Modern day Game of "Telephone"

Perhaps you remember playing the game Telephone? The memory of that game sticks in my head like a ringing bell of laughter and enlightenment. I'm still not sure which part pleases me more. Okay... perhaps I do, but I LOVE to laugh!

I was sitting around a large campfire on Catalina Island. The stars sparkled and the trees glowed with an orangy iridescent red-yellow aura from the combined lights of flame and cities miles off.  It felt magic, as though I knew I would remember this moment for years to come. 

Our group had started with seven, but quickly grew to twelve or more as peals of laughter filled the air, enticing others to become a part of this history in the making.  The game begins as one person forms a short sentence in their mind and whispers it into the ear of the person to their right.  The rule is to be as clear as possible, but you can only say it once.  Once heard, that person then repeats the process until the last person listens, and shares out loud what they heard.  Sometimes the incongruity of the sentence repeated is funny enough, but when it is compared to the original, the ridiculousness in the comparison can be nothing short of hysterical.  When “My mother likes to ride her horse” came back as “Ronald Regan has a blue and purple purse”… I was beside myself.  

 Today I played a similar, although modern day version, of the game.

Have you ever cleaned house in your underwear or just walked around naked when no one is home?  It is such a liberating feeling, that if you have not, I suggest you do.  Several friends of mine understand this and even my own mother has admitted to as much. 

But the liberation is not complete when you fear being discovered. So, sending a text message through Siri (a voice operated dictation device on the iPhone), I was shocked and then so tickled as I read:

coming home?  I paid to be

running around naked

and get surprised.

Not only had Siri interpreted me incorrectly, the meaning was exactly opposite of my intent!   What I had said was “I’d hate to be running around naked and get surprised.”!!!

Ah Siri… between you and autocorrect I can get myself in all kinds of trouble.... and I like it!

Even so, the memory reminds me that information has its own way of living and breathing through each of us… even the circuitry of technology.

Victoria Crystal

living the SimpleSexy life of Power and Beauty

Birds of Prey or Paradise?

His face was red, either from exhaustion or frustration it was difficult to tell.  His big eyes and pleading face offered less of a clue as I watched his mouth utter a stream of incoherently garbled sounds that I can only believe to have been a string of words. 

"She... are we?... hates me!..."

I looked down at his round face and, slightly exhausted from the previous class, asked him to sit down.  I looked passed him to the rest of the students entering, smiling and welcoming them to what would today be my class.  I felt a tapping from behind and turned to see those same pleading eyes. 

Another stream of incoherently garbled sounds and I again asked him to take his seat.  I could see no blood and his breathing although coming in fast bursts, seemed sufficient.  From previous experience I knew I had only 1 minute to get the class' attention before it would take me 10 minutes to quiet them down.  It's like stopping a party in full swing, with no one thanking you for it... and then trying to teach.

"Sit!" I said with full force and watched as his face slowly turned away. 

I had had many of the students in previous classes, and as they were already prepared for my style, the class settled down rather quickly. 

I took roll and walked to the front of the class.  "Today," I said addressing the class.

"Are we working on the egg because she won't let me touch it she hates me!" came the exasperated voice.  As luck would have it he found his words and he was sitting in the front row.  Next to him, with an empty chair space in between sat a girl with an equally round face and long brown hair. 

It was easy to see that I was dealing with two slightly awkward and shy students with no real malice between them.  So I took a chance. 

"No.  We are not working on egg today.  But you know what they say about hate.  It shows only how much you care."  I leveled my gaze back and forth between the two of them. 

A certain horror flicked across their faces but as they relaxed I know I saw the faintest hint of a smile.  "Naw-aw!" they said in unison, eyeing each other narrowly. 

A boy sitting next to them from one of my previous classes started the sing-song "sittin' in a tree.  K-i-s-s-i-n-g!"  I gave him a smile and shook my head with the look that said "please refrain."   He quieted with a huge grin on his face. 

