Thursday Thirteen #5...A house is a home when it shelters the body and comforts the soul... Phillip Moffat

I rent my home, and it meets my needs more than adequately, but it's not mine! So, I look at the online real estate sites and look at houses and floor plans and imagine my things inside them. Oh, I like that kitchen, yuk that paint colour is awful.

I moved out of home into a share house at 19, and had a miserable experience, and moved back to my parents home, temporarily, 18 months later. And didn't leave again, until 5 years ago... instead, with my brother, I bought the house - it is ours, though it will always be my mother's home - and hence I will always need to live elsewhere. Because I moved out with almost nothing, I had the advantage of money in my pocket and the ability to plan and pick what I wanted, and I surprised a lot of my closest friends when they discovered when it comes to house furnishings I'm fairly old-fashioned. Not sure why they were so surprised, as I've always loved old and kitschy things, trawling trash and treasure markets for bargains... like Bakelite canisters, and funky vegetable shaped crockery... I even have a set of flying ducks on my entry wall...

Anyway, if I were to built the house of dreams, these are the 13 things I would have... in no particularly order of importance...

One: An Attic I prefer houses that have lots of different rooms than big open spaces, while I can admire warehouse style living, it's not for me. And ever since I was a little girl, reading about the March sisters in their attic, I've dreamt of having one... whether as a space to retreat or as a bedroom

Two: Bath I love to play in the bath... and a bath big enough for two is my idea of bliss. I could live out every Cleopatra fantasy I've ever had in this bathroom.... milk bath anyone? Only think missing is a bookshelf... and the odd semi-naked man slave...

Three: Bedroom isn't the open fireplace gorgeous.. and the wing back chairs, and the white bed cover. A big soft bed, with lots of pillows, a fireplace, somewhere to sit while you put your socks on, lots of natural light... perfect!

I have a 1930s era cast iron bed, that sat in the shed at Mum's house for years, but I sanded and painted it cream when I moved. It's got a high head and foot, and stands close to a metre off the ground... everyone laughs at how high it is, asking if I need a footstool to get into it... MLDD calls it my Princess and the Pea bed... I love it.

Four:Conservatory isn't this an amazing space? Of course, during an Australian summer this space would be unbearable, but during autumn and winter it would be well used.

Can easily imagine curling up on the chaise lounge reading a book, or cuddling with a boy, listening to music and talking and fooling around. A glass of wine, a plate of fruit, cheese, crackers... Beulah peel me a grape!

Five: Guest Suite I have a spare room at present, that is also my junk room, ironing, filing cabinets, baskets of quilt fabrics and projects... anything I want to keep out of my living room.

It would be lovely to have a room that could be kept for guests. A nice bed, a comfy couch, a table to write at, a small bookshelf of bedtime reading.

Six:Country Kitchen considering I am a self-confessed undomestic goddess, I'm particular about kitchens... I want a white and timber kitchen, with lots of space to display all that funky and kitschy stuff I've collected. It needs to have lots of natural light, and lots and lots of cupboards... I like the bookshelves too.

I think even I'd cook if I had a kitchen like this.

Seven: A Library this is a must have, a place for all my books. And again, I like light, bright spaces. While I can admire the dark timbered libraries, I'd much prefer something like this.
With a mandatory soft and squishy couch, and preferably an open fireplace and lots of lamps. Bit of a theme being established here... isn't there. To be honest, I'd have bookshelves in every room of the house, if I had my way.

Eight: Breakfast Nook don't ask me why I like these, I just do. MLDD's family used to live in a 1930s era house that has a built in eatery, and I loved it.

Imagine playing footsies with someone here on a Sunday morning while you have a big breakfast and sharing the papers.


Nine: A Wrap Around Verandah warm summer evenings, sitting outside watching the world go by.

An afternoon tea party, with butterfly cakes, and sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and a pot of tea, or homemade lemonade, served on mismatched china covered in rosebuds and violets.

Ten:Quilt Studio oh, how lovely it would be to have a dedicated space for playing with needle and thread. Doesn't the wall of colour look amazing... I would be so inspired to create more if I could have a space like this, instead of everything crammed into boxes and baskets stored all over the house.






Eleven: Windowseats something else I'd love to have in every room of the house.

Welcome to Miss Frou Frou's house of laziness, indulgence and sloth...






Twelve: Sadie, the Cleaning Lady Meet Sadie... she's the second most important part of my wishlist (see 13!) If I'm going to have all this room, this is not a nice to have but a necessity. Repeat after me - UNDOMESTIC GODDESS










Thirteen: Seriously, do I need to explain this?

Destined to become an old lady with lots of cats...

Recently I joked around with the Nature Boy about wondering what people would think of a 40 something insomniac, who stays up half the night surfing the net, listening to music and dancing around in her pj's while she did the ironing ...

And on The Dog's Name I talked about how halfhearted I was about getting out there and meeting boys... winter... warm house...pc/tv/music... pj's...cuddly cats are way more appealing then strange men...frocking up...awkward conversation... disappointment. To which Indy replied 'Ah but if one of those strange men should prove to be perfect for cuddling up in said PJ's wouldn't it all be worth it?'...

Well of course it would, but seriously would you like to go out with this woman? And more importantly, would you want to dance with her?

“Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.” - George Bernard Shaw

A woman should ...

My friend S, sent this to me today. I'd seen it before, but never realised it was written by Maya Angelou, who also wrote a Phenomenal Woman, a poem I truly love, but am not ready to claim for me just yet.. just call me a phenomenal work in progress...

But in reading through this today, I was quite pleased with myself and how far I've come that I could answer in the affirmative for most of these shoulds...

