Gaia Community: Gemstar's Blog

Who would you really like to get to know?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:39:12 GMT

Me, Myself and I!

You'd think after several (not saying how many :-)) decades of living in this body, putting up with the aches and pains, and screwed up relationships it's had with just about anyone and everybody on the planet with whom I've had the chance to meet up with, that I'd have at least an inkling of an idea what I'm all about.

Not a chance! I change my mind about every 15 minutes - the weather has nothing on me. I'd probably do it more often, but it takes about that long for me to get into one mood and become bored with it, to move on to the next. Call it a permanent case of AHDH (which, according to the shrinks is something they made up anyways). I used to blame it on being a Gemini - still do sometimes when it's the best excuse I can come up with at the minute.

I have a few constants in life: I love coffee, just about anything sweet that doesn't have honey in it (it's lethal to me), chocolate for sure - currently have a batch of Mimi's famous brownies in the oven - and music (except for rap and hip-hop). Beyond that there isn't much that I can say that at one point I may have liked, but don't now, or that I didn't like, but changed my mind - maybe several times back and forth - and have settled now for perhaps the next few days on liking again. :-) Say that five times fast and see if it still makes sense.

So about the only way I really get to know me is to attempt to know those around me and those with whom I communicate - vis-a-vis that we are all supposed to be reflections, in one way or another, of one another. Being that I also act like a hermit most of the time (another constant that I just discovered in thinking about it), it's a very slow process.

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Tags: QaR, friendship, closeness, connection, changeable, inconsistent

What have you lost in your life?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:38:16 GMT

On the financial side, I've lost a lot of money, some of it, admittedly, because of my own stupidity, but much more because of the stupidity and mostly greediness of others.

On the humanity side of things, I've lost my parents - dead and gone, and in spite of being fairly tuned into the "other" side, neither of them appear too interested in contacting me. Best that they move along, and in retrospect of my life association with them, I'd say it's a DO NOT REPEAT lesson, here or hereafter.

Along with them, I've lost my brother - still alive, but dead as far as any love I might have ever had for him, which in retrospect, probably was more than he deserved. Why ??? - because he has torn my son away from me - don't know if that is permanent, but it appears it may be so.

My brother, also, along with my Mom when she was alive, had pretty much turned the rest of my family (aunts, uncles, cousins) away from me - which was very evident a little over two years ago at my Mom's funeral, and since NO ONE has bothered to return phone calls or mail, it's pretty evident that they don't want me in their lives. Probably doing me a favour, because I have a feeling the stress of having to deal with them would have been more than I could have handled and remained sane, anyways.

Most of the aforementioned people call(ed) themselves "Christians". So what I have also lost (probably a very good thing, actually), is the idea that Christianity is of much, if any, value. My daughter and son-in-law, on the other hand, tends to keep me from throwing the whole lot into the fires of purification, though, because they actually do try to live up to at least some of the tenents supposedly laid out by Jesus. I used to be proud to call myself a "Christian", but it's been a long, long time since that felt good.

So, along with Christianity, I've pretty much tossed most other religions in the bin as well. I cannot say I am athiest, though, as I do believe in some sort of "higher" power, but I'll be damned if I worship it in any organized, dictated fashion. I guess the best way to describe my present mind/heart-set in that reference is being open to spiritual guidance and giving appreciation for the people and things who do inhabit my life with grace.

Tags: QaR, lost, letting go, giving up

I BELIEVE THIS GUY GOT IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME !

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:59:52 GMT

The views of Patriotic Australian Prime Minister

The whole world needs a leader like this!

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

"Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks..

"Separately, Kevin angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. '

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'

"We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."

% % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, WE will find the courage to start speaking and voicing the same truths.

If you agree, please SEND THIS ON and ON to as many people as you know.

Especially send it to your leaders - Your President, Your Senators, Congressmen/women, The Canadian Prime Minister, Provincial Premiers, and Provincial and Federal Elected Parliamentary Ministers. Let them know you are FED UP with immigrants coming to our countries and whining about "back home" and what's happening there, or worse attempting to foist their customs over ours. I may not be Christian, but I will defend to my last breath the Christian's right to have a Christmas Tree in a public school, city square, or any other building where the public attends. North America was settled by mainly Christian faith peoples - if you've chosen to come here to live from a non-Christian country, respect that or stay out!

