was telling a friend about it.  She said, "I can top that."  She pulled out her phone and showed me an emoji her sister uses when she is texting/talking about her spirit animal.  (It was a very cute emoji, actually.)

A customer at Whole Foods:  "I don't know if I should buy a raffle ticket today.  I'm not wearing my lucky green crystal."


License plate of the week:
ACUPUNK
(this might be my favorite one so far)




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

West county morsels

An acquaintance to me at Community Market, browsing for a small gift for her neighbor:
"I can't decide between the chakra flags or the chakra candles.  Or the incense holder.  Wow, am I shopping in Sebastopol or what?"
Me:  "Well, don't forget the rainbow Oms bumper sticker."

This sign was at a farmer's market (although I don't know if it was local or not):
NO Wi-fi
Talk to each other!
Call your Mom!
Pretend it's 1993!

I was recently at a weekend workshop and a fellow attendee was talking about her sister's upcoming wedding.  She described it as a "vegan hipster dog-friendly" event.  (But children were not allowed.)  I asked her where her sister was getting married as this woman was from the bay area. She replied, "In Sebastopol."  (cue my surprise)

A woman looking at some herbal blends at Rosemary's Garden to someone beside her:  "Around here you don't call it the first day of fall.  You call it 'equinox.'  Or 'autumnal equinox' if you want to get specific."
"Yes, because in September someone might mix it up with spring equinox."

Some young teens talking outside the library:
"Last time I got in trouble I couldn't watch tv for a week."
"I lose my phone and my parents won't let me use the computer."
"I lose my phone, too."
"My parents make me do yoga."
"Really?"
"Or listen to some chanting CDs.  Until they think I chill enough."


Favorite t-shirt at the farmer's market:
"Spiritual Gangster"
(I'm not claiming I know what this means, but I liked the shirt and the cool gentleman dude wearing it)


Favorite license plate:
BODEG-AH

Sebastoposts

(Facebook post:) 
"Ok Sebastopol~ I know a lot has changed since I've been down and out, but how could ANYONE not have told me the new Community Market in Sebastopol is open until 10PM EVERY DAY?!?! This is epic. This is life changing. I no longer have to go to Old Main and ask if they serve almond milk."
(For non-locals, Old Main is a downtown bar.)

A friend sent this to me.  It was posted in her parents group:
My husband and I are looking to rent out a studio on our property that we recently fixed up.  Off 116 in northwest Sebastopol....
Small kitchen and garden space.  Non-smokers only.  Pretty views of orchards, quiet space, okay to use our kitchen when we are gone on the weekends.  We interviewed some people last week and would like to save some time by letting potential applicants know the following:
-If your income is sporadic, that probably isn't something that you should mention in the first 5 minutes.
-You can use our kitchen when we are gone and yes, you will find bacon and red meat and other junk foods in our kitchen.  And yes, we feed our kids sugar.
-My husband and I are monogamous.  Period.
-While we do not care personally if you smoke marijuana, please don't come to the interview reeking of it.  And you can not use the large walk-in closet for any illegal activity.

Regarding Sebastoblog:  "Sebastopol, where all roads lead to Whole Foods."
And from the same reader:  "Your latest update from Sebastopol.  My spirit guide gives this place three and a half stars." 

Man to fellow customer at Community Market:  "I see you're part of the migration over here from Whole Foods."

Young girl at the library to her dad:  "I don't want a boring book like that.  I want to get the book about organic composting."

Whole Foods worker, at the barbeque in front:  "I like doing this.  People are really nice to me, I have some fans.  Every now and then some vegans walk by and yell at me, but that's okay."


Favorite license plate:
OM FREELY




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Sebastopol loopholes

A friend, who used to live in west county years ago, was visiting from Solano County.  She came up for the weekend and was determined to hang out with me to have some Sebastopol Moments. No matter how many times I explain to people that a) I have no control over when Sebastopol encounters occur and b) there are many, many days in my life where nothing eventful takes place, they still want to roam the streets with me believing that just walking around Sebastopol will conjure up blog worthy material.  I told her I could not guarantee anything.  But she was fixated on the idea.
We set out to do her Sebastopol loop, which began at Funk and Flash.  After looking at some nice 70s-style boots while listening to very loud music, I stepped outside to reply to a text.  Kellie came out a few minutes later, saying to me:  "You know what I notice about people here after being gone for so many years?"
I shook my head.
"A lot of people around here have very good posture."
I don't know what I expected her to say, but it wasn't that.  {note to self: that was a blog-worthy comment}
We were about ready to make our way to Copperfield's when my we noticed a woman sitting on a bench with an apricot-colored crystal, reading a pamphlet.  When we strolled by my friend said hi, and the woman looked up.  "Love and light," she said.  "Love and light."
We walked to the stoplight and my friend said, "See!  That doesn't happen in Benicia."
Copperfield's was pretty quiet, as was Rosemary's Garden.  But we did hear a shopper talking to her friend about changing her name.  She had narrowed the choices to Dove, Falcon or Seastar. Her friend asked, "Are you talking about your first name or last name?  Because Debby Dove sounds like a cartoon character."
On to Milk and Honey where Kellie purchased some candles and a deck of self-care cards.  We sat in the back for a few minutes while she looked through the deck.  As we were going to continue our trek to East West Cafe, a woman sat down next to us.  She wondered if we could do a reading for her.  My friend said she didn't know how to do readings.
"I had a dream a few nights ago I was in Milk and Honey and someone was helping me figure out a problem in my life," she told us.  "They told me to draw a card and I would get the answer."  She looked at us imploringly, as if we were supposed to help her play this dream out.  Again she asked us to help her draw a card.  I suddenly felt I was caught in a Jungian whirlpool.
Kellie told her we needed to go somewhere.  The woman started to make the same request again, and then appeared to surrender.  "Okay, maybe this is a lesson.  Maybe I need to learn to draw cards on my own.  Maybe doing this alone will help me find the answers I need."  
We both nodded, more from hunger than agreement.
She stared at several decks on the table in front of her so intently I wondered if one of them was going to levitate.
We dashed out of there, ready for a late lunch.  "Oh, ye of little faith," Kellie said to me.  "Just a half hour on Main Street and already we have been quite Sebastopol'ed."

