Ojai, California has many treasures: sunset and the pink moment over the Topa Topa Mountains, Meditation Mount, the Arcade, Bart's Books, and more. There is no treasure so great, however, as Finnish artist Otto Heino. When Pablo Picasso went looking for the greatest ceramic artists in the world, he found Otto. At ninety four, Otto still works fifteen hour days and sleeps only four hours per night. This summer when I met Otto at his home and studio, he shared that he wakes every day at four. I couldn't help thinking of George Washington Carver, who awoke every day at four, went out into nature, and had a talk with God. I wondered if all creative souls got their inspiration at four in the morning. Otto's bright eyes twinkled as he described clients who have flown in from Texas to purchase plates he created valued at twenty thousand dollars each. He smiled and his voice showed that even he is astounded that people pay so much money for a plate. Otto's work is so valuable b...
I heard computer keys clicking when fingernails typed on them. The woman next to me spoke exceedingly loudly on her cell phone as she made her power entertainment deals at 9am. "I can offer you five hundred per day", she told the person at the other end of the line. A man walked up to her and said, "Could you stop talking so loud? I'm trying to read. This isn't a phone booth." She replied, "This isn't a library either." As the gentleman walked away, she looked at me and asked, "am I really loud?" I nodded my head and grinned. She responded by speaking more softly. No, this was not the library and not a phone booth; this was the jury assembly room. It was cold, boring and I felt as if I'd developed ADD within the first two hours of being there. I'd already read half of Barbara Walter's autobiography while laying on my back at the window wearing sunglasses to protect my eyes from the glare. My trusty jacked served as a pillo...
"Kim. What part do you sing in the choir?" It was a simple question asked in the women's locker room of the gym on a Monday morning. Yet, somehow my intuition could feel an adventure brewing by the tone of Angela's voice when she said my name. A few seconds later, I had agreed to help her with a singing audition on Friday. Wednesday, Angela, Sheila and I rehearsed for the audition. As we ended the rehearsal with string cheese and fruit as a snack, Sheila and I asked Angela to tell us more about the audition. That's when things took an interesting turn. We weren't just helping Angela with her audition, we were auditioning for a cable network reality show! And we were doing this after forming a trio two days before the audition and with only two hours of rehearsal. As we had no time, we decided to adopt the k.i.s.s. system--keep it simple sweetie. We planned to wear black bottoms and colorful tops on Friday. When we arrived for the audition on Friday at Smashbox...
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