If immigrants are so worried and warped about "back home" - well - if this is NOT your home, maybe you should go BACK HOME!!!! I'm tired of my tax dollars being spent on peacekeepers on our streets in downtown Toronto attempting to keep the rest of us safe from every belly-aching whining ex-pat from other countries almost endlessly. I'm tired of seeing our young men being sent over to these foreign lands to try to keep peace (where no one seems to want it) and getting blown up for their efforts, while the so-called men of these countries, especially the Muslims, uphold archaic laws such as Sharia law and beat and murder their women, and yet haven't got the intestinal fortitude (or gonads to go with that) to stand up and fight the bad guys (well, maybe THEY ARE the bad guys!).

.

PS: I didn't realize when I got this in email from someone that it was over a year old - BUT I have to say that perhaps we STILL need to keep this in the forefront for a while longer, because obviously the message hasn't been made loud and long enough yet to get some action on it!

Tags: Kevin Rudd, Australia, Muslims, Sharia Law, backbone

Two years ago... does time really fly when you're having fun?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:57:52 GMT

Gemstar, the Butterfly Supreme

Two years ago I landed here, directly on the Holosync Pod. I floated down, settled in, and THEN discovered that there was soooooo much more to this place - a virtual village of sorts, where I could post and connect.

I am still a member of that pod - actually it's the only pod to which I now belong. I have been in and out of at least a dozen different pods (groups as they are called now at Gaia), staying with some longer than others. I cultivated one and moderated one for a while. I found that most of the time I was a disruptive element, and had I not left most when I did, would probably not be writing this brief blog at this time, because I'd be wearing one of the "team's" shoe leather on my derriere.... LOL!!! God knows, I gave you guys plenty of reason and opportunity to clip my wings - so ya'll must be a really patient lot! :)

I have always found it difficult to "express", even in the blogs. Occasionally, when I was REALLY creative, I figured out how to turn off javascript and actually posted in larger, coloured type-face. But it's such a pain, and the risk of losing a post to cyber-space became so annoying, that I just stopped doing that. But the tiny type-face, with no selection of fonts or colours has really cramped my style. I also would have liked an easier way of importing "smilies". I have tonnes of smilies that I've never been able to use here. If anyone here has seen my other blog-posts on other net's, you would understand this lament. Oh well.....

I've taken a couple of sabbaticals - most recent this past month for almost two weeks. I logged off, so that I would really have to think about it before logging back in and commenting on someone's blog - or, God forbid - start one of my own. I finally caved in today when one friend's blog presented such a challenge to my thoughts of late, that commentary burst from my fingertips!

I really appreciate each one of the friends who's icons show up in my friends list, and some of those others who from time to time have provided a kind word here and there. I've lost a few along the way too - some have left Gaia altogether, some have been booted off, and others have just, apparently, given up on me for one reason or another. In their shoes, I probably would have done the same. ;)

The jury is still out as to whether I'll be here for a "third" anniversary. My online time is becoming quite limited (hence I am typing this at 1:30 on a Sunday morning). At the same time that I started my almost two week sabbatical from here, I removed myself from almost a dozen other social-network homes. No sense taking up cyberspace real-estate when most of them had turned into ghost-towns anyways. I am still involved with half a dozen "business" networks, though. That's my main reason for even being on the internet these days - and if I'm not learning something or earning something from the interchange, then it's pretty much time to pack it in.

And that brings me back to deciding if I stay or if I go. Two weeks ago I held the mouse arrow over the "de-activate" button here for almost 10 minutes. In the end I decided to log out and give it some more thought. So, to make it clear, the jury is still out on that decision - and letting go of people and places has become something I've been doing a lot of lately, even with family, and it's becoming easier all the time. I think in the end, I'm going to need to travel light, with few attachments to anyone, any place, or any thing.

So I'm here for now. As another blog I wrote a while ago stated - hiding in plain view.
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Tags: two years, party, anniversary, friends

The Pipe-Dream of Creating Global Governance Out Of Global Crisis

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:31:55 GMT

This blog actually started out as an answer to Meenakshi's blog post regarding Global Governance, but it became too long, so I decided to post it as a separate blog, for those interested in reading beyond my initial comments.

While religions may have survived longer than even the mightiest empires, it must also be noted that many of those mighty empires were brought down by religious institutes, ideologies and outright barbaric-ness of some of its leaders. Who started the Spanish Inquisition? Which religions in todays world still push for sovereignty thru force and threat of annihilating "the infidels" on a shrinking globe (and one of them actually has more followers, globally, than the rest combined, and I'm NOT talking about the Christians)?

