Thought of this as I licked an oversized Yoplait YoPlus aluminum lid...It resembles a thought bubble. Suddenly I'm imagining scrapbooking and using it as a bottom layer for a journaled thought bubble over some picture. Then the picture inhabitant will have a thought bubble (mind-cloud) with a silver lining.

I also have to use these puns eventually:
Getting Meven
Mehavior
 

Think I'll write an article titled, "Banishing OK...alright?!" I noticed at least twice today, co-workers asked the usual, "How're you doing today?" And I said, "I'm all right." But it was a mutter, a question as it came from my lips. ) It certainly could have been improved by at least being a rousing, "AH, ah, ah, ah...I'M AL-righ-T!" like a gyrating Caddyshack gopher dissing Mr. Murray. But, in mind-numbing same-old, it was not enthusiastic. I want to change that.
 

I fall into things on the internet, like a crazy scavenger hunt where you aren't given a list; just return in an hour with the most interesting item and story.

I know that, often, it immediately feels like wasted time unless I do something with the info I find -- email it on or share on Facebook.

SCBWI was an association (at least in abbreviated form) that I'd never heard of, so I visited its site. On the registration page it has drop down menus for categories of children's literature publishing houses. I thought, "Ooh...." And whereas, I thought I was going to easily copy the lists, instead I decided to just note the link
http://www.scbwi.org/Registration.aspx?Type=Member

 

Despite my years of study having recently come to an end, and facing graduation this weekend, I've been a bit ambivalent. In a way, wishing that time didn't feel so stretched now. "Get it over with already!" Like I can't face all the attention. I don't want to believe it's the usual worthiness issue -- it does easily feel that way, however. I feel kinda empty. There are plenty of things I can be accomplishing now that I am not scheduled to class. I don't quite feel like doing anything else, accomplishing anything else fully, until this rite of passage is complete. On the other hand, I don't want to feel down. Luckily a song came on the radio to speak to me. I love it when a song comes on the radio, and becoming mindful of all its lyrics, it is like coming out of a deep meditation:

"And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? ...am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
My god!...what have I done?"

[Once in a Lifetime -- Talking Heads]

It also reminds me of the marketing for the Nicolas Cage film, The Family Man, which calls upon an even more frequently quoted line of this Talking Heads song. It may seem funny that I'd even mention Nick Cage, but then, he's a cousin of Julia Cameron (writer of The Artist's Way), so he's one of my muses by association.
 

In just another three weeks, my church community is holding a graduation ceremony for me and the two other students completing professional Religious Science practitioner coursework. Last night, our teacher, Rev. Karen, and her assistants, Monica and Linda surprised the three of us students with what I'll call a threshold ceremony. I have seen and read about similar activities, the most common of which is stepping over the broom in some marriage ceremonies. And this is all I mean by "threshold." A glittery deep purple scarf delineated our passage from book-mired students to active sharers in the practitioner experience. We were awed by the selection of music, both a piece by Michael Gott during her Wednesday service, and then The Secret Garden by The Secret Garden during our private ceremony. I know it was an unexpected gift all its own (and yet naturally rose up from the Law of Circulation) and the three of us, I know, were appreciative of both the personal words and the gifts bestowed.

Poet Robert McDowell communicated in his newsletter recently, just this week, that the global shift in consciousness is being led by a great number of women. He wondered if we might take interest in bringing the men along too. (I'm kinda joking here, this is a sloppy paraphrase!) And my answer is Yes. I am very interested in leading more men to treat themselves and others as honestly as spiritual living (not necessarily church) can. This will be the biggest and best transformation; when we truly partner.

"The world’s bold, new women must include men to make the world whole. Women must educate and train men to make peace with their own anima. Women must compel them to wake up, to dive down with Persephone into the pit and return as balanced agents of healing and clear-eyed purpose.

That’s the integrated world we need, the next thing we must birth if we choose life." (5/4 robertmcdowell.net)


 

I will do my best to be up at 4am and join others globally in affirming the healing of Mother Earth. Since I only now looked up the ceremony details, I will be doing this solo, rather than gathering others. I will do it by candlelight, with seeds and lavender as offering, smoke purification and water cleansing and prayer. I am glad to have been given the details, but will honor it best I can. Tired right now, (as if my writing doesn't show that) So this entry is stopping here.
 

My uncle asked me once, if I could choose a new career -- any, regardless of whether I had experience in it -- what would I want it to be in? And I answered readily, Art conservation. I just have a romantic notion about it, certainly. Very much like my imagined cloistered monk illuminating manuscript pages over a lifetime. There's a desire for that application of beauty, or uncovering of beauty that a single person can accomplish through the careful work of his/her own hands.

I also had an idea, not so long ago, of a business which would digitally conserve heirlooms in such a perfectly complete, 3-D form of imaging, that more people could feel comfortable donating or selling off long-held family heirloom items because the ability for future geenerations to see and appreciate the item would not be lost.

And I have since come across the work of Cultural Heritage Imaging, a California non-profit, experimenting with all the potentially affordable ways to make cultural artifacts available to people all over the globe. I am impressed
 

Intriguing. I just get back into a conscious mode to write -- dilligently, and continuously -- and up pops one of the "quick blog entry" windows. I was not expecting it -- I think that I just "moused-over" that space on the screen. And here it is, and I could "X" it closed, but instead I write. Good for me.

I think that I should have my husband program one of these things to pop-up where ever in every program I have on the computer. Maybe even as a "toll" to use the program. Haha. Have to balance your checkbook, eh? Well, first we have a little writing exercise...shall we? I'm already giggling over the idea.

I know myself however, like the ability to hit the snooze button, this would, or could be easily bypassed. But for now, I am very motivated. Do I have something to prove? Maybe.

I'm digging deeper for a better reason to practice daily. But I do know that as a writer, I am much more active in the Springtime. It is one of my favorite seasons. It is also one of my favorite times to reconnect with people. This makes me wonder if I do have a more instinctual (animal nature) that comes forward in the Spring. I don't know if this makes any sense, but with Spring and Fall being my favorite seasons, and that correlates with the most active periods for...let's just say "woodland creatures," like rabbit or squirrel, could I have a kind of Animal Muse? And do I have less creative energy in the more extreme months (which is true in someplaces, not so much in California, where I've lived all my life; so, that's kinda a joke) It is safer, and less survival-based simply being human during Summer and Winter, but subsequently I allow some of that supernatural quality that I can get going in my writing to be in hibernation, or something.

And beyond the instinctual, I have the more human experience of using intuition. That is something I can always call upon in my writing. I am very interested right now in allowing my own acceptance and study of my use of intuition in the way that I connect with and communicate with people. Part of me would like to have someone else tell me what my intuitiveness is really about. But I am seeing that especially with a sensitive empathic intuition, like the one I know resides in me, but that I have squashed for a long time, there is only one teacher that will come tell me the answers. -- That is Me.
 

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There's an environmental consulting squad newly poised at the edge of every suburbia in the States. They're calling themselves Green Irene(s). I was intrigued when I happened across the business model on the Internet. Happened to be the same day my company's parent filed for financial restructuring on a massive scale, you should know. Under those circumstances, the infomercials on TV for sending some stranger all my scrap gold in an envelope probably sounded frickin' fantastic. Except that's me, naive on a lot of counts, just not stupid.

Since I prefer that my focus, if I'm to become self-employed, be on the spiritual path, I thought that I could possibly do both and have calling cards that said, Serene and Green. That, or it might make a neat title for a fictional '80s television drama (ala Hart to Hart) or '90s television comedy (ala Dharma and Greg)!