Welcome

Thanks for reading me. If you've seen my other blog, you'll know it's full of politics and more than a bit of sarcasm. This one is for me.... my journey through self and into realization.

Here is where I intend to explore me - and through my words, I hope you'll learn me, as well. If you learn a bit about yourself in the process, I would consider that the greatest compliment you could pay me.

As with any good exploration, nobody knows what we'll find, but I'm flush with the excitement of the journey, and not worried about the eventual endpoint.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Monday, May 31, 2010

ME – 101 – Phone Conversation




Well, this is certainly getting more intimate. Phone conversation strips away another level of separation between the contributors. There is a texture in the spoken word that can't be conveyed in the written format...you can hear the pain, the laughter, the sorrow or joy in someone's voice - you can certainly 'hear' a smile.

I've had some epic conversations in my time - hours on the phone at times, discussing everything from the quality of macaroni -n- cheese to political instabilities to chaos theory.

I am very flexible in a phone conversation. My lighter side shows strongly, with quick quips and sarcastic remarks - jokes flow readily through me in a phone conversation. I can be deep and meaningful too, though, if discussing the right subject. And, confidences are sometimes easier to make - to share the deepest secrets of heart and soul - these are easier to release in a phone talk.

One thing I don't do in a phone conversation well is convey personal or spiritual pain - it's just too hard to get words out when you're blubbering..

I've learned a lot from phone conversations - people have the intimacy they need, but still a level of separation between them and their focus on the other side of the phone.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Interesting Evenings

Captain & Coke....Malibu & OJ, a sour apple martini. It' amazing what alcohol can do to me. It liberates my tongue, this blend of fermentation by-products and sugars - it sets my voice free. The nicotine in my PV sets a harmonic counterpoint to the booze - a low-level undertone of crashing surf and a buzz along my spine. My empathy is electrified, a lightning-sharp staccato of impressions, ethereal, intangible, felt but not touched. Everything is so sharp, so clear, so completely in focus. 

So with this potent mixture of booze, nicotine, and empathy, I pick up my phone....dial.....ask for Avery.

The alcohol does evil things with my tongue - I tipsly flip-flop words - and stumble over the few hard ones. We giggle, we laugh. 

I recount the highs and lows of my evening - the disappointment in finding that the bar near me has cancelled it's Karaoke. The bartender I'm used to is not on, and his replacement can NOT mix a martini. The music the DJ is playing to the handful of people in the bar is too loud and too modern for the crowd. My foray to the next bar where the music is live, the place packed, and the martini's fabulous! 

He's been busy as well since I spoke with him last, busy with his own blend of intoxicants.

The energy crackles through the phone lines - I can feel it. It rubs along my spine, sparkles in my blood, causing my heart to beat faster and my skin flush with extra blood. It thunders through that which brands me female. The connection is potent, vibrant, and sings through my being. There is a catch in my breath as I enjoy my primal reaction.

There is a momentary pause in the conversation as he feels his own reaction. The muse has reached out and stroked his soul with sure fingers, the fates are singing, his own sensitivities have ignited and blended with mine. Even with physical distance between us, we have closed that gap, and are one.

The connection is intimate. The sharing complete. The exchange of energy unstinting and unselfish. I give as much as I receive, and it grows exponentially. 

Physical sex pales in comparison to the fire of two who balance so completely.... He is physicality, primal, potency and strength of body and muscle.  I am spiritual, metaphysical, intangible, blending emotions and sensitivities.


He is Male.  
I am Female.


And the universe itself aligns with a click.

The ties mark the closing of a circle - where he ends, I begin. It is BALANCE.

To be in this state of hyper-awareness, of balance, for more than a brief second in time, its nothing short of distilled light. To partake of this perfection, to be a part of its very creation is to taste ambrosia. To be here, dining on the intuition of the gods themselves, for four hours.....

I'm still buzzing. I've been altered, improved........reborn.

Now THAT'S a date.