Woman, to her friend by the salad bar at Whole Foods:  "So this is a vegetarian pot luck?  Great.  There will be one really good veggie dish, some carrot sticks and a bunch of chips and salsa."


Favorite license plate:
SR MMNTS

More Sebastopol snippets

An acquaintance was sitting next to me in the plaza one Saturday morning and a man walked by drinking from a bottle out of a brown paper bag.  He ended up circling back a few minutes later and sat down on a bench near us.  He took a few more sips and then ended up taking the bottle out of the bag.  The drink was aloe and coconut water.  She turned to me and said, "Only in Sebastopol. Anywhere else that would have been vodka."
"Well, there still could be vodka in there," I observed.
She was quiet for a moment and said, "Well, that's true.  But still, sneaking alcohol in coconut water?  Still pretty Sebastopol."
"Well, yes," I conceded.

"Do I know what polyamory means?  I've lived in Sebastopol for eleven years.  Yes, I am very aware of what polyamory means."

Man behind the counter at a coffeehouse, murmuring to a co-worker:  "I think I've hit my limit of hipsters for the weekend."

Woman, in the Whole Foods supplement section, sounding a bit frantic:  "I can't believe I forgot my pendulum!"

From an email:
"I was standing outside Sprint one afternoon when I noticed four people talking to each other. Two of them were carrying yoga mats.  It caught me attention only because it turned out each of them were going to yoga, but to different classes.  One was going to hatha, one was going to beginning, one was going to Bikram and the last was going to some type of class I'd never heard of before.  I couldn't believe there were four different yoga classes about ready to start on a Tuesday afternoon!"

"Most of the families on that street home school their children.  They are very into Hinduism and Zen and things like that, so we call it 'Om Schooling.'"





www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Power drinks, power couples

Sometimes when I sit outside of Whole Foods by myself I tend to watch people walk up to the trash/recycling/compost bins and see their reaction to all the choices.  It is a source of amusement for me.  Some shoppers are very quick: recycle-recycle-trash-compost. They know where each item goes.  And some just stand there looking bewildered as if the explanations are in Bulgarian.  They slowly start to put something in the trash... then, stop, wait, maybe this is compost?  Once in a while someone will hover over one of the bins, afraid to drop whatever they are holding in to the bins.  As if an alarm will sound if trash ends up in the recycling. (I cut them some slack for the more recent composting phenomena, but when they get stuck on recycling...?   I saw a movie about recycling in the tenth grade.  It's not new.)
Recently, I was finishing some pasta and looking on as people tried to decipher the complex terrain of recyclable versus compostable when a woman came up next to me.  She unscrewed a cap on a plastic-like bottle and poured a brown liquid into the compost.  Then she tossed the bottle into the recycling and something else in the trash.  Noticing I was observing her, she explained, "It was a protein drink that got passed on to me.  A vegan, non-gmo, sugarless smoothie that was pretty awful."
I apologized for staring.  Truthfully I was just impressed she got the various bins right.
She told me she lives in Las Vegas.  I asked her how she liked Sebastopol.  Good, bad, weird, wonderful, bizarre - people have different reactions to this town.  But I have found it nearly always leaves an impression.
"Oh, I love it.  I came four years ago to visit an old college roommate and have come back every summer since.  It's a lovely area, interesting people."
Of course "interesting" could be interpreted in several different ways.
After chatting for a few minutes she mentioned the owners of the property where her friend rented a small house.  "They are quite the characters.  They teach classes, do workshops, I believe she used to run a massage school.  And they also teach a couples tantric yoga class, which they invited me too.  I'm not that good at yoga, but I told my friend I'd rather do it by myself, thank you very much."
"What kind of workshops do they teach?" I asked.
"It has something to do with finding inner peace, it incorporates different things.  Meditation and something that is pretty new-agey that has to do with the brain.  I read one of their pamphlets but I didn't really understand it."  She paused.  "Very charismatic people.  My friend calls them the Sebastopol power couple.  They even have matching cars, sky blue and dark red.  They were telling me why that was symbolic but I can't remember why.  Something about colors and emotions."
Out of curiosity, I asked what kind of car they owned.
She took a sip of a presumably non-vegan sugar-sweetened drink.  "Prius."
Well, naturally.


Favorite line of the week:
"I am a Libra, and Libras don't believe in astrology."

Favorite license plate:
{heart symbol} DELITE

Those Sebastopol hippie crosswalks

I had several people with more "children stories" after the last blog entry:

"My five year-old nephew was holding a bottle of limeade at Whole Foods.  He said, 'I only want to get this if it's organic.'"

"My young daughter went to a daycare in Sebastopol for a while.  Now she says things like, 'I'd really rather have almond butter than peanut butter' and 'What kind of herbal teas am I allowed to have?"

"We had recently moved here from Santa Fe.  My daughter was in a play group and suddenly started talking about how she was born the year of the rat, and how different that is than other kids in her group who were born the year of the ox.  Apparently they discuss this quite a bit."

And my 2 1/2 year old niece always asks me if I'm going to get some Kombucha when we walk through Whole Foods.  (Interestingly enough, I don't even drink Kombucha.)


A friend had her cousin visiting from out of town.  I asked her how it was going.  Her reply:
"He thinks everything around here has to do with hippies.  'Is this because there are a lot of hippies around here?  Is that because of all the hippies?'  He even asked me about the flashing lights at the crosswalks.  I was like 'Dude, what in the world does that have to do with hippies?'"

Someone who has read this blog sent me the following email:
"I have enjoyed reading your blog.  I love living in this town although sometimes it can border a bit on the ridiculous.  But your blog endears me to this community.  I like Sebastopol with all its quirks.  There is a cast of characters here that makes it a fun place to live and people watch."
(It is for sure a community with a 'cast of characters.')

A computer on a small table at Starbucks with the note:  "Will be right back.  Do not take my laptop.  You are in the land of karma."

Favorite license plate:
BE STILL




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Beans, bubbles and bok choy

A visitor from up north told me, "I like Sebastopol.  It's a town in a bubble, but I like it.  My friend's think I am such a wild hippie to come down here every few months.  I come to get re-energized, but the funny thing is here I am considered very conservative."

