Sunday, January 28, 2007

Slow comebacks


I worked in New Orleans East the other day. Took the Downman Rd exit. That highway used to be congested with bustling businesses and traffic. Not anymore. It is a devastated area with at least a couple of miles of boarded up and half-destroyed buildings; debris in front of some of them. I hadn't been down that way since Hurricane Katrina hit us over a year ago. It was a shock to me. What's it going to look like in another year of neglect? Not a pretty picture.

Then I took a left onto Haynes blvd. Neighborhoods like this above. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's one of the better ones I got from my car. Every now and then, I'd see a trailer in the front, but mostly it was houses that were boarded up, or in various states of decay. Many had spray-painted writings near the doors - probably from the people who did search and rescues.

Oddly, the casino around that area is a gorgeous-looking establishment with pristine parking and colorful facing. I don't know if it is operational, though.

I overheard conversations between people reconnecting in the grocery (I often do) exchanging stories about where they've been since "the storm", and what they are going through to try to get back to normal, or some semblance of it. The things I have overheard...

Some of the stories are of how many residences they've had in the past since H.K. Some have been of horrendous, or stupendous, life changes they've experienced since. We are an adaptable race. Some of the changes are definitely for the better.

I have seen resiliency in couples who've lost everything, but still had each other and the memories of going through such trials. They say it isn't the good times, but the bad that make a family.

One couple I met when I waited tables got married after living through the experience of clinging to a tree in Lake Catherine for three days; She said she didn't know her house floated into the lake, though she felt it tip over - previously being on tall pilings. Actually, the lake wasn't that large before. At one point during her tree-clinging days, she was eye-to-eye with a 6 foot alligator. Their story made the newspaper. I guess you are ruined to be with anybody else once you share that kind of experience with another.

I don't like the Downman Road exit. It steeply goes down and then curves under another bridge and then banks and curves bringing you up a little and then down again to a traffic signal. It is a roller coaster for cars. Not fun in the rain. I dated a guy when I was a young lass (really young - about 20). He didn't have a car and I had to pick him up at his house off Downman Rd. I did that maybe twice.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Colonel Pooper

Just a little wish that Coloner Pooper, aka Charlie Callahan, would drop us a line to let us know what's going on with him. He had an extraordinary way with words and used them to comment on our blogs, plus had his own "Used Kitty Litter".

What a witty man. He was dying of lung cancer and had nothing left to lose. He wrote essays and posted them on his blog - which then got turned into a book. It was excellent writing, with profound messages that always touched me. He wrote me privately once. He said he used to not believe in any of that mumbo jumbo, but now appreciates Astrology and some of the other (seemingly) wacky tools for self-understanding.

I googled his name and his blog name and got nothing for my trouble. He may have made the big transition already. I don't know.

I would love to hear from him. If you ever read this, Charlie, I wish you well.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Boys and their toys


I read that somewhere on two different blogs today. It must be boys-and-their-toys day I figure. Here are several of my nephews playing with their toys Christmas evening. One of my older nephews got a much coveted Wii the other day. He is the one that wants to major in whatever major gets one into the graphics and styles field for computer games. At least that interest is transferring into marketplace skills.

It is a very different evening when my son has friends over than when my daughter has friends over. The girls are noisy with music and laughter, making up dances or plays for me to watch. When the boys are plugged in, we don't see them again until they surface to wipe out the pantry. And after the gorge, they go back to my son's cave and hibernate again - plugged back into their games. I always insist they get outside for at least some of the visit. That's how mean I am.

Monday, January 22, 2007

"The Secret"

The Secret is no secret. I have read and heard of these things before. After watching the video of "The Secret", I layered this new information onto "The Power of Now" which would have one be a little less aggressive about pursuing desires. If you just hold the space for wonders to happen, they will.

Like that ring story below, I didn't think I would ever run into that man again, so I didn't entertain the thought that I'd recover the ring. It was more of a lament than a feeling. The emotion I felt was 'wistful'. Who knew it was so powerful?

There were many, many things that I consciously willed into being by thinking "wouldn't it be nice if I had _______________?" I challenge the Universe to provide experiences or things for me a lot. It happens so often that I am very aware that my thoughts create my reality.

Most of the time, my desires lie in passive mode as I take Life as it comes, with a belief that it's all good. What I don't think is Good is usually good for something, so I accept, and possibly embrace, whatever my reality is reflecting back at me.

It was a good, mind-expanding video. It helped me overcome the feeling that if I get what I want, somebody else might go without. "The Secret" hammered home the idea that it is an abundant Universe and that there is plenty for everyone.

There is controversy about the way the movie is marketed, and controversy about the things expounded on within the video, but overall - it can powerfully uplift and cleanse outmoded and negative thinking which only puts limitations on One's happiness and fulfillment.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Synchronicity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qftvt9IHHUM&mode=related&search

In the early 1980's, I read a book called "Psycho-cybernetics" which told of the same thing - only it took about a hundred thousand more words to say it, and it didn't mention putting it on the PC and to music.

Putting your focus on anything that strongly, packed with feeling, one is bound to manifest whatever the mind is projecting. I have used it for a lot of little things, like parking spaces, or a ticket to an event that I wanted to see.

