Ep. 15 - The Curse of the Wildwoods, pt. 1

Hey, gang! Welcome to my life – where anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. I’m Freedom and I’ll be your host, coming at you from within the depths of Geistopia.

Welcome To My Life is a project, an experiment in Life and ART. A living storyboard, if you will. Its premise is that life is experiential, and that you can, and do, experience the life you choose. It is based on The Wheel of Life and The ARTs for The New Millennium as life building tools.

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It is…Sunday, June 24, 2018. Time...

Theme of the Week – It’s A Demon

Well…Duh!

If this were a video segment, Walt would have a line there, “No Shit, Sherlock.” Why was I surprised? For years I have been saying this very thing. [Only I would normally spell it Daemon. There may be a connection between my Demon and the Daemon, but they are very different entities.] Yet, when it popped up this week, I was all like, “Oh…right. Now it all makes sense.” Like it was some grand friggin’ revelation. *Scrunches up face in mock confusion.* It’s a Daemon folks. It took hold around 2000 and then for a brief period of time it allowed me to think I was free. But, it is most certainly is a Daemon. And, not just any Daemon. Oh, no. This is not some ordinary run of the mill Daemon. This is the big guy. The HDIC…and the ‘D’ does not stand for ‘Dick.’ [Well…sometimes…] This is THE Daemon. (Not the one you are thinking of…) It is He Who Shall Not Be Named. [No, not him either.] He shall not be named because I put a name to him once and very nasty, wicked things happened.

It is a Daemon. [But…I don’t think it’s here for only me.]

I don’t exactly know what that means, or what to do with it. But, it is what it is and that is what it is.

Lesson of the Week – The Message Comes First

It’s true. We’re always given a heads up. We so very often, walk through this life, with this happening or that, and think that somehow G-d has left us ill-prepared, uniformed. This is not ever really the case. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the previous episode’s Lesson.This was a head’s up on two counts actually. First, it was a good reminder as I walked through the last few days of this week. Second, it is relative to a dialogue from earlier today.

I knew 6 months before Mama left that she was going to. I had watched it happen. [While I drove to work, but that’s…a story for another time.]

I was told before 'The Cave-In. '

We’re always told. Sometimes to prepare us for what is going to happen. Sometimes to remind us when it does.

Observation of the Week – Beliefs – Friend or Foe?

I don’t want to get too much into this at the moment. I may have a story or two about it later on. [Don’t know yet.] However, the gist of it is simple – We define what we believe. What we believe defines our lives. It is what we will have, what we will experience. What we believe is all we will ever know.

This can be a good thing, but, I believe, it can also be very bad. It can be limiting, suffocating. What we believe can keep us from experiencing the essence of Life itself. It is what we believe and that is all there is…

Or is it?

Totems – **Goldfinch**; Heron; Bat; Squirrel; Robin; Fox, Catbird, Blue Jay; Chipmunk; Fly

[Birds Like me.]

Well, hello there. Welcome back.

Oh…wait. You should probably be saying that to me.

I am back. You thought two posts-in-one was fun, wait till we do these three. Actually, I don’t really know how this breaks down yet. Two weeks ago life was ok. I was late in completing the post and I had really just needed the Lesson, which is actually the one I just referenced. I had gotten it done by Wednesday, but something didn’t seem right about the Lesson. I had thought of another one, the same one twice actually, but it just never made it to ‘paper.’ That is Episode 14. This much I do know.

Enter Episode 15, which is where we are. This covers last week and this week. They, oh, so go together – bridged by a mini-oasis in this dessert of chaos.

Last week SUCKED.

Plain. Simple. To the point. It sucked big, fat donkey…

WALT: Whoa there, Nellie! Big Brother is watching. The Censors are everywhere.

*Sigh.*

I just couldn’t get myself together last week. I had so much to do and just couldn’t seem to get enough of it done. Not gonna lie – I was very unmotivated. I don’t know what happened. The more I wanted to get to the things the less I felt inclined to do so. By the end of the week, I had enough done to move forward to vacation, but things were left quite chaotic around Geistiopia. The truth is, I was barely ready to leave for vacation. I had to get the Princesses to help me when they arrived. The week just sucked. I’m actually kind of glad that I wasn’t able to write about it because, except for the three days that were vacation, all that was to say was that the week just plain sucked.