Don't ask me why, when work is insane, and I'm still not sleeping, and I'm as alone as alone can be, that I seem to be in such a happy, mellow, contented mood... of course, another week or two and I'll be all hormotional again... but I'm making the most of the feeling that life is good in my little corner of the world and all things are possible... gosh, I'm being such a Pollyanna it's almost enough to make a girl want to hurl...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
Enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own even if she never wants to or needs to...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
Something perfect to wear if the employer
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a youth she's content to leave behind....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill,
and a black lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
One friend who always makes her laugh...
and one who lets her cry...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a good piece of furniture not previously owned by
anyone else in her family...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
Eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a
Recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
How to fall in love without losing herself..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
How to quit a job,
break up with a lover
and confront a friend without ruining the friendship

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
When to try harder...
and when to walk away...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
That she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
That her childhood may not have been perfect...
but its over...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
What she would and wouldn't do for love or more...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
How to live alone...
even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
Whom she can trust,
Whom she can't,
And why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
Where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
What she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...
and a year...

FROU'S TO DO LIST:
* Learn how to cook
* Buy a new dress
* Buy a cordless drill
* Work on a juicy future so I can have a juicy past

Unconscious Mutterings #5 ... I saw and you think...?

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self. Each week ten words are posted at Unconscious Mutterings to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind. If you want to have a go register by clicking the logo at left above or the link included in this paragraph.

1. Dancer :: Dorky


2. Intellectual :: Property
   


3. Direct :: Deposit


4. Tolerate :: Faults


5. Post :: Coital


6. Instinctive:: Reaction


7. Brink :: of Madness


8. Regain :: Sanity


9. Repulsed :: Turned off
   


10. Distressed :: Damsel

Everybody's doing it, doing it, doing it...

Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation

made us more attractive? If "needy" were a turn-on?...Broadcast News

Well considering this seems to be going around the blogosphere at the speed of light, I should play. You just plug in your name in the search bar at Google along with “needs” and then post your results. Frou Frou didn't work - Vicki/Vikki did...

Some of my favourites:

Vikki needs to get a life ... sigh... even Google is condemning me...

Vikki needs to take a long trip and come back with a new personality... see, what I mean...

Vikki needs to start acting her age ... considering yesterday at work I said someone was fairly handsome despite being old, only to have everyone laugh at me, as this guy is a ONE year older than me, I think Google may be right...

Vikki needs something translated ... actually I do, someone has left a comment on my blog, in what I think is Spanish... can anyone help me... last comment here?

Vikki needs a hero ... yes, preferably one who looks like this...

Vicki needs some one to teach her about love ... yes, preferably one who looks like this...

Vikki needs to interact with more people ... yes, preferably one who looks like this...

Vikki needs some new glasses for close up work ... ok, sorry, but I have too... yes, preferably with someone who looks like this...

Vicki needs to get some balls ... umm, dare I say it... yes, preferably...

Vikki Needs A Spanking ... oh.. really, well, if you insist...

Vikki needs to dump that fake loser boy ... ok, but only after he's spanked me...

Vikki needs to dump his ass pronto ... alright, already... give me a minute will ya!

Vikki needs to realize that dogs are not little people in furry costumes ... are you sure about that...

Vikki needs to learn about "she bang" magic. As in "she bang" her head against the wall with absolutely no knowledge and no reference books to offer a clue? ... I love this... "she bang" magic, indeed...

Vikki needs to get some sleep ... always...

Vikki needs to shut right up ... even Google thinks I talk too much...

If every word I said could make you laugh, I'd talk forever...

Rhian tagged me for this meme... only one word responses... a bit like chinese water torture...

Answer all questions using only 1 word :

1. Where is your cell phone? bag
2. Relationship? Please!
3. Your hair? multi-coloured
4. Work? OHS
5. Your sister? Different
6. Your favorite thing? people
7. Your dream last night? erotic
8. Your favorite drink? vodka
9. Your dream car? red
10. The room you’re in? family
11. Your shoes? plentiful
12. Your fears? manageable
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? published
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Miss La De Da
15. What you’re not good at? dancing
16. Muffin? Bran
17. One of your wish list items? piano
18. Where you grew up? Melbourne
19. The last thing you did? ate
20. What are you wearing? clothes?
21. What aren’t you wearing? makeup
22. Your pet? cats
23. Your computer? necessary
24. Your life? taking-off
25. Your mood? exhausted
26. Missing? you
27. What are you thinking about right now? sleep
28. Your car? dirty
29. Your kitchen? warm
30. Your summer? gone
31. Your favorite color? red
32. When is the last time you laughed? today
33. Last time you cried? today
34. School? finished
35. Love? Please!

And I tag ... Sheila, Julia and Soozii

May the couch be with you...

For Indiana and the other Star Wars geeks... happy 30th anniversary

Thursday Thirteen #4...The Wisdom of Pooh and more words from Frou

Winnie-the-Pooh and the creatures of the 100 acre wood are wonderful creations of whimsy, I was never a fan of the disneyised versions, but can remember loving the original A.A. Milne's stories, Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, and Milne's books of children's poetry, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. In the same way I have discovered the adult wisdom in the works of Dr. Suess, Milne had amazing things to say, both silly and profound...

One: “If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.” ...wouldn't this be a lovely thing to say to your true love...

Two: “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”... short responses rock indeed ...

Three: “You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” ... how easy it would be to hide away in my little corner of the Forest...

Four: “Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."” ... all together now, sigh... I've done this so many times...

Five: “Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.” ... this isn't something I struggle with at all, my favourite gaze is of the navel variety...

Six: “People who don't think probably don't have brains; rather, they have grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake.” ... I wonder if you can get a lint remover for brains?... imagining pushing a bottlebrush through one ear and pulling it out the other...

