I Really Am Sane, I Promise (ignore the funny white jacket, OK?)

Today has brought a level of acceptance to my psyche, if only because I cannot kill everyone who has pissed me off recently. Jail is not something I eagerly look forward to, and making the nice police officer's all unhappy is not something I enjoy doing. I would like to go on a homicidal rampage, but there are all those pesky laws. Seems a shame, but since I really do not want to be mowed down myself, I should not complain too strenuously.

Besides, I was able to call my parental units and have received all sorts of "there there, we'll help take care of this" and all sorts of coddling and I am enough of a sap that it works. I try to convince myself that I should be a strong woman, able to take care of myself without having to call home any time something bad happens, but fuck it. This is historically the worst time of year for me and while I can take all sorts of abuse and keep it from affecting my professional life, there is no way in hell I can cope personally unless I vent in either my written or blog diary, and then have my family react in their predictable patterns. As I think about it, I really hope that I drop dead before my sister because otherwise I will never be able to cope with life.

A few years back, I did a review of all my old journals and day timers to prove a point/win an argument (depends on your perspective). I no longer have to chart thanks to a computer crash, but I was able to prove how every year for the past 15 (at the time), from my birthday until about New Years, my life resembled a flushing toilet. What was truly amazing is how it changed a few relationships. Those who saw the chart & diagrams have all started bracing for this period and the cards I get for my birthday usually include something about how it is almost the New Year, just hang on.

I spent some of today looking up cars and trying to get an idea of what I want seeing as how my current car has been trashed by a bunch of jackasses who deserve a painful death involving zombies, ants, and lots of knives and blood sucking leeches. Anyway, I have no idea is what it is I want sums up right now. All I know for 100% sure is that it will be a 5 speed manual, have a CD player, a/c is a must, along with the heater, good gas mileage, and prefer a small car because it is just me. That covers all I have decided. Huge list, eh? If anyone has suggestions, please submit them. I need help! I am in the position of being able to take my time & am planning on hitting the Christmas/New Year sales, partially because I am superstitious, but unlike the past few cars, I am doing this with something approaching a plan. I am terrified!

I have been thinking about Halloween - mostly because I can't avoid it. I really hate Halloween. I hate it more than I hate Valentine's Day, OK? I understand the thrill of getting free candy and all, but I have never ever once in my life looked forward to Halloween. There is something about this holiday that inspires great dread, fear and loathing in me. I want that understood before I go on. I have no real reason why I despise Halloween, because nothing bad has ever happened. Unless something happened in a past life, or is echoing down a metaphysical time line from the future, nothing bad should happen. Yet I detest Halloween and will get into screaming fights to make my point that I do not want to go out. (The grammar in those past few sentences is atrocious-sorry.)

Despite this deep seated loathing, I adore the religious aspects of Samhein and like delving into the different interpretations and histories of the holiday. I also enjoy listening to and reading about ghostly stories and the supernatural. In fact, if anyone wants a list of good stories, sources, etc., let me know. It will take me about 10 minutes to pull about 75 titles. As it is, I can recommend "Ghostly Tales of Japan," by Rafe Martin. Listening to that now. And if anyone wants to share, PLEASE! I love them! The spookier the better!

This lead in is so that I can share some of my experiences and tales others have told me over the years. I will be throwing them out at random intervals, so don't be surprised. As I am sure has become clear, I do my writing to kill time at work and I have A LOT of free time to kill.

The 1st tale is 1 that happened my 1st year of college and scared the crap out of all of us. I had a oujia board from a high school party and my roommates, some of their friends, and I were goofing around - like normal 17-19 year olds do. 1 of the "older" guys there said something about how we should try contacting this 1 entity he knew of from previous experiences. Being giggling morons trying to appear cool before the older guy, we complied. Nothing happened and since there was "food" to prepare for that nights drinking, we just sat it down on the coffee table and started prepping. Things went really weird at that point. The pointer started moving on its own. When 1 of the girls (not a roomie) noticed, she did the natural thing and screeched. No idea who it was, but man, she hit a note I did not think anyone outside of opera's could hit. One of my braver roommies, thanks to alcohol, laughed and tried to pick the board up to show the strings. Funnily enough, the pointer, board and table would not move. Amazing how quickly we all huddled into the kitchen. I can still remember that when we all were looking at that board on the pink table, huddled in this tiny kitchen, and 1 phone rings. This would not be so bad, but we were all quiet, no one had a cell phone then, and we had 1 phone line with 4 phones on it. But only 1 phone rang. I am sure it is a surprise, but we all jumped a foot and fell all over one another at that point. When 1 of the others picked up the phone, we all heard this truly vile laughter mixed with weird music. The phone was slammed down and that broke the self-induced mass hysteria. We all went out that night instead of staying in to watch movies, and we got all new phones within a week, but life went on. The oujia board ended up in the trash.

This next one, I will finish tomorrow, but here is the 1st part.

