Crazy Photo Booth - Navy Pier!!!!

Chicago - PART IV - March 17-21, 2006

Chicago - PART III - March 17-21, 2006

Chicago - PART II - March 17-21, 2006

Chicago - PART I - March 17-21, 2006

Helloooooo 30!!!

"Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege. " Unkown

DEAD AT 30: Emily Bronte (December 19, 1848)
DEAD AT 30: Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (October 22, 1934)
DEAD AT 30: Sylvia Plath (February 11, 1963)
DEAD AT 30: Atari Teenage Riot's Carl Crack (September 6, 2001)
DEAD AT 30: TLC's Lisa Lopes (April 25, 2002)
DEAD AT 30: Meet the Parents' Nicole DeHuff (February 16, 2005)

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY: Me (March 17, 2006) Yikes.

Cassandra Syndrome???

I am shocked it has been so long since my last blog. I have no excuse other than things have been very busy in my world and the ‘crazies” have crossed my path once again. Not exactly sure what to call these experiences; however, they really freak me out. Over the years I have attempted to ignore them but my success rate is unfounded; they loom around me regardless of my attempt to discredit and disregard them. The last major one was two weeks ago and the one before it almost exactly a year ago. Who knows…maybe it is just the spring cleaning of my subconscious?

You see, I have these dreams, distinctive dreams! When they occur, I awake (usually at 3 or 4 in the morning) and know it is “one of them.” It is just a feeling I have…not that they might just happen or come to be; instead, an intense feeling of certainty surrounds me. What is freaky is they include things out of my control and involve those close to me and not influenced by my own actions. For example, last year it was the pregnancy of a friend and most recently a divorce including family members. I usually discover the certainty of the events within a few days and if I have already told someone about the dream before they learn, I am given the “you are so crazy" look!

Precognition…Foreboding…Premonitions…ESP? Do these things even exist? Is our mind so distant from our physical body that it foresees items physiologically impossible? I think I have avoided these questions over the years as I have no clue about the elucidation of such things. I do believe firmly that the brain and the mind are two separate entities…but if the mind is not in/or the brain, it must be intangible, right?

Studies show that the majority of precognitive experiences happen within forty-eight hours prior to the future event and they usually involve someone with close emotional ties to the individual. Psychical research also supports the theory that everyone is born with ESP capabilities, some more than others although many theories exist as to how it is acquired (is it hereditary?) and where does it evolve (the nervous system?) The trouble with a subject such as this is that although many can speculate, evidence does not exist to substantiate any claims. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each individual to assess the complicated information and reach their own conclusion.

Is it my subconscious picking up on things that I have missed, are they just dreams, or is this the human condition arising from Cassandra’s curse? Even if we have glimpses of the future it is impossible to believe them true until they actually occur...

"Have I missed the mark, or, like true archer, do I strike my quarry? Or am I prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door?" [Cassandra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1194]

"My son, much tried by the fate of Ilium, you must know that Cassandra alone declared to me this fortune. Now I recall her predicting these things as our people's destiny, often naming Hesperia, often the Italian realm." [Anchises 1 to Aeneas (in exile). Virgil, Aeneid 3.182]