Seven: “If you want to make a song more hummy, add a few tiddely poms.” ... shall remember this while trying not to make a total arse of myself at Melbourne Millennium Chorus rehearsals... me...singing... in public... in front of thousands... tiddely pom, tiddely pom, tiddely pom, oh crap!

Eight: “When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.” ... I'm eleven o'clockish daily...

Nine: “Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other was the left, but he never could remember how to begin” ... I couldn't distinguish my left from right until I was a teenager, and even now have to stop and orient myself, though interestingly I also seem to know which way is north!

Ten: "When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you think of Things, you sometimes find that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it" ... probably the best description of the contradiction of the inside of my head and my thoughts and feelings and the outside...

Eleven: "They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them" ... wondering if I could use this as part of my health and safety training?

Twelve: “Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon” ... amen...

Thirteen: “A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise” ... double amen...

And just for fun, sing along with Frou...

The more it snows (Tiddely pom),
The more it goes (Tiddely pom),
The more it goes (Tiddely pom),
On snowing.
And nobody knows (Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom),
Are growing.

And for my next trick... I'm going to juggle kittens....

Another semi-sleepless night... I drifted off to sleep about 4.00am, knowing that I needed to be up and out at a reasonable time as I was doing e-time management training this morning.

I woke, at 6.44am suddenly, and realised that somehow in my sleep I had picked up my alarm clock (my reasonably large electric alarm clock) and I slept with it cupped in the palm of my hand, hanging suspended over the bed...

Just as this thought entered my brain, the alarm went off... and I got such a fright that I tossed the alarm up into the air... crash... and two sleepy cats went screeching around the room in terror... sigh... what a gentle, calming way to start my day... not...



I know Savannah posted this on her blog, not so long ago, but I like it and it seems apprpropriate to this post... though I still think it would be fall down funny if you had him and the music and instead of juggling his movements would be some weird form of interpretive dance...reminds me of my attempts at tap... just imagine me dressed as a gold tinselly sausage showgirl.. similar mouth movements and all

Come on baby light my fire...

A misplaced candle is believed to have started a fire that caused about $100,000
damage to a bondage and discipline parlour in inner Melbourne.

An MFB spokesman said 18 firefighters
"were tied up for some time but disciplined and controlled
firefighting contained the blaze to one room on the second floor".

Full story here

I'm sorry... but someone is having way too much fun with puns...

Not the Monday Poetry Train...

"We write to taste life twice,

in the moment and in retrospection" – Anais Nin

I have always been an avid reader, reading all of the 1st and 2nd year school readers before the end of first semester, my first year of school, and my teacher suggested to my mother that I join the junior library, something to which I am forever thankful as it opened me up to the world… literally. Even then I loved fiction… the stuff of imagination.

And I have written stuff and nonsense almost since I was first able to form letters and words. Usually, some fantastical story, with a wry twist in the tail that had a character that closely resembled me. There are some examples floating around the house somewhere, I should find them and relook at them. They are probably awful, but I suspect they are not that much different in style to how I write now, even though the subject matter was I hope, very different!

As a young child, I used to make up skits, that I would bully coerce my friends into performing around the neighbourhood, a fledgling Jo March... who I dreamed of growing up to be, sitting in my garret, with ink stained fingers, writing books and plays about her life and the people in it.

I thought about being a journalist in my final years of high school, which I would have been terrible at, I now realise. But it seemed to be a career that would allow me to write. And I started a Professional Writing and Editing course, six years ago, that I quit after completing two subjects, partly because my father became ill, but mostly, as I didn't care for the rules, and being told how and what to write.

There are lots of incomplete stories I’ve started over the years, with a female protagonist, who is an awful lot like me, but with all the rough bits smoothed away. She is prettier, and funnier, and taller… as I told the Nature Boy today, what’s the point of writing fiction, if you can’t embellish on it… but these women, these versions of me, still struggle to be heard, and understood and loved.

I wonder if the reason why these stories are unfinished, is because my own story is… I don’t know what the ending will be yet… so how can I write of endings for them, my better halves.

None of these tales have been shared with anyone… they sit, in notebooks and on loose sheets of paper shoved into drawers that are rarely opened.

"The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say,
but what we are unable to say" – Anais Nin

My friend, Nature Boy, is a constant source of encouragement, by providing a willing, and sometimes not so willing ear and eye for my stuff and nonsense… laughing at my whimsy, and empathising with my woes…he makes me smile, and think and ponder…probably cause he’s so generous with his praise and tells me often how much I make him smile, and think and ponder…

He has an interesting and engaging writing style of his own, though he’d be unlikely to ever admit that he is a writer and storyteller, he has the whole self-effacing, modest shtick down to a fine art, which in itself makes me smile…

We are very different. It’s why I enjoy our written stoushes so much. He, with his neat, tidy but incredibly evocative words that convey such a strong sense of feeling, and place and time, and his total disdain for capital letters, conjunctions and punctuation battling my dense, verbose, fanciful waffling, I’m the girl who uses capital letters, and full punctuation in my text messages.

A recent example of the Short Response King took me immediately to every grungy laundrette that I’ve ever been in, which is why I praised him in my comments on Rhian’s Monday Poetry Train yesterday.

"laundrette…washing clothes…old mags… last weeks Herald Sun… disgruntled student… a hair in the washing machine… not mine... cute blond traveller… what am I doing here…(Nature Boy, 2007)

And in asking permission to include the above on my blog his email response below had me spitting coffee out all over the keyboard.

all good
short responses rock
look out gore vidal
I rock
look out Tolstoy
you rock (Nature Boy, 2007)

What a goof! Everyone knows if they’re going to compare me to anyone it should be (fill in the blanks)…though that might be a less than subtle crack about my verbal diarrhoea…

It is because of him, that I started this blog in the first place, and in the short time I have been writing here, I’ve hit the publish button 69 times.