I turned back to my birds of prey.  "Then why does it bother you so much?"

I immediately dropped the subject by going back to the class to explain what assignments they would work on.   I had the boy pass the papers out. 

The class worked quietly and independently.  It was heaven. 

As they finished, I asked everyone to straighten their areas and I would let them out a couple minutes early. 

The brown-haired girl handed her book to the boy.  He took it and stacked it with the others.  "Thank you," I said as I looked at the pair, "for cooperating with each other."

"We didn't cooperate," he said. 

"I just couldn't reach the spot," she said.

"Well, you were both respectful to each other," I said as I saw them bristling for another round of explanations.  "But regardless," I added before they could speak, "you are both cooperating right now in trying to convince me that you weren't!"  I gave them a sly smile as I watched the look of defeat settle heavily on their shoulders. 

As I watched them pack up to leave, both calm and full of self-control, I was struck by the absolute belief and feeling that two souls had just become friends. 

Victoria Crystal... living SimpleSexy
www.victoriacrystal.com

Leader of the Band

My first instrument was accordion. Really? The accordion?

For some reason my father had it in his head that he wanted his little girl to play this ancient instrument of unknown origin (at least to me). In elementary school I moved on to the violin beginning with Hot Cross Buns and then to the finer pieces from our school play Gary Indiana. Later I played the piano, the flute, and some fiddling on my sister’s clarinet. A few years ago I tried my fingers at the guitar, but earning callouses was not my forte.

Today I had an opportunity to play the Band Teacher.

My first class was lead by two students; one cute, yet quite authoritative ruler and her all-but-silent sidekick. It was funny to watch this little wisp of a girl march up to the other students and request silence, erect posture, or assurance they understood the direction. I would have been afraid. ;~)

I was moved for my second class into a smaller room… going from woodwind instruments to brass… Huh? Note to self: next time you Sub for Middle School Band, bring ear plugs. The student teachers this time were less authoritative so I had to step in more often until I eventually led the class. I couldn’t help it. The sound coming from their direction was murderous. Asking the 6th graders to “hear the music before playing” resulted in turning the sound from nine dying cats to a resemblance of a melody I had heard before, but still could not place.

I have to admit, though, it was great fun. I never thought I would lead classes in Band as they “p r a c t i c e d” their instruments while giving them direction, correcting tempos, and reading off the notes on sheet music.

Just don’t ask me to sing…

Victoria Crystal… living SimpleSexy

www.victoriacrystal.com

Rewarding Silence

Thank you Gentle Reader for your participation and continuous encouragement along this quest. It heartens me to know you have enjoyed a smile or two with me along the way and have searched out my blog without even having told you I’ve written more.

Cheers to the possibilities and inevitability!


Being a Substitute Teacher is really interesting. So far I have been in several different schools with a new classroom for each visit. It’s like the movie 50 First Dates, only I don’t have a sweet, endearing Adam Sandler to snap me into reality. I get the snickers of “We have a Sub” and watch as a malevolent gleam grows across the once innocent smiling faces.


Yesterday was Middle School.  Last night I came home exhausted. I did manage to go for a three mile walk. I did create for myself a delicious meal. I did lose myself to the orderly disorder of a hidden object game. But beyond that, I did little more than sleep. Why I woke at 3:20 this morning though, is a mystery.

I am still recovering from my kindergarten cold and will most likely retain for the rest of my life an unnatural fear of shiny-eyed five year olds.

Although yesterday’s experience has shown me that while six years can do much to change their size, the willful spirit of independence still remains. I was told, before class even began, that one or two of the students were already expected to be seen in the office.

1st period came and went.  But in 2nd period Spanish I was told by several of the children who would come to see me again for 6th period English… to expect a room of mayhem. I looked on the sheet: “6th Period - This is my most challenging class.”

"No Sub has been able to control that class," I was told by an eager young girl just waiting for the fear to set in.  I looked her full in the face.  "Well, one did," she admitted reluctantly. 

