Ep. 7 - Flushing

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.

Welcome to my Life is an I T.V. Studios/Geist…House Players Production, in association with the Center for Creative Inspirationalism. JustUs Productions, the parent company, would like to give a ‘Shout-Out’ to the following for their ongoing, and sometimes unknowing, inspiration and support:

Princess Cuddlebug

Princess Sunshine

Craze & Co.

The Shaman

The Pillar

The Entire Putt-Putt-Putter Clan

Professor Siggy Chong

The VanMan and General Ralph Glossop (may they R.I.P.)

‘Blue 326’

The Original KLT

The Looch

The Baker

Bert-on

Andy Pandy

The Mudder

The Prodigy

The Wix-ians

Piz-Niffer

Dancing Queen

Downtown Encyclopedia Brown

Mama Rabbit

And, of course, a very generous sponsor who (not-so-much) wishes to remain anonymous.

It is…Sunday, February 18, 2018. Time...Derailed

Theme of the Week – It’s All Too Vast

Lesson of the Week – We Don’t Say Can’t

Observation of the Week – Those Who Have Can Not Understand Those Who Have Not

This was, absolutely, the kind of week that I enjoy and don’t soon forget. It was the kind of week that changes things, leaves an impression. It challenged me, tested my limits. It was almost as if I could actually feel transformation taking place.

Before I get to deep into the dirty details of the week, let’s talk about The Poll. I realize that there are not a lot of you following along, and I do appreciate each and every one of you, but there was only one vote cast in The Poll last week – and it was mine. This is disappointing. I was hoping for at least a twinkle of participation. Now, I understand that if you are following along on a mobile device that you may not have actually been able to participate. Apparently, this particular template is not completely mobile friendly. I like this Theme though. I feel good when I look at it. So, that won’t change.

Hence, I must try to find a way to work within my limitations. First, I put The Poll on its own page. I thought maybe this would help. It did not. I played around with it, resizing it and such, but to no avail. I do have an email out to the developer to see if there is something I can do. In the meantime, if you are checking in from a computer of some style you can now find The Poll on The Buzz page. I added a ‘Comments’ section to that page. Feel free to leave a comment if you can click on The Poll. Vote in the ‘Comments’ section if you must. But vote damn it! It’s your patriotic duty, I tell you!

In the vein of good sportsmanship I have extended The Poll for one more week. I would like for The Buzz to be more of a weekly topic for discussion. Of course, I could be putting a lot of pressure on myself trying to come up with a new one each week. Again, feel free to use the ‘Comments’ section to suggest a topic. I strongly encourage your participation in both. Truly, I tell you, this project is nothing without you.

While we are on hold for the story portion of this post, I had what I would call FeedBack last week.

I had a friend message me after she had read lst week’s post. She wanted to know why I write ‘G-d’ instead of ‘God.’ It’s something I picked up while reading up on some Judaic beliefs. Many of the authors used this variation. Being very Judaic in my Christianity, I pondered this for a bit. At first, I thought perhaps it had to do with the tradition that one can never utter nor write the full name of Divinity. “So,” I explained to my friend, “you could see it as an act of reverence and respect.”

She did not.

I understood completely. I had trouble with it all at first. I tried it when I first stumbled up on it, substituting one spelling for another and something about it just didn’t feel right. It just didn’t gel with me. Something about it did seem disrespectful. So, I stopped. Then again, in hindsight, that theory would be completely null and void for me. As my daughters can tell you, one of my biggest pet peeves is that ‘God’ is not his name. It is a title, something by which we call him. But, it is not his name. It is not any one of his 1,000 names.

In reality, I realized, the reason they were writing it that way is because the Hebrew alphabet did not have vowels. So..there would have been no ‘o’ and it would have appeared as GD or G-d. Still, here I am using it. Just as I stopped when it started to feel wrong, one day when it started to feel right I started again.

Our discussion continued until it led us to the acceptance that the master plan is so vast how can we question our part in it, or even how G-d chooses to reveal himself to each of us.

Now, on with the show…

This week. What can be said about this week? As I said earlier, it pushed my boundaries quite a bit. It all started Sunday night.