Some of those times I’ve published meme’s, silly quizzes and more recently my unconscious mutterings and Thursday Thirteen, but the majority of times I’ve hit that button I’ve been sharing some aspect of my life.

In my first blog, I talked about taking baby steps into sharing my thoughts with the wider world, and I’ve certainly done that, to the shock/horror amazement of some of my other friends in RL.

And it is through this process that I have realised that I too have a voice, and a style, that is uniquely my own… that I am a writer, a storyteller…and always have been…it is just that now the planets seem to be aligned, and for any number of reasons I am gaining confidence in speaking and sharing my voice with others.

Well… a little bit… the reason I started to write this post is despite a yearning to do so, and cajoling and pleading from Rhian, I have found endless excuses to prevent me from posting something for her Monday Poetry Train.

I’ve enjoyed reading all of the other contributions, trying to get my mind to grapple with the subtle and not so subtle imagery conveyed with their poems and prose… but I have yet to be able to post something of my own… and I’m left wondering why.

Is it because my stories, my fiction, really is not so much fiction at all… but is about me, my dreams, my thoughts, my wants and needs. And while I can share some of this, as I blog away contentedly on my own, I’m not yet ready to put these out there. To deliberately post something, with a flourish, of here it is, read me, hate me, enjoy me, condemn me, love me…

Though I’m tempted…sigh…

"I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic -- in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself." Anais Nin

The Tyranny of Distance...

Back in the days when I was actively looking to meet men, I advertised in the personals in the newspaper, once in 1999 and again in 2004.

This was in the day that you would run an ad over 2 weeks, and record a brief message which guys would hear when they rang the code provided, and then they could leave a message for you with their contact details. Both times I received about 100 responses, not unusual, I'm told, there are always more men doing the personals things then there are women!

So, in the month or so after each ad ran I made a lot of phone calls! Usually saying Hi, you responded to my personals ad and I'm just calling you back. Both times, I never asked any specific questions, usually asking something along the lines of "So, tell me about you?" or "Is there anything you'd like to know about me?".

Invariably, either the first or second question asked of me was "Where do you live?". And then when I replied, the response would often be "Oh, that's not too far!" It got to be so common that I started saying "Really? Just out of interest, how far is too far?"

The responses were varied, but covered the basic premise which one guy happily elaborated on "She would have to be pretty special to travel for more than 45 minutes on a weeknight to see".

This would often then lead into a whole other lot of questions from me. "Why do you need to travel to see her - why can't you meet her halfway?" "Why can't she travel to see you?"

Usually they'd fluff around a bit... remember, we haven't met each other, so they were behaving reasonably well at that point, so I'd get umm's and aah's and vague responses... sometimes I'd leave it at that... sometimes, I'd push a bit further, if the guy was forthcoming and we were already into the banter thing.

Finally, one night a guy said - "I don't care where she lives if we're going out to dinner, but I'm only going out to dinner to meet someone to have sex with, and if she lives too far away, having sex regularly is too hard. Meeting half way's pointless, unless you're going to have sex in the car (little did he know I have a sex/car fetish) and I don't want her coming to my place, at least at first, cause I don't want her to stay. So, you find out where they live first off, and if it's too far away, you might meet her, but she's already got a mark against her". As stated before, men tell me the most amazing things, and then they wonder sometimes why I don't want to go out with them!

I used to think it was really funny and a bit sad... that men would be so practical about this... how many wonderful women did they exclude simply because of geography.

Until I met P through rsvp, who lived about an hour away by car. It wasn't just the distance that made things difficult, he had sole custody of 5 kids, and worked nights... he was getting up around the time I went to bed... so there were lots of late night phone calls as I was drifting off to sleep, and early morning (like 4.00am) phone calls when he got home from work. As I'm told I give great "phone" I don't think the fact that we rarely saw each other worried him as much as it worried me, and the combination of our clash in work time, his family commitments and the distance made things difficult and ultimately impossible... and I started to realise that maybe it's not such a stupid idea to stick closer to home.

So, the next time I did a search on rsvp I deliberately focused on men who lived within a 15klm radius... and discovered one of the guys I talked to actually lived at the other end of my street...and the policeman I met through my brief experiment with aff lived 5 minutes away(that's a whole other story, and yes, Virginia, men's bits do come in different shapes and sizes, as the photos in those profiles proved - never saw many faces but gee I saw an awful lot of peni...)

Sorry, 5 minutes away is way too close! In the same way that I don't want my Mother to be able to drive by on a daily basis to see if I'm home, or if I've got mail delivered, I don't really want to date someone who lives within walking distance.

So... is it so very wrong of me, to say I want to meet someone whose prepared to travel whatever distance is required to be with me... Literally, looking for someone who will make "500 miles" his theme song... not that I want him to be 500 miles away, but someone prepared to say:

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked 1,000 miles
To fall down at your door

On that note, a bit of stuff and nonsense from The Family Guy:

Unconscious Mutterings #4 ... I saw and you think...?

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self. Each week ten words are posted at Unconscious Mutterings to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind. If you want to have a go register by clicking the logo at left above or the link included in this paragraph.

1. Coastguard :: Blues


2. Buddies :: Bosom
   


3. Nap :: Nanna


4. Groan :: Moan


5. Sitcom :: Laugh track


6. Reader :: My First


7. Heroes :: Ordinary


8. Amazing :: Grace


9. Woman :: I am
   


10. Don’t! :: Stop

Meditative Musings #2... The High Priestess...