How much choas and blood-letting are we prepared to endure, if this "globalization" is to take place? Even in a country as large and populus as India, there is a deep division between three different religions - Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu, with the added burden of - having been colonized by a the British - the Christian religion, and all of its sub-divisions!! Then next door to India, you have the Republic of China, who stubbornly resists ANY religion being practiced (at least outwardly) by its population. By contrast, it is quite easily seen that neither way really works, although I feel eventually the Chinese will find a workable balance within their own boundaries.

My own thinking on this is, that as long as there are religions underpinning the belly of ANY sovereign state (and which sovereign state with any power doesn't have this today?), there is little hope that the type of globalization of which the author speaks, will ever come to bear fruit. At one point, it was thought this would be the role of the United Nations, and to a fair degree, in spite of it's failings on some fronts, it has at least fostered the idea that we are our brothers keepers for the last 60 years. However, as the author pointed out, the arbitrary way "veto's" are handed out, is why today it is more like a kitchen-table, where the kids go to squabble, and most of the time the parents throw up their hands and say - "well, we tried".

Without might of arms, some much less militaristic individuals at the helm, and certainly with ALL religions either staying out of the pot, or at least being recognized as "equal" partners in the stew, this is not a recipe that will work - there are far too many parties who don't want to see "democracy" work, including many of the worlds current religions. And there are far too many greedy individuals who are not now, nor probably ever will be, prepared to share their plate of stew with their siblings.

The latter are the ones who have created this maelstrom, with the clear intent of enslaving a large part of the world to do their bidding for the least amount of cost. They have been implementing a plan for the last 150 years, which has been succeeding in bringing even the strongest countries, and most powerful employers (and their employees) to their knees. The leaders of these countries are either complicit, or have been blinded - dare I say hypnotized - into thinking they are assisting a formula (as currently being fostered by both the USA and Canada) that will bring stability to the worlds finances. The price to tax-payers for "fixing" the banks will virtually enslave them for generations. The price of the "fixing" of the auto-companies, by virtue of taking away wages and benefits from the workers, and then grabbing money from the public coffers to prop up these behemoths, who have resisted anything BUT the gas and oil guzzling way of propelling their products for the last 60 years (while all along there were many different GOOD ideas brought forward, that were outrightly killed), will also contribute to this enslavement by virtue of controlling future wages, not only of the auto-workers, but of everyone else in that huge food-chain, AND by taxation in general.

So while this "globalization" may be an idea worthy of further thought, I'd say that unless you rid the world of competing religious ideology, and deport the money hungry bastards who started this whole thing OFF the face of the planet, it doesn't have a snow-ball's chance in hell of ever succeeding.

Just my thoughts...

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Tags: money, globalization, dominance, financial, religious, religions

Where do you see spring in your life?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:44:25 GMT

The Tiny Crocus

I'm sensing Spring in my life at the spiritual level. This is the best time of year for me to bring forth new efforts, and to rejuvenate old practices that have fallen by the way-side.

So this year, for today - being the first full day of Spring in the Western hemisphere - I have decided to dedicate the day to the spiritual side of life. Very early this morning I started off with my Holosync meditation. I am making effort to keep my thoughts focused on love and beauty, in all that I do today.

Later today, probably mid-afternoon, I am going to sit with a DVD I received over 18 months ago - it is one of the Big Mind presentations by Zen Master Genpo Roshi. A couple of years ago I became interested in the Big Mind process, having watched and listened to a few shorter versions of it, and ordered the DVD, and then packed it away with a dozen other courses I've ordered and then packed away. It is now time for me to haul these all out - but I felt it was especially time to do the Big Mind one first.

I am not at all sure how all of this will pan out. I have been receiving encouragement, mostly through whispers in my ear, from The Herald to pick up the "spiritual" part of my work here - although I also feel that my Hypnosis and NLP work have a strong spiritual overtone. I have too long sat on information that The Herald have provided over the last 30 years, and it is time for me to make a firm commitment to complete the books and audio-books. So I guess what I am doing with Big Mind will perhaps help clarify why it has taken so long to finish these projects and move into other ones - at least hopefully I'll get some clarification for myself on this.

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The Who That Is Me

My eyes peer out between the spaces of the non-spaces,

My ears listen to the sounds of silence in chorus,

My breath breathes life into the lifeless carcass of

The Universes, and the tiny bud of the crocus.

My laughter rings in peels of joy at My thoughts,

Racing on to find a new place, where place is not,

My tears sting like eternal fire as I witness,

What man is doing to himself, and for what?

I create with endless abandon, never to destroy,

For in destruction itself is creativity bound,

Only the words are different, nothing is lost,

And creativity is never closed around.

