How's my day going to be?

I flip the book and choose the answer on the left page.

"Just your imagination?"
Of course it's your imagination!
The world is your imagination.
Have you forgotten?

Last night, I went about my usual routine of turning on the heater in my bedroom at 9 PM and then going back to the living room to watch TV and surf the internet a little. At 12:30, I turned off the heater and went to sleep. The heat that built up during the last 3-1/2 hours was usually enough to last me all night. Last night was an exemption. I woke up around 4 AM and I was freezing. I only wore an oversized t-shirt and jogging pants to bed and I only had a quilt for a blanket. My body was shaking from the cold and I could feel my nose beginning to get stuffy. Too lazy to get up and turn on the heater, I just tagged at the thick comforter that I always leave beside my bed in case it gets too cold, like tonight, and pulled it over my quilt to keep me warm for the rest of the night.

I had a really hard time going back to sleep after waking up like that during the wee hours of the night. I probably stayed awake for another couple of hours and only started to doze off again by 6 AM. Needless to say, I woke up late---very late----quarter to 10!!! I jumped out of bed, went straight to the shower, got dressed, drank a power drink, tossed my laptop bag over my shoulder, and held the doorknob ready to leave when I remembered the book.

I fished for it out of my bag, asked the question and got my answer. I smiled! I decided it's going to be a great day.

I slowly opened the door...

Not fair!

If you will practice being fictional for a while,
you will understand that fictional characters
are sometimes more real than people with bodies
and heartbeats...

That's not fair! Here I am living, breathing, actually feeling and sensing the world and the people around me and yet something made up is more real than me? Not fair!

But when you come to think of it, fictional characters do have a better life than most of us can dream. Really! Think about it. They have all the adventures, all the dramas, all the fun, and all the excitement! The best (or worst?!) part is that they go through situations that encompasses all these experiences in one short period of time. It's not even the rest of their lives. Just one time or just a short part of their lives! Ha! Not fair!

How does one practice being a fictional character for a while? I don't think the suggestion above meant for us go and daydream about being Perry Mason or Miss Marple for a while. I think by "practicing being fictional for a while" means to actually practice living a life like that of fictional characters. I can imagine someone out there saying..."but the circumstances that bring about the adventure, the drama, and the comedy in a fictional character's life are intentionally brought upon by the author of the story. So for us, who can intentionally bring about adventure, drama, and comedy into our lives to make it more exciting and alive than they "usually" are? Who can be our authors? I'll say let's do it ourselves. Let's all be the authors of our own lives so that we may practice being fictional for a while if not for the rest of our lives. Every single one of our own experiences can be adventurous, or dramatic, or even funny. Or, maybe all three at the same time! It's all up to us to make something of what life brings.

I met someone once, years ago, who said he messed up his life big time by being so reckless and sometimes thoughtless. He lost a lot of valuable friendships and relationships. He's hurt some of the people he loved and hurt himself in the process too. I asked if he regretted it all. He said that the only ones he regrets are the good friends he'd lost for good. He didn't regret getting hurt. He didn't regret getting bummed. He didn't regret having gone through bad experiences because it's when it hurt most that he felt more alive and real. When everything was all happy and blissful, it didn't feel quite so real. It felt like a fantasy that will fade all too soon.

I think the reason many people are unhappy is because they want everything to be perfect all the time. People avoid confrontation, anger, problems or anything negative. We avoid bad experiences because they hurt and it sucks to hurt. Big time! We're too afraid of the pain that we avoid anything that can cause pain, even if it means losing out on a potentially good experience.

It can get exhausting to try to be perfect all the time. Sometimes it's okay to not be so perfect. Burn your breakfast. Spill coffee on the carpet (or on your car seat! NOT! *dagger look*). Make the wrong turn. Get take out. Eat street food. If you're a parent, go away for the weekend and let your kids trash your house! (NOT! :D); also if you're a parent don't be afraid to set bounderies with your kids. Even if they think they hate you for doing that to them, when they're older and know better, I'm sure they'll thank you for it. Don't be afraid to confront a friend when you feel they did something that hurt you. One favorite is what fictional Chloe (from Smallville) once told Lana Lang--"the bedroom floor can be your closet too."

