Oil Pulling, Liver Cancer, Adrenal Fatigue

1. I have tried daily oil pulling with coconut oil for a week. Three days into it my lymph nodes swelled, perhaps from flushing toxins and bad bacteria out of my system, or the salivary glands performing excess saliva secretion. Yesterday I had my semiannual dental visit, and the hygienist remarked that the ample production of saliva had resulted in relatively low tartar collection on my teeth, and that my gums were healthy.

However, my night sweats/insomnia have resurfaced. I must be more mindful of the sugars I ingest, stop using the computer by 8 pm, and/or exercise.

2. I was told in a dream to eat as if I had liver cancer. Here are some links to liver cancer diet suggestions:

suggestion #1
suggestion #2

I don't have any risk factors for liver cancer. I believe that if I properly flush out my liver and heal it, it will help my body recuperate from adrenal fatigue.

Deleveraging cycle

The US is in a deleveraging cycle. Consumers, aided probably without solicitation by banks -- "we've rescinded or reduced your line of credit. Also, we're raising your APR six percentage points, even though you pay your bill on time every time" -- are scaling back.

I used to have a finance blog. I took it down because I lost interest: anonymous commentators would fail to read for comprehension and context, other blogs bland and valueless would proliferate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/magazine/18FOB-wwln-t.html?scp=1&sq=mortgage%20pay%20off&st=cse

I'll join with the deleveraging. I have retirement, education and home repairs to take care of. Our equity is almost 60%. I'd like to help people save more money and stick it to banking institutions by paying loans on time or paying in cash or consider bartering. I tried to cut down on my energy usage to save money but my city utility increased rates 45 so I just pay more for less. Life sucks.

my rules for living

1. 2 - 3 g Vitamin C, in divided doses
2. Vitamin B complex, iron, multivitamin, Vitamin E
3. Eye drops, progesterone cream.
4. Protein, pref. animal but nuts okay, up to 55 grams total, every 2.5 hours
5. Only one cup coffee if well rested, one cup espresso as treat
6. Green tea, water, vegetable juice, apple juice w/spirulina
7. No sugar. Honey or stevia wherever possible.
8. Alcohol very rarely.
9. Vitamin D3 (2000 IU min, 6000 IU max), calcium and magnesium. Cal/mag pref after 8 pm
10. Sleepytime or otherwise nocturnal herbal tea.
11. 3 mg melatonin.
12. Progesterone cream, eye drops.
13. Eliminate where possible refined, complex carbohydrates.
14. Optional: alpha lipoic acid, bilberry.

Everything Earthly Passes

ALL the blogs I followed a year ago are abandoned.
Three local community radio programs I listened to are gone.
The local entertainment weekly has stopped carrying my fave crossword.
Mark Hollis hasn't released recordings since 1998

However:
I am now on Twitter
I have been listening to classical music, thanks to suggestions from BBC 4 Radio's "Desert Island Discs."
I listen to three podcasts from beautiful Vancouver, BC, courtesy of UBC's CITR-FM! (Folk Oasis, Misery Hour, Sweet and Hot, and the erratic Generation Exploitation as a lagniappe)

Canada and the UK still offer me hope, while my local community culture decays.

more lists

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1933)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome (1889)
Wilt by Tom Sharpe (1976)
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse (1938)
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996)
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan (1971) - 940.953 M621A

Spending less time online now, and finding it restorative.
Kid loves Spike Milligan.

More Rollicking Irish Wit:
1. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
2. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
3. The Portable James Joyce by James Joyce
4. Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
5. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
6. The Brontës Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson
7. Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
8. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
9. Murphy by Samuel Beckett
10. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill

Club Read: http://www.librarything.com/topic/58190 - Funniest Reads
Walking Seattle
My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
The Monkey Wrench Gang (Perennial Classics) by Edward Abbey
Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale
The Power of Now by Eckhard Tolle
Crotchet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock

French!
Children of Clay: Raymond Queneau.
Balzac's short stories

James 1: 19-20

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

This is so true. I feel my rage in the morning, know I can't put it to constructive use for very long and tell myself something inside me wants to blind me to the Kingdom of God. I am trying to see the Christ in everyone but maybe I'm trying to see what I feel should be idealized?

How are cyclists who run red lights like Christ?
How are neighbors who neglect their dogs to the point where they become neurotic like Christ?
How are people who drive at night without their headlights on like Christ?

banned and challenged books

I am choosing banned and challenged books for me and my son to read. As I note the encroaching spectre of anti-intellectualism and parental censorship.

Each year, the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from libraries shelves and from classrooms.

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 42 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.

Here are the yet unread of those 100 books

5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
44. Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
66. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
75. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
100. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

catholic novel reading list

Silence, by Shusaku Endo.
Mariette in Ecstasy, by Ron Hansen
Beloved, by Toni Morrison.
The Lieutenant, by Andre Dubus.
The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner.
The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene.

Today, for the first time in 17 months, we watched a little bit of television. Our antenna is not terrific and I got bored of the Sunday afternoon sitcom patter within 2 minutes. Canned track + 38-word joke buildup = weak.

more reading

American gothic tales / edited by Joyce Carol Oates.
Esquire's big book of fiction / edited by Adrienne Miller.
Gogh's room at Arles : [three novellas] / Stanley Elkin.
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Mapp and Lucia / E.F. Benson ; with a new introduction by Stephen Pile.
Rediscovering values : on Wall Street, Main Street, and your street : a moral compass for the new economy / Jim Wallis.

Burning your boats : the collected short stories / Angela Carter ; with an introduction by Salman Rushdie.

A bit of Fry & Laurie. Season four [videorecording] / BBC Video ; 2 Entertain Video Ltd. ; written by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie ; producer, Jon Plowman ; director, Bob Spiers.

Based on a dream I had today

It's a doozy. Not armageddon, nor apocalyptic, but spiritually very powerful and deep.