Sunday is like The Void of my week. As I end one week, writing of the past and telling the stories, a new week begins - with future unfolding into its own musings. I must always find that very fine line between what is behind me and what lies ahead. Last Sunday became its own kind of Void though. Sunday night, well, Monday Morning, I realized that I was well on my way to an experience I have not had in quite some time – the 40 Hour Day.

Truthfully, this one never quite hit the 40 mark. I believe I finally clocked in at 31 hours. Years ago, the 40 Hour Day was more commonplace. It wasn’t very frequent – still very occasional – but, I would have several in a year. One every few months. I can’t remember the last one I had.

I have always enjoyed them. They are generally very productive. [How could they not be with that much time??] This particular Day seemed to focus mostly on this blog and some laundry. But, along the way, there was a pow-wow with The Prodigy, and one with The Shaman. IN between I pushed as hard as I could. It was very difficult actually, and, for as much as I got done, I am still very far behind. There is much before me.

(And that’s not the half of it…)

So, Sunday fed into Monday and 31 hours later I was laying down for what would end up being a 12 hour ‘nap.’ This had me awake at 3 AM for my first day of work at The Big Box this week. I worked my shift and then headed home for but just a bit, because I also returned to the middle school this week. This was my first time back in two weeks. As you may recall, I thought the last rehearsal went good. This one…not so much. We are back to where I actually have to teach the music. The song itself wasn’t all that difficult. It has a very easy and repetitive melody to learn. However, the parts themselves are divided up throughout the song in such a way to make it very difficult to just teach the individual parts without going through the whole song. The song for this upcoming week will also have challenges of its own – many, many challenges. And, quite honestly, I am not looking forward to it.

At all.

Tuesday night I found myself in another session with The Prodigy. This particular pow-wow focused a great deal on “the vastness of it all” – the Creation, The Plan, and everything in between. We talked on and on about how everything – every person, every moment – has a purpose in the Grand Scheme of things. We spoke at great lengths, and with many examples, of how easy it is to misconstrue what we think we know of it all. I think my favorite statement from that pow-wow was, “Hitler went to Heaven.”

An interesting side note to Tuesday is tha I never took my nap. In fact, for three days I wouldn’t take my nap. I know that sounds odd, but for 20 years, almost every day has had a power nap. It’s not always about being tired. It usually takes place between the happenings of my day – jobs, commitments, , projects – or it comes as I transition from a time of work to a time of me. Don’t get me wrong. I can be very tired when I do lay down, but that is not what it is about. It is more about resting and realigning – putting one part of the day behind and preparing for what lies ahead.

Wednesday brought a snowstorm that would change the course of my day. The storm itself was nowhere near as bad as had been forecasted. Though, at times, it did seem as though it had the potential for it and it still managed to close down most of The Valley. It also kept me from having dinner night with The Princesses.

Thursday was a fairly ordinary day. The Big Box had its soft opening, so things at work were a bit chaotic. We did more maintenance and clean up than anything else. It was Thursday that the Lesson of the Week found its way to me.

We had been rearranging the over-sized shelving units in the backroom. Right from the outset it was not going so good. Taking apart what we needed was easy. Putting it all back together, however, posed its fair amount of challenges. The units were bolted to the floor and didn’t seem to have enough play room to let the brackets squeeze in. I tried. Someone else tried. We just couldn’t seem to make it happen. Then two times after he had arrived at the store, the regional manager took a hammer and bludgeoned things into place.

“We don’t say can’t.”

For me, the implications of this statement were…well…vast. This thought led me to another – Anything Is Possible. Soon, this thought itself expanded, “Anything is possible through G-d.” This, of course, led to, “The faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain.”

What You Feed Energy Into Grows

What You See Is What You Believe

You Can, And Do, Experience The Life You Choose

Interestingly enough, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday also became The Day Before, The Day Of, and The Day After. Wednesday was Day 22 of The Lenten Challenge. All I’m gonna say on this at the moment is…Boy, I suck!

Maybe one day I can get it right.

(Maybe it is a good place to apply this week’s Lesson.)