"We are going to be doing things differently," I told the crowd.  To be honest, I was un-phased…. something living in the moment has taught me. I was in 2nd period Spanish. I had enough in front of me to deal with. No need to borrow on the fear of what might come.


Every class, so far, has some sort of reward system for good behavior. Being new and a little slow on the uptake, it usually takes me a while before I figure out how to make it work for me.

By 3rd period, I saw an opportunity to reward several of the children who were brilliantly focused on their work. There were others, though, who called out with constant clatter some of the nonsensical chatter of their 5 year old selves. I guess we can call it “reliving their youth”?

As I looked around, I realized a certain dynamic. One boy was trying his best to remain quiet even though he was the focus of another student’s taunting. Rather than reprimand the noise maker, I rewarded the boy. I then also rewarded a few I believed could get out of hand but were currently acting respectably.

“Ms. Crystal,” the loudest chatterer called out.

“I only respond to quiet hands.”

He raised his hand and I walked over.

“”Yes?”

“Can I have one of those fake coin thingies if I’m good?”

I looked at him. “I can tell it has been difficult for you to remain silent, but if you can do that for the rest of the class, I would love to give you one.”

Within seconds his demeanor changed and he became a model student.

The other chatterers slowly, but perceptibly, calmed their noise. It wasn’t that they were also asking for coins as much as the energy in the room had made a shift. My shift. And I liked it.

But 6th period was a different animal altogether…. I could have offered one hundred fake coin thingies and I do not beleive it would have worked. 

But now I need to begin my day. I’ll have to share that story later.

Victoria Crystal… living SimpleSexy

www.victoriacrystal.com

Remain CALM... and assertive?

When you look in their faces, the ones that shine with glimmering and eager eyes, you could never guess how much willful independence (and the desire to express it) there is in a child.

Always one to challenge myself to add new meaning to what it means to be alive today, I have decided to try my hand at Substitute Teaching. After all… what could possibly give us a better understanding of what it means to be human than to watch and learn from those who are entering this world and working to live within it.

I must admit, I was cocky at first. Not only did my friend with his new teaching degree suggest it would be an excellent experience for me, but I had worked as a parent-teacher in many of my children’s class rooms. I had done yard duty, snack sales, corrected papers, handed out assignments, chaperoned on camp trips, dealt with errant behavior, and raised two children of my own. Substitute Teaching would be… fun!

My first assignment was going to be a breeze. I accepted a half day as a kindergarten music teacher. Music is something I love to see at a school because it is a creative outlet all children should become familiar with, even if they have no dreams to pursue it.

I walked into the classroom greeted by 20 little chairs arranged in a perfect semi-circle. It was so neat and orderly I felt a little thrill for my day. As no children were yet present, I made myself familiar with the environment. Adorable little tambourines, notched wood cylinders to rub with a stick, and xylophones were neatly placed in the drawers. Awesome! I thought as I envisioned the little noises they would all make.

It wasn’t long after the first children arrived that daydream bubble burst.

The perfect semi-circle quickly eroded to a snaking line of chairs that were fast becoming weapons. Cries of personal ownership and affection for already occupied chairs dominated the sounds in the room. When I untangled two children from one chair, I turned around to find four more just like them. I knew the turf war could only last so long before a few would break into tears.

I looked to the door. Wasn’t anyone going to help me? Surely the noise had already escalated to the level it could be heard three blocks away… and these children had just come in! But, as I later learned, this was the Teacher’s break time. So long as I didn’t come out of the room screaming, they were fine with it.

Since chairs became my first obstacle, I decided the chairs needed to go. All of the kids could sit on the floor. “Okay everyone!” I called out. “We are going to put the chairs away!”

