Hmm... had another brush with kwink today... Have an LG A\C in the bedroom, where my desk is. Spend quite a bit of non-bodywork hours in there keeping up w\ the state of the industry and its tqs... so often have to get up and stretch, often being stiff enough (w\ the bum knee) to need a walk. Fine, simple enough... and always works to get legs feeling 30-ish-human, vs. 70-ish-human... Toay was one of those days. Had just finished a paper on nerve synapse chemistry (really, realllly engrossing stuff ) and eyes had had it... so grabbed keys and took a lap around the neighborhood. Waved to the other vets \ wives \ like-aged old guys, then headed back... Might've mentioned before... something really odd happened about a year ago, when a client of mine still lived here and invited me to a circle. They were a practicing shaman, w\ a Native American mentor... so naturally I tagged along, to see how close this would be to what I knew were genuine NA spiritual practices (a sweat and uwipi ceremony for me, in early '90s in MT by a Sioux buddy of mine befriended in Germany)... So far nothing was out of sorts, seemed genuine: the wood fire at the center, the commitment of the others, the ritual implements used. Not Sioux perhaps, but not '70s-New-Age-y-hoodwinker crap either. Client began the ceremony proper... and that's when I began to feel it. The property this had taken place on, is adjacent to a smol coulee, filled with all kinds of trees and ornamental shrubs like oleander -- nothing weird so far. The sun was about to set in perhaps an hour. But as soon as the ceremony was begun in kind... the coulee began to at first distantly ring... then fill to nearly deafening, with the sound of birds. Perked up from a closed-eye meditation we were supposed to concentrate on, just before the distant peal of these birds -- all kinds, but mostly cardinals, mynahs, meijiros, and other vocal species. As they got louder, could see leaves drop on the other side of the stand of shade trees on our side, and the flit of what must've been thousands of birds darting in and out of the hapless canopy, rather stopped me in my tracks. Been to this place of utter bewilderment before -- so wondered what was go nna happen next... None of the other circle batted an eye -- was this routine in their tradition? They got so close I were flinching a bit, as cardinals and mynahs shot out of the trees uncomfortably close to my head, maybe an arm's reach? But none ever landed around us or struck us, and no leaves or feathers on us either. Very weird to be feeling your ears close to pain from the din of birds squawking and screaming, but the air around us where the fire was, calm and still, as I watched swarm and fire, dumbfounded... As Client stopped their drumming and concluded the ceremony, others opened their eyes and rushed into the house for some reason. Client hung back and were putting away their implements... when I had to ask: '[Client], what in f***'s sake, was that...?' Laughs 'Oh that happens a lot here, spiritual energy of this place is pretty strong. Knew you saw it btw... you've seen it before!' Didn't answer my question... but tangentially 'boozled... as how the f**k did he know that? Hadn't told him about the time at the dojo yet. Talked about spiritual practices and 'spirit walks', where the mind enters a state where one can access ancestors and their wisdom (would participate later, story for another time). Ate some food and had great conversations about this world we were just touching the edges of. Then another question bubbled to the surface: why'd everyone dig out right after the ceremony? Was I missing something? 'On the contrary,' one of them replied (a Tiger Year, which is very Tiger-ish of them ): 'we knew you had something to share with [Client], and just gave you space to feel comfy where you're at.' Wait -- you knew I needed to talk to Client? 'Sure -- we'd been where you're at, that's what what an elder does for someone with talent -- and some questions probably, am I right?. A bit jarring, huh?' Talent? I'd not even known this person long enough to ask their name. How...? * Turns out... seen plenty of people with 'talent' were right where I was... and apparently went on to explore more deeply into their connection with this realm. How in the f***, does even a charlatan attract thousands of birds en masse, who normally wouldn't be in each others' territories... then make them go away to literal silence -- the absence of birds -- on cue? Not the drum, which he'd let me beat a couple of times before the circle proper -- no swarm of Hitchcock menace then at all. F***ing peculiar... but if the dojo taught me anything, it's I don't know sh*t about the actual, holistic world... and things in it, often millions of millennia older and wiser than I. So took a step back, dropped the questions, and relaxed into it... which worked out fine. Was a good get-together (would have several more before they moved away in '25). Were about to head back home as were dark already and needed a shower after sitting around a wood fire. Walked around the house to my car, and saw it. I never leave my car w\ windows down, not even cracked -- esp since this was a neighborhood I didn't know. Still had the Honda