(I’m pretty sure that is all that has been said.)

I’m also glad because it kind of changes the breakdown and flow of things here. It will actually be much better this way. The week that would be vacation was very intense and happened, sort of, in two parts. So, I think I am going to share it in two parts.

Again, if I haven’t already mentioned it, I will be posting the previous post – Ep. 14 – either before or after this post. So, keep your eyes peeled for it. (It may actually lend some insight as to what exactly happened this past week.)

Now, with no further ado, JustUs Productions presents:

THE CURSE OF THE WILDWOODS, Pt. 1

I wasn’t really looking forward to vacation. I mean, having time off with the Princesses was going to be good. I always look forward to that. Being able to get out of town was nice. The fact that I didn’t pay for any of the travel costs made it a lil extra nice. But, I was not looking forward to spending that much time with Big ‘D’ and Boom-Dee-Aye. It has been hard enough for me to spend the day with them in NYC at Christmastime. Good lord, what would 3 days at the beach be like?

Honestly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected. But, then, they weren’t ‘in control’ either. They kept deferring to the Princesses. They didn’t have an itinerary or schedule of events. We actually got to relax and enjoy the experience. That rarely happens. With those two anything, and everything, can be all scheduled out. And, I mean this. The simplest day can be made stressful because, “we must…” But, there wasn’t any of this over these 3 days.

I had decided before we left that I was going to try to use this time away as a sort of Vision Quest. After all, I was completely disconnected from my life. I mean, there were the obligatory Facebook posts, but I didn’t have work and there were no projects before me that needed to be done. Though, I did actually take a little bit of time to do some work and got at a Logo that I’ve been wanting to get done.

The Princesses arrived early on Friday and I had them help me get the last few whatnots together. I even showed them how to check everything on the car – tires, oil and fluids, etc. Once all of that was done and we were loaded up we were off.

Now, this was a whole different traveling experience for us. All of these years, we have always had a van. The last one even had a DVD player in it. There was plenty of room for all of our stuff. Everyone was comfortable and entertained. The last van even let us play around with configurations. This has always been my kind of traveling.

This trip, however, we did not have that. This trip we had a car. I haven’t had a car in a decade. The girls aren’t even really old enough to remember being in cars with me. But, we managed it. It was a comfortable ride. No one complained and everyone seemed relatively entertained. The trip took a little longer than projected, but on the upside there was only one rest stop along the way. This was also a first. We have never been able to make an hour and half drive without making at least two stops along the way.

I am not real big on the whole rest stop thing. I mean, they have their place, but I don’t like making them more than necessary. Let’s face it. I didn’t make it from Phoenix, AZ to Allentown, PA in three and a half days by taking a lot of rest and potty breaks. [Come to think of it, there weren’t a lot of sleep breaks either.] Anyway, overall, the travel portion of the vacation was a success.

So, we arrived in Wildwood between 5 and 6. It did not take long for the Princesses to run off with Big ‘D’ and Boom-Dee-aye to the boardwalk. Daddy stayed behind. I was very much looking forward to the silence and the stillness. This was going to be my first time since February that I didn’t have work of any kind, nor was I able to twiddle away at the mundane tasks involved with caring for Geistopia. So, I let the girls all go out. They returned with all sorts of plans on what we were going to do that weekend.

Now, before we go too far, understand we are all only in Wildwood because of Boom-dee-aye. She worked a lot of overtime this year and wanted to do something fun with the money. She had contemplated season passes to one of the amusement parks near Geistopia, something Big ‘D’ has done many years in the past but was unable to this year due to the new septic system. Anyway, she decided on a trip to the beach instead. She absolutely loves it there. I have insisted many times that is where she needs to be living, but that is not in her sights at the moment.

Anyway, that is how we end up in The Wildwoods. She bank-rolled the whole trip. I merely managed the side things and whatnots, as well as the second leg of our adventure – which didn’t include the other two folks. This is the only way we were able to do any of it and I most definitely thanked her when it was all over.

