The pool is ok. No rips or tears. I, however, kick into deep post-traumatic stress every time I hear running water now. It’ll pass. I hope.

We did. Our first day out was scary. I got thrashed. I drank a bunch of water. It shook me to the core. But I knew I had to keep trying or I’d never get back on the board. It was so worth it. We bodyboarded twice that week. The second time was even better.

On our third time out - yesterday - PBX and I stopped at the sporting goods store in search of our own bodyboards. Turns out, the ones we were learning on were the smallest child size foam board ever made. We laughed at the comparisons as the sweet surfer-boy helped size our personal boards. I had my choice of pink, blue or red top. I had the pink one in my hands the entire time while admiring all the other colors. For some reason, I was drawn to the pink. Whoda thunk?

We also bought fins and booties for our feet. If I could have afforded them, I would’ve bought the better quality fins but it was my first attempt, so I stuck with the fifteen-dollar type. Not the best decision.

You have no idea how many muscles do not get used on a regular basis till you try walking and kicking in “good-sized” waves. The outside edges of the arches in my feet were screaming with pain within 15 minutes. The fins came off after 40 minutes. They really do help catch the wave but they also trip me up when I’m trying to withstand a mess of crest knocking me around. I kept the booties on though.

The boards. OMG! It was like riding a boat compared to the kiddy boards we used previously. When we caught a wave a wave caught us, there was no going back. It was fire-power. I’m learning how to steer and pump too. I’m looking forward to spinning and flipping, as soon as I feel comfortable being pwnd by the all-powerful ocean.

So I was completely wiped out last night. I feel sunburned but actually, it’s more likely rash-burn. Salt, sand, waves and wind do a number on the body. We couldn’t afford our rashguards just yet. But that’s next on the list. Wetsuits too. Oh yeah. The bug. I’ve got it bad.

I can’t believe I never did this, all the years I lived on Venice Beach. I spent every day on the beach. I could see the ocean from my yard. I never had to drive and get sand in my car. The sand and ocean were my backyard playground. Oh, I’ll be back. This house, 10 miles inland, is just temporary. I need the ocean and she needs me.

I haven’t been posting in here because I’ve been spending most of my online time in the YouTube community. I know I should post every video I upload over here but I forget…often.

I’ve been doing a weekly show with another YouTuber every Monday morning. We just started so we’re still trying to find our groove.  So far it’s been an interesting experiment.  I have to see if our big camera will act as a webcam so I can do live music shows.  That’s what folks are asking for.  And that would be great to do. Right now, my new webcam, while it has decent picture quality, the microphone just sucks.  And my computer is almost four years old so the mic jack is jacked.

We’ll see what I can figure out.

I’m a tiny bit envious of the YouTubers who are in Toronto for the 8-8-8 gathering this weekend.  But I have such low ambition today that I might have slept through all the events.

Bodyboarding is my new favorite thing to do in Los Angeles.  I’m saving for my own bodyboard, fins and a wet-shirt. Maybe a wetsuit.  At least the shirt because I wore a bikini top my first time out and came back a little roughed up.  I was slammed by the ocean pretty hard my first day out too.  But that didn’t stop me from going two days later.  I’d go again today if I had my own bodyboard.  Soon though.

More again soon.  Is everyone enjoying summer?  Or winter, depending on your location.

Just a quick check-in to let you know we’re all ok! We were in separate places — I was at work, PBX and Niller are working on a film set and the animals were home. Cell service was down for about an hour.  But thanks to Twitter, we were able to get messages to each other — well, not to the dogs. Amazing that we could send/receive messages from all parts of the world but could not get hold of anyone just a few miles away.

This earthquake was a good one. I was working at a client’s office - in a tall building, swinging and swaying for 30 seconds. Enough time to twitter: EARTHQUAKE RIGHT NOW.  haha - priorities you know?

Having been through the ‘94 quake, I learned how to gauge the magnitude. So while we were rockin-n-rollin, I called out, “This is a good one - at least a five, depending on where it’s located!”

It’s been a long while since I’ve felt a decent sized earthquake.  I like these rolly quakes much better than those jolting, bangy quakes. Less stressful, if you can believe that.

I just got home and the animals are just fine. As a matter of fact, I forgot we had an earthquake and just did a once-over. Nothing seems out of place.

If you want to know what’s going on with me at any time, you can follow me here.

Will keep you posted if there’s anything further. But I haven’t even felt a single one of the aftershocks.  We live 35 miles from the epicenter. Here’s a good link if you want to find real-time earthquake information.