A boy looking at the menu at Slice of Life.  "Look mom, carrot juice!  Organic black beans!  Yes!"
Very young girl at Community Market:  "How about some baby bok choy, mommy?"

Some shoppers at Community Market:
"Hold on a second, I like to read the fliers.  This is my entertainment."  After a moment:  "Look, here is a women's writing group."
Her friend:  "Is it a real one?  Or a writing group about birthstones and unicorns?"

Customer complaint: regarding a flier for Ecstatic Dance.  He has been to India, and the dancing event he went to here was not the ecstatic experience he had abroad.  According to him, Community Market should not be putting up such fliers.

Out of town visitor to me:  "I've noticed a lot of people here have superpowers."


Favorite license plate:
HAWK GAL

Favorite bumper sticker in a downtown store:
"I don't care if your child is an honor student, where you went to school or what you'd rather be doing."


On a local note, sad to see Box Office Video is closing.  It has been a constant between Whole Foods and Slice of Life for years.  I am sorry to see it go!




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

What sixth chakras and iphones have in common

I was with some teenagers at a "teen lounge" recently and heard some choice comments.  (Some of the remarks, especially coming from teens, made what I overheard even more humorous.) 

"You know how there is spiritual fake and spiritual sincere?  She is very spiritual sincere."
"My yoga teacher's daughter is definitely spiritual fake."

"I do not like [animal] medicine cards.  My grandmother made me draw one to see what my spirit animal was and I got skunk.  Skunk!"
Her friend:  "You got skank?"
Third girl:  "No, she said skunk." 
First girl:  "Who wants their spirit animal to be a skunk?" 
Her friend (continuing to text on her phone):  "Well, maybe it's better than being a skank."

Adolescent boy:  "It would be really nice if I could open up my third eye, but I don't know how."
His friend:  "I don't think you open it.  I think you activate it."
After a moment.  "Kind of like a cell phone?"


Gentleman, standing outside Copperfield's on July fourth:  "For being a fairly anti-establishment town, Sebastopol sure does go all out with the flags every holiday it can."
(this is true)

I was walking toward Ragle Park close to dusk and heard some drumming coming from a backyard a few houses down.  A man, walking toward me, commented when he passed by:  "You gotta love Sebastopol.  You go for an evening stroll and get some nice sunset drumming."




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Separation of church and pendant

I was just thinking that I hadn't had any Sebastopol encounters for a while when I overheard a conversation by the deli counter at Community Market.  The special for the day was a grilled bacon/tomato/basil sandwich.
Guy to his friend:  "I think I might get the special...   That sounds good.  Oh, I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't be tempting you with a BLT."
Guy #2:  "Truthfully I'm not really a vegan.  I learned what I am.  I'm a negan."
Me stepping closer to them, "I'm sorry, what is a negan?"
Guy #2:  "Nearly vegan."
I nodded.  "Well, that makes sense."
First guy:  "You should put that on a t-shirt.  'NEGAN.'  With an asterisk, and in small letters 'vegan except for bacon.'"  Then to me, "And actually it's true, he really is a vegan.  With the exception of bacon."
Me:  "I have a few friends I could get that t-shirt for."
And as a good negan, I did see him order the BLT sandwich with vegan mayonnaise.

Shopper:
"There is a lot of nice jewelry here.  But I really want something that doesn't... you know, have an Om sign or the tree of life.  I like my jewelry and I like my spiritual life, but I'd just prefer to keep them separate."


Man gazing at flier:  "Well, look at that.  In Sebastopol there is not just a class on conscious parenting.  There is an entire festival."


License plate of the week:
CHAKRA3
(The question being, is this in reference to the third chakra?  Or were CHAKRA1 and 2 just already taken?)




www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

When felines and tarot cards collide

"I'm not going to yoga to be happy!  If I wanted to be happy, I would go somewhere and order a glass of wine."

At Global Village:
"We could get them these religious prayer flags, yes.  They could go with the three thousand other prayer flags they already have all over their property."

"It's not hard to find yerba mate in Sebastopol.  You can get it at the gas station."
(I did not know this, but it is in fact true.)

"Where are you from initially?"
"Born and raised in Grass Valley.  But I have spent a lot of time in Sebastopol."
"So you are one of those Sebastopol/Grass Valley dual citizenship folks."

Woman shopper, to a store owner:  "The feng shui in this space isn't promoting flow."
Her friend:  "Not everyone knows about feng shui."
Same woman, to a small group standing next to them:  "Do you know what feng shui is?"
Several of them nod.  To her friend, "I think the types of people who live around here know about feng shui."  After a moment.  "And the feng shui in here is kind of atrocious."

"I know what I am going to do this summer!  I am going to create a cat tarot deck!"


Favorite business card of the week:
Chocolate Troubadour

Favorite license plate:
DEJA VU

Renting and lamenting in west county

Sometimes when I am talking to people it will come up that I write a blog about Sebastopol and its quirkiness, which of course leads to stories about quirky moments in Sebastopol. It is kind of a chicken or the egg thing.... then I end up with anecdotes for the blog.
Such was the case recently when the topic of this blog surfaced and it lead to a discussion of the most overused words in Sebastopol.  Some gems from this exchange:

"The most overused word would have to be 'blessings.'  Lots of blessing going on in Sebastopol.  It's like a town full of Catholic priests minus the Christianity."
(As an aside, I was slowing down for someone to cross the street this week and he held out his hand and said, "Blessings."  It was one of those how Sebastopol was that? moments.)

"I think the most overused phrase is: 'Let's meet at Whole Foods.'" 
"Maybe seconded by 'I've been trying to manifest....'  Sometimes I want to say, set a goal!  Setting goals is okay, too."

"I think one of the most overused words is 'goddess.'  Really, I had a very different relationship with that word before I moved here."

"I'd have to say the most overused excuse around here is 'I can't because I'm a virgo/pisces/leo....'  Or, 'I don't do well with him because he is an aries/tauras/has a scorpio moon...'"