There is always a helper in every group. Today’s helper came from a boy I’ll call Nathan. As I extracted chairs from extremely possessive five and six year olds, Nathan took charge of stacking them up. I was grateful at first until I noticed he had already (with the aid of other helpers) stacked them too high and they were dangerously about to fall over. I ran to the other side of the room in an effort to keep children safe and almost knocked a few down. Quickly I began un-stacking the stacks and peeling off children who were still trying to sit on them.

I realized I needed to get their attention and some order. Feebly I looked to the door. It remained stoically shut.

Exercise, I thought! These children have too much pent up energy! I’ll let them do jumping jacks!

Little arms and legs were soon given the permission to flail freely and, to my utter dismay, I watched as they flailed into the heads, arms and legs belonging to bodies that were not their own. Before I could stop it, mock fights broke out as little boys did jumping jacks into one another.

Have you ever poured lighter fluid on an already flaming fire? Yeah. It was like that.

To be honest, I have no idea how I did it. I think I was momentarily possessed by an Angel because the next thing I remember was seeing them all to sit down to look up at me. It was bliss… but as I looked around, I knew it would not last. The fires were still burning.

Music! I am here for music!  A faint recollection of my earlier daydream came to mind.  “Okay,” I said quickly rearranging my plan. “Who wants to be in a band and perform for the class?” The whole class raised their hands and many stood to walk up to the front. “No, sit,” I said thinking of my mother’s dogs. Remain calm and assertive.

“Only three of you at a time. I’ll chose only the ones who are being quiet and patient.”

As I looked around the room at the writhing bodies and heard the nonsensical stream of pleas, I knew they while they had heard of these words “quiet and patient”, they didn’t really understand them.

I chose three students. Then three more. Then three more. “Okay. Who has not had a turn? Raise you hand.” The whole class again raised their hands and a few stood to walk up to the front.

“Nathan, you’ve already had your turn.”

“No I haven’t,” he said with pleading, brown, sorrowful eyes. On some level I could tell he believed what he was saying.

Again I looked around, completely drained. 20 children with raised hands were looking up at me and… to be perfectly honest I could not be sure who had --- and had not already come up. What tiny amount of strength I had left was quickly evaporating. In the time I took to consider what I was going to do, half of the class was already up and pulling instruments from the drawers and away from each other.

I could feel it. I was giving up. They could have the room. I’ll take a corner.

And then it happened.

I looked up and felt like I was experiencing a mirage in the dessert. The door opened. A… a… an adult?

The Teacher called to her class over the noise and little bodies ran to the door. Some little bodies. Not all. Some were still pulling at instruments.  I looked at her slightly chagrinned. “I’ve never taught…” the word hung in my throat “kindergarten before.”

“It takes some getting used to,” she said mechanically as she scurried her children through the door. I looked up at the clock. A mere 30 minutes of my life had gone by and I was already whipped. I had three more hours and five more classes to go.

It was with a loss of pride when I later realized that what I had taken as a look of empathetic sadness on the faces of the teachers picking up their students after Music class was really the look of bitter disappointment at getting their classes back in such scandalous dysfunction.

It was later still when I managed to salvage some pride at having learned and applied a few things for my final class for the day.  It was to NOT allow the fire to start in the first place and I admit I was just a little pleased with myself when the last teacher walked in to a perfectly quiet room with a look of shock on her face (she had no doubt heard about the dismaying results from the other teachers).  Instead of walking into a room filled with screaming banshees, her children were paying close attention as I read them a story about a frog who wanted to sing.

As my day came to an end I was hoarse and aching.  I went home to go to sleep and woke up later with a cold.

It was then that I decided... kindergarten is too big of a dragon for me to slay. I, who have not been sick for several years, am finally recovering from that day over a week later.  But... Tomorrow I have my first Middle School. It should be fine…. right?

Victoria Crystal… living SimpleSexy

www.victoriacrystal.com    down

Happy Tears

Answers keep coming.  I am amazed at how much I have learned, how much I have gained from this short part of the journey.  I see beauty in everything.  Even the small fragments I would have called “setbacks” have become friends along the way. 