then... and the model (Sport Hatch) didn't have settings to remotely roll the windows down, nor are there any settings in the console menu at all for non-switch operation of the electric window lifts. Yet here they were -- all four of my windows were halfway down. A mynah stood on my roof, looked at me approach slowly, then flew off Even using the switches, there's no way a short can roll all four windows halfway down, to the same spot. The rear windows weren't even CAN-connected, so the PCU had to access to them. How did they all roll down, whilst the car were locked? Doors were still locked, as unlocked with the keyfob -- and the lifts cannot be operated unless the car were turned anyway That were freaky. I mean, there's plausible deniability with charlatan shens... but how the hell this was done if that, was just as freaky as my uwipi ceremony, details of which you'll have to troll thru my hundreds of pages of words for. Like this day, the uwipi ceremony was full of 'how is that even possible', reinforced with plenty of exps that were impossible w/o some other explanation. Same w\ the dojo. Back to 2026 -- have been watching something I'd not bothered with since about '23, as been distracted with another lo-cost hobby, which is following K-pop variety shows: J-pop group Nogizaka46. Fell out of interest since they stopped subbing their variety show Nogichuu in ENG & was more interested in K-pop anyway thru Le Sserafim (not as much into the music for both as their variety shows, which show much more of the members' personalities -- and for K-pop, the music / perfs and variety content are much better balanced). Anyhow... pulling up an older EP (on YT) of Nogichuu from early '25... found a story about a paranormal exp by the team's captain - their TV remote, were working the kitchen exhaust fan somehow. Pressing the buttons watching TV w\ family, they'd noticed a roar in the kitchen, which was the fan. Only it didn't come with a remote, nor did it have the IR sensor to operate a board to control fan speed. This continued ~6 - 7 days... when suddenly stopped. Captain shrugged and went about her usual routines... Ard 3d later... noticed a bedsheet she'd washed, had a big oily handprint on it, a man's handprint. Much larger than theirs. Asked father and brother if they'd touched this sheet that day, had not. Didn't have any oily or cosmetic-covered hands handling wash, and doesn't let food in the bedroom. After washing the sheet again, disappeared and the weirdness stopped. Looked up the day this was aired... one day and one year from my circle exp (early '24) --- Newsflash: just looked at my phone... and an unprompted email for traditional spiritual practices connected to bodywork, just arrived in email from a colleague. As I was effing typing this What in the f*** is coming now...? --- * of course would introduce myself later, as well as share my love of the Chinese zodiac -- which they found interesting enough to look up themselves... and everyone at the table, all five of us... conformed to base readings, just in the few hours I'd known them -- which is why I love seeing reality dovetail w\ a 5Ka tradition, a quarter of the world away from North America, across a giant ocean
Today's is a bit lighter fodder but still interesting, at least to me Convinced the only thing needed to combat vermin and other creeping matters of chore around house, is 409 spray cleaner Think it started in AZ, tbh. Bug spray, when the A/C has to be on all the time and windows shut to keep the comfort in, 100F overnights... is a non-starter. So in pure frustration began to use the cleaner I had on hand to spritz the life out of the myriad forms of stubborn-arse wildlife making it past the seals (scorpions, roaches, fire ants and mosquitos, mainly). Found 409 not only kills them all in seconds... but the residue also fends off ants (but the doses have to be renewed a few times daily). Learnt it were due to the way the surfactant in 409 works, just penetrates in the spiracles (breathing holes) on their sides better than just about anything, suffocating literally before 'I'm up, he sees me, he's aiming, I'm down' (our old boot camp mnemonic for advancing on a defended position). Being a can of Raid in the early Y2Ks was $7, and 409 $3 for a 32 oz spray bottle also capable of cleaning, was a no-brainer. Since, learnt it repelled wolfies and other crawlies, in the massive but abandoned house I'd rented about a year, first moving to WA. Can't kill a big wolfie unless you douse them in it (besides, if they stay out of my space, they're hugely beneficial for controlling worse pests like roaches). Can also make 9"-long Hawaiian biting centipedes back off as well (though they're usually too large to fully kill, unless falling in a bucket of it). Cockroaches -- once the bane of my existence in AZ and WA, laughing and flying at your head if you hit them with most store-bought can sprays (and get to inhale the toxic residues in your house a few days)... immediately panic on 409, then invert and cross over... kicking furiously then slower as they asphyxiate in seconds. Had a glut of them at mum's condo a min, as a downstairs-neighbor's condo were obviously pure manna for them (poorly-disciplined pets w\ food