Good Luck

I had something happen to me tonight that I want to call synchronicity, but, maybe I'll negotiate a little and call it good luck. For about a half-hour yesterday I was researching the internet for a book I was thinking about buying. It's called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks. It was written in 1970. It is a book that contains 20 case studies by a doctor that works with patients who have neurological disorders.

Tonight I was shopping in the mall, and walked into a very small bookstore. On the small cart in the front of the store, where they put their "bargain books", was the book I was going to buy online.

Now, this would not seem like synchronicity to some of you, because, it's a book store, right? And, of course they're going to have books. But, this book was written in 1970, the book store is a very small book store, and it was on the little cart in the front of the store for every one to see.

Whether or not it is really synchronicity doesn't matter. What matters is how I felt, and, it made me feel wonderful. It was like, "Hello Universe. You and I have been running into each other a lot lately." Electricity surged through my body. I think that even the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I was charged, just like I always am when two seemingly unrelated events are connected. Thank you, World.

Oh, and yes, I bought the book. It was only $5.99. Hardback, too.

Doubts, Fears

If you have read any of this blog at all, you may have thought to yourself that you are witnessing someone going insane. Sure, I've thought that myself. I'm still having doubts. I keep wondering, am I becoming spiritually enlightened or am I simply going insane? I feel so many changes occuring within me right now. My husband says he thinks I need to be put on some medications. I tell him I think I am part of the process of the evolution of consciousness, he says it's time for me to talk to my doctor. So, in seven days, that's where I'll be. It's true I've suffered from depression. I had for two years, until about a few months ago, then it went away. And now this, but it is so new to me, I've never experienced it before. I Google a little bit, using some search words that describe what I'm feeling, and I come across this:

http://spiritualemergency.blogspot.com/2006/01/personal-account-el-collie.html

Is it possible that what I'm going through is called Kundalini?

If anyone else out there understands this, or is going through this. Say something. Am I all alone in being alone? I've been going it alone for a while now, maybe a few words from someone who understands would be a good thing to have right now.

I Need My Own Del.icio.us

Links are beginning to get out-of-hand. The world has shown me, or perhaps even told me, that there are people in this world today with whom it is necessary I link to, not really to keep in personal contact with, but to follow along as they make their journey through this thing called life. Blogging is my way of meeting people who possibly have the same interests that I do. It's really very necessary that I write blogs and read blogs, because how else am I supposed to meet people who think like I do? Or who share the same interests? My interests are really so extraordinarily "out there", that I doubt there is anyone within a 100-mile radius that shares the same interests as me. So, I have to branch out. I might as well continue living my life as a hermit, for that is what I am. It is entirely too difficult to socialize with people, and I have found the older I get, the more private I become. I don't want anyone to know me too well. My life has changed so much from when I was in college. I was, back then, what you might call a "party animal". Every two or three nights I'd be at the bar down the street from the university. Many of the students and even quite a few professors would hang-out there. Surprisingly, in college, I was very popular. I was so popular, in fact, that I was voted onto the homecoming court during the homecoming basketball game. And now, look at me, I avoid people that I might encounter in real life, but find it easy to communicate with others online. Don't ask me what happened. Anyway, it doesn't matter, because I like the peace and especially the comfort. I must prefer talking to people online. I meet much more interesting people that way.

On with the show. I was talking about links, but then I got side-tracked. I really need to join that del.icio.us thing, so that I can have a place to keep all my links, because I can predict that the links on the right side of the blog will soon become unruly.

Here are some links that I have bumped into today that I think I like and just might continue to visit in the future. I may put them in my links list at a future date, when I am sure I will visit regularly. I'll update these as the day goes on.

http://r.kolewe.net/ - A Way A Lone A Last A Loved A Long

I post the link above even though parts of it might be too painful to read for reasons I will keep private. Let's just say that the similarities in that blog with things that have happened in my life are uncanny, but, it's not the author's fault for that. Still, I'll read it because it can be enjoyable at the same time. Not all memories are bad.

http://eskesthai.blogspot.com/index.html - Dialogos of Eide

And now this next, which I think most appropriate, because, my reality has seriously been shifting lately. It's all happening so fast, though. It's a little frightening. However, I want to embrace it. http://realityshifters.com/

It seems necessary at this point in my life that I should read some Carl Jung. http://realityshifters.com/pages/articles/synchronicity.html (Take special note of the detail about the woman who dreamed about the scarab!)

