Advertising. Would prefer to name no names.

Created a group on facebook after being disgusted by a particular advertisment recently airing. This one broke the back of the proverbial camel. I would like for people to hang on to their own values and ideals instead of being swayed so very easily by advertising. We all know the damage done to teenagers who think they are fat. We all know how women's and men's possible low self-esteem can be targeted. I'm tired of the sham; wish everyone could see throught it; and hope that people truly realize their lives are not automatically going to change if they go out and buy something.

Symbols

Being of an odd nature really, I choose to wear jewellery that is close to my heart and that represents familiar things old and well known. Even though I have many pairs of earrings, for example, I usually wear the same pairs together daily. Rarely do I stray from this routine. The amethysts comfort and protect me and well.... my Celtic crosses feel at home with me also..... because of my background and because of where I've always been from.

Strangely, when feeling particularly down a few days ago, a fellow with an Irish accent made a comment about my jewellery.

"You are certainly wearing alot of Celtic crosses." he said. How could I explain?

"I'm half English, a quarter Scottish and a quarter Welsh" I said. As if this did anything to make him understand what the crosses are doing on my earlobes.

"God Bless you," the man said. "I, myself,....... am a Christian." He went on to tell me to start with the gospels and that they would help me figure out any problem I had on my mind.

"And never forget that Jesus is the reason for the season!" He said. Oh, I had never heard that one before. But it all set me to thinking anyway. And his sincerity was disarming.

Was I a fraud wearing Celtic crosses? Does the fact that I act in a Christian manner and that I believe Christ existed and was a wonderful man excuse me from the fact that I practice no mainstream religion?

Do I deserve to wear a Celtic cross?

Not an hour later. Feeling a little less glum, I encountered another gentle man who saw me hard at work. He squeezed my arm lightly and said "you deserve some sort of promotion, so you do, so focused on your work you are." and he laughed and winked and patted my shoulder and walked away smiling.

I think lately I've been "told" in subtle ways to listen. And maybe my angels and guides can't get through the blocks I've placed around me. Maybe I should just open my eyes,ears and self a little more.

No matter why they said what they did, both those men made an impression upon me that day. And they made me think. They made me think more of my SELF. And they made me think of motivations and how I truly have none that I can think of, surrounding much that I do.

I sensed lack and it was not comfortable.

Our lives may be fruitful

Our time here can easily be compared to a complexity, that which makes up a fruit we call pomegranate. (Seeded apple Zab?)

People's lives may appear to be rich and shiny on the outside yet all the seeds within may be bitter. Not enough evolving has been done... at least none that really matters.

People's lives may appear to be scarred, discoloured and imperfect on the outside yet all the seeds within may be ripe and bursting with sweetness. This scarred looking life has been and continues to evolve.

With all our lives, it is our role to take our time in separating the bitter membranes that are woven throughout and slowly dig out and savour every morsel we find.... For one cannot destroy matter, merely transform it.

We can content ourselves with intent when it is not our time to open ourselves up in this manner.

It's all relative.

There's not much a few dollars will buy these days. But every now and then I have an epiphany in the grocery store and make a mental note to myself to be grateful.

Coffee filtres!! You can get hundreds for about two bucks. And what about toilet paper? I mean really.... it's a percentage of cents per session. Bobby pins!! What incredibly useful things they are! And is someone in the inventor's family still getting royalties? I hope so. Who cares if bobby pins seem to disapppear on you over the weeks and months. There's an unending market for the things and I do not object to spending money on them. Sometimes I even go for deluxe bobby pins and spend three dollars on them. It is soooooo nice to feel conspicuously consumptive while getting change on a five dollar bill.

Watermelon; I mean the real thing with seeds and all, watermelon which has not been genetically manipulated. How I long for this "taken for granted" melon when it is out of season here and I'm sitting inside while it's 40 below out there. It is at such times that I feel I should appreciate watermelon alot more.