I was once told by an "interesting" soul all about their personal believes about the town I currently live in and that they have spent their entire live living in. He & his 2 sisters both firmly believed that the reason the town had such bizarre luck was that it was the desecrated remains of an ancient Indian burial ground. And the area their family home was in was a major part of this burial ground, which was why their house was so prone to hauntings.

Let me say, that if ever there was a family in need of serious counseling, Dr. Phil's personal attention, and Oprah's money, this family was it. The only son was not only hit by an elderly woman, but the elderly woman then backed over him, ran over him again, and then backed over him again. She still claims she never saw him and was confused by the fact that she did not recall there being any speed bumps on that road. He weighs well over 200 lbs, and stands over 6'. The father was literally born without an anus. The sisters have some distinctly unique interpretations of wicca and paganism. OK?



But before I go -

Here is an article and the mentioned links that I found killing time this afternoon. Kind of neat actually.

http://gerd.msn.com/article.aspx?aid=62>1=7121

http://www.med.umich.edu/umim/clinical/pyramid/

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

The 'Healing Foods' pyramid
New healthful-foods guide includes chocolate, alcohol, tea
By Anne HardingSpecial to MSN
University of Michigan researchers have created a food pyramid with much more than your stomach in mind.
The colorful, 10-tier triangle, introduced in March, is based on two years of research into the power of foods to ward off and fight illnesses such as autoimmune conditions, chronic pain, cancer and heart disease, says Dr. Monica Myklebust, director of University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Clinical Services in Ann Arbor. Myklebust created the pyramid with Jenna Wunder, a nutritionist at the center.
"It seems to boil down to a certain number of essential points on how to eat to prevent and treat these conditions," explains Myklebust, a family physician who spent a two-year fellowship with University of Arizona integrative-medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil. In a nutshell: Eat less meat and more plant products, enjoy a variety of foods and emphasize healthy fats.
Building blocksThe Healing Foods Pyramid is accessible on the Web at (Link) A click on each of the 12 building blocks that form the pyramid's 10 tiers brings up detailed information on the food group's benefits as well as recommended servings and portion sizes.
Water forms the base of the pyramid, followed by five tiers representing foods to be eaten daily: fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, seasonings and healthy fats like olive oil, and eggs and dairy products. The next two tiers are fish and seafood and lean meats, to be eaten weekly. Next are chocolate, alcohol and tea, grouped as "accompaniments," all of which can benefit health when consumed in moderation. Finally, at the very tip, there's an empty triangle, reserved for a "special treat that is healing for you," to be indulged in occasionally.
Myklebust and Wunder emphasize buying organic foods whenever possible, purchasing meat and eggs from free-range animals, and avoiding meat and dairy products containing hormones. The section on fish also provides details on which seafoods should be avoided due to the risk of PCB or mercury contamination. Choosing the proper foods is likely to be healthier for humans as well as for the environment, they say.
Mastering the basics"For people who really want to be healthy and take their nutrition as far as they can go, I think it's excellent, based on everything we know that's good for us," says Katherine Tallmadge, a Washington-based spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
But the healing pyramid's complexity could be daunting for some, Tallmadge adds.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest version of the food pyramid is much simpler. Five vertical stripes represent grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and meat and beans, while a figure runs up a set of stairs on the left side to emphasize the importance of physical activity. A few simple guidelines accompany each food group — for example, "make half your grains whole" and "bake it, broil it or grill it" for meats — and tell you how much to eat every day.
The USDA includes additional information on its Web site, mypyramid.gov, and also offers a personal, in-depth diet and physical activity assessment in My Pyramid Tracker.
"For someone that is just starting out as far as they want to improve their diet, they want to eat better, they don't know a lot about nutrition, I would definitely have them start with mypyramid.gov," says Michelle Johnson, an ADA spokesperson based in Phoenix. She said she considers the Healing Foods Pyramid to be a more advanced version that people could move up to once they've got the basics.
Mind what you eatJohnson says she likes the Healing Foods Pyramid's emphasis on "mindful eating," or taking the time to enjoy and savor your food. "There's been some good research showing that mindful eating is a pretty good tool for maintaining a healthy weight, in addition to choosing healthy foods," she says.
Mindful eating can also prevent digestive problems and help people who have such problems to cope with them, Myklebust notes. "Mindless eating," like bolting a burger behind the wheel, is something many of us do far too often, she adds, and our stomachs don't thank us for it.
Along with eating on the run, Myklebust says, people with gastroesophageal reflux and heartburn should consider avoiding tomatoes, citrus, high-fat foods, peppermint, coffee, chocolate and alcohol, all of which can weaken the sphincter separating the stomach from the esophagus, allowing acid backup.
Johnson suggests using the two pyramids together for tip-top nutritional benefit. "These are two good resources in the sea of bad information that you can find on the Internet when it comes to healthy nutrition," she says. "I really don't see anything conflicting about the two of them. I think they work very well together."