left out and all over the house, poor hygiene and constant traffic in and out) so their iniquities spilled over literally behind our walls and the other neighbors around us. Neighbors would spray... so since we didn't, they all fled to us. 409 ad hoc, and a Terro bait trap around the door to kill the nests and comrades behind the walls*... problem over in a week. But since found works on another problem, the recent storm-related growth of fast-growing mould / mildews in the drains** and subsequent drain flies, a type of moth. Used to get this creeping black mould coming up from the bathroom sink and tub drain... had to scrub them out constantly to keep it looking presentable for clients -- rinsed cleaner from which didn't kill the drain flies or prevent another bloom. But hit the underside of the integral plunger with a few pumps of 409 (no rinse) every day... and at least for me, that mould hasn't grown back -- and have not had a single drain fly reappear. The recent and unavoidable midges also don't seek 409-treated drains to get a drink, as the well's tainted until I run water thru it. Even use it under the toilet bowl rim, as moulds appear there as well -- and whilst only trying that a few days, seems to be working. Here is not the bargain <$4 is on mainland, but still under $5 for 32 oz. Cheap, kills vermin near-instantly, cleans and fends off creeping nastiness -- what else does a geezer maintaining his leaky-arse house want --- * if you see one roach out in the clear in your house, the wall behind has 700 more in it, is supposedly the old rule of thumb ** from pressure waves in the main sewers propagating up into homes in the massive floods, backwashing spores with them. This is how old our infrastructure is here
Been a while since the last entry... but this one's worth logging for sure. --- Probably the end of a small, intimate, and pleasant little era in my world. And no that's not code for something covert and ominous. Can't remember which day exactly it was in past week... but at some point the days (and the flow of everything pertaining to me) began to level and calm. Driving was defo diffferent, and whilst the tweakers will never go away to '90s-levels of ease on these roads... even they were muted somewhat. And little things like the pain in my knee, the ease of which problems were solved, and the sense of a giant hand lifting weight off my shoulders, was palpable. Even my usually quasi-religious zeal for updating the Bodywork thread, fell off the side of the world when there was obvi something more to pay attention to. Coinciding with the appearance of this halcyon, was a praying mantis that'd planted itself right outside the door a few feet to the right. Knowing mantises here don't normally hunt during the daytime, felt odd about its purpose for being there, given my weirdo exps to now. This mantis (not a smol one -- about 5" long) did not move from that spot for at least a week, me saying a silent hello and goodbye as I'd left and returned. Last night, had a type of dream I'd not had in many, many years... and if you'll allow me to get into it, detailed below. Otherwise, find the * to skip. I'm on a school trip. Have been watching a lot of Japanese variety and comedy and other content on YT in the somewhat dry season between clients... so given that, wasn't a stretch to find these exposures influencing the dream. But it all felt, very, very real in an almost unsettling but paradoxically, 180º--from-that cloud of gentleness, mirth, and bonding. Almost as if I were living someone else's life for a short time. Last time this happened, that other someone was me, but in the early '80s, staying at my aunt's house with cousins in Japan the whole summer. That trip is still deeply etched in memory as a foundational exp to who I'd be now, much like the other rather off-beat milestones in a life. When this was dreamt, were back in WA -- oddly during another time I'd felt the world was finally going my way... which of course it wasn't actually, in hindsight. I'd been dabbling months in lucid dreaming and exp'd my first true LD dive -- and felt like the bottom had dropped out of my brain to reveal a glimpse of the real breadth of what was possible. In the next few days trying and failing multiple times to recreate the state, simply conceded to let it go, and did. But the LD exp itself even a week later was still buzzing in fingertips... and with this meadow of intentional purposelessness lofting me into sleep, that first dream is what met me. The parallels were significant -- the LD exp was of myself attending a Japanese school with all the touchstones -- central clock tower, large front courtyard of fine gravel and grass, uniformed students all obeying the bell to come in. The '80s dream was basically reliving memories from that trip, like an influencer's vlog entry 40y before the term existed. Only no vapid soundtrack, no emojis, nothing but vignettes of the actual memories, stitched together in the way your mind does in the dream state, so you don't feel anything out of place (despite many memories occurring weeks of even months apart). So was this current dream. The difference, was the lack of narrative I was familiar with. The faces belonged to that idol, that