Would someone please tell me why my spiritual connection does not talk to me in English, but rather Hebrew, which I do not understand, and French?

Facebook Political Fights are a waste of time and bandwidth

I know people who post political comments on Facebook, but I find they tend to be the type of people who don't have an opinion so much as an affiliation with a party that leads to negative comments about anyone who opposes that party.

If we don’t reevaluate our opinions every time we receive new information, they stop being opinions and start becoming beliefs.

A belief is acceptance of truth, while an opinion is judgement of truth.

Opinions are ongoing judgements of new information, while beliefs are acceptance of old information with disregard to new information. A key element to growing as a person is forming opinions, then challenging them.

Opinion leads to politics and politics does not contain truth. Anyone who can stay silent and challenge their own ideas by staying committed to their search for truth has no need for opinion and must eventually give it up completely.

Hounded by blood center, and other news

After two calls from a predictive dialer gone haywire, I e-mailed someone at the blood center who arranged for a voice-only message to be delivered to my voice mail. I also figured that maybe there was a rush for my blood type, because not everyday am I harassed by technology, so I made an appointment.

So imagine my surprise when after two hang-ups, two e-mails, and one call leading to a scheduled appointment in one morning, the blood center CALLS AGAIN! I was testy: "I have an appointment already in an hour. You can stop bothering me." Before a live voice was on the phone, even. The second time that number called me, the first time a live person was on the phone.

I see that Senator John McCain (AZ) has withdrawn his support to have vitamins and supplements regulated by the corrupt Food and Drug Administration. I am still wondering how the Republicans in America expect people to take care of their health: restrict access to preventive care -- does that save money for people's healthcare? How about limiting the text on nutritional labels, so the consumers don't know what additives or carcinogens or neurotoxins are in the food -- does that save money for people's healthcare? All the Republicans voted NO on the Health Care Reform bill passed by the House of Representatives: do they have a better quality, cheaper plan? Considering how the Democrats bend over backwards to appease the GOP, do you think the Democrats would have gone along with a cheaper, better quality plan? (I'm thinking yes)

Do you think old people collecting Social Security and having Medicare benefits vote Republican? I'm thinking yes. All the more reason to take anti-aging health supplements to prevent dementia.

witter

I have lately taken to walking out of an area when the energy turns dark or oppressive. Today I walked a half mile to a local independent coffeehouse hoping to read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and stood in line when someone came in and dumped his backpack on the seat I wanted. It's a small coffeehouse: three people were at the south area, talking, so I wanted to be far away from them as possible. I guess he did too. This left me with a large wooden table with the Sunday paper on it, and a kiddie table I am obviously too large for. So I left. I saved about $1.50, maybe $2.60.

Took the son to his first Mass today. I expected him to be bored, so I gave him a Mass activity book and he brought pencils, asked him to be quiet and to sit in the pew while I got a blessing. Boy, did I set my expectations low. He took an offertory envelope, filled it out, put in a dollar, attempted some hymns, and walked up for a blessing. "I didn't get any wine. I should have told them I was twenty-two," he quipped after Communion.

The one place where the vibes have almost always been great is closed today.

Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal Feud on the Dick Cavett Show

I'm reminded to subscribe to the Bat Segundo program podcast. Great literature and culture podcast.

I need to read some Janet Flanner, Gore Vidal, Daniel Berrigan, Richard Rohr, Cornel West. I'm interested right now in theologians the Vatican brands heretics: Edward Schillebeeckx, Matthew Fox (now Episcopalian). I could read Rosemary Radford Ruether. There's the side of the Catholic Church that emphasizes sin, culpability, and cloaking abuses; then there's the spiritual mysteries and social justice and work of the laity I find compelling and welcoming.
---------------
I don't miss watching television. Sure, Kids in the Hall and QI are great, but are they available on American television networks? Can American TV adopt and adapt these kinds of programs? Where is the audience? Is there a difference of the audience who has a 24-hour salesperson in their homes versus the audience who must pay for a television license or who pays some tax for a public broadcasting network like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation?

what? twice in one day?

Ah me, this is not the romanticised memory I have of Mark Hollis, yet somehow I can recall ex-Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris's interview quips "We've had to pull people off/away from Mark" and "I loved performing but not the crap that went on backstage" and it does gibe with Mark's confession of the need for gin before going onstage.

http://www.the-company.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2882

I really liked the first Talk Talk albums and we both moved from EMI to have bad experiences at Polydor in the 90's.

I met him a couple of times but not for long enough to gather an opinion about him.
I did have a run in with the band at an after show party in a Munich hotel around 86. There was a lot of drink involved and they had been really abusive to a female EMI exec who was a good friend of ours.
They had also had a run in with INXS who were on the same indoor festival bill.Talk Talk were on first and after show had got paralytic and trashed their dressing room.
I think it was Mark who had thrown a glass of gin in Michael Hutchence's face in the backstage area and the Aussies wanted to kick off with them as well that night.
We decided to join forces and take them on.

At the aftershow there was a stand off between Talk Talk, their security and INXS and the Marillos.
Lots of shouting and threatening, handbags at dawn and all that. Good old fashioned schoolboy stuff! :D It was defused by their security who put them all to bed.
We phoned their rooms throughout the night like the drunk children we were.
They were terrified :D

I don't count that as a real indicator of what they were like as people.
We all have our moments ;)

I guess being abusive is one way to insist upon yer privacy...
Seriously, though, past the boorishness and bad behaviour road tours seem to bring out, when I listen to Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock my soul does cartwheels, and my spiritual "tell" or "spark", chills travelling up the shin over the knee to the thigh, lets me know that reaching beyond the aural wonder is akin to attempting to tickle God under the chin.

midlife changes

I like to think that the time I spend recovering, and researching, is a gift to teach me how to detect subtle energy changes and to correct them before I require a doctor's "treat the symptom" or invasive treatments.