I am in you and you are in Me, together, tethered

By consciousness. Never apart, within, without,

Only your thoughts keep Me hid from your sight,

Only your thoughts fill your soul-heart with doubt.

Yet you can know Me as a part of your being,

Reach out - touch Me - I will not break, nor you,

I am ALL THAT IS, creative essence in total,

Only to love Me, I've always loved you.

Copyright December 3, 1981

Sheila M. Street

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Tags: QaR, spring, march, equinox, rebirth, newness, seasons, spirituality, begin

Friday Five of Food

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:34:38 GMT

Just couldn't resist this one - food plays probably way too big a part of my life - and other than eating it, I find it a fascinating subject at times.

1) What did you have for breakfast? I MUST have variety to start my day - the main essential ingredient is coffee, generally flavoured. My day can then get started. Next one of the following: a decent sized bowl of micro-waved oatmeal; a toasted cinnamon-raison bagel with cinnamon spread (but not too thick); a couple of slices of home-made almost whole-wheat bread with Velveeta, Havarti or Motzerrela cheese slices melted quickly in the micro-wave; two eggs easy-over with whole-wheat toast; PB and jam on toasted whole-wheat. Stuff like that.

2) Have you grown your own food? Many years ago I made a stab at gardening when we lived out in the country - unfortunately city-dwelling makes it hard to do that. I used to occasionally grow my own alfalfa sprouts - but in apartments these tend to attract insects, so it's been a while, although I love doing it and having them fresh for salads and sandwiches.

3) What is your favorite beverage? What else!? Coffee - almost any flavour, cold, hot, must be sweet with at least milk, preferably cream. Funny though, I don't like expresso or capacinno.

4) Do you like to cook? Mostly yes - I think it's the clean-up afterward that stops me from doing more of it than I do - but I rarely eat out, and I eat fairly well - certainly healthy and home-made most of the time.

5) What is your favorite vegetable? Cooked broccoli - cooked just to the limp stage - if it has any crunch left, it's under-done, with lots of butter and modest salt. Don't like it raw at all! On the raw side of things - sweet red peppers and English cucumbers. Other than carrots, I detest most root veggies. If it's green and tastes more to the sweet, it passes well.

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Tags: friday five food

Friday Five of Childhood

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:33:25 GMT

1) What was the name of your childhood pet? Briefly, for about three weeks, a black kitten named... what else... Blacky. My Mom got fed up with the cat-poo and my brother was allergic to it (and he tried to drown it in our kiddie pool), so we had to take it back to my Grandparents' farm, from whence we had toted it home in a Shredded Wheat box, mewing all the way!

2) What was your favorite toy(s) during childhood? Pre- going to school, I liked to play house, and had a big doll with gorgeous deep blue eyes, a dress to match and lovely flowing "real" black hair.

3) Did you grow up with brothers and sisters? Yes, unfortunately - a brother almost four years younger, who to this day (over 50 years later) is still being a royal pain in the butt!

4) What game(s) did you like to play? As above - also in winter I liked to ice-skate and build snow-homes in the snow-banks the plows left behind.

5) Did you have an imaginary friend? Lots of them - probably not so much imaginary, except that grown-ups were just too blind to see them.

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Tags: Friday Five of Childhood, games, pets, friends

Where is your name from?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:10:32 GMT

Luck o' the Irish!

My first name, Sheila, is Irish - meaning lover of music, and I'm sure I pre-programmed that one into my Mom. Although my Dad misspelled it on the birth certificate application, someone was wise enough to fix it - but it's really funny the number of people in my life who don't seem to get the "e" and "i" in the right sequence. ;)

My second name, Mae, is also Celtic - and the equivalent of "Mary". It is also the second name of one of my Mom's younger sisters.

My birth last name (which I won't provide here, for privacy sake) is Welsh in origin, as far as spelling goes, with a meaning pre-dating back to Israel, of "person/man of God". To say more than that about it would sound pretentious and speculative, at best. ;)
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Tags: QaR, name, meaining, parents. story

Inspiration Friday Fives - better late than never!!!

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:12:10 GMT

1) Who has served as a role model in your life?

My grandmother, because she wouldn't accept being pushed around by anyone.
My daughter, because of how deep she loves, and how freely she forgives.

2) What book (s) have inspired you?

As a pre-teen, the "Trixie Beldon" books - always gave me hope that there was something better out there, which carried forward into my adult life. The "Seth" books by Jane Roberts were a great inspiration for my channeling back in the '80's. More recently books by many of the "self-help" crew have been my motivational sidekicks.

3) What are you excited about today?