Saturday, the Owls came to visit. They’re always there, but very seldom let themselves be heard. In fact, this is the first time that I have heard both of them together.

Tuesday found me having a Voice in the Head moment. I was coming home from rehearsal at the middle school and I wanted to stop for gas. There was a place directly on my route. Easy enough to get in to. A little inconvenient to leav...unless you get creative.

I thought on about it then shrugged. Perhaps I would go the alternate route home and I could stop at that store there. Or even the one a little further down the road. Then I could just shoot down that road and go home the more rural route.

With each thought, I thought back on the one I was preparing to pass. Each time I dismissed it, just not feeling it at the moment. Then, The Voice spoke. It reminded me of what we just went over in last week's post. Then, it said again, stressing so much,"Stop at this one up ahead."

I conceded. Why not, right? That was the whole focus of last week. So, in I went. And, there, I ran into a dear new associate. A young lady who I worked with in Sweeney I had come to really admire her and her husband and it was truly a pleasure to see her. I even pointed out that it was meant to be.

On Thursday, The One True Spirit reached out once more, only this time to Princess Sunshine. I got a Skype call from her just about bedtime. She had seen a little mouse in her room and they were still making her go up and go to bed anyway.

I assured that the little mouse was just popping in to say hello and check on Sunshine and that she in no way intended to scare her.

"How do you know it was a she?"

"She told me. She was just delivering a message for you. We can talk about it later. But you can go to bed now and she won't bother you again."

This had all happened soon after Sunshine and I had been discussing some changes to our upcoming visitation schedule. She was upset about losing some time. But I assured her that we would make the absolute most of the time that we do have.

The mouse delivers the message of 'Attention to details.' Sometimes it is best to look at the little detail of a thing than to focus on the bigger picture. This is pretty much what I had told her. Also, I noted that Ganesha is said to ride on a mouse. Of course, Ganesha is the over-comer of obstacles.

This week I took some hits financially. After buying ink for my printer I discovered that what I really needed was a new printer. I knew this was coming. But, up until this week, I could still print what was absolutely necessary. So, I saw no need. In fact, a new printer was actually on my original ‘plan.’ Now the ones I really want start at about $200, so I was really looking towards using this lil bump of influx I am experiencing. As I have said before, though, the ‘plan’ is not going anywhere near the way it was mapped out. There has been surprise after surprise.

I had kinda put the whole notion of a new printer on hold, indefinitely. But, after I got the new ink installed, the ink I had just spent $30 on, and I still couldn’t print, I knew it was time. I’m OK with it. I really am. The printer is 9 years old. In its first 2 years it was used very, very hard. Those were the summers I was putting out CDs and DVDs – hundreds at a time. I was printing both labels and jackets for days at a time. After that, things in retail marketing picked up and for several years I was printing books worth of paperwork every month. So, it has served me well.

I wanted to be frustrated, but I can’t. It has served me well. There are no complaints there. Despite the fact that I didn’t want to spend the money on a printer right now, it turns out I had the money right now. So, how could I really gripe about that? Now, I had three requirements for the printer. 1 – it had to use the same type of ink that I had just bought. I may be willing to spend money, but I’m not just going to piss it away. 2 – I really want to be able to print decent pictures. I have a lot of them I would like to print, but have been waiting for a new printer. And, 3 – I prefer if it is wireless, because it is in the house and my office is in The Cave. I found one online at another Big Box. I ordered it. It took me about an hour to push the button, but I did order it and it should arrive any day now. Crisis averted…and I even kept my Faith and Understanding.

So…life kicked me in the nuts once more. No sooner did I commit to the printer, the check engine light came on in the van.

*smh*

Finally, a few side notes. First, please feel free to leave comments, questions, and concerns. I don’t know you are there if you don’t say, “Hi.” But, also, you’re experience of WTML is just as important as mine. So, let me know what you think. Secondly, Check out The Buzz page, take The Poll or leave a comment. Lastly, if you would like to connect, or find out more about me, you can find WTML on Facebook @TheNewWTML or myself at @rev.mgeist.

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!