So, Saturday comes along. Saturday was a very long day. A fun day, but a long day. First, we all got up to go down to the beach and watch the sunrise. We were only a block and a half from the boardwalk and beach. However, Big ‘D’ wasn’t able to walk in the sand due to some knee problems. So, I stayed on the boardwalk with her while the other three trekked down along the ocean for the best view. We didn’t have much of a view, what with the ferris wheel in the way. Though they, apparently, had a splendid view.

After the sunrise we went to breakfast and then the Princesses and I hit the beach for a bit. Believe me that was more for them than it was me. I enjoy the Zen of the beach, but I do not have to sit on it for long. And, I’m not really an ocean person, especially the Atlantic. I have seen and been in much nicer bodies of water. So, I don’t mind getting in for a moment – again, mostly for Zen – but I don’t need to swim in it. From there it was boardwalk time.

Honestly, the day was so long I can’t even remember it all. I’m not sure if I stayed on the boardwalk the entire day or took a little break in the middle. We walked. My god, did we walk. Up and down, up and down that boardwalk so many times. But fun was to be had along the way.

We had some Dunkin’ Donuts and this crazy shit called Dragon’s Breath. They freeze giant cereal balls with liquid Nitrogen and then it “steams” when they serve it. All the while, when you eat it and exhale it looks like you are breathing smoke. Crazy shit, I tell ya.

We saw the new(er) Convention Center. I waited while the ladies all took a potty break. While I waited I learned that people try to bring some very interesting things into places that they shouldn’t be.

Saturday night we all met up with the girls’ cousin. Her family bought a house in Wildwood and they were done for the night. So, the girls met up with her and her friend and did some rides. The three adults just waited around. While we waited, however, something fun happened.

Earlier in the day I had seen one of those water gun game stands. The one where you gotta shoot the water stream into the target, etc, etc, yada, yada, yada. Anyway, hanging along the whole front of this stand they had these big stuffed sloths in different colors. I had asked the game attendant what it would take to win one. 4 people had to play or 2 people had to play twice. In either case it was going to be $20. So, while we waited for the girls that night, I saw them again. Only this time they were at a whack-a-mole stand. Boom-dee-Aye said she would play with me and she actually paid as well.

Believe it or not, I had just, in the week prior, read an article on all of these types of carnival/fair game. Whack-a-mole was one of them. They trick, they said, was to keep the mallet as close to the board as possible. We’re going to say that works. That is precisely what I had done. Now, Boom-dee-aye said that the first game she was actually trying to win. It didn’t matter who won the first game as long as that person then won the second game as well. She couldn’t get over how quickly I had accumulated 150 points in both rounds.

Sunshine was with me the first time I saw the sloths. So, when she got off the ride I showed him to her immediately. Right away she looks at me and asks, with such indignation, “Why does it have to be a boy sloth.”

“Because he’s mine and I said so.”

“Fine…then he’s a boy named Sugar.”

“Fine! Then his full name will be ‘A Boy Named Sugar.’ And, here he is, all ready for the drive home.

Sunday we had breakfast and then daddy ran for donuts. I’m that guy that collects all the little brochures and advertising placards from hotel lobbies and restaurants. It’s true, I am. I have a whole folder of them in my filing cabinet. So, in and amongst my browsing material I found a coupon for this donut place that makes all sorts of crazy donut concoctions. I needed to have these. So, right after breakfast I headed out. I went for donuts, but I returned with none.

What kind of a donut place opens at 10 AM??

I returned to the motel room and was greeted by the Princesses and their Father’s day treasure hunt. They handed me a card with my first clue on it and then around the room I went – note by note, riddle by rhyme.

The card they gave me read: Dad, you always taught me to be wise with money. So, this year I was going to get you a red Corvette for Father’s Day.

Inside: But then I realized this card was more financially responsible.

And, the t-shirt they got me read, “Please don’t make me do stuff.” I wore that to work for a special shift I was helping with during our vacation. [They didn’t listen.]