The prospect that within the next couple of months (hopefully sooner) I will be opening up my own Hypnosis and NLP Centre and Training School.

4) Does music inspire you?

Yes - it is part of my blood and my breathing! When I severed the end of my index finger recently, the pain of it happening, before I got it stitched back on and the bone was reset, was far overshadowed by the painful thoughts of possibly never being able to play the piano again. It is still painful to play the piano, but I am taking it slow, and eventually I will be able to play as well as I did before.

5) What qualities inspire you in others?

Commitment. Honesty. Enthusiasm. An Integrity that overshadows everything else in the life. These are qualities I strive to have in my own life, although I need to do a better job on most counts.

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Tags: friday five, inspiration, Hypnosis, NLP

Thinking and Thanking

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:03:38 GMT

I was just about blown away at the simplicity and yet power of the words I got in this morning's "Tut - The Universe" email:

"Have you ever noticed, that the only difference between "think" and "thank" is one letter?

I haven't decided what that means, but it's got to be absolutely HUGE.

Tallyho, The Universe
Two words you just don't want to leave home without."

Just think about it - if every time you "thought" about something, if you also had to give "thanks" for that something, you'd find all sorts of creative ways to change negative thoughts into positive ones. Doing so, you'd soon find that you would be drawing a lot more positive stuff into your aura and, ultimately, your manifestations.

But you see, we're given free will - choice - and many of us (me included here, way more than I'd sometimes like to admit) find it just much easier, in the short run, to ignore the second part of the above exercise. Of course, the more we ignore the habit of "thanking", the less good stuff comes up for which we can be thankful. Sort of a nasty circle.

So, for the next week, as a means to establish a good habit, and to help disspell some of the negative press in our minds about our current 'financial crisis', let's just experiment a little with this. I'm thinking you'll begin to experience a lot more peace in your mind, if you mindfully practice this for even a few days.

Just a few 'thoughts' this brought up for me today!

Blessings!

Sheila M. Street CI CH T.NLP

Certified Hypnosis and NLP Instructor

and channel for "The Herald

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Tags: hypnosis, channel, channeling, NLP, think, thought, thank

Where is your favorite place to hide?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:49:40 GMT

In plain sight.

Really. It's not hard to do. I have often wondered, in fact, if possibly I was invisible, because sometimes it seems that people look right through me, to the point of trying to walk over me, in crowded situations.

At parties, I disappear into the wallpaper and paint. I could probably spend an evening hanging out in a corner, and if I didn't emerge to go to the ladies room, would probably never be missed.

It used to bother me when I was younger - now it is interesting to just sit back and watch the snow-jobs everyone else tries to perform on their cohorts. So, the Invisible Man has nothing on me! :-)

PS: The butterfly is there - you just can't see it......... LOL!!!

Tags: QaR, hiding, secret

Friday Five - short and (ummmm mostly) sweet!

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:09:24 GMT

1) What made you smile today?

Some funny emails I got from a friend, especially one about kids' perceptions about Grandparents and another video of a very fit older woman dancing salsa with a younger guy - obvious that SHE doesn't have arthritis!

2) What's the weather like where you are?

Not as cold as yesterday, but still not warm enough for my liking. At least the sun was out and the little white clouds were pretty. Expecting to get quite a bit above freezing tomorrow - but it's going to rain most of the day.

3) Who did you talk to today? (you can tell us one or more)

I talked to my daughter a couple of times today, which is somewhat unusual. We've been talking more since she was laid off from her job - hopefully I'm able to keep her encouraged about the future. I also talked to myself quite a bit - aloud even - doing that helps to shut down the monkey-mind that chatters negative things in the background most of the time - tapes from people who didn't know what the F*** they were talking about that have stuck on replay for far too long! Also tapes of what I'd like to do to my idiot brother if I was sure I wouldn't get caught! (yeah, I know, a lot of nasty karma there!)

4) Are you hungry, thirsty or content right now?

I am content - just finished a good supper, with dessert and now sipping on a mostly cold coffee (which is how I drink it most of the time).

5) What are you thankful for in this moment?

I am thankful that I took a measure of courage today and played my piano for about 20 minutes, through the pain, and found that doing so actually sort of numbed it down a bit - this is the first time in six weeks (since I pretty much decapitated and crushed my index finger tip) and if nothing else, the psychological lift of knowing that if I can do this now, then with persistence, I'll be a good as before in a very short period - much less than the six months I was originally told by the emergency doctor. I credit a lot of this to: a lot of healing sent from a lot of good people; taking really good care of myself and the finger over this period; and, using a heap of hypnosis and NLP to engage the subconscious powers of healing resident within me (and all of us).