As I read, I encountered discussions of the following midlife phenomena: hormonal changes (which peers are treating either through exercise, herbs, or doctor's prescriptions), copper toxicity, adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, midsection fat gain or adipose accumulation, Candida Albicans, and metabolic syndrome.

Dietary changes and acupuncture have been restorative, and daily recitation of the Rosary during Lent has been a real godsend, as I move into reconnection with people, and new connections. I learn more about what saps my energy and how to limit it, if not get rid of it completely. I have learned that protein snacks and mini-meals 3-5 times a day with unlimited vegetables, and extreme limitations on sugar, grains and fruit are good for me. I am currently off caffeine, with the exception of a demitasse I allowed myself for giving canned and boxed food to the local food bank that experienced a 37% increase in demand, but 12% increase in supply.

I'm happy that my menstrual cycle has gone off course for the third cycle in a row: this is a sign of progesterone deficiency, and I now know how to correct it. I am happy that glaucoma symptoms can be lessened with Vitamin C: I can take more of Vitamin C for a synergistic, improved absorption effect with iron; Vitamin C, with Vitamins A and E are effective anti-oxidants which protect against cancer. It's as if my intuitive body is helping me avoid cancer.

It's helpful, in a sad way, to have lost immediate blood relatives to cancer: the hurt and fear energies can be transformed and channeled into self-preservation modalities: diet, exercise, household "greening" and detoxifying, inner work. It is my prayer that my relatives who have survived their bouts with cancer learn what works for them and incorporate their energy-giving modalities in their lifestyles on a daily basis.

way downtown, copper toxicity

I read an article by Dr. L Wilson in the Wild Traditions journal about Copper Toxicity. I'm thinking if I can heal myself from whatever it is that's eating my energy I'll be able to heal others. Only I don't think others have had the accumulation of stress I have had. Maybe they're better able to self-medicate, maybe the disturbances, and accumulated toxins, instead of surfacing in immediate distress, go into tissues or cells, waiting to come out at a hormonally appropriate moment. Maybe they have more regular practice of exercise, prayer and meditation.

Here's what I've done so far: cut out caffeine, sugar, wheat, alcohol. Reduced dairy intake to butter and yogurt.

Bible Verse: 1 Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

Watching "WayDowntown" by Gary Burns. It takes place in Calgary, and the soundtrack has "Downtown" en français.

My Energy Boosting Regimen

Here's my diet:
• Vegetables: Garlic and onion, sprouts, leafy greens, kale, chard, artichokes, and asparagus.
• Seeds and Nut butters: Sesame (tahini), sunflower, almond.
• Legumes: Lentils, adzuki, black bean, and split pea.
• Poultry or Meats (raised organically): Chicken, turkey, duck, beef, lamb.
• Fish (ocean-caught): Wild salmon, halibut, sardines, herring, and albacore tuna.
• Cultured foods: Yogurt and kefir with acidophilus.
• Healthy Oils: Extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil.
• Whole grains: Basmati rice (rinse well), wild rice, quinoa, millet. They tend to be lower in starch than other grains.
• Spices: Garlic, oregano, ginger, chives, cilantro, turmeric (curry powder), basil, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon.
• Other: High omega-3 eggs (poached or soft-boiled) with DHA, B12, and Vitamin E.

I am cheating with the non-organic meats until the tax bill is taken care of. I'm also taking astragalus root tincture and Renew-U Tea, thanks to some herbal energy testing I did at a great alternative healing/health care/therapy retail joint today. I may get "Adapt to Life." Pau d'Arco and astragalus I tested VERY STRONG for, so instead of getting Pau d'Arco bark there, I researched TheHerbalist.com and found I still had two boxes of Renew-U Tea, where the first ingredient listed is Pau d'Arco bark. So I'm brewing that.

I cheated today for it was pi day March 14, but I had only Perrier with my chocolate cream pie. I'll probably not be able to attend any more debt group breakfast meetings -- every restaurant insists on sugars, dairy, fruit and grains. I'm going to be like the Japanese and eat fish and rice and drink green tea in the morning.

My laptop is back but I won't get sucked into it. The Progressive Tech people told me a miracle happened in that the spill did not get into the motherboard.

As I read more of Caroline Sutherland's The Body Knows How to Stay Young the more I understand how it is I came to lose my parents at an early age and how to prevent dying before I'm ready to. I have knowledge now, which they didn't have. I thank the Lord for the gifts of intellectual curiosity and fortitude to withstand detoxification crises from caffeine and sugar, and for the gift of time and the Internet where I can look up this information. Certainly eating pie as a mid-afternoon snack was not the healthiest, but it was a great way to spend some time with my favourite math geek!

I also want to thank my godmother/aunt for sharing her health condition news with me: I can pray for her healing, and I have shared with her some resources she may find helpful if she wanted to try healing on her own terms.

I don't understand the U.S. at all: "here, have lots of grains, but don't soak them to reduce their phytates which inhibit absorption. Then get celiac disease, Crohn's, or irritable bowel syndrome when you get a gluten allergy or food sensitivity once your hormones start changing in your 40s. Then with the hormone imbalances and endocrine disruptors in your environment, mindset and food, you can get cancer and we can hike up your insurance as you get treatment or deny you claims, and big pharma gets paid off. Industrial agriculture, who gets subsidies for producing wheat cheaply, thanks you as well. US Citizens exist only to make food processors, banks, insurance agencies, doctors, pharmaceutical companies rich." So guess where I'm putting my US money as I eat non-processed, natural and whole foods?

Adrenal Fatigue, Debt

Trying to heal this by myself: I'm guessing that if my adrenal glands get stronger, my liver can function better, and my eyes will heal. Thanks to energy testing, I've learned to reduce my wheat and milk intake, choosing gluten-free options when affordable.

I'll energy test some lecithin, phosphatidylserine, zinc, and some ginseng. Lecithin would be cheapest. I could get rid of my malaise, depression, low energy and übersensitivity to my environment.