There was a little more beach time Sunday morning. This time it was just me and Cuddlebug. I must admit I liked that. We don’t get a lot of just one-on-one time these days. Come on. She’s 13. What more do I need to say?

Sunday was full of boardwalk antics. Again, we spent most of the day on the boardwalk. The girls each got a Henna Tattoo. I have pictures here of them, but I took them rather late.

Boom-dee-aye got an actual tattoo. Apparently, that is one of her traditions when she goes to Wildwood.

And, me? Well, I got a Reading. I don’t get them often. I don’t often find someone that I will allow to read for me. I am, and always have been, very particular about that sort of thing. There was something about this place though. I had seen it on Saturday and by Sunday I was convinced that I was going to get one. Let me try my best to recall everything she had said. It was actually a very intense Reading. In fact, during it I watched as she ‘glazed over’ and gave up to Spirit. I could spot it because I have done it.

So, let’s see – The Reading:

· There was a whole tangent on ‘Change.’ Change is needed. Change is happening. I need some things in my life to change; however, some of those changes are already occurring naturally on their own. The rest are up to me. I need to take better care of myself, she said. There is a change that I need to make, which was unclear at the time. Could be a change in job, or living space, or even just rearranging

(changing) something like the bedroom. The point was that I need new perspective and ‘Change’ is my way there.

· She picked up on the fact that I am really kind of a Loner. I like people. I love people. I just have absolutely no problem spending the majority of my time completely alone. I rather enjoy it. This is who I am and this is what she saw.

· She said that at first many people think I am shy or even upset. This is because I do not trust or open up very easily – or to just anyone. But, once you get me to open up it’s all golden. Again, who I am and what she saw.

· She said that I get over anger a lot quicker than most people. The Princesses can attest to this. We handle arguments with very specific protocol. Step one is daddy usually walks away and it is truly only for a few breaths of time. Then I come back and we discuss. Once it is discussed it is over. There is no need to bring it up ever again. It is considered dealt with and understood. And, every discussion ends in a hug. I can get angry. I can get very angry. Trust me, Mr. McGee would definitely not like me when I’m angry. I have said many times that I would never want to be on the receiving end of what I can dish out. She saw all of this. She also saw that it takes quite a bit to set me off. “If you do go off,” she said,” it is something that has been going on and festering for longer than that moment.” Again, very true. I have this problem with people. I can keep my mouth shut for a very long time. Sometimes too long. So, when I do blow, I blow big and people think I am just switching from normal to lunatic in the blink of an eye. I am being dramatic, over-sensitive. But, the truth is, something has been going on for too long and it’s time to unleash. [I’m thinking I need to learn how to address things.] The thing is, she noticed, that I always forgive, but I never forget. [Damn elephants.]

· She told me there is a rift with a family member that should be mended. Well, there’s a whole long list of possibilities, isn’t it? Right off the bat I’ve got three of them in the house with me. From there, pretty much most of the family doesn’t really care for me, though some do a nice job of tolerating me. But, as far as serious issues, it can only be one of the three at Geistopia.

I saved the best two for last. Everything up to now was exactly what I was looking for. I’m not one that engages in Readings to know all about my future. I do not even read my own clients this way. For me, Readings should be about the here and now because unless you have a handle on that the future is irrelevant. I was out of touch with ‘me.’ And, I needed Spirit to remind me who I am and how I function. The last two items though have never come up before in any single Reading ever. They were unexpected but also understood.

· She saw money coming into my life. “One lump sum,” she said. “I see you signing papers and then it all comes to you at once.” I chuckled softly inside. As I mentioned, this has never come up in a Reading. It has come up though. It has come up several times over the years. It is the vision that has kept me hopeful. I have told the Shaman on several occasions that I can’t shake the feeling that one day it all just changes. SNAP! From rags to riches in 60 seconds. One brief moment and life would be forever different. I have always believed that it would come all at once. The curious part for me is how. She didn’t see it as the lottery, though it could be she said. She didn’t see it as inheritance. No one is dying. But, the money comes. She said she sees me spending it wisely, on what I need. That the money may be how I ultimately make the changes I need most. But where the hell would it come from? Interestingly enough, over the past two weeks, there have been various messages that it is best to release oneself from the how and merely accept that things will happen. I suppose if we focus on a source we limit the possibility of all other sources. She did give me a time frame of which to be aware. That is a part I will not share. So, I guess quite literally, only time will tell.