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Tags: friday five, piano, fingers

What music has made the biggest difference in your life?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:33:17 GMT

Other than "Rap" and "Hip Hop", I don't think there is any other kind of music that I DON'T like. I studied classical and modern steel guitar from age 7 to 10, and classical piano from age 10 to 16. I also studied two years of voice development for opera at 13 and 14. So it isn't a matter of "what" music has made the biggest difference in my life, as that music HAS BEEN a vey major part of my life.

So now I am faced with a bit of a dilemma. I'm just at the point in life when most people think about retiring - and I have a nice varied selection of tunes I have composed over the years, all nice and polished up, ready to put on CD or the internet, with some hope of makimg perhaps a few bucks along the way - and whammo - I do a crushing/severing thing with my left index finger!!!

I had actually hoped to be playing piano by now (almost six weeks after the injury), and although outwardly the finger has pretty much healed, it is too painful to play for more than a few minutes at a time. I had a second bunch of X-ray's done yesterday at my appointment with the Plastic Surgeon (PS), and while originally, I had thought all I did (other than damn near chop the end off, mid-point of the nail) was to break the little bone at the end of the finger.

Well, nope - I guess when the suturing doctor said it would be six months before I played again, and I got a bit hostile with her for being negative, she wasn't telling me the whole story. Basically, the part that was still mainly attached (mainly being a very wild generalization in this case), was pretty much crushed into a sixteenth of an inch pile of junk. According to the PS, I'm doing a fantastic job of healing - so wonderful in fact that all of these tiny pieces of bone have been knitting themselves into a very sturdy, and (because nature loves to overcompensate!) BIGGER unit, which sticks out on either side of the finger like (wait for it.........) butterfly wings!!!!!!!!! VERY painful butterfly wings, that stab from the inside with each press on the piano keys! (Regardless, I still have to laugh at the irony of it all.)

The remedy ISN'T to have it operated on, apparently. I've actually been encouraged by the PS to now begin playing through the pain, and I've been given a bunch of exercises to "desensitize" the extra sensitivity I now have in some places (while I still have no feeling in other places, due to extensive nerve damage), and eventually to wear down some of the extra bone my body has produced in healing.

So........ it may be a while yet before I get that music out there..... there is no guarantee that I'll ever be able to play again without pain, or have full sensation where it has little to none, now. Ever tried walking on a foot that was asleep? Same deal, only smaller area, on the pad of the finger.

So, music for me is now a hope, a prayer, a bunch of hugely needed patience, and the "something" about which my 'status' mentioned that I'm doing a lot of re-thinking on, presently.

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PS: Here is the link to "Tienamen Mosaic", composed thru me by my "guides" in 1992, to give you an idea of some of the music I had been capable of playing.

Tags: QaR, music, influence, listening, impact

Odd Couple Animals - A must watch video!

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:55:25 GMT

This is SO worth watching...no matter how busy you are!! It'll make you feel good....guaranteed!

After several attempts to insert to video here, I've given up - so here is the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBtFTF2ii7U - looks much more impressive when enlarged to full screen, anyways.

If animals can overlook such HUGE differences, why can't humans overlook differences within our own species???

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Tags: animals, differences

Hummingbird Lane

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:38:37 GMT

A friend sent this in an email to me, and I just know that my friend HummingBird will love this, so I decided to share it here:

HUMMINGBIRD LANE

This is something I have never seen before, or ever even heard of. This woman lives in a Hummingbird fly zone. As they migrated, about 20 of them were in her yard. She took the little red dish, filled it with sugar water and this is the result.
The woman is Abagail Alfano of Pine, Louisiana - she has been studying them daily and one morning put the cup from the feeder, with water in it, in her hand; as they had gotten used to her standing by the feeder they came over to her hand. She says in touching they are as light as a feather.

file000

file001

file002

Pretty neat, huh?
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Tags: hummingbirds, feeder, feather

Relaxing with the "Friday Five"

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:57:08 GMT

Short and sweet this week.....

1) What do you love to do in your free time? What free time? Gee, I didn't know time was "free" - seems like almost anything out there today has a price on it, so I just figured that time wasn't free. So maybe that's why I don't seem to have any.

2) What music helps you relax? Josh Groban, William Joseph, Mantovani, Zamphir.

3) What movie did you enjoy recently? Aeon Flux, Surf's Up - I love kid movies!

