Piracy at its best

Yesterday, I went to a meeting of the Arizona Corsairs. I'm now a member and I'm on my friend Shirley's ship, The Heart of Darkness. Our Jolly Roger has a picture of the Fierce Beast of Cair Banaugh from the Holy Grail on it. 'Tis a fierce beast!
It turns out that this group, the Arizona Corsairs, does A LOT of work for charity. I really like that. Plus I get to talk like a pirate and raid and pillage.
The history of piracy is fascinating. From all the research I've done, I've discovered that the average lifespan of a European pirate once they were shanghai'd into it was 2 years. Dude - aaargh! 2 flippin' years! I guess this is mostly because it's hard to find port in European waters.
On the other hand, in Asia - Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese pirates actually passed it on. The whole family did it. It kind of sounds like Mafia on the water, with the result being entire lives spent living as pirates. So their life spans were considerably longer. Plus, one family might have 100 ships in their employ, compared to 1 European ship under some guy who's trying to wing it on his own.
European pirates got their crews from their prisoners. You could turn pirate, or they'd kill you. What a choice.
In Somalia, the reason they have pirates is because their economy tanked. Famous for their tuna fishing, other countries started poaching their waters when they realized the Somalians didn't have the dough to back up an enforced over the water border patrol. They also threw all their trash in Somalian waters, which pissed everybody in Somalia off. They originally attacked ships out of retaliation for this, and then realized it was incredibally lucrative to do so, once they collected a hefty ransom. So, there you go.

The Universe

There's this really cool website that gives you a scale of how big earth is as compared to some of the stars out there. It's worth taking a look at.
http://www.kiroastro.com/writings/perspective

National Temper Tantrum Day

There's a lot of talk right now about thinking positively, especially concerning the Law of Attraction. I think focusing on the positive is important. I also think it's just as important to honor when you feel shitty. I don't believe it's healthy to wallow in it. Wallowing is not honoring how bummed you feel. Wallowing is holding onto that feeling and not letting it flow through you. Because if you don't let it go, it just stays stuck and then you start to dwell on all the places in your life where things are wrong, and that just creates a downward spiral.
So I was thinking, if we had a National Temper Tantrum Day, everybody could just vent. I suggest we all stay inside and just have screaming fits, or we could have a parade whereverybody did their "I'm pissed" interpretive dance to get it all out. That's why they have Mardi Gras in New Orleans - one night to get it all your vices out because Lent comes in the next day.
I think supressed, passive aggressive anger does more damage than anything. Because then it stews and smolders like a volcano until it just blows.
One of my friends on facebook lost her adoptive son two years ago and it still hurts. When I was on her page, I saw that particular post and also noticed that it was a week old and nobody had commented on it. I posted, "Loss is a bitch. Even when we know that when people die they go into the light where there's nothing but Divine light ant love and hot, naked angels in a jacuzzi with you. On this end, it's still a bitch." What does this say? You're suffering and I see you in your suffering. Most people just want to be seen. Then they're done and they can move on to better in their lives.

Millionaires

I attended the Millionaire Mind Intensive with my daughter and one of her friends. It was interesting. Very emotional experience. It was definitely intensive. The seminar was based off the book The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. He believes that your financial state is determined by how you think about recieving and the habits you form around money. His goal is to inspire people to become millionaires via changing their mindset by taking his seminars.
I realized after taking this seminar that I do not want to be a millionaire. Here's a good story that illustrates where I'm at. I have a friend who does want to be a millionaire and isn't, and finally came to peace with that fact. We were having bread pudding at Lucille's and she said, "Even if I had a million dollars, I would still come here to this place for this bread pudding. I wouldn't fly anywhere else for it, because it's the best bread pudding I've ever had." She saw where she was abundant in the moment.
Mr. Eker asked us to visualize how our lives would be different should we be millionaires. I wouldn't change anything in my life. I live near people I love and I am doing what I love. I went to the Desert Botanical Museum to see the Dale Chihuley show, and it was so magical! My daughter and I went with one of my friends who is a volunteer there and she knew all the hidden, special places there and which one of the volunteers could recite his own poetry. He told us one of his poems. And it was free, because she comped us in.
I think life is pretty incredible. And money? Money is just a tool. I suppose the more of it you have, the bigger the house you could build from that. But in the end, I think the Universe gives you what you need when you need it. For example, I almost always get everything I ask for and it has never mattered what it was I wanted. If I don't get it, there's always a pretty damn good reason why it doesn't show up - which I always find out. And then I'm just grateful that it didn't come my way.
I know hospice workers and when somebody dies, money is never the thing they talk about before they die. It's always about love and being there for each other.

What Kind of Dessert Are You?

This isn't a quiz. If you could be a dessert, what would you be? This takes some careful consideration and deep soul searching.
Here are my picks:
Stephanie is Strawberry Parfait (mostly because I keep channeling donkey who says, "Everybody likes parfait. Ain't no one ever say, 'No, I don't want any damn parfait.'")
Jason is Banana Cream Pie. Why? Because there is goodness in him (potassium) and yet tarantulas live in banana trees. I was thinking of Q in this case.
Kathy is that exploding candy from the Willy Wonka movie (first one). Comes across as sweet, but you cross her and she'll hand you your ass.
Cora is Boston Creme Pie. I don't know why. I don't even know if she likes it. That's just what my angels showed me.
Karina is chocolate cake with habanero mousse filling (don't know if this actually exists. But then I was shown that the cake was old and should probably be watched carefully, because these cakes are ancient Aztec cursed cakes and become zombies).
What are your picks?

Message from the Bunny

The Easter Bunny is curious what kind of candy people want for their baskets?

I Love to Dance!

One of the things that really inspires me in life is watching really good belly dancing. At it's root, it's a very ancient dance form that is very powerful and woman-centered. Fat Chance Bellydance put it best when they said on their website:
Imagine this: there was a time in history, a long time ago, when the bounce and sway of a woman’s hips was considered so beautiful that they set it to music and made a dance out of it...

I've been belly dancing for 24+ years and I love it. I bellydanced in the delivery room with 2 of my 3 pregnancies (I discovered the dance after giving birth to my first child). When I was delivering my son, I did hip circles while I was in labor, and it sped up my dilation by 6 hours. He was born in the next two hours after I started dancing instead of the near 10 hours the doctor predicted.

I had a girlfriend from Iran once who said her mother taught her that if she ever wanted to spend time alone, she should shut the door to her room, put some music on and just dance. I've been credited with really graceful arm movements, and I learned them from her.

The above picture is of the lovely Rachel Brice.