I feel that what I am experiencing lately may be a heightened state of awareness. What I need to learn to do, is to control it, to bring it into focus. Right now it is all so chaotic, it is like the universe is slapping me in the face continuously, trying to get me to wake-up, but what I want to do, is let the universe know that yes, I get it, I'm awake now. How can I control this? I know there are others out there who have gone through this. What should I call it? Is it enlightenment? Awakening? For those who would care for a good laugh, I thought I already was enlightened. I thought that I had become enlightened only a month or so ago. I gave up my search for a spiritual teacher because it seemed I was learning what I needed to learn on my own, through the help of the universe. Maybe that's the way it needs to be done.

What I have discovered, finally, is that everything is connected. I've discovered it on my own. I have read it many times before that everything is connected, but I have never felt it. Maybe for a brief moment in a religions of the east course in college, but now I'm not just feeling it, I'm understanding it. Everything is starting to fall into place. If everything is connected, wouldn't that mean that everything is therefore part of one larger thing? Didn't someone once say, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"?

When all this settles down, I'll probably delete this post. I'm sure in a few months' time, it will all seem like madness anyway. Who knows, maybe that is what it is.

Even More Synchronicity from Today, February 27, 2007

OK, I give. It's an obsession. I'm not hurting anyone, am I? I'm just wondering how many people out there on planet earth are also addicted to synchronicity, or even possibly addicted to dreaming. I've been journaling dreams since 1999, when I was 20 years old. My relationship with synchronicity started when I was about 26. At the time, I noticed strange coincidences happening to me, but I didn't know what they were, until someone I knew on the internet told me it was called synchronicity. Ever since, I've been delighted by them. At this current phase of the year 2007, I seem to be cycling yet again towards a peak - meaning, I'm experiencing them at quite an uncanny rate.

Yesterday, I was driving home from work. I was behind an SUV that had two decals on its rear window. One said, "I love my shi tzu." The other said, "I love my bull terrier." I thought about the joke I heard a couple years ago, "What do you get when you mix a shi tzu with a bulldog? Bullshit." Today, my college-buddy and good friend sent me an email. The email said, "If you mated a bulldog with a shitzu, would it be called bullshit?"

Synchronicity from Today, February 27, 2007

About a half hour ago I had a terribly mind-blowing experience of synchronicity. Mentally it is difficult to bear, because once these events start happening, they start avalanching onto me, and before I know it, another one hits before I've even had time to recuperate from the previous one.

My husband stayed home sick from work today. At around 10:55am I start reading a blog post on the internet about escapes from Alcatraz. At approximately 11:05 I call my husband. In fact, the page about Alcatraz is still on my monitor. I am glancing at it several times during the beginning of our phone conversation. The usual chat occurs on the phone, "Hi Honey, how 'ya doin'", etc. He asks me, "What are you doin'?" I reply, "Oh, I'm in the middle of reading an article on the internet about these prisoners who escaped from Alcatraz." His voice gets excited, because he knows I love synchronicity. He says, "OOooooh, synchronicity!!" I reply, "What are you talking about?" My pulse quickens. I prepare myself for what he is about to say. "The t.v. is on right now and it's on the Discovery Times Channel. It's a show about the escapes from Alcatraz." My palms begin to sweat. I let him have it, "Don't tease me like that. It's not nice. You know how I get when stuff like this happens." He says, "I'm not teasing. It's really on."

Here is the article I was in the middle of reading when I decided to call my husband to ask him how he was feeling: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=806#more-806

Here is the listing for the television show that was on during our conversation: http://times.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.jsp?episode=3&cpi=30368&gid=0&channel=DTC

Synchronicity from Last Week

I didn't take the time to post this last week. I was too busy with other things. Why don't I just come out and say it? OK, fine. The truth is, I was busy with life. No, I don't have better things to do.

In the morning of a day last week, I was reading an article on The Washington Post's website about a group of people who believe the government is controlling their minds. They think that the government has developed weapons that can send voices into their heads. That same day, I went to speak to someone down the hall. I looked on his desk. He was reading a book called The Seventh Sense.