announcer, that comedian. But the situations and my responses to them, definitely weren't me -- which was unsettling but also very much non-uncanny'd whilst exp'g the dream. Was almost as if I were this person in a past life... but had forgotten all memories upon crossover and reincarnation (if you'll again forgive me, is a central tenet of Buddhism, my chosen religion). Huh. So with that in mind, began the usual interrogation: if this were a past life, did anything in the dream indicate an era or period of Japanese society I could recognise? No, all the constructs seemed pulled from media I'd been watching, as faces and voices and words. Dreams can be like that, I recalled. But the actions -- what did they say? It were all a chaperoned trip to somewhere in Japan, as students there all know fondly, so has to be in the very late Showa / early Heisei era, when this was common across Japan. So not Taisho / WWI-era, and certainly not the devastation after WWII, or the '70s recovery either -- if the clothing of touchstones the dream draped over someone's exps, were all Y2Ks / 2010s (late Heisei / early Reiwa)... then how deep does this 'costuming' overlay go? What was palpable that couldn't be extrapolated by my mind, that could reveal who and when this exp happened? We were all on a trip, mulling about waiting to be told where to collect ourselves so keepers could herd us to the next historic monument or cultural landmark. The questions tried to burn in, but the ilk seemed overwritten as soon as could be felt, thought... as I remembered the feelings. And a spark lit -- that's the hallmark of my way of dreaming, inasmuch as how I remember anything, like music I like: how it makes me feel. And these feelings were what seemed the most long-lived -- the literal tingle in my fingertips what wouldn't go away. I felt... loved. Sounds cringe-y... but if you look back on your own lives, will find comparatively few times when you knew, yep.. I was a part of something unconditional. If it is common in your life, hey congrats... but wasn't too often something I knew without a doubt was there between friends or family (defo not family). In the dream, were a part of a group of friends I knew would be such for life -- as is the case in Japan more often ime than here, due to the uniformity of experiences all JDM students go thru, no matter where in Japan you live. And perhaps, the lack of that growing up, seeing / hearing cousins and later vicariously in characters in manga and anime, living this dream of solidarity in the society I were forcefully removed from 50+ yrs ago -- but exposed in 'exile' to enough to know this lack -- was where the need to feel such, became stronger over time, I suppose. But back to where the mind stopped extrapolating the dream: some of the conversations seemed odd, not my voice, not my words. Weren't anything I'd heard online either, even if said thru the draped mask of famous people. The nerd in me were attracted to a few people in HS, and that bittersweet feeling isn't at all what was in the dream -- instead seemed voice of the popular kid, the confident one, and feelings commensurate. Not the leader really, but a role in a group well-earned and well-fit... which isn't who I was in HS at all (just wishing to get those four years f***ing over with and off this island, doesn't endear one to many people, including those I had unrealistic feelings for). Those exact conversations' words fade with time, as all dreams do. But for me at least, the feelings do not... and am inevitably left with a blur of shadows and light, shards of vignettes perhaps... but its cache of feelings wear much more slowly, like granite -- esp in these two particular dreams. No idea whose exp this was... but am thinking this author of those words, if dead now... must've passed very recently -- probably born late '90s and in HS in the 2010s. But if they're alive... what on earth have I experienced...? And how? *Mostly it's the 'loft' in this dream, that feels so frustratingly addictive, in a sense. This is a sensation your scribe dun't get in life too often, perhaps those be the cards I've been dealt. Felt glimpses of it as a kid (as we all do, in our naïvete), when were in a committed relationship with someone I deeply loved, and for a few scattered moments, in boot camp and later overseas... but has never had the robustness of whomever this exp belongs to, even in my best romantic relationships (where frankly was all too much, in add'n to other factors dooming them, and they ended). Simplicity, is another word to describe this sense of belonging, as ordinary to this person as breathing. Had something like it in mil... but tbh were far too many things about indentured servitude that weren't balanced by esprit-de-corps, so not at all regretful rejecting lifer-dom. And that's it. That very morning upon wake-up... walked out to the car, to see the mantis was gone. Given the breadth of time (and versions of Me) that've passed between these dreams... wonder if the next time I'll have one... is when I'm myself getting ready to share my own exps with someone out there, desperate for an explanation of what they're feeling, and why. And am wondering when my crossover 'pollination', will happen
