52 Weeks to a Rejuvenated Spirit

I'm doing a blog series called 52 Weeks to a Rejuvenated Spirit which can be found on my therapy website www.thespiritoftherapy.com Please check it out and send others my way!

Just another day on the farm

I'm a farmer. For three weeks. Jim and I are in charge of making sure our landlord's animals stay alive for 15 days. I thought this would be an easy task. I thought wrong. Did you know that chickens are extremely temperamental? I didn't. The first night, pitchfork in hand, I spent 30 tentative minutes trying to push the two remaining stragglers off of the porch and into the coop. I was sweating, cursing, sloshing around in chicken poop with hay stuck in my hair. Then there were the bunnies that kept escaping from their pen. We covered up holes and checked fencing, to no avail. Twice we trapped them in huge nets and transported their writhing bodies back to the pen. The last one got eaten by something before we could get to it. One down. The next to go was a sheep. I have no idea how it died. I do know that sheep are creepy when they follow right behind you in the twilight and bleat loudly. Like zombies. I'm shivering to think of it. Two down. At least the dog is still alive.

Halloween anniversary

Is it not appropriate that my anniversary with Jim falls on Halloween? (Ok, maybe that is a teensy weensy bit off, but since I can't remember any kind of date whatsoever, I think it is brilliant). We both, after all, have a great affinity for dressing in costume for various occasions. Halloween became my favorite holiday about three years ago when I realized I couldn't stand any other holiday. I love Halloween. It's the naughty holiday, the rebel amidst the others. Halloween just doesn't pretend to be pretty and I love it! Somehow it satisfies my fascination with everything frightening and mildly nauseating. Halloween, like autumn, seems wild and untamed, unabashedly racing through the wind with its hair flying behind and pushing on into the great unknown - the scariest of all thoughts. How psychologically interesting. And so, I am pleased that my equally satisfying relationship comes full circle on this unique day of the year. I am smiling and so so content.

Tattooed

In a symbolic, ten years in the making, spontaneous act of liberation...I got a tattoo. I second-guessed myself and considered skipping the appointment until I noticed that the parlor's symbol was a pirate ship. The signs came together in that moment and I swear I heard a faint, angelic hum being carried in the wind. Doubts also arised while sitting in a waiting room full of teenage boys and tattoo artists with obsene t-shirts on. I thought that maybe my tattoo artist, Chris, would be unable to draw the very simple, basic deisign that I wanted. I nearly walked out. Then he appeared, with a drawing that made me say.."Oh! Wow!" So...I am permanently branded with a gaelic trinity symbol that stands for my irish descent, my faith and my family. This all confirms my long-held opinion that I am so bad ass!

Yo ho ho and a bottle of...

When you begin a fascination with pirates, the associations are everywhere. Pirate hats, pirate milkshakes... If you pretend you are a pirate you might also experience a great surge of confidence and intrigue. Lastly, I am adding a fifth "answer" to my previous blog about existential questions. 5. Rum.

Tagged

10 years ago:
I was living with Sonrisa, listening to Jennifer Knapp and wearing odd thriftstore clothes.

Things on my to-do list today:
See clients, figure out how I'm going to pay my school loans back, go running and enjoy the first day of my last term of grad school.

Three bad habits:
1. forgetting birthdays
2. snapping my gum constantly
3. eating halves of everything and putting the rest back.

If I became a billianaire:
I'd jump up and down, dance around, yell obsenities and then travel till I dropped.

Five jobs I have had:
1. Go-cart operator
2. Bingo concession stand
3. Child case manager
4. Server
5. ESL teacher

Five things you may not know about me:
1. Every movie I like is either set in England, has English actors or utilizes English accents. It is spooky!
2. I want to be a pirate
3. I pretend all of the time
4. I love and hate socializing
5. My biggest fear is being trapped in a boring life

U23D

Amazing. I can't think of any other rock stars I would want to be that close to while they are sweating profusely on stage. How is it possible that Bono is still sexy? And, how are all four of them so fit? Is it the jumping around on stage? Do they build rock walls in Ireland on their days off? Do four Irish men who sing about war, injustice and political freedom really have pesonal trainers?