Friday, May 28, 2010

ME – 101 – Live Chats



I discovered (or was made aware of…) live chat rooms about a year ago….and by live chat, I mean a site in cyberspace with 5-10-20 or more different people typing back and forth with each other.


Conversation in a good, live chat room can be lightning quick or very slow, depending on the typing speed of the individuals and how detailed they want to get in a response. I’ve been in rooms that run very fast, and I have to either drop into text speak (LOL, IMO, OMG, ROFL, FFS, etc….) or designate who I’m responding to (@tiger: LOL, ur nutz :D), and have been in rooms that take the care and time to construct proper sentences. The little smiley emoticons add an interesting texture to the written words, and are used to offer the nuances of facial expressions that would be otherwise missing from the typed text. Chat rooms are my favorite way to congregate with a group of people from across the world.


And, if you get into a quiet chat room with some special, select friends, you can let all your hopes, fears and dreams out. You can bare your soul to people you’ve never laid eyes on. You can fall in love. You can rail at the injustices of the world, or laugh at its silliness. You can offer up sage wisdom and receive it in return. Its intimacy, security, anonymity, and awakening all wrapped with a big, shiny bow when you get into a room with people you’ve established a solid rapport with.


And yes, for all you out there that are reading my words, I have done all of the above in a chat room….I speak from personal experience.


As an aside here…I think that the psychiatric community would make enormous strides in helping those who have emotional difficulties if they would adopt a chat room format, and let people come out about their problems behind the comfort of their personal computers…..far more helpful and therapeutic than pumping these same people full of drugs that only mask the pain, or sitting them on a couch for a one-on-one with a ‘professional.’ After all, life happens 24/7, 365 days a year, and not always during business hours, and its easier to pour out your heart when you don’t have to worry about blubbering incoherently. Although, the tears do make it difficult to read what you’re typing at times :(


Usually, in live chat, my goofy side comes out. I’m the queen of the quick one-liners, offering subtle barbs or thinly-veiled innuendo with quick, sure fingers. My reward is to see those quick lines of text speak, the LOL’s, the ROFL’s, and my favorite, PMSL. I’ve chatted with people in Australia, the UK, Ireland, across all 4 time zones in the US, and as far north as above the Artic Circle.


Our world, once such a big and scary place, has grown so small with these technological advances.

ME – 101 – Email/Post communication


I love electronic journaling – I’ve always been rabidly addicted to words, madly infatuated with punctuation, spelling, grammar… Through my keyboard, I explore me. 

But, I’m finding, it takes more than just me and my keyboard – it takes outside interaction with other people.  I need that interaction, because it forces me to think in different directions, to explore new questions – questions I didn’t even know I had lurking inside me.

And I need all different types of interaction – Email/post, IM or chat, phone, and in person.  Each style of communication touches a different part of my personality…..
_______________________________________
Email or Post:  This is where the thoughtful side comes out – where I can read and re-read the words, both yours and mine, constructing my reply carefully and thoughtfully.  A flourish here, a simile there, a descriptive phrase inserted and another one taken away…….writing is as deeply moving for me as sculpting or painting or music for another – my words are my art, when the muse is flowing I catch a glimpse of my personal Nirvana.  

I explore myself deeply when I’m employing this type of communication, and I explore the one I’m speaking with, as well – getting a feel for the emotions behind the written word.  Make no mistake - there are emotions behind the keyboard – strong ones, if you let yourself feel them.





As a sidebar here - I’m forcibly reminded right now of a quote that was posted on the bulletin board in my high-school creative writing class – it’s potent, and has stayed with me for the 26-odd years since I first laid eyes on it: 
‘Writing is easy – you just sit at your typewriter and bleed.’
It is a perfect summation of what I go through each and every time I set fingers to keyboard.
 ______________________________________
I’ll explore other avenues of communication in later journal entries, because each of them is an entry in with its own merits, deserving of its own posting. 