I've been reading back through my Meditation/ Tarot Group journal, looking at some of the meditations and the themes underlying them. Some weeks my journal simply records my observations of the card, and other notes on how successfully I meditated. In other instances there are characters that I'd like to try to tie together into some form of narrative, as it seems they are the same people, being represented at different stages. I'm going to try to flesh some of this out here over time, not in any linear fashion, just picking things at random...

The Lady of the Lake (Arthurian Tarot)... The High Priestess in the Tarot can represent knowledge (particularly esoteric), enlightenment, inspiration, wisdom, learning, counsel, physic healing. She is the virgin goddess, the moon daughter...she can be an enlightened but chaste woman or a mysterious woman, a femme fatale...she can also represent the need for solitude, seclusion and meditation.

I've always been drawn to this card, and strongly identify with her even though I also strongly identify with the other feminine Archetype, the Empress at times. My inner conflict between Aphrodite and Persephone...

My Meditation Journal - June 16th 2005... In the card itself, the trees stood out initially ... I've been having regular meditations and dreams about trees...the trees in this card are very similar to the trees in my dreams.

I have been having weird and strange dreams for quite sometime now, but I do not have a clear recollection of the dreams contents, just a sense of unease and feeling unfulfilled on waking. Most involve some element of searching for something. I have slept a lot lately, needing to escape into dreams and I feel like I am often in a half awake/ half asleep state.

Other things that drew me to this particular card... the soft blue/ greys, the sense of roundness in the oval arch and curve created by the canopy of trees.

While I noticed the sword, it wasn't as important to me as the open book... always the High Priestess prompts me to think about study, studiousness, contemplation and looking inner.

In my life at present there is a recurring theme of connections, circles looping back over each other. A sense of repetitiveness but also one of newness.

There are constant reminders of my father. Echoes of my relationship with him with others. TV, movies, music and books are all reminding me of him and my relationship with him, both the good and bad.

I'm feeling a bit old - that there are experiences that I haven't had that have passed me by.

I'm very tired and it's almost like I feel defenseless. That it would be easy to be overtaken by other people's wants and needs. Possibly that's why I've been spending so much time on my own - as if I can't cope with the noise of others.

I'm veiling my feelings in some ways by withdrawing. But at the same time instead of putting on a happy face and allowing others to impose their will...I'm walking away.

Some would say I'm being passive about my needs but it's more that I'm unclear about what my needs are. Instead of putting others first I'm asserting myself but in a passive way.

I'm almost obsessively craving privacy... I have been for most of the year... I want to be alone!

I have a strong sense that I have led a solitary existence before,
this being alone is not the first time for me, nor will it be the last.

Now... well, my first impressions would be that nothing much has changed... though I don't think that is really true. I have certainly been spending significant periods of time on my own... through choice... I think those around me are starting to realise how necessary it is for me to be alone.

In the almost two years since I had wrote the above, I have grown and have learnt a great deal about myself and the boundaries I place around myself. While I am a very outgoing and social creature, I am still very much a loner... so the High Priestess/ Empress conflict still exists, but I find myself more comfortable with myself in that regard. It does not have to be an either/or, I can be, and am both those archetypes... and need both elements of the feminine to be happy.

Now, if I could only find myself a man who is a combination Magician/Hermit who will understand the duality of my character, I'd be content... of course, to find him, means I probably should get out of the house more...

Thursday Thirteen #3...13 Aussie Songbirds

In last week's Thursday Thirteen, Rhian posted about 13+ Georgia bands/musicians, about the same time I was thinking about doing a TT on Australian music, and then decided to do one on some of my favourite Aussie musical chicks...I realise for my overseas bloggy pals, you won't have heard of some of these, so have linked to sites like YouTube where you'll get a bit of an idea.

One... Divinyls (Chrissie Amphlett) Boys in Town, 1981 - ...I think they're pretty phoney, you're not like the rest, you've heard of matrimony, they've all flunked that test... released on the Monkey Grip soundtrack, based on the Helen Garner novel, the band also featured in the film... great movie, great music.

Two... Pat Wilson - Bop Girl, 1983 - our own answer to Cyndi Lauper! Check out the clip and you'll see a very young, frizzy haired Nicole Kidman...

Three... Eurogliders (Grace Knight) Heaven ( must be there), 1984 - I loved Grace Knight bopping around... she also sings cool 40's torch songs...

Four... Do Re Mi (Deborah Conway) Man Overboard, 1985 ...your pubic hairs are on my pillow, your stubble raids the sink...you talk about penis envy, your friends applaud, what am I expected to do - shout Man Overboard... great lyrics that saw the song banned from some radio playlists at the time.

Five... Kate Ceberano - Bedroom Eyes, 1988 - aarh, Katie is all woman, she started performing at 15 and has covered the gamut of musical genres.

Six... Kylie Minogue - Better the Devil You Know, 1990 - our own Singing Budgie... will admit, I like Kylie... simply, infectious dance songs... why not?

Seven... Frente (Angie Hart) - Bizarre Love Triangle, 1995 - from Marvin the Album. This great, little girl voice...

Eight... Bachelor Girl (Tania Doko) - Buses and Trains, 1998 - ... So I walked under a bus, I got hit by a train, Keep falling in love, Which is kinda the same... 'nuff said...

Nine... Christine Anu - My Island Home, 2000 - I love this song, not a great sound, recorded at the Sydney Olympic Games

Ten... Killing Heidi (Ella Hooper) Weir, 2001 ... for one so young Ella has an amazing musical knowledge, this song was off the band's first album

Eleven... Kasey Chambers - I Not Pretty Enough, 2002 ... am I not pretty enough? is my heart too broken? do I cry too much? Am I too outspoken? Don't I make you laugh? Should I try it harder? Why do you see right through me?... this song has had a huge number of parody songs written about it... at the time it was released I was dealing with the fact that the person I loved was choosing to marry someone else, despite telling me that he loved me... so it got played a lot... recently The Choir of Hard Knocks sang it at their gala concert, and this wonderful group of homeless and disadvantaged people who sing like angels added another layer to the song for me.