4) Who makes you laugh? I probably laugh at me mostly, because I'm with me more than anyone else. The occasional jokes I get in my email... I have received some pretty funny stuff from them. Biggest laugh, and guaranteed to put me in a good mood before going to bed - watching the Jon Stewart "Daily Show".

5) Where do you go/ do to recharge? My recharging is very passive - listening to Holosync and a large variety of Hypnosis CDs is my main release valve, while still making productive use of the time (because you know, it's just not "freeeeee"....LOL)!!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ^v^ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PS: The "finger" is healing nicely, but still pretty useless. I now have about 50% range of motion in the first joint and 95% in the second joint, but it is still really ugly looking, and certain areas still have no feeling in them, while other areas are still very bruised feeling, so it's going to be a while yet before I play piano. I'm seeing a plastic surgeon on Monday to find out what we need to do about the nail (amazingly, it hasn't gone black, still has blood flow on the part that was chopped off, and appears to have somehow re-attached itself at the bottom end to the rest of the nail - but the downside is it appears to have stopped growing from the bottom, but it's hard to tell because most of my other finger nails seem to have slowed in growth over the same period, as well.... so I guess I'll just have to be patient with this for a while longer). :)

Tags: friday five, relaxation, Holosync

What would you whisper as a wish for the dawning year?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:33:36 GMT

My whisper'd wish would be to take all of the war-mongering leaders of the world up into space on a big space ship (because unfortunately there are an awful lot of them), hand them all a little box with a large red button attached to a very large onboard bomb, and ask them to either make peace or blow themselves to where-ever - let God and the Devil sort them out from there. Perhaps it wouldn't be necessary to have a pilot - we can auto-pilot ships to Mars, so certainly we could put this thing into some safe distance away from the Earth. My bets are that we'd see fireworks within less time than it would take to get it into orbit, though, unless we withheld the boxes until they were far enough away. On the other hand, maybe if they realized that it was their own butts they would be blowing up, they'd make peace amongst themselves. Naw!!! most of them have been fighting for so long, they've probably forgotten that any such thing as peace could exist.

Do that, and at least we'd be able to start off the year with a little bit of peace. I am so thoroughly disgusted to have to say that I belong to the same human race as those Leaders in Israel and surrounding areas, who on either side of this BIG squabble over a little chunk of almost useless, barren rock (at least from what we are shown on TV, although I'm sure there must be something better as well), continue to kill, maim and torture one another. Same story for Iraq, Iran (eventually) and Afghanistan. They are all so selfish, self-centered and bereft of morality, personally, I really don't like even sharing the air I breathe with them.

Let's be clear here - I'm not taking sides on this issue - I don't think either side in the Israel-Palestine conflageration are "right" for the way they are treating the people who live there, who would like nothing more than to live peacefully, love, be healthy and have some prosperity - just like anyone here in Canada or the USA would want. So it is far beyond my scope of intelligence to even consider how they think that continually hurling bombs and rockets at one another is going to accomplish the wishes of the people for whom they are trying to claim the land.

Here's the thing, though. I also do not see any REAL will on the part of the international community to really push them into a permanent peaceful solution - and by that lack of will, I get a foreboding sense of condonement, for any number of reasons, be it profit of oil wells, or their own flawed religious beliefs that they can bring about some sort of "last days" desperation that would supposedly recall "Jesus" into duty. I think, in a way, that this is part of the reason I just cannot get on the "2012" bandwagon either. I think there are going to be a lot of people who will be very disappointed when December 22, 2012 rolls around. It is, IMHO, as much of a fairy-tale as the expectation that "Jesus" and his angels will suddenly show up and magically everything will be renewed and peace will reign supreme.

The only way we are going to have peace on this planet is to stop fighting with one another over anything. Money, food, fuel, land, good looks - whatever!!! If you refuse to stop fighting, then go find another planet or a space-ship, and go blow yourselves up somewhere else!!! Large companies need to share more of the profits from the work of their workers, WITH those workers, who in turn would then have more to share with those who are barely living. The obscene profits we see year over year at the banks (who are now crying broke?), and the obscene "bonuses" they give the top dogs is immoral!!! As long as there are people starving and without shelter on this planet, it will continue to be immoral!!! So put them on that big space-ship, too, because they're also part of the problem. As for dogs like Madoff - well I hear it's great white shark season in Australia - just dangle him a little bite at a time off a dinghy! That's what he deserves!

(NOTE TO IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA: I really resent that you come over here and bring your wars, via your street protests, to my country. If you want to fight, go back to your own country - I shouldn't have to support keeping you from killing one another on the streets of this country with my taxes. Anyone who protests wars amongst themselves here should be deported, with no leniency, back to their own countries, where they can protest and fight to their hearts' content).

