Saturday, November 26, 2011

DONE!

Well this is the final picture:

And the original by David Lara:
I could go on and on trying to perfect it; already I've seen some things I could do... but I feel good about the painting so I'm staying.  And, at least in my opinion, the photo doesn't do it justice. I'm going to frame this girl and keep her where I can look at her often.  Such a little thing - a painting of a girl, and yet, it represents a lot of what goes on inside me.  So I just wanted to post it and say - finally  - DONE!


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Vexed and Amazed - Meanderings of my mind

Amazing how each day so many things come and go around and through me... Around me, in terms of happenings at work, home, geographical surroundings, and the world seen cybernetically from my desktop**; through me in terms of mind, heart, body and soul***.  Today I'm meandering through the mish-mash, in hopes of sorting it out and deciphering it for myself and anyone else who cares to know.

I'm going to start with my trials and tribulations in trying to paint Girl Vexed:  the first result, begun last year, was horrendous.


But I didn't give up.  I just put her on hold, and then, gathering the determination, tried a second time.  I got this far and set her aside, not wanting to do any more for fear of botching her up:


So there sat the unfinished Girl Vexed on my bookshelf for many months.  A week ago I finally got up the nerve to do something about her and enthusiastically went back to work on her, which resulted in what I thought was an almost finished product.  I was excited and proud, and I took a picture of her.  When I got home, I put the picture on my computer screen and what I saw there, totally deflated my ego:



As anyone can see, she's still not finished.... and neither am I.  You'll understand if you see the original, which I saw at a book-fair.  It was the cover portrait of a novel for teenagers.  I almost bought the novel, just for the picture, but instead, googled the illustrator and found his original painting, which you can see here.

Now the reason that I became fascinated with that cover portrait, was because it brought to mind a moment I'll never forget and the picture I took of it:  the original Girl Vexed, Fned at age 11, righteous and indignant over some incident during a vacation trip, and showing it so clearly in her stance next to the car: 


Okay, to make the correlation between my obsession with that painting and what's going on in the rest of my life, let's just say that they are both works in progress, full of uncertain steps, exhilarating moments, and constant modification.  For one thing, I've been carrying aound the idea of changing my physical surroundings.  It's a thrilling prospect.  I have entertained the idea, proposed it tentatively, proposed it more confidently, and now see it as a yes.  I'm going to take a different path for awhile... put myself on the edge and force myself to act.  (I hope I will have finished Girl Vexed by the time I leave!). 

Which brings me to my current work situation... like the ups and downs I have in my dealings with Girl Vexed, so have I had reductions, depressions, unexpected offers, and new ideas and projects in my work routine.  It all seems to be coinciding with my desire to change my physical surroundings, so that is very nice.  I'm more and more intrigued by the possibilities!

To add another link to this chain:  my home situation... lots to do there, not only in terms of home improvements, but in official standing... now that it seems I will have a few weeks of limbo before actually making my move, I'll be able to tackle those things...  I'm psyched about it, making my list of priorities and general things to do...

Finally, to finish laying out the first area of amazing happenings (see above**), there's all the cyberstuff that is filling my time at the computer.  I have found the most beautiful music, art, and readings lately.  I'd just like to show you a few of them.  This link goes to an incredibly beautiful ballet scene - and I'm not even into ballet - but this!!! Well, see for yourself!... here

Another day, Sam, who's been playing guitar more and more lately, surprised me with this link to music that wowed me:  here

It's amazing how internet can bring you information, entertainment, solutions and valuable knowledge.  Still, I can't help but realize that it is also full of potential dangers.  Subscribing, unsubscribing, overdosing on online shopping, the facebook craze (TMI is how I see that at times), not to mention the amount of time I spend on the computer because of all my browsing.  If I haven't blogged recently, it's mostly due to the fact that I was trying to cut down on my computer time.  For example, I got so intensely involved with a song that I wanted to be able to sing, that I ended up going from this website to many others, which all focused on tenderness and romance, which in a deliciously cozy way, made my heart happy.  Since I'm not out there having my own love-life, theirs kind of fed me for awhile.... , but of course, vicarious love can only take you so far. 

Life is for living, or if you're going to fantasize, make up your own fantasy!  So I started writing again, which of course got me enjoying my creative streak, and I also started studying Portuguese, for intellectual stimulation.  Writing nourishes my soul and learning another language nourishes my mind!  I'm still studying German, so the combination, between speaking Spanish and English all day, is totally fascinating!

So, that left my body (see above***). 

For my body's sake, I began walk/running about a month ago... In fact, I need to finish this blog right now precisely because it's a glorious day and I want to go out for a nice walk/run with the dogs.

Have a great day everyone; no, better yet, have an amazing one!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Moon Mornings or - Unblocking Creativity

Yes it was the moon that made me want to do it, but this is actually a writing exercise.  Ten minutes, starting NOW:
The moon the moon... shining full in the morning, or 'looking fat and lonesome hanging down thru the trees' (Joy of Cooking) late 60's and Blue Mooooon, from the crooners, and of course Moon River.... was that the song from Breakfast at Tiffany's (never saw it but saw the song on youtube once) and then there are moons on the wane, and that "bad moon on the rise" (Creedence?).  But wait!  What about taking a moonbath!... oh that's the best.  Standing right under the shining rays of the moon and feeling light and energy being absorbed thru your pores.  Of course that's what you think, but whether or not it's really happening, that's for you to believe or not, because the fact of the matter is, the moon is the moon.... and it is whether you believe you've received its energy and light or not. 
And what about the Man in the Moon???? Now that's the person I'd love to meet... But could it be a woman?  La Luna in Spanish - a feminine moon, though we see a rabbit in the moon in Mexico!  Could it be a female rabbit?  In German it's Der Mond - a man!  The man in the moon! 
But I know there's more to be understood about the moon - the connection with the tides for instance. Have you seen it over the ocean at night, seen the slant of its rays sparkling up the ocean surface? Oh! It's a fantasy - all those winking flashes of tiny ripples - they look unreal, and yet they sparkle like they're more than real.  And then of course we can talk about those huge orange moons of October and November.  Now those are full moons not to be missed!  I've never seen a blue moon, not even once in a blue moon, but I've seen it many times with an aura around it - rainbow of colors in a shimmering fog around the bright-white pearl of the moon.  And have you seen the moon when it's a sliver, curving into the perfect profile of a young girl's head? Have you looked up and seen it in a dark black sky, and noticed the diamond-like stud next to her ear... a star!... all shining in silverlight. 
Oh yes, the moon the moon, what else can I say about the moon... Once I took a moonbath in my house.  I was standing under the skylight and there was no one but me awake to see it.  I looked up and felt its soft light bathing my face, I saw its shine behind my closed eyelids.  I let my robe fall and then the moon poured magic and light all over my body and I was full of moon energy...  
And yet, no one ever raves about the real moon - the one we know exists in space with its bumpy craters and grayish-white surface.  No, we prefer our moon - the moon we see from afar, reflecting all the raw magic and untamed beauty the real moon simply doesn't know what to do with.