Here is the article I was reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001399.html

Here is the book that was on P.'s desk: http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Sense-Secrets-Viewing-Military/dp/0743462688/sr=8-1/qid=1172586510/ref=pd_bbs_1/105-4873471-5884416?ie=UTF8&s=books

Synchro-addicts

There are, it seems, synchro-addicts out there who are more addicted than I am when it comes to synchronicity. They obviously have too much time on their hands. Some people actually go about looking for synchronicity. I think that pretty much defeats the purpose. For me, synchronicity is enjoyable as an unexpected part of the day. They are meant to surprise and delight. Below are links to two blogs where people have ventured out with the purpose of looking for synchronicity. I think that in order to define their actions more appropriately, we'll call their efforts "synchronization" instead of "synchronicity". The reason for this, is that they play musical albums while movies are playing to get the lyrics to synch with what is happening in the movie. One of these blogs I mentioned in yesterday's post, but I'll link it here, again. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album synchs with "The Wizard of Oz" about 60 times. In the next blog, a young man turns Star Wars into a personal project. It appears he stopped the project, with Green Day's "American Idiot", synching up with Star Wars 35 times. I don't know if there others out there trying to synch albums with movies, but I at least want to give The Wizard of Oz a try with one of my favorite albums - The Dark Side of the Moon.

http://members.cox.net/stegokitty/dsotr_pages/the_setup.htm
http://starwarssynch.blogspot.com/

Synchronicities, Coincidences, 11:11, Serendipity

These are some links that I'm posting mostly for my own use. These are sites that I want to read in further detail at a later date. I'm drawn to synchronicity, patterns and 11:11. Although, for the life of me, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, they keep happening. I deny them. I lie and tell people stuff like this doesn't happen to me. Why do I lie? To keep them from thinking that I'm crazy. In fact, I've even labelled people as "schizophrenic" when they pay too much attention to things that the rest of the world would call normal events. I can't ignore them, and to be honest, the more I search the internet for related topics, the more I get confused. It's difficult being a closet case synchro-addict.

As if suffering from synchro-paranoia wasn't bad enough, I also have lately had an overwhelming sense of intelligence. Starting about two weeks ago, I've had intense insights pouring into my brain, as if suddenly I was charged to the maximum with new knowledge. I feel more intelligent than I've ever felt.

I can't keep calling others "schizophrenic". I can't keep denying it or ignoring it. If anything, I'll just have fun with it. In the meantime, I welcome all your stories of synchronicity and any information on sychnronicities that you may have for me. Not that this blog gets hundreds of hits a day. In fact, it's unlikely that I'll get five hits in two weeks. Not too many people know about this blog, and besides, there aren't that many posts here yet, at least, not enough posts to keep people interested. This is like a book, and a book requires character development. To you, I am a stranger. Who's interested in reading about a stranger? Hopefully, as time goes on, and I have posted more, you will be more interested in following along and just possibly, you will interact with me.

http://followthesigns.blogspot.com/
http://www.ropi.net/st/synchronicity_is_not_psychosis.htm
http://members.cox.net/stegokitty/dsotr_pages/the_setup.htm - Dark Side of the Moon syncs with The Wizard of Oz. I'll have to try this before reading the page.
http://synchronicityandsaturn.blogspot.com/

Dream Date February 21, 2007

I apologize for not posting anything intellectual, lately. All my mindless blabbering is done mostly on the newsgroups, now. Newsgroups present an opportunity to communicate better than blogs, I've noticed. You can have back-and-forth conversations, and many times they're thought-provoking. Rec.org.mensa is a pretty cool hang-out. Alt.psychology as well. As with most places on the net, you may run into trolls. The best thing to do is ignore them. Although, it seems promising because I haven't run into any trolls in the past few months.

On to the dream....

I'm chosen from my dream high-school to be the lead singer in a musical show we are doing. I have to go to a store in the school to buy t-shirts to give and/or sell to all the crew and public, I'm not sure if it's buying or selling, all I know is I am acquring the shirts. I have to "design" the shirt, and I create it such that it is like a red and white tie-dye. The red isn't a perfect red, maybe more like a shade of rose. I also pick out red lettering. The red of the letters clashes with the rose red color of the dye spots.

