So I find that my basement is full of cats, and my ex-husband comes over to help, only when I look down the basement stairs (a) the stairs are gone, and (b) the basement is now full of snakes. Many of which have apparently recently eaten; you can see animal shapes inside them. Only if you close the door and open it again, it’s cats and stairs.
And I freaked out. In the dream, and then again upon waking.
Y’all needed one hint this week, but you knocked them down with professionalism.
For the second time, foreign rights to one of my books have been sold. The Elements of Ritual will be published in Poland. In Polish.
Sooo cool.
Roberta solved the theme (comment #7).
1. A dying man leaves a laboring woman a note saying “Start Fresh.”
Solved by treecat (comment #16).
2. “The only thing I like better than an eggplant burger is a chocolate covered eggplant burger.”
Solved by Steve H. (comment #6).
3. “Separately we are flawed and vulnerable, but together we are the masters of our sexual destiny.”
Solved by Evn (comment #14).
4. In this second part of a trilogy, one of the actresses died during filming, and was replaced in her role for part three.
Solved by Melville (comment #1).
5. A one-legged veteran struggles to prevent his house from being burned down.
Hint: The actor playing the one-legged veteran is the star of another movie referenced in this quiz.
Solved by Melville (comment #24).
6. “Everyone promises you happily ever after… but life turns into a different kind of fairy tale.”
Solved by Steve H. (comment #19).
7. The story of a model by a female director who has also done the story of a serial killer.
Solved by Melville (comment #5).
I’m doing this because I’ve gone nuts. Or because all that political blogging last week demanded something frivilous.
Anyway, half the images in the collage are Jennifer Morrison of the show House. The other half are Keri Russell from the movie Waitress.
Unless…has anyone ever seen them together?
The Golden Globes winners were announced last night, in what I am told was a boring press conference (I didn’t watch, but my sister did, and gave me the blow by blow on the phone).
Basket of Kisses was right on top of it, and I’m feeling really good about it. What’s Basket of Kisses, you ask? That’s the Internet’s only unofficial Mad Men blog. co-authored by Roberta and me. Mad Men won twice last night; best dramatic series, and best actor in a dramatic series (John Hamm), beating out impressive competition.
Eighty percent of EOnline’s respondents have never seen Mad Men. Time to change all that. The first season will be re-run Monday mornings/Sunday nights at midnight (y’know, the Monday that starts after the 11pm Sunday show ends), beginning January 20 on AMC. Watch it, and then visit Basket of Kisses for lively discussion.
There’s something that I’ve wanted in my life for quite a while and haven’t gotten. I’ve taken both practical and magical steps for it, and yet I’ve had no results. In fact, I’ve had tantalizing almost-results, and I’ve done things that seemed guaranteed to succeed, so at this point, I’m sure there’s some kind of psychic block, although I don’t know what it is.
This is something that happens to a lot of people. There’s something that you want, something real-world and attainable; a job, a house, a relationship, a baby, that somehow you haven’t been able to get. Or there’s something you don’t want, some persistent pattern, that you haven’t been able to get rid of. If you know it’s something possible, and you’ve taken steps, and you’ve reached out for help with those steps, and you’re still not there, then it might be a psychic block. This meditation is designed to help clear such a block.
You are in a place outdoors, and you are comfortable and at ease. You are going to go on a journey. Perhaps you can begin from the beautiful area behind your meditation cottage, and choose a path leading from there.
Begin to walk on the path. The way is pleasant and relaxed. Your feet naturally find the easiest steps on the road. The air is soft around you.
Gradually the way becomes difficult. From time to time, you must watch your footing, and you begin to notice a feeling of effort and strain in your body, but it’s fine, it’s within your capabilities. It’s like light exercise, and you are happy to continue.
Notice what the path looks like. Observe its colors and shapes. Listen for sounds. What is this path like?
Now you come to a barrier in your path. Stop and observe this barrier. What is it made of? How big is it? What does it feel like to be blocked in this way? Before trying to change anything about this barrier, simply observe it, and meditate on the experience of encountering it.
Now start removing the barrier. You can use any means you like, and you can get help in any way you choose. You are in your own meditation space, and so you do not have to conform to any normal rules. Perhaps the barrier crumbles easily, perhaps it is stubborn and difficult to remove. Continue the process of removal.
With the barrier removed, you can get to the other side. What is it like there? Enjoy your time on the other side before returning home.
Some people may find that they cannot remove the barrier. That’s okay. Your work was effective and helpful, and there’s more work to do. You can repeat this meditation to finish the work another time. Feel good about the progress you made.
You should make time to return to this path and this journey another time, to walk past the remnants of the barrier and enjoy the path you’ve cleared.
h/t to Bitch, PhD, here’s how it boils down.
Very few people will tell you this, but in terms of the actual results of the New Hampshire primary, Clinton and Obama tied.
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama each won nine delegates in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, followed by former Sen. John Edwards with 4 delegates, an AP analysis of primary results shows. All 22 of New Hampshire’s delegates to the national convention this summer have been allocated.
This just kills me, because the entire conversation about New Hampshire for weeks has been predicated on the assumption that there are winners and losers, whereas in fact delegates are assigned proportionately (so that the losers are everyone other than the top three in each party, who took home no delegates at all).
This is a perfect, and maddening, example of how the media urge to create a horserace story actually ends up lying to us about the real process of our democracy.