The Morning Moon, still shining strong


Moon preparing to set

Moon-Set and Sun-Rise
Photos courtesy of Louisa Greathouse
Scenes courtesy of Mother Nature

Monday, September 5, 2011

Commemoration

I've been scanning old pictures lately.  It started when I explained to Carm that, contrary to her insistence upon having to spend a fortune on scanning at an internet café, she could do it right here at home using our printer.  As I showed her how to use the scanning feature, I decided to go through our billions of old photos and scan the best of them.  I knew it would be a time-consuming job, so I put it on my mental to-do list for the future.

Two weeks later, when I was writing the blog about Friendships, I scanned the first batch.  I was looking for a photo from a trip we made in the early 90's, and I knew I didn't have a digital one of that trip.   Out came the huge bag of old photos - it's actually an old GAP portfolio-bag given to me by Fned a long time ago, which has 6 roomy compartments, 5 of them stuffed to the gills with photos, and the 6th containing all the negatives I still possess.  I can tell you it weighs a ton!  Anyway, I searched the bag through, and Carm came into the room as I was doing this, and got interested in the photos too.  I told her I was going to scan them a few at a time. 

After André mentioned in a comment about the friendship blog that old pictures are so interesting and should be scanned and preserved, I knew the day was coming.  I happen to have a week off in September and thought I would concentrate on that then.  In the end, however, I got a jump-start on the task yesterday, when I decided to do a photographic walk down memory lane to send in e-mail form to my parents on their 61st anniversary this weekend.  It turned out to be quite a process, but one which I found for the most part tremendously enjoyable.
And so, I've decided to post some other pictures from the past - a commemoration of sorts.  Fun times we shared, or just great moments that got snapped just in time!

Enjoy the scroll, and as you go, take a guess:  do you know who the babies are??? (hint: they don't go in any specific order)















 

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Friendships that build your life

I know that on the surface I am what you would call a sociable person.  I meet people with enthusiasm, listen avidly to their tales and ask all sorts of questions, enjoy laughing and kidding with them, and try to keep the tempo upbeat.  I'm also open and frank, I'm not shy about giving my opinions when asked to, and I can tell stories and relate a multitude of humorous anecdotes from my life.
All of that is well and good, but the truth is, I don't get a chance to play that role very much.  Usually, I'm more of a recluse.  I go to work and come home.  That's it.  On the weekends I usually have tons of housework to drudge through, as well as one or two translations to work on, and at any rate, even if I have the time to go out and socialize, I end up opting to just stay home and hang out... feeling that it would take too much effort to put on that other face and become that other person.
Last weekend was one of the most unusual, socially-fulfilling weekends I've had in a looooong time.  In three days, I had the rare opportunity to re-establish the bond with three different - and each in her own way wonderful - friends.  And it all came together so beautifully!

During the week, I had to call Marbar about something and as we were talking, I realized that it had been so long since we'd seen each other.  She's one of the first people I met in Mexico; her husband was Car's boss for a long time, and we used to go on great trips together to the Caribbean, and different places.  She's been like an aunt to all my kids, and she has this knack for stepping in with the solution just at the right moment. Though we've grown apart over the last few years, whenever we talk, it's like we're still right back there at the beginning and everything we talk about has a link to the things we've shared in the past.  In short, she knows me as I was when I crossed the threshhold and started my life in Mexico.  Recently, she too has become a widow and has found it hard, so when I called her, I suddenly said, "Let's go out for a glass of wine together sometime!"  And she agreed, and we settled for that Friday, and I asked her to name the place and she did (I'm totally ignorant about places to go, as I rarely go out!).

That same day, I checked my e-mail and there was one from Urs, another good friend who used to be my boss, inviting me to her annual chiles-en-nogada get-together on Saturday.  Feeling honored at receiving this invitation, as she and I have barely seen each other for months and months, I accepted with great enthusiasm.  I thought it would be wonderful to have the chance to spend a bit of time with her after so long and I resolved to bring a good bottle of wine along to the dinner. 

Just after I had RSVP'd her to say YES to her invitation, I received an e-mail from another friend - Pam - who was my first best friend.  You know how you go to elementary school and make friends there, but then, when it's time to go to Jr. High (or middle school as it's now called) you find yourself alone again, in a different school from the one your friends enrolled in, and you must start all over. 

Well, that's how it happened that I met Pam.  She came from a different elementary school so we met during the first week of Jr. High.  We became best friends almost immediately, in all the ways that teenagers do - talking for hours on the phone, spending the night together, going on long walks after school, or visiting at each other's houses (mostly I went to her house, since both her parents worked and we could have the house to ourselves so to speak).  She introduced me to music, poetry, critical thinking, and many other things I was eager to learn about.  I think that for her, I was the lightness she wanted and needed as she had passed the childhood state and saw Life as serious business, while I still enjoyed being a child.  I was exuberant and innocent, always ready to jump into something new, or take a dare, or be the clown.  For me, she was the teacher, as she showed me that serious side I knew existed in me, and helped me bring it out and develop it.  And of course, we both loved to write and that was the bottom line.  Writing and sharing our compositions, poetry, etc. was a big part of our relationship.

So, I received the e-mail from Pam saying that she was coming here!  She would actually be here on the day of the chiles en nogada!!!  Luckily her plane would arrive late in the afternoon, so I would go visit her at her hotel on Sunday morning.

What an extraordinarily enriching weekend I had!!!  On Friday evening, I discovered a new restaurant - small and cozy, decorated with an abundance of plants and wood, with the tables set out on an enclosed patio, where music played softly and animated conversation swirled to the rhythm.  The food was reasonably priced and very tasty, the micheladas were excellent, and of course the company couldn't be beat!  We jumped from topic to topic, leaving some unfinished, only to return to them from another angle.  We said good-bye with many a hug and promises to get together again soon.  Curiously enough, when I drove off, I remembered that we had never even gotten back to the subject which had sparked off the invitation in the first place!! 

Marbar with Carm on the beach - '92

On Saturday, the chiles en nogada were fabulous!!!!!  There were 20 people there, and most of us knew each other to some degree... and good vibes flowed as easily as the wine!   I got a chance to meet a composer whose song I recently heard on the radio and loved!  You can hear it here (number 7 was the one I heard on the radio, but all are great):  http://www.zombra0.freehall.com.mx/ We talked for some time after the meal and he promised to let me know when any good live music events (of this type or others that we talked about) came to town.  I also finally got a chance to re-establish my connection with Urs, who is such a delightful and generous person, who has and carries out one great idea after another.  She really knows how to live her dreams, and her enthusiasm is contagious.  She always makes me feel like I know what I'm doing even when I may not!  She always sees something beautiful in me that I've seen but never acknowledged myself.  She is a person one can't help but love and admire. 

Urs at last year's chiles-en-nogada (weather was the same this year!)

And then it was Sunday and I took the bus to the big city... saw a corny movie on the way, and didn't even protest when I had to get off the bus before the end of the movie.  Then it was a lengthy subway ride, though luckily without having to change lines, and then a 10-minute walk to the hotel.  Lo and behold, when I got to Reforma, which is the huge central avenue, I encountered an aerobics class in full swing in the middle of the street, with at least 50 or 60 people following the movements of the leader, and cyclists having a leisurely (or speedy) ride up and down the avenue... NO CARS!!  Music, laughter, people in the streets!  Totally fine.