I also go to a store that sells blank cassette tapes, as I have to make copies of the music we're doing in the show. I converse with the store employee over which is the best brand and price.

Later I go to a store that sells books. It is a high-school book store, so all the titles are for that age group. One book that I remember seeing is called "Doves". It's a book I created in my dream, nothing that is really sold, at least to my knowledge. The book cover looks like a package of bath soaps, with white doves on the wrapper.

I sing out loud while asleep or partially asleep, because I remember hearing myself singing the words to Madonna's song "Vogue." "Vogue, you got to just, let your body move to the music... Vogue.... you got to just, let your body go with the flow..." Then I recall being fully awake and worried that I had awakened my husband. (I wake my husband up all the time from my nightly dream chatter.)

I have noticed that this past week my dream recall has been improving. I hope it continues. I want to take a look at Dr. Stephen LaBerge's Lucidy Institute web page.

Dream Date February 20, 2007

I am stricken yet again with another case of school-related dream anxiety. This time, it is the first day of school and I have not yet registered for classes. I tell a girl that I will be going to math class with her, even though I haven't yet registered, and that I will register afterwards, depending on if the class is full or not.

Some Synchronicity for Tuesday, February 20, 2007

This morning I received an email from a visitor to my blog. The woman's name is Margaret. Immediately after receiving that email, I received a spam mail from someone named MRS. MAGRET SALAM, the type of spam mail where they want me to assist them with some financial endeavor, with the promise that I'll receive plenty in return. As you can see, there is close resemblence between Margaret and Magret.

Recommended Blogs

Here are a few blogs I ran into day that I thought you may be interested in. They are related to the mind, something I take great interest in.

Change Your Thoughts - Personal Development for the Mind

The Middle Way - Commentaries on Buddhism, Meditation, Philosophy, Psychology, Zen & Mindfulness

Life 2.0

Some Movie Ratings

It is common practice that I watch two or three rented movies every weekend. Sometimes, say, once every few months, I'll even go to the theatre. I won't write a movie review, or even pretend to be a critic, but I will give them ratings, based on a four-star system, where one star is the worst type of movie, and four stars is the best. To get started, here are some movies I've seen recently:

The Departed - ** 1/2
Flags of Our Fathers - ** 3/4
Fly Boys - ***
Infamous - *** 1/4
Half Nelson - ** 1/2

Dream Date February 18, 2007

First dream:

My father is having a birthday party for me. At the party, I recognize two girls from my real past - one is named Melanie, the other is named Minn, though in reality her name was Brynn. As you see, the two names sound alike.

After the party, I'm watching videos online that my party guests have sent me via email. In one, a woman is saying, "I hope you enjoy your gift." What gift? I did not receive any gifts at all at the party. I ask my father where my gifts are, and he explains that since my party was held some time before my real birthday, he was holding on to the gifts to give me on my birthday. I am a little upset, because this means that everyone is probably wondering why I didn't say "thank you for the gift" at my party.

In another video, two guys are skiing. They are very tall, and dressed in skin-tight red outfits. I remember taking special note in the dream of how the red contrasted with the white of the snow.

Some time later in the dream, I'm staying the night at my father's and stepmother's. In the bedroom, I'm removing some of the clothes hangers from a hook on the wall. One of the hangers is a very special type of hanger, used for a certain purpose. I accidently break it. I wonder whether I should hide the broken hanger in the garbage can, or tell my stepmother that I have broken her special hanger.

Second dream:

I am using a hand-held pencil sharpener to sharpen a pencil. In a little box that I carry around with me, I have several other sharpeners. Someone needs one close-by, and I give them one.

Later in the dream, I am running late for class. I am not even at the school. I fly in the air as fast as I can to get to school. I am not able to fly as high as I need to, so I run into a stone wall. But, with almost supernatural ease, I climb the stone wall.

It is quite common that I have dreams of running late for class, or even missing complete classes, or sometimes not being able to find the classroom. These are high-anxiety dreams for me. I always wake-up feeling relieved, however, that in reality I am finished with college and have received good grades.

Dream Date February 17, 2007

I was outside at a type of garden center or nursery, gazing at a small potted tree. I looked at the price tag. It said $32,xxx. I do not remember the last three numbers. All I know is the plant cost over $32,000! One of the attendants was walking by. I asked her if I could have a free cutting of the plant so that I could grow my own. She handed me a wrapped branch.

