Diary of a Mad Writer

Channeling Kujo with the Reluctant Healer

2008-08-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

March 18th.

Yes, my appointment was today with the clairaudient. He lives fairly close and I didn't get lost going there, which was either a sign or the fact that he lived halfway between home and where the boys went to elementary school. His wife let me in and I sat and petted their cat and making nice sounds to their very old dog, who is sooooooo old she makes my old dogs look young. She spent about twenty minutes working at some food in her bowl and when I went past, there was still pretty much a meal left in there. Skinny, hobbling, and obviously loved.

The clairaudient (okay, let's just call him the Psychic) is 40ish, very sweet, very comfortable, very unpretentious. He immediately took off his shoes when we sat down to chat, which I liked. He also had the heater on, which I liked even more.

I told him what the naturopath (who he knows) was thinking: that my organs are in such a state of collapse that my "illness" is being expressed through my skin. The Psychic said that, in his experience, hives usually related to some deep-seated emotional stuff. So we went looking for it.

I started with the obvious, upon which I'd spent zillions of dollars of therapy: my parents' suicide and son's shooting. He sensed something earlier, beneath various layers. We chatted some more and came to my adoption. (On the way he came up with some uncannily insightful stuff about me: my empath qualities, how sensitive I am, my obsessive need to know stuff). He explained that there's a psychic biological bond between parents and their children (which I certainly know from my own), and that I needed to find my birth mother (and possibly father) to help them alleviate their guilt and find completion.

Then I lay down on a table, and he covered me and gave me rocks to hold in each hand. We did some yoga mouth breathing and he had me basically cast my parents' guilt trips and control and martyr acts away, telling them I wasn't going to carry their pain and anger for them any more. he touched various parts of my body, and put some oils on various points. And I get to keep my rocks. During this state he asked if I thought my hives were allergies and my subconscious-er self said: nope... not really.

He also said that perhaps finding them, or my search, would give me the story I needed to help the world and that, as a writer, it was wonderful to have that kind of gift to share. And I thought: holy shit! Maybe that's the story I've been wandering around looking for, all the while thinking I didn't have anything significant enough to say to change the world.

We also talked about our pets as familiars and spirit guides. We decided Esmeralda is channeling Rocky. And when I adopted Esmeralda, I was looking for s dog to channel my Kujo. But sometimes we don't get what we want; we get what we need (if the Rolling Stones are to be believed).

I didn't feel like I'd fallen into a wind chime black hole. I still itch. But I feel little lighter.

The Clairaudient is Listening

2008-08-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

March 3.

The adventure continues.

Why am I going to a naturopath who has put me at death's door? I am going to him because my acupuncturist, who is fabulous and who I have been with for many years, thinks he is an uncanny diagnostician. And much of what he said makes sense. Things are not functioning in my body and instead of manifesting themselves in something really dreadful, they've been giving me an annoying case of hives. We go after the cause and one of these days these friggin' hives will go away. He also assures me I'll have more vitality and life force, more energy, higher metabolism, and other good things. These all sound very tempting. I do, however, continue to heed the little voice in my head that whispers "scientology..."

And what harm will it do me to cut down to one glass of wine a day? I'll lose a ton of weight and, truthfully, I was drinking too much.

Give up glutens for 2-1/2 weeks to see if I feel better? Worth a shot.

No nuts, no sweets, no sugar, no caffeine... No problem.

No pork. Who cares?

It is a problem, though, trying to cook a decent meal without onions and garlic. Tonight I sauteed the crap out of them and put them into my white Tuscan bean soup.

Then there's the breathing healer. He gave me the phone number with instructions to see him in 10-14 days, so that when I return we can see if I am unburdened of the deep sorrow that grips my heart. (Okay, he didn't say it that dramatically.) I looked him up online, where he is listed as a clairaudient. Are those wind chimes I hear? Is this the time to run screaming from the room?

On the other hand: do I have stuff left over from earlier traumas? No doubt, despite the zillion dollars of therapy. So if I can breathe that out, why not?

Unfortunately something in the combination of things I'm no longer taking left me wide awake all night. I slept maybe an hour. So I am deadassed tired, a total zombie. I managed to cook soup and I'm simmering artichokes. If I can watch a movie is anyone's guess. Maybe I should ask the clairaudient.

The Path of Nature is Strewn With No Garlic

2008-08-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Dissolve back in time to March 1, 2008. This is how the search began.