As for my meet-up with Pam, what can I say?  How many kilometers did we walk for the next 10 hours, up and down streets, in and out of subway stations, shops, the zocalo, the Grand Hotel... with the weather allowing us to enjoy being outside, and the Sunday easiness acting as a relaxing background for our trek. Our last meet-up was 6 years ago for a day in New York, where she was living at the time, and I came away from this meeting as full of friendship as I did the last time.

So, here's to good friends - whether we see them often or seldom, one thing is irrefutable:  Good friends make life something personal and true.  Family does it too, of course, but good friends are the mirror in which you see yourself beyond what your bathroom mirror shows you.  When it seems like forever since you had a chance to see yourself from someone else's eyes, you need to spend time with a good friend.  A good friendship can never be truly lost, but its roots grow deeper and are nourished by a night out for a glass of wine, or a home-cooked dinner together, or a meet-up to close the distance that normally separates you.


Chums!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011


Time's getting short - as usual.  Somehow though, I knew the right moment would present itself for me to write this blog - so here goes:


 They came about 10 days ago.  They arrived and it was as if we had seen each other only a few days ago, and not the 15 months it had really been.  She was still my beautiful darling Pao and he was as always the strong and handsome, supportive and easy-to-please Andre.  They were ready for action the moment they touched ground it seemed.  Hardly a moment to chat, take a look around and it was time for them to get ready to go to a wedding.  From there, they would be going to another wedding.  We'd be in contact by phone - we thought - though as it turned it out, it took quite a bit of experimentation to make our phones accept each other as cell-mates!  (international codes and all).  Meanwhile it turned out that I had an unexpected gig myself and, since Carm and Sam came with me, we were all gone that first day, so we practically didn't see each other at all!  On the second day, I asked André to come with me for more recording and he was so accommodating - he went with no expectations or conditions... just enjoyed it and it was a nice "rato".  We also stopped to buy supplies on the way home, and when we got there, Pao and Carm had cooked, Anto and Sam were cleaners and we had a nice lunch together.  The rest of that day Pao had commitments with friends and Andre hung out with Anto and Sam. (I of course was translating) Then it was Monday and my regular work-week demands took over for me.  Everyone else had stuff to do to... besides, André went to pick up their friend Jorge from the airport in Mexico city where they spent the day.  Pao got over her jet lag... and so the week began.  She rented another car (all ours were either in use, or of doubtful reliability for big trips) and they made day trips to places up to 2 hours away by car, coming back to the home base each evening. So the week passed.  Until it was Saturday morning and we started on our journey to Merida and the Caribbean.  It began well enough - started out only an hour.later than planned..But the rain settled in early on to accompany us most of the way and when the motor decided to get cantankerous, we had to stop.  Here came an interesting pause in the trip.  We managed to drive the van until a gas station and pull in under a roof to check things out.  There we stayed while Sam conversed with Lu by phone and together they worked out all the possibilities of the problem until coming up with a solution.  Sam got his first taste of near-electrocution which both energized him and sobered him to the dangers of tinkering with the motor when you're wearing someone else's 'leather' gloves (they weren't really leather you see!).  But in the end, he figured it out and fixed the problem and a scant 5 hours later, we were on the road once more.  Since reaching our destination the same night was out, we decided to stop for a grand dinner (having eaten but chips and cookies all day) after which we would look for a cheap hotel to catch some winks, and get on the road early the next morning.  The dinner turned out to be totally yummy, relaxing and cozy.  We had no trouble finding the place, getting a parking space and washing up in the bathroom.  The food was delicious and certainly "hit the spot" as they say.  So we were ready afterwards to get out of Villahermosa and head for Frontera, where we'd wait out the night in a little roadside inn.  Weeelllll.... that turned out to be the low point of the trip.  Talk about a HIDEOUS hotel!!  And it was supposedly a 3-star hotel! Very depressing at first sight, and you basically had to close your eyes and just walk into the room, take a quick shower (with your flip-flops on) and shake out the sheets and gingerly lie down and hope for sleep to come quickly.... which it did in my case.  So that the next morning, before 5 we could be up and about and on the road by 5:30.  There in the pre-dawn fog, André took the reigns to drive us thru the grim pot-hole-ridden stretch between Frontera and Ciudad del Carmen, (sorry you got that gig André, but you came through the experience with flying colors!), then there was more relaxed driving from there till Champotón, a stop for brunch of shrimp cocktails on the beach, and then, on to Mèrida.  We got there in pretty good time, even with the erroneous signs that kept saying Merida - 51 km. for about 51 km.
Seeing Lu, it was like old times with the whole family together, although Anto isn't with us this trip.  Lu had us laughing ourselves inside out with his zany interpretations, stories, observations and impersonations of people and events from the real to the outer realms of the unreal!  He also took us to eat unbelievably greasy food, where the flies and mosquitos were so thick he had to set up a mosquito coil to ward them off.  But it was Sunday evening, so we took what we got, and then there was a walking tour of downtown to compensate the after-dinner sluggishness, and André at least got some great photos of that - I keep trying to get them to come out with my camera, but still don't always manage to program it right for the different light conditions.



  The next day was super cool - a drive out to visit 3 hidden cenotes.  It was quite a journey, most of it made by sitting in a little cart pulled by a horse over an ancient track running straight through the jungle for 18 kms.



 There are 3 stops - each for a dip in a different cenote - all of them lovely, fresh and cold - and with entrances you look at dubiously... in one place, there was a hole in the ground with a ladder going straight down - maybe 20 or 30 rungs, and you could barely fit through the hole with your backpack.  When you got to the bottom it was so dark you couldn't see where you were walking.  But in every case, I just went to the platform and jumped to the depths below where the water was icy cold and totally inviting.  Of course you can't touch bottom in these cenotes, so you are basically floating, dog-paddling or downright swimming the whole time you're in them, unless you can find a place to cling to on the rocky sides of the cave.  At any rate, a totally enjoyable day - dios bo ti (Mayan for thank you) - with time out for beer and chips, and later a good shower and meet-up with cousins for a dinner in an outdoor cafe in the balmy evening breeze on the main avenue with delicious "cheladas" and tortas ahogadas, with good conversation and lots of laughter.


Last night, more of the same, but today, oh today.... today, in a few minutes I will have to say good-bye to Pao and André.  They're going to Quintana Roo and the Caribbean and we are staying here to visit nearby beaches in Yucatán.  They're equipped with sunblock - be sure to use it guys! - mosquito repellent (Jorge, with luck there won't be moscos on the beach) and chile habanero readily available.  Meanwhile, I have to reckon with the inevitable good-bye scene, and I hate saying good-bye when I'm the one who's staying.  It's always easier to be the one who leaves.  You know you're going somewhere new for more adventures, whereas the one who stays can only remember the good times and miss the ones who left.  I will truly miss them.  I think I've had the most wonderful moments with them ever.  Actually exchanged several mutually heartfelt hugs with Pao, and she and I are not usually the hugging type.  I hope they both know I enjoyed every minute with them, even if I was tired out from too much jiggling around in those "trucs" or even if the heat had me totally floored... just having them around made everything wonderful.  I will miss you guys and here's hoping your trip continues with more great photos, great food, delightful adventures, and a turquoise ocean to swim in.  
  

Sunday, July 10, 2011

When things go wrong - Inertia and the domino effect

You know how it is when things go wrong?  It starts with little things, a bit of aggravation here, something vexing there, then something that pulls an actual groan from you, and suddenly you realize the dominos are doing their sequential toppling act.  I recently got to that point of trying to chase them down and stop the one that would stop all the others, and suddenly I saw the light! 

It's not a matter of catching them from behind and stopping them; the dominos of Life will topple on through infinity!  What you need to do is get a bit ahead of the domino that's about to strike, sidetrack it by changing its angle, and start a new path in the zig-zag! 

Before I go any further with this blog, I want you to know that what you are about to read is the result of the delvings of my mind during my time alone with myself.  I have always been the kind of person who needs to define everything, have a clear reasoning of what, why and how things are.  The question of how to stop the chain of things going wrong began to plague me when I first perceived it as a chain.  What follows is the process I went through as I formed my own definition of the problem and then reasoned out the solution. 

Okay, so, having slept on the idea, I woke up the next morning with refreshed determination to get out of my rut.  Naturally, when the dominos are toppling in the things-going-wrong scheme, the theme running through the process is inertia, skepticism, disenchantment... (need I go on?).  So all I had to do, I realized as I drove down the silent early-morning streets, was angle Inertia so that it would bump into Will Power, which would then hit Belief instead of Skepticism, bypassing Disenchantment altogether and leading to ... Anticipation maybe? I pondered on the feasibility of it all in terms of my present reality.

Okay, sounds good in theory, I thought, as I headed out of the parking lot on foot with my umbrella warding off the light drizzle.  But too pat.  How can I really make it work? And it was then, while walking to my first class under the soothing rhythm of the rain, that the realization hit me.  All I needed to think about at this point was Will Power.  I mean everyone has will power. So if I have it, all I have to do is use it to overcome inertia.  Surely I can do that.  I can mentally control the degree of Will Power that's needed! 

Ah, so wait a minute.  Mind, then, is also an important domino in this chain!  I mean, even before applying Will Power to any reliable effect, you need to be aware of the need itself! In my case, for example, I had to be aware of things going wrong before I could consciously decide to thwart inertia!  Yes, I thought, Mind is the initial propeller!  

So there I was chanting a little song to myself as I walked to my second class:  Mind, Will Power, Belief, Mind, Will Power, Belief... (so I wouldn't forget).  But as I came out of my second class, it hit me that, while Mind is the propeller and sustaining force of Will Power, the mind itself is a fragile thing.  It's true!  While most minds are innately intact, there are many unknown factors that can suddenly cause a collapse...  

Fearing that I might be back at square 1 of the things-going-wrong chain - I took a good look at the fine line between Strength and Fragility during the 12-minute walk to my next class.  I might have gotten bogged down in the futility of it all, had I not remembered that Belief was one of the key words of the chant.  And I remembered then what I've always known, what we all know...

Belief is what keeps Mind in good working order.  Belief gets you over the scariness of seeing how fragile everything - right down to Life itself - really is.  Belief lets you handle the deal you're dealt and get through whatever it is you need to get through.  And it doesn't matter whether you believe in an entity of some sort, humankind, yourself, fate (which some people insist is a non-entity) or a combination of some or all of them... Sooner or later, everyone experiences a moment where it all comes down to their own belief.  Belief itself is the rock that steadies you when Will Power wavers.  It's the root you hang onto when Mind questions...

In the end, the conclusion I came to - which ultimately brought me great delight and allowed me to shift gears at last -  is this:  It's the domino effect of Mind, Will, and Belief - in whichever order or combination they occur - that ignites that all-important burst of anticipation.

And of course, once you have something to anticipate, you know for sure that things are going right again.

Know what I mean?

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Ten minutes starting NOW!

ONce upon a time I knew what I wanted to write, I always had the ideas right on the tip of my tongue, right at the front of my brain right over the edge of my thoughts right on... once upon a time I wanted what I knew and I knew what i wanted and once upon a time I did't need to push myself so hard and I found the way without even trying because the way would just appear and I would follow it however far it went and the thoughts would come to mind and spill over and I would find myself singing and smiling and enjoying every blessed moment of a walk down the street or a swim across the pool or even if it was just sitting still in a chair, I could enjoy that too, how the ideas in my brain would lead me into the most incredible dreams and fantasies.  Once upon a time, I was always an optimist, of course I still pretty much am, but once upon a time I didn't have to stop and think of myself as being such and actually I wasn't exactly such because once upon a time I was also a terribly morbid person; I even used to do all sorts of writings that I classified under the heading of "morbidity" - how I loved that word - and I don't think it's really a word at all.  Okay, once upon a time things were like that and now I don't know exactly how they are.  Are they wild or tame? Are they true or false?  Does time keep passing? Is that the reason we say, once upon a time? Because that time no longer exists? But time exists!  Can we ever stop it?  Once upon a time was one time, but time is not divided, or I guess it is.   Yes, time is countable when it's once or twice or thrice upon a time?  Can it be?  Twice upon a time - yes I'd say I've done things twice, and sometimes - ah there's another denomination - sometimes, yes sometimes and every time.  But can something be every time?  Of course, but I'm getting off the track... Once upon a time... okay, once upon a time there was a lovely lovely lake and the woods were singing and all the trees waved at me and bowed at me and the smell of orange blossoms was so strong it brought tears to my eyes and I breathed in the scent and it went straight to my heart.  Once upon a time I walked through the rooms of this house and every plant seemed to reach out to me - and I knew I had to water each one but I was glad to feel the need and I walked up the stairs and the dust at the corners of each step reproached me.  When I got to the study I looked out the window and what I saw couldn't be described because it didn't really matter.  It was the same view as always but it was the feeling, the feeling that I wanted to keep and hold and never let go, but of course you have to let go.  There's no holding on to anything.  It all comes and goes, breathing in and out, that's life that's how time is.... a deep breath.... inhale, exhale... Time.... once upon a time.

Okay, that was an exercise for writer's block... now back to work for the real writing...

