A spirited little chat

When you are looking for work and have all the time in the world - well, at least more than you are used to - you look for ways to fill your time. Money is a tad scarce these days and so I have been spending loads of time at the gym... virtually daily, which I don't think I did even when I was 12 years younger and into weights big-time. I feel great, I am eating better and suffering from fewer headaches. For me, that last part is motivation enough, because I have had almost daily headaches since I was five years old. Do the math and consider how many meds, per pill, you think I may have taken since then. It's a wonder I still have a liver, never mind that it's still functioning.

I have also been reading more. Always a voracious reader, work left me with less time and my reading has been limited to the late night variety, after 10 minutes of which I always fall asleep. Bathroom reading is somewhat better... but, LOL, I think I'd be in there a lot longer if they made super comfy toilet seats. In my case, when my ass gets numb, it's time to leave! Yeah, I know... TMI!

After horror fiction, I'm a big fan of biographies, as well as books on anything metaphysical... and this is the gist of this entry. I have always had a major fascination with UFOs, Bigfoot, Nessie, ghosts... pretty much anything spectral or spooky. I guess it has a lot to do with my love for horror, or certainly ties into my being adopted and, errr, just weird.

When I was quite young, I started reading books on odd, inexplicable occurrences, by authors like Brad Steiger, Ivan T. Sanderson and my favourite in this genre, Frank Edwards, whose book Flying Saucers: Serious Business is one of THE definitive books on unexplained aerial phenomena, written by a rather brilliant, highly respected radio man. Of these three, only Steiger is still alive, but if you are into this genre, read any or all and I guarantee you a riveting time of it. British researcher Colin Wilson is one of the better writers today and if you want to read a really oldie but goodie, look for anything by Rupert Furneaux, who penned several books featuring oddities throughout time.

Growing up fascinated by macabre subjects, an only child, and adopted to boot, I would fantasize, inserting myself into the worlds of the weird I would read about. I would also question where my place was in this bizarre universe, whether I had a spirit, what the meaning of this life was... perhaps more than the average person did. By the time I was in my early twenties, I was totally fixated on the occult. Reading Shirley MacLaine's Out on a Limb and Michael Crichton's Travels got me even further hooked and when I then read Journeys Out of the Body, by Robert Monroe - the latter dealing with astral projection - the die was set. I simply HAD to know whether we had souls, spirits we could release from their earthly vessels, to fly around the universe at will whilst we meditated or slept. I bought more books on the subject, started meditating daily... I even purchased my first Herkimer Diamond, a semi-precious stone mined in Herkimer, New York, said to help facilitate an OBE... out of body experience.

I tried to leave my body several times weekly for two years... and failed. So, assuming I was just trying too hard, I quit, setting this little project aside for a while. That period is now officially over and I am trying again after 25 years or so. The past few days I have dug up my old books on OBEs and meditation and I have been reading. Now that I am older and have slowed down a bit, or become wiser regarding how enthusiastic I will allow myself to become, perhaps it will work this time and I'll push through the envelope into some new realm.

Yeah, I know some of you think I am a nut-job... and that's okay. We can't ALL be strange and eccentric, because that would be too boring to contemplate. Interesting characters make for an increasingly interesting plot, don't they? Aren't these writings more meaty for some of you than the multitudes by parents ranting about how their kids are little geniuses... or are devoted to the family dog? I dunno, perhaps not. My reason for writing this blog is to mix it up, to bring you along on my journey as I see what's on the other side for me and to allow you to share in the ups and downs. I'm happy with it so far, though I have no pre-ordained plan as to how I am going to continue this yet. Excuse me if it seems a bit haphazard... and if it's not as visually exciting as many of the others out there. I promise to try to import some photos I have taken, to change the style... in short to give you reason to come back and to tell your friends why they should as well.

In the meantime, however, I have some meditating to do. See you on the astral plane!