Favorite local post of the week:
"I am looking for a rental in Sebastopol or Forestville.  My hope is it can be walking distance from downtown Sebastopol with an area I can garden.  I would also like to put up an outdoor kiln.  Quiet, mellow woman in her 50s.  If you have a reasonably priced room in a house or granny unit that is clean, scent-free, preferably vegetarian household, free of smokers, quiet (no young children), open to a renter who meditates, is vegetarian/sometimes vegan, does not like television and burns incense regularly and is respectful of boundaries in a shared living area then please contact me.  Would like to find a place where there is little to no noise after 9 p.m. (including laundry being done).  I am also allergic to pets.
References available.  I really am low maintenance, despite how the above paragraph makes it seem."


Co-worker:  "Do you know where we could get some sage [for smudging] around here?"
Me:  "Um, I could walk out to my car."

Favorite license plate of the week:
BRN OWL



www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Tribal Fest and gluten zest

"Tribal Fest is going on?  Oh, I thought that's just how Sebastopol women dress."

Customer, standing in front of a large shelf of seventeen kinds of chocolate bars.  "What is it with Whole Foods and their shrines to chocolate?"

Mother, to five year old daughter running around in the store:  "Honey, you are spazzing out!  Did you not take your GABA this morning?"

Two people chatting in the plaza:  "You miss Health and Harmony [fair]?  Uh, just go hang out in front of Whole Foods most any weekend.  It's Health and Harmony all year 'round."

A woman sitting next to my friend, to no one in particular:  "I don't like this gluten-free pizza.  It lacks a certain zest.  The crust tastes like the cardboard in the back of a yellow pad.  I would like to get some pizza that is gluten-full."  (soft sigh)  "And then this imitation pepperoni...."


Favorite text of recent weeks:
"Yes, we can meet at Community Market.  But beware, tribal fest divas abound."

Favorite blog comment of the week:
"The blog about Sebastopol, where the streets are paved with yoga mats."



www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

The on-line vibe

An employment ad (thanks to Alice for passing this on) for an admin job.

"Strong preference given to those with knowledge of the spiritual path of Tantra, alternative healing practices, or personal growth paths. Experience with people of all sexual preferences or relationship styles can serve well.
We gain more understanding of a person by checking their astrology chart. If you're willing, please send your birthdate, time, and location (all three are necessary to do a chart) with your cover letter."

A group email from a reader who used to belong to a local singles group (name changed to protect the chanter):
"I am troubled that when we are planning activities, in the middle of our efforts Glenn will break out in a chant.  It seems to really disrupt the flow of things when he is suddenly intoning something not even in English.  I would appreciate if someone would make this clear to Glenn that it's not appropriate to do this in the middle of a planning session.  We may be in the Sebastopol community center, but it's not an ashram."  

A Sebastopol rental (with a splash of Palo Alto):
$1200 / 500ft² - $1200 yuppie pad for 1 person, must not breath air
(sebastopol)
0BR / sharedBa 500ft, in-law
Hi, we're a rich stuck up family who suddenly can't afford our overpriced home. We would like to rent out our granny unit or attached studio so we don't lose our cushy yuppy lifestyle. This is for a single person only with no pets, some one who doesn't smoke, drink, have guests, with one car that they don't drive and preferably doesn't breath our special Sebastopol air. Yes, it is an overpriced small space but since you will not be having any guests or require any privacy it should all work out for US.


Favorite conversation of the week, at Community Market, my new hot bar of choice:
"What is this?"
"I believe it is non-dairy cheese."
Woman stares.  Finally says, "Why would you eat cheese with no dairy in it?  That's not cheese."
Friend:  "Well, I think it's for people who don't do dairy."
"So, it's fake cheese?"  She moves on to the veggie curry.
A third person chimes in, "I think the politically correct term is dairy substitute."
Apparently in Sebastopol political correctness extends beyond people to food and food-imitation items.



www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Dates and updates

On a Saturday evening, sitting outside Community Market...

Gentleman, to a group of women:  "Can I join this table of goddess women?"
One of the goddesses:  "Only if you promise not to use that word."

Guy, pushing a drink back toward his pal.  "Nothing sweetened with dates.  Or coconut, or rice syrup.  I just want a good old-fashioned refined sugar buzz."

Woman passing by, "I've never heard so many people talk about tea as they do around here.  It's like I'm in the English countryside or something."

At the table next to me:  "Your weekend update from west county.  People are meditating... people are doing yoga...  people are writing in their dream journals, and buying organic fruit.  Thank you and good night.  May your third eye dream pleasant things."

Favorite Community Market customer comment:
"Why do you need all this information?  People in Sebastopol don't bounce checks."

Favorite blog comment of the week:
"I miss Sebastopol!  My little zen utopia of a town."

Bumper sticker:  "What would Kali do?"



(You can like Sebastoblog on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/sebastoblog

Astro-logical

Conversation overheard at Coffee Catz: 
(this was not, I should point out, a meeting of the Preppy Astrologists, although I would like to meet that crew)

First woman:  "Well I don't know what Mars is doing, but Jupiter is kicking my ass."
Second woman:  "It's like I'm in a swamp, trying to walk and I can't.  I keep setting simple intentions but they are not materializing.  I'm trying to move forward but some unseen force is holding me back."
Third woman:  "Could that be Pluto?"  {Chuckles all around.}  "And don't get me started on the eclipse."
Man, with purple hat:  "Transformation is all around us.  I'm so glad to be here with each of you right now, acknowledging the transformation."
Second woman:  "Transformation, or transmutation?  Because I think it is a transmutation."
First woman:  "No, I don't think transmutation will come for a few months, when..." (some planet moves into some new position and something happens with an opposing something).
Purple Hat Man:  "Interesting.  Transformational transmutation perhaps?"
First woman:  "Or a transformative transmuting metamorphosis?"  
Third woman:  "Now you are just not being logical."


Local flier:
"Macrobiotic Potluck Dinner"

Favorite line of the week:
"Welcome to Sebastopol.  Yoga pants capital of the world."

Favorite blog comment of the week:
"Sebastopol's Farmers Market is like Burning Man with food."
(thanks Carmel)  :)

Sebastopol snippets cont.