Really not appreciating people coming to my house trying to case it for a potential robbery, or stealing from a shop while I'm there, or robbing the banks and credit unions I go to, or choosing the seat with a book, jacket and bag (all mine) at the library when there are fifteen empty seats nearby.
It's nice I guess that these people suppose I have abundance, and whereas I have an abundance of awareness and grace, they're probably hoping for iPods, iPhones, laptops, DVDs, TVs, VCRs, Wiis, personal home computers, guns and bling. Too bad for them that my bling is removed from the house for insurance purposes. Good for me they don't consider Kitchen-Aid mixers and juicers as 'bling.'

Americans' debt relief is rocketing at a great rate, thanks to defaults and bankruptcies. Now the debt load, including mortgages and credit debt, is at $43842 per person. If it weren't for the home equity line of credit we would be below that with our mortgage, which has twelve and a half years left, if we don't sell. I see my adrenal fatigue as parallel to our debt crisis: I kept borrowing energy from caffeine and sugar, when I'm sensitive to both, and now I should not have caffeine and refined sugar. I am having green tea, at least for the antioxidants.

I am thinking about selling though: I don't remember this much crime happening in B.C. when we had our recession in 1981-1983, nor did my patterning brain goad me into prejudice as it collects crime statistics and anecdotal evidence. I'm beginning to think we should just leave the United States to the Tea Baggers, neoconservatives and disenfranchised criminals (CEOs in several industries are enfranchised criminals -- only the costumes and skin colour and magnitude of theft are different).

Playing with 2005 State Breast Cancer Stats

Incidence and Death Rates

Rates are for 100,000 people
Pacific: 122.7 (127.1 for whites)
Washington: 131.7 (132.2 for whites)
Seattle - Puget Sound: 137.6 (142.6 for whites)

Questions:
Why do Hispanics have a lower incidence rate for breast cancer?
Why do Alaskans have a lower incidence rate for breast cancer? They live closer to the Arctic Circle?
Why do high poverty areas in Seattle have a lower incidence rate for breast cancer?
Why do low poverty areas in Seattle have a higher incidence rate for breast cancer?
It's not like rich women can't afford Vitamin D, or pesticide-free foods or personal trainers.

Mini-Delicious Day Post

today's surfing:
Dr. Gabor Maté on Addiction and Brain Development

Carol Look + Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

Scattered Minds

Nutrient-Dense Foods

Lenten Budget, lenten practice

20 Dividend stocks Riding the Wave of Dividend Increases

9 Natural Gas Stocks with Yields at 6%+

Natural Gas could have banner year in 2010

Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2010

Life Tools for Modern Human Beings: Free EFT Course

Happy Valentine's Day 2010

What we did so far:
* exchanged cards!
* had donuts and coffee! I had sugarless coffee, as Krispy Kreme had only refined sugar, Splenda and Sweet'n'Low. Sure, a Krispy Kreme donut isn't healthful, but it's fun to eat a chocolate/raspberry heart-shaped confection on Valentine's Day.
* went to Scarecrow Video to pick up a trio of excellent kid-watchable films: Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali", "The 400 Blows", and "King Kong" (Willis O'Brien, not Peter Jackson). I had to put David Lean's "Oliver Twist" back on the shelf as we had three punches left on our Scarecrow account.
* picked up a "No Solicitors" sign. I resent that we find this purchase necessary. I resent that people are living in their "truths already made up, just listening now for words that push our buttons" tracks and yet feign empathy. I resent being insulted at my front door by socially inept strangers.
* Picked up The Promise of Energy Psychology at a 20% discount, and some Territorial Seeds packets at a 20% discount.
* Made chicken salad spread with garden-grown tarragon. Yum yum!

The quiet revolution that doesn't reach mass media

Here's a question: is Health Care Reform just a gigantic theatre drama, a pretend effort by government, because neither it, nor employers can team up effectively against pharmaceutical companies and the medical industry to bring costs down? Is that why Senator John McCain is trying to push for restricted access to vitamins, or is he just senile, or is he being paid for by corporate interests?

I want to know how bad it would be for America if people ate whole and natural foods whenever possible, and used credit cards only for travel or emergencies or Internet purchases, and didn't watch television. I think those would be beautiful self-empowering ways of changing things. Give me your nightmare scenarios.

---------------------------
Are movies better with product placement and CGI?
I saw "Panique au Village" with my family a few days ago. This is a beautifully surreal stop-motion animation feature-length film, accessible to all. Why can't the US make films like this?

More books to add to a book list:
http://fitnesscontrarian.com/a-mediterranean-diet-may-help-your-brain/

Sally Schneider -- The Way to Cook
Richard Stark's Parker Novels

Shop talk : a writer and his colleagues and their work / Philip Roth.

Sanatorium under the sign of the hourglass / Bruno Schulz ; translated from the Polish by Celina Wieniewska.

The street of crocodiles / Bruno Schulz ; translated by Celina Wieniewska.

Will have to make this tomorrow

Two Bean Stew
-1 15.5 ounce can of lentils, drained (or 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils)
-1 15.5 ounce can of chick peas, drained (or 1 1/2 cups cooked chick peas)
-1 carrot, sliced
-2 celery stalks, diced
-1/2 can diced tomatoes
-1 potato, chopped
-1 large onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 tsp. oregano
-1/2 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. paprika
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1/2 tsp. salt
-3 Tbsp. soy sauce
-2-4 cups of water (depending upon how thick and hearty you would like the stew)
-Pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add carrot, celery, garlic, onion, and potato. Add spices and salt. Stirring frequently, saute for 8-10 minutes until onions are tender. If vegetables begin to stick, add a few Tbsp. of water.