I was just suddenly pushed to look up a song that popped into my head.  I had no idea who sang it or what it was called, but I keep “hearing” these small hours.  Thankfully someone else was mistaken as the song is actually called Little Wonders by Rob Thomas.
 

I admit I just cried like a baby when I read the lyrics… from happiness.  I love crying in happiness… it’s is probably my favorite emotion.

To you, Mr. Magnificent, the calling of this song is… but of course.

Today is the Blue Galactic Hand:  we are guided by the monkey’s playful magic to find healing in knowing all you have accomplished.  Harmonize your presence by being the model of integrity.  Use your intuition to be at the right place in the right time.

I think I am going to watch this again and cry some more.    I've decided to follow the monkey and give myself the day off.  Have fun!
Victoria Crystal
…living SimpleSexy

Ahhhh…

I found myself counting backwards from 100 last night to put myself to sleep, but when that ended quickly, I thought I’d try the backwards alphabet.  After six times of doing that, I decided to just lay there.  That was at 3 am and after four Valerian.

The ideas just keep coming, and I love it… but I can’t seem to shut them off.  If this were reality TV, you’d soon expect to see me in a melt down, running half crazed down the street waving a loaf of bread in my hand.   But I won’t.  At least I’d open a bottle of wine first.

Oh cool.  Now I am going to make more sense.

Time for the Mayan forecast:Today is the Red Rhythmic Serpent.  (You will soon begin to notice a pattern.)  Guided by itself, it is the day for intuition and being present in the moment.  The Serpent is life force, survival and instinct.  Within the tone of organization and balance we can find equality.

With that cats and kittens, I’m off to work.
Victoria Crystal
…living SimpleSexy  

the Magic of possibility

Today we have entered the influences the Blue Cosmic Storm, a day of DOING for self-regeneration through use of emotions.  We use our intuition as a guide through each breath and thus allow ourselves transformation. 

Whether we receive the transformation we seek depends on our gardening practices.
It is also a Galactic Activation Portal, a day noted as being a special day.  There are 52 GAP days, repeating every 280 days.

I am excitedly at peace.  I smile and I do not know why. There is a knowing on the horizon, as electrifying as the wind.

We must stop resisting ourselves people.  Let us accept our “mis-takes” and try try again.  It is our gift to be human.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Victoria Crystal
…living SimpleSexy

End of a Series

Today is the White Crystal Mirror, a day for reflection that is to be guided by our hearts to free ourselves from hubris and judgment of others.  It is a day of clarity in recognition that we are all born and create an existence through our choices. 

And it is the day for end our series on Change, which could not be more appropriate.
When I began this series, I instinctively felt there was a message that needed to shared, but I had no idea how much it would change my own life.  Fear has melted away.

Patience and promise have replaced it.

As always, I am excited to hear how it has affected you.  What insights you have received.. has it brought acceptance and greater peace?

I am not the greatest self promoter (I’m working on that), so please feel free to pass on my information to others.  I know they will thank you for it.

simplesexy.victoriacrystal.com/CP1/FB1  Click or copy and paste this link to see or send the first article on Change.  Purchasing a subscription today for only $18 will bring all of these articles to your email.  I prefer sending one each week so the information can  be truly reflected upon to create deeper understanding, but the choice will be yours.  

The next series is on Intuition… and I could not be more excited.  Great things are coming.
Victoria Crystal

… living SimpleSexy

Follow your inutition…

to the ends of the Eartch…

Mr. Magnificent and I laughed about that for a while last night.  Oh how it still tickles my funny bone. 

After reading the back of the first business cards I so proudly handed out, I had a young man walk up to me and ask, “…So, what is this word?”  I looked, mildly surprised that he would have a problem reading the simple phrase.  “It says … follow your in..u..tition.  Oh my.. well..”  Of course I spent the rest of the day handing them out with a smile, hoping no one else would notice.