Twelve... Amiel - Lovesong, 2003 - ... Thanks you've been fuel for thought, Now I'm more lonely than before, But, thats okay, I've just 'ready made another f**king love song... censored to I've just 'ready made another stupid love song... have to add Addicted to Bass to this list... we used to tap dance to this... it was bloody hard, but fun

Thirteen... Katie Noonan - Time To Begin, 2007 - Katie Noonan sings like an angel... this is her first solo single, previously she was lead singer with the band, George.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Excuse me while I melt into a puddle of lust....

Will confess, I have always had a bit of a thing for Eric Balfour, since the early days of Six Feet Under, when he played Claire Fisher's boyfriend Gabriel Dimas, he of the toe-sucking fetish, in the first series.

Yes, I know... he's only 30... but if I was ever going to make a movie of my strange and twisty relationship with Boomerang Boy, he'd be perfectly cast as Boomerang Boy, who was 23 to my 36 when we first met. And then I'd just have to convince everyone that I was a good enough actress to play me.... oohhh....

While Mr Balfour is a lot more exotic, and a lot more ummm shall we say buff... the shape of him, the long lean length of him, his nose, his eyes, and definitely his smile remind me very much of BB.

The footage in this montage comes from a movie Lie With Me, which I tracked down having seen some clips on YouTube... Eric and Lauren Lee Smith star in what is described as a romantic drama with explicit unsimulated sex scenes and full frontal nudity.... I decided after I'd watched the movie oh... two or three times... in a row.... that it's not the greatest film... actually the clips on YouTube are more romantic... but heah... who cares... I have five words for you... Eric Balfour full frontal nudity!

EDIT: Sorry, I confused a few people - no full frontal nudity in the clip here... this is just very PG snippets from the movie and photo shoots of the hunky one. The full frontal nudity is in the DVD that I'm wearing a groove in at home...

When the Moon is in the seventh house...

Sigh.... I'm saying 'nuffin!

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Snapshots of childhood...

Today, would have been my Dad's 71st birthday, if he was still with us. I have been thinking a lot of trying to put down on paper my father's story. But I realise, I never really knew him. I knew the stories he told, but it's sometimes difficult to determine what was fact or fiction. But I have memories, mental snapshots, and I wonder whether it is his story or my own that I need to write about...

Sitting outside of the old mansion in St Kilda, converted into apartments, that was home. My brother, Dad and I sitting on the front verandah watching the world go by, Dad telling funny stories about the people passing. And my yelling "there's Father Christmas, Daddy, there's Father Christmas" and wondering why he tried to shush me, as a heavily bearded man, in a black suit and a big hat walked down the street. It's only now looking back I realise why he was so embarrassed, the man was an Orthodox Jew walking to the synagogue and here was I calling him Santa!

Dad yelling at us, cause we'd brought home a kitten found in a derelict house, that we wanted to keep. "There will be no animals in this house" he roared, and then we found the kitten asleep on his lap that night. He cried when he buried Dirty Dora in the backyard years later. And for every animal we had, we'd hear the same roar, and then he'd love them and they him.

Driving in the furniture truck with Mum and my baby sister, with my brother and Dad on the back to the new house in Thomastown, only to arrive and find the house has no walls or windows, and the builder's done a bunk with our money and we are homeless.

Curled up on his lap, watching Little Women, and the two of us sobbing, as Beth dies.

Telling me to shut up or I'd be sorry, while I sobbed quietly lying on the top bunk of the room I shared with my sister, not understanding why I'd been sent to bed in the middle of the afternoon in punishment for some unknown misdemeanor. And then crying even more, as he closed the door and said to my brother and sister, who wants an icecream?

Sitting on his shoulders at a grown up fancy dress party, when I'd sneaked out of bed to see every one's costumes, and him insisting I be allowed to stay up, much to my mother's disgust. He was dressed up as Herman Munster, and he kept losing the bolt of his neck so he araldited it to his head, and it took weeks before it fell off.

Hiding under the covers, with my hands pressed to my ears, as he crawled drunkenly along the hallway, crying for his mother, after an alcoholic binge that lasted days.

Screaming through the hallways and alleyways around the apartments we lived in on a hot summers night, while Dad and the other grown ups threw buckets of water at us, as we raced around in our summer pj's.

Being bundled into my parents bed in the wee small hours of the night by a neighbour, and seeing the flash of the ambulance lights against the windows, while we were told that Daddy's had an accident, and has cut himself shaving... and my brother whispering to me, I saw him, why would Dad be shaving his wrists?

Watching a neverending stream of boys pile in or out of his Volkswagen Beetle as he drove them to football practice... the only father on the block with a car. He was also the defacto ambulance when we had an emergency, when Brian upstairs fell and broke his arm, or my friend Karen set her skirt alight while jumping over a bonfire.

Dancing around in his underwear, singing I'm So Pretty, oh so Pretty... and hamming it up for the camera.

Sitting at the kitchen table the night of my sister's wedding, and reaching out to pinch me at every opportunity, until a friend asked him why he was being so mean, and him saying "Cause I hate her"

Walking up to wait for me to finish work at the local gift shop on a Friday night, and sweeping up and helping out while he waited, and then holding my hand all the way home and telling me how proud he was and how much he loved me.

Terrorising the teachers, and amusing all my classmates at every parent/teacher night he ever went to. One of the boys said "You're Dad is so cool, you are so lucky" and I said "You can have him if you like!"

Be afraid, be very afraid....