One time, after working at Synchronicity for a few months, and really getting to understand what crystals and other stones were about, I felt regret at having sold my triple-tiered emerald Hindu Temple ring that I inherited from my Grandmother the year before. I sold it for $100 - not liking the ring, and needing the money at the time. After perusing books about properties of stones, I decided I wanted to get the ring back, but not bad enough to hunt down the man who bought it. I sold it to him on the side of the road, in front of an antique store.

Within an hour of the desire to recover that ring, I had an address in hand of an estate sale that wasn't too far from where I was working. I have occasionally stopped at yard sales, but I never look in the paper for them, and certainly not during the week.

The 2nd odd thing... I closed the store, put a note on the door, and headed over there. There was the man who bought my ring. It was his estate sale. I told him what I was looking for. He said he had three huge jewelry boxes at another location and would look through them for it and get back with me if he had it. I gave him my card with a description of what I was looking for. I left with nothing but my wonder at a Universe that would conspire to have me meet up with that man again.

Incidentally, I never heard from him again. He moved. I realized that I didn't want the ring after all - just what it represented. Emeralds are cool stones.

And to add some Light to the story, the man passed gas while he was talking to me. I pretended not to hear it, but went away laughing at the latest in my Divine Comedy. I love to laugh. The Universe knows me well.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Speaking of force...


I was forced to help my daughter with a science project that she was forced to do. She got an EFF on the science paper associated with this lesson. It's about electricity and energy. The project was to make a bug, put a light in it, and then connect it to a battery to light it. Oy vey. My 12 year old has less interest in electricity than I do - except for the use of it.

I can speak on energy in ethereal terms, but the science escapes me. And I detest having to do a project on it. It's magic to me. I told her to just take an eff on it. I don't care. This will not cause her to fail the 6th grade. I was not happy about taking her all around in the rain last night, at the final hours before it is due, to spend yet more money at Radio Shack getting parts we didn't know about before visiting her friend whose Dad put hers together. Another classmate had someone put hers together too.

They still know next to nothing about lighting, but a lot more about putting a ladybug together that can house a light. I hope we get an "A".

Monday, January 15, 2007

Dare I care?


I may have been one of the few people in New Orleans, and thereabouts, who didn't watch the Saints game Saturday night. I was busy watching (sweet) Richard Gere in "Shall We Dance". Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon were very good too, but He always impresses me. I liked the movie a lot.

Michael kept yelling for me to come watch the game with him. And then he was just plain yelling. It was an exciting game from what I hear now and heard then. Just seeing some energy and enthusiasm everywhere one goes around here now is fun even if I don't like football.

I was thinking of how much money all tipped employees are going to be making in Chicago next weekend during the playoffs. I worked at the N.O. Airport for Host International (F&B) when New Orleans hosted one of the Superbowls. I also worked at the Airport Hilton years later when N.O. hosted another Superbowl. All managers and employees were pyched up for those events. And we were only on the periphery of those teams' hard work payoff. Crowds of pumped up and happy people were fun to be in. Money flowed and the wheels were greased.

Sports competitions aren't my thing. I am just so glad to see some animation and joy in my community again. Geaux Saints!!!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Suppressed Jupiter


I can usually pull a good mood out of my mood bag when the darkness descends. I have a prominent Jupiter in Sagittarius in my natal chart which gives me an inordinate amount of faith in Being powerful and full of light. Everything is in Divine Order. I relax; feel happy, healthy, and fulfilled. Then, anxious again that I am doing something wrong to have manifested this job. Then, up, up up again as I realize it's not so bad, the music is cool, I usually work less than 8 hours, there's money deposited into my checking acct every Friday at one minute past midnight, etc. (Saturn and his practicality...)

I am going across the Causeway bridge today to merchandise at a store I've never been to before. That's how I keep the tedious nature of this job from kicking my ass - by going to different stores. Different stores = different products, different layouts, different faces, and different music too. That store plays "Oldies but Goodies" One N.O. store I work at plays only jazzy instrumental music. I have heard David Bowie, Ricki Lee Jones, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Seal, and other favorites at different stores. I need change. The Zen thing of emptying boxes and lining up products in order can only carry me so far.

I've been doing this job all year and it's about time to move on to what I came here to do. "See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean."

Sunday, January 07, 2007

"Power VS Force" by David Hawkins


(but first a picture of my wet backyard and Chip - New Year's Day 2007)

"...If we analyze the nature of force, it becomes readily apparent why it must always succumb to power; this is in accordance with one of the basic laws of physics. Because force automatically creates counter-force, its effect is limited by definition. We could say that force is a movement - it goes from here to there (or tries to) against opposition. Power, on the other hand, is still. It's like a standing field that doesn't move. Gravity itself, for instance, doesnt move against anything. Its power moves all objects within its field, but the gravity field itself does not move.

...Force is incomplete and therefore has to be fed energy constantly. Power is total and complete in itself and requires nothing from outside. It makes no demands; it has no needs. Because force has an insatiable appetite, it constantly consumes. Power, in contrast, energizes, gives forth, supplies, and supports. Power gives life and energy - force takes these away. We notice that power is associated with compassion and makes us feel positively about ourselves. Force is associated with judgment and makes us feel poorly about ourselves."

This book has been an easy, good read. I will back up this new input with a viewing of the documentary movie "The Secret" and then see if I am not wildly successful at living life the way I was intended to live it. Do I have a purpose? I think so, but is thinking the way to be?