And I'm BAAAAAAAAAAACK

Originally posted May, 2010



Been a while since I've been on - truly, it's a very neat little site.  I have a lot of fun here with the tests and the people online.  I'm expanding my horizons and my contacts once again.
Dating is so full of ups and downs.  You think you meet the right person, and turns out there's that one, fatal flaw that makes the entire relationship turn to mush.  But, you gotta just pull them bootstraps tight, and hop right back on the horse that threw ya.  That's where I'm at now.
There's been lots of activity not relevant to dating, too.  I'm very active on my Electronic Cigarettes.  So very active I took a day (and then some) off to run myself down to Springfield in April to talk to the Health and Human Services committee about a bill they were considering passing for the State of IL - to ban my little toys from sale or distribution.  I went with a group of vapers, and, well, I'll say the legislative process, and the grassroots concept still work in our government.  We, as a group, made a difference against a rather powerful adversary....a paid lobbyist for the ALA.  We made a difference.  We came armed with information.  We killed that bill in that committee.
That's something I'm proud of - that my voice was HEARD, that my opinion MATTERED, that the corporations do NOT yet rule our country.
What is an Electronic Cigarette, you may ask?  By all means, ask me...I love to talk about my gizmo, I'm passionate about the thing that has allowed me to be totally tobacco-free for over a year now, and I'm proud to call myself a vaper.  So, by all means, drop me a line and I'll be more than happy to talk your ears off :D 

Ahhh...the Joys of Dating


Originally posted on another site in Nov. 2009

Wow....been 20 years since I've been on a date...and man, am I rusty! One of the downsides to ending a loooooong marriage! 
There's so much to be done, to be said, to be experienced when meeting someone new.... whole life stories have to flit across the landscape (well, ok, eventually!)... but what a fun and interesting experience!!!
And, it was simply a walk down the Fox River walkway...one of my favorite things to do....Nothing beats listening to the water move down its channel, while you smell the crisp pre-winter air, and watch the various birds and wildlife go about their business of getting ready for Father Winter to drop his blanket of white stuff (OK....I dislike snow - but love the imagery here!) over the midwest.  I enjoyed myself immensely and I certainly hope he did too!
It certainly beats the 'fun and excitement' of getting all the red lint out of my bathroom from my new red towels - or the unbridled thrill of getting a new Swiffer to do the job right!

Let's talk about something interesting

Originally Posted in November, 2009 on another site.

Now, unlike some people, I like to think.  I do it often enough to occasionally get myself into trouble.
What am I thinking about tonight?  As I sit in my various chat rooms, watching the other people type, goof, and make obscure sexual comments (and I toss a few of my own out, too), I think of how much technology has changed our lives....some changes for the better, some for worse.
Our world has grown so much smaller with the advent of the internet.  I have friends I've never met face to face in just about every state in the US, and several across that big ol' puddle of water some call the Atlantic Ocean.  These people are just as real to me as any I've met in person, their personalities come across clear in their typed words.  I laugh with them, cry with them, feel their pain as they feel mine.  These people are close enough to influence me intellectually, spiritually, emotionally.....yet they are not close enough to touch physically.  How quickly these alternate bonds form!
Without the internet, I would never have had the knowledge necessary to find an alternative that successfully enabled me to quit a 20+ year addiction to tobacco..... a neat little Chinese devise known as the E-Cig, or Personal Vaporizer, which through research led me to many of my online friends.  I wouldn't have found a cause worth fighting for, and would still be living with the wool pulled firmly over my eyes as to the political situation and the true corruption of our government.
Now, not everything is all peaches and light, though, when it comes to technologies advances.  We have virtually everything at out fingertips, now, a little electronic brain we can carry around in our pockets, and we've become lazier because of it.  When was the last time you actually memorized a phone number?  Or looked up the spelling of a word in a dictionary? 
I think I'm done thinking for tonight on the wonders and pitfalls of the internet.  Care to join me in a thought next time?