Even if you’re keeping up with my YT channel, you still may not have seen the following video by vanillawave4peace (I call her Niller, as in ‘nilla). She, PBX and I had breakfast with one of our favorite YouTubers last week: SHAYCARL. He was in Los Angeles for business and was able to squeeze a few free hours to visit with us. So you know, he’s as charismatic, personable and intelligent as his online personality.

The following video is Niller’s concept. PBX and I helped with production but that’s about it. Niller edited the entire thing herself. It’s really good - and so funny! You can watch it here but if you have a YouTube account, please click the link to leave her a comment on the video. She would love that! This stuff isn’t easy. And she made it look really easy.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH: MY SHAYCARL LEFTOVERS

or watch it here.

This collaborative project we’re working on this weekend is becoming a little more involved than I anticipated. Some of the video files were created on a Mac. Nothing wrong with Mac files, unless you’re like me and editing on Windows software. That’s where research and time come into play. Blah.  I still haven’t found the one conversion software that will do the job accurately.  It’s choppy and laggy.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on.

Not to mention I spent all day yesterday either in bed or the bathroom.  I couldn’t keep anything in my body.  It was frustrating and uncomfortable.  I’m feeling a little better today but still not 100% strong.

I did an online yoga class the other night. It was great - except my screen saver kept popping up and I had to keep stopping the video to get the full yoga experience. The instructor flew through the poses. I think it was a 90 minute class condensed into 45 minutes.  But effective enough to give me a charlie horse through my entire left leg two days later. Big ouch.

My work hours have slowed down, partially my own fault. I was banking on more hours with one client when I let go of another client. But it sorta didn’t happen.  I had to let go of the other client. I was sitting there, doing nothing for hours at a time. I felt brain dead. Now I wish I just continued to be brain dead. I was getting paid for it. Still, not exactly ethical to charge them for sitting around.

I did get a call from another person who needs my help in the near future. He’s just putting his stuff together, figuring out exactly what he needs. He said “I’m not looking at anyone else. I hope it’s ok that I call you in a couple of weeks.”  Nice guy.

So I’m not panicking (yet).  I’m working enough hours with my two clients to at least float.

What else?  Oh yeah, this one’s kinda big and scary.  I joined a few actors resources websites.  I can read breakdowns and submit my headshot and resume for roles I think suit me.  I’ve always wanted to be a television/film actress.  I gave it up a long time ago.  I’m back around to feeling like I passed up on my number one love.  So I have to try.  And I have to admit I want it.  Meaning, I have to be willing to fail or succeed.  Anything else is just in-between…which is kinda where I’ve been for 16 years.

I guess that’s it for now. Hope you are well. What am I missing in the blogosphere? Feel free to link-drop in the comments. I know I’ve been MIA in your blogs. I read through my feeder but I know it’s not the same.

I took a quick dip in the pool and dried off, relaxed and ready to go live when BlogTV decided to punk out.  I got emails and IMs about “I can’t get in!!” and “It won’t load.”

I know.  Same happened for me.  It just wasn’t in the cards.  We bagged it and went to stickam instead. It was fun but I’m still determined to make my BlogTV show work.

So I’m taking the plunge again and I’ve scheduled another LIVE SHOW - THURSDAY at 8PM PDT (11PM EDT).

I’d love to see you there!  You don’t have to be a member and you won’t have to get on camera.  You have the option to chat via text.  But you wouldn’t even have to do that.  You can be a creeper-lurker like many who’ve come before.

If you’re interested in knowing about spur-of-the-moment, and other scheduled shows, you can click this link to go to my page now, create a user-name and click SUBSCRIBE.

You can also get alerts if you FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

QUESTION: If you are interested in seeing a show, what’s the best day and time for you? Please remember to be specific about your time zone.  (I may turn this question into a poll in the near future.)

Thanks all. Hope to see you live in BlogTV!

All you need is a computer and you’re in!  I’ll be doing a live chat/show on BlogTV.

What does this mean?  I’m still not exactly sure, except that we’re having a lot of fun on BlogTV.  YouTubers like Shaycarl, DJzoey, Pickles2626, vanillawave4peace, max9183 and so many more have shared the monitor over the past week.  Sometimes there’s an appearance by pbx6319.

No worries if you’re camera shy. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ON CAMERA.  The room is for chatting via text. It’s like being in a chat room with a host and sometimes a co-host on camera. That’s all.

Come Join Us!!