"I know - ginger lemonade.  Lavender lemonade.  Honey lemonade.  Can't we find some place we can just get normal lemonade?"

Small sign on a coffeehouse table:  "Reserved 6-8 for a meeting of the Preppy Astrologists"

"And folks were getting upset.  I was like, 'Calm down.  Everyone relax.  Chill out.  Take some kava kava pills.'"

Woman sitting outside Community Market:  "Yes, the person sitting next to me was a hippie.  Or as I like to call them, a 'hipper-than-thou.'"

"Remember the old days when you could just make a cake that wasn't gluten-free?  When you could serve ice cream without having to have a dairy-free alternative available as well?  When you could have diet Coke at a birthday party and not get lectured about it?  Life was simpler before I moved here."


Favorite Sebastoblog comment:
"Your latest update from Sebastopol, CA.  Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your sign."

"Mommy's all right, Daddy's all right..."

I was sitting outside a shop looking at a license plate that read SURENDR, wondering if I should do a license plate of the week.  Someone with a jar of green liquid casually stopped next to me, wondering what I was staring at.  When I said the license plate, he glanced at it and speculated, "Is this someone who just really likes Cheap Trick?"
I started to laugh, then realized he was not joking.  "Oh, you must not be from around here."
Indeed, he was visiting from British Columbia.  I explained that while "Surrender" may be a good song, it was much more likely the vehicle owner was referring to the notion of "letting go."
He peered at the the letters.  "So it's a spiritual license plate?"
"Well... it's a Sebastopol license plate."
I told him about several others I had seen lately:  KRISHNA, MDITATE, LUVHEALS.  And I asked about the drink in his hand.
"My host made this for me.  It has several different kinds of protein and maca and some kind of healthy caffeine.  And chlorella - which is good for you, but I don't know why."
I commented this sounded very healthy.   "Well, the person I am staying with at the moment is kind of a New Age body builder.  He is very into power smoothies, weight-lifting and hot yoga."
I asked why he was visiting Sebastopol, and in the middle of telling me he reached into his backpack and pulled out a sticker.  "Someone gave this to me at the farmer's market."  It was rows of diamonds that were in shades of the rainbow.  "Is this some kind of gay pride sticker?"
I looked at it more closely.  "I don't know what the diamonds are for, but I am pretty sure the colors are representing the chakras."
"Oh.  Sure."  He half-nodded.  "That makes more sense."
Now I was thinking, maybe I could have a Sticker of the Week.  This was quite the metaphysical sticker if there ever was one.
He had to leave.  His host had sent him in search of a muscle-building supplement.  As well as some sort of peach tea mix.   He laughed.  "You've got to love a body builder that takes natural muscle supplements and drinks peach tea."


Favorite lines of the week:
"We had my daughter's birthday party at the park.  It was raining and we were afraid people would not show up.  But then we realized we were in Sebastopol, so people would probably find some deeper meaning to it.  And wouldn't you know it?  Several parents did."


"Only people on a spiritual path would understand my name."



(You can like Sebastoblog on Facebook)

Beetlejuicing

Spring has suddenly come upon us, and I am feeling a bit guilty about how much I am enjoying it considering we only had about nine days of winter.  There is conversation about hiking and cherry blossoms and picnics.  And in Sebastopol talk of cleansing, of course.  It is that time of year.
From a friend who is visiting from out of state:
"I am at the tea house and watching two women loading up on chocolate before their cleanse.   And from a different group of women, I heard the term 'enema bucket' while discussing their spring cleanse."
A woman in front of me at the grocery store informed me she had just filled her basket with the most unexciting food imaginable:  "Nothing with wheat, no dairy, no sugar, nothing processed.  Nothing with caffeine.  My acupuncturist wants me to do a ten day cleanse.  We'll see how I do - when I tried this before I only lasted for seven hours."
At Community Market, a woman in the supplements section was talking about her annual cleanse.  "I don't know whether to do the cleanse up to the equinox, or celebrate equinox and then start the cleanse.  Last year I had been cleansing for a week and was so light-headed and hungry at an equinox gathering I was practically hallucinating.  And not in a good way."
In the produce section, I overheard someone talking on their cell phone.  "Beetlejuice?  What are you talking about?  The movie?"  Pause.   "Ohhhhhhh.  You mean beet juice.  They make that here?"
He and I ended up talking about juicing for a minute after he hung up the phone.  "For five days my wife will only drink juice smoothies and soup broths.  She is only allowed to eat blended meals.  She is really good about it at first, but by the end she is about ready to put a roast beef sandwich into a blender."
And on a flier for a detoxification class after listing the health benefits of detoxing:
"Crap your way to better health and shinier skin"

 Favorite line of the week:
"And Sebastopol charges more sales tax than Santa Rosa, which isn't cheap to begin with!"
"Maybe it is to pay for all those flashing crosswalks that light up."








 

Destiny and yoga partners await

Infusions.  Late afternoon.  I am enjoying some lime ginger tea and waiting for a call from my mechanic.  I have forgotten my book and am skimming a local magazine which is not holding my attention.  Since I am truly not that interested in over-priced wine tours.
The woman to the right of me is looking through a card deck.  She shuffles the cards several times, sighing dramatically.  She does this loudly.  (In case you are wondering if she was shuffling loudly or sighing loudly, the answer would be both.)  Several times it appeared she was going to draw a card, but then she would exhale sounding rather exasperated.
My curiosity eventually won out.  I asked her a question about the deck.
She showed it me.  "I was at a yoga class," her story began.  (Of course.)  "This guy who I've seen before but never spoken to until today asked me for my number.  I am drawing a card to see if I should go out with him."
Her telling me this seemed to diffuse the sighing.  She showed me a few cards from the deck; it was one I was familiar with.  The cards range from positive to flaming positive.
She drew the card Blessings.  "That is a pretty positive card," she observed.
"Well, if you want to shake things up a bit you could draw a card from a deck that is a bit more diverse," I interjected.  I was half-joking.  But she looked at me and thought for a few seconds, and then reached into her large purple bag.  Another deck came out.
"That's a good point."  She showed me the new deck and noted that there were cards that were positive, some that weren't necessarily favorable and some neutral ones.  She was, indeed, going out on a bit more of a limb this time.
"Are you interested in this guy?" I asked.
She stared at the cards before her.  "I'm not sure.  But I want to see what the cards say."
Another card was chosen, and this one had optimistic sentiment.  She did not quite seem convinced, though.  Asking for her tea to go, she told me she was going to have to go home and research how Cancers and Aquarians get along.
So drawing a card was only the first act.  Astrologically favorable or not was part two.  And then there was another phase, that had something to do with a gong.
Evidently the gentleman from the yoga class was waiting for her reply.  After her research was done she was supposed to let him know via email whether he could have her phone number.  
"Does he know you are drawing cards and figuring out your astrological compatibility?"
"Yes.  I told him that."
"And he was okay with all this?"
She nodded.  "Oh, yes.  He said to go draw a card."
Well, then.  A match made in heaven.  Or at least in west county.