From Rhian and Savannah...

Unconscious Mutterings #3 ... I saw and you think...?

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self. Each week ten words are posted at Unconscious Mutterings to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind. If you want to have a go register by clicking the logo at left above or the link included in this paragraph.

1. Film :: my escape


2. Dragon :: April Sun in Cuba
   



3. Hunger :: what's that?


4. Plucked :: Duck


5. Dissolving :: Wicked Witch of the West


6. Executive :: Suite


7. Ridiculous:: ME


8. Mist ::of Avalon


9. Minority :: Silent
   


10. Map :: of Tassie!

Dragon, were a New Zealand band that crossed in the Tasman in the 1970s and had hits like April Sun in Cuba, Are You Old Enough?, This Time, Rain etc.

True Confessions ... eight things about me...

Rhian/Crowwoman tagged me to do this meme...

Here are the rules according to whomever likes to makeup rules (not me):
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. (blah, blah blah)
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. (Duh.)
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. (See item 1 below - if you want to do this you can, but I ain't gonna tag you - probably cause I'd struggle to find 8 people to tag!)
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog. (Duh, again)

One... While I am usually very amiable, I can be mulish and obstinate, and don't cope very well with being 'told' what to do... and will often surprise people if they dare me or goad me into doing something foolish... as most people will say while I can be a bit madcap, I am usually sensible... but while I am aware of the need for rules, I will often then disregard them if it suits me, and it harms none... particularly if someone 'expects' me to react sensibly... contrary is my middle name!

Two... I am completely left side dominant... left handed, left footed. My 1st grade teacher tried to make me write with my right hand, by making me sit on my left hand all through class. I was utterly miserable for weeks, but didn't want to tell my Mum what was happening, as the teacher said that left-handedness was a freak of nature... I was 5 or 6 at the time. My best friend told her Mum that I'd cried at recess, and her Mum told mine, and I saw my Mum for the first time in all her Mama bear fury descend on this woman. Apparently, the first time I ever reached for something I used my left hand and I've been doing it ever since. Being so left side dominant has meant that I cannot march - instead of stepping with my left leg, swinging with my right arm, I swing and step from the same side... hence I fall over a lot!

Three ... for all of my brazen, out there persona, that means I can talk a mile a minute to almost anyone, I get terrible stage fright if I have to speak in front of others in a more formal setting, like at a meeting or training session. Literally sick with fear... and in the weeks prior to every Tap concert every time I walked down a flight of stairs I'd have this mental thought - "maybe it won't hurt so much if I throw myself down these, cause if I break or sprain my ankle I'll have an excuse to get out of having to go on stage" Of course, the incredible rush afterwards that I had gone out there and conquered my fear was fantastic, even if I was probably dancing the routine perfectly, just 3 beats either ahead or behind the others

Four... have you seen The Truth About Cats and Dogs? Do you remember the telephone scene with Ben Chaplin and Janene Garofalo? I've done that, but instead of him convincing me, I convinced him... I liked it.... a lot... a real lot.... geez I'm turning myself on just remembering...

Five... I can't wink... and I can only click my fingers with my left hand... my right hand makes no sound. Nor can I curl my tongue, wiggle my ears or raise only one eyebrow. Though I can cross my eyes like this... taught myself to do it by staring at the tip of my nose.

Six... I am and have always been a 'good' girl, a 'good' child, a 'good' friend, a 'good' worker etc. and deep inside I yearn to be 'bad'... I'd like to break some one's heart, trash the office, have wild and wanton sex in public places with the 'wrong sort' of man... and do things not because I don't know better... but because I can...(actually I wouldn't want to break some one's heart... )

Seven... as a little girl I used to lie in the darkness of my bedroom with my eyes open wide and slowly blot out all visual and sensory stimulation and imagine that this is what it felt like to be dead... this feeling of blankness and nothingness ... and was sometimes so successful at emptying my head of all conscious thought that I would literally terrify myself... even now I live almost exclusively in my head, often forgetting my physical self, until my body reminds me, usually by getting ill. Except now my brain is rarely restful, even meditation only slows the revs down a little, but never makes them completely stop... I wonder if I've convinced myself if I stop thinking I'll die...

Eight... I spent most of my teens and twenties being invisible, playing the role that was assigned to me. That good girl thing... though I obviously showed my true self to some, those people that I've loved and who have loved me during and since that time. I'm pretty much over being invisible, and sick of being afraid... you may not like me, but I'll be damned if you'll ever forget me... and if at the end of my life they say 'she was a bit out there, but gee she was fun, and she made me (laugh, cry, mad or horny' I'll be happy...


I got my name in lights with notcelebrity.co.uk

Wow... that was weird...as for the name in lights... I got it from Savannah's site, and it seems to fit with item eight... so...

Thursday Thirteen #2...13 Things about my name/s

Am posting this Wednesday night as I have to be up and out early tomorrow morning and not sure when I'll get home!



In setting up this blog I tried hard to ensure that I was relatively anonymous, and pretty much had that blown out of the water the first time someone from RL posted a comment, when they outed me... so... my name is Vikki, and I'm a blogger...

Thirteen Things ABOUT MY NAME/S...
One: Miss Frou Frou is my tap dancing name, given to me by a work colleague cause he used to laugh ever time I came to work moaning and groaning and often limping having kicked myself in the heel with my tap shoe as an Absolute Beginner at Miss Lou Lou's Tap Dancing Academy

Two: My real name is Vicki, but someone years ago, used to regularly send me a telex (I told you it was years ago) with my name miss spelt to VIKKI... and something about the way it looked appealed to me, so I started to use it.