· She also saw romance in my life. In fact, she said there is already someone in my life trying to get my attention. I cannot think of one single possibility. Especially not one fitting the description she gave me. Time can be funny in Readings. Sometimes when an energy is very potent it can feel like ‘now’ and it’s not. Nonetheless, she saw romance coming my way. Believe it or not, I am actually more skeptical about this than I am the lump sum of money. But more on all of this in a later post.

· I guess there was a third. There is something about November 10 of this year. (I feel like this had to do with the romance though.)

Sunday night the ladies all went to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant and to a place in Cape May called Sunset Beach. Daddy stayed behind to relax, soak and start getting packed up.

On Monday, we headed out to do anything and everything we could that we may had missed along the way. There was the obligatory purchase of Douglass’ Fudge. Everyone got T-shirts. I’m not sure what Big ‘D’ and Boom-Dee-Aye’s said. Princess Sunshine got a shirt that had a graphic of an order of fast food fries in the middle. The text reads, “Exercise? I thought you said Extra Fries…”

Daddy got a shirt that reads, “Bad choices make good stories.” Princess Cuddlebug told me on numerous occasions that it was just so appropriate for me. [I just don’t know how to take this coming from my spawn.]

A spawn whose shirt reads, “I drink till I pass out. Just like my dad.” Now before people go getting up in arms because I would let my 13 yo daughter wear such a shirt, let’s touch on a few things. None of which, I suppose, will make you like the choice anymore. But at least it will be an educated dislike. I…am a drunk. Not a Full-time one, mind you. It’s kind of seasonal. But, regardless, Daddy likes to tie a good one on. My daughters, and everyone else, know this. Is it a problem? It has been. This is why I only do it on very select occasions…now. There’s a relationship there about it. [Let’s just say that Daddy received 2 make-overs due to his drinking.] They accept the drinking and the shenanigans that go along with it. They don’t like that I drink. I do not drink [much] around them or before I am going to see them. And, I certainly don’t drink hard alcohol at those times. For being so young they really have a healthy grip on alcohol. They understand people consume it. They understand it can be consumed in excess…and that that is rarely good. That’s what I want for them. I want them to associate and understand. Anything else only ever leads to repression, or worse – overkill. I want them to not have an inclination to drink. Even though I know one day they will. But, I also know, they will be wise about it. They have learned to respect it. [Through my learning to respect it.] The whole topic has become a sort of snickery kind of joke between us. So much, in fact, that one of my friends has started to chime in, offering Cuddlebug a beer every time he sees her. Appalling, I know. It is all in fun and it is all among family. It is also because he knows, as well as I do, that all she will do is roll her eyes and walk away.

So, when we saw this shirt we both knew that she had to have it to wear, even if only once, for her ‘Aunt Bob.’ [Who, incidentally, will eventually become the incomparable and infamous F’n Bob.]

So, anyway, we leave The Wildwoods, Big ‘D’ and Boom-Dee-Aye heading back to Geistopia and the 3 Amigos trekking towards Wilmington, DE to visit some family and hit a very fun mall. This is when things would start to shift. We wouldn’t see it right away, but for a little glimmer – a prelude [to a kiss.] For us, the side trip would shield us from what the rest of the week would soon become.

But that is not for now. That will be in Part 2 (Coming soon. Very soon.)

So, without hesitation…

For now and for always, from here in Geistopia this is your beloved Rev wishing you Peace, Love, Light and Freakishness, baby!

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, and concerns. I don’t know you are there if you don’t say, “Hi.” Also, you’re experience of WTML is just as important as mine. So, let me know what you think. Secondly, if you would like to connect, or find out more about me, you can find WTML on Facebook @TheNewWTML or myself at @rev.mgeist.