And then there is the matter of connecting with the Eartch’s energies.  Ah yes.  Something I could have simply fixed a long time ago on my website, but I think I like torturing myself with that little mistake so I remember to keep it real and abscond from perfection…

That is I THOUGHT that’s why I kept it there, but Mr. Magnificent so eruditely pointed out that the Earth’s core is indeed crystal and by adding the “c” to Earth I was correcting a long standing mistake.  Galileo had only been half right.  The Eartch is not only round, there is indeed a ”c”!

Second, I was informed, that inutition was the tuition I was to be paid for teaching people how to truly follow their intuition.  I had simply been letting them know up front what they needed to provide.

I feel spoiled having such a wonderful friend in my corner.  But now I have a problem.  I'm still perfect...  Oh well.  Must find trouble.

So, to that end:  Today is the Red Resonant Skywalker, a day for exploring the unknown to find inspiration and gain knowledge…  I like it. 

I am going to follow my intuition and see what this day holds.  Don’t forget to bring your inutition if you want to follow me on the full ride…

Victoria Crystal
...living SimpleSexy

Dreamy

I have been having a lot of strange dreams follow me through my day.  Dragons in Hawaii and a strange boy with yellow and blue eyes.  There were gingerbread houses around the pool and lots of beautiful art laid out on the tables inside.

There is a web of gauze around me and I am not sure if it is the safety of a cocoon or the web of a spider.  All I know is that something…  something…

Today is the Yellow Rhythmic Human; a day for organization of free will to gather the harvest.  That feels eerily profound.

Again the Absent Minded Professor theme seems apropos.  I have a lot of good traits, but organization is not one of them.  And yet, I know that the success of each day depends upon, in part, this organization.  A few day ago, I had recognized this and already began to put tasks into Outlook and created a semblance of routine for my mornings.

And since change is in the air, I have decided to include the Mayan Signature each day as a reminder of my ultimate goal: to get my calendar out to the website.  I have never known greater success in my life than when I began to connect with the earth’s energies and my own intuition.  Today my intuition guides me to do just this… as I listen to Native American flute :~)

I know Pandora was created just for me :~)

Victoria Crystal
... living SimpleSexy

Qigong bubbles

It was a fantastic weekend.  I managed to mix a client-based weekend with a little bit of fun.

The highlights were simple moments, dinner over-looking the bay with a bottle of red wine and fantastic service, (thank you Andy for the extra mahi mahi!) and a quiet walk along the water. 

I practiced Qigong this morning, partly why I am beginning my blog later than usual.  I feel amazing!  It is as though any heaviness that was within me has transformed to floating bubbles with the luminous glow of a rainbow.

I find so many things to bring a ready smile.  Why do we create difficulty with fear?  Alas, that is a question to end all others.

One point I have always tried to impart to my clients is to accept life as a process.  It is okay if you want something now and that desire moves you to action, but you will not serve yourself by becoming disappointed in the process.  It empowers.  It teaches.  It is the way to create continuity for your desire. 

Sometimes it is good to remind myself of the same things.
Fall down.  Get back up.  Try try again. 

Time for a late breakfast.  Care to join me?
Victoria Crystal
...living SimpleSexy

Not dead... yet

I find it interesting that although we are all part of this human experience, we find mistakes humiliating.  

My daughter has had this tag line as her email signature for years now:  “I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.”          - Thomas Alva Edison   I love her for this.  And while I accept this as truth, I still find ways to be hard on myself.  

There is that fire burning for everything to come together quickly and perfectly as evidence to my own perfection.  When will I give that up?  I certainly hold no one else to that standard.  As I sit here, I can smile and say “soon”. 

Mistakes mean living, learning, curiosity for something new…

Finding out that Steve Jobs died and then listening to the speech he made six years ago at Stanford, a lot of thoughts run through my mind.  I wonder how many students there that day actually took his advice or even understood what he was actually saying? 

We cannot walk in someone else’s shoes.  We can only consider as if.