First I went to see the naturopath. My acupuncturist had been gently suggesting this for some time, since the rash/hives from hell have now lasted a year and a half, and the dermatologist won't refill my cortisone and nothing else works on it and yes, I know that cortisone only suppresses the symptoms but I sure as hell want them suppressed. So I went to the naturopath. He's in Beverly Hills, though not right next door to the Clampetts.

He had me hold this rod hooked up to a machine and he pressed another lead from the machine against an acupressure point on my finger watching hundreds of different readings on his computer while he asked me what I ate and how happy/stressed/anxious I was. (9/5/7)

Results are that internally I'm a mess. My liver is sad and so is my gall bladder. My heart (emotion-wise) is sad, too. Many of my readings are very low and it's time to fix me. So for openers I'm on a restricted diet. No nuts, no peanut oil, no pork, no sugar, no gluten, nothing spicy, no garlic. The good news: I can have one glass of wine a day. The bad news: no garlic! Only one glass of wine! No pasta! To my tremendous relief, he did not cut my fruit lifeline, so as soon as I figure out what to make for dinner each night (the homemade pizza I had planned for tonight is off) I'll be okay.

He also wants me to go see a breathing guy, who's a clairaudient, or psychic. And we've eliminated most of my supplements. I'm not sure how I'll while away the mornings.

Oh yeah. Insurance doesn't pay for him. (There's a surprise...)

Next time I'm supposed to being ALL the supplements I take and he'll run them through the electrical thingie with me attached, too.

Talking to My Mother

2008-07-16T12:10:00.001-07:00

I talked to my mother today. Her name is Joan. She gave birth to me in 1951, in San Francisco, and gave me up for adoption. In her 73 year life, she never had another child, and she never found me though, it turns out, she lived only a few block from me in Los Angeles. She didn't know if I was a boy or a girl. She probably didn't even know the exact date of my birth. She died of ovarian cancer in 2003, never having found her only child.

In February of this year, I renewed a search to find my birthparents and heal all our psychic wounds. I was told that, when a mother gives up a child for adoption, she is left with a psychic wound. The wound can reside in the child as well, and in an empath like myself, it is even stronger. So I embarked on a quest to find my birthparents and heal us all.

I found my father. But I was five years too late for my mother.

Today, finally, I meditated, and then I spoke to her. I tried to reassure her spirit that I was all right, that I loved her, that I wish I could have known her.

I am trying to know her through the eyes of those who knew her well. This is my mystery, my giant puzzle, my quest.

C'est moi...

2008-02-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

first name

fav food

school(s)

relationship status

favorite color

last band listened to

favorite movie

favorite disney princess

dream vacation

favorite dessert

what will you be when you grow up

fav thing in life

one word to describe yourself

Gone Phishing

2007-04-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I accidentally responded to a phishing e-mail. It arrived as a Message From an eBay Member and asked how much shipping would be to Miami Florida 33287. I thought , "What a dumbshit" but I clicked the item number to see what it was they wanted. I got the eBay sign-in page but my automatic filler-in thingie didn't fill it in... so I did. Then my automatic filler-in thingie asked if I wanted it to remember this password, which I thought was odd since it already knows my password. Which is when I thought: uh-oh. Usually my browser (I use Firefox) tells me right away when a website is phoney. It goes all dark and says FORGERY!! But it didn't.

I thought about it and decided checked my eBay messages but there was no message from a dummy asking about shipping to Miami in my messages, which is when I thought" uh-oh again.

So I went on eBay and changed my password, which grieved me deeply because now there's another password to remember.

So in the morning I was on eBay checking my listings and going to my groups and chatting with my beady buddies and I decided to go bid on a postcard for my sweetie. When I did it asked me to log in again, so I did, and it told me my password was incorrect. I tried again. Nope. I tried the old password. Nope again. New one. Nope. Old one. Nope.

So I clicked Forgot My Password (even though I hadn't) and filled out a bunch of security questions and eBay e-mailed me a link to click. I clicked it, got on, entered my user ID and a NEW new password and was told it had timed out. Hmpf. tried again. Timed out.

I walked away, then came back and tried to bid again. I was asked to sign in, I did, the password was wrong, I clicked forgot password, filled out the security questions, got the e-mail, clicked the link, filled in the new password and got timed out. So I tried Change Password but, of course, that didn't work because my old password didn't work.

I walked away, did some stuff, figured the whole thing was a figment of my imagination, and went to put up a listing, which involved loading up 5 pictures and doing a description and changing my colors and fonts and everything and went I went to submit, I was told that someone had been trying to access my account (me???) and I had been locked out. I kissed that listing goodbye.

