yourwords

Tomorrow I leave!

Long road trip of doom and peril… I think I’ll enjoy it. I’ve always liked road trips, all that time to sit and do basically nothing. Hey, it’ll give me lots of time to read and write, and catch up on my favorite kids movies. Because I’ll be most of the time squashed between two child seats, with the dvd player in my face, probably with kung fu panda or madagascar showcasing. But it will be nice to have the trip, because when I come back, I will be thrown into work, no exceptions, no breaks, and certainly no sanity. I wont even get paid for te first month, it’s a ‘free labor’ internship.

Not looking forward to that as much. people ask me if I’m excited to enter this ‘new chapter in my life’ and I’m like… what new chapter? I have to wake up too early, get dressed, go pretend that it doesn’t bother me to play nice with an idiot bossing me around, and get nothing from it for a while. Hell, I’ve been doing that my whole life. This isn’t even a prologue, or a dress rehersal. Just same ol same ol. Leaving one hellacious pit of despair for another. So no, I’m not excited.

What I am excited about is getting back into a REAL school. This fall I’m going back to community college, and taking the classes that I want to take rather than ones I have to. See, if I’m a full time student, I get insurance through my step dad’s work. Win win situation. It’s not like it’s been a decade since I’ve been in real school, as opposed to vocational school. Only about a year. And yet I miss it like a phantom limb.

Yeah, today apparently I’m extra dramatic. Maybe I always was, and only became aware of it today. :) Writer’s syndrome.

Prompt:

Sometimes the best thing for reducing stress is to take the time to identify it. I’m not saying writers are the least stressed people you ever met, in fact probably not. What I mean is that daily journal writing can clear your head, by at least identifying some of the issues cluttering your brain. Like the scientific method, a question (or problem) must be stated before one can solve it.

So I put forth that whoever reads this should start a daily PERSONAL journal. Blogs are good too, but you don’t write down everything in a blog. Not the things you’re keeping to yourself, and those are probably the things you’ll need to write about most.

Just Google your name followed by the word ‘needs’ in quotes - e.g. “Jack needs” and see what you get. Then tag ten or so people to have them try it.

Here are the top 10 things that I need, according to Google:

1. Oh, Paige needs a tan, and to stop wearing white and black neither look good on her. (pale is the new sexy look, haven’t you seen twilight?)
2. Paige needs an outfit for a pre-teen dance party and Sarah is too busy to take her shopping. (come on sarah, you’re ruining my life!)
3. Paige needs to find a dead man to save her daughter’s life. (a specific one, or just any old cadaver?)
4. Paige needs to stop making ridiculous stories! (for serious!)
5. Paige needs to consume an enormous amount of calories each day to get the nutrients she needs so she can grow properly. (the only growing i’m going to do is horizontal)
6. Paige needs Alex to drive her around because Paige forgot to renew her license and there are no subways or bus lines in Toronto. (I do hate the DMV)
7. Paige needs to be allowed to stay in contact with her biological sister when she moves to an adoptive home. (you better keep in contact Stephanie)
8. Paige needs to trust herself more, and complete assignments without constantly checking in with me to be sure she’s doing it right. (I’m more of a do-it-myself-and-pray-it-works type of gal)
9. Paige needs to change her name to crazy horse. srsly. (i’d rather have geronimo)
10. And I hope she doesn’t become a media icon after this, that’s all Paige needs is more attention. (if I knew how to get the paparazzi off my tail, believe me, I would)

My friend is a big, BIG, fan of The Secret, and things of the like. Everytime he gets on the internet, it seems he finds some new psychic phenomenon, that will either improve your life or is being kept hidden by the government. The most reccent one was about dreams, and how you can use them to improve your health and environment. Apparently, if you have health issues, such as back pain or chronic fatigue, you suggest to yourself as your falling asleep that in the morning you will wake up pain free and happy.

What happens then is that in your dream state, the space your subconcious occupies (which is no space) will fill itself with different scenarios in which your health improves. By morning, you will have had multiple dreams which you most likely do not remember, and you miraculously find yourself pain free. It’s worked for multiple individuals, according to testimonials, and it doesn’t seem too far off base, if you cut out all the self promoting bullshit they bombard you with.

Basically you convince yourself you feel good, and you do. Not too difficult a concept. Like the placebo effect, or visualization. The success probably has much less to do with dream magic than it has to do with hypnotic suggestion. Even though both me and my friend agree that this is a plausible method of ‘curing’ yourself, somehow I can’t convince my friend to leave out the mystical explenation.

Prompt:

When I think of all the different types of misfortunes that people are prey to, it makes me wonder what we do to put ourselves in the pathways of them. Write about your beliefs of ‘misfortunate incidences.’ Is it karma? Is it random? How much of the blame for unlucky circumstances can we place on ourselves? 

The Secret suggests that what we do, and what we concentrate on, attracts things to us. Such as constantly worrying about getting in a car accident, and eventually being diasbled in one. If this is true, would you be willing to change your whole perception on daily occurances, and force yourself to be hyper aware of every thought you posses? Is it worth it?