Three: My mother hated the way I spelt my name insisting that my name was spelt Vicki, until we were organising wills etc. and I discovered that she too changed the spelling of her name when she was 18 - she should be a Loris but she spells it Lauris after a book character.

Four: I've been told by a numerologist that I should revert back to my original spelling if I want to have a successful relationship. What does it say about me that I'd rather have my name spelt the way I want than a man!

Five: At work, in my department there are two Vicki's. The head of the department started referring to me as Vikki 2K from the beginning, and it has now spread across the organisation and is occasionally shortened to V2K.

Six: A former work colleague, who jokingly referred to me as Victoria repeatedly, when I protested, started calling me Queensland instead (Victoria is a state in Australia, as is Queensland - get it!). Mind you, this is the same man, that called Romy, 'where for art thou' - certainly confusing visitors by regularly bursting into the office saying 'Queensland, where is where for art thou?' - to which I'd calmly reply - 'at the bank'

Seven: Boomerang Boy rarely called me by name, to the point that I used to often feel I could have been anyone to him. He used to say that saying my name out loud made him feel funny, but couldn't explain why. I stopped using his name in retaliation and he didn't notice....

Eight: So I notice when men freely use my name, it makes me trust them... when maybe sometimes I shouldn't...

Nine: Having a name starting with V often means you get picked last. And thinking about hosting a party with a theme come as something that starts with the first letter of your name can be restrictive: - vase, violin, vamp, vixen, vampire - and always some wag who suggests you come as a vibrat0r.

Ten: It's surprising the way people can miss spell my name - I've had Viki, Vickie, Vicky and my personal favourite when you spell it and say it's a double K - Vickkie - they're just hedging their bets.

Eleven: And people have trouble pronouncing it too... kids kind of lisp it out ... giving it a 'w' sound .... wicki... my cousin used to call me wicki or wicks and then his dad started calling me wickers. And a workmate used to call me 'picki' - completely unable to pronounce the 'v' regardless of coaching.

Twelve: My mother wanted to call me Melissa, cause she liked it. At the time, 1961, it wasn't a particularly popular name, but became much more popular later, one of my closest friends is a Melissa as is my god-sister. My Dad wanted to call me Gwenda or Judith, after old girlfriends.

Thirteen: So were did Vicki come from? I was named after the lawn mower...arguing over a girls name almost up to my birth, my Dad was mowing the lawn and said to my Mum, what do you think of Vicki? She liked it, and I'm thankful, but even more thankful that the lawnmower was a Victa and not a Black and Decker!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Flirting with disaster...

I am a flirt, apparently!

Well, at the most recent Groove Train Gang dinner I was told I was a flirt, and when I denied it and looked around for support the gang all just laughed and said pleeeze...

What?

And then they proceeded to reel off a list of names of people I flirted with... some I agreed with, some I didn't. But it worried me, did I flirt so much, was I indiscriminate?

And then last week in a discussion with my boss, I mentioned that conversation and she said 'you are such a flirt!' with much eye-rolling. WHAT!

Had to check if I was inappropriate, and she said, no not at all, but you do flirt with people. And then went on to say I flirt just as much with the girls as I do with the guys.... I am so confused!!!! And this is why...

Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Main Entry: flirt
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: tease
Synonyms: coquette, cruiser*, gold digger, heartbreaker, operator*, philanderer, player, seducer, siren, swinger, tease, trap, trifler, vamp, vixen, wanton, wolf*, wolverine

Main Entry: flirt
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: tease
Synonyms: banter, chat up, come hither*, come on*, coquet, dally, dilly-dally, disport, eyeball*, fool, gam*, gold dig, hit on*, lead on, linger with, lollygag, monkey with, ogle, philander, pick up*, pitch*, play, proposition, sport, string along, tease, toy, trifle, vamp, wanton, wink at*, wolf-whistle
* = informal or slang

The only words above that I'm prepared to confess to are the verbs, banter and play... I can do the banter thing very well, and I'm very playful. I like people, they interest me, and I play the clown very well, so I can usually get people laughing and talking, but this is not flirting! Is it?

I've never chatted anyone up in my life, and as for being a vamp or a vixen... geez... I wish... there's a reason I dropped out of tap class the year they decided to do the sexy routine to Shaggy's That Girl... I couldn't vamp to save my life!

Speaking to Cheesegirl last week I mentioned that I'd been thinking about this a lot, and she said, we weren't saying it was a bad thing. So why is this making me feel so uncomfortable? Maybe I'm just concerned that I appear foolish?

I can flirt, I have flirted, but usually with people that flirt back! And with people I have absolutely no interest in... I am definitely not good at flirting with people that I am genuinely interested in... shudder... I alternate between being gauche and tongue-tied and stupid, or rude and sarcastic.

This is such a puzzlement...

Seriously, does she look flirty? She had a tiara briefly and elbow length gloves, but I wasn't happy with the shoes...flatties looked silly, and the strappy stilettos are just not me...these are the closest I got to Mary-Jane's. Of course, there is no way anyone would ever see that much of my leggage (my word for leg cleavage)... I'm a floaty skirt to my ankles girl.

I found this on Christine's site, Chicken-Scratch

You can make one of your own by going here
Wonder if there's a Mr Potato Head version... that would be more me!

Unconscious Mutterings #2 ... I saw and you think...?

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self.

Each week ten words are posted at Unconscious Mutterings to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind. If you want to have a go register by clicking the logo at left above or the link included in this paragraph

I saw and you think....?

1. Tumor :: Growth


2. Bunch :: Lovely Coconuts
   


3. Gratitude :: Awkward


4. Feel alive :: pain


5. Connect :: the dots


6. Temptation :: The Devil


7. Brighten:: my day


8. Jewelry :: bling!


9. Tough :: Luck
   


10. Harmless :: Me