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Need, Belief, and the endless possibilities

Yesterday I was in class with a student whose manner sometimes irks me.  She has amazing abilities, and yet she and I are at opposite ends from a teaching/learning perspective.  By this I mean that she wants to take the initiative when I'm trying to show her something, and she wants me to "teach" when I feel it really is her time to take the initiative.  One example:   she's talking, and I'm trying to correct her pronunciation and/or grammar, and she totally ignores me.  The only thing she will accept is an intervention in order to provide a word she needs, but she won't rearrange the sentence (once she has the word) to make it grammatically correct.  On the other hand, when I give her an exercise to do, I expect her to read it over, try it by herself and then check it with me, but no, she immediately tries to fill in blanks out loud with me saying right or wrong or just giving her the answer if she fails twice in a row...  It's a frustrating situation in which I spend suspenseful moments trying to get my bearings, be diplomatic, and basically just give in and let her have her way, hoping that next class I'll get my way!
So yesterday I was in class with Cee and she was being ornery as usual about doing an exercise, and I refused to keep giving her the answers if she didn't at least try to figure it out herself, so finally, I just said, okay do the rest for homework and for the last 10 min. of class, tell me a story.
"What kind of a story?  I don't know any stories."
"Tell me a story about your childhood, something you did as a child (practice past tense, I was thinking). You know, a funny experience in school, or something like that."
"I don't like my childhood.  I don't like to think about my childhood.  My childhood was not well."
O.M.G.  I was stumped, completely stopped in my tracks, blown over... now what?  I tried to think of something to say, and even began a sentence, like, "Okay, well then..."
when suddenly she began to talk.  "My father was very aggressive.  He never gave us money, and he and my mother split up and I began to work when I was 11."
"But who would hire an 11-yr-old girl?" I blurted out.
"I unloaded boxes at the weekend Tianguis (outdoor market).  And during the week I did different jobs.  I always had to find a way to make some money for my family.  My older sister was depressed because of the situation... she couldn't work.  I never had friends or went to parties.  I didn't have time.  I finished high school and went to a computer school and worked downtown and finally I got a chance to intern here at this company and they hired me.  So then I could get things for my family.  I bought clothes and shoes.  I got a TV for our house (we never had one before).  I paid for my younger sister to go to the university.  She's a lawyer now. Things are better now.  Every day I think how it was before and how lucky I was to be able to get this job.  But that's all.  I don't like to remember more than that.  I forgave my father and things are good now.  I tell my older sister she has to do that, because she has so much anger inside her for all those bad times.  She's still single, and I tell her she has to forgive so that she can go on with her life." 
Once she started talking, it all just sort of came out of her... I could only sit there with my mouth open as she talked about what it was like - all the time saying she never thought much about this stuff... she just wanted to forget about it.  
At the end, she said that when people want to know about her childhood, she always answers: "I didn't have one" and leaves it at that.  I told her that on the contrary, not only did she have a childhood, but it was a very unusual, interesting, even inspiring childhood.  Look where she was today!
I thought about Cee's case all day.  How singleminded she had been during her childhood.  How determined and stubborn she is today.  Her attitude is sometimes short, domineering and difficult to take but she's hardworking and gets things done and she is very kind and helpful to her family and neighbors...
At the end of the day, I picked up Carm, who was downtown, and would have to walk miles to the bus stop in the afternoon heat.  She got in the car and started in about how she needed this, that and the other - namely, money. 
And there I was thinking about an 11-year-old girl unloading boxes off a truck. 
I wanted to cry - I wanted to know that my own kids could be that resourceful if they had to be.  I wanted to know that they would want to work and not expect things to be handed to them... I wanted to know that they would find a way to get what they needed in life.  Carm assured me she knows, assured me she will find a way... assured me she plans to fend for herself in life, but just likes knowing she can lean on me now, which made me feel better.
This morning I got up and made a cup of coffee.  I looked at the coffee machine and smiled.  It broke down a month ago, and Sam fixed it for me.  He hadn't wanted to at the beginning.  He said it would be useless to try and fix it, cheaper to just buy a new one, but I told him I was curious as to what had caused the breakdown.  I told him it bothered me to junk that machine (I really love it) if it could really be used again, and I asked him if he could just kinda open it up and see...  He said it was impossible to open it, he needed a special tool... but I turned over the machine to look at it, and asked if he could do it with this, or with that utensil... I wouldn't let up about it, just kept thinking about ways to open it up... and I didn't buy another machine - we were drinking instant coffee... and one day I saw that he had opened it, and then, voilá!  He got intrigued and found the problem!  Ironically enough, by that time, I was the one who was starting to believe that maybe it just wasn't worth it, so then he had to convince me to buy the part and let him install it and fix it!  Funny how it worked out... yet perfect too in a mutually supportive sort of way!
Because the lesson to be learned here is that when you really need something, and when you believe in yourself, when you decide to do something about getting what you need, the possibilities are endless...
Bravo Cee, bravo to all who believe in themselves and are willing to do what they can to get what they need...!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Pack rat packing

Well, today we took down 4 bags of completely useless stuff.  I'm still working at it... got one box and another on the way.  In some places, I can see clearer space now, very uplifting.  The thing is, I'm trying to get all this "spring cleaning" done before Fned's visit.  Last time she was here, she threw out 7 huge bags of stuff - she assumed I didn't need - and for months afterwards, I would be looking for something only to conclude that it was one of the unfortunates considered worthless by her.  This time, I'm determined to be the one who decides...
But it's not easy to make the decision.  Take today.  I moved stuff around, tried to put the stuff I'm thinking I should toss (but not quite willing to totally give up) waaaay out of sight but still keep it.  I felt kinda foolish, stooping to such a trick, but my motto is: when in doubt, stash, don't trash.
So as of the end of the weekend, what do I have to show? 
  • Two boxes of papers and books - final destination unclear 
  • A large bag of wires and cables - final destination unclear
  • Two large bags of clothes and blankets to give away
  • One cleaned-off spare bed
  • One cleaned-off window seat
  • One cleaned-out hutch drawer/cabinet (but bookshelves above still cluttered) 
  • Two cleared-off desks
Sounds good, but there's still a long way to go... need to get more boxes!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Packing up - a pack rat in denial

Yesterday I was substituting at one of our schools and I noticed they had a lot of boxes - the kind that all the printer/copier paper comes in.  So I asked the coordinator if I could take some home, and he had no problem with that; he only wanted to know why I wanted so many of them.  I told him I was packing, and he asked if I was moving.  I said, no, not moving, just packing to get stuff out of the way.  He asked why I didn't just get rid of stuff I didn't need - and there I was:  face to face with my own "pack-rattency". 

I tell myself I'm not so bad.  I know of others who are real pack rats... Still, when you get to the point where every room in the house seems cluttered, no matter how often you move things around to make space, you know you're in the danger zone.  But here's the thing.  I don't really want to throw things out.  I just don't want them to be in the way.  I want to know that at any given moment, I could go find the respective box, open it up, and see/touch/revive, etc. the things I don't need precisely at this moment. 

Today, I started going through stuff.  I actually did throw things away, or at least they are in bags ready to be gotten rid of.  In throwing away those things, I made room for others that can now be stored.  I still have the boxes, which is good because there's a long way to go yet.  But for one weekend, I think I did well.

To be continued...