Further in the dream, I am walking on the grass at this garden center. Ahead of me on the grass is a large wooly caterpillar. After I walk past it, I turn around to look at it again. It now resembles a large dog with porcupine needles.

Artistic Autistic Savant

A man nicknamed “The Human Camera” can draw near-accurate pictures of cities after having had only one aerial view from above. The amount of detail that he remembers and then applies to paper is striking.

The man’s name is Stephen Wiltshire, and he has autistic spectrum disorder. In the video seen here, Stephen flies above Rome in a helicopter, and then reproduces in only three days what he saw from memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wiltshire

Collegia in Ancient Rome

Someone on the newsgroups asked about the various territories in Rome. My response is below his query.

On Feb 12, 12:51 am, rfd...@optonline.net wrote:
> A question for those knowledgeable about the history of this period. Is the
> dividing up of territories in Rome, and having bosses and captains etc. the
> beginning of what eventually became the Mafia? Sure sounds like it, unless
> the writers are just trying to make it seem just that way. Thanks.

There were collegia in Rome, and usually each collegia was made up of a certain type of tradesman. (A collegium is like a club.) Each collegia had its own rules and finances. Politicians used the collegia to control Rome's mobs, and in doing so they became criminilized. Caesar tried to shut down all collegia before he died, but after his death they made a come-back. Eventually it got to where unrest could not be kept under control without the collegia's powers.
For more information, try reading http://www.hbo.com/rome/watch/season2/episode14.html

In fact, in the article linked above, it says, Vorenus is "the Jimmy Hoffa of the Aventine."

Sincerely,
Puzzledwoeman

A note for those reading this on the blog - Vorenus is a fictional character in the HBO television series "Rome". The only historical account of Vorenus shows up in Julius Caesar's writings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Vorenus

Eternal Embrace Couple - Widow Sacrifice?

For the past week I’ve been keeping up-to-date on the unfolding story of the skeletal couple that was found at a construction site in Italy. Archeologists don’t know the story of this couple, yet, and it is very likely they never will, but they did release a statement saying that in some instances during that time period, following the death of the husband the wife would be sacrificed and buried with him. They are not saying that is what happened in this case; it’s just another hypothesis. For more information, read http://tinyurl.com/yu2dsu

This sacrificial act is not isolated to this region and time period. In some places in India, since at least the fourth century B.C.E., sati, or “widow-burning” had taken place at the funeral of the husband, all the way up until 1988 when the federal government issued the Sati Commission Act.

http://www.deathreference.com/Vi-Z/Widow-Burning.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_%28practice%29

Eternal Embrace Couple to be Preserved and Studied Together, Not Separately

More news on the skeletal couple unearthed in Italy: Scientists and archeologists will remove the couple together, instead of removing them separately, or bone-by-bone.

It is interesting to note some of the theories that have developed surrounding this couple. One such theory is something I have thought about - that they were lovers taking their own lives, similar to Romeo and Juliet. Yes, a Stone-Age Romeo and Juliet. Other theories are interesting to read, and I invite you to check them out at http://tinyurl.com/yp4lba. However, since other skeletal remains were found in the surrounding area, I surmise that it is a burial ground, and that these two "lovers" were posed together during burial. I know that isn't as romantic as other possibilities, but perhaps it's the truth. We can only imagine, unless the archeologists come-up with a better theory.

A Loving Embrace and Monkey Brains

I've spent hours today reading various articles on the internet. It happens sometimes that I do this. I get caught in the loop. One link leads to another, and before I know it I've spent a great deal of time reading from a computer monitor, resulting in a pounding headache. But, sometimes it can be so fascinating, because the internet really has a lot of knowledge.

I ran into this article today. Two skeletons unearthed in Rome, still in a loving embrace. You should read the article. http://tinyurl.com/yotu5f And while you're at it, check out the slide show that is on the page. There are three photos of the couple.

The other article that I found noteworthy is about monkey brains. The author takes a scientific study's results a bit further and applies them to human behaviour. Read it and ask yourself how responsible you really are. Just be warned, there is some vulgar language in the article, for humor's sake, but I think it could have done without, although I do appreciate the light-heartedness. http://tinyurl.com/34hpm