After 8-10 minutes, add beans, water, and tomatoes. Turn up heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for at least 15 minutes. Stir in soy sauce. Remove from heat, and season to taste with pepper.

devastated

So I blow $800 on acupuncture for eight sessions, and there's an INCREASE in intraocular pressure. NEVER MIND that I've:

cut out alcohol
supplemented with vitamins
reduced caffeine intake
started exercising
used visualization
started Emotional Freedom Technique
lost six pounds, roughly, of weight

What did work is that my liver, spleen and gallbladder hot spots have been neutralized, and I had a blessed period without mood swings, breast tenderness, bloat or irritability. I did have back pain, however, and messy/thick discharges.

And I cut out television, and my kid is just a stupid kid, scoring 48 on Verbal and 73 on Quantitative. Not the sharpest kid in the shed. All these books I research and give him to read from the library, and he's just involved in crap like comic books, Pokemon and his Nintendo like a run-of-the-mill eight-year-old while the books don't get read and accrue library fines. We make him a lunch and he spends more money than he needs to getting hot food from the lunchroom. He yaps about a science fair, I run off pages of possible science fair projects from the Internet, and he just wants to do stupid crap and not pay attention.

My husband is overweight and either talks over me or cuts me off before I say anything. So my words don't matter. My brother tells me he has money problems and needs Microsoft Office. I buy it for him and ship it with other gifts. Then his wife decides that she needs me to mail a bulky Fisher-Price bouncer from USA to Japan, so that cost me $90. I spent $250 on them in January. I e-mail their child's birth announcement photos to people and send back the congratulations. Then my brother tells me how his parenting style is superior, and he's been a parent for not even a week.

EVERYBODY'S GARBAGE TAKES PRECEDENCE. Go on Facebook and find out who wants to punch what five famous people in the face, or read some lame American political joke, because that's the only country that matters, right? Never mind Israelis, Russians, Danes, Belgians, New Zealanders, Filipinos, Singaporeans, Indonesians, Japanese, Venezuelans are online too --- they don't go on and on about their gummints like the Yanks do, you know, the people of whom maybe 58% bother to vote in a Presidential year, and the number's a lot lower than that on off-years, but they won't waste a chance to tell you about the soldiers who risked and gave their lives for their freedom? Blech.

What do I want? I want DECREASED INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE, a child I can be PROUD OF, a job that pays well and DOESN'T GET SHIPPED TO HYDERABAD OR SHANGHAI, IMPROVED HEALTH and CIVIL DISCOURSE. I am fine with debate and opposing views, I do not perceive value in putdowns or lies. I want corporations to stay away from funding elected representatives but I am surrounded by hundreds of millions of 'Murricans who believe their precious liberties and freedoms lie not in the people they have the right to choose to give representation rights to, but in the corporations polluting their waters, airs, minds, and stomachs because anything else would be [trot out 1930s government 'ism' here like a good little ignoramus]. I want to SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. I want to more clearly recognize the divinity of others, and move toward more positive stresses and greater energy.

So don't tell me that I didn't try to make a difference: I read a random New Testament segment for inspiration and Examen; I made conscious changes in my diet, I addressed concerns with my family, I prayed for family members who requested and needed them, I sent birthday wishes, congratulations, anniversary greetings and Christmas cards, and gifts. To have a friend, be a friend. I tried that. To people who expressed anxiety issues, I offered novel effective nonpharmaceuticcal treatments; for people on the cusp of a decision I gave advice on how to tap into intuition; to people wondering what was up with a troubling in-game message I gave assurance it was the game programmers at fault. All of these get ignored.

Purification crisis, or what?

I didn't have any excess progesterone symptoms except the low energy/fatigue this cycle. I didn't cough a lot as I usually do right before my period. I like keeping my weight at a healthy mid-BodyMassIndex point. Now I must concentrate on bringing the waist measurement down, unless this is yet another medical health fad paradigm that's going to shift in the next year.

I've read that spot-reducing the abdomen isn't possible. I have also been told that I'll be on glaucoma medication for the rest of my life. I'll see if I can overcome those limiting beliefs. I had a 28" waist before I had my child, and I see other mothers with trim waists. Exercise is the only thing missing from my regimen. Well, that and regular juicing and tons of raw vegetables. And water. Need 2.651 litres of water daily. I had been dehydrated for a long while partly because of qi blockages, but also because my ophthalmologist said rapid heavy water intake can cause pressure behind the eyeballs.

I stopped reading Facebook one hour ago. I didn't make an announcement. I can't handle the tsunami of stupid: year-old abduction hoaxes; don't-friend-xxxx-s/he's-a-hacker hoaxes; people who think only their nation is in Facebook and therefore their political memes matter; people who don't understand that youth under the age of 18 are on Facebook and post inappropriate photos or links to videos publicly. Some countries have laws against exposing children to that sort of thing.

http://ow.ly/11d32 - Obama enjoys rock star status in Canada. I won't post this on my finance blog, nor on Facebook, but it's interesting to see other countries approve of a U.S. leader, who may not have the popularity back home that perhaps chewing tobacco, high fructose corn syrup, poor diets, or reality television shows have.

feel a facebook break coming on again

I held off for a long while because my brother's wife was expecting their only son, and as any good 21st-century parent would, the new dad shared video and pics of the new arrival. I was not about to miss that!

However, Facebook's been a monkey on my back. I could take it or leave it before the games.

I had an insight this morning: if we are spiritual beings having a human experience, and if we have even a faint light within us, it's a divine light, and fellow spiritual beings should be able to recognize that light. I've spent eight months gradually getting that light to shine. Maybe three of my relatives can see it. That's not good, when twenty of them are on Facebook. I'm thinking maybe Facebook isn't where the divine light of love can find full expression. I know I've been very careful about sharing all-ages-appropriate, nonsexist, apolitical, nonreligious content, and wishing people happy birthdays, congratulations, happy holidays but I still lose people or they are not satisfied with my personal expression toward others: they want me to express things the way they would.

I imagined this morning going to confession and instead of claiming my sins, talking about how my campaign to win back my relations has largely failed, and asking why fellow Catholics who are also kin, and go on about how family is so important cannot or do not recognize or appreciate my efforts to awaken my long-comatose soul and get it moving through acts of love.

