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Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day Dreams



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Last night I had one of the most unexpected dreams I've had in a while.

Here's the background of the players:

I was working for this guy, Jeremy, who I worked for in 2008 for about 2 months. Jeremy was a friend of mine and he had hopes of selling his company to me when he retired (with the money I'd make as his protege), as he liked me, and thought I'd do the job well. It was in music business, by the way.

Well, I did not like the job and the job did not like me. It might've had something to do with his #2 guy, who was unclear and difficult to work with - for me at least. It might've had something to do with the fact that a lot of my professional life has been spent working behind the scenes in television and film. Some may think the tv/film industry is crazy and weird, but it is usually organized. At least the stuff I work on which tends to be fully-funded, documentaries or commercials that are actually seen by more than family and friends. No offense intended to the low-budget stuff, but I've heard the low-budget productions are beasts of disorganization and disgruntlement. From what I understand this usually arises from giving too many inexperienced people jobs they don't know how to do. The ones who are experienced can't always tame the beast to make things run smoothly, so there are lots of snags and unforeseen obstacles.Well, the music business made the television and film business look ethical, organized and sane. (At least that's how it felt to me.) Ultimately, I left the job. Jeremy and I, unfortunately, haven't really hung out since then. But he pops into my mind from time to time, and I miss his friendship. He's crass and hard-nosed, but ultimately a good, smart guy with a great, albeit sick, sense of humor.

Here's the basic run-down of the dream:

I was working for Jeremy again, only I was hired by a few of the guys that I hired as interns during my brief stay in his company. Jeremy was out of town. His #2 guy was no longer with the company. There was something about that in the dream. Oh, yes. There it is. (I had to dig it out of my dream memory.) #2 was fired because he started using and dealing some sort of drugs again. No bueno. So anyway, I'm working at his company, sort of as the office manager or something (a job, for the record, I am not interested in), and all of us who worked there (a very pleasant bunch this time around), went to Jeremy's house to fix something up before he returned from his vacation. When Jeremy returned, this previously single and child-less man came home with a wife and child. The child was brown (which Jeremy is not, nor was his dream-wife), a la Sandra Bullock's adoption, and his wife was a 40 year-old woman who was gorgeous and retired rock-star or something.

The dream ended with me working at a tall, almost star-trek like station (but set in dark wood) that was 6 feet tall and like a command station. Well, this thing would not stop beeping. Like a truck backing up, beep.....beep.....beep.....beep. Every 3 seconds. I kept pushing buttons and I even turned it off and it still beeped! Turns out it was Marcus' dialysis machine signaling something wasn't working right and I had just integrated it into my dream.

I had to call Jeremy this morning to tell him about my dream. It was nice. I was a little nervous, but ultimately we had a nice little chat and we have tentative plans to get together next week. He has no brown child that he knows of, though maybe that's in his future.... The power of suggestion.

I plan on doing a full interpretation of this dream since I know how to do that now (part of hypnotherapy training), so I'll let you all know if anything interesting arises. I am curious to learn what my subconscious mind is venting or trying to tell me.

Maybe it was brought on by Memorial Day. I know Memorial Day is for remembering those men and women who died serving our country, but maybe my subconscious wanted to extend it to loved ones I've lost touch with. So, it gave me this dream to facilitate reuniting. Looks like my subconscious is my friend again, after only a few days of distention and resistance. Whew!

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Posted by Katie Strand at 10:25 AM 0 comments
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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Hairiosity!


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A few blogs ago I threw down a new edict, which was that we should all hold each other when we laugh. The blog was A hugging, laughing, happy mess, and it's one of my favorites.

Well, I'd like to propose another edict, but you have to send me the resulting pictures so I can compile and share them.

Instead of walking in another man's (or woman's) shoes, how about posing in another person's hair? It's much less unpleasant than it sounds.
Whether you have long hair, short hair, no hair, straight hair or curly hair, we all at some point have had some sort of hair envy or at the very least, hair curiosity (henceforth known as hairiosity) about what it would be like to have a different kind of hair than what our genetic lottery bestowed upon us.

So here's what you do to explore your own hairiosity. You need at least three people. To start with, one person will be the temporary hair donor and they have to possess medium length to long hair. That's the only limitation. It also works best if you have a chair or couch. Here's the set up: You take the subject, who's getting the temporary hair transplant, and have them sit down in the chair. The temporary "donor" stands behind them. The photographer helps style the hair and takes the photo so that the "donor" is framed out of the picture for the majority of the pictures. You'll want to have at least one picture that shows the whole scene for the behind-the-scenes photos. 

It's fun and hilarious and silly for those participating, and I really love looking at the pictures too. Please do this on your own with your friends and neighbors, and send me the photos! I'll compile them and continue to update my hair segment of KS World.

Here are the hair sessions I've done with my friends. I plan on more in the near future.