No, I didn't drink last night and I am not hung over or even in much pain (although my index finger is a bit cranky right now), except perhaps in my soul's heart. I am just getting started. I have decided that this year I will no longer be silent in the face of so much blatant torture, of any nature, that the common person is being made to bare. So I am probably going to make a few (more) enemies. Like I said before, in a different post - it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My butterfly is currently cocooning to repair a busted wing.... so I'll just blow out some kisses for now

~~{*.*}~~

Tags: QaR, new year, intention, wish, year, hope, promise, fighting, war, bombs

What was the biggest adventure of your past year?

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:54:48 GMT

I had two big adventures:

1) Purchasing and moving into my Condo.
2) Going to Florida to take the Certified Trainers courses for the NGH and NFNLP.

The Condo has continued to be an adventure, most of it unpleasant. I was, and still am to a certain degree, contemplating eating my losses and selling. With the major index finger injury, I am going to have to put that on hold because it will be another month before I can do some of the small fix-its that will need to be done in order to make it more attractive to buyers.

However, there has also been developments towards removing the current Board of Directors and also finding a different Property Manager/Management company - apparently I am not the only person here who is having major problems. Questionable accounting and exceptionally high pay increases for building Supervision/substitute supervision, and a lack of return on outpout are other issues. So perhaps having to wait on my finger to heal will allow better management and perhaps getting at least the major issue - the awful stench in my master bedroom, looked at and hopefully fixed. If that could happen, then I could probably put up with the other issues, at least until housing prices start to go higher again. I made the decision before I found out about the "mutiny" that regardless of what happened, I was not about to let that bee-yotch of a Property Manager interfere any longer in my intentions to work from home.

The trip to Florida was a major coup for me over my agoraphobic tendencies. It's not a huge issue, but I tend to avoid crowds and crowded places, preferring to shop on "off" days, and I rarely go without having a list, and return home immediately. It took lots of personal hypnosis to keep me from going into panic mode in the airports, and I used techniques I know to get myself "legally" high in order to do the plane trips. I also found that I was a heck of a lot stronger than I thought I was (lugging close to 30 lbs. with me on the way down, and close to 20 lbs. on the way back - I checked the second bag on the way back - through 3 airports between 10 and 7 hours respectively).

I still think that they could have allowed me to bring my jam I bought in Florida home with me - had packed it so I could have a snack on the plane - but it fell into the category of "gell", so I had to give it up to some over-bearing, over-zealous American customs inspector. He probably kept it for himself. Should have opened it up and spit in it - I was ticked off enough to do that!!! Sheer freaking paranoid idiocy!!! So I didn't get anything to eat for close to 10 hours, and by the time I got back to my daughters place in Mississauga from the airport, I was shaking from low blood sugar and massively high adrenalin. A few candies and a soda pop had kept me from going into shock on the final flight. I don't think I would ever fly down to the States to do a course again - if it's in the mid-year months (May thru October) I might drive.

Anyways - those were my big adventures. Lots more could be said, but I've probably already bored everyone to tears as it is.

Happy New Year 2009!!!!

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Tags: QaR, year, adventure, challenge

May be offline for a few days - just in case I am...

http://gemstarsland.gaia.com — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 03:36:51 GMT

I am probably going to be offline for a few days - I managed to all but rip the end off my left index finger at Christmas Dinner tonight - broke the tip of the bone right off and ripped the nail off. A trip to the hospital tonight to get it set and 10 stiches to re-attach the end of the finger - now I am home - the freezing is coming out - I am sort of hen-pecking to type this - and hoping that the major pain killer prescription they provided kicks in soon.

So, it all depends on how well I'm dealing with the pain - I used a lot of self-hypnosis to get through before they froze it in order to reset it and stitch it together, and I'll be using quite a bit I expect to hasten healing and help keep the pain down probably. I'm on Oxycoten - so I'm probably going to be flying high for a few days.

Hope you had a nice Christmas - mine was good until just sitting down for dessert. When I went to pull the chair in closer to the table, the seat came off the base, and my finger tip wedged under the seat and the base of the chair. Naturally, when I felt the pain, I jerked my hand out, and heard a crunch. So I was left with everything just above the nail hanging down attached by a bit of flesh on the bottom of the finger. OUCH!!! Guess I won't be playing piano for a while. Maybe now they'll fix the damned chair!!!
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Giving the finger to Xmas 2008

Tags: busted, finger, pain