Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Hallo from Marietta, GA!

I've no uploadability for photos, so they'll have to wait. I'm spending a coupla days with Dr. David Lee. It's turned into a more e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d visit than first planned. I got laryngitis during the Jerry Stocking seminar (more on that later) and it wasn't until this a.m. that I finally stopped denying I've been sick. "It's just laryngitis." The last time I did that, it turned into pneumonia while I was going through massage school, so I thought it best to address it. I'll say more about it when I have photos. Suffice it to say, I'm MUCH better, and should be leaving tomorrow...sometime...whenever...ish.

And now for something completely different...Jerry Stocking through the door of the Goo Goo Dolls:

It takes 36 muscles to smile, and only 4 to stick up your middle finger. ~John Rzeznik
Well, that's how I felt a couple times as I got pissed off. But we're never angry for the reasons we think we are, and it's really just patterns we're running. So I got over it. Eventually. By Day 3 I lost my voice, another pattern. Did that stop the excruciating 3-minute videotape where I had to answer the question What's it like to be you? NO. D'oh!

Jerry showed us Prince's performance at the superbowl where he sang in the rain. He said who else could pull that off? The Goo Goo Dolls at their 4th of July concert, of course. IN THE (non-purple) RAIN.

Everything's wrong, but it's all right. Jerry says if you deny the downside, you ignore 50% of life. And we make ourselves miserable wishing for things to be other than they are. I was struggling through some things [see Rezzie quote above] but I'm stepping out of my own way. I'm making a space not to have to know.

Name My only reference for models is The Devil Wears Prada. A v. famous one was at the seminar. I didn't know her name before, but I recognized her from magazines. Think about what your perceptions might be about models: Now throw them away.

Jerry sent us on a day-long scavenger hunt of sorts. We had to:
*see a dead body or lie in a coffin
*eat a bug [Eeeeewwww!!!]
*buy a pair of shoes for $5 or less and then negotiate a lower price.
*give the shoes to someone who needed them
*sing a song to some senior citizens
*donate an hour's worth of service [I took my percussor to the community center]
*tell a joke to 5 different people:

How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Fish.

Yeah, I got nothin'. I followed up with my favourite knock-knock joke:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Olive.
Olive who?
Olive you.

*give & receive a hug/kiss from a man and a woman
*get on the radio or TV [60 second interview on the radio]
*get a free lunch
*make a bet with someone
DO ALL OF THIS WHILE STAYING IN PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH YOUR PARTNER.

That last part was v. challenging, especially getting in/out of the car! But we did it all--except for the bug-eating. The first was the dead body. We went to a funeral home and the director kept saying, I think ya'll are on something. So we showed him our list. I think y'all are on something. But he showed us Miss G. who was 2 days shy of her 92nd birthday. Did you know that you can't lie in a coffin? They have steel bars and aren't good for your back. You know, because they're made for dead people. My partner didn't think our free lunch at the community center counted (we attended a going-away party and they had food). We stopped at the end of our v. long day to get tea. Everything is always better when you have a cup of tea, and we were both exhausted. So we went to Crapplebee's first. Not only could we not get a free cup of tea, we couldn't get a server. I counted 8 TV's in the room, and it was so noisy. Not conducive to tea-drinking, anyway. I found a Mom 'n' Pop diner and they had homemade cheesecake with blueberry topping (YUM!!!) Pinkey, the gal behind the counter asked us about our day, and we showed her the list. There was a sign on the counter about entering for a free lunch, and I pointed to it for my partner and said, "Here's your free lunch." Pinkey said, "Would your tea and cheesecake count?" YES!!! So we got 2 free lunches. :-) All in all, an AMAZING day. When we got back, we recounted our experiences to the rest of the group. Then Jerry gave us each a single adjective that we had to use in lieu of any other adjectives. Mine was substantial. Others were terrible, questionable, delicious.

Back to the bug: I realized after talking to Delicious that I had made scary bug-eating pictures in my head. She said, "Just a little, tiny one. No chewing, swallowed with water, very fast." Oh. I was making HUGE pictures in my head of spiders and other creepy-crawlies. How many gnats have I inhaled and swallowed accidentally?! I also was the only person who didn't swim in the pond. Eeewww!!! I made it colder and ickier than it was. When Jerry challenged me to go to jump into the pond, I did it. Thanks to Delicious for going with me. She even offered me her bathing suit except that she couldn't find it. So I took off the top layers and ran in. Not as bad as I had made it out to be. I will remind myself of this when I'm making other molehills into mountains and bugs into watermelons.

So that's all I'll write for now. I'm at Dr. Lee's again tomorrow a.m. and then I'll be on the road on my way back home. Unless I'm not. Will stop in to see the rellies in Richmond. [Treasure hunt a huge hit!] Until then...adieu.

P.S. John Morgan is having a half-off sale with FREE shipping for ALL his products!!! The marketing dept. is streamlining all the products and getting rid of the old packaging (same recordings). Personal faves are Self-Image, I Love My Body, Relax in 2 Minutes. You may want to go see for yourself now. ;-)

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