Monday, May 30, 2011

WARNING: woman wanting, wishing, watching, waiting

Somehow, it's all about the "w's".  You know?  Not just the title of this blog... I'm in the mood for weepin' and wailin'. I mean, what is it with me?  why am I so weak?  what do I need?  when will I wake up?  why won't I let myself?  Naturally this makes no sense, but I know what I'm talking about.  It's been one of those days - one of those weekends, actually.  wasted time, wishy-washiness... lack of willpower.  wrestling with wrath, whipped and woebegone... whatever...  Okay, let's wise up and look at the good side.
1) I did have a social moment of wine and wit
2) I did get one good walk in
3) I did go around the house and wipe out those hideous cobwebs
4) I did whisk through the other little projects I assigned myself at home
5) I did work half-day Saturday (which meant I didn't have as much time at home to do other things)
6) I did finish my translation quota for the weekend
So, hey!  It might not have been the most wonderful weekend, but I could have done worse!
In a Word:    Wow!!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

My sister's art


Bird of Paradise by Mar

I would like to say something about my sister Mar.  She's an artist.  One might not think of her as such upon meeting her.  She's a businesswoman - quite a successful one actually - and she comes across as being totally organized, self-directed, efficient, in control and well-spoken.  She's super intelligent of course, and she's naturally a high-achieving workaholic.  In spite of all this, Mar is also an artist. She loves her art, which is quilting, and yet she doesn't get grand-scale recognition for it, which always amazes me because as you can see here, her pieces show dedication, an eye for detail, appreciation and understanding of color and cadence, creativity and love of beauty, and the joy in putting it all together. 
When I look at Mar's art - I have a quilt of hers on my bed too - I feel that I'm part of that pattern; dedication envigors me, my eyes zoom in on the detail, I am immersed in color and attuned to cadence, imagination consumes me, I'm open to beauty, and suddenly I come together in the joy of being who I am. 

Inside  Infinity


Thursday, May 5, 2011

GOOD GRIEF! It really is!

About 3 weeks ago, I was in a difficult situation, and I said to myself: "good grief!"  You know that expression that Lucy made famous in Peanuts?  Or at least, that's where I first saw it.  Anyway, the moment the thought came out, I countered it with - How did those two words ever get put together??  I mean, is grief ever good?  Is there a such thing as 'good' grief?  I thought about it a lot (I've already told you how obsessive I can be) but didn't come to any satisfying conclusions, except that perhaps, the effects of having gone through grief are ultimately good... but since I hadn't ever truly experienced it, I wasn't sure.  And that was the thing!  I hadn't experienced grief!  Surely after your husband dies, you go through grief, you say.  But no, I never did... until today.  And the most incredible thing about it is that GRIEF IS GOOD! Good doesn't even begin to describe what grief is.  Grief is the most eye-opening (literally, my eyes were wide-open, I went to look into them in the mirror and they were not only wide-open, they were CLEAN - TRANSPARENTLY GLOWINGLY CLEAN!) experience. I have to write about it, just to understand it myself, so bear with me.
This morning, I was putting on my socks.  Simple thing.  I had been slapping around in flip-flops from the time I woke up, but now I wanted to go outside and I thought, no, better put on tennies, which of course means socks too. 
A word about socks.  I love them!  I love white cotton crew socks.  I love the way I can just pull them up in one fluid movement and they cozily encase my feet and make me feel protected.  Anyway, I was sitting on the edge of my bed putting on my sock, and I drew up my heel to the edge of the bed in order to put the sock over my toes and do that exquisite one-movement pull-up.  But my foot slipped off so I quickly reached to pull up my leg to tuck it in closer to my body so it wouldn't slip off.  Now this is something I never do.  I never manually pull up my leg but today I did.  And the moment my fingers closed around the lower section of my leg, I had a sudden vision of Car, and even though they were my fingers I felt in them the strength of his.  And that's when it happened.  Grief came over me.  I started to gasp and sob, and all those things you can imagine one does in a moment of grief, and ten thousand thoughts - not even thoughts, just beginnings of thoughts overlapping in waves and karooming inside my brain - swept through me.  At first it was genuinely uncontrollable, but even as I realized what was happening, I started controlling it, and it went away, and I found myself closing my eyes and willing that grief to come back - because somehow, it was the most beautiful sensation, it was REAL - as real as he was when he was here!  That thought brought back the grief.  He was so real!  I thought about all the times I'd felt him grasp me - because he had such a grasp!!  It was second nature to him to grab my arm for instance when he wanted me to see/listen to/feel/experience something.  I once told him he didn't have to be so insistent.  But this morning, feeling that strength in that grasp made me realize how much REAL intention he conveyed each time.  And how often do we convey an intention so immediately, so completely?      
As for me, I usually prefer keeping my body to myself and connecting with others through ideas (as if we were partners in a dream world). But I always knew one of the things about him that made him so ideal for me was precisely because he could always physically pull me back before I got lost in abstraction!
So there I was, deep in my cleansing, insightful grief, and I turned around and looked out the door with my wide-open, clear-seeing eyes, and what did I see?  A cool, peaceful sunny morning - the kind of weather I love - picture-perfect.  The grieving was over.  I was back in reality, empty, light, ready to be filled with whatever the day had in store.  I went out of the house to take a walk. 
Good grief!  How Life does take one by surprise and turn the simplest of moments into a magnificent experience of self-discovery.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Kind of a miracle