This is my friend Sally with hair donated by me. She looks rather sheik, don't you think? My hair looks very asian on other people. Check it:

This is Erika. Doesn't she look asian with my hair? You'll see her real hair on me in future photos. She is one of the best temp hair donors ever because she has this long, curly hair. Those orange-cloaked arms belong to yours truly. The photog was still learning how to frame. This one's better:



Here are the guys hanging with us that night.
 
I swear they all look straight out of twisted sister, or maybe Spinal Tap. Or maybe just the early 90s.


I always wondered what it would be like to have dread locks... so I could look up and ponder things in them. One little photo shoot doesn't tell enough, I suppose, but I do look rather Rastafarian, don't you think?

Last, but certainly not least, my favorite hairiosity photos of me with Erika's fabulously full and curly hair. This doesn't even look like me, but rather like my long-lost crazy Jewish cousin from Long Island (pronounced with a hard "g" on Long, and a long "eye" and "a" for Eye-land.)
 


Please try it for yourselves and send me your hairiosity photos with the story so I can compile and post them.

Here's one more behind-the-scenes shot of the maiden hairiosity voyage with Sally (and Gabriela - off camera).
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Posted by Katie Strand at 3:43 PM 0 comments
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Monday, April 26, 2010

Have you forgotten how glorious you are?



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Well...

How glorious are you?

This is one of the best and most important questions that has ever been asked of me, and, in my opinion, can ever be asked of anyone.

Marcus asked me this when we first started dating. The context of the conversation was around my feeling a little crummy about a new female friend sort of disappearing from my life. I was telling Marcus that a big part of me was fine with not being her friend because though she was a fabulous girl, she tended to over-analyze things and bring out the analyst in me. But another smaller part of me felt bad that I had offended her when I snapped at her twice - once while looking for a place to eat (she hadn't learned yet that I can be a psycho hose beast when I have low blood sugar) and I told her,  Shush! I got this; and once while we were working on invitations for a party and it was last minute and late and I was tired and I got all irritated and pissy (I don't recall what I said but I explained something in a very perfunctory way). I felt a little bad about how I behaved because a) it was abnormal for me, and b) I feel like no excuse is a good excuse to be pissy or rude with people. But also felt like I should probably let go of anyone who doesn't get me enough to know that overall I'm loving and my intentions are good.

Being that Marcus and I were at the beginning of our relationship, his feedback was unexpected, as I was expecting something more action-oriented about the specific situation (which seems to be semi-standard feedback in the world). Instead, he said,

"Well, you just feel this way because you're forgetting how glorious you are.

(pause) (I think I swallowed, knowing something was coming and trying to prepare myself.)

"Because if you knew how glorious you are, you would never even question or be bothered by something like this."


I happened to be driving on Cloverfield, about to get on highway 10. As I applied the brake to stop at a red light, the initial issue from the context of the situation and rambling though-response to this question which consisted of, "I'm a good friend. I try my best to be a good person. I try to do the right thing. I work hard. I'm kind..."  Marcus expanded with something like, "glorious is a feeling and something that is intrinsic in all of us, a natural way of being, not something you do or try..." Well, all of it just melted away, including Marcus' voice (not an easy task for those of you who know Marcus and know how loud he can be).It all melted away, because in that moment I got it. I felt it. I knew viscerally, that

I was glorious.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I was glad to be at a long red light so I could get my sight back before driving more. (Which I did shortly thereafter with ease. Though I recommend pulling over if this happens to you while you're driving.)

I think I said something to the effect of, and the tears are even welling now as I write this:
"I know I'm glorious...
Because I can be present with loved ones when they just need love. It's the way I help my friends when they need support. It's the way I laugh...at myself, at anything, at nothing...It's the way I smile. It's the way I am."

I literally felt warmth and assurance throughout my body in that moment. I went on to describe an experience from a few months prior with a dear friend and old boyfriend. He and I were together through his recovery from surgery and through his packing and preparation to leave Los Angeles (even though he didn't want to), because of finances and simply life circumstance. Shortly after he left LA, a good friend of his lost her only child to an act of random, drunken violence. A gun shot during a fight outside a bar, and her 21-year-old son was here no more. My old-beau went to visit and support his friend while she buried and grieved her son. He wrote me this message about three days into his trip to visit his mourning friend.
"I have been available and embracing and supportive of this woman and this family for no other reason than because they need it, and because I can... And because you taught me how. They'll never know what they have to thank you for."
 I remember receiving that message and realizing that even though this old beau and I were no longer together in the romantic, conventional sense, that I must be on the right track because I'm showing up in a way that is in alignment with how I want to be and how I want someone else to be with me in relationship. Shortly thereafter I got together with Marcus.

I ask this question from time to time of loved ones, but realize that no one has been able to really respond to that question in a visceral way. So I wanted to expand for them and for all of you out there in the ether.

Have you forgotten how glorious you are?


How glorious are you?

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Posted by Katie Strand at 2:28 PM 1 comments
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