I have thought of dying a lot.  Not morbidly.  I have no desire to die. I have no desire to cheat death either… but I do have an honest desire to live to 473 years on this earth.  People laugh at me when I say that, but genetically speaking, there is no reason why I shouldn’t.   

If I die sooner, I’ve allowed myself to be talked into something.  If I die sooner, you can know that I have no real regrets.  I have been following my curiosity and my intuition… and with that, my heart.

I have certainly found more than 10,000 ways that did not work, but the ones that do have more than made up.  My children are my crowning jewels… with the millions of mistakes I have made raising them and the zillions of mistakes they will hopefully make in their life… nothing to me could be more perfect... and perhaps with that I have just found my perfection.

I have been on a mission to find a better way.  Thank you for the company...

Victoria Crystal
...living SimpleSexy

Wet fur

I love going out and about.  And without going into detail yet, following my intuition may prove itself yet again.   It poured rain yesterday and I got soaked trying to find a spot to sit, relax, and (of utmost import) find a place to plug in my laptop. 

In the end I went low tech anyway and chicken scratched my next concept into my binder at a local pub.  Hi Christian!  Hi Lori!

So much work to do I found my eyes popping open at 5 am and refusing to close.  I truly love my work and passion moves me.

Today I finally ordered business cards.  They are absolutely adorable and I thank Mr. Magnificent for his reinforcing belief in my flair.  They are not the style of cards one would likely suspect me to gravitate toward, but hey… I am nothing short of unpredictable.

A little Lily Allen to get me moving and now I am off!

Victoria Crystal

…living the SimpleSexy life

Today’s issue of the SimpleSexy gazette is out.  Yay!

It is part two in the series on Change and I have to admit I am proud of it.  It discusses Change Propensity and helps to discover a little more about how you respond to change.  I did all the hard work, now you get to play and reinvent yourself.

Have fun!

Not a Chance

Business first:  Having made an executive decision, the SimpleSexy gazette will henceforth come out on Tuesday, that is until such a time as I change my mind again ;~) There are actually several good reasons for this, not the least of which is that Monday’s tend to be disorderly for many. I’ll honor this current energy and go with the flow.

And now...   What an incredible weekend.  Not sought but accepted, not expected but appreciated.  

It was determined, quite to my surprise over coffee Friday morning, that I would accompany Mr. Magnificent in attending a class on the Yuen Method of Chinese Energetics.  I had expected the class to have somewhat of a vampiric aspect on my energy.  Often when working deep within one’s psyche, there are emotional euphorias that are closely followed by despondency (as discussed in the series on Change: Part One).  Add the palpable influence of others and my ability to be an emotional barometer…

Well… I proved to myself yet again that the simplicity of understanding and acceptance are keys to changing one’s everything.  Watch out.  Here I come.   

At the end of class we experienced an emotional shift what we imprinted for recollection.  The experience was nothing short of profound and there are already discussions about attending the next session. 

Hi Jill, Bonnie, Christina, and Mr. Magnificent’s soul sister Nancy!  Perhaps we will see you all next time!  Wait… I’m in ‘Bama…  perhaps we’ll see ya’ll next time!

Gosh, there were so many wonderful things that happened this weekend, not the least of which was meeting this a precious girl named Alexis.  We were eating dinner in this great little Italian restaurant and she and her daddy were seated a table away.  She reminded me so much of my daughter and was just as sweet.  She walked over with her blue crayon in hand and honored me with a drawing on my notebook.  Circle and spirals I will treasure forever. 

And then, shifting through time and space in the large city of Atlanta, on the very next day we found ourselves once again seated next to each other in a restaurant a few miles away.  There are no coincidences.  This time Alexis took hold of my pen to share more of her gift.  Thank you little Princess!