And when I look at the rising crime statistics, I'm not seeing how our communities are fully expressing love and compassion. I need to be more invested in the world, to be more courageous. This week I have had "easy wins" expressing the divine light and wisdom within, and a lot of that is just listening too, and accepting the other person, but they've all been at my door, or at a coffeehouse.

My "flip to any page" New Testament readings this week have gravitated to 1 Thessalonians 5:17-31, and the last chapter of Luke, when the risen Christ followed some men on Easter on the road to Emmaus. Jesus chides them for being foolish and slow of heart, and gives them a rundown of Scripture and prophesy concerning the Messiah. When he was invited to dinner with these men, he took bread, gave thanks, and their eyes "were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures for us'?" I also get Luke 24:50-53 on occasion, which inspires me to listen to Talk Talk's "Ascension Day."

My brain needs to be retrained to find the miraculous outside myself in daily living. I can feel the miracles within, physically and spiritually. I need to rise above scoffing at bus riders who don't use effective noise-cancelling earbuds on their mp3 players. They're losing their hearing. I know as a fogey I'm more sensitive to noises, and the young like the sounds loud and at high frequencies, but I don't want to be sixty or seventy and still end up going into places where the volume is cranked up because the forty- and fifty-year-olds are hard of hearing.

Buckwheat!

No, not Billie Thomas of Our Gang/Little Rascals. I mean buckwheat groats. I made kasha last year and my husband enjoyed its roasted nutty taste. High in protein and niacin, buckwheat has magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and copper. Here are some Buckwheat recipes:

RECIPE
Kasha Or Buckwheat Groats
Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
* 2 cups quail broth, or fresh or canned chicken broth
* 1 cup kasha or buckwheat groats, preferably medium grain
* 1 egg, well beaten
* Salt to taste if desired

Preparation

1.Heat butter in a saucepan and add onion. Cook, stirring, until wilted. Add broth. Bring to boil, then lower to simmer.
2.Put kasha in a nonstick skillet and add egg. Stir to blend and cook over gentle heat, stirring all over the bottom, until grains of kasha are coated with egg but grains remain separate. Cook until grains are slightly toasted and lightly browned.
3. Pour the simmering broth over kasha. Add salt and cover tightly. Cook about 15 minutes over very low heat or until all the liquid has been absorbed and grains are tender. If necessary, continue cooking 5 minutes longer or until grains are tender.

YIELD
6 servings


----------------------------------
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Buckwheat Groats
Makes 20

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buckwheat groats (kasha)
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped into chip-sized chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a mixer or bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and two extracts until well-combined.

3. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and buckwheat, and add to the butter mixture, beating to incorporate. When combined, add the chocolate and stir to combine.

4. Drop 2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, 3 inches apart. Bake for 6 minutes, then reverse the sheet pan in the oven and bake for an additional 6 minutes. The cookies should be still slightly pale in the center and golden brown on the edges.

5. Cool the cookie sheet on a rack for 5 minutes, then transfer to the rack directly with a spatula.
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2 ts Safflower oil;

2 Shailots; chopped

1 cl Garlic; minced

1 Celery stalk; sliced

1/2 c Sliced mushrooms;

1 Egg white;

Pinch salt & pepper; 1 c Buckwheat groats;(kasha)

2 c Chicken broth;

1 tb Pine nuts/sunflower seeds;

In a non-stick saucepan, heat oil and add vegetables. Cook, stirring, over medium heat about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, beat egg white with salt and pepper. Stir into saucepan. Stir in groats, then add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook 10 minutes until tender. When liquid is absorbed, add pine nuts and fluff with a fork. Garnish with parsley
-------------------------------
Buckwheat Groats with Noodles

Ingredients

* 1 cup buckwheat groats
* 1 egg
* 1 cup uncooked bow tie pasta or uncooked gluten-free egg noodles (or other short, flat noodle)
* 2 cups chicken stock, brought to a boil
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 quart water
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 3 tablespoons corn oil or chicken fat
* 1 1/2 large onions, chopped coarsely

Directions

1. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add kasha and stir until every grain is well coated with egg. Place in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the egg begins to dry and the groats separate. Some of the groats may stick together and/or brown slightly.
2. Pour boiling chicken stock over the kasha. Mix in salt and pepper and stir thoroughly. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the kasha has absorbed all liquid. Remove from heat.
3. In a separate pot, bring water to a boil and cook the pasta until done. Drain and set aside.
4. In a skillet, heat the oil (or schmaltz) on a medium flame. Saute the chopped onions until thoroughly browned. Add the onions and noodles to the pot of kasha, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

More books to put on my list

Fall on your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Nice Big American Baby, by Judy Budnitz
Cruddy by Lynda Barry
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

sometimes I think I read too much yet not enough. Like it's possible to eat too much but not enough of the right foods.

Chakra openings, vibrational frequencies

So I had some diarrhea this morning, possibly because of the oats and salsa, corn and meat we had for hamburgesas last night. It may have been my solar plexus chakra opening up.

if you are thinking of something that you want but you are frustrated, impatient, and doubt, than the frequencies you are setting out not in harmony. This will cause discord and make it harder for you to get what you want. However, if you are thinking of what you want, and you bring in joy, passion, and excitement, than your frequencies begin to match are set out in harmony, which will attract what you want faster. It's all about matching your vibrational frequencies.

Although other people may try to help you change your frequency and bring it to a better, more harmonized state through their positivity, but ultimately they do not understand your thoughts and do not have control over your consciousness. That choice is completely up to you.

Frequency : the power of personal vibration / Penney Peirce ; foreword by Michael Bernard Beckwith.
Just learned of her. More in book lists from Jean Railla, whose Get Crafty book I need to return to the library soon. She has lists of good cooking books and good food books.

Taking another Facebook break: feeling very sensitive, and disappointed by the gigantic chasm that separates my realm of consciousness and understanding from those of my relatives, whom I had hoped to get closer to through Facebook. I will pray that they awake and come find me.