Favorite Facebook comments of the week:

L:   ...there could be an entire blog dedicated to the kids of Sebastopol.

D:   Absolutely!  And their sense of "fashion!"

L:   Yes!  Jim has named it "Sebastopolian dynamite!"

Sebastopol snippets

A 7th grader to his friend:  "That is not a push-up.  That is a really sad downward-facing dog."

Customer, peering at a cracked glass door in the Whole Foods refrigerated section:  "Did someone go postal because they were out of almond milk or something?"

Regarding a young child:
"Does she need to fall asleep and take a nap?"
"I'm not attached to it one way or another."
"Is that because you are Buddhist and you don't believe in attachment?"

"People here cancel on you at the last minute for the strangest reasons.  I'm not talking about being flaky.  Flaky people are everywhere.  I'm talking about why they cancel - like 'I can't meet you, I'm having an emergency session with my astrologist.'"

"Massage!  Reiki!  My chakras!"
"What is this, Sebastopol Tourette's?"
"Aromatherapy!"

And from me:
"You cannot get into my blog by mocking things!"


Status update of the week provided by Daniela:
"Will people judge me for playing Candy Crush at Whole Foods whilst eating Ceres Project food?"*




* (Ceres Project prepares healthy and nutritious food for people with serious illness.)









You can like Sebastoblog on Facebook

Year of the Horse/Day of the Dragon

Because I can't believe how many blogs start out with me being in or around Whole Foods, I was glad to be approached by a tall, lanky dude in front of the Barlow's Community Market.  I don't know if he was a Sebastopol Dude or Du-uu-uude but based on his attire and the mix of surfer and hippie energy he emanated I would guess he was the latter.
He had on a t-shirt with varying iridescent shades of light emanating from spiral shells.  The tinted hues were so bright it seemed to hypnotically radiate the colors of the rainbow.  I also noticed a black bracelet with a Chinese symbol and a horse.
I thought he was going to put something in the recycling bin I was standing in front of, but instead he stopped and said, "Hey, you are the blogger."
I'm still not quite sure how to respond when people I don't know say this to me.  But yes, I nodded, I was "the blogger."  It turned out he was the friend of a friend who had told him about my blog and he had seen my friend and I (at Whole Foods of course). 
He was smoking a cigarette and holding a cup of coffee while also starting to spin three small hoops on his left arm.  He began telling me how he had moved here from Capitola and the things he liked about Sebastopol, but I was more mesmerized by his ability to multi-task these three different activities.
I asked about the bracelet.  "Is that for Chinese New Year?"
He held it up for me to see.  "Yes.  We just began year of the horse."
Since I live in west county and have not been in a coma the past two weeks I was aware of this.  But I was curious.  "So, do you just wear this bracelet every twelve years when it is the year of the horse?"
Snapping it off, he showed me that you could change the animal.  "I have eleven other animals somewhere.  Ten actually, the boar disappeared kind of mysteriously.  That's another story."
Of course, I had to ask about the story of the lost boar.
He laughed.  "I'm not sure I want to end up in your blog."
I guaranteed him his t-shirt alone could probably generate an entire blog post.  (With his permission, I would not mind having him be a blog guest.)
"Okay then.  I think I'd like to go by something different in the blog.  My blog name could be like Dragon or Cactus."
"Whatever you decide," I assured him.
He returned to inhaling his cigarette while holding his coffee and spinning the hoops again, while telling me the differences between Sebastopol and Capitola.  I did not know some of the references he made to Capitola since I have not been there for a long time, but I did gather that he digs frequently seeing a man on a unicycle here in town.  I pictured my new acquaintance riding one through the plaza while twirling his hoops and simultaneously drinking a cup of coffee.
After a few minutes a woman with long flowing robes walked up to him.  They gave each other a semi-epic hug.  He introduced me as the local blogger, her as a "healer in the woods."
"And for the moment," he mentioned turning to his friend, "can you just refer to me as Dragon?"

Favorite line of the week (man coming out of the Dhyana Center):
"I don't know why but every time I do a sauna sweat and a steam, I always crave a Big Mac."


 
   

Epic hugs

A comment from the last post, too funny not to share (from my friend Gina):

A SNAG will often (but not always) have a ponytail.  He will take a long, deep, audible breath before answering any question.  His ability to hold prolonged eye contact is unnerving.  His hugs are epic. When dating he doesn't pay because he doesn't want to appear patriarchal, a move which only works on a SNAW (spiritual new age womyn), and is seen by others as simply cheap.  This is just off the top of my head, based on my own experience, and I, in no way, represent Sebastoblog or the beliefs of its founder, Cami. :)

