I’m sure I have a post coming that will take you days to read, because at least 2-3 hours/day for me is spent reflection about the meaning of this.
Notes have been made and it’s time to put them all down into something more than a series of ramblings

For now, here’s 3 of SO many shots I’m going thru…these lovely people just asked me the question, and here’s the smiles that happened when I gave them the simple answer.

Often, I’ll hand out 3-4 dozen noses a week and during those moments of connection and joy, photos get buried in my phone.

Also, I might have a camera with me and even those photos get shuffled around and don’t see the light of day until too late.

So, here’s a few new ones and I promise I’ll do better starting NOW! The problem of too MUCH JOY and ABUNDANCE is a real conundrum

I sincerely hope you have the same “woes” very soon…

Yesterday, at Costco, I pass by a lady and her friend. Just 5 feet later, I hear her say, “I love clown noses on people, it just makes everyone happy!”
YES.THAT.HAPPENED and of course, we spoke for about 5 minutes…

Also yesterday at Costco (yes, again) I’m on the way to the front of the store and a gal who works as a demonstrator pulls me aside as I glide by and asks those 3 words, “Hey man, WHY THE NOSE?” Hence, I “lose’ another 5 minutes and my next-to-the-last nose, which was in my jacket pocket.

15 minutes later, I’m at Target (I know, lots of errands!) and I witness the checker for my line, trying to brighten the day of the woman ahead of me. Essentially, she was my clone, albeit w/o facial accouterments When I was next, I flat out tell her how beautiful she was for laying out the love like that. She asked me, “Isn’t that what life’s about?” Yes, Tamika, it IS! As we talk (seemingly for my standard 5-minute-hippie-clown-soapbox time) I tell her she should catch me on Facebook and her co-coworker chimes in to say, “I want to get in on that!” Bruce Richmond, you’re next…

Maybe I should just sum this up by letting you know, THIS LEVEL OF AWESOME HAPPENS EVERY DAY and yesterday was another example of the increase in frequency. It’s TIME to move this ahead.

Look, if you’re reading this, and you have a clown nose handy…please go out and give it a shot. No makeup, no facepaint, nothing is needed but your shining heart.
YOU WILL LOOK SILLY, REPEAT, YOU WILL LOOK SILLY. Trust me, I caught myself on video camera at the bank yesterday, it’s goofy!

However:
People are HUNGRY for INTERACTION, HUNGRY for AUTHENTICITY, HUNGRY for LOVE…if they’ll talk to a guy with a clown nose on, just to feel their OWN heart open, just to feel REAL and VALIDATED and spend even a few moments in honest communication, then it’s EVERYONE’S JOB to feed them.

Please tell me what you did for the world today with your smile and your nose, I’m sure it’ll be a great story

Thanks, Tex

However, by itself…and you MUST watch it all the way through, THIS is how it must look to people as ME or YOU or ANYONE wears a nose out in public.
Also, it’s just about perfect and makes me cry every time I view it

It seems that also, every time I’m there, the Universe just opens up and like a punch in the jaw, it knocks me out. Maybe it’s the laid back, surfer, easy-living, decidedly “hippie” feel of the area?

As I’m leaving a bookstore, a block outside three men are playing roots music and had a crowd lined up across their sidewalk.
Please meet “The F*ck Yeahs” (I found this video of them elsewhere in California)

One member of their group wasn’t performing, he was selling CDs (I got one, it’s great!)
That’s when Prosper, his name, asked me about the nose and the first wave of awesome rolled into shore.

Here’s the pics I was able to shoot without getting in their way.

This is Karl and Kathy.

I was led over to Karl and Kathy a few minutes after watching the boys play and having popped into a shop for coffee.
On the way out, Karl (as I would soon meet) was wearing a red nose. And so was I, and there it was…the door to the rabbit hole.

Karl got the nose from the band as he tipped them out extra $ for them playing…it seems that they were ALL WEARING the three noses I left with Prosper and playing a track.
Onlookers paid them MORE when they had the noses on and Karl told them they should be selling them. So they handed him one.

Have you ever met someone that you’d sweat was your future self? YOU in maybe 25-30 years? Like a mirror into the future?

I did, and Karl even has my mohawk (albeit a lot grayer)
He called himself a wiseguy and the photos above prove that.
Karl and Kathy have been married 45 years and she’s held him up, pulled him up and thru all those years…since he still cycles and runs and does marathons
They collect art: cheap, interesting, funky, crazy art and keep it all in their house like Herb and Dorothy Vogel, with fewer cats and more living space…
They were totally in love and live life to it’s fullest and made every part of me beam.

I could have talked with them for hours and they promised me they’d email (HERE’S YOUR REMINDER KARL!)
We talked for 20 minutes and I’m sure it’ll be more at some point, soon.

Thanks Karl, Kathy and The F*ck Yeahs. Santa Cruz is pretty fertile ground for wormholes to wonderment

It seems that Trader Joe’s hires really upbeat cashiers and yesterday…I met another who asked me the now classic line, “So, why are you wearing that nose” This time, I replied with a question…”Let me ask YOU, what’s the best thing in life?”
This is Allegra and she floored me with, “I don’t know…Red Noses? ”
She had a pair of happy hands that were giddy to accept my gift and she gave me a great gift in return.
Thanks Allegra, I’ll be in YOUR line the next time I drop by for frozen mangos and protein powder.

On December 1st, a local community pillar, Mario Saucedo hosted his 4th Annual World Aids Day Observation Block Party. He’s been tireless in his efforts to raise awareness about the threat of AIDS and the need for youth education around the subject.  It was a fine event that brought out over two hundred locals to support the event with their contributions of time and energy

I dropped in around the magic hour and met a few amazing people. The nose, once again, opened doors that I wouldn’t have thought were possible here.  Example?

While discussing “why the nose?” with a few ladies, I dropped the term “Burning Man” and the youngest woman interjects and tells me that she would really like to go there this year. What else? …that she wanted to go last year too!

So, here I am in Vallejo, CA., the anti-San Francisco…but it appears I was wrong. Once again, the power of breaking through the shell of “normalcy” with the silly act of wearing a clown nose in public acted as a magnet for magic. It opened a door to a conversation that might lead to this girl finding herself (and she’s clearly already on the path out of this city) I know that I’m doing the right thing here and every day it’s manifested. On December 1st, it just so happened that in downtown Vallejo, portals to another world opened again…this time, right in my own back yard.