Almost everyday I have a new insight or breakthrough

this should be Tweeted, but I doubt the public entities with whom I have a recriprocal Tweet relationship would care. And I know my relations wouldn't care, except my brother who will have dozens of insights and breakthroughs in a matter of days.

My breakthroughs are of awareness, health, and consciousness. Of political machinations.

vitamin b12 scribble notes

I'm afraid if I use pen and paper for these, they'll get lost.

Making lots of connections, receiving input this week. Spiritual director says I'm not moving just by notes up the scale, but by octaves.

Music: downloading/listening to: Ligeti, Stockhausen, Bartok, Pavement, Penderecki, Messiaen.

Nanotech: A123, FMC for lithium, Altair Nano, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, GE.

Foods: Vitamins A, C, E, B12, chinese medicine. Vitamin B12 cannot be made by plants or animals as only bacteria have the enzymes required for its synthesis, so beware of claims that spirulina has B12. Many (though not all) of the effects of functions of B12 can be replaced by sufficient quantities of folic acid (another B vitamin)

National Institute of Health Food Source Sheet for Vitamin B-12

Energy testing for B-complex: only two of NatureMade; six of spirulina, three of Vitamin C.

mishmash

gotta get this stuff down before it escapes:

Nanotechnology

Bought IBM stock today. Yes it brought down the NYSE at the close of the day but it met analysts' earnings estimates, and it's investing in nanotechnology.

School Science/Math project ideas: Music and the Golden Ratio; Statistics and Baseball's Greatest Hitters; Math and Fantasy/Rotisserie Soccer/Baseball; solar cell; electric dragster; Lewis Carroll puzzles; food science and enzymes/sprouts.

Other stocks: Varian Medical Sys. VAR; Gilead Sciences; Enbridge; EnCana; BYDFF; Brazil Fund; mPhase Technologies; A123 Systems; Oak Ridge Micro-Energy (OKME); Ultralife Batteries (ULBI);

* Microsemi (MSCC, news, msgs), where about 40% of sales are made up of analog/mixed-signal chips that manage light, sound and power for electrical devices,

* Vicor (VICR, news, msgs), the maker of the VI line of high-efficiency, low-heat power-converter chips, and

* Maxwell Technologies (MXWL, news, msgs), the global leader with a 27% market share in ultra-capacitors, an alternative to batteries for energy storage. * Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM, news, msgs). The company produces about 65% of the lithium that comes out of the Salar de Atacama region of Chile. Recoverable reserves there make up 20% of the world's known reserves.

* FMC (FMC, news, msgs). The company produces lithium from Argentina's Salar de Hombre Muerto region, where recoverable reserves are estimated at 11% of global known reserves.

http://electricandhybridcar.com/electric/we-need-dilithium-crystals/

Did Mozart Use The Golden Ratio?

scrap of paper containing book titles, acupuncture

Today I visited an acupuncturist, for glaucoma and liver chi stagnation blockage. Now I find that a hefty majority of Amurricans who visit acupuncturists are treated for liver chi stagnation.

* Heaven & Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine
by Beinfield H. & Korngold E. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1991)
* Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture
Ellis, E., Wiseman N., & Boss, K. (Brookline, MA: Paradigm, 1991)
* Acupuncture: How it Works, How it Cures
Firebrace, Peter & Hill, Sarah (New Canaan, CN: Keats Publishing, 1994)
* The Tao of Physics
Capra, Frijtof (New York: Bantam, 1978)
* The Chinese Way to Health:A Self Help Guide to Traditioal Medicine
Gascoigne, S (Boston: Charles E. Tuttle, 1991)
* Acupuncture for Everyone
Lever, Ruth (London: Penguin, 1987)
* East-West Healing: Integrating Chinese & Western Medicines for Optimal Healing
Loo, Mary and Jack Maguire (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001)
* Acupuncture: The Ancient Chinese Art of Healing & How It Works Scientifically
Mann, Felix (New York: Vintage Books, 1992)

more fiction:
The Nowhere City
The Robber Bride
Disappearing Moon Cafe
The Jade Peony
Reservation Blues
Nights at the Circus
Golden Notebook
Memoiri from Antproof Case
Buddenbrooks
A Gay and 'Melancholy Sound
Only You, Dick Daring
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
Van Reid's Moosepath League stories
The Siege of Krishnapur

fielding suggestions for Black American books for Black History Month. PRobably should put an Obama book on hold, hey?

Third day of fast

First movement in over a day: surprising amount considering liquid diet. Learning what supplements will best lower my intraocular pressure: Vitamin C, but what dose? Absorption half-life is half an hour, I've read that the maximum amount absorbed in one ingestion is 1 gram, yet am seeing claims of 10g to 33g daily dosages. How much of that really gets absorbed?

Having good results with: calcium/magnesium, Vitamin D, Vitamin C+B complex. The 29mg chelated iron may be too much for me to take when I'm not bleeding. It's all about getting my energy back, breaking sugar/caffeine cravings, and lowering the intraocular pressure.

Today: buy tomatoes, more greens, celery. Am loving fresh juices from my juicer!

I have lost seven pounds since my visit with my physician Dec. 11. Thanks, juice fast!

Major discovery of the week/month/year

My adrenal glands are burned out, and so am I. I'm sugar-sensitive, and addicted to caffeine. I don't drink alcohol now, although a glass of wine a week wasn't immediately harmful. It takes about six months to two years to properly heal the adrenal glands, and doing so means eliminating substances so omnipresent in American foods: sugar, alcohol, caffeine. For over a year I've noticed fat stored around my midsection, although my body mass index is 21.4, and my weight is normal. I could lose seven to thirteen pounds to be closer to where it should be for my body frame. It'd be best if those pounds came from the midsection.