Here I am in a city of mystery, relaxed living and extreme heat.  I've been enjoying myself for the most part, doing nothing in particular, but sharing great moments with old friends, my kids, or just on my own.  I've also experienced a harrowing scare and something that was kind of a miracle.  The scare was horrible in the moment, because it was late at night and I was downtown, walking, and I couldn't find the place where I was supposed to meet my son, who would take me home (and his cellphone wasn't working, so I couldn't call him), but after walking in circles, I did find the place so it all ended happily as you can see.  Anyway, it's the miracle that I want to talk about.
I used to live in this city, but that was 18 years ago and technically, we only lived inside the city for a year, before moving to a small town on the other side of the ruins. Still, I did know parts of the city pretty well, at that time.  Today, it's another thing altogether.  Talk about growth!  I'm staying with Lu, who lives in a new area near the perifico, and I am illiterate in terms of the periferico, and all the new streets connecting to it; in fact, even the ones I do remember, I remember only cursorily.  It's been a challenge to maneuver my way around, but an enjoyable challenge, and on the whole, I've been successful in getting from point A to point B. People give me the bare indications, and I make my way from there.
Yesterday, after seeing my old friends and spending the afternoon with them, after doing some errands I had come here to do, I decided on the spur of the moment to try to find the house of my sister-in-law.  You would think that one would surely know exactly where one's sister-in-law lived.  In fact, she lives quite near the place where we lived when we lived here all those years ago.  And yet, here's the thing.  Even back then, we always had a hard time finding her house.  She lives in a little colonia nestled between other more visible colonias.  Her street is only two very short blocks long, and dead ends two houses beyond hers.  The worst part is that all the major streets are the same numbers over and over, so you might be on 38th street and then turn and be on another street that's also called 38th.  It just means that you're now in another colonia.  Suffice it to say that on the few occasions that we came to visit Edith after we had moved away, there were always some tense moments during the drive there.  I used to go bananas at Car's tactics.  He would say, "oh, there's that big two-story house.  That's the turn," and without knowing any names of streets, he would get us there, seemingly with no effort at all, which really galled me at times.  I would be trying to catch the names of the streets, which he didn't know, while he was simply following landmarks.  He claimed that it was just a question of knowing how to follow your intuition, something he happened to possess in spades. 
I, however, have never claimed to be intuitive.  Especially when it comes to geography.  It was one of my worst subjects at school, and my sense of direction is usually hopeless (as in the above example of my downtown misadventure).  Knowing my shortcomings, I told myself as I drove, that if worse came to worst, I could always call Edith when I got closer - because I thought I could at least find my way to get close to the vicinity of where she lives - and she could direct me from there.  So I started out.  Someone gave me the first indication of the general route and I started down the big avenue that would take me to that turn-off.  But as I drove, I saw a road that I vaguely remembered as having taken once to get to her house - though I wasn't entirely sure - and without thinking twice, yet somehow convinced it was the right thing to do, I turned on it, realizing even as I did so, that I was forsaking the tentative known for the completely unknown, which might lead me absolutely nowhere.  This road wound around for awhile and I stayed on it until I was pretty far down, and then I intuitively turned on a street that seemed to enter into the vicinity of her house.  Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that I recognized the street; it was simply that the houses looked like the style of hers and I felt I had made the right choice.  But as I continued, I never came to a corner where I could see the final part, the part I knew would take me there.  After awhile, I turned and backtracked, taking another street.  Once again, it seemed to be leading me close, but not close enough.  I found a shady spot, parked and got out my phone.  Alas!  Her number was not in my phone directory.  No problem, I had brought a little card with me with all the numbers of people I don't usually call but are nevertheless important to me.  Nope, her number was not on that card either.  I sighed and thought for awhile.  Give up and go back to Lu's house? There I could retrieve my other booklet of phone numbers - the complete list.  Well, that was one alternative, but I didn't want to admit defeat when I knew I was close.  I decided to give it one more try.  This time, as I drove, I realized that it could be that I was a little farther off than I had thought, which got me wondering about the actual colonia I was in.  Now what was the name of her colonia?  As I tried to remember, I came to a corner, looked up and there in front of my eyes was a storefront called Pollos Carranza. Oh! Carranza!  That was part of the name of her colonia.  I was close!  I continued down that street another few blocks.  I thought I was now on the lead-in street that would take me to hers.  I thought that her street would be one of the corners I came to, but instead, I found myself turning down a street that I knew was not hers, but which somehow looked more like the lead-in than the one I was on.  This was the moment of reckoning.  Up until then, I knew that if things didn't work out, I could find my way back to the known route that would get me home.  I hadn't really felt LOST, which is something that fills me with panic.  The moment I turned down this last street, however, I felt my sense of direction - what little I have - completely desert me.  If I didn't find her house, I now had no idea how to get back to the main routes.  Don't panic, I said sternly to myself.  Maybe this isn't the right way, but maybe... I continued slowly, feeling that I was very close.  Then I saw an orange-and-yellow house on the corner that I seemed to remember from long-ago trips to her house.  Could that really be her street?  Houses don't stay the same color forever, do they?  I looked up through the leafy branches of a tree on the corner to read the street name.  37-Something.  That's my favorite number!  But was it the name of her street?  I couldn't remember.  I peered down the street and there were only about 6 houses - that seemed right.  But the next block would have to be a dead-end if it was the right one.  I came to the corner and saw that YES, the next block was a dead-end.  I looked at the houses.  Again, only about 6 on either side.  That was right and, more importantly, they looked comfortingly familiar.  I crawled along the street.  OH YES! That one, the 4th one - the front garden looked different but it must be the one!  There was a guy doing some construction work on her house, if it was her house.  I stopped.  I called out her name.  No answer.  I asked the construction guy if anyone was home.  He told me the lady of the house was inside.  He went to a back window and called out, 'Sra. Edith, alguien está en la puerta'.  Oh yes, it had to be her!  She came to the door and when she saw me, the look on her face at seeing me answered my own surprised delight at having found her.  We fell into each other's arms, exchanging exclamations and dissolving into laughter.  As the workman gazed at us with a smile - how could he help but smile! - Edith and I entered the house.

Okay, so maybe it doesn't classify as a miracle, and yet...
Let's consider the facts.  It's a known fact that I've got no sense of direction and that I'm useless in working out geographical locations.  It's true that I've never known myself to be especially intuitive when trying to navigate.  But I got to Edith's house.  And I got there by way of feelings, intuitive turns of the wheel, noticing landmarks, and without going into a panic.  How is that so?  I asked myself that question over and over, marveling at the whole thing to Edith, to myself... until this morning.  Today is the anniversary of Car's departure.  He's gone but I've always felt that he's with me when I need him.  It's been awhile since I really felt I needed him with me, but yesterday, he must have felt my need and come along for the ride to Edith's house, lending me his intuition to get us there.  When you look at it that way, you begin to see that maybe it really was kind of a miracle!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Nitpicking and exoneration

I've grown more and more fastidious in my 'old' age.  Fastidious (though not in the sense of keeping clean), meticulous, demanding, exacting, fussy... some might find these apt adjectives to describe what is essentially obsessive nitpicking.  I get this a lot at home - "Stop nagging!".  But 'nagging' is not the word they mean because you nag a person to do something, and that's not what I do. (oh what a nitpicker I am!).  What I do is "harp".  I want things 'precisely so', whether it's how we put the forks in the cutlery tray, or how we understand the difference between "nagging"  and "harping" or a how we see a situation.  And though I'm aware of this evolution towards uncontrollable fussiness, I usually let myself give in  to it.  Why?  Because, after all is said and done, it's downright satisfying to know that I made my point thoroughly, or that "my way or the highway", as my sons refer to it, is actually the right way! (and not in the political sense, but rather as in the opposite of wrong).  This doesn't mean I am always right - on the contrary, and I welcome it when someone's way of doing things or definition of a term, or attitude toward a situation is more on the target than mine.  It's a relief, because ultimately, what it means is that a battle to the depths of oblivion has been mercifully avoided!
But let me begin to tie the ends together because there is a point to all of this. You see, yesterday, my nitpicking-ness veered off to the outrageous  - leading me to laugh at myself and my obsession, and turning it all into blog material in my mind.  Nitpicker that I am, I want to get it all down in words, but at the same time, I'm hoping to be exonerated, not that I'm actually guilty of anything... but just because I feel like I am. 
The word in question was 'reponer' (Spanish for... well, you'll see).  So there I was, hurrying out of the building to get to my next class in another building 10 minutes away from where I was, and as I shot down the hall, two teachers (not native English-speakers) standing in the doorway of one of the classrooms, beckoned to me to clear up a doubt they had.  They asked me if there was such a word as 'reposition'.  I hemmed and hawed for a moment (I had to come back from the inside of my own head where I was deep in dialog with myself about other issues) and then said, "Yes, of course: to reposition."  "What does it mean?"  "Reposition - to put in another position."  "Ah yes... okay, so would that work for 'reponer'?"  "Hmmm... well reponer, hmmm...you mean maybe replenish?"  "Replenish?"  "yes, like to replenish an amount".... (time was ticking, but they didn't look convinced, and the truth was, neither was I!)... I started backing away, still trying to come up with a better alternative, then turned back and called (by this time I was a few feet away from them) "or replace!"   "Oh, yeah, replace," they cried jubilantly.  "Yeah that's it!  Thanks!"   And I went on my way feeling relieved that I'd found the word.... but then, wait!  Was that really the word?  I mean it could have been 'make up'... like when you have to make up your hours at work after you've been absent...  at that point, I realized that I was nitpicking - surely they couldn't care less by now, having gotten the word they wanted.  Why couldn't I drop it?  But in my mind, it went on and on... It went like this:
Me talking to Other Person whose native language is not English:
me:  .... so I mean, it could be 'make up', or 'put back'...?
O.P. - well, but replace sounds...
me:    I mean, I'm sorry to be such a nitpicker, but... I mean, do you know what a nitpicker is?
O.P.: -very picky?
me:    well yes, but I mean the expression...  do you know what a nit is?
O.P.:  not really
me:  well it's the egg of a louse.  Do you know what a louse is?
O.P. : yeah, like: What a louse!  Like, that's a lousy excuse...
me:    yeah, but no, I mean the real meaning of the word - which is singular for lice...
O.P. : oh really?  I thought it was lice/lices
 me:   no, it's louse/lice... so, can you see the allusion?
O.P. : I'm not sure... someone who picks the nits out of their hair?
me:  right, but think how tiny nits are... I mean if you were trying to pick the nits out, it would take forever,      and it would be really tedious... pretty useless, actually, considering the lice would continue hatching eggs.
O.P.:  oh, so it would be pretty gross, and it might make you cross-eyed or give you a headache.
me:  yes, that too, but I mean in a figurative sense... can't you see it?  I mean look how I'm just going on and on with this explanation, trying to get you to understand all the little details... 
O.P.  - Oh, now I get it!... HAHAHAHA, and you're right.  You really are a nitpicker!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Stream of Mantras