I was able to track down Troy (San Fernando Valley visitor) which was no small feat considering he was the friend of a roommate's friend of an ex-co-worker.  Based on some questions asked by several readers, I wanted to know how his week in Sebastopol went.  And if he was able to become Sebastopol Guy.
The day before he left he cordially met with me to describe his week in Sebastopol and how it went trying to fit in.  He told me he met a "true SNAG" and that while he thoroughly enjoyed talking to this guy, he realized he could never be one.  "For one thing, I think my girlfriend would at the very least mock me and might even smack me if I kept calling her 'goddess.'  Although this guy could pull it off.  Not me however."
Troy had half of a Kombucha but did not particularly care for it, but liked an organic ale he tried. Kombucha, in his words, was "way too healthy without the buzz you get from a good beer.  And it tasted too much like fizzling dirt."
He very much enjoyed his stay in west county.  He told me about several hikes he took and a nice warm day at the coast before the rain began.  And he spent a few evenings at HopMonk.  He did not go to any yoga classes but was tempted to carry around a yoga mat because he saw so many people doing it.  He decided against it as he did not want to appear to be a fraud.  "I have to admit that it inspired me to find a yoga class once I get back home."
(Well, we all know this is the effect of the vortex.)
The only drink with green tea he tried was at Starbucks.  "It wasn't bad, a green tea latte of some kind.  But it has so much sweetener I'm not sure how 'good for you' it was.  'Have a teaspoon of green tea with tablespoons of sugar and milk...'  Not the healthiest drink I've come across."
I asked if he found out what his rising sign was.  "I did."  He smiled.  "I also found out that you don't say 'my rising sign is Virgo.'  You say:  'I'm a virgo rising.'  And I found out more about the year of the horse than I ever thought I would know!"
"Do you know what year just ended?"
He nodded.  "Year of the snake."
"Ah, bonus points," I responded.
"And this woman divulged to me why, as a Libra, this year of the horse would be good for me.  I would recap but she lost me about sixty seconds into her explanation."
Troy ventured into Whole Foods several times.  There is a Whole Foods in the town he is from so this wasn't too out of the ordinary.  "But one thing that is different is all the hugging here.  My friend just kept going from person to person hugging them.  Then an entire group of people from some class she took, hugs all around.  I don't know, hugs like that just doesn't happen where I'm from.  Quite the phenomena.  I don't quite know how to describe it."
"I think 'epic' is the word you might be looking for."


Favorite line of the week:
"It's hard to describe his look.  He kind of dresses like a yoga nerd."




(You can "like" Sebastoblog on Facebook)

Sebastopol Du-uu-uude

I was with an ex-co-worker and some friends of friends who were visiting from southern California.  Somehow the conversation turned to how one of them desired to learn more about the local culture during his week in west Sonoma County.  He was asking how he could more aptly fit in.
"Well," one women wanted to know, "do you want to be a 'Sebastopol Guy' or a 'Sebastopol Dude?'"
Another guy interjected, "And then there is Sebastopol Dude and Sebastopol Du-uu-uude."
I should be clear that I personally do not know the distinctions between all these.  But everybody laughed.
He replied, "I think I am too old to be a dude.  So how about Sebastopol Guy?"
"Do you mean a SNAG?" I asked.
Someone wanted to know what a SNAG was.  Several of us answered in unison:  "Spiritual new age guy."
Troy, aspiring Sebastopolian, responded:  "I don't think I am a SNAG."
"Well, you will fit right in," I maintained.  "Most SNAGs do not think they are SNAGs."
Several members of our little group smiled, nodding their heads.  Most everyone had ideas for fitting in as Sebastopol Guy:
Sit in front of Whole Foods chatting for long periods of time.
When you say good-bye to someone, add "Blessings" at the end.
Go to a yoga class or two.  Or at least carry a yoga mat around. 
Consume something that contains green tea.
Attend Soul Motion.  Someone asked what this is, and the woman explained, "A conscious dance-movement class on Sunday mornings."
Which led to the next suggestion:  "Use the word 'conscious' a lot.  You know, if you garden or do bookkeeping, make sure it is conscious gardening, conscious bookkeeping."  (This reminded me of a flier I recently saw for Conscious Housekeeping.)
Buy a dream journal.
Learn at least three attributes about your astrological sign.  Troy is a Libra.  I think he was told at least eight attributes by the people in this little crowd.  Because the three attributes ended up being so easy, someone said it would be more impressive if he found out his rising sign and was able to converse about it.  "Does everyone have a rising sign?" he asked.
A woman put her arm around him.  "Oh, Troy.  You have a lot to learn this week."
Try Kombucha.  Troy was not excited about this, but he did agree to at least try organic beer or wine.
Troy reached into his jacket pocket.  "This is very involved.  I think I need to make a list on my palm pilot."  And after a few seconds, being the quick learner, he added:  "I think I need to make a list - consciously of course."


Favorite line of the week:
"Two astrological forecasts ago..."

Shrek and the Shiva lunchbox

I feel compelled to explain that my life does not consist of one Sebastopol encounter after another.  I've had several individuals remark recently that I have a lot of quirky things happening to me all the time.  One asked if she could follow me around.  I can assure you, many days/afternoons/weekends of mine are quite mundane.  Nothing seemingly out of the ordinary will happen for a week, and I only blog about a twenty minute humorous encounter.  The remaining 6 days and 23+ hours of my week are un-earth-shattering.  (If I were to write about my everyday life, the blog would need to be renamed Sebastoboring...)

I was at the teen center searching for a flier for a Celtic performance I was certain I had seen a few days earlier.  Unable to find it I was standing by a table perplexed, trying to remember where else I had seen one.  There were a few children waiting for a class to start.  One came up to me and asked if I knew where their teacher was.  I told her that I was sorry, I did not.  What class were they here for?
"Yoga for kids."
Yes, I should have guessed.  They were all in children's versions of yoga attire.
I noticed she had a lunchbox with a Hindu god on it.  "Do you know who that is?"
She looked at it and replied, "An Indian lady."
A boy a bit taller with the same color hair came up behind me.  "That is Shiva.  It's a Shiva lunchbox."
"That does look like Shiva," I noted.  "Do you know anything about him?"
"It's a her."
Actually Shiva is a him, but I could see from the depiction how he could be under that impression. "Did you know one thing about Shiva, is that he is considered the god of yoga?"
They both looked at the lunchbox.  After a moment the boy said, "What I really wanted was a Shrek lunchbox."
"So you like the movie Shrek?"
"Yeah."
"Who is your favorite character?"
"Puss in Boots."  His sister nodded in agreement.
They placed the lunchbox on the table, and the container depicting the yogi dragon slaying god produced some mango fruit rolls.
"So, I take it you would rather have a Puss in Boots lunchbox than a Shiva lunchbox?" I queried.
"Yeah, but my mom got this for us.  She said if we could find a Shrek lunchbox at Whole Foods we could buy it," he explained.  "But we couldn't find one.  So we ended up with this one."


