Get your dogdish hat on and crank up the Android Invasion!
by fpdorchak
Open Question to Ghost Hunters
Question to all the ghost hunters out there: what do you do with the knowledge that you’ve found a ghost? Do you attempt to connect with it on a deeper level and get it to move on? Find out more about it? Ask deeper questions than “Are you here? Why are you here?” Maybe ask what life on the “other side” is like for it? Do you attempt to release its energy from this realm? Do you attempt to do anything else with the newly discovered knowledge, other than just “find it”?
I ask, because it seems to me there’s so much more to do with finding this kind of energy than just (and I do not mean to be “dismissive” of your occupations–I’m sure the work is fun!) stamping a site as “haunted” and moving on. I also understand the difference between a “ghost hunter” and a “medium.” And, sure, it may be great for businesses, something declared as “officially haunted,” but what about the more far-reaching implications? That if the active haunting is actively communicating, communicating back to it that it should move on, “into the light,” as it were? I understand that some hauntings are more like tapings that just replay themselves over and over, but have investigators still attempted contact even with those sightings? Asking or projecting energy back to them to get them to move on? Perhaps it’s not so much even a case, in some instances, of a “haunting,” as some people (including the investigators) simply being more sensitive to certain energies that allows them to see “ghosts”?
Admittedly, I’m no expert in this area, but these kinds of questions have always intrigued me. I believe in ghosts, but it seems to me there is so much more to learn and probe, here, about all this paranormal activity, rather than just “finding” them, as I’ve mainly seen on TV (unless TV is not showing the whole investigation). I was impressed with one ghost hunter show in particular, about a year or so ago (not sure if it was Ghost Adventures, with Zak Bagans). It dealt with “poltergeist activity,” and the host impressed me with coming up with the theory that it most likely wasn’t “angry spirits,” but chaotic and confused energy of those “experiencing” said activity. I like that kind of thinking.
Anyway, thanks, in advance, for any comments!
Round and Round She Goes….
This weekend my wife and I did something we haven’t done in a while.
We got funky.
We got wild.
We kicked it up a bit.
We…roller skated!
We literally hadn’t done this in some 20 years!
Now, some might wonder, “Gee, was it like riding a bicycle?”
Well, sure, if that bicycle had Wheels of Death roller skates on its wheels.
Wheels of Death.
You think I jest, but it’s weird strapping wheels onto your feet and expecting anything to be “normal.” Counterintuitive. Asking for trouble. It’s worse than slapping boards on your feet and plummeting down a slippery slope of frozen water.
But, it’s fun!
Now, in all honesty, I did think I’d pick it back up again rather quickly.
Yeahhh…didn’t happen.
No…it took a little while to get acclimatized to the whole…thing. Fun, yes, but it didn’t come back as quickly as I’d imagined it would. Last I remembered, I’d picked it up rather quickly (which I do remember being wowed by, at the time, so it really must’ve happened…), and had been zooming around that rink 20 years ago like a semi-pro in near no time. This did not happen this time around. Of course, I could have been heavily romanticizing the past, too, but see parenthetical statement above.
In any event, flying around in circles, with all ages and abilities in what quite seemed like a Roller Derby kill zone was cool. As I watched those more experienced than I, I tried to remember, to emulate, the body motion, the technique. Once or twice I quite emulated a Looney Tune cartoon than an experienced roller skater. And, weird person that I am, as I’m doing all this, I’m also thinking Hey, this must be creating new neural pathways and renewed muscle memory, because it’s, essentially, new activity–something I haven’t done before, in that it’s been 20 years….
It was then I alternated between all four limbs flailing wildly about and my legs spreading wide into a into a Chinese split the hard way–an inflexible, flat surface also coming up right quick before me.
Okay, be focused and in the moment, and all, but keep the philosophical musings for non-life-threatening situations.
So, my wife and I skated around separately, because (in my own words) I told her “You don’t want to be linked to me, skating around here.” In true wifely fashion, she overruled me, grabbed my hands, and she (show off) skated backwards, as we skated in unison. Of course, my words did come back to haunt her, as, I think on our second pass, “something happened,” we lost our symmetry and what grace we momentarily revelled in, and she was quick to cut me loose. Couldn’t blame her. Was doing the same, myself.
Love only knows so much sacrifice, you know.
We continued our hour or so of skating, laughing and amazed at how much fun this was and why the heck hadn’t we done this more?, when the lights went up and our rink time was over. A little sore, quite excited, we left the rink. As we removed our Wheels of Death, we were both reliving the moments on the rink, hoping to do this again–sooner–some day. We went out to eat afterward, both admitting to not admitting how sore various parts of our anatomy were…but genuinely happy they were. It was our badge of honor. No pain, no gain, maaan.
BTW, neither of us fell.
Read Across America, You Sneetches, Thar!
Earlier this week, I again read in one of my niece’s classes for the NEA Read Across America readathon. I’ve done this a couple times and really love it. It’s fun to sit, surrounded by all those inquisitive and wiggly little minds, their wide-eyes focused upon you in amusement and wonder! So attentive, openminded, and engaging! Their giggling energy rippling throughout their numbers (for they are legion…). Their playful laughter!
And to have my niece lovingly snuggle against my leg as I read…priceless.
It’s fun interacting with a roomful of them, listening to their surprisingly smart comments and “takes” on things. I try to remember what I was like at their age, and sometimes I can. I do remember the wonder I had for the world of words, of reading, I did a fair amount of it. I read about a book a week, through high school, sometimes more (I had chores and other, outdoorsy, stuff to do, too, you know…). I loved being transported away with words. Loved the images. Loved the medium itself…I did and still do really love books. Love not only their words but how they feel in my hands. Look on a bookshelf. Not a substitute for actually living one’s life, it was cool to know you could learn so much from books, even fiction. New words. New ideas. New places. Stretch one’s imagination….
And doing these reading sessions with these wonderful children brings such joy to one’s heart! If only for but a few moments, it takes me away from my worries and deadlines and minutiae. It puts me into their world. Their world of wonder and naiveté, chock full of what-ifs and clean slates!
Those who have stars upon thars!
I am so glad, that for however long I’ve done and may do it again, I’ve been able to bring a measure of joy to these youngsters! That however minute, I had some impact upon their collective lives. That I made a bunch of children I don’t even know (and one I do…) laugh and howl and oooh and ahhh. Listen to the words translated from a book, through my voice, meet their ears. Enter their minds.
And then I brought out the cookies….
Don’t be a lemming!