I have been having the same kind of conversation over and over with different people lately.  The theme is along the lines of:  life's a bitch.  And it's true - life's a bitch.  It ain't easy sometimes - maybe even most of the time.  You make mistakes, you forget to do things, you hurt people, you get lazy and just want to blow everything off, you get stressed out and it exhausts you, you fear tomorrow, you regret yesterday, you don't want to face today, you hate yourself for all the things you do wrong, you get pissed off at others for all the things they do wrong, you go bananas over the slightest thing gone wrong, you miss opportunities, you miss people who have gone, you don't get enough sleep, you eat too much and too many of the wrong things, you can't find the energy or desire to do anything, you get depressed because you're sitting on your butt lacking the energy or desire to do anything, you need more time, more money, more love, more comprehension, and so forth, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum, ON AND ON beyond infinity!  OKAY!  So it's true!  But so what?

We're alive aren't we?  If life's a bitch, it's also gotta be a pretty awesome bitch.  You can't have the bad without the good, remember?  It's all part of the package. 

So I've been having these conversations with people and inevitably, I think of my mantra stream.  I didn't start out thinking of it like mantra stream; in fact, I just now put a name to it after having had my umpteenth conversation of this sort.  I have tried to explain the other side of "life's a bitch" a million times but evidently the words I use sound too pat, too hollow to the person I'm explaining them to, but what no one seems to realize is that, although each word/phrase by itself may sound corny, when you string them out into an ongoing mantra, they let you see the other side of the coin - the awesome side.  Here is part of my mantra stream.  The words/phrases go in no particular order;  they're not the only ones; I'm constantly adding new ones; I pull them out of the air as needed and as often as necessary in order to bring myself back to peace and acceptance of life:

ALL I CAN DO IS ALL I CAN DO - after you say it a few times, it starts to sound completely logical and you know it's true. You might be on the brink of tears when you say it the first time, but by the time you get to the last repetition, you can feel that shrug of total acceptance at the end and move on)

HARMONY - first I say it, then I think it, over and over, until it's more like I'm listening to it, feeling it, moving inside it...

RHYTHM - I alternate this one with Harmony - they go together...

GET UP! - an inner shout to myself, followed by: ON THE COUNT OF 3 (or 10, or 50, or 100) This is a good one when I'm lying around and I know I should be doing something but just can't get up the gumption to do it.  This one doesn't need repetition.  Once I'm up, I'm up.

STOP THIS! - another inner shout to myself, also followed by: ON THE COUNT OF 3 (or 10 or 50 or 100) This one works when I'm whining to myself about whatever... or when I'm going deeper and deeper into a destructive emotion/state of mind; sometimes, I might start to lapse back, but usually, one more reminder will do the trick, or I follow it with:

LOOK AROUND! This one gets me focusing on something outside myself - something within my sight at that instant; if I feel a need to focus on something beautiful, it usually means going outside if I'm not outside already, or looking out of a window, but sometimes I might have to wander through the house, repeating it a few times until I'm in the kitchen, let's say, and notice that I've got a beautiful lettuce in the fridge and all I have to do is wash it and cut it up for a salad, and add a bit of avocado... and turn on some music, oh, that's lovely.... looking around is really easy; you can always find something to focus on if you look around.

SCREAM! - I used to do this on a regular basis, one scream, loud and long; scared my father half to death once, and on another occasion, caused my boss to practically jump out of his skin.  This is a wonderful release when you feel that you just can't take it anymore; it will drain you completely - plus you get to feel wicked and gloriously free.  You do need to find the place to do it though - like driving alone in your car, or being at home alone (if you have thick walls so the neighbors don't freak out).  Over the years, I've found a more sociably acceptable substitute for screaming, which drains me just as thoroughly without scratching up my throat, although it's still quite a challenge.  The substitute mantra is:

SING! - which I do when I'm alone, as loud as I can and until I'm completely worn out.  It feels really really good.  Try a song that you find especially difficult - with high notes, or difficult breathing rhythms.  By the time you finish the song, you've not only come to terms with what was bothering you, but you've also restored your good feelings and belief in yourself.  However, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew when choosing your song!  Otherwise you'll have to deal with temporary defeat (that's why I said it's more challenging than screaming).  I've been working on this one song for the last two weeks, and was getting more depressed than ever, as I couldn't belt it out the way I heard it in my head (and the way Celine Dion sings it; it's an Etta James oldie called 'At last').  But 3 days ago, I finally got it right - I was driving to work alone, and I'd just finished my coffee, and you know drinking hot liquid helps the vocal chords loosen up for singing (ever noticed how Barbra Streisand always drinks tea during her concerts?) So I let loose once again, and when, miraculously, I had sung it out loud and clear to my satisfaction, I almost cried with happiness!  Just knowing I'd done it, FINALLY, made my day, and the next three days too!

REMEMBER! - If you say "remember" over and over you start the memories flowing;  then it's up to you to filter through them in order to choose the ones that are most relevant to you at the moment.

DEAL WITH IT AND MOVE ON! - This is a hard one.  Because, of course, it simply isn't that easy.  This one always comes with a counterpart, such as "I can't!", which must be dealt with with:

WHY THE F#$%K NOT???  Sometimes, asking that is an invitation to war, because of course there are always reasons for not being able to deal with things, and sometimes, I can't even put my finger on the why of it all, in which case I give myself an answer like "because....".  Then I need to reflect until I can really give some reasons, and then, after listening to myself for awhile, politely insert the follow-up of:

SO THE F#$%K what?   And at this point, I start the whole mantra stream: all you can do is all you can do, REMEMBER, LOOK AROUND!, etc., etc., and if nothing else works, just repeat:

TOMORROW! - repeating this word a few times helps me put things in perspective, because I know that tomorrow will be another day, and I'll have another chance to deal with it all, so for now, I can just STOP THIS ON THE COUNT OF 3 and let it drop.

Does that help?