But yeah: lack of motivation, needing caffeine/sugar to get going, depression, brain fog, irritability -- all signs of adrenal burnout. What causes adrenal fatigue: stress. Stress has many faces: worry, anger, finances, job, living beyond your means, trauma, surgery, chronic illness, chronic pain, diet, lack of or too much exercise – anything that is negative or feels negative. It's not just me who's experienced this: this is very common in the United States.

I'm trying a juice fast: I am on the third day, and am noting the following healing crises: increased saliva and coated tongue. Juicing has been fun: yesterday I did parsley/carrot/celery/broccoli/kale/tomato, and this morning was pear/cucumber/ginger. Looking forward to trying more juice combinations. I may go buy a greens supplement of wheatgrass: the chlorophyll may be useful for detoxifying my liver.
My liver'd been sending signals that I'm overloaded from stress but I ignored them, and that's easy to do until a tsunami of stressful situations and negative factors hits the system.

Am hoping/expecting that acupressure, energy medicine, diet, and exercise will put me back on the path to wellness. Energy medicine helped me localize the issue, Dr. Diana Schwarzbein's book helped me establish what state my adrenal glands are in, Dr. Robert Lustig's fascinating 89-minute videotaped lecture "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" showed me how fructose and sucrose are metabolized in the body, and the Internet, along with Steve Meyerowitz's book on Juice Fasting and Detoxification helped identify ways of healing.

2010: The year of new experiences

1. Deleted inbox decaying matter from two accounts. Sliced Yahoo! account inbox by 60%. Gmail account sliced by 50%.

2. I am not officially overweight, but I could lose 7 - 13 lbs to be closer to what's acceptable for my frame and height. So I'm on some sort of juice fast. I am counting on the decaying fecal matter and toxins to be released. I am okay with losing one pound or two a week. I like wheat and dairy in the wintertime, and the cold and rain don't do much to inspire me to go out for daily exercise. That's how I gain weight.

3. Teared up at the last five minutes of "My Dinner With Andre." Erik Satie's "Gymnopedies #1" is profoundly moving to me, and Andre Gregory's experiences of stillness and newfound consciousness, adlibbed or scripted, set off internal bells. In the past month or so there's been a significant shift in consciousness for me. Maybe it's because I don't watch much television, or have felt isolated and removed, and am suspicious of multi-user shared hallucinations perpetrated through memes, media stories, corporate agendas. I think Mr. Gregory oversold it on the "appreciation of the cold", although I got his point about recognizing what is and accepting it as that. No, if I know it is cold I know that my body is not comfortable, and I am not falling asleep or into a trance if I want to get rid of my goosebumps or stop shivering: I am asking to revert to situation normal. I'm going to try for more contemplation time as part of my spiritual growth.

welcome to 2010

It's 01/02/2010

I should have some goals. They swirl, formless, as teasing whispers in my conscious. I have had a few breakthroughs of joy and happiness, discoveries of health and pleasure. I may be recovering from my stress-induced malaise.

First goal I can think of is to expose my son this year to at least ten films from British Film Institute's Top 50 Films for Children. I've deleted the ones he's seen:

* Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987, France/W.Germany)
* Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA)
* Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise, 1991, USA)
* Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948, Italy)
* Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000, UK/France)
* E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982, USA)
* Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990, USA)
* Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002, France)
* Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton/Lee Unkrich, 2003, USA)
* It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946, USA)
* Kes (Ken Loach, 1969, UK)
* The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921, USA)
* King Kong (Merian C.Cooper/Ernest B.Schoedsack, 1933, USA)
* Kirikou et la sorcière (Michel Ocelot, 1998, France/Belgium/Luxembourg)
* La Belle et la bête (Jean Cocteau, 1946, France / Luxembourg)
* Le Voyage dans la lune (Georges Melies, 1902, France)
* Les Quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut, 1959, France)
* Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953, France)
* My Life as a Dog (Lasse Halstrom, 1985, Sweden)
* My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, Japan/USA)
* The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955, USA)
* Oliver Twist (David Lean, 1948, UK)
* The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983, USA)
* Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955, India)
* Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967, France/Italy)
* The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987, USA)
* Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002, Australia)
* Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981, USA)
* The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970, UK)
* The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956, France)
* Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996, USA)
* The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993, UK/USA)
* Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, 1998, Sweden/Denmark)
* Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952, USA)
* Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937, USA)
* Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959, USA)
* The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973, Spain)
* Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, Japan)
* To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962, USA)
* Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995, USA)
* Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg, 1971, UK)
* Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002, New Zealand)
* Where is the Friend's House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987, Iran)
* Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961, UK)
* The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi, 1995, Iran)
* The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939, USA)

I wanted to get "Les Quatre cents coups" but my kid has some DVD already picked out while I watch "My Dinner with André". I don't want any talkback about the kid not having seen "The Kid." I can't remember if he's seen it. I like how there are two versions of "The Beauty and The Beast". Weird, too, that there are more Jacques Tati films than Chaplin's. The Boy can't get enough Chaplin. I started him out on Max Linder...
--------------------
What did I learn? That the heavy stress I endured in my early life and pregnancy has left me with a degenerative disease, and some of my pain can be lessened through exercise and diet. I've learned Less is More, that angels and demons do exist, my relations are at fault for being closed-minded, reactionary and limited for not accepting my olive branches. I learned what sugar does to the body, how much sugar the average American ingests, and how to avoid high fructose corn syrup. I've learned the power of prayer, read some good books, discovered some people are overrated. I've learned it's possible to give too much if one isn't a receptacle for storing energy: that's where I am. I have learned not to have coffee after 11:30 a.m.
I have learned Donna Eden's Daily Five Minute Energy Routine, and how powerful and effective Energy Medicine is. I was initially skeptical. I have learned how rewarding and bonding it is to share honest spiritual experiences with my oldest friends. I've learned how to stop my premenstrual cramping and the foot cramping (this had dogged me for eight years!!) through vitamin supplementation. Also: my cat enjoys eating duck, almost as much as she enjoys halibut and tuna.