I had to leave to teach my karate class in Granada Hills in 15 minutes and it was raining, but this was stressing me out so I tried to contact Live Support. I waited and typed my sad story and waited and waited and waited and finally had to give up and leave.

Went and taught, did various things, got home after 6 PM, by which time much of the help is gone, and tried to log in. So I clicked Forgot My Password (even though I hadn't) and filled out a bunch of security questions, got the e-mail, clicked the link, filled in the new password and got timed out.

I found the phone number where people were still there and called. I got through to Trust and Security, who listened sympathetically (after asking me all the security questions) and then turned me over to a higher level of Security and Trust, which asked me everything again. Then he e-mailed me a temporary password and I retrieved it and he talked me through putting it in and changing to a new new password. And apparently those rotten phishers had tried getting on as me.

So I'm back on eBay and all fixed but geez... I had other things I had planned to do.

Lost and Founf Finchies

2007-04-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, we got up at 4:30 or something like that because Chris had an early call. I got him out the door and was in the aviary feeding the birds when I noticed that one of the society finches -- possibly the new baby society finch, or else its parent -- was on top of the aviary rather than in it. It seems some of the mesh had come loose and he'd escaped through a tiny opening. I tried to open it more to get him back in but he freaked and flew away. So I put the mesh back and went out to try and catch him.

He was on the outside of the aviary, near one end where, if I stood on a chair and was fast and deft I could catch him. Except then Gracie came out and went into her cat stalking pose and Little Finchie flew off. I spent the next ten minutes trying to catch Gracie, who kept trying to catch Little Finchie, with me yelling "NO, GRACIE, NO!!!" It was falling on deaf ears.

I finally got Gracie locked inside and spent the next 20 minutes trying to catch Gilda, who is possible an even better hunter than Gracie. I finally trapped her in the airlock of the bird cage and locked her inside, too.

That just left the job of catching Little Finchie, all alone in the wide wide world. He truly wanted to get back in the aviary, and spent a lot of time sitting on top, underneath the roof overhang, with the other society finches below him peeping wildly, either giving him instructions "Go around to the side. There's a door there!" or reaming him out. "You idiot! What were you thinking?!"

Every so often he'd fly to one end of the deck and then back to the cage, cocking his little head, trying to figure it all out. I had opened the airlock and baited it with a spray of millet. I also put one on top of the cage in case he was planning to live there for any period of time.

And then, since I had tons to do and I could not sit out there for three hours waiting for a finch to come to his senses, I went inside and did the dishes. Went and checked on him. Still on top of the cage. Went and tidied up the dining room. Went and checked on him. Still on top of the cage. Started emptying the freezer for the Thursday delivery of the new fridge. Went and checked on him. Still on top of the cage. Took the frozen food downstairs. Went and checked on him. Still on top of the cage. Took my shower. Went and checked on him. He was gone.

Oh no, I thought. I was neglectful and a hawk swooped in and ate him.

But then I saw him, way inside the airlock, peeping at his friends through the mesh, trying to get in.

So I stepped into the airlock and closed the door. Then I opened the door to the aviary... and in he went.

Phew. I didn't want my finchies traumatized.

And think about it. How many other birds get loose and spend their time outside trying to get back in? Something must be right at the Cornerstoregoddess Aviary.

I'll try to get a pic of Ms. Finchie... now that she's back.

Skunk jewelry, anyone?

2007-04-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

I always tell by buyers that I will extend or shorten a bracelet according to their needs, at no extra cost. I figure no one should be penalized for their wrist size. And when I alter, I always fill in or re-adjust charms and beads so it doesn't look altered.

I recently sold a skunk-themed bracelet and the buyer asked if I would lengthen it for her, and for how much. I assured her it was no problem and there was no charge. How long a bracelet did she need? 8"? 8-1/2"?

She e-mailed back and said she needed it to be 10 inches long.

I had to shake my head at that, but I figured she just had REALLY big wrists. Maybe she was a sex change. Maybe she was a giantess.

Then I realized I didn't have any more of the chain I'd used for the bracelet, so I re-did the ENTIRE bracelet (which was, at that point, about 50+ hand-wired charms) and sent it off to her.

She then e-mailed me with a picture of herself with her pet skunks and I realized SHE didn't have a 10" wrist. She was using my bracelet on her skunk!

Here's a picture of one of her skunks wearing a boa:

And here's the bracelet... before it became 10" long: