"why?" or "why not"... that is the question

in this moment, i sit in a outdated office chair in redondo beach, ca. i just got done traversing the cinderblock wall of my friend tony's mom, brenda, and partner, lavalley; we were trimming back the hedges that were cascading over into their lawn. we both had loppers and were going at it. both of us were sipping on some sangrea (wine and coke... don't hate until you've tried it) and i had brenda hook me up with a black butte porter (not the high life, but it'll do).

tony and i spent most of the day cruising the strand to venice beach (about 7 miles out, one way) on a couple of vintage beach bikes. every time we passed a biker who had a multiple gears (of which our cruisers did not),my heart was gladened. the strand is a bike/rollerblade/walk/run/skateboard/longboard path that spans the majority of the beach front of ca. the strand is the recreative home for just about everybody within a couple miles of the pacific and tony and i got to see many of those who were out today. i was told that venice beach was going to be the stomping grounds of many "wierd" people... i figured that since i've spent most of my life in porltand, or, venice beach wouldn't be anything that would make me uncomfortable. my suspicions were correct; there were in fact some "interesting" people, but no one i would classify as "wierd". i wonder if our categories of "wierd" broaden and become less significant as our life experience grows? i imagine some will die leaving the world believeing it was quite wierd while others will depart wondering how anything could be more familiar. as i cruised by the mass of people, i began to look at each individual in the light of one question: "i wonder if this person is a person who encounters life with "why" questions or "why not" questions. i saw a hispanic man with his son walking on the 3 foot wall that divides the stand and the beach as we were riding today: my guerss ifs that that action was realized through the self-conscious answer of a "why not" question. if this man would have wondered "why should i hop up on this wall" i bet he would have hesitated to do so. a "why" question in this scenario would have led to thoughts of injury, judgment, sillyness, etc. and probably would have held the man back (unless of course in the process of asking these "why" questions he decided that there was no good reason not to, which is a similar reality as beginning at a "why not" perspective. in any case, the thing that i am wondering about is the subconscious questions we answer to ourselves multiple time throughout the day and whose corresponding answers govern the movement of our lives. i wonder when it is appropriate to answer the "why" questions and when it is better to ask "why not". as best as i can tell, i answer most self-governing questions in the "why not" catagory... it seems like there is a whole lot more freedom in this camp and life seems to short to bog oneself down with the endless task of evaluating the "why". but in the areas of life that stretch on into eternity, i find myself spending much more time in the "why". i'm not quite sure why this is, but i imagine it is significant.

tomorrow, tony and i will spend the day down at the beach for memorial day. apparently, there is a dress-your-dog-up day to be held at the hermosa beach mermorial day party and tony and i plan on dressing up one of brenda and lavalley's dogs, jasmine, as yoda. she's not green, but if you saw her as much as the two of us have in the past week, you'd probably agree that her facial features-- ears in particular-- more than make up for her beige (non-green) hair. we found a burlap sack to wrap yoda in for tomorrow and we plan on duct taping a toy light-saber to yoda's ribs to complete the ensomble. i don't know if there will be a winner tomorrow or who would judge the dressed-up dogs, but if there is such a judge and corresponding competition, i think yoda will encounter some blue ribbon. the whole dress-up deal seems a little bit ridiculous, and usually i make a lot of fun of any one who dresses up their dog, but i could come up with no answer that would trump the "why not"...