Driving up to the mountains and you lose your signal lights?! It's an opportunity to practice your hand signals! Got a flat? It's an opportunity learn to fix a tire, lady! My point is, don't worry too much about it! It's part of the adventure and it can be fun if you look at it from a different perspective...

As for me, I'm going to go and eat my burnt french toast. At least I tried!


----------------
P.S. The quote was from Donald Shimoda's Messiah's Handbook by Richard Bach. This story wasn't particularly inspired by any experiences of today but the signal lights story happened to us when we went up Mt. Rainier two weekends ago. Hadn't gotten a flat yet. Looking forward to that! (NOT!!! Knock on wood!).
- The friend and I haven't seen each other or talked to each other in two years. We just lost touch. Gotten too busy with our own separate lives, I guess.
- When the toast got burnt, the smoke alarm went off. I panicked and fanned it furiously to stop the beeping.
- I hadn't realized how much fun the little things can be too...sometimes! *Sigh*

Sacred Love

The ultimate rock star (for me, at least), Sting took his Sacred Love concert tour to Seattle, WA at the White River Amphitheater last Friday October 8th, 2004 and I witnessed it! This was my very first Sting concert and certainly won't be the last if I had anything to do with it! LOL!

Annie Lennox opened for Sting with a string of hits from her albums of late and ended her act with a rendition of a couple of old-time favorites, Sweet Dreams from her Eurythmics days and Why. It was pretty amazing how her voice hadn't changed one bit. If I closed my eyes and just listened, I could still see a young Annie Lennox singing the same song in her much much younger 80's locks and dress code. That's not to say she doesn't look good now that she's older. She looked fabolous in tight-fitting jeans and dark tank top. Maybe a little too thin but she looked great nonetheless.

When it came time for Sting, the crowd was all fired up from Annie Lenox's performance. He came onstage wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and a jacket over it. He opened with a fiery rendering of Send Your Love. Then he took off his jacket and the crowd went loud and wild for more! Before the concert started, in the car on the way to White River, I kept wishing and wishing hard he'd sing two of my all time favorite Police songs and sure enough after the second song, Sting began to strum the old familiar chords of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. I screamed, applauded and started dancing and singing along with the crowd.

Though I've tried before to tell her
Of the feelings I have for her in my heart
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve
As I've done from the start

Most of the songs that Sting sung were from the Sacred Love album, his latest release. But the classic Sting songs are the ones the crowd responded most to including Englishman in New York where the crowd screamed "Be yourself no matter what they say". Annie Lennox joined Sting for the song We'll Be Together. One of his backup singers sang Whenever I Say Your Name with him and that has got to be the best, most energetic performance of the night, sans Mary J. Blige! Among my other favorite performances were Fields of God, Fragile, and of course the medly of another Police classic Roxanne with my second wish come true, King Of Pain. Sting leaves the stage after a most ardent and breath-taking performance of Every Breath You Take.

Oh, can't you see
You belong to me?
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

I'll be watching you...

October kiss...

To all of you who visit my blog regularly, here's to yah,

MWAAAAH!!!

*bear hugs*

It's gorgeous outside. Freaking cold, but it's beautiful out there with all the colors of the fall. I wish you could see it too (to those who are in PI).




That's the only thing I don't like about the change in the weather. During the summer, sunrise was at 5 AM and sunset was at 10 PM. Since fall set in, sunrise has been at past 6 AM and sunset is now as early as 6:30 PM. Winter will be even weirder with the sun setting as early as 4 PM. But that's not for another 2-1/2 months so for now let's just enjoy the beautiful colors outside!

And that's just what we did this weekend. My friends and I went up to Mt. Rainier (the highest peak in WA) to see the gorgeous fall settings against the snow-capped mountain. I'll post some of them here just as soon as I get them converted (the pics are in raw format) to jpg.

Have a great week, all!
And have a great October, too!