Smiling, I am now off to work…

Victoria Crystal
…living the SimpleSexy life…

Fanfare

I had a profound dream, begging me to do what must be done, essentially, or suffer the consequences. And while I moved through this dream, a vibrating noise followed; as I sat at a table in a restaurant discussing philosophy; as I walked through a friend’s winery; as I strolled amidst trees or stood on a bridge.  Thup, thup, thup, thup, thup.  What is this noise?  Why does it go where I do?  Thup, thup, thup, thup, thup.  I could feel its vibration externally.  It did not come from within.

My subconscious was being baited.  Pay attention.

I wish I had.  It would have been a perfect moment for a lucid dream made more perfect by the theme.  Do what must be done… or suffer.  Oh to have accessed the subconscious insight.

To varying degrees we all have these crossroad moments, but only the open wise or the lucky are keenly aware.   

As I listen to the trumpets cry in La Niña de Mis Ojos, I am reminded of my father.  As far as the eye can see there is nothing but smooth sailing out to the horizon, yet I sense a disturbance.  How why or from what direction I cannot say.

Thup, thup, thup, thup, thup… went the overhead fan.  Pay attention.

Victoria Crystal

...living the SimpleSexy life...

String'spiration...

This morning I awake with an excitement that I do not understand but readily accept.  I feel genuinely “pushed” to create, to work on the website and make the changes I have been desirous to make.  I feel the magic.

Rain.  Rain.

I feel this brilliant orb within growing wanting seeking holding sharing bigger…  I am listening to Carlos Montoya on Pandora.  I have an acoustic guitar station I have labeled La Isla.  It has been an inspiration to me often, this morning is no exception as Jesse Cook now performs just for me…

Well… I am going to take this great energy to the website.  I pray it translates!

Victoria Crystal
...living the SimpleSexy life...

Delicate Dance

Have you ever noticed the delicate dance of change that goes one step forward, two steps back, or sometimes three steps forward and two steps back…

This is the change we are actively watching anyway.  Our lives are continuously changing.  I, in my own way, have become a master of change in that it has been a decision of mine to reinvent myself on a semi-regular basis.  Often it is in small ways like actively making adjustments to my posture, trying out karaoke, listening to a new type of music, gardening, playing a strategy game, trying new foods… or big ones like living in Mexico, traveling new places alone, or starting a business. 

Whatever the change, I have engaged in the delicate dance… one two three one two three…

My posture will slouch, I hit a flat note, there are a few songs I don’t like, weeds overtake my vegetables, I lose, something makes my stomach ache…

Yesterday the Internet gods decided I would not get my newsletter, the SimpleSexy™ gazette out in my time.  C’est la vie.  Regardless, it is a good one.  I smile at that.  I look at these moments not as setbacks, but as opportunities to pause and reevaluate.  Is there something better?  A different way?

If you haven’t signed up and would like a copy of this week’s SimpleSexy™ gazette, send me an email and I will send you the link.  I believe you will like it.

Cheers!

Victoria Crystal

living the SimpleSexy life

Tech no no's

I can create an excel spreadsheet to sing and dance its way onto your screen, but I cannot figure out how to work this social media scene.  My business page posts onto Facebook are forwarded to Twitter and my Tweets get posted to my home page.  But not the reverse.  And I cannot access my business page from my phone and from the computer FB keeps having me “use as Profile” to send messages etc.  Wicked annoying.  Can you tell I am losing my mind?  I gave my technical team the rest of the month off, but I think I should fire them for leaving me in such disarray :~)

I got so excited for the follow from Tdub that I tried to send him(?) a message.  Long story short, I wound up following myself instead.  Then I thought: why wasn’t I following myself in the first place?  All of this needs to be connected somehow..?!?  Another reason to fire my technical team for not thinking of this. 

Ah, visions of grandeur. 

Considering I was in Colorado last week… I suppose I should give myself a wee break.

The sounds of the birds in the trees outside the window tell me to take a walk.  Sweet twittering birds...  oh here I go again.

Have a wonderful weekend of laughter and kisses!

Victoria Crystal

…living the Simple Sexy life…