Favorite line of the week:
"I am trying to find a lunar calendar.  This is Sebastopol.  It shouldn't be that hard."



(You can also "like" Sebastoblog on Facebook)

Vanilla Vortex: the Sequel

Seeing how Sara (from the previous post) is far more extroverted than I am and has no qualms asking strangers random questions, I decided to lure her back to Sebastopol with promises of all the vanilla lattes she could consume.
The first question I had for her, based on several readers' inquisitive remarks, was if she was able  to find vanilla frozen yogurt after our last encounter.  She was (and highly recommended Honeymoon where she found it). Latte and chai in hand, we set out to conduct a highly random survey of pedestrians near downtown.  We were still curious what people thought of the Sebastopol vortex.
The first small group we encountered had mixed feelings about the vortex.  Two agreed that it existed.  Of the two, one thought it was a Sebastopol thing and the other thought it was a northbay thing.  Maybe even just northern California in general.  "And Sedona," she added. 
The other two did not think such a vortex existed but one did admit there was a distinct "vibe" to Sebastopol that was different than other parts of Sonoma County.  
As they walked away, Sara echoed:  "A different 'vibe' in Sebastopol than the other cities around here?  Yes, because of the vortex!"
The next small group of people gave similar answers.  We decided to hang out in front of a crystal shop to see if the people going inside had distinctly different opinions about our inquiry.   I was a sociology major in college, so this made me very happy.  Compare and contrast.
I mentioned sociology to Sara, who told me she had majored in comparitive religion.  "What do you do now?"  I asked.
"Teach zumba."
We both took sips of our drinks.  "Do you ever compare Hinduism and Christianity, you know, just for kicks?" 
She smiled and shook her head.   "No, but that's a good idea.  Maybe I could charge for that.  I do need to figure out some supplemental income." 
A few live ones walked up to the shop.  Sara asked the inevitable question.  The couple both nodded their heads.  "Yes," the man said.  That was it.  It was rather anti-climatic.
I tried to think of a good follow-up, but Sara beat me to it.  "Do you ever get caught in the vortex?"  She had an investigative tone to her voice.
Again they both nodded.  "Yeah," the woman replied.
Sara looked at me as if to say, "Okay, I'm out."
"What is the vortex like?" I ventured.
The guy looked at us as if he had conversations like this all the time.  "You know.  Chill.  It's just very chill and mellow here."
We smiled at them and they went inside.  "Too chill for me," Sara surmised.  "I think I need another latte.  Venti."


Favorite line of the week:  
"I don't dislike fairies.  Don't get me wrong.  But we have fairy dust coming out our ears right now."

Vanilla and vortices

It was a congested post-holidays afternoon on Main Street.  I had spent a while in Copperfield's but there were so many shoppers I was sitting on a bench in front of the store, hoping the crowd would thin out.  Busy thinking about what I needed to get done that day I didn't realize someone had sat down next to me, sipping a vanilla latte.  She apparently really liked this drink because she couldn't stop talking about it.  Although, she admitted, it was making her crave vanilla frozen yogurt.
We were talking about downtown, and with little segue she turned to me and asked, "Is there a Sebastopol vortex?  I feel like I get caught in this vortex when I come over here."
I started to answer but she continued.  "Maybe it's Sonoma County in general.  I lived in New York for a while and the energy here is just so different.  I drive up 101 and when I cross the border for Sonoma County I kind of go into a funk."
"A good funk or bad funk?"  I inquired.
"Just a funk.  Not a bad one."
"An instructor I had called it the 'Sonoma coma,'" I told her.
She laughed.  "Is that what it is?  Well, whatever it is....  It's like I come over here and there are soporific essential oils emanating through the air."
We talked for a few minutes, and then because Sara was on a caffeine high ("third latte that day" I was informed) and/or because Main Street was swarming with people and/or because she was quite gregarious, we decided to conduct a survey.  Did other people think there was a Sebastopol vortex?
The first couple we asked grinned amusedly.  The woman said, "I don't know."  The man she was with answered, "Absolutely."
"Do you think it is Sebastopol, or Sonoma County in general?" Sara quizzed him.
The man contemplated this for a moment and said, "If it is Sonoma County in general then Sebastopol is the epicenter."
Well-put, we both decided.
Our next passers-by were two elderly women.  When my new polling friend asked them the question, they turned around to look behind them.  They did not understand the repeated question, which was not hard to believe.  So my out-going benchmate elaborated upon it.  "Does the energy feel distinct here?  Do you feel different when you come to Sebastopol?"
One woman shook her head.  The other woman said, "I live around here.  But I remember when I first moved here, I kept feeling like I should do yoga."
Sarah's arms flew up so quickly I thought the latte would fly out of her hand.  "That's what I'm talking about!  Have you ever felt that anywhere else you've lived?"
The woman conceded she had not.
A younger woman with neon green heart sunglasses sat down on the bench, peering at a small notebook in her hand.  Sara asked the question again.  Without looking up she responded, "Oh yeah.  If you're not grounded you'll get caught in the vortex and it's kind of like being in an unconsecrated temple."
Sara and I glanced at each other.  From the looks on our faces it appeared we did not quite know what she meant.
The woman looked at us through her sunglasses.  "I carry a big chunk of amethyst in my purse.  Because of the energy around here.  It can be discombobulating."
Sarah sipped her coffee.  She started to say something, but the woman cut her off, talking about something to do with one's third eye and certain types of crystals.  I couldn't follow it.
After Sunglasses Gal wandered off Sara leaned toward me and remarked very matter-of-factly, "Some people get trapped in the vortex.  And they can't get out."

Favorite line of the week:
Three people were speaking German in front of Whole Foods. While I did not understand anything being said, I heard:  "Sebastopol.... New Age.... Sebastopol.... New Age.... New Age.... New Age...." sprinkled throughout the conversation.



(You can "like" Sebastoblog on Facebook)