i went to my cousin lisa's graduation dinner last night. we ate at the royal on sheridan and military because that's where my grandma liked to go every week during the last years of her life. my grandma's 90th birthday would have been yesterday, and lisa went to visit her grave, which was really sweet.

lisa was proud to make the announcement about getting a job that she really likes. and i'm happy that she's doing so well.

i just had to pause though afterwards and wonder why people all rush in to the job and whole being busy thing. while i am comforted by the thought that we are all one, i know there's another way and we have such freedom of choices.

people sometimes think i am not serious when i say that my job is spreading peace. but it is important. there have been major studies done on large scale meditation groups. it had reduced violence and war when only 1% of the population meditates.

i am going to start school in just over a week. i am a bit saddened to leave being my immediate peace-keeping work to be busy with books and learning new material all the time.

my roommate and i hung a few more strings of christmas lights tonight.

one of the strings of lights was all pink, so we hung it in part of the apartment that needed some love in the form of a big HEART.

love!

come home

here's what i've accomplished from my posting the other day (see my post #29)

relaxing: i relax all the time. and i get requests for relaxing together with other people. i love seeing people relaxing

house cleaning/cleansing (i am especially good at doing deep cleaning involved with moving): i have totally changed the space i am living in. it was honestly the dirtiest place i've ever lived in that wasn't on wheels. i scrubbed the kitchen multiple times and cleaned off years of dirt from baseboards and months of two people who often spill things, and did lots of other intense cleaning. i have spent two hours a day cleaning here.

reiki: i did reiki today, but only for a minute because i have not been doing reiki much for the past months so i need to reestablish my connection with it

picking up trash: i have taken out a bag of trash six times this past week

taking care of children: i live with an infant and often feed her and hold her

spreading peace: i went to a sufi ritual to open your heart. we chanted and sang and danced together slowly and opened our hearts. it was a ritual i was unfamiliar with until this point.

arts & crafts: decorating for christmas. once the apartment was clean and cleared, my roommie and i were able to put up a christmas tree. we've been making baby books and will make christmas ornaments

cooking (vegetarian) meals for groups of people (especially brunch): i cooked brunch the other day for four people, we had scrambled eggs, hash browns, and pancakes and free dumpster bagels (which were totally legit, inside their own bag on top of everything), and coffee and mellow tea. welcome to oda's!




and here's what i've received

money, from my uncle, who sent me $100 bill for christmas and from my job stuffing envelopes, which ended up paying me $45 for the 10 hours i worked

rides to run errands around town, my mom brought me to go grocery shopping, and i spent the first $25 of my christmas money at wegmans, which enabled me to cook one of my best indian lentil dishes to share at a vegan potluck with a bunch of hippies

positive vibes, circle after dinner where we all shared a bit about who we are by telling the high point and low point of the past week

love, i am blessed to receive free yoga classes from a wise, poetic yoga teacher who has helped shape who i am. i hadn't been going to yoga only because i didn't have the money to do so, and although i never told her that, she made that beautiful offer.

we are so blessed!

thank you.

i went for a super long walk. it's a nice day and it's nice to feel some air that's not overly dry from the heating.

early on in my walk, i saw a guy yelling "hold that bus," which didn't end up happening so he was yelling the F-word loudly as he realized he missed it, right as he walked by me. i generally don't cuss, and i said "blessings" as he passed, to send him blessings and to cancel out the words he was yelling.

i walked all over buffalo. as i was returning home, maybe five miles later, i saw the same guy again. he asked me for money...or food. well, as it turned out, i had JUST recieved 13 free bagels that the bakery was about to throw out.

he was pleased to get two bagels.

"god bless you," he said. "god bless you"

the blessings worked!

so this christmas, i have time.

time to share talents, time to spend with people.

i'm interested in helping people out. and i was thinking that maybe this could make the season of giving more personal.

here are some of my talents i can share:
relaxing
house cleaning/cleansing (i am especially good at doing deep cleaning involved with moving)
reiki
picking up trash
taking care of children
spreading peace
arts & crafts
cooking (vegetarian) meals for groups of people (especially brunch)


here's my wish list:
massage
use of a vacuum cleaner
pot
money (only because of school, which has peace as the greater goal)
peace
guitar or djembe lessons on your guitar or djembe
a beautiful spring day
rides to run errands around town
positive vibes
drum circles
love


let me know when you'd like to get together! actually, let me know of any of the nice things you're doing with people this holiday season! i would love to know.

i have a suede coat that belonged to my grandmother. it's really old and has a lot of character.

i love this coat. every time i go out when i'm wearing it, i give thanks to miss gertie or bessie or whatever her name was that gave her life to keep me warm.

animals are definitely made for weathering the strong winds and intense cold. i am grateful that i have this wonderful coat to keep me warm in the winter. wearing an animal helps to keep me connected to how life used to be.

today i went to look at a room near ub, which would be very inexpensive. the lady was nice enough, but i know she wouldn't be able to handle living with me. i always seem to push people out of their comfort zones, even if it's just with my energy. i know i will find a better place to live. thank you, universe!

on the way home, i walked in to the wind for 15 minutes and then waited for the kenmore bus for another 30 minutes. it was super cold. i was waiting behind a building where i could see if the bus was coming from a ways away. when it finally came, the bus driver was driving really fast and even though i was furiously waving AND i had an orange shirt covering my head, he didn't see me until the last minute. i ended up feeling pretty negative about the nfta. that was really not cool, especially because the kenmore bus only runs once per hour. i ended up taking the subway and then the delavan bus instead.

i had scored a vacuum cleaner, too, walking all that way with it and stashing it outside mcdonalds so i could go grocery shopping at tops. i had been thinking how much i needed a vacuum, and i thought it wonderful that the universe provided one for my use.

but i am thankful that i choose not to walk over to the subway with it. that was the most intense wind and cold i have felt for years and it was difficult walking there.

now it has calmed down a lot and the sun is out. this feels much better.

oh goodness.

my roommates decided to get trashed last night. weird. i'm not used to being around sloppy drunk people anymore, so i sought out quiet most of the time and joined in the party only sometimes.

i had been expecting to go to the himalayan institute for their holiday party, which included meditation, music, and wrapping gifts for kids with aids. i've never been invited to a meditation party before, and i was looking forward to finding the community there and relaxing. but instead i ended up getting cramps, so i stayed home. it's pretty strange how things turn out sometimes.

so i'm living in a one bedroom apartment with three other people (one if them is a newborn, so she doesn't really count). last night my roommate's sister sabrina was over too. sabrina used to work as a dancer and was being overly sexual with my roommate phil, who was pretty uncomfortable about it. (sabrina did write him a note appologizing this morning.)

i always happened to be out of the room whenever any of the drama took place, which was fine with me. somehow, i manged to turn my sexual energy off about six months ago and it's pretty liberating. it's really easy to get distracted with sexual thoughts and that really hasn't been where i am at all.

despite all the beer lat night and hung over peole today, it was mostly all good fun. and even though our place is a bit crowded at times, i really like living with people.

i love how each snowflake glistens in the light.

so peaceful.

this is what winter is about.

peace.