Pomegranates: get cheaper as the season goes by. However even when they are NOT inexpensive, compared to other fruits, they are still worth every juicy morsel. You cannot eat pomegranates quickly. So think of the money per minute that this represents. You can either buy half of a fancy coffee at a specialty coffee shop, or enjoy a pomegranate. (Once more craved when not available.)

Even your cat benefits... Think of the price of catnip and compare it to the endless hours of sheer joy produced per plant.

Stationery is cheap per letter... compared to the price of friggin' stamps, anyway.

So it's all relative people. Next time you think everything is soooooo expensive, take stock and keep your mind open while you're shopping.

They're probably gone.

Whenever I see an old photo of an animal, whether it's a horse in a Western movie or a poster with a kitten fast asleep in a hammock, I can't help but wonder where they are now. Sure, I think the same of people, but not as thoughtfully.

I'll look at old photos of miners and cowboys and realize that they all had very real lives and those are probably over. They had human experiences and perhaps at the time their photos were taken, they probably weren't giving much thought to their "ends" or maybe some did, more often than not, and they worried about it.

Animals don't worry. I look at their old photographs, realize they are gone and miss them automatically even though I may not have known them. I often wonder why that is. And do other people see the same things and think the same thoughts as I do?

To those who don't believe that Animals are of Spirit, I say you're wrong. They're much closer to God than we are while we're stuck here. Because they love unconditionally and automatically. They have no ego and they know many things we are blind to.

Here's to all animals.

Shorts

Last summer, while the main street of town was under major re-constrution, a man was hired to "assist" traffic and pedestrians, while the lights weren't working at a major intersection.

He was an old man with knobby knees and, rain or shine, he wore shorts and long socks. He also wore the red fluorescent vest, that was given to him, most proudly.

Why write about him? Well he was an asshole, that's why.

It is confusing at the best of times for cars and people in that busy resort town. Let alone the fact that the whole road was torn up and there were no traffic lights or "walk / don't walk" lights to assist.

"WALK NOW!!!!" He would scream at people... throngs of people waiting to cross the road. If cars kept coming at them, people rightly stopped and waited. He actually started jumping up and down at times while he shouted.

"ARRRGGGH!! TO HELL WITH YOUSE!!!" the old man in shorts would yell if the pedestrians didn't move when he told them to. He would wave them away and turn his back in disgust. I was worried for his health daily as I often witnessed his face match the colour of his vest. I could see him from the window of the shop I worked in. He looked as scary as he sounded most days.

He yelled at cars just the same way although I'm sure no one heard him as they had their windows rolled up. They probably just listened to their music in their air conditioned cars and saw a strange man in shorts with a red face yelling about something and shaking his fist upon occasion.

The closest run in that I had with the man in shorts was during an intense but brief hailstorm when I was attempting to walk across the road, along with other people who were fighting to stay upright in the wind. I even had my arms wrapped around an ineffective light pole until there was no traffic and I let go and hurried across. The wind was so loud and strong that I could hardly make out what the old man was shouting about. None of the other pedestrians knew what he was on about either. As we made it to the other side of the road the man was almost apoplectic. He was screaming and pointing and we looked. The storm was so severe that a police car had parked in the middle of the intersection, no doubt to assist in traffic control while the hail hammered down and people who were already confused with the old man's lack of direction became more confused.

We finally heard what he was yelling:

"THERE IS A POLICE CAR IN THE INTERSECTION!!! WHEN THERE IS A POLICE CAR IN THE INTERSECTION, THAT MEANS YOU FREEZE!!!!!!!"

We were so busy trying to stand upright against the wind that no one paid him much attention and I think that was always what made him tear his hair out. How invalidating to be ignored all the time let alone during a storm.

Funnily enough, there was no sturm und drang at any of the other intersections on main street. I hope the man survived the summer.

Why?

Why is it that when someone pulls stupid stunts on other people they are called "practical jokes'?? Sure don't seem practical to me.

"We'll have to study this in earnest." (What if he doesn't want to